Get your popcorn ready. At least on paper, Week 7 looks like one of the most exciting slates of games of the 2015 college football season. 

The action kicks off with a Pac-12 showdown on Thursday night between ranked teams. 

Saturday brings more great matchups, with four games between ranked opponents, including two SEC battles between top-10 teams and a rivalry renewed in the Big Ten. 

Here’s a look at the updated rankings and the schedule for Week 7, with a breakdown of some of the top games of the week.

Notable Games

No. 18 UCLA at No. 15 Stanford 

Danny Moloshok/Associated Press/Associated Press

Week 7 gets started with arguably the most important game of the weekend, as this matchup has significant implications in the Pac-12 race.

Stanford is 3-0 in Pac-12 play and sits atop the North Division standings. As the only undefeated team in the North, the Cardinal control their own destiny. A loss, however, swings the door wide open for California, Washington and even Washington State, which all sit behind Stanford with just one conference loss. 

For UCLA, this is essentially an elimination game. 

The Bruins already sit one game behind undefeated Utah in the Pac-12 South standings, and a loss to Stanford would make them an extreme long shot to advance to the conference title game. 

UCLA is currently tied with Arizona State, which handed the Bruins their only loss, for second place in the South behind undefeated Utah.

To stay alive, the Bruins will need to snap a seven-game losing streak against Stanford. Their last victory in the series came in 2008.

No. 10 Alabama at No. 9 Texas A&M

Tony Gutierrez/Associated Press

Alabama regained momentum in the SEC race after a convincing victory over Georgia, but in this matchup Texas A&M is actually the team that controls its own destiny. 

With a loss to A&M, Alabama would essentially be eliminated in the SEC race, falling two games behind the undefeated Aggies and having a head-to-head loss in the matchup.

It’s likely that Kevin Sumlin and his squad have had this matchup circled on the calendar for quite some time. A season ago, Alabama embarrassed the Aggies with a 59-0 thumping in Tuscaloosa. 

However, the following week marked the start of the Kyle Allen era in College Station, and the Aggies have gone 8-2 in his 10 starts since taking over for Kenny Hill. 

If the Aggies can pull the upset, it would could be the launching point of a Heisman campaign for Allen, much like the Alabama game was for Johnny Manziel in 2012. 

No. 7 Michigan State at No. 12 Michigan

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According to Sports-Reference.com, this is the first matchup between Michigan and Michigan State in which both schools are ranked in the Top 15 of the AP poll since No. 11 Michigan upset No. 9 Michigan State in East Lansing in 2003. 

College GameDay is coming to Ann Arbor next week. Second trip to the state of Michigan this year.

— Brian Bennett (@BennettESPN) October 11, 2015

This rivalry reached new levels in 2007 when Michigan running back Mike Hart said the Spartans were Michigan’s “little brother.” But since those comments, Michigan State has won six of seven in the rivalry.

Both teams are currently tied with Penn State and Ohio State atop the Big Ten East division. But the loser of this game will effectively be eliminated from the Big Ten race. For the loser to re-enter the picture, it would need to upset Ohio State and have the winner of this matchup suffer two other losses.