Mid-Major Win of the Day

There was one notable win yesterday by a mid-major over a team from a power conference. The Trojans of Arkansas-Little Rock went to Minneapolis, and defeated the reeling Minnesota Gophers, 67-66.

Also, the Butler did it. Lost, that is, as the Butler Bulldogs suffered their first defeat, losing 72-65 in Terre Haute to the Sycamores of Indiana State. Ok, these guys beat Indiana and Notre Dame, but lost to Indiana State. Go figure.. It’s college basketball, where most teams can beat most other teams on a given night.

Coming in January: Weekly NCAA Tournament projections..

Ugly Uniform of the Day

I am beginning a new feature today. From time to time, there are uniforms out there which redefine the word ugly. When it comes to uniforms, I'm pretty old school, with a few exceptions here and there. I believe teams ought to have one home uniform, and one away uniform. There are some decent-looking alternate uniforms out there, but most are a useless waste of thread, designed to suck money out of customers.

The Washington Wizards broke out this putrid-looking alternate uniform this season. Gilbert Arenas is shown wearing it here. It is gold, with white numbers, a white shoulder, black stars down the side, and black shorts. It may be the worst basketball uniform I've ever seen. The only two that come close are the silver ones the Mavericks wore for one game last year before Mark Cuban got smart and pulled them, and some old, old unis that Byng High School in Oklahoma made their JV team wear in the early 80's, which were supposed to be gold, but had worn out to the point where they looked puke green.

Stay tuned for more ugly jerseys...

Bison Stampede

My alma mater, Oklahoma Baptist University, is currently considering adding football to its athletic program. OBU is a school with nearly 1700 undergraduates located in Shawnee, Oklahoma. The school dropped football during World War II due to budget restraints, and never brought it back. The Bison currently compete in the NAIA, and are national powers in men’s and women’s basketball and track.

I believe the addition of football would be a benefit to the university, providing increased enrollment, student retention, donations, and school pride. I have seen the benefits of football in recent years at schools of similar size and mission, and would love to see these things happen at OBU.

Small college football is a totally different animal from the BCS conference schools we see on TV every week. The budgets are much lower, and coaches, more often than not, teach classes during the week. In truth, a 5A high school program in Texas will often have a larger football budget than a small college program. Attending a game in person is similar to attending a high school game. However, athletes, students, alumni, and the community at small schools have the same amount of pride in their programs, and the universities often benefit more than their larger counterparts. Football would benefit OBU in so many ways.

The school is currently studying the addition of football. They are currently taking a survey on their website. Whether you are an alum, a friend of an alum, an interested observer, or someone who is surfing around in blogland and has never heard of the school, please click here and vote for the addition of football.

With our help, Bison football can become a reality in the future.

Thank you!

Withdrawal

Millions of football addicts will go through serious withdrawal today. The college football regular season is over, and the Saturday afternoon NFL games have moved to Thursday nights on the NFL Network.

In this area, there are only two football games on TV today. One of them is the Pilgrim's Pride Bowl, a junior college game from Mount Pleasant, Texas between Blinn College (TX) and Pearl River Community College (MS). Pass the chicken. The other is the semifinal of the former Division 1-AA between Youngstown State and Appalachian State.

This would be a great weekend for the first round of a Division 1-A playoff. If it's too good to be true, it usually is.

I need to find something productive to do today.

Comin' To Your City

...Well we moved through Oklahoma, Alabama, down through Georgia
Tryin' to get on down to Florida for the game

And then we loaded up our tailgate on the convoy up the freeway
To head up north to see the Buckeyes, Notre Dame

Victory for USC, Bulldogs barkin' at the Wolverines
Hook 'em Horns and give me that Rocky Top Tennessee....

NFL Picks-Week 14

The playoff picture is becoming clearer in the NFL. There are leaders, there are pretenders, and there is everyone else. Each division has a clear leader, followed by a dogfight for wild card positions in both the AFC and NFC.

In the AFC, Indianapolis and San Diego have the best records, at 10-2, and lead the South and West divisions, respectively. Close behind, at 9-3, are Baltimore and New England, leaders in the North and East divisions. There is a whole gaggle of teams at 7-5, in contention for two wild card spots. They are the New York Jets, Cincinnati, Jacksonville, Kansas City, and Denver.

A similar situation exists in the NFC. Chicago has the best record at 10-2, and has clinched the North division. Dallas, New Orleans, and Seattle are all 8-4, and lead the East, South, and West divisions. Another gaggle of teams are 6-6, contending for two wild card spots. They are the New York Giants, Philadelphia, Carolina, and Atlanta.

Since there is a Thursday night game, the picks are ahead…

Last Week: 8-8 Overall: 116-76

New Orleans at Dallas: “Sunday Night Football on NBC…the only place that you’d want to be…” With apologies to Pink, this is the game of the week. Both teams are in line to win division titles, and one of them will have a bye in the first round of the playoffs. There is a good chance for a rematch in the second round. The Saints have had an incredible run, fueled by QB Drew Brees and RB Deuce McAllister. The rookie stud for the Saints has not been Reggie Bush, but WR Marques Colston, who is expected back this week. Bush broke out last week, however, for four touchdowns. The Cowboys are riding the golden arm of the Rib Man, Tony Romo, and have gotten six touchdowns in the last three weeks from goal-line specialist RB Marion Barber. They got a gift last week from new K Martin Gramatica, with three key field goals, including a game-winner in a 23-20 victory over the Giants. Pick: Dallas, of course.
Tennessee at Houston: The long-awaited Vince Young Bowl. Vince has guided the Titans to a 5-4 record since he became the starter, and returns to his hometown to face the mediocre Texans. The natives are restless in Houston because many feel Vince should have been drafted to be the quarterback of the Texans, and because QB David Carr has been rather pedestrian for five years. The Titans are fun to watch, and it will be interesting to watch the crowd reactions at Reliant Stadium this week. Vince’s mojo continues…Pick: Titans
Cleveland at Pittsburgh: Cleveland looks to be without QB Charlie Frye for the rematch in the Steel City. Pittsburgh has been a decent home team, especially against inferior competition. Pick: Pittsburgh
Atlanta at Tampa Bay: The Bucs are sliding, fast. Actually, they never climbed that high to begin with. The Falcons are a schizophrenic team. One week they’re great, another week, they’re horrible. The Falcons are still in playoff contention, and should have enough to get past Tampa Bay. Pick: Atlanta
Baltimore at Kansas City: I’d like to see this game. This is a possible playoff matchup. The Chiefs are coming off a heartbreaker in Cleveland, where they blew a 14-point lead to lose in overtime. The Ravens are also coming off a loss in Cincinnati. This one is in Kansas City, where the Chiefs have always been much better. Pick: Chiefs
Indianapolis at Jacksonville: The Colts are loaded for bear after losing at the buzzer to the Titans last week. The Jags helped their playoff chances with a win in Miami. The Colts are just a little bit better, even on the road. This will be close. Pick: Colts
Minnesota at Detroit: Yuck. This is a candidate for that Sunday afternoon nap. The Vikes are mediocre. The Lions are bad. This might actually be a high-scoring game. Detroit is usually good for three or four games a year. This could be one of them. Pick: Detroit.
New England at Miami: The Dolphins lost a big game last week to the Jags, severely hurting their slim playoff chances. The Patriots are rolling along, as usual. The Pats are a better team. Pick: New England
New York Giants at Carolina: Just another game between two 6-6 teams. Wait a minute, both of these teams have strong playoff hopes. This game is huge. The Giants’ ship is sinking fast. The Panthers haven’t been able to put any kind of consistency together. What gives? QB Jake Delhomme is injured for the Panthers, and may not play. I’m going out on a limb here: Pick: Giants
Oakland at Cincinnati: Here are the Bengals, putting together a playoff run, and they get one of the best gifts a team could get: a home game with the awful Raiders. Look for the Bengals to score early and often here. Pick: Cincy
Philadelphia at Washington: The Jeff Garcia mini-era is underway in Philly, as he had three touchdown passes Monday night in a win over the Panthers. The Redskins are like a box of chocolates: you never know what you’re going to get. Philly has a lot more to play for. Will it matter? Pick: Philly
Green Bay at San Francisco: These teams have had a lot of great games through the years. This probably won’t be one of them. The 49ers have surprised a lot of people, and have won 5 games this year. The Pack is improved over last year, but are far from greatness. Look for a shootout here. Pick: San Francisco
Seattle at Arizona: Yuck. The Seahawks are back, as Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander have returned from injury. The Cardinals got a win last week in St. Louis, which is enough to tease the good people of Arizona. This could be ugly. Pick: Seattle
Buffalo at New York Jets: The Jets are in playoff contention at 7-5. The Bills have been competitive most of the time. The Jets could really help themselves with a win here. Pick: Jets
Denver at San Diego: A month ago, this was a good matchup. The last time these teams met, the Chargers put on a great comeback and squashed the Broncos in the fourth quarter, behind the greatness of LaDainian Tomlinson. That was also the beginning of the end of the Jake Plummer era in Denver. Jay Cutler is now the QB for the Broncos, but that won’t matter. San Diego is the real deal. Pick: Chargers
Chicago at St. Louis: The Bears are doing it with defense, defense, defense. The Rams are rebuilding their team, and don’t have much to show for it this season. This won’t be pretty, but the guys from the Windy City should win. Pick: Chicago

Iowa State Champions?

There weren't any huge upsets in college basketball last night. Northern Iowa went into Iowa City and defeated Iowa, 57-55, but that's no longer an upset. That gives UNI the sweep over ISU and Iowa, with two conference games remaining with Drake. Once again, I wouldn't call this an upset, but it's the closest thing we had to David over Goliath in college hoops yesterday. UNI has bragging rights in the Land of Corn today.

A Decent Proposal

The eternal, ongoing debate concerns the need for a playoff in the highest level of college football. At this point, the only opponents of a playoff system are college presidents, BCS conference commissioners, and some athletic directors and coaches. Many coaches (such as Urban Meyer) are warming to the idea of a playoff. Media members and fans have been on the playoff bandwagon for years.

The primary argument used against a playoff is the amount of missed class time around the end of the semester and final exams. That is a bunch of Barry Switzer (B.S.). Divisions I-AA, II, and III play four to five weeks of playoffs, ending right around finals week. The missed class time arguments do not wash.

The unsaid argument revolves around money. The BCS generates a large amount of money. The BCS is not controlled by the NCAA, but by the bowls and the six BCS conferences. The six BCS conferences accumulate a large percentage of the money generated by the BCS. An extra BCS game was created, and increased access offered to non-BCS conferences, as a way to avoid a lawsuit from the non-BCS schools. This is the reason for the extra rotating BCS championship game, beginning this season. Any playoff system would be controlled by the NCAA. It would generate a larger amount of money, but the BCS conferences would receive a smaller portion of that money. The power conferences would rather have a larger portion of a smaller pie.

A college football playoff would serve two purposes: 1) To determine a champion, and 2) to maximize revenue for the member schools.

My proposal calls for a 16-team playoff. Each of the 11 Division 1-A conferences would have an automatic qualifier, just as in the NCAA basketball tournament. There would then be 5 at-large teams.

Why 11 automatic qualifiers? 1) Each conference would receive a share of revenue from the playoff, so each conference should participate; 2) It provides an easier first-round opponent for higher-ranked teams; and 3) It adds the once-in-a blue moon chance at a David-beats-Goliath upset, the element that makes the NCAA basketball tournament great.

5 is a good number of at-large teams, because there are really very few teams capable of winning 4 playoff games in a row to win a national championship, and these are teams that would be capable of doing so. It also places a value on the regular season, as a 6th place team in a power conference would not be in the NCAA football playoff, as they would qualify for the basketball tournament. There would normally not be a team with less than three losses in the playoff as an at-large team.

What about Notre Dame? They would not get an automatic bid. They would be forced to strongly consider joining a conference. The Big Ten and the Big East would be forced into a bidding war to offer the Irish the best deal, if ND felt the need to join a conference. ND could squeeze a sweet deal out of either of these conferences, making up for their lost BCS money. A Big 10 championship game could make up for that. This year, they went 10-2, and are 11th in the BCS rankings. They would be the last at-large team under my proposal. They might not get that lucky every year.

The first two rounds would be played on home fields. This maximizes revenue, and keeps fans from having to travel to more than two bowl-like games in neutral locations. It would be next to impossible for large numbers of fans to follow their team to four bowl locations in consecutive weeks in one season. The semi-finals and finals would be mega-events played in neutral sites, determined by a bidding process.

Television rights would be sold to the highest bidder. Coverage on the first two weekends would be regionalized, but supplemented with pay-per-view coverage of games not broadcast over-the-air in particular regions, similar in form to ESPN Game Plan or CBS Mega March Madness.

A playoff for this year would be as follows (seeds are based on BCS rankings):

Troy (16, Sun Belt champ) at Ohio State (1, Big Ten champ)
Auburn (9, SEC at-large) at Boise State (8, WAC champ)

Wake Forest (12, ACC champ) at USC (5, Pac 10 champ)
BYU (13, Mountain West champ) at LSU (4, SEC at-large)

Notre Dame (11, at-large) at Louisville (6, Big East champ)
Houston (14, Conference USA champ) at Michigan (3, Big 10 at-large)

Oklahoma (10, Big 12 champ) at Wisconsin (7, Big 10 at-large)
Central Michigan (15, MAC champ) at Florida (2, SEC champ)

The first two rounds would take place the weekends of December 8-9, and December 15-16. Games would be played on Friday night and all day Saturday, with no games competing with the NFL on Sundays. There would be a break during Christmas weekend, and the semifinals would be played on Monday, January 1, in a neutral location-either a dome or a warm-weather city. The semifinals would be a mega-Final Four-type event, played as a doubleheader on New Year’s Day. The winners would play in another city on January 8, the day of this year’s BCS championship game.

Games would be scheduled for maximum television exposure, and for minimum overlap with NFL games.

This proposal promotes all that is great about college football, maximizes revenue, and protects the integrity of the regular season. It also determines a champion on the field.

Buying A Bowl Bid

The 12-game schedule, along with changes made by the NCAA for bowl qualification, has added a new wrinkle to the bowl season. Teams can now qualify for a bowl with 6 wins, as long as their conference has enough contracts. Also, a team can count a win over a Division 1-AA (now Division 1 Championship Division) opponent toward bowl eligibility every year.

With only 6 wins needed for bowl eligibility, big-time schools can offer large payouts to 1-AA and lower-level 1-A schools for home games, with no required return game, and a chance at an easy win. Schools from major conferences have been doing this for several years, but now, it has become the difference between a winning and losing season, and key to becoming eligible for a bowl.

Six schools: Florida State, Miami, Iowa, Minnesota, Alabama, and Oklahoma State, finished 6-6, but will be playing in bowl games. Without the 12th game, each of these teams would be 5-6, and would be staying home for the holidays. After expenses, these schools may or may not make a profit off the trip. However, the players will gain three extra weeks of practice, and get a trip and some gifts. Notice I said trip, because some trips are better than others. FSU is going to San Francisco for the Emerald Bowl. Iowa is going to San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl, not a bad trip for a team that went 2-6 in the Big Ten. Oklahoma State and Alabama, on the other hand, are going to Shreveport for the Independence Bowl. There’s not a lot in Shreveport, except riverfront casinos. And, Miami gets a trip to Boise, Idaho for the MPC Computers Bowl. I haven’t checked air mileage, but I’m sure there are a lot of places in Central and South America that are closer than Boise is to Miami.

How did these schools “earn” these trips? They paid lower-rung teams to come play them in non-conference games. Check out these barn-burners:

Florida State: Home vs. Troy, Rice, Western Michigan (Troy and WMU were actually close games, and Troy led in the 4th quarter)
Miami: Florida A&M, Florida International (the infamous brawl)
Iowa: Montana (still playing in the 1-AA playoffs), Northern Illinois (going bowling). No huge complaints about their schedule.
Minnesota: Temple, North Dakota State (a blocked field goal away from upsetting the Gophers)
Alabama: Louisiana-Monroe, Duke, Florida International
Oklahoma State: Missouri State, Florida Atlantic
(these teams also played at least one home-and-home with a good program, but made it to bowls on the backs of cupcakes)

The bodybag games paid off in bowl trips for the fans, and an extra game and practice for the players. What a deal!

NFL Week In Review-Week 13

Another wild week in the National Football League, one in which kickers played a big part.

One week ago, Martin Gramatica was looking for a job. Enter Bill Parcells, who brought him in off the street after giving Mike Vanderjagt a pink slip. Gramatica made three of four field goals, including the game-winner from 46 yards out, as the Dallas Cowboys defeated the New York Football Giants, 23-20. Tony Romo threw a 42-yard pass to Jason Witten with less than a minute left in the game to set up the game-winning field goal. Romo is now 5-1 as the starter, and the Cowboys now have a 2 game lead in the NFC East with 4 games to play.

The Tennessee Titans aren’t going to the playoffs, but they are making some things happen in spite of that. Rod Bironas kicked a 60 yard field goal for the game-winner as the Titans defeated the Indianapolis Colts, 20-17. The Titans are now 5-7. Vince Young is now 5-4 as the starter in Music City. The Colts are now 10-2, and are tied with San Diego for the best record in the AFC.

The Cleveland Browns survived an injury to QB Charlie Frye to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs, 31-28, in overtime. Phil Dawson kicked the game-winner from 33 yards for the Browns. Trent Green threw four touchdown passes for the Chiefs, who will be wanting this one back if they narrowly miss the playoffs.

In the Sunday Night extravaganza, Josh Brown kicked the game-winner as the Seattle Seahawks defeated the Denver Broncos, 23-20. This was the debut for Jay Cutler as quarterback for the Broncos. He had a decent game, but threw an ill-advised interception in the 2nd quarter that was returned for a touchdown.

Reggie Bush broke out in a big way for the New Orleans Saints, with four touchdowns in a 34-10 rout of the San Francisco 49ers. He had sat on my fantasy bench for a month, so I missed out on 41 fantasy points. Boo hoo. The Saints are now 8-4, with a huge game next Sunday night with the Cowboys in Irving.

The Detroit Lions led the New England Patriots for most of the game on Sunday. However, the Lions committed 5 turnovers, and those were too much for them as they fell to the Pats, 28-21.

The St. Louis Rams define the word mediocre. The Rams lost to the pitiful Arizona Cardinals, 34-20. The Rams had a promising start, but have been skidding of late.

LaDainian Tomlinson once again came up big for the Chargers, with 178 rushing yards and two touchdowns as San Diego won in the wind and snow of Buffalo, 24-21. The Chargers are now tied for the best record in the league, at 10-2.

Michael Vick had one of his better games for the Atlanta Falcons, as he threw for two touchdowns and the Falcons saved their season with a 24-14 win over the Washington Redskins. The Falcons are now 6-6. The Redskins blew all the momentum they had gained from the previous week’s win over Carolina.

Da Bears continue to move right along, as they defeated Minnesota, 23-13. Chicago is now 10-2, and has clinched the NFC North title. Da Bears are two games ahead of Dallas and New Orleans in the NFC. The road to Miami leads through Chicago.

Further north, the Green Bay Packers laid a major egg, as the New York Jets crushed the Pack, 38-10. Green Bay is now 1-5 at home. The Jets are now 7-5 overall, and are in playoff contention.

The Houston Texans doubled their win total of last year, with a 23-14 victory in Oakland. The Texans’ defense created 5 turnovers and had 5 sacks in the win. The Raiders moved a step closer to one of the top two picks in the upcoming draft. Neither team is very good, but the Raiders are exceptionally bad.

In Florida, the Jacksonville Jaguars went down to Miami and handled the Dolphins, 24-10. The Dolphins’ 4-game winning streak came to an end. The Jags are now 7-5, and are now in a gaggle of teams contending for two AFC wild card spots.

The other Florida team isn’t doing so well, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were clobbered by the Pittsburgh Steelers, 20-3.

Finally, last Thursday night, the Cincinnati Bengals saved their season, and joined that group of playoff-contending teams, by defeating the Baltimore Ravens, 13-7. The Bengals had a streak of 7 quarters without giving up points, until the Ravens scored in the 4th quarter. T.J. Houshmandzadeh had 100 yards receiving, including a 60 yard touchdown catch from Carson Palmer.

Tonight, the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Carolina Panthers in the City of Brotherly Love. The Iggles are looking for their first win with backup quarterback Jeff Garcia.

Urban Renewal

Congrats to the Florida Gators, the #2 team in the nation, and opponent for The Ohio State University in the BCS National Championship Game, January 8 in Glendale, Arizona. I don’t have a huge problem with it, as Florida beat Arkansas, LSU, Tennessee, and Georgia on its way to winning the SEC.

Coach Urban Meyer has now won championships in three different conferences in six years: Bowling Green in the MAC, Utah in the Mountain West, and Florida in the SEC.

I’ll have more comments on the BCS and the bowls later in the week.

Keep These Guys Out Of The Cheese

The North Dakota State Bison went into Milwaukee today and defeated 8th-ranked Marquette, 64-60. North Dakota State is in their fourth year as a full member of Division I. The Bison are now 4-1, with their only loss being a narrow 85-81 loss at Texas Tech.

This is North Dakota State’s second win in as many years against a major program in the state of Wisconsin. Last year, the Bison went into Madison and upset highly ranked Wisconsin. Their football team was a blocked field goal away from defeating Minnesota in Minneapolis. Are they becoming the Big Ten's worst nightmare?

I don’t think any more programs in Wisconsin will be scheduling these guys any time soon. Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Wisconsin-Green Bay would be best served by not playing them.

That's A Load of BCS

It looks like the BCS qualifiers are set. The computers and pollsters will tell us who will play in the BCS National Championship game in Glendale, Arizona on January 8.

Tonight was an exciting and interesting night in the world of college football.

The Florida Gators won the SEC championship over Arkansas, 38-28. I’d hate to be the Arkansas special teams coach, as the Hogs gave up touchdowns on a blocked punt and a fumbled punt return. The Gators earn the right to either: 1) play Ohio State for the national championship, or 2) complain about being passed over in favor of Michigan. We’ll find out their fate on Sunday. Most likely, they are headed to the Big Easy to play Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights lost a heartbreaker to the West Virginia Mountaineers in triple overtime, 41-39. The Scarlet Knights, due to the missed two-point conversion, drop from the $14 million Orange Bowl to the $800,000 Texas Bowl. Of course, they’ll get part of the Big East cut of the Orange Bowl money, but they still lost a few million dollars from the missed opportunity to make the BCS. Louisville now goes to the BCS from the Big East, most likely to play Wake Forest in the Orange Bowl.

My Oklahoma Sooners won their 40th conference championship, defeating the Nebraska Cornhuskers, 21-7. The Sooner defense came up big, only allowing a touchdown when Nebraska intercepted a pass deep inside OU territory. OU goes on to the Fiesta Bowl, where they will most likely meet Boise State.

All of these bowl pairings will be set tomorrow. I expect a rematch between The Ohio State University and the school up North.

Sons of Westwood

The mighty USC Trojans lost today to a basketball school, costing themselves a chance at a national championship. That basketball school is their archrival, the UCLA Bruins. UCLA defeated the Trojans, 13-9.

USC now returns to the Rose Bowl. There is now a looming controversy over the #2 spot in the BCS, between Michigan and Florida. As I write, Florida's not out of the woods yet, as Arkansas is making a comeback on the Gators. Stay tuned, as it only gets more interesting from here.

Mid-Major Upset of the Night....Not Really

There was no true mid-major upset of the night. The closest thing to it occurred twice in the Big XII Conference, but the Big XII teams were road teams. Iowa State, under new coach Greg McDermott, traveled to in-state rival Northern Iowa and lost, 70-57. McDermott formerly played and coached at UNI, and took them to multiple NCAA tournaments. The Missouri Valley, once again, is not playing like a true mid-major, and looks to put multiple teams in the Big Dance in March.

Another non-upset occurred in Wilmington, North Carolina, as UNC-Wilmington defeated Colorado, 67-55. UNCW was in last year's Tournament, and Colorado is playing out the string under lame duck coach Ricardo Patton, who has announced his resignation at season's end. This was not an upset at all, as UNCW should beat CU, even though CU is in a power conference.

NFL Picks-Week 13

There’s an NFL Network Thursday night special tonight, so the picks are early.

Last week was really good, as I went 13-3. Season: 108-68

Dallas at New York Giants: The Giants are Team Turmoil at the moment. Michael Strahan called out Plaxico Burress for quitting on the team, then called out a reporter in a press gaggle for wanting to report it. Jeremy Shockey has been running his mouth, as well. It has not been a good three weeks at Camp Coughlin. The Cowboys are flying high, as the Rib Man, Tony Romo, makes the beginning of his bid to be compared with Staubach and Aikman. Do you really think I’m going to pick against the Cowboys now? Pick: Dallas
Baltimore at Cincinnati: The Thursday night NFL Network game. The Ravens sit on top of the AFC North at 9-2. Their defense had nine sacks, and forced three turnovers and scored a touchdown last week. The Bengals are starting to make their move toward a playoff spot. They need this game desperately. Carson Palmer and Ocho Cinco come through at home. Pick: Cincy
Houston at Oakland: Yuck. The Suck Bowl. Or, the Brady Bowl, as in Brady Quinn, probably the first quarterback taken in the upcoming draft. Both teams are bad. This one is in the Black Hole. Pick: Oakland.
Arizona at St. Louis: The old St. Louis team returns to the city with the Arch for what is now an annual trip. It’s been 18 years since the Cardinals called St. Louis home, so that shows you how old I’m getting. The Cardinals aren’t very good, and the Rams are decent at times. The newer St. Louis team should win here. Pick: St. Louis
Atlanta at Washington: The Redskins got a win last week against the Carolina Panthers with new QB Jason Campbell. The Falcons are one of the most inconsistent teams in the league. I don’t have a reason to pick against Washington. Pick: D.C.
Detroit at New England: Mismatch city. The Lions are terrible. They may be in line for Brady Quinn as well. The Patriots are still a force to be reckoned with. They should beat the Lions with one hand tied behind their backs. Pick: Pats
Indianapolis at Tennessee: The Colts are rolling along at 10-1, but only defeated the Titans by one point in their last meeting. The Fighting Vince Youngs made an improbable comeback against the Giants last week, winning 24-21 after being down 21-0 in the 4th quarter. I’d like to see this game, but I won’t get to. The Titans are becoming a fun team to watch. It’s hard to go against the Colts, though. Pick: Indy
Kansas City at Cleveland: The Chiefs are 7-4, in contention for a playoff spot, and get to go to Cleveland this week. Cleveland is a pretty dreary place this time of year, but so is their team. Pick: Kansas City
Minnesota at Chicago: The Vikes stopped a losing skid last week against Arizona. Da Bears are coming off of a loss in New England. Dome team vs. cold weather team in December, outdoors. Let me think…..da Bears. Pick: Chicago
New York Jets at Green Bay: Speaking of cold, brrr…. The Jets are a respectable 6-5. The Packers have improved this year, to 5-6 at this point. Brett Favre is still performing in Green Bay, and has improved over last year. In a close one, I’ll go with the Pack. Pick: Green Bay
San Diego at Buffalo: Warm weather team at cold weather team in December…wait a minute, these are the Chargers. They’ll give it to LaDainian Tomlinson 40 times and get out of Buffalo with a win. Pick: San Diego
San Francisco at New Orleans: The 49ers had their winning streak snapped last week. The Saints find themselves on top of the NFC South. Good things continue to happen in the Big Easy. Pick: Saints
Jacksonville at Miami: The East Coast of Florida Bowl. The Jags are not a good road team. The Dolphins have won four in a row with Joey Harrington at quarterback. At this rate, he’ll make Nick Saban want to stay in Miami instead of flirting with that Alabama job. Make that five wins in a row for the ‘Fins. Pick: Miami
Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh: Both teams have won Super Bowls in recent years, and both teams are struggling this year. The Bucs are worse. Pick: Pittsburgh
Seattle at Denver: The AFC West Reunion tour continues for the Seahawks, who celebrated the return of Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander with a big second half to defeat the Packers on Monday Night Football. The Broncos are changing quarterbacks, as Jay Cutler makes his first start in Denver. I’ll go with the known over the unknown here. Pick: Seattle
Carolina at Philadelphia: The Eagles are struggling, now that Donovan McNabb is out for the season. The Panthers have been nothing if not inconsistent. Monday Night in Philadelphia..who do I pick? Pick: Philly

Mid-Major Win of the Night

The Southern Conference got its second win over a BCS conference school in as many weeks, as the Furman Paladins defeated Vanderbilt in Nashville, 70-62. Furman coach Jeff Jackson was an assistant at Vandy for five years, before getting the Furman job this year. The SoCon is making noise in the non-conference part of the schedule, as Furman's upstate rival Wofford won at Cincinnati last week.

College Picks-Championship Week

It’s conference championship weekend, along with a few assorted regular season games. The #2 spot in the BCS is still in play, as well as four BCS conference championships.

Last Week: 13-7 Season: 180-80

Big XII Championship game at Kansas City: Oklahoma vs. Nebraska: The Sooners are making a surprise appearance here, winning seven games in a row after losing to Texas. They are doing it the Woody Hayes way: three yards and a cloud of dust. RBs Allen Patrick and Chris Brown have picked up the slack after the injury to Adrian Peterson. Nebraska is the best of a mediocre bunch in the North, but the Huskers do have a big road win over Texas A&M, the latest conquerors of Texas. The forecast is for temperatures in the 20s in Kansas City Saturday night, which favors the OU running game over the West Coast Offense of Nebraska. Pick: OU
MAC Championship game at Detroit: Central Michigan vs. Ohio: Frank Solich has the Ohio Bobcats in the championship game and a bowl in his second year in Athens. The Chippewas blew through the West division of the MAC. Pick: Ohio
Conference USA Championship game at Houston: Southern Miss vs. Houston: The Coogs have rolled through the West division of C-USA, after a midseason 3-game losing streak. Southern Miss is consistently good. The game is on Houston’s home field. Pick: Houston
ACC Championship game at Jacksonville: Wake Forest vs. Georgia Tech: Wake Forest got through a murderer’s row in their division, getting past Maryland, Boston College, and a weakened Florida State to reach the championship game. Georgia Tech is coming off of a tough loss to archrival Georgia. Neither team expected to be here at the beginning of the year. The ride continues for Wake. Pick: Wake Forest
SEC Championship game at Atlanta: Florida vs. Arkansas: The Gators have made it to this point with only one loss, on the Plains at Auburn. Arkansas won 10 games in a row before losing last week against LSU. Arkansas is doing some fun things on offense, such as lining up RB Dwight McFadden in the “Wildcat” formation, a variation of the single wing. Florida barely survived last week in Tallahassee against weakened archrival Florida State. Arkansas is better than Florida State. Pick: Arkansas
Army vs. Navy at Philadelphia: A lot of these guys will be fighting terrorists as soon as next year. Props to them for serving our country. This rivalry takes a back seat to none. On the field, Navy is once again having a solid season. Army has had its ups and downs. Pick: Navy
USC at UCLA: All that stands between the Trojans and the BCS championship game are their hated rival Bruins. USC needs to win in the Rose Bowl to avoid returning there on January 1. UCLA is a fair team, but nothing special. USC just keeps getting better. Pick: USC
Rutgers at West Virginia: The Scarlet Knights can secure a conference championship and BCS bowl bid with a win. Problem is, it’s their toughest road game of the year. West Virginia suffered an improbable home loss to South Florida last week, bringing an end to their BCS hopes. Still, the ‘Eers will have enough in the tank to bounce back and handle Rutgers. There will be a lot of happy people in Louisville Saturday night. Pick: West Virginia
Air Force at TCU: TCU, with a win, will clinch another 10 win season, after slipping under the radar with early losses to BYU and Utah. Air Force has slipped to the status of a middle-of-the pack Mountain West team, and is no longer the strongest program of the service academies. Pick: TCU
Oregon State at Hawaii: The Beavers are the only team to defeat USC this year. They will not have a vacation in Hawaii this week, as the Warriors have won 9 games in a row, and are ranked 24th in the nation. The Warriors (don’t call them Rainbow) have scored more than 40 points in all 10 of their wins. The Beavers can’t hang with that. Pick: Hawaii

Super Bowl or Bust

Kicker Mike Vanderjagt was cut today from the roster of the Dallas Cowboys. Vanderjagt had struggled this season after signing a free agent contract in the off-season, making only 13 out of 18 field goals, after a record as the most accurate kicker in the league while kicking for the Indianapolis Colts. Vandy was in a season-long funk, after missing a game-tying field goal in a playoff game last season. The Colts lost that game to the Steelers, after being favored to win the Super Bowl.

This is not surprising. Bill Parcells is playing to win, and is playing to win now. The message has been sent: Super Bowl or Bust.

The Cowboys picked up ex-Buc kicker Martin Gramatica off waivers. Is the 33rd best kicker in football the answer? Parcells doesn’t trust Vanderjagt, so he had no choice.

The Cowboys have now changed quarterbacks and kickers. Is Parcells greatness, or is he just a glorified gym teacher? Time will tell.

How Can I Forget?

How can I forget the Pre-Season NIT (or whatever they call it these days)

The Butler Bulldogs weren't expected to do a whole lot in this tournament. However, they knocked off Notre Dame and Indiana in consecutive nights to earn a trip to New York City. Once at the Garden, they defeated Tennessee and Gonzaga to win the championship. Not bad.

The Bulldogs weren't expecting to be in the finals, and followed up last Friday's final in New York with a game back home against MAC power Kent State. Butler won that one, too, and is now 7-0.

The Butler did it.