Season Finale

There really isn’t a lot that matters in the NFL today. The New York Giants clinched the final NFC play-off spot last night with their 34-28 win over the Washington Redskins. The seeding in the NFC could possibly change today. Seeds 2-5 could all be mixed up if the New Orleans Saints, Philadelphia Eagles, or Dallas Cowboys were to lose.

In the AFC there is technically a play-off spot still open but the New York Jets would have to lose to the Oakland Raiders for that to be a possibility. Should that happen the Cincinnati Bengals, Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans all have a shot.

Seeds 1-3 could still change in the AFC depending on how the San Diego Chargers, Baltimore Ravens and Indianapolis Colts do today. The best the Colts could do is the number two seed but the Ravens and the Chargers both have the possibility of getting the number one seed. All the Chargers would need to do is win today to lock it up.

Which games are you watching today? Head over to the forum and talk to us about it. Start a game thread and post your comments throughout the game.

MPC Computers Bowl

Miami Hurricanes (6-6) vs Nevada Wolf Pack (8-4)

There is a bowl game today so we can all get out college football fix. I am going to buck my system that has allowed me to correctly pick seven of the eight games I have given predictions on. The system says that Nevada will come away the winner but I’m not buying it and am going with the Hurricanes to win.

Fight Night!

I’m back from Christmas vacation in time to watch the Chuck Liddell/Tito Ortiz fight. With Georgia and Virginia Tech playing in the Chick-fil-A Bowl and Washington playing the New York Giants there isn’t much that could rip me away from football but this fight is one of them.

I hope I’m not setting myself up for disappointment here but I really believe that this will be a great fight deeming it worthy of skipping out on the second halves of the football games.

If you're watching the fight come on over the forum and talk about it with us.

Motor City Bowl Preview

Central Michigan (9-4) is the Mid-American Conference champion but they will be playing this game without departed head coach Brian Kelly who bolted for the Cincinnati job.

After going 4-7 last season Middle Tennessee (7-5) will be making its first bowl appearance as a Division I-A school.

2006 Middle Tenn. State Schedule/Results			2006 Central Michigan Schedule/Results
Florida International W 7-6			Boston College L 24-31
at Maryland L 10-24			at (10) Michigan L 17-41
Tennessee Tech W 44-0			Akron W 24-21
at (17) Oklahoma L 0 -59			at Eastern Michigan W 24-17
at North Texas W 35-0			at Kentucky L 36-45
(8) Louisville L 17-44			at Toledo W 42-20
at Louisiana-Monroe W 35-21			Ball State W 18-7
at Louisiana-Lafayette W 34-20			Bowling Green W 31-14
Florida Atlantic W 35-14			at Temple W 42-26
at Arkansas State W 38-10			Western Michigan W 31-7
at South Carolina L 7-52			at Northern Illinois L 10-31
Troy L 20-21			at Buffalo W 55-28
			at Ohio W 31-10

Three Reasons to Watch the Motor City Bowl
1. Central Michigan quarterback Dan LeFevour led the MAC with 3,514 total yards. He completed 63.8 percent of his passes, throwing 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He threw for 349 yards and three touchdowns in the MAC title game.

2. Middle Tennessee allowed the fewest points (271) among Sun Belt teams, but 179 of those came in losses to major conference opponents Maryland, Oklahoma, Louisville and South Carolina -- all bowl teams.

3. Thanks to six games of scoring 30 points or more, the Blue Raiders led the Sun Belt with 23.5 points per game and turned the ball over just four times in their last five games.

My Prediction

So far my system has correctly given us six of the seven bowl winners. Let’s hope the trend continues! Central Michigan wins 27-24.

A Sports Fan’s Guide to Christmas

All the presents have been opened and the mess is cleaned up so what are we supposed to do with the rest of the day? Relax sports fans! I’ve got it all planned out for you.

First make sure you assemble everything that needs it and help your wife out as much as possible because you don’t need to be in front of the television until 1:30 CST.

First up is Los Angeles Lakers (18-9) at the Miami Heat (12-14). It’s the NBA’s Christmas classic. It’s Kobe verses Shaq…er…strike that. It’s Kobe verses Wade in a game that’s really not as important as it was two years ago.

Bryant has averaged 33.8 points to Wade's 23.6 in five head-to-head meetings, but the Heat have won three of them.

My Prediction: I’ll take the Lakers to win 107 – 103.

Next up is the Philadelphia Eagles (8-6) at the Dallas Cowboys (9-5). The Eagles are fighting for a play-off birth and the Cowboys are fighting for a first round bye.

My Prediction: Sorry Saints fans but the Cowboys aren’t losing this one. They beat the Eagles 28-24.

Finally for the nightcap we have the New York Jets (8-6) at the Miami Dolphins (6-8). The Jets are still fighting for a play-off spot and the Dolphins haven’t really been fighting for anything this season. The play-off drought continues in South Florida and the Nick Saban era appears like it will only last two seasons.

My Prediction: Jets take this one 21 – 17.

Hawaii Bowl Preview

Arizona State (7-5) and Hawaii (10-3) give us an interesting match-up in this game. The Sun Devils have a lame duck head coach in Dirk Koetter who has already been shown the door but is being allowed to stay on for the bowl game. Sometimes that can be a bad thing but it can also be a positive if the players really liked their coach and want him to go out with a bang.

Regardless, this should be a good game as long as you don’t like defense. There will be a lot of big plays and a lot of points scored tonight.

2006 Arizona State Schedule/Results			2006 Hawaii Schedule/Results
Northern Arizona W 35-14			at Alabama L 17-25
Nevada W 52-21			UNLV W 42-13
at Colorado W 21-3			at (25) Boise St L 34-41
at (22) Cal L 21-49			Eastern Illinois W 44-9
at (14) Oregon L L13-48			Nevada W 41-24
at (3) USC L 21-28			at Fresno State W 68-37
Stanford W 38-3			at New Mexico State W 49-30
at Washington W 26-23			Idaho W 68-10
at Oregon State L 10-44			at Utah State W 63-10
Washington State W 47-14			Louisiana Tech W 61-17
UCLA L 12-24			San Jose State W 54-17
at Arizona W 28-14			Purdue W 42-35
			Oregon State L 32-35

Three Reasons to Watch the Hawaii Bowl
1. Hawaii is the No. 1 offense in the nation, averaging 47.3 points and 549.9 yards a game.

2. Hawaii's Colt Brennan is on the verge of breaking the 26-year-old NCAA single-season record for touchdown passes. He needs one TD pass to tie the mark of 54 set by Houston's David Klingler in 1990.

With 10 more passing yards, Brennan will become the third quarterback in NCAA history with 5,000 yards and 50 TDs in a season.

Brennan leads the nation in total offense (410.8), passing efficiency (182.8), touchdowns passes (53) and yards passing (4,990). He also has a 72.1 completion percentage and has rushed for 351 yards and five TDs.

3. Arizona State will try to slow down Hawaii’s high powered offense with the nation’s 27th ranked defense.

My Prediction
To this point I’ve correctly given you 5 out of 6 bowl winners. Hawaii will make it 6 out of 7 with their 35 – 27 win.

Quick Picks

There are three bowl games on tap for today. I already gave you the low down on the Papa John’s.com Bowl. Here’s the quick picks for the other two games.

New Mexico Bowl

New Mexico Lobos (6-6) vs. San Jose Sate Spartans (8-4)

My Prediction: San Jose Sate 27 – New Mexico 24

Armed Forces Bowl
Tulsa Golden Hurricane (8-4) vs. Utah (7-5)

My Prediction: Tulsa 28 – Utah 24

Bowl Pick’Em Contest Standings

Rank	Name	Total Points
1.	cher63	138
2.	stoopstroops	62
3.	pickmeawinner	44
4.	true2osu	42
5.	Holdembratt	38
6.	dolphinfan73132	22
7.	InsideInformation	4

Papa John’s.com Bowl Preview

First off one must ask, why Papa John’s.com and not just Papa John’s? Personally I’m a fan of the pizza but will most likely never visit the website. It must be one amazing site for them to take so much money into it or it could be an amazingly bad marketing idea.

South Florida (8-4) ended the season with a surprising upset of then #7 West Virginia. The Bulls are playing in their second consecutive bowl game as well as their second since moving up to Division I-A six years ago.

The East Carolina Pirates (7-5) finished out their regular season winning five of their last six games. This is their first bowl appearance in five years.

2006 South Florida Schedule/Results			2006 East Carolina Schedule/Results
McNeese State W 41-10			at Navy L 23-28
Florida International W 21-20			at UAB L 12-17
at UCF W 24-17			Memphis W 35-20
at Kansas L 7-13			(4) West Virginia L 10-27
(23) Rutgers L 20-22			Virginia W 31-21
Connecticut W 38-16			Tulsa L 31-10
at North Carolina W 37-20			SMU W 38-21
Cincinnati L 6-23			at Southern Miss W 20-17
Pittsburgh W 22-12			at UCF W 23-10
Syracuse W 27-10			Marshall W 33-20
at (10) Louisville L 8-31			at Rice L 17-18
at West Virginia W 24-19			at NC State W 21-16

Three Reasons to Watch the Papa John’s.com Bowl
1. South Florida was 3-0 against the Pirates in the three seasons that the two teams played in Conference USA together (2002-04).

2. The last time East Carolina played in a bowl game they lost 64-61 to Marshall.

3. South Florida quarterback Matt Grothe was named the Big East rookie of the year and leads the Bulls in both passing and rushing.

My Prediction
I’ve correctly given you the three winners of the first three bowl games but am seriously struggling with these scores. The New Orleans Bowls wasn’t quite the blow-out that the first two were but rice was never in the game and Troy won easily.

As for this game I’m picking Southern Florida to win in, dare I say it, a close one 24-21.

New Orleans Bowl Preview

Can we please have a bowl game that is not a blow out? So far college football’s second season is 0 for 2 on keeping my attention throughout an entire game with two 30 point blowouts. While the New Orleans Bowl may not be attractive at first a second look should reveal two teams thatare more evenly matched than what we have seen in the first two bowls.

Both Rice and Troy have 7-5 records and finished the season on hot streaks. The Trojans finished the regular season winning six of their last seven games. This isn’t your grandma and grandpa’s Rice Owls team and the Trojans are still fairly new to Division I. Troy didn’t make the jump to college football’s elite division until 2002 and are appearing in their second bowl game.

2006 Rice Schedule/Results			2006 Troy Schedule/Results
Houston L 30-31			Alabama State W 38-0
at UCLA L 16-26			at (9) Florida State L 17-24
(8) Texas L 7-52			at Georgia Tech L 20-35
at (18) Florida State L 7-55			at (23) Nebraska L 0-56
at Army W 48-14			at UAB L 3-21
at Tulane L 24-38			Louisiana-Monroe W 24-19
UAB W 34-33			North Texas W 14-6
at UCF W 40-29			Louisiana-Lafayette W W 48-28
at UTEP W 37-31			at Florida Atlantic W 24-17
at Tulsa W 41-38			Arkansas State L 26-33
East Carolina W 18-17			at Middle Tennessee W 21-20
SMU W 31-27			at Florida International W 26-13

Three Reasons to Watch the New Orleans Bowl
1. Each bowl game has some sort of streak riding on it but none like this one. The Rice Owls haven’t been bowling since 1961 and haven’t won a post season game since 1954.

2. Owls receiver Chase Clement has caught 82 passes for 1,176 yards and 20 touchdowns. He has also caught a touchdown pass in 14 consecutive games.

3. This is the first bowl game in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina.

My Prediction

So far I have given you two correct winners but have been way off on the scores. This game will feature little, if any, defense and I think will make up for the blow-outs in the first two bowl games. I’m taking Troy to win 33-30 in overtime.

Dangerous Sports

You know they say that boxing is one of the most dangerous sports around. I just always thought they meant it was dangerous for the boxers. Keep an eye on the referee in this match.

Las Vegas Bowl Preview

The Oregon Ducks (7-5) are riding a 3-game losing streak while the #19 BYU Cougars (10-2) haven’t lost since September 16th. Both teams have high powered offensive attacks. The Cougars average 36.7 points per game and the Ducks put up 31.3 points per game. Defense is a different story where BYU is a respectable 16th in total defense but Oregon is 84th.

2006 BYU Schedule/Results			2006 Oregon Schedule/Results
at Arizona L 13-16			Stanford W 48-10
Tulsa W 49-24			at Fresno State W 31-24
at (23) Boston College L 23-30			(15) Oklahoma W 34-33
Utah State W 38-0			at Arizona State W 48-13
TCU W 31-17			at Cal. L 24-45
San Diego State W 47-17			UCLA W 30-20
UNLV W 52-7			at Washington State L 23-34
at Air Force W 33-14			Portland State W 55-12
at Colorado State W 24-3			Washington W 34-14
Wyoming W 55-7			at (7)USC L 10-35
New Mexico W 42-17			Arizona L 10-37
at Utah W 33-31			at Oregon State L 28-30

Three Reasons to Watch the Las Vegas Bowl
1. The BYU Cougars are looking to win their first bowl game in 10 years.

2. Oregon offensive coordinator Gary Crowton coached BYU from 2001-04 before being fired. While at BYU he recruited Cougars quarterback John Beck and hired current Cougars head coach Bronco Mendenhall as his defensive coordinator.

3. BYU quarterback John Beck set Las Vegas Bowl records for completions (35), attempts (53) and passing yards (353) in last year’s 35-28 loss to Cal.

My Prediction
The Oregon Ducks are a team in turmoil after losing the last three games of their regular season. Their defense has struggled as of late and they are unsettled at the quarterback position. On the other hand BYU is rolling and focused. I say Cougars win an exciting game 31-24.

Blogging the NFL Week 16

Game of the Week: Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys – The NFC East is up for grabs on Christmas Day. Dallas has already clinched a play-off spot and a win over the Eagles would clinch the division. An Eagles victory on Monday leaves things wide open for the final weekend of the regular season.

I’ll take the Cowboys to win and stay in competition for a first round bye.

Game Not Worth Watching: Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Cleveland Browns – What do these two teams have left to play for? With only 7 wins between them dignity isn’t even up for grabs.

The Bucs will win this one. Not that it matters.

Mutiny in Minnesota
First it was Vince Young and then Jay Cutler. Now it’s Tarvaris Jackson’s turn to become the next rookie quarterback to start in the NFL. The Vikings are apparently done with Brad Johnson after he was booed off the field in Sunday’s loss to the Jets.

Vikings Head Coach Brad Childress announced Tuesday that Jackson will start the final two games of the season, including Thursday night's pivotal game at Green Bay, replacing veteran Brad Johnson.

Childress said Jackson "gives us the best chance to win right now."

Chicago’s Tank Disabled
Chicago defensive tackle Tank Johnson was arrested on Thursday and then was at a night club Friday where his friend, Willie B. Posey, was shot and killed. Now the Bears have suspended him for Saturday’s game against Detroit.

Thursday’s arrest was Johnson’s third in eighteen months and he recognizes this suspension as his last chance with the Bears organization.

"I don't believe the team has to tell me it's my last chance, I know the opportunity that I have in front of me and it's great, it's immense and to squander that opportunity would be a tragedy at this point and that's not going to happen," Johnson said.

Pro Bowl Rosters Dominated by Two Teams
Imagine for just a minute that the Bears and the Chargers make it to the Super Bowl. We would actually see a rematch the next week in the Pro Bowl. The Chargers are sending nine players to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl and the Bears are sending seven.

Top 10
The Eagles are back in the Top 10 this week and the Seahawks have moved out.
1. San Diego Chargers

2. Chicago Bears

3. New England Patriots

4. Indianapolis Colts

5. Baltimore Ravens

6. New Orleans Saints

7. Dallas Cowboys

8. Philadelphia Eagles

9. Cincinnati Bengals

10. Jacksonville Jaguars

Rob is the Man!

I would officially like to thank the Cincinnati Bengals for deciding to not try and score points against the Colts on Monday night. Their decision to deviate from their normal game plan cost me the tie breaker in this week’s picks.

Congratulations rob you are the Ultimate NFL Guru this week! He picked 49 total points in the Colts/Bengals game for the tie breaker.

Week 15 Standings
rob 11-5 (49)
dolphinfan 11-5 (66)
ffnstuff 10-6
notafan 9-7

Think you know football? Jump over to the forum and make your Week 16 picks. We’ll see if you are as good as you think you are.

Week 16 Winners
Minnesota Vikings at Green Bay Packers – Vikings
Kansas City Chiefs at Oakland Raiders – Chiefs
Washington Redskins at St Louis Rams - Rams
Tennessee Titans at Buffalo Bills – Titans
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Cleveland Browns – Bucs
New Orleans Saints at NY Giants – Saints
New England Patriots at Jacksonville Jaguars – Patriots
Indianapolis Colts at Houston Texans – Colts
Chicago Bears at Detroit Lions – Bears
Carolina Panthers at Atlanta Falcons – Falcons
Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers – Steelers
Arizona Cardinals at San Francisco 49ers – 49ers
Cincinnati Bengals at Denver Broncos – Bengals
San Diego Chargers at Seattle Seahawks – Chargers
Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys – Cowboys
NY Jets at Miami Dolphins – Jets

Leave a comment below of start a conversation in the forum. Make your Week 16 picks here.

Bowl Season Kicks-Off Tonight - Poinsettia Bowl Preview

The first of 32 bowl games begins tonight when TCU and Northern Illinois face off in the Poinsettia Bowl. Both teams represent small conferences. #25 TCU (10-2) is from the Mountain West and Northern Illinois (7-5) from the Mid-American.

2006 TCU Schedule/Results			2006 NIU Schedule/Results
at Baylor W 17-7			at(1) Ohio State L 12-35
Cal-Davis W 46-13			Ohio L 23-35
(24) Texas Tech W 12-3			Buffalo W 31-13
BYU L 17-31			Indiana State W 48-14
at Utah L 7-20			at Ball State W 40-28
at Army W 31-17			at Miami (OH) W 28-25
Wyoming W 26-3			at Western Michigan L14-16
at UNLV W 25-10			Temple W 43-21
at New Mexico W 27-21			at Iowa L 14-24
San Diego State W 52-0			Toledo L 13-17
at Colorado State W 45-14			Central Michigan W 31-10
Air Force W 38-14			at Eastern Michigan W 27-0

Three Reasons to Watch the Poinsettia Bowl
1. TCU is one of the hottest teams in the country. The Horned Frogs have won seven games in a row with a stingy run defense that only allows 67.6 rushing yards per game.


2. NIU’s Garret Wolfe is the nation’s leading rusher with 1900 yards. He averages 6.5 yards per carry and has tallied 18 touchdowns this season.


3. The Horned Frogs are looking to win consecutive bowl games for the first time in 10 year’s.

My Prediction
Granted TCU hasn’t faced a running back the caliber of Wolfe all season but Northern Illinois seems to fade against stronger competition. I think the game will be close and come down to a late field goal. I’ll Take TCU to win 24-21.

Bowl Pick’Em Contest
Today is the last day to sign-up for the Bowl Pick’Em Contest. The prize is a $25.00 gift card and you have to register before the kick-off of the Poinsettia Bowl tonight.

Basket Brawl, Again

Where do people get off saying that the NBA is full of thugs and gangster wanna be’s? Frankly I thing the assumption is rude and stereotypical. Sure commissioner David Stern had to issue a statement urging the players to keep their guns home when they left the house but everyone knows that you just can’t feel absolutely safe unless you’re packing heat.

The NBA is really just full of a bunch of misunderstood athletes who share camaraderie and mutual respect for each other. Just Saturday night the Nuggets and the Knicks got together for a friendly game of brawl…er…I mean ball.





Now the blame game begins as Isaiah Thomas is screaming poor sportsmanship by the Nuggets for running up the score. The NBA will come down with fines and suspensions today and they will be steep as the league is image conscious despite their aggressive marketing campaigns targeting the Hip-Hop crowd.

The NBA is losing control and it’s not pretty. Saturday night’s melee marked the first time that all 10 players on the court were ejected. Nuggets coach George Karl may or may not have left is starters in to intentionally run up the score to get revenge for the way the Knicks treated his buddy Larry Brown and Thomas may or may not have instructed Mardy Collins to get physical in an attempt to defend the Knicks honor but the NBA does have another black eye and that is something fans are taking notice of.

Sign-up for the Bowl Pick’Em Contest and you could win a $25.00 gift card.

NFL Game Threads

Before reading or participating in this post check out the Bowl Pick’em Contest and sign up!

There is a lot of action going on in the NFL today, including my Dolphins getting spanked by the Bills. Stop by the forum to talk about the good, the bad and the ugly of Week 15.

College Football Bowl Pick’Em

I’ve set up a college football bowl pick’em at PoolHost.com. It's free and will give added interest to the bowl season. I’ve got a $25.00 gift card for the winner (I’ll let you pick from a list of stores or restaurants) thanks to our newest sponsor Barry’s Tickets.

Sign-Up today because the first bowl game is December 19th. Here’s how!

1. Go to PoolHost.com and become a registered user. It’s free and takes about 2 minutes.

2. After you register go to the “user tools” tab on the left of the page and click on the “Join a Private League” icon. Then click on the “College Bowl Pick’Em” logo.

3. Pool’s Login Name: BowlPickEm, Pool Password: Fiesta

4. Pick the winners of each bowl game and assign each game confidence points from 1-32. If you pick correctly then you will be awarded the points you assigned to that pick. The person with the most points after the BCS Championship game is the winner.

After you register for the contest you will be able to check back and see the standings, post a message or talk smack. The registration deadline is 7:00pm (CST) Tuesday December 19th.