Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati- Who is the true Beast of the Big East?…Bearcats 4-0 at home, Panthers 4-0 on road…Cincy off back to back road wins at West Va & L’ville…LeSean McCoy 1000+ yards, 16 TD
Michigan @ Ohio State- Wolverines have scored 21 pts or less in 7 of 11 games…while allowing 45 or more 3 times…Buckeyes have allowed only USC past the 21 point mark…OSU has won last 4 by 16, 4, 3 and 11 points
Air Force @ TCU- Falcons won last year 20-17…Oklahoma only team to score more than 14 pts against Horned Frogs this season…teams have combined 17-5 record, and are part of top-tier of Mtn West Conference along with…
BYU @ Utah- Whittingham 35-10 SU in 4th year with Utah…Utes have 5 wins by 7 pts or less, incl identical 13-10 scores over New Mexico & TCU…Utah has held last 4 opponents to 16 pts or fewer…Cougars have scored at elast 38 in 4 straight…Max Hall 34 TD, 8 INT…BYU last team to defeat Utah (17-10 in Provo last year)…
Michigan State @ Penn State- Spartans coming off only bye week of season…Ringer averaging 32 carries per game…Hoyer less that 50% completions with just 9 TD passes…Penn State has held 9 opponents to 17 pts or less…Nittany Lions lost 35-31 at East Lansing last year after leading 24-7 in 3rd qtr.
NFL WEEK 12
NY Jets @ Tennessee- Titans 9-1 ATS…have outscored opponents 127-54 in second half…83-37 in 4th qtr…Jets have won 5 of 6 since bye…34 sacks third-most in league…6 players with at least 20 receptions
New England @ Miami- both clubs 6-4, with loser probably out of playoffs…Dolphins on 4 game win streak, holding all opponents under 20 point mark…but victims have been Buff, Denver, Oak, and Seattle…combined record 15-25…Pats seeking revenge for 38-13 home loss on Sept 21st
Tampa Bay @ Detroit- Bucs 2-3 on road this season withh all 5 games decided by either 3 or 4 points…after Sunday at Ford Field, T Bay has 3 straight divisional games…Bucs D just 1 rushing TD allowed thru 10 games…Lions still scrappy despite no wins…Cal Johnson matchup problems for TB secondary
Carolina @ Atlanta- Panthers have allowed fewest pts in NFC, third fewest in league…have held 4 opponents under 10 pts…Falcons 2 games behind Carolina in division…John Abraham 11 sacks, but rest of team only 7…Falcons allowing nearly 5 yards per carry
NY Giants @ Arizona- from 2007 regular season and playoffs to today, G-Men 14-2 SU & 13-3 ATS on road…Big Blue in Top 5 turnover margin, sacks and interceptions…Cards off 3 straight division wins…Warner 70%, 3150 yards, 20 TD, 7 INT
Indianapolis @ San Diego- Colts sitting 6-4 with 3 game win streak…Chargers, Browns, Bengals, Lions, Jags, Titans remaining…San Diego has scored 20 pts or less in 4 of last 6 games…Chargers only 6 INT’s this seaosn…had that many against Manning in 1 game last year
Brigham Young (10-1, 6-1 Mountain West) The Cougars ground out a tough come from behind 38-24 win at Air Force last Saturday, giving up 323 yards on the ground to the Falcons while tallying 354 yards of their own through the air to earn their 3rd-consecutice double-digit win season and now have a chance to earn Co-Conference Championship Honors over their state rivals at Rice Eccles Stadium. Anyone who says that violence is against the Mormon code just hasn’t seen this defense play ball. A NCAA-best 17 times BYU this season has turned over their opponents via the fumble with 3-4 linebackers 6’3” 233 senior SLB David Nixon (67 T, 9 ½ TFL, S, 3 INT, FR), 6’1” 232 junior ILB Matt Bauman (84 T, 8 ½ TFL, 2 S, FR), 6’2” 232 junior ILB Shawn Doman (51 T, TFL, 2 FR), and 6’3” 220 junior WLB Coleby Clawson (40 T, 9 ½ TFL, 4 S, FR) plus key rotation backups Daniel Sorenson (11 T, 3 TFL, S, INT) and Matt Ah You (35 T) extremely quick to the ball and ready to lay the licks while teammates strip. 61 team tackles for loss including 20 sacks have help opposing squads to just 18.2 points per game on 337.5 yards (130.2 rush at 3.6 per carry, 207.3 pass at 6.5 per attempt) – a feat against the wide-open Mountain West Conference – with a superior 5 man rotation up front setting the tone. 6’4” 260 junior LDE Brett Denney (25 T, 7 TFL, S, 3 FR), 6’3” 300 junior NT Russell Tialavea (16 T, 2 ½ TFL, BLK), and 6’3” 274 junior RDE Jan Jorgenson (42 T, 7 ½ TFL, 5 S, FR, BLK) – who owns conference record with 21 ½ career sacks – will get the starts this week against the Utes but you will also see all kinds of sharp play from NT Ian Dulan (18 T, 4 TFL, 3 S, FR) and freshman phenom 6’6” 237 DE Matt Putnam (21 T, 3 TFL, 2 S, INT) whom the pro scouts will be drooling over once he grows into his body. Keep your depth chart at the ready; Defensive Coordinator Jamie Hill likes to use all the toys in his toy box! And speaking of toys, check out 6’0” 210 sophomore CB Brandon Bradley (25 T, FR with 34-yards TD return) who was snubbed by his hometown Seminoles, brought his dynamite size out west, and looked pretty damn good last Saturday in his first career start. SS David Tafuna (39 T, INT), NB/S Andrew Rich (20 T, INT, FR), and CB Brandon Hayward (29 T) join him in the defensive backfield plus 5’11” 187 senior FS Kellen Fowler (58 T, FR) who pound for pound must be one of the surest tacklers in college football. Say a little pre-game prayer, bust you in the chops for 60 minutes, then say a little post-game prayer…just another Saturday in Utah.
So just what hasn’t their been said about an offense that boasts a Mackey Award finalist, a Biletnikoff Award finalist, and a Davey O’Brien Award semi-finalist (finalists will be named on Monday)? Well, first of all you have got to notice the beef along this offensive line. LT Matt Reynolds, LG Ray Feinga, C Dallas Reynolds (will make his 50th straight start on Saturday), RG Travis Bright, and RT David Oswald measure in at an average of 6’6” and 326 pounds per man - which may be decisive against the small Utah front - and have allowed just 14 sacks in some 380+ drop-backs while maintaining a 4.0 yards per carry mark on the ground (129.1 yards per game rushing). Which brings us to second, the beef in the backfield. 6’0” 239 sophomore RB Harvey Unga (189 for 857 yards and 6 TD rushing) has great hands for a big man (34 for 280 and 4 TD receiving) and is actually the “little guy” in the backfield compared to 6’1” 253 RB Fui Vakapuna (42 for 193 and 2 TD) who will simply crack skulls in pass protection. Thirdly…oh, nevermind, let’s just get to these stars! 6’1” 201 junior QB Max Hall (251 of 353 for 3070 yards, 32 TD, 7 INT) is the newest member of a long list of great Cougar quarterbacks that includes Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach Brandon Doman who’s 33 touchdown passes were good enough to earn him runner-up honors for the 2001 Heisman Trophy. 6’5” 250 junior TE Dennis Pitta (67 for 879 and 6 TD) is the only 2-time John Mackey Weekly Award winner in college football this season and 6’2” 206 junior WR Austin Collie leads the NCAA with 1185 receiving yards this year on the 5th-best 78 catches plus has banked the bacon 13 times through 11 games. This is some major firepower to account for plus 6’1” 202 senior WR Michael Reed (33 for 391 and 2 TD) and 6’5” 243 junior TE (16 for 142 and 5 TD) are more than capable of making teams pay that lock down on Pitta and Collie. By the numbers, Brigham Young’s offense averages 36.2 points on 443.9 yards per game while converting a whopping 58% of their 3rd down conversions. And be careful in the kicking game; Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall’s crew has already blocked 5 kicks in 2008.
Utah (11-0, 7-0 Mountain West) Coach Kyle Wittingham’s (35-14 in 4th season) drilled San Diego State last week 63-14 on the strength of 5 first-half TD passes by 6’1” 200 senior QB Brian Johnson (211 of 317 for 2333 yards, 20 TD, 9 INT) and a pair of second-half interceptions returned for scores by backup senior safety Deshawn Richards. Johnson has a decent arm and good wheels but we give a lot of credit to his receiving corps. 6’3” 197 senior Bradon Godfrey (47 for 466 yards and 3 TD) and 6’4” 215 senior Freddie Brown (57 for 678 and 7 TD) bring NFL size and disciplined route running while fellow starter in the Utes’ base 3-receiver set 5’10” 198 senior Brian Casteel (36 for 487 and TD) brings major quickness and is tough as nails. Backups David Reed (19 for 309 and 4 TD) and Jereme Brooks (21 for 237 and TD) have produced big plays out of the 4 and 5 man alignments that most teams just don’t have the quality athletes to match up with effectively and keep an eye our for 6’4” 250 senior TE Colt Sampson (9 for 73 and 4 TD) in the Red Zone where Utah has banked 32 touchdowns in 45 trips. From the single-back set, Coach Anderson will run some direct snap plays to the backs with powerful 5’11” 230 junior RB Matt Asiata (122 for 633 yards and 10 TD) the most likely carrier of the ball in that situation although 6’0” 220 senior RB Darrell Mack (110 for 493 and 3 TD) gets equal touches is most games with 5’10” 200 sophomore RB Eddie Wide (30 for 183) breaking some long runs once the opponents have been worn down by the horses. By the numbers the line of LT Beadles, LG Schlauderhoff, C Taylor, RG Conley, and RT Hensel (average 6’4 ½” and 306 pounds and made all 55 possible starts) fuel an offensive attack that pounds out 36.5 points on 403.9 yards (173.5 rush, 230.5 pass) per game.
Coach Whittingham is a big believer in keeping his players rested during the season, typically giving them Monday’s off, and this approach has certainly paid off on defense (16.6 points per game) where his chosen starting 11 have basically made every possible start this season – allowing for subtle strategy and alignment changes. Defensive tackles 6’4” 260 senior Greg Newman (44 T, 8 ½ TFL, 1 ½ S, INT, FR) and 6’3” 245 freshman Derrick Shelby (27 T, 3 ½ TFL, S, FR) are massively undersized for the position but make a ton of tackles with their quickness while ends 6’3” 263 junior Koa Misi (57 T, 8 ½ TFL, 3 S, FR) and 6’5” 265 sophomore Paul Krueger (50 T, 15 ½ TFL, 7 ½ S) bring as much pain to the pocket as humanly possible considering the really must maintain lane assignments and edge control more than guys book-ending a couple of wide bodies. Without a doubt, Krueger won’t be spending his Sunday’s playing with the kids or watching football in the near future. Keeping in line with the philosophy of keeping players fresh, Defensive Coordinator rotates quite a bit with his unit of linebackers but the front line of 6’2” 224 junior Stevenson Sylvester (61 T, 5 TFL), 6’2” 230 junior Mike Wright (65 T, S, FR), and 6’0” 235 sophomore Nai Fotu (35 T, 5 ½ TFL, 2 S, FR) are dynamite in run support, allowing opponents to average only 94.9 yards per game on the ground at 3.0 yards per carry. Utah’s pass defense has been equally stingy, surrendering 189.8 yards per game with opponents converting only 30% of their 3rd-down attempts with size a huge asset. Junior starters 6’3” 214 CB Sean Smith (36 T, TFL, 4 INT) and 6’2” 195 FS Robert Johnson (33 T, INT, FR) bring the beef to tangle with anyone while fellow starters 5’9” 182 senior CB Brice McCain (28 T, 2 TFL, S, INT) and 5’11” 197 junior SS Joe Dale (56 T, 6 ½ TFL, S, INT) have plenty of support from key nickel and dime backs R.J. Stanford (32 T, 2 S) and Terrell Cole (30 T, 2 ½ TFL). At the college level, often the kicking game is judged by how little it hurts a team but that is certainly not the case for the Utes. Senior P/K Louis Sakoda (41.5 yards per punt, 19 of 21 field goals with long of 53) was a 1st-Team All American at punter in 2007 and is a candidate for both the Lou Groza and Ray Guy Awards in 2008.
FREE SELECTION: The Utes were the original BCS-Busters, finishing 12-0 in 2004 and hammering Pittsburgh in the Fiesta Bowl but the Cougars just match up too well against them to lay a full touchdown here. Take BYU +7 and let Rivalry Weekend begin!
The Jets travel to Tennessee to take on the Titans in the best match-up of the week, and surprisingly so. Honestly, at the beginning of the year, did you think these two teams would be where they are today? No way.
Tennessee continues to amaze. We, like many, have picked against Tennessee much of the year. They have to lose sometime, don’t they? It turns out, no, they don’t have to lose if they continue to play consistent, good, hard-hitting, safe football.
There is an x-factor in this game, however, and that is Brett Favre. If Brett Favre is on and completing 60%-65% of his passes, Tennessee will have a tough time continuing their winning ways. We will be conservative in our Brett Favre projection. Look for his good and bad side. Expect some interceptions, but expect him to ultimately take Tennessee down to the wire, with a little help from his defensive friends, mainly NT Kris Jenkins.
Free winner from Dark Horse Sports: Take NY Jets +5½ over Tennessee
If you like shootouts you’re in luck this Saturday night. Texas Tech and Oklahoma are the number 1 & 3 scoring teams in the country and neither team ahs been held under 35 points this season. Texas Tech 10-0 for the first time in school history controls their own destiny for a national title shot and a win here Saturday would give them their third straight win over a top10 opponent. Oklahoma at 9-1 would be right back in the BCS Championship hunt with a win over the number 2 team in the country. Obviously this game is the marquee game on the board Saturday and I don’t think this game will disappoint. So let’s jump into some of the incredible numbers for both these schools and we’ll start with visitors.Can’t say enough about the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the season they’re having. Texas Tech 10-0 for the first time ever and you’ve got to love that style of football they play and the way they execute it. Mike Leach runs that spread offense with a quick passing attack and nobody has run it better for him then QB Graham Harrell. Harrell has been outstanding leading the nation with 4,077 yards passing, and his 36 touchdowns to 5 interceptions ratio is as good as anybody in the country. Harrell has been playing QB at Texas Tech since his freshmen season and he has a complete handle of Mike Leach’s system. It certainly doesn’t hurt to have one of the best receivers in the country to throw to either. Pre scouts are drooling over Michael Crabtree. The 6-3 215 lbs. sophomore wide out already has 212 catches at Texas Tech including 40 of those for touchdowns. Crabtree is “the man” but he’s far from in the only threat on the offensive side of the ball. Baron Batch and Shannon Woods have given the Red Raiders a good solid running attack this season, and the defense for Texas Tech is better than it’s been in recent years. Texas Tech should hold their own here offensively, but on the defensive side they’ll have to find a way to slow down the Oklahoma running attack if they want to win this one Saturday night.Oklahoma Sooners have a great opportunity to jump back into the title chase with a win here tonight. Oklahoma with a win here would probably leap frog Texas and Texas Tech and couple that with a Florida win over Alabama in the SEC Championship they should end up number 2. Oklahoma offense has simple been outstanding this season for Bob Stoops. Sophomore QB Sam Bradford is at the controls for the Sooners and he’s been as good as you can be. Bradford has 38 touchdowns this season against 6 interceptions and he has this Oklahoma offense peaking right now. Oklahoma is averaging 51.5 points per game this season and they’ve been even hotter recently scoring 66, 62, and 58 points over their last 3 games. Sonners may not have a Crabtree but they have plenty of receiver talent and the running backs Murray & Brown both average 5.5+ yards per carry. Defensively the Sooners not as strong as some of the past units, but they still only allowed an average of 19.4 points per game at home this season. Sooners also play with revenge in this game Saturday night as it was Texas Tech that knocked them out of the Championship race with a 34-27 set back in Lubbock last year. QB Bradford was knocked out on the first play from scrimmage and RB Murray went down early as well. All eyes on Norman here Saturday night and the winner here well deserves at shot at the BCS Championship come January.Looking at trends and angles for this game it’s tough to find a reason to go against either of these ball clubs. Texas Tech is 4-0 straight up and 3-1 ATS on the road this season, while Oklahoma is 5-0 straight up and 3-1 ATS in Norman. Red Raiders are 0-8 straight up on the road versus top 10 opponents under head coach Mike Leach, but they did the cash in 5 of those 8. Sooners have had a tremendous home field advantage under Bob Stoops with a 59-2 straight up record, and they’re a solid 9-2 ATS in games with a total of 63 or greater under his tenure. Texas Tech though is a dynamite 77-50 ATS against conference opponents since 1992 so both these teams have been profitable for their backer. With no clear edge on the side I’m going to look at the total and play this one over tonight. The total is high at 76 but I don’t think they can make it high enough. These two teams are combined 14-3 over this season and both teams are in over situations here. Make sure you get snacks and drinks set before kick off Saturday night, because if you blink or step out of the room you might miss a couple scores in this one.
In a battle for first place in the Big East, the 7-2 Pitt Panthers travel to Cincinnati to take on the 8-2 Bearcats. Pittsburgh will rely on its strong ground game, led by RB LeSean McCoy who has over 1000 yards rushing while averaging 5 yards per carry. When the Panthers need to throw it QB Bill Stull and WRs Derek Kinder and Jonathon Baldwin. Kinder works underneath while Baldwin is the deep threat.
On offense the Bearcats are led by QB Tony Pike who has 12 TDs passing and the running back combination of Jacob Ramsey and John Goebel who have 568 and 436 yards rushing respectively. If there is one area where Cincinnati has a decided edge in this game it is defense. The Bearcat defense has held it’s opponents to 20 points or less 7 times, while Pitt has accomplished it only 3 times.
Pitt leads the series 7 -0. While the Bearcats may have an edge on defense I believe overall the Panthers are the better team. The Panthers have also shown the ability to win on the road with victories at Notre Dame and South Florida. Take Pittsburgh +5 over Cincinnati.
By Platinum Plays
This Sunday we have a “matchup” of divisional leaders in the NFC of which I propose is really a mismatch. The (7-3) NFC West leading Arizona Cardinals will be hosting the current Super Bowl Champions and leader of the NFC East, the (9-1) New York Giants. We’ll give the Cardinals credit, they have finally achieved some of the results on the field which people have been predicting and expecting from them for the last couple of years. They have done so with Kurt Warner, the former NFL MVP and Super Bowl winning quarterback, who turned into a journeyman backup and now once again has been thrust into the starting position due to the failure of former 1st round draft choice and USC product, Matt Leinart. If nothing else, Warner has had one of the most interesting and controversial football careers in the history of the National Football league which at times has even been controversial due to his intense religious convictions and his wife’s big mouth. A roller coaster would be considered a ride in the tea cups when compared to the Warner’s job history and performance. Meanwhile, the Giants have fervently set about defending their Super Bowl Championship much like the team they defeated last February 3rd to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy, the New England Patriots, who won consectutive Super Bowls for the 2003 & 04 seasons. Considering the Giants meteroric ride late last season to win the NFL Championship, a letdown may have been expected but, let’s give coach Tom Coughlin credit for keeping the Giants level of play as high if not higher than last season’s finish despite the retirement of DE Michael Strahan in the offseason and the loss of DE Osi Umenyiora for year in the seasons first game. Umenyiora led the NFC in sacks last season with 13 sacks in the regular season.
By #1 Sports
Philadelphia (5-4-1) Eagle fans – a warm and cuddly bunch by nature – have been screaming for heads since their crew finished with a 13-13 tie on Sunday at Cincinnati in which Coach Andy Reid continued to ignore the running game (23 passes vs. 5 rushes first half) and QB Donovan McNabb (227 of 382 for 2711 yards, 14 TD, 8 INT) threw 30 incomplete passes (28 of 58 for 339 yards, TD, 3 INT) including 3 caught by Bengals plus added a lost fumble. Further fueling the fire was the fact that many Philadelphia players – not just 10-year veteran McNabb – had no idea that no second overtime was waiting after the first extra frame expired in a deadlock! OK, with many connections to pro and college players over the years we can attest that these guys know more about coverages, systems, and schemes than what 98% of the viewers think they are seeing during a play but when it comes to the more geekafied points like statistics, records, and the more esoteric rules they are clueless compared to the average Arm-Chair Charlie. Counting ourselves in the Charlie group, combined with time spent around these guys, this seemingly odd hole in their knowledge came as absolutely no surprise to us. The comparisons of football to the military have been done (ground attack, aerial assault, gridiron, scrimmage, the bomb, flanker, field general, and many more) and these players see their job as playing the game, with the best teams those that most consistently and without question execute the strategy of the coaching staff whom holds the responsibility for these finer points. Anyway, every Charlie knows you have to run the ball in this league to win championships and Philadelphia just doesn’t consistently. 95.3 yards per game on the ground ranks 25th in the NFL and with an offensive line led by 6’7” 335 LT Tra Thomas (160 career starts) and 6’7” 330 LT Jon Runyan there’s just no lack of talent or beef to pound out the yards. Sure, 3rd-year 6’3” 338 RG Max Jean-Gilles is playing for Shane Andrews (out recovering from back surgery) but with a solid 4-0 yards per rush through 11 games, play calling is the only thing stooping RB Brian Westbrook (123 for 508 and 6 TD) and RB Correll Buckhalter (57 for 233 and 2 TD). At least Reid gets this pair of superb all-around athletes the ball in the passing game (combined 53 catches for 465 yards and 3 TD) but there just is no substitute for lining up and pounding the ball for what it can yield later in the game. As one would expect, the stat sheets for most of Philly’s receivers are filled but we are impressed by the job done by backup 6’4” 255 2nd-year TE Brent Celek (17 for 239 yards) and 5’10” 175 rookie WR DeSean Jackson (42 for 652 and TD receiving, 12 for 80 and TD rushing, 10.3 per punt return and TD) who has seized a starting job over Reggie Brown (13 for 192 and TD) and others.
By Dr. Vegas
What is historically a huge Big 10 matchup this year is only a trivial affair. In what can easily be called the worst season in Michigan history, the Wolverines are merely hoping to save face with any rays of light they can find. At 3-8 SU and 2-9 ATS, the Wolverines have consistently underperformed all season long.
By Razor Sharp Sports
What a great time of year if you love college football! Last week, the schedule lacked the “Big Game or Games”. This week they make up for it with a couple of key conference match-ups. The Big East lead is up for grabs with Pittsburgh going to Cincinnati to take on the Bearcats! The ACC has a couple of match-up that could decide each divisional winner as Miami-FL takes on Georgia Tech on Thursday for the lead in the ACC - Coastal Division, while Maryland hosts Florida St for the lead in the ACC Atlantic Division. Wednesday night, it is a battle in the MAC -West Division as Ball St takes on Central Michigan. Both teams are undefeated in conference play. The Mountain West title will be on the line when BYU takes on Utah. The Sun Belt crown is on the line when UL-Lafayette takes on Troy. Then their is a little game in the Big-12, where #2 Texas Tech goes to #5 Oklahoma. The winner there would have the upper hand to play in the Big-12 Championship and possibly the BCS Championship game. Finally the game we are going to take a closer look at this week here as the Big-10 crown, a Rose Bowl bid and even possibly a BCS Championship game invite could all be on the line at Michigan St takes on Penn St.
By The Vegas Steamline
So are you a fan of instant replay or not? I guess after this weekend I could figure out, by asking you if you had the Chargers or the Steelers. In case you missed it, let me explain. The Steelers had just taken the lead 11-10 on a field goal with 11 seconds to play. After the ensuing kickoff, the Chargers tried doing the old Cal throw the ball all over the place play. They fumbled one of the laterals and Troy Palamalu picked it up and ran it for a TD. That made the score 17-10, a supposed unlikely cover for the Steelers. The referees then replayed the play and said the first pass by the Chargers was an illegal forward pass and the ball should be dead on the spot. This took the points off the board and gave the Chargers the cover. Because the play was inside of 2:00 minutes it was automatically reviewed by the booth and didn’t need a team review as the Chargers would have probably just let it go. To them a loss is a loss, for Vegas it turned out to be a big win for the Sports books. It turned out that Vegas had taken much more action on Pittsburgh than San Diego on the game.
By Totals 4U
Baltimore (6-3) The Ravens continued their 4-game stretch of racking up big points against poor defenses (36.0 points per versus Dolphins, Raiders, Browns, and Texans) last week, crushing Houston 41-13 and now face their toughest test of the season for 6’6” 230 rookie QB Joe Flacco (151 of 243 for 1449 yards, 7 TD, 7 INT). Little could be more important to this kid’s success than his offensive line and it will be a man down this trip. Coach John Harbaugh most often uses a 6-man unbalanced line to protect Flacco (17 sacks) and bash the ball on the ground but RT Willie Anderson left in the 3rd quarter against the Texans with a ankle injury which slides 6th lineman 6’8” 330 RT Adam Terry into his slot. There’s nothing wrong with Terry – he was the protected starter before Baltimore picked up Anderson – but that likely eliminates the 6-man line or puts either 6’4” 310 UTEP rookie T/G Oniel Cousins or 6’6” 315 Weber State rookie David Hale in the game against a level of competition they have never faced. Either way, rushing the ball will primarily be the focus and Running Backs Coach Wilbert Montgomery has a dynamite trio that can all produce on the ground and sneaking out for short passed. Willis McGahee (125 for 463 yards and 5 TD rush, 14 for 113 receive), 5’8” 205 rookie Ray Rice (77 for 356 rush, 20 for 190 receive), and 6’1”250 rookie Le’Ron McClain (96 for 366 and 5 TD rush, 15 for 88 receive) rotate for an offense that grinds out the league’s 3rd-best 150.2 rush yards per game at 3.9 yards per carry. Quaterbacks Coach Hue Jackson has done a phenomenal job with not just Flacco but also Troy Smith and Todd Bouman but stretching the field just hasn’t been part of the plan. WR Mark Clayton (20 for 225 yards and TD) and WR Derrick Mason (46 for 598 and 2 TD) – who returned to the game to catch 3 balls after suffering a 1st quarter separated shoulder against the Texans – have had to share the balls with the backs while TE Todd Heap (18 for 195 and 2 TD) has been used primarily in the blocking game as a 7th lineman. It seems a waste for a talent like Heap but he did finally have his first big game of the season last week, grabbing 5 balls for 58 yards and his first 2 scores of 2008.
By Big Time Sports
College
Minnesota @ Wisconsin- Gophers without WR Decker (74 receptions)…next 3 receivers have 78 catches combined!…Minny has scored 17 points or less in 4 of 6 Big Ten games…Wiscy has scored 106 points over last 3 games…’07 Badgers had 325 rushing…might be encore this year
Vanderbilt @ Kentucky- Wildcats operating without studs Locke & Lyons on offense, but still pushed Ga. to limit last week…Vandy offense in hibernation…’Dores have scored exactly 14 pts in 4 of last 5…7 in the other…last time Vandy scored 20 pts was Sept 20th
By Mike Wynn Sports
Can’t help but be impressed with the rookie QB Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons this season. Atlanta 6-3 this season and they’re taking care of business at home with a 4-0 straight and ATS record this season. Atlanta just one game back of Carolina in the very competitive NFC South and a win here Sunday would be another big step toward a possible playoff spot. Denver Broncos on the other hand lead the weak AFC West with a 5-4 record but they’ve had to ride the arm of Jay Cutler and his 2616 yards of passing offense this season. So let’s take a look at both teams and we’ll start with the visiting Broncos.
By Platinum Plays
This Saturday we have a PAC 10 matchup that will help sort out the “Best of the Rest” in the conference when the Arizona Wildcats (6-3/4-2) make the trip to Eugene to take on the Ducks (7-3/5-2). Autzen Stadium is one of the toughest venues for opposing teams to visit with any kind of success and their will be 54,000 strong rooting for the Ducks. The Ducks have been known for a couple of things under head coach, Mike Belotti; good football teams averaging 8 wins a season and some of the craziest uniforms in college football with a host of combinations.
By Nevada Sharpshooter
The Bears travel to Green Bay to take on the Packers. The 5-4 Bears may are currently tied with the Vikings atop the NFC North with the Pack one game back at 4-5. Both teams have some injury issues. At the time I am writing this it is unclear if QB Kyle Orton will be able to play for the Bears and the Packers LB Nick Barnett is out for the season do to injury. Statiscally both of these teams appear to be average. The Bears can stop the run but struggle against the pass. Two weeks ago Chicago barely got by a horrible Lions team by a score of 27-23, before losing to a strong Tennessee team at home 21-14 last week. The Packers have lost their last two games both on the road, to Tennessee, 16-19 in OT and the Vikings last week 27-28 when they missed a 52 yard fg in the final minute. The Pack lost both games in the same fashion, they were unable to stop the running game in the 4th quarter.