- Seattle wins the NFC West... Clipboard Jesus aka Charlie Whitehurst looked... average? and in the end, the first drive of the game resulting in a TD was the clincher... I can't figure out why STL abandoned the run (11 carries for S-Jax) but big-ups to the Seattle defense holding the Rams to 184 total yards... 7-9 is the ticket...
- The Falcons are the #1 Seed... Big hype in Atlanta for the franchise's first #1 seed and deservedly so... took care of business against a putrid Panthers team, and have secured the right to have the road to the Super Bowl go through the dome... no real reason to break this game down (nice INT from Dunta Robinson though, encouraging), but a week off to get right, and a Saturday night kickoff in the divisional round...
- Indy wins and they're in... the Colts didn't rely on Jacksonville (who actually lost anyway) to get in... taking care of the Titans by 3, and that could be a dangerous team going forward... they've been able to run it a little recently, and that defense is getting healthy with guys like Brackett coming back...
- Green Bay sneaks in.... the Giants go home... NY held up their end beating the Redskins (barely), but GB made plays late headlined by the Rodgers to Jennings bomb on the touchdown drive and they will go to Philly as the 6 seed next week... that'll be a fantastic game... heart-breaking for the Giants...
Bowls...
- The Big 10 Massacre... heard that named coined for New Years Day 2011 and it certainly fits... Michigan State headlines the carnage as a supposed national title contender at one point (laughable then, laughable now) getting blitzed by 42, but of course, the most "hyped" calamity happened in front of my eyes in Jacksonville with the Victors not being so... victorious... Miss. State did whatever they wanted all day offensively, and likely cost Rich Rodriguez his job... but hey! At least Penn State competed!... sigh...
- TCU wins the Granddaddy of them all.... some curious decision making by Wisconsin (shotgun on the 2-point conversion? huh?) including waiting til the final drive to just maul TCU on the ground, but big-ups to the Horned Frogs athletic defense for containing them, and Andy Dalton made enough plays... Wisconsin was a real, live opponent, and the skepticism for TCU should be non-existent now...
- Oklahoma 48, UConn 20... Well... it was apparent that this game wouldn't be competitive before it started (highest Vegas line for a BCS game ever, etc.), but it really... wasn't.. competitive... Landry Jones threw for 4 bills, and UConn was never really threatening... One star for the Big East...
THE PICKS! 48-43-2 entering the Bowl Picks and Week 17...
- Iowa +3... Win!
- OK State -5... Win!
- Washington +14... Outright win!
- Miami -3... Loss!
- UGA -6.5... loss!
- FSU +3... Win!
- Northwestern +10.... Win!
- Alabama -9.5... Win!
- Wisconsin +3... Win!
- UConn +17... Loss!
- NE -3.5... Win!
- Pitt -6... Win!
- Jax -1.5... Loss!
9-4 for the week, and 57-44-2 total... the kid is hot...
Elsewhere...
- Randy Edsall hired at Maryland... I am vehemently against the firing of Friedgen... but this is a good hire... Edsall built the UConn program from scratch, has won the Big East twice (at Uconn!) and won 8+ games 4 years in a row...
- The Vikings will hire Leslie Frazier... no issue with this at all... Frazier has been a "hot" assistant name for years, so it's not a knee-jerk hire of the interim coach and that Philly win probably got him this job.....
- Charlie Weis to Florida... kind of a weird fit... Weis is installing a pro-style offense, and while they have a QB on campus for it (John Brantley), he had been threatening transfer, and they don't have the down-hill running game for it right now... that said, Weis as a college OC is pretty crazy... guy can coach offense
- Caron Butler out for the year... this one stings Dallas a bit... I don't think it'll kill them, but it'll be interesting how they respond without the ball stopping every time Caron touches it... oh...
- NBA Box Score Check - Joe Johnson with a free throw explosion (14 of 17 in the game) and 29 points to lead the Hawks to a road win in LAC... a 37 point 4th quarter that more showed the ineptness of the Clips down the stretch, but wins are wins... Blake Griffin with a ho-hum 31 and 15... goodness... Rajon Rondo returned for Boston, but Paul Pierce led the Celts in their road win in Toronto with 30... Dallas gets a road win in Cleveland without Dirk and Butler... despite Antawn Jamison's throwback 35 and 10 for CLE, the Mavs balanced attack won out (despite Dominique Jones' random 2 for 10 outing)... and the Lakeshow is "cover-your-eyes" bad right now... a 104-85 blowout HOME loss to Memphis causing Phil to berate Kobe postgame... the funny thing is... Kobe had a decent game... 10 of 22 for 28 points... yeah.... I maintain that the most important "drop-off" for LAL this year is Ron Artest... shooting sub-40% from the field, and numbers down across the board including a career-low 7.5 points per... just saying...
What to watch for...
- Orange Bowl - Stanford vs. Virginia Tech - ESPN 8:30 - really nice matchup here... Tyrod Taylor has been quietly fantastic and doesn't take a backseat (college-wise) to Andrew Luck... plus VT has been one of the hottest teams in the country having gone undefeated in the ACC... that said, I like Stanford close here... Luck makes enough plays, and they have a better offensive line...
- Sixers @ Hornets - NBATV 8:00 - Philly has interesting dynamics... but if you're watching, the selling point is Chris Paul...
Done and done...
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