Saturday night's matchup between #21 Texas A&M (8-3) and #5 Missouri (10-1) is my personal favorite of the week (because Johnny Football is my personal favorite), but ranks fifth in our top five because, well, it isn't much of a rivalry... yet. A&M just joined the SEC this year and Missouri has a better basketball history than football. (A starting five of Kareem Rush, Keyon Dooling, Linas Kleiza, Larry Drew, and Phil Pressey beats Missouri's most famous football alum, Blaine Gabbert). Still, the pivotal game for both teams has a chance to yield the best pure football of Rivalry Week.

That will depend on how the Aggies respond from last week's 34-10 trouncing at #17 LSU (9-3). The Tigers of LSU (highlighting an unintended side effect of realignment: repeat mascots) gave Manziel plenty of time to throw the ball, but guarded his receivers well and kept their linebackers close to prevent the gutsy runner from any big scrambles.

Stopping Manziel means the Aggies are essentially finished because of their league worst defense. Missouri leads the SEC in sacks (35) and interceptions (18), which might be good and might be bad for their chances. If Manziel can avoid sacks and stay accurate, he could blitz a Mizzou secondary accustomed to covering their men for only a few seconds. He'll need to have a big day, which means fellow Heisman candidate Mike Evans (1314 yards, 12 TDs) will also likely have a big day, to keep his team close. They don't call him Johnny Football for nothing. It should be a fun, high scoring watch for all types of fans.

The Tigers have an exciting quarterback of their own in Senior James Franklin, who had a mediocre return last week after missing the previous four games with a shoulder injury. In his first six games, however, Franklin was close to spectacular with 14 passing TDs and three rushing scores. Mizzou also has the SEC's second best rushing attack, led by senior Henry Josey (855 yards, 12 TDs).

By implications alone, Aggies-Tigers is probably the second most important game of the weekend to the Iron Bowl between #4 Auburn-#1 Alabama. The Tigers are the only other top ten team to face a ranked opponent this weekend and A&M is a lot scarier than its #23 ranking. (They haven't beaten a ranked opponent this year, but lost close games to both Auburn and Alabama). A win for Mizzou matches them up with the winner of the Iron Bowl and an outside shot at the title game. A win for A&M is the difference between a disappointing season and a "good" year, and will prove that the Aggies are more than just good losers.

Live radio broadcast.