Daily Quiz What is the only team in the SEC West that has never played in the SEC championship game? Monday's Quiz Chiefs' QB Tyler Thigpen played his college football at Coastal Carolina, for the Chanticleers. Sunday's Quiz Steve Spurrier was the head coach of the Tampa Bay Bandits in the old USFL.

Thought of the Day Mike and Mike on ESPN Radio were saying on Monday morning that Vegas books had a $66M swing in their favor as a result of the final call in the Charger-Steeler game. My only question on the subject is this: the referee obviously didn't make the final call, as he announced the play as a TD. Who did make this call? I thought the only person who could make a replay reversal was the referee.

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Tuesday's List of 13: Nobody asked me, but conspiracy theories are still kind of fun to toss around............
13) For a MAC football team to make it to a BCS bowl game would be a financial bonanza for both the Cardinals and the league; Ball St. hasn't lost yet, but is still on outside looking in as far as making it to a big money bowl game-- beating Central Michigan this week could get them into the top 12. I'm presenting the following statistic as a fact, and nothing else...........

12) Ball State hasn't been called for a penalty in its last three games. Not a false start, an offside, a bogus holding call, nothing. A cynical person would suggest the MAC would like Ball State in a BCS bowl. I've never heard of a team going three games without a penalty.

11) Sticking with Ball State for a minute, their junior QB Nate Davis is an NFL prospect, but he doesn't put his fingers on the laces when he throws a football, highly unusual. Last guy who played in NFL who did that, as far as I know, was former USC/Chicago Bears' QB Vince Evans, who played in the late 70's.

10) At some point, I'd like to hear Howie Long's take on the Rams, as his son is on the team; I am told Jimmy Johnson ripped the coaches pretty good at halftime Sunday, but I'd like to hear Howie's take.

9) Its a good thing Friday was the start of the baseball period for the signing of free agents-- no one had signed as of Monday morning, but the Giants broke the logjam by signing lefty reliever Jeremy Affeldt.

8) All eight eastern division teams in the NFL are .500 or above.

7) Double digit underdogs in the NFL are 13-1 vs spread this season, but dogs of 9 or 9.5 points are 6-10. 49ers lost by 12 at the Giants, the only double digit dog not to cover this season.

6) Boston College scored a TD on defense or special teams in each of its last five games.

5) Tough week to be Cal's special teams coach-- Bears led 7-0 in the first quarter at Oregon State Saturday, but allowed both kick return and a punt return for a TD, before the first quarter was over.

4) In their last two games, Syracuse was 11 for 42 passing, for total of 82 yards, and they play their games in a dome.

3) Was curious to see who ESPN put with Bob Knight for Thursday night telecasts; the great Brent Musberger gets first call- Dan Shulman will get some games later on. Will be interesting to hear how he does, and what games they assign him to. Some referees might not be too happy about what he will say, if history is an indicator.

2) Trent Edwards' TD pass to Marshawn Lynch Monday night was the first in NFL history from a Stanford QB to a Cal receiver. Those two schools are arch-rivals in the California Bay Area.

1) All the fuss about the Charger-Steeler game overshadowed a mess Donovan McNabb made for himself in Philly, where he exposed his total lack of knowledge about what happens in the NFL, which just happens to be his job. I hope he is lot smarter than he sounded in the quotes. If he isn't, Andy Reid has done wonders winning games with McNabb as his quarterback for as long as he has.

Monday's List of 13: Wrapping up an NFL Sunday..........
13) Ravens hadn't allowed more than 76 rushing yards in a game this season-- the Giants reamed them for 207 yards on the ground, in a really easy 30-10 win. Next up for the Giants are the Cardinals and two-time MVP Kurt Warner-- should be a good game.

12) Colts had three TDs, four FGs on their nine drives vs Houston., converting 10-15 third down plays. Houston averaged 9.0 yards per pass attempt with Bob Sanders out hurt, but it wasn't enough.

11) Eagle-Bengal tie was NFL's first since a Falcon-Steeler deadlock six years ago. Philly was -3 in turnovers as Bengals had 10-yd edge in average starting field position. Eagles punted with 1:07 left, so a tie couldn't have bad that bad an option for them. Donovan McNabb did not know the NFL had tie games-- where has he been?

10) Green Bay just riddled the Chicago defense in an easy 37-3 win that was only their second win in last seven series games. Standings in the NFC North show Packers, Vikings and Bears now all 5-5.

9) Detroit led 10-0 early, as they tried for their first win, but it was not to be, as Carolina ran ball for 264 yards, won going away, 31-22. Still concerned about Delhomme, who was 10-19 passing after awful 7-27 day at Oakland last week.

8) Steelers had 13 penalties for 115 yards; Chargers had two for five in the first 11-10 game in NFL history (over 12,000 games).

7) When we saw that Vanderbilt won at Kentucky Saturday, and are now bowl eligible, it figured that Jay Cutler would be having a good day on Sunday, and the Vandy alum did just that.....

6) Oddest stat ever: Redskins are now 0-10 in franchise history when they play on November the 16th.

5) Two-time MVP Kurt Warner was 32-44/382 passing, as Cardinals made Seattle's defense look like a Pop Warner outfit in a 26-20 win. Turnovers kept Seahawks in the game; all three of their TD drives came on marches of less than 20 yards.

4) Tampa Bay trailed 13-6 at half, but shut Minnesota out in second half of 19-13 win; Garcia was 23-30/255 passing (8.2 yds/attempt). Bucs won despite just one TD (four FGs) in five red zone trips.

3) Johnnie Lee Higgins had a 93-yard punt return with less than 5:00 to play, giving Oakland a 15-14 lead, but Miami drove field and got a winning FG to move to 6-4 after its 17-15 win. 1-15 last season, the Fish are now a playoff contender, which is why we like the NFL.

2) OK, I've sat thru the last two Ram games, when they trailed at the half by 40-0/35-3 scores, and I've come to this conclusion; they need to take the American flags off the back of their helmets and replace them with white flags, since they've clearly quit on this season.

1) All the Tennessee Titans do is win games; wonder if there are few former Miami Dolphins getting nervous down in south Florida?

Sunday's List of 13: Wrapping up a college football Saturday
13) With 2:00 left in third quarter, LSU trailed Troy State 31-3 on a night where they wore their purple jerseys at home (to the best of my knowledge, they almost never do that). Tigers outscored Trojans 37-0 over the last 17:00 to improve their record to 7-3 and save the message boards from a lot of Les Miles-bashing.

12) Before Saturday, had a team ever scored 70 in a game and allowed 70 in a game in same season? Tulsa's done it this year, losing 70-30 at Houston, a few weeks after they pounded UTEP 77-28.

11) Kentucky QB Cobb has to be the only starting QB in country who is also his team's punt returner; he is also the team's #1 receiver statwise still, since he was only moved to QB a few games ago. Not bad for a true freshman, a kid who was in high school last year.

10) I'm 48 years old and I've never seen a 3-8 Michigan team, at least not in football. After next week, they'll be 3-9.

9) South Carolina-Florida game was 0-0, then this happened-- Florida picked off a pass for a TD (7-0), then picked off another pass at the Carolina 20 or 25, scored on the first play (14-0), then recovered a botched Gamecock lateral on the kickoff at the Carolina 1-yard line, so they were up 21-0 when three TDs netted roughly 25-28 yards of total offense. Gators are real good, they don't need a lot of help. The whole nightmare took 2:15 of elapsed gametime.

8) Nebraska gave up a punt return TD and a defensive TD, and still pounded Kansas State 56-28. Wildcats are back down at the bottom of the Big 12 standings, where they were for decades before Snyder came to Manhattan and performed a magical transformation. Facing the K-State AD is finding another Snyder- it won't be easy.

7) My unofficial count was 33 TDs by defense/special teams in 50 lined games this week- thats an awful lot for one weekend.

6) Biggest upset winners this week were Rutgers, Central Florida, as both sides won as 7.5-point underdogs. November is usually quiet in terms of big upsets, since attrition has taken care of the lesser teams.

5) Ten teams had 4+ turnovers this week; Notre Dame (5) was the only one of the ten that either won or covered its game.

4) With 1:45 left, Notre Dame led Navy 27-7; with 0:34 left, Navy had ball on Notre Dame's 34-yard line, down 27-21, as Irish almost had one of the biggest collapses in college football history. Irish will beat Syracuse, lose to USC, then NBC will jump for joy because the Notre Dame will go to a bowl at 7-5. Big deal.

3) Wonder if NBC knows that 89 of the other 119 D-I football teams have won a bowl since the last time Notre Dame did. That goes up to 90 if Vanderbilt wins their bowl game this year.

2) Kudos to Vanderbilt for getting bowl eligible for first time since the 1982 season; they had lost 19 consecutive games when they had shot at becoming bowl eligible. That kid #17 caught two TD passes, had two INTs and even found time to fumble a punt. Quite a player, that DJ Moore is. Played both ways, and didn't even seem egotistical.

1) With Vandy going bowling, looks as if Baylor (last bowl in 1994) will inherit the longest bowl drought. Check out the state of Baylor's drubbing of Texas A&M, and maybe Bears will go bowling in '09.

Saturday's List of 13: Random thoughts on a November day
13) Who exactly runs the Tampa Bay Lightning? They fire a coach that won the Lightning a Stanley Cup, bring in Barry Melrose, which is fine, but then they fire Melrose after 16 games and insert a coach who not only has never been a head coach, but he's on probation for bankrolling a bookmaking operation-- this is good management?

12) If CC Sabathia is going to sign with Bronx Bombers, shouldn't he have been waiting there with a pen, to sign for $140M before anyone changed their mind? What is he waiting for, unless he'd rather be in a different city? The union is probably pressuring him to sign, to take the highest offer-- thats what they usually do.

11) Don Shula's grandson is a defensive back at Miami, OH.

10) I am more and more convinced that the six most important folks on an NFL team are: 1) the personnel guru and 2) the five offensive linemen. The personnel guy is reposnible for your team having bench players to provide quality depth-- the offensive line protects the skill guys (horrible term, but you get the idea) from getting hurt.

Giants are the perfect example of a solid offensive line (26 straight starts as one unit) really catapulting a team to great heights.

9) Senator Fred Thompson, who is also an actor, started 2008 as one of the Republican Presidential candidates; he is ending 2008 on one of TNT's commercials promoting the NBA, with Charles Barkley. Ever seen Mrs Thompson? Senator Fred is one of my heroes......

8) No one goes to the Grizzlies' games in Memphis; shouldn't they just take that team and put it in Seattle? Doesn't that make sense? It would have made more sense to move the Grizzlies to Oklahoma and keep the Sonics in Seattle, but that horse left the barn long ago.

7) How will Notre Dame defend Navy's option attack? Pitt beat the Middies 42-21- they tackled the fullback on every play, whether he had the ball or not, and that tactic worked, since fullback is where the Middies get a lot of their big running plays from.

6) Penn State ran 15 plays in Iowa's red zone last week, and gained a total of 39 yards, which is why they lost a game in whch they waxed the Hawkeyes in the first half, but led just 13-7 at intermission.

5) Georgia is playing its fourth straight road game Saturday, not the best bit of scheduling we've ever seen.

4) Five of the 12 starting QBs in the SEC are from Texas.

3) Someone explain to me why Florida is playing Citadel next week.

2) Kansas Jayhawks only have two players back this season who played in the national title game vs Memphis last April.

1) So Mike Martz didn't know where the ball was before Monday's last play? Isn't this the same guy who once sent out the field goal unit to kick one on last play of the game (albeit a preseason game) when his team was trailing by four points? Why doesn't this surprise us?

Friday's List of 13: Our College Football List of 13.........
13) Utah-- Still unbeaten, with narrow escapes vs Oregon State and TCU on Thursday nights. Rivalry game with BYU still looms.......

12) Pacific-10 Conference-- Only two of ten teams play a I-AA foe, and one of them is Washington State, who should probably play two of them. Down year in Pac-10, but Washington, UCLA are going to be lot better pretty soon.

11) Colorado-- At 5-5, are winning the close games, rallying from 10 down at half vs Iowa State last week. Using two QBs, which is odd, since the original starter is coach Hawkins' son.

10) Florida State-- Beat Clemson on Bobby Bowden's 79th birthday running ball for 266 yards. Seminoles and Miami have both restored little order in the Sunshine State this fall.

9) East Carolina-- 6-3 after winning the last two weeks in overtime, which doesn't happen very much. Skip Holtz is a very good coach.

8) Notre Dame-- Five turnovers, 16 first downs, no points at BC. If I was paying this coach $3M a year, I wouldn't be very happy.

7) Washington/Washington State-- Are both winless vs D-I teams, so it is damn good thing they still have to play each other.

6) Air Force-- Run option, but were 6-8/171 passing vs Colorado St, which is, for those of you who are math-challenged, 21.6 yds/pass.

5) UCLA-- Rick Neuheisel goes back to Seattle this week; neither his career or the Huskies have been the same since Washington fired him. Bruins are struggling this year, but brighters days are ahead.

4) Central Florida-- Have been outscored 58-0 in second half of their last three games, which is significant in light of one of their players dying during conditioning drills last spring, which some players said were too strenuous. Did coaches let up on conditioning this fall?

3) Baylor-- Poor souls start every season 0-4, with both Oklahoma schools, Texas and Texas Tech on the schedule. Briles will get them competitive, but they're little like Vanderbilt in the SEC.

2) Vanderbilt-- Were 5-0, are now 5-4; haven't been to a bowl since 1982. Have Kentucky, Tennessee in next two games. No excuses if they don't get that magical sixth win.

1) Texas Tech-- Think about this; against Oklahoma State, a really good team, Tech ran 80 plays, and only nine of them were on third down. Red Raiders had 38 freakin' first downs on 80 plays.

Thursday's List of 13: Our NFL List of 13..........
13) Packers-- Defense and special teams kept Pack in game, but they couldn't contain Peterson at end; are 2-5 in their last seven games.

12) Jets-- Lets see how they do against the big boys Thursday.

11) Eagles-- Got pushed around at home by Giants, how come they never have good receivers? You score 31 at home, you should win....

10) Falcons-- Probably should be higher on this list; they really run ball well, have knack for getting ahead in games early. Tremendous job coaching by Mr Smith.......great season for Arthur Blank

9) Redskins-- Someone please explain to me how they're home dog to the Cowboys this week? Anyone?

8) Patriots-- Matt Cassel is going to be very rich next spring, unless the infection stays in Brady's knee, and the Patriots have to keep him around. No one will want to play Patriots in January......

7) Cardinals-- Two-time MVP Kurt Warner was 32-42/328 Monday and Redbirds are headed to playoffs, where they will be a very tough out. Could a third MVP send Kurt to Canton?

6) Panthers-- Will be watching Delhomme closely after just a dismal 7-27 passing day in Oakland, with four INTs. How do they get the Raiders and Lions on consecutive Sundays? Must be nice........

5) Steelers-- Still not sure why they haven't put FieldTurf down at Heinz Field- they had carpet at Three Rivers for 35 years, and they seemed to do OK. Grass becomes a mess in multi-use facilities.

4) Colts-- Peyton Manning is carrying them on his back, and with a less than 100% knee. You can see how Marvin Harrison has lost a half-step and it is killing his timing with Manning.

3) Ravens-- They finally have an offense, ane the defense is as tough as ever. They've won three road games in last four weeks, and are on road again this week-- quite a run for rookie coach and rookie QB.

2) Giants-- All of a sudden media types are appearing on talk shows, saying how they knew Eli Manning was the next Unitas when he got drafted; this time LY, he threw three picks for TDs vs Minnesota- a lot of those media types thought he was the next Shug Chumbler.

1) Titans-- Every week, you hear, "I think this is the week they will lose." Meawhile, they're 9-0 and their second half schedule isn't real difficult. You read more about Dallas than the Titans. Too bad.

Wednesday's List of 13: Nobody asked me, but..........
13) Good news in Oakland is that Matt Holliday will replace eight suspects who roamed leftfield in the Coliseum last year, with Jack Cust, a dismal fielder, the guy with the most starts in LF. No more, at least not until 2010, when Holliday bolts for the big money.

12) Bad news in Oakland is that the Raiders have been outscored in the first half of their last three games, 57-0; not only that, but today, Al Davis took playcalling duties away from offensive coordinator Greg Knapp, turning up the chaos button just a little bit more.

11) Five of the nine guys at the World Series of Poker final table are in their 20's, as the average age of problem gamblers gets lower. For every 22-year old who cashes in for $9M, there are 1,000 or so who blew their college tuition or food money trying to get rich quick.

10) North Carolina's hoop team got all 103 first-place votes in polls conducted by Associated Press and USA Today; thats more support than the Florida Gators got the year they defended their title.

9) This is how fragile success is in the NFL; Detroit Lions are 1-16 in their last 17 games, but before that skid began, Lions were 6-2 at the halfway mark last season, and appeared headed to a playoff berth.

8) Arizona Cardinals have gotten sloppy, committing 39 penalties in their last four games, after committing 32 in their first five games. As the second half of season progresses, Cardinals have to tighten up, or they won't last long in the playoffs.

7) Presbyterian College is new to D-I basketball, playing in the Big South Conference; their school's teams are known as the Blue Hose, one of the more unique nicknames in college basketball.

6) Wade Phillips started his tenure in Dallas 12-1, but is 6-7 since, as the assistant coaches Bill Parcells signed for Miami has taken a toll-- they were the better teachers on the Dallas staff, apparently........

5) Reality star Kendra Wilkinson (Girls Next Door) is engaged to the Eagles' wide receiver, Hank Baskett, the best catch he's made in 2008.

4) Arizona Diamondbacks cut 31 front office positions after season ended, a 9% reduction in staff.

3) Think about this: ESPN analyst Jim Donnan played QB over 40 years ago at NC State; he played against Penn State in the first year that Joe Paterno coached the Nittany Lions. Donnan is already done with a terrific coaching career that saw him lead Marshall, Georgia, but JoePa is still going strong. An amazing career.

2) ESPN's fascination with Bob Knight continues, as they signed the former coach to a deal that will have him as a game analyst on some Thursday night games this winter. Have to admit it will be interesting to hear him dissect games live, without Dick Vitale interrupting.

1) The upcoming Maui Classic is loaded, with North Carolina, Texas, Notre Dame, Oregon and Alabama in the eight-team field.

Tuesday's List of 13: Random thoughts on Veteran's Day
13) I was all set to do my NFL List of 13 today, until I got an e-mail at work from friend on Long Island; it said, "Matt Holliday has been traded to your Oakland A's." After the Rams lost 47-3 Sunday, did not need having my balls busted by aspiring comics, but this was the real deal, as the unpredictable A's go from a glorified farm team to a player in the free agent market. Is this a great country or what?

12) Four months ago today, the A's were nine games over .500, on the fringe of contending for a Wild Card spot; then they traded both Rich Harden and Joe Blanton, their two best pitchers, for prospects and the season went in the ashcan in a very big way. Depressing is not a strong enough word to describe the season's last eight weeks.

11) Billy Beane knows what he is doing; he seldom makes just one move, so more (Rafael Furcal?) are coming, but what in the name of Charles Oscar Finley are the A's doing? My best guess? Because of the economy, the stadium the A's want to build in Fremont is not a sure thing-- winning helps these things along (just ask the Rays).

10) So the A's will increase their payroll to about $80M for this year try like hell to win, then take the two draft picks they get after 2009, when Holliday walks (he turned down $68M for four years from the Rockies, so no way in hell would he sign with the A's) build a team and hope the new stadium gets built in time for the 2011 season.

9) Supposedly the three players going to Colorado are Greg Smith, a decent lefty starter, Carlos Gonzalez, who is a terrific fielder, but did not show much power with Oakland and struggling closer Huston Street, whom Colorado is rumored to be flipping to another team.

8) Free agent signings start Thursday, so things will get interesting in a hurry later this week. For once, the A's are front and center as the buyers, not the sellers. Its about damn time. Good for Lewis Wulff, who owns the club and was a college frat buddy of Bud Selig.

7) Each First Family gets $100,000 to decorate the White House as they see fit; apparently, the bowling alley that George Bush had will be transformed into a basketball court for the new President.

6) Two-time MVP Kurt Warner was 32-42/328 passing as Cardinals survived their own sloppy play (10 penalties and allowed kick return for TD) and outlasted the 49ers 29-24 Monday night. Arizona is a playoff team, now they have to fight hard for the home field.

5) No head coach in NFL history has gotten more praise than Mike Singletary has, before he's even won one game. The guy hasn't been a football coach very long; this isn't an entry-level job. Matchup of the two interim coaches in NFC West this week: Singletary vs Haslett, with their two dreadful teams facing off on Candlestick Point. Both have lot of work to do before they lose their interim tags, if they do.

4) The top 125 on the PGA Tour money list keep their card for the 2009 season; to be in the top 125, you needed to earn $852,732, an increase of around $170,000 from last season.

3) Mike D'Antoni's Knicks are off to a 4-2 start, are fun to watch, as they actually pass the ball and play together, unlike the unseemly Isiah Thomas Knicks, who played like a bad City League team. The Knicks visit a crippled Spurs team in the Alamo Tuesday.

2) Marlins traded couple of decent players to division rival Nationals when they dealt Josh Willingham and lefty starter Scott Olsen to the nation's capitol, for package of players that includes Emilio Bonifacio a second base prospect who hit .240 for Washington this year. After a surprising 84-77 season, Florida has now dealt three key players.

1) Strange word out of Seattle, where Mariners will interview seven managerial candidates this week, none of whom have any experience at the big league level. Guess they want a guy who will work cheap.

Monday's List of 13: Wrapping up an NFL Sunday...................
13) There's an old saying-- "If you have nothing good to say, say nothing at all" so my remarks on the Rams will be brief, but I did come up with an idea that could upgrade their QB position next year. Why not acquire Mr Vick, after he gets out of prison? He's ten times better than Marc Bulger........

12) I've been a Ram fan since 1966 and this was the worst performance in any one game that I saw-- it was 40-0 at the half. I still think Coach Haslett is good enough to win with, but he needs a 4-3 finish to get his contract. In light of today's nightmare, a 4-3 finish doesn't seem terribly likely.

11) Then there are the Viking special teams, who allowed their sixth TD of the season Sunday, and at a critical time. Put it this way; Minnesota had a 21-10 and the ball near midfield-- the next time their defense took the field, Green Bay had already scored two TDs. Vikings wound up winning, but of course, nitwits like myself who laid 2.5 points got bupkus.

I know I'm bitter about this, but a note to the Minnesota punter; it is a lot easier to cover your punts if you don't kick them in the middle of the field. Its a tactic called "directional punting". Please google it.

10) Atlanta averaged 10.8 yards/pass attempt against the Saints, as magical season for the Falcons marches on. Funny thing, Atlanta started three drives in Saint territory and never scored, but they had two TD drives of 80+ yds.

9) Tom Coughlin had a brilliant replay challenge in third quarter last night, negating an illegal pass against Eli Manning, leading to a Giants' TD. In the history of replay, Coughlin has the best percentage challenging plays.

8) Tennessee ran ball 29 times for just 20 yards in Chicago but still won to stay unbeaten; this time last year, we were deluged by stories of all things Patriot, but the Titans are flying under the radar, in large part because, just like during the Rays' run to AL pennant, mainstream media is very lazy. It reports the stories that it wants to report-- that ain't the Titans.

7) Detroit has a legitimate chance to finish this season 0-16, but Miami was 1-15 last year, and look at them now-- thats the beauty of the NFL. All the Lions lack is competent leadership and a lot of good players. It also would help if they didn't start quarterbacks five days after they sign.

6) Jake Delhomme was 7-27 with four INTs Sunday, a Bulger-like statline, but Carolina can run the ball, so not only did they win in Oakland, they did enough to barely cover the spread. Oakland had three turnovers, 83 yards in penalties and went 2-17 on third down conversions. Not good.

5) Then there is Herm Edwards, whose Chiefs played their hearts out in a 20-19 loss yesterday; too bad Herm didn't let them finish the job. Instead of kicking the PAT to tie the game with 0:29 left, after a great TD drive, Herm decided to roll the dice and go for two. 1-7 teams don't roll the dice well, so now the Chiefs are 1-8. Thank God Herm doesn't coach the Rams.

4) Saw some e-mails from Steeler fans ripping Ben Roethlisberger after Colts won in Pittsburgh-- I'll say two things......a) Big Ben is playing with a lot of injured body parts-- he's a warrior.......b) Anytime the Steelers get sick of #7 being their quarterback, I'll hire a limo to take him to St Louis........

3) Ravens had 27 first downs, 162 rushing yards, 171 passing as they won again. Quite a race for Coach of the Year between Ravens' Harbaugh and the Falcons' Smith. Irony here is that Harbaugh replaced Brian Billick as Ravens coach-- Coach Smith is Billick's brother-in-law.

2) Someone is going to spend a lot of money on Matt Cassel this winter as a free agent QB, but I'd be hesitant to take anyone from New England's team and expect him to play better than he is now. He just hasn't played a lot of football. To pay a free agent QB big dollars, he has to be better than Cassel. Simply put, I'd much rather have Michael Vick than Cassel.

1) No more byes, thank goodness. We go back to 16 games a week for the last seven weeks of the season. Should be a lot of fun.

Sunday's List of 13: Wrapping up a college football Saturday
13) LSU was 13-34 passing with four INTs, one of which was run back for a TD, but Alabama still needed OT to win in Nick Saban's return to Baton Rouge, 27-21; very tough beat if you bet LSU +3.5, since they blocked a short Bama FG on last play of regulation.

12) Graham Harrell was 45-55/516 passing in a ridiculous display of offensive football, as Texas Tech clubbed a really good Oklahoma St team, 56-20. Cowboys are now 0-10-2 in Lubbock since 1944.

11) Last week, Central Michigan beat Indiana; this week, Western Michigan beat Illinois at Ford Field, as MAC teams flex some late season muscle. Some of the bowls with the automatic Big 11 tie-ins are going to be very disappointed with their matchups.

10) 3-7 Michigan outgained 7-3 Minnesota 435-188 Saturday, and the game was at the Metrodome. Northwestern, Illinois and Penn St all had very disappointing losses. Tough day for the Big 11.

9) As it stands now, Oregon State holds its destiny in its hands as far as going to the Rose Bowl, but what happens if a rematch with Penn State is in order? No way the Rose Bowl committee would be happy with that matchup, so the Beavers could get screwed out of a trip to Pasadena, since Rose Bowl folks ain't taking Oregon State over Penn State. I hear San Diego (Holiday Bowl) is nice in December.

8) Notre Dame apparently didn't have a schematic edge over Boston College, as Charlie Weis' Irish got blanked 17-0 on Chestnut Hill. At 5-4, and Stanford its best win, unsure where Notre Dame is going to go bowling- they figure to end the regular season 7-5.

By the way, radio announcer Don Criqui actually said on the air late in the game, "......next week's game with Navy is going to be very hard for the Irish to win...." Good lord, who does he want them to play, .Wofford and Elon? You can't moan about playing a service academy.

7) Bobby Bowden exacted revenge over Clemson for firing his son when his 7-2 Seminoles whupped up on the erratic Tigers, 41-27, on the elder Bowden's 79th birthday. Pretty good birthday present.

6) Everyone off Dave Wannstedt's back; Pitt hammered Louisville, 41-7, is on track to go to a damn good bowl game.

5) Nebraska gave up 76 points at Kansas LY, but beat the Jayhawks 45-35 Saturday; only those of us with fairly good memories can now put a time and date to when Cornhuskers were last a dominant team, and it doesn't look rosy for returning to that status anytime soon.

4) Its hard to argue right now that Alabama-Texas Tech wouldn't be the national title game, if it were played tomorrow, but the game that most fans would want to see is Oklahoma-Florida, both of whom are in steamroller mode since suffering their only loss of the season.

3) Wyoming 13, Tennessee 7; 27-point underdog Cowboys gained a total of four yards to get their two TDs, as Vols score less than ten points in four straight games for first time since 1964. If you heard two noises late Saturday night, the first noise you heard was Jon Gruden's cellphone ringing over and over......

2) West Virginia scored 11 points in the last 0:18 of regulation to tie a game most of their fans had already left, forcing OT, but Cincinnati won the game 26-23, throwing a wrench into the Big East standings.

1) ...the second sound was cash registers in Knoxville opening to pay for Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly to become the Vols' new mentor. If you like doing alookalikes, Kelly is a dead wringer for the scumweasel sports agent Scott Boras, who might like to have Kelly as a client.

Saturday's List of 13: College football trend report..........
13) Visitor covered nine of the last dozen Cal-USC games.

12) Louisville won its last seven games vs Pitt, covering six of them.

11) Texas covered 15 of its last 22 games coming off a loss.

10) Oregon State lost four of last five games on grass (0-5 vs spread)

9) Underdog is 12-5-1 vs spread in Air Force-Colorado State series.

8) Oregon covered 10 of last 13 as home favorite in Pac-10 games.

7) Visitor is 8-2-2 vs spread in last 12 Alabama-LSU games.

6) Boston College won its last five games vs Notre Dame, with the underdog covering the last four.

5) Home side is 12-6 vs spread in Kansas State-Missouri series.

4) Oklahoma failed to cover its last seven visits to Texas A&M.

3) Kentucky covered eight of last 12 as a home underdog.

2) Rutgers covered 10 of last 13 tries as a double digit favorite.

1) Oklahoma State is 0-9-2 in last eleven visits to Texas Tech, with their last win in Lubbock coming during WWII, in 1944.

Friday's List of 13: Our college football List of 13..........
13) Miami, FL-- Closed Orange Bowl with 48-0 loss to Virginia LY, avenged that loss with OT win vs Cavaliers Saturday. They're not back to where they were, but they are back in a bowl.

12) Iowa-- Lost tough game at Illinois, their fourth loss by five points or less, now they're the biggest stumbling block between Penn State and a perfect season. Lions lost 6-4 last time they visited Iowa City.

11) San Diego State-- How bad are the Aztecs? They lost 35-10 at an awful Wyoming team, allowing 378 rushing yards, 544 overall. Will be a new head man in San Diego next season (and Wyoming too).

10) Auburn-- Lost 17-7 at Ole Miss, their fourth loss in a row, they threw 43 passes, ran it 25 times- thats not Auburn football. Would be surprising if Tigers didn't have a new coach next season.

9) Tulsa-- Undefeated season went down tubes when Arkansas ran a kickoff back for TD after Hurricanes had rallied from 17-0 deficit to tie game 23-23. Should still win their conference title, though.

8) Kansas State-- Who do they think they are, firing Ron Prince after he was 16-18 in less than three seasons? Before Bill Snyder got to the Little Apple, 16-18 would have gotten a coach a freakin' parade......

7) Michigan-- At 2-7, won't be in bowl this season; they somehow scored 42 points at Purdue and still lost- they got outgained 522-300 gave up 256 rushing yards, but did run punt back for a TD. Bad year

6) Clemson-- Won 27-21 at BC, racing out to 17-0 halftime lead, and surviving four turnovers. Now they go up against Papa Bowden this week, a month after they fired his son. Could be interesting.

5) South Carolina-- They're 6-3, an average SEC team, but they put 81,000 fans into Williams-Brice Stadium last week, and I was one of them. What nice people there are in the Palmetto State, but they're not really sure what they have in the Gamecocks right now.

4) Georgia Tech-- Beat Florida State for first time in last 13 tries as Seminole RB fumbled on 2-yard line in last minute, as FSU drove in for winning score. Paul Johnson is terrific coach, and Tech is really lucky to have him.

3) California-- Turned ball over five times vs Oregon, allowed Ducks 206 rushing yards, but still won by 10 points. We don't see Bears on TV a lot, but they're quietly one of best programs west of Rockies.

2) Penn State-- For sake of argument, lets say Lions run table, but so does Alabama and Texas Tech-- Penn State will be 12-0 and a dog in the Rose Bowl. Real bitterness for JoePa fans will be if Florida beats Bama and passes Penn State into BCS title game.

1) Texas Tech-- Doubtful Mike Leach stays in Lubbock, so they're going to have to enjoy this run as much as possible. What fun Tech is to watch, the way they spread the field and isolate defenders. This is a really fun style of football to watch (and handicap).

Thursday's List of 13: Random thoughts on a November night
13) NBA put its best feet forward Wednesday; Spurs-T'Wolves was one of best pro hoop games I've seen in long time. Tremendous game and Nuggets-Warriors game was fun to watch, too. Good stuff.

12) Former Phoenix Suns guard Kevin Johnson was elected mayor of Sacramento Tuesday night. Hopefully he'll get a stadium built for the A's there-- that would be excellent.

11) Gas prices are down 16 cents a gallon here in Albany since last Wednesday, which is good, but gas is still roughly 50 cents a gallon more expensive here than in Hilton Head, and thats not good.

10) Broncos at Browns on NFL Network tonight, which means I'll have to go out, since the money gurus haven't figured out a way for me to pay to get this channel even though I have like three channels for soccer, five for home shopping and two C-Spans. Terrific.

9) More on the power of TV-- Miami, Ohio's football team doesn't play a Saturday game in November. And they're not even any good.

8) Looks like Jason Giambi might be returning to the A's, after he had bolted Oakland for the riches of the Bronx seven years ago, which is a lot like having a really hot girlfriend dump you, move in with a really rich guy, then have her come knocking on your door, begging for your forgiveness seven years after she's become a heroin-addicted hooker.

Lets just say I'm not real excited about Giambi's return to Oakland.

7) On a lighter note, road teams were 11-3 against spread last week in the NFL. For the season, visitors are 67-59 against the spread.

6) First college hoop game of the season is Sunday, when Houston plays Georgia Southern; first full slate of games is week from Friday.

5) Stephon Marbury is the first person is the history of organized labor to complain to his labor union because he isn't allowed to do anything to earn his $21M a year salary. Life just sucks sometimes.

4) Las Vegas oddsmakers do have a sense of humor; they've listed the Bronx Bombers as 6-1 favorites to win the 2009 World Series, while the world champ Phillies and AL champ Rays are both 15-1. Boston is 7-1, the Angels are 8-1. Only 102 days until pitchers and catchers.

3) 23 of the Bobcats' last 80 games will be against teams that used to be coached by Larry Brown. Will be interested to see if he lasts the whole season coaching that sorry team.

Allen Iverson wasn't allowed to play for Detroit Wednesday, since Chauncey Billups hasn't taken his Nuggets physical yet, but Pistons won at Toronto anyway. Denver lost its game at Golden State.

2) For the first time, I'm going to be older than the President of the United States, which is at least a little unsettling.

1) 118,928,868 people cast a vote for the two main candidates in the Presidential election; you can make the argument that no matter who won the election, the real winners were the American people, as they got interested in what was going on, which is a really good thing.

Wednesday's List of 13: Our NFL List of 13..........
13) Jets-- Favre has thrown fourth quarter pick-6's in last two games but Gang Green is 5-3 and a playoff contender. We'll see how they handle a game they should win this week, at home against St Louis.

12) Panthers-- Visiting Oakland squad that had three first downs and 77 total yards last week; must-win for Carolina. Scored 10 points or less in both losses, but those were their last two away games.

11) Falcons-- Rookie coach, rookie QB, they run ball well; they're 5-0 when they score 20+ points, scored 9-9-14 in losses. Doubt Saints are holding anyone under 20, but this is a huge rivalry game.

10) Eagles-- WRs are shaky but they used TEs well in easy win last week in Seattle. Scored 31 ppg in winning last three games, have big Sunday night game with Giants this week. Need Westbrook healthy.

9) Patriots-- Just don't make many mistakes, but they did screw up at end of game at Indy Sunday, using last time out with 11:30 left, leaving themselves without a replay challenge. Then again, seldom do any calls go against them (two penalties in last two games).

8) Colts-- Not nearly as impressive this year- interesting game this week in Pittsburgh, against banged-up Steelers. Indy ran ball for only 47 yards on 21 carries, a definite red flag.

7) Redskins-- They're a good team, but for the love of Pete, Coach Zorn has to learn how to manage the end of games when he's losing. Down 23-6, kick a FG, get within two scores, keep the game alive.

6) Cardinals-- Powerful offense; if you put them in Patriot helmets, they'd be getting a lot more positive press. They need to avoid poor weather in a possible road playoff game. Should Cardinals make it to the Super Bowl, it revives Kurt Warner's shot at the Hall of Fame.

5) Ravens-- Again with rookie coach, rookie QB- they play defense, they've got two productive runners (McGahee, Rice) and they're a good road team, winning at Miami, Cleveland in last three weeks.

4) Packers-- Was reading some stuff on Internet, where scout says he was studying Aaron Rodgers om film and he saw lot of similarities in what the Packers do now and what they did when they had Favre. How smart does their GM look now?

3) Steelers-- Big Ben seems to have multiple injuries; obviously, this ranking is dependent on him being healthy enough to be productive. Despite Leftwich's terrific play Monday, they need Big Ben healthy.

2) Giants-- Totally dismantled Dallas Sunday, but so did the Rams. Defending champs have tough game at Philly this week- they're darn good team, need to get Burress back involved more in the offense.

1) Titans-- All they do is win; not sure which network has the Super Bowl this year, but think they'd like to see an Arizona-Tennessee tilt this February? Jeff Fisher has seen #13 in the Super Bowl before.

Tuesday's List of 13: Random thoughts after a great vacation
Some unconnected thoughts, opinions after my vacation down south

13) There is no loyalty in the business world, and college football is a very big business. Tennessee canned Phil Fulmer Monday, the same guy who is 150-51 in Knoxville and won a national title at the place when he went to college and has worked for the last thirty years.

12) Four college coaches have now been canned during the season, an unfortunate trend, as college game creeps closer and closer to being a miniature version of the NFL.

11) I'm thinking Fantasy Football has done more to increase interest in the NFL than gambling has. Lot of people you wouldn't think have an interest in sports have fantasy football teams.

10) Was surprised to learn that even though Hilton Head is a coastal town, obviously, if you drew a line straight north all way to Canada, the line would go west of Pittsburgh, so its not really that far east.

9) Tailgaters at the South Carolina games leave their folding chairs out while they go into the stadium for the game; if they did that here in New York, they would need new folding chairs for their next tailgate.

8) Ran Jaworski said Monday night that London Fletcher is by far the best player in the NFL who hasn't gone to a Pro Bowl-- he does have a Super Bowl ring, won with the '99 Rams-- he played Division III college football at John Carroll, Don Shula's alma mater.

7) Memo to the Redskins: Lose the burgundy/burgundy look-- its not good. Reminds me of when Boog Powell played for the Indians, and they wore red jerseys with red pants. Not attractive.

6) Not only has Jason Campbell had seven offensive coordinators in his last eight seasons, but Jim Zorn is the first of the eight who was a quarterback, which is probably making a big difference for him.

5) The Iverson-to-Detroit trade is fun but odd-- think about this-- if Pistons let Iverson and Rasheed Wallace walk after the season, they'll be $21-22M under the salary cap for next season, and will in terrific shape to go shopping for big-name free agents.

4) If you like golf, you have to visit Hilton Head, its just that simple.

3) College footbal is going to have a big problem if Alabama, Texas Tech and Penn State all win out-- you're going to wind up with Joe Paterno, the 82-year old legend at Penn State, getting nosed out of a last shot at a national title because of this stupid system. It isn't fair.

2) You know Nick Saban's return to Baton Rouge this week is huge when ESPN Gameday broadcasts from the site of the CBS telecast.

1) This time next year, Michael Vick will be a Raider, and wouldn't be weird if they had a Monday night game in Cleveland's Dawg Pound?

Monday's List of 13: Wrapping up another NFL Sunday........
13) If you want to spend a fun Sunday in Hilton Head watching pro football, then the Wild Wings Cafe is the place to be. All the games are on, the food is good, and the help is friendly. Good place. That said, it'll be good to get back home to Graney's (37 TVs, smokin' hot bartenders, terrific food) this week.

12) Atlanta 24, Raiders 0-- Score is misleading; Falcons had 30 first downs, an awful lot, Oakland had three, in about as bad a pummeling as I've seen in an NFL game since the Rams held Seattle to -8 yards in a 1979 24-0 win in the Kingdome. Michael Vick will be a Raider next season, , in my opinion, and to be honest, they could use him.

11) Buccaneers trailed 24-3 at Arrowhead, rallied to win in OT, as Herm Edwards found another way to screw up a close game. Trick play the Chiefs scored on was cool though, long pass from Clayton to QB-turned-WR Tyler Thigpen, who shows some potential at QB.

10) My Rams had a truly dismal day Sunday, as Marc Bulger was just awful, on a day where Kurt Warner passed for 252 yards in the first half and Dick Vermeil was installed in the Ring of Honor. Time for the Male Sheep to draft a QB, and I mean April of 2009. 2008 is over for the Rams, and so better be Bulger's tenure with the Rams.

9) Minnesota had good balance, with 177 passing yards, 168 on the ground, in a 28-21 win over Houston (0-4 on the road).

8) Bengals drove 80+ yards for TDs on their first two drives, as they built a 21-3 lead and hung on, stopping a two-point play with 1:22 to go, getting their first win of '08 by upsetting Jacksonville, 21-19.

7) Browns led Baltimore 27-13 with 6:07 left in third quarter, then got outscored 24-0 the rest of the way, as Baltimore won 37-27 in a game that most likely will get Brady Quinn off the bench and into some games. Browns have short week this week, but then they have ten days before the next game-- I'm thinking Quinn starts then.

On their last six drives, Browns ran 21 plays for a hideous 40 yards.

6) Lions led 23-13 at the half in Chicago, but didn't score in second half and are now 0-8, halfway to a perfect season. Detroit ran ball 28 times for 47 yards, and that just ain't good enough.

5) Tennessee is 8-0 and no one talks about them!!!!

4) Adam Viniatieri hadn't make a 50+-yard FG in his last 91 games until he connected on one Sunday in Colts' 18-15 win over Patriots.

3) Denver Broncos ran ball 12 times for 14 yards vs Miami, in 26-17 loss; Cutler also threw INT for a TD. Hard to win that way.

2) Seattle threw a 90-yard TD pass in its first series; but was 12-28 for 57 passing yards the rest of the game. You need quality backups to be a good NFL team, and Seneca Wallace doesn't fit that bill.

1) Hard to describe how lifeless and disinterested the Cowboys look they are so lucky they have a bye this week. Will be interesting to see if Romo's return puts some bounce back into their step.

Sunday's List of 13: Wrapping up a college football Saturday
13) People are really nice here in South Carolina, but they do take college football seriously, and thats a good thing. Always good to be around people who are passionate about having fun.

12) Many thanks to the Jordan and Hunter families for welcoming me into their tailgate Saturday-- I spent the afternoon sitting in a folding chair in the sun, watching college football on a flatscreen TV that was embedded in the side of a Winnebago. Good way to spend a day.

11) Went to the Tennessee-South Carolina game at night, which was an offensive trainwreck on both sides of ball; total of 22 first downs in game, with less than half the passes completed, but what a terrific atmosphere. 81,000 people-- more than any NFL team but Redskins draw, and the Gamecocks aren't even a championship contender.

10) North Texas won at Western Kentucky, so now Washington is the only winless D-I team in America; Huskies still have to play rival Washington State, which is actually worse than U-Dub, but Wazzu has a win over a I-AA team. The 2008 Apple Cup won't be pretty.

9) In the first 5:27 of play Saturday night, Oklahoma led Nebraska 28-0; it was 49-14 at the half. Sooners and Florida are crushing folks since suffering their only loss of this season.

8) Person named Donnie Beer is running for Mayor of Beaufort, SC; I have lot of friends who would gladly vote for someone named Donnie Beer, for just about anything. Donnie Beer is a woman, by the way.

7) Mississippi State lost 14-13 to Kentucky because the PAT after their TD at the start of the fourth quarter was blocked. Rich Brooks did a great job getting Wildcats bowl eligible this season.

6) Texas Tech went for a TD on the last play against Texas because their kicker is a walk-on who wasn't even on team until September, and late September at that. I'm guessing Mike Leach will get some very interesting job offers this offseason.

5) Temple led Navy 27-7 with 10:00 left; with 0:37 left, they gave up a 42-yard fumble return for a TD, then lost in OT, maybe the worst loss in any football game ever. What a bitter defeat. For a team with all 22 starters back, they've been terrible in close games this season.

4) Florida State fumbled on the Georgia Tech 2-yard line in the last minute, as Tech held off the Seminoles, 31-28, breaking a 12-game skid against Florida State.

3) Michigan, Colorado State, UTEP, Western Kentucky all scored 40+ points, but all of them lost this week. Seven other teams had 30 or more points but also lost.

2) Utah-TCU is a big game this Thursday on CBS College Sports.

1) I'm really glad Urban Meyer chose Florida over Notre Dame-- he is a way better coach than Charlie Weis-- his Gators are rolling now.

Saturday's List of 13: College football odds and ends..........
13) Road team is 10-0-1 vs spread in Tennessee-So. Carolina games.

12) Colorado State was outscored 52-7 in seocnd half of its last three ballgames.

11) Clemson is 7-4 vs spread in last 11 tries as ACC road underdog.

10) Missouri is 5-0-1 vs spread in last six games vs Baylor.

9) Auburn won its last seven trips to Ole Miss; road team is 9-3 vs spread in last dozen Auburn-Ole Miss games.

8) Home side is 10-4-1 vs spread in Wyoming-San Diego State series.

7) Boston College is -9 in turnovers their last three games.

6) Louisiana Tech covered their last four games vs Fresno State.

5) Cal Bears are +11 in turnovers over their last six games.

4) Florida covered 10 of last 11 regular season games; all six of their wins this season are by 23+ points.

3) Iowa won five in row vs Illinois by average score of 26-9.

2) Four of last five BYU games stayed under the total.

1) Miami FL's last four opponents completed less than 50% of their passes-- combined, they completed just 40%.

Friday's List of 13: Quick thoughts from the sunny south......
13) Greetings from Hilton Head, where I'm spending the weekend on a mini-vacation; going to Tennessee-South Carolina game Saturday night in Columbia. Its nice down here-- I highly recommend it.

12) Went to see my friend's nephew play high school ball last night, and met a coaching legend-- John McKissick, who is 82 and has won over 500 games as a high school football coach at Summerville HS. The field there, which seats over 10,000, by the way, is named after him already. Coach is a nice man-- honored to meet him.

11) Flying down here yesterday, security is much tighter than it was the last time I flew, 16 months ago. Thats a good thing, no complaints safety-first. But they really have ratcheted up security.

10) We need to get rid of the Electoral College-- how could candidate get more votes and lose the election? Its an outdated system we have.

9) That said, Tuesday night could be an interesting night of TV, as the election returns come in. For some reason, Obama and McCain are both doing halftime interviews with Chris Berman Monday night, That shouldn't do too much to further swell Berman's head.

8) Since 1991, 18 teams have started NFL season 0-7; Bengals have been five of those 18 teams.

7) If I hear any more about Joe the Plumber, I might puke; he isn't a licensed plumber, even. Please go away.

6) Never saw a dog in an airport before, but saw two yesterday, and neither was a seeing-eye dog.

5) ESPN can't get enough of Bob Knight-- he's going to be in Lubbock Saturday, and will be on ESPN GameDay. Just terrific.

4) What fiscal crisis? Andrew Byrum signed a 4-year, $58M deal, and Jason Maxiell, who doesn't even start, signed $20M deal (four year).

3) Louisiana-Lafayette has ten TD plays of 50+ yards so far this season-- no one else in the country has more than five.

2) Penn State fans are rooting like hell for Texas Tech tomorrow, and for LSU against the Crimson Tide next week.

1) OK, I'm going for a walk on the beach; hope you have a nice day.

Thursday's List of 13: Our NFL List of 13........
This isn't a ranking, just teams that made an impression recently; the Giants/Titans, right now, are clearly the two best teams in NFL......
13) Cowboys-- Two wild card teams make playoffs, so even though the four NFC East teams are among the five best in NFC, most that can make the playoffs is three. If you had to guess right now, aren't the Cowboys the shakiest of the four NFC East teams?

12) Rams--Biggest game of Marc Bulger's career this week; people in St Louis despise the Cardinals (who bolted St Louis in mid-80's) but adore Kurt Warner (won Super Bowl XXXIV). Rams get back into contention in NFC West by beating Arizona this week.

11) Jets-- Struggled with Raiders, Chiefs last two weeks, now visit a hostile Orchard Park crowd where first place could be on line (if the Patriots lose at Indy and Jets win, its a three-way tie in AFC East).

10) Eagles-- Totally different offense when Westbrook plays- their receivers aren't so good. Hard to imagine Seneca Wallace generating a lot of offense against Jim Johnson's defense this week.

9) Bills-- This is the year for someone other than New England to be AFC East champ.......that said, you don't lose at Miami and win the division. Bad loss for Bills last week, with Jets, Patriots up next.

8) Redskins-- 6-2 and they have the latest bye week, so they'll be in best shape, rest-wise, coming down stretch, with all three NFC East rivals still having to visit Maryland. Jim Zorn, Coach of the Year???

7) Patriots-- Getting superior special teams play; they've had edge in average starting field position in six of their seven games. Colts/Bills in next two games, with the Buffalo game the more important one.

6) Packers-- They're 13-5-1 vs spread in last 19 road games. Rodgers has proved to be a more-than-able replacement for Favre. Think they have decent shot at handing Titans their first loss this weekend.

5) Bears-- They were leading NFL in scoring before bye; interesting to see if they keep it up. When they beat Vikings 48-41 in Week 7, it was first time EVER they gave up 40+ points and still won game.

4) Panthers-- They play good defense, I like Delhomme as a leader, but can't get stench of their loss at Tampa out of my mind. First two games after the bye are Raiders/Lions; no excuse not to get two wins.

3) Steelers-- Led Giants 14-12 when their long snapper got hurt, and sub threw one thru the end zone for tying safety. Think Big Ben is super, but not convinced Tomlin is a championship-level head coach.

2) Giants-- At some point, this Burress thing will boil over and they will have to win big games without him. Offensive line is underrated; Eli almost never gets roughed up like Roethlisberger is this season.

1) Titans-- Being small-market team helps them, keeps them out of the limelight, where heads swell all too quickly. Not surprisingly, this is another team with a terrific offensive line. Is there a better coach in NFL than Jeff Fisher?

Wednesday's Den: Blue Ribbon's top 13 college hoop teams....
13) Michigan State-- Three starters back from 27-9 team; loaded in terms of having athletes, with three 5th-year big men. Final Four is in Detroit, so Spartans would have home court edge if they make it.

12) Purdue-- Have five starters back from 25-9 team that lost in 2nd round of NCAAs LY; Boilers were +157 in turnovers a year ago and figure to be even better now, having taken summer trip to Australia.

11) Memphis-- Calipari's team is the modern version of Tark's clubs at UNLV, a national giant playing in a substandard league. Tigers are missing three starters and two assistant coaches from LY, but they'll reload, breeze through C-USA again, and be nasty in March.

10) Texas-- Four starters back from 31-7 team that lost in regional finals; Longhorns have 131 wins the last five years, but you'll never see Rick Barnes' name on top coaches' list. Recruiting is a big part of coaching, people. If you get great players, you'll win lot of games.

9) Tennessee-- Vols have 77 wins the last three years, but this will be a different Tennessee team, deeper, more athletic, but not a team that will shoot as well. If they develop a quality point guard, watch out.

8) Duke-- Blue Devils have stumbled last two years in March; now that Coach K has his gold medal, he has to figure out if longer 3-point shot will hamper a team that made 141 more 3's than its foes LY.

7) Louisville-- Have four starters back from 27-9 team, but Padgett was a glue guy- how much will they miss him? Cardinals need one of the freshman big guys (or both) to step up- their forwards are really good players. Haing Pitino on bench gives them a better chance.

6) Oklahoma-- 75% of their scholarships guys are in first or second year of D-I ball, but they're all talented guys, so Sooners won't lack for depth. Blake Griffin is double-double guy every night, so talent is going to have to carry the day until they gain experience.

5) UConn-- Four starters back from 24-9 team, they'll get two guys eligible after first semester. If they get some shooting to go with the defensive presence of Thabeet, it wouldn't be shocking to see them in Detroit, making up for their forst round loss to San Diego LY.

4) UCLA-- 97 wins and three Final Fours the last three years; they're retooling again, with three starters gone from 35-4 team. Bruins aren't as deep as LY, but their perimeter is solid. It becomes a question of how quickly the new big men develop. You know they'll defend well

3) Notre Dame-- Mike Brey is 5-5 in NCAA's with Notre Dame, as his excellent coaching job has been overshadowed by disappointment in March. They've won 37 games in a row at home, for Big East club thats pretty damn impressive.

2) Pitt-- 132 wins in last five years, but until Arizona job gets filled by someone other than Jamie Dixon, that question will dog the Pitt mentor all season. They need to shoot ball better, and some of their six new guys will have to contribute right away.

1) North Carolina-- Has whole team back, ton of expectations; they are 13-deep, which means their biggest problem will be keeping guys happy, playing time-wise. Hansbrough is a senior without a title, so that will be the Tar Heels' focus this season.

Tuesday's Den: Wrapping up a college football Saturday
13) All Vanderbilt had to do was beat Duke at home to become bowl eligible- they haven't been to a bowl since 1982. Vandy was favored to win by 10 points- they lost 10-7. Now they're no lock to get that sixth win. If they don't get it, they'll have no one else to blame.

12) When was the last time LSU gave up 52 points at home?

11) Oklahoma had 55 points at Kansas State Saturday...at the half.

10) Memphis beat Southern Miss 36-30, despite playing with their #3-4 QBs. USM is now 2-6, but at least they score a lot of points, unlike when Jeff Bower was coach, when they struggled to score but rarely struggled to win.

9) Tennessee was outgained 366-173 at home by Alabama, in a 29-9 loss, which isn't good for Phil Fulmer's job security; Michigan lost at home to Michigan State 35-21, which isn't good for Rich Rodiguez' stomach. Tough times for two of America's proud programs.

8) Virginia Tech's top two QBs are now hurt; Hokies lost on road for second week in row. Meanwhile, Bobby Bowden 'noles are now 6-1 after getting by Virginia Tech 30-20.

7) Army, Navy and Air Force all won at home this week; the three service academies combined to throw a total of 10 passes, with Army throwing nine of them. Navy crushed SMU with zero pass attempts.

6) UConn trailed Cincinnati 13-10 at the half, but won 40-16, using a +6 turnover ratio and holding Bearcats to 0-14 on third down plays.

5) Tim Brewster better get votes for national Coach of Year, after his Gophers won 17-6 at Purdue, Minnesota is 7-1 (they were 1-11 LY).

4) Rutgers QB Teel had 311 yards and five passing TDs at Pitt....... in the first half. Scarlet Knights scoring 54 points was shocking, but maybe Panthers were just looking ahead to their trip to Notre Dame.

3) Penn State had no penalties, no turnovers, outrushed Ohio State, 160-61, and did our nation's football fans a great service by knocking Buckeyes out of BCS picture, winning 13-6 in Columbus. Now the Nittany Lions need either Texas, Alabama to lose give Joe Paterno one more national title opportunity.

2) Al Groh's Virginia Cavaliers won at Georgia Tech, now look good to go bowling; in late September, they looked like a great bet for the coaching carousel, but Groh just keeps coaching, and winning.

1) Houston Nutt went back to Arkansas and beat the players that he recruited, 23-21; his Ole Miss team is 4-4. I'm guessing Nutt is a hell of a lot happier this year than he has been last couple of seasons.

Monday's Dens: Catching up after a weekend of fun............
We'll do all the week's college football in Tuesday's Den,,,,,..........for today, two lists, one for my trip to Philadelphia, the other for Week 8 of the NFL season........
Monday's 2nd List of 13: Wrapping up an NFL Sunday........
13) Matt Ryan is going to be really good; I had a perfect view of his 55-yard TD pass in the second quarter Sunday-- that throw defined the term "threading the needle". Falcons looked like a playoff team Sunday, even in defeat. Westbrook carried the day for the Eagles.

12) How fitting was it that in a game featuring Buddy Ryan's sons as the two defensive coordinators, the first score of game was a safety?

11) Norv Turner figures to get fired should the Chargers miss out on the playoffs, but what about the guy who dumped Drew Brees and kept Philip Rivers? At this point, that looks like a very bad decision. By the way, 81 passes in London Sunday, but no sacks, as British fans saw NFL football at its high-scoring best.

10) Not many NFL teams go -3 in turnovers and win; the INT Favre threw that put Chiefs up 24-21 with 7:48 left was really bad, but he recovered and pulled Jets over the top at the end. Tyler Thigpen was 25-36/250 passing, a bad omen for Gang Green.

9) I can't figure the Dolphins out, simple as that, but they forced four turnovers, averaged 9.9 pards/pass, which trumped their one TD and three FG performance in five trips to Buffalo red zone. Miami had a 16-yard advantage in average starting field position.

8) Total yardage in Cowboys' 13-9 win vs Tampa-- 262-172, Bucs. Next up for Dallas is the Giants, then a much-needed bye week. As for Brad Johnson, averaging 2.8 yards/pass attempt just isn't good.

7) Rams host Kurt Warner and the Cardinals this week-- if they win, they're still alive in playoff hunt. No exaggeration that this is biggest game of Marc Bulger's career, as Warner is still revered in St Louis, and well, lets just say that right now, Bulger isn't.

6) Cardinals dropped back to pass 53 times, ran ball 14 at Carolina- they go to St Louis in game with big division title implications this week, and I'm guessing they'll want to run ball more more than that.

5) Redskins scored six points on three trips inside Detroit red zone, but Santana Moss' explosive punt return broke open a close game, as Washington improved to 6-2. Can the Lions really go 0-16?

4) Looking down stat sheet of Browns-Jaguars game, hard to figure how Cleveland won; only stat Browns clearly owned was a 12-yard advantage in starting field position, though their erratic passing game did average 8.4 yards/attempt. Season is slipping away for the Jags.

3) Giants outsacked Steelers 5-0, were +4 in turnovers, got safety as Steelers' second-string long snapper launched ball through end zone in 14-12 game. Pitt had a 53-yard TD pass called back when they had a 14-9 lead. Giants' schedule in second half has no easy days in it.

2) Shaun Hill replaced JT O'Sullivan in second quarter, as Singletary made his mark in Day One of his regime. Odd that he went off like a modern-day Ditka in his first game as coach. Also hard to imagine if Singletary becomes permanent coach, that he would keep Martz as offensive coordinator. Think Buddy Ryan/Kevin Gilbride.......

1) Texans had TD drives of 91-84-86 yards, in drubbing a Cincinnati team that may have packed it in for season. Without Carson Palmer, this is a lost team. Houston was 10-13 on third down, averaged 9.5 yards/pass attempt, were +3 in turnovers and a PR for a TD. What we need is a Lion-Bengal game, just so one of them can get a win.

My Philly trip: Who says its always sunny in Philadelphia?
13) FOX has a TV show called "Its always sunny in Philadelphia"; I am here to report that this isn't true, after waiting out 91-minute rain delay Saturday night, and sitting in leftfield bleachers until 1:48 am Sunday morning, watching Game 3 of the World Series. It was still raining sideways after they started to take the tarp off.

12) Left my home at 7:53 Saturday morning; 38 hours later, I rolled back into the driveway, tired but happy; saw my first World Series game, also an NFL game, and enjoyed the company of good friends. Watched half the Penn State-Ohio State game with a hypertense 10-year old, stood 5 feet from Bud Selig, and generally had a great time

11) Firstly a tip of the Armadillo's hat to one of my three friends named Joe, Mr. Gill, who may know everyone in Philadelphia. Do not know where Joe gets all his energy, but my sincere thanks are out to him for an outstanding weekend.

10) In this space, I've already christened Las Vegas my favorite city, and my hometown Albany, NY my second favorite, so now I have to tell you Philadelphia is America's Most Underrated City. What fun they have here!!!

9) In the space of 28 hours, Philadelphia hosted two World Series games, a Who concert, an NHL game and an NFL game. If you live in Philadelphia and are ever bored, it is 100% your fault.

8) We ate at the famous Geno's Cheesesteaks, where the owner has hundreds of pictures of famous patrons/visitors, including Sylvester Stallone, Tony Danza and Sarah Palin up on his walls.

We were at Tony Luke's cheesesteak place Saturday, when I heard a very big guy say about the person in front of him in line, "That guy's a Tampa fan; let's kick his ass." He was kidding..........I think.

7) Sat in 8th row of leftfield bleachers Saturday night; thought ball Longoria hit to fence in top of 6th was coming right to me, we were that close to the foul pole, on the fair side. Terrific vantage point of a historic and exciting game.

Not many replays on scoreboard at baseball games-- umpires' union is very strong, so controversial plays aren't shown to the crowd.

6) Singer Tim McGraw dropped some of his dad's ashes on pitching mound as he participated in pre-game ceremony; nobody knew a lot about it, until Garry Matthews mentioned it on post-game show.

5) Going to an Eagles' home game is interesting; would guess half of the crowd, probably more than half wears Eagle jerseys to the game. Westbrook-McNabb-Dawkins were most popular jerseys Sunday, with some Eagles from the Vermeil era (Montogmery-Carmichael- Bergey-Jaworski) also still represented in the crowd.

4) If you liked the Rocky movies, you'll like it here. They played a montage of Rocky music/clips before bottom of 8th inning Saturday and the crowd perked up instantly, then the Eagles played another set of clips before kickoff Sunday, with Adrian imploring Rocky to simply "Win" as she came out of her coma. Great stuff.

3) Ref called roughing the passer penalty against Eagles early in the game Sunday, and you would have thought someone's child has been stolen-- very loud booing, even after they forced Falcons to punt.

2) After every Philly touchdown, they play a fight song (Fly Eagles Fly), and it works great, because everyone sings it. Song is corny as can be, but when fans shout out E!!A!!G!!L!!E!!S!!, it is very cool.

1) We'll have more on America's Most Underrated City as the week goes on. I do highly recommend a visit there. Lot of nice people, and boy, are they passionate about their favorite teams!!!!!!

Thursday's List of 13
Our college football List of 13........
This isn't a ranking, but teams that made an impression for whatever reason. We're heading into second half of season, teams are trying to get bowl eligible- some of these teams haven't been there in a while....
13) Florida State-- Won last three games, scoring 35.3 ppg; they have converted 21 of last 34 on third down, so QB Ponder is making plays as Jimbo Fisher gets comfortable calling most of the shots.....

12) Michigan-- Outscored 66-6 in second half of last three games; at 2-5, are likely to miss a bowl for first time since the 60's.

11) San Diego State-- In last three games, Aztecs were outscored by a 70-14 margin, and allowed 383-401-419 rushing yards. They have to play BYU and Utah still-- this could get really ugly.

10) USC-- Have outscored opponents 116-6 in second half this year but are on upset alert this week, going to Tucson to play Arizona and its fine senior QB Tuitama.

9) Virginia-- Al Groh was 1-3 and on hot seat, now he won three in a row, all as an underdog; he is like Wayne Fontes back when he was at Detroit; every time he got in trouble, he won some games and got off the hot seat. Strong coaching job by Groh this month, though.

8) Vanderbilt-- 9.5-point favorite this week vs Duke; if they win, the Commodores are bowl eligible, and headed to forst bowl since 1982. That will be a happy day in Nashville. First, they have to win.

7) Maryland-- Cybil's favorite team; they lose to Middle Tennessee, beat Cal; they lose 31-0 to Virginia, beat Wake Forest 26-0. No one, and I mean no one, has any idea how they'll play week-to-week.

6) Northern Illinois-- Lost 70-21 to Toledo LY, then got revenge for that debacle by whacking the Rockets 38-7 Saturday. They've had a lot of close games, the Huskies, but seem to be getting better.

5) Tulsa-- Go up against Game 4 of World Series Sunday night; this is a high-powered team that hung 77 on UTEP last week, after they had lost to the Miners LY. An impressive, well-balanced offense.

4) LSU-- No easy days in SEC; after trips to Florida, South Carolina, Georgia Dawgs come to Baton Rouge this week. How did Les Miles get himself in position of having so little experience at quarterback?

3) Alabama-- Still crushing teams in first half, but young Tide, in the last two games, have been outscored 31-3 in second half. Little doubt that Saban is coach of the year-- can Tide have strong November?

2) Oklahoma State-- Cowboys led Texas at halftime in four of the last five meetings, then collapsed in second half and lost all five. This is a chance to erase some of that misery. Should be a terrific game.

1) Texas-- Wow, the Big 12 is strong this season. Longhorns scored 96 points against Oklahoma, Missouri, and they're strong teams. It looks like Colt McCoy is frontrunner for the Heisman.

Wednesday's List of 13: World Series odds and ends........
13) First of all, this is going to be a terrific World Series; if you're not at least a little interested in this matchup, you're not a baseball fan. It pits the Phillies (one world title in 126 seasons) against the Rays, the doormat-turned-Cinderella, the greatest turnaround team ever. Vegas people who make odds have Rays at anywhere from -$135/$148.

12) Rays' payroll, as we've talked about often in this space is ranked 29th of 30 big league teams, the lowest of any World Series team in the 33 years since free agency began.

11) Chuck Lamar scouted the Rays for the Phillies; he was first GM of the Rays, drafted many of their current stars, but was let go when the new owners bought the club. Think he's fired up about this?

10) An American League team won seven of the last ten World Series.

9) Phillies' spring training site is in Clearwater, just down the road, so there will probably be some red in the crowd Wednesday night.

8) Joe Maddon grew up in Hazleton, PA, 95 miles up the road from Philadelphia: his Baseball-Reference.com page is sponsored by place in Hazleton, Casamato's Restaurant. There will be blue in Philly, too. Maddon has engineered the greatest turnaround since Gary Barnett put Northwestern in the Rose Bowl 15 or so years ago.

7) Charlie Fuqua (yes, his middle name is Fuqua) Manuel hit .198 in 242 big league games with the Twins, Dodgers. In six full seasons as a big league skipper, he's never won less than 85 games (Indians fired him with a 39-47 record in 2002). He is an underrated manager.

6) Unlike most AL teams in the World Series, Rays won't be hurt by not having a DH in Philly- their DH is a peripheral guy anyway. If the Red Sox had made it, what do they do with Ortiz in the NL park?

5) We talked about this yesterday, but Rays' 104 wins are 34 more than they've ever won before!!!! They also had best record in majors in spring training, so they established a culture of winning way back in March-- for a perennial loser, that was significant.

4) Both first base coaches have World Series rings; Davey Lopes won one with the Dodgers, and George Hendrick won two, one for the '72 A's, another with the '82 Cardinals.

3) The All-Star Game decided home field advantage for this series; it was 14-inning game that ended around 2am in the east. Scott Kazmir of the Rays was the winning pitcher, Brad Lidge of Philly the loser.

2) TV guys kept saying Sunday how the Rays' bullpen was spent; I disagree-- think the problem was that since they played 25 games vs Boston this season (went 14-11), Red Sox were just dialed in on all the pitchers they had seen so often, which explained Price's success- they hadn't seen him yet. Their bullpen will be fine here.

1) Prediction: Remember how much better the American League has been for few years now- they've won 100+ more games than the NL teams over the last three seasons of interleague play. Rays play the style suited for postseason play- they pitch and field well. Look for the Rays to survive a long, exciting series, and win it in seven games.

Tuesday's List of 13: Our NFL List of 13........
Teams 1-4 are a ranking; the rest of the NFL is so muddled, we just can't differentiate, since it changes from day-to-day, injury-to-injury so teams 5-13 have impressed us, for various reasons.........
13) Chargers, Saints-- These teams head to London at 3-4; loser will be in serious trouble, though Denver's sorry showing Monday gives San Diego more of an opening than the Saints have.

12) Rams-- Jim Haslett for President!!! They've been revived, with a running attack and a defense that forces turnovers. Is it too late to be a contender this season? Maybe, maybe not, but there's always '09.

11) Jets-- They move right down field to tie game 13-13, then win a coin flip in OT and they run the ball? Wasn't Oakland's defense too tired to rush Favre? Thought Mangini let Raiders off the hook.......

10) Vikings-- Allowed four special teams TDs in last three games; if they score 41 points on the road, they HAVE to win.

9) Broncos-- Dismal performance Monday night, coupled with that ice bag on Cutler's right hand, is good news for the Chargers and bad news for anyone that Mike Shanahan is glaring at today.

8) Browns-- At one point late in third quarter Sunday, Anderson was 4 of 21 passing, on what looked like a pleasant Maryland afternoon. How many games will Browns lose before they go to Brady Quinn? And can someone please tell Kellen Winslow Jr to button it?

7) Bills-- Owner Ralph Wilson turned 90 last week; you get feeling that Bills might be moving to Toronto when he no longer owns team; their first regular season game at Rogers Centre is in December.

6) Seahawks-- Its not ending well in Seattle for Mike Holmgren; now that the 49er job is open, will he be a candidate there? Giving him the run of the front office could be a carrot that gets him back to SF.

5) Dolphins-- Just like Cleveland, how long before Fish dump Chad as starting QB, and throw Michigan rookie Chad Henne into the fray? When Miami faces a rookie QB but Pennington makes critical error of the game, then Dolphins might as well go with a rookie, too.

4) Packers-- Management has to be pretty happy with how 2008 is going, as they leave the past behind and seamlessly move to a future without Brett Favre. Not easy to do, but so far, so good.

3) Steelers-- Winner at Heinz Field this week grabs top spot should Titans lose to the Colts Monday night. Hopefully, Steelers used bye week to get Big Ben healthier, and for Tomlin to get better at clock management skills.

2) Giants-- Schedule gets tougher in second half; Plaxico Burress goes back to Pittsburgh this week. 4:15 game should be interesting. Don't forget, at one point, Giants told Big Ben they were drafting him, and not trading for Eli Manning.

1) Titans-- There are 32 teams in the NFL; after seven weeks, one of the 32 is unbeaten, which makes this choice pretty easy, even for a graduate of a public high school and state university like myself.

Monday's List of 13: Wrapping up an NFL Sunday......
13) The ol' coach Bud Grant always used to say about his schedule, "Its not who you play, its when you play them." Ladies and gents, your second place team in the NFC West, the St Louis Rams, who got a break from the gods, playing a screwed-up Dallas team at just the right time, and crushed the chaotic Cowboys 34-14 Sunday.

12) I mean, what team has brought more distractions upon itself than the Cowboys? They probably would have lost to whoever they had to play this week; luckily for me, they played my Rams. More bad news for Dallas: Roy (safety) Williams is out for the year (arm).

11) Chiefs had three different QBs throw 10+ passes Sunday; don't think I've ever seen that before. Its not a good thing, either. Next up for the Chiefs is Herm Edwards' return to the Swamp to face a team he skipped out on a couple years ago, the Jets.

10) 49ers blocked FG for a TD in second consecutive game, and did not win either game; they didn't even cover either game, even though they were the underdog in both games. They were the first underdog of 10+ points not to cover in 2008. A coaching change awaits.

9) 49ers had 13 penalties for 134 yards; Giants had 11 for 80 yards. Referee had to soak his arm after the game from throwing so many penalty flags. There were six other games Sunday where both teams combined to have less penalties than either the Giants or 49ers.

8) Steelers in the second half at Cincinnati Sunday: five drives, four TDs, 24 plays, 240 total yards. How horrible are the Bengals? Their first five drives Sunday: 15 plays, 3 yards, no first downs.

7) Steelers have won eight visits in row to division rival Cincinnati.

6) Reggie Bush will have his knee scoped, more bad news for Saints team that is off to London to play equally-disappointing Chargers.

5) Bears had 53 rushing yards Sunday, were just 2-9 on third down, but they scored 48 points!!!!!! First time in the long, storied history of the Bears they allowed 40+ points and won. Chicago scored two special teams TDs, but a 48-41 Viking-Bear game is very strange.

4) Dick Enberg/Dan Fouts are great together on TV!!!!! So much so that Randy Cross, the third man on that broadcast team, isn't close to being as annoying as he is on a two-man team. Thats a good thing.

3) Raiders had seven five-yard penalties in the first quarter Sunday. John Madden spent his first off-week in 28 years at Raider-Jet tilt with some former players. Jnaikowski's 57-yard FG in OT Sunday is the longest overtime field goal in NFL history.

Ironic that on the night John Madden took the night off from a game in Tampa, Joe Maddon won the American League across the bridge? It is 21 miles from Raymond James Stadium to the Trop.

2) Kellen Winslow is sixth Cleveland Browns player to have a staph infection since 2005; these things are very dangerous- you can die if they're not detected early enough.

1) What are the odds Wade Phillips finishes 2008 as Cowboy coach? At this point, I'd be surprised if he survives their bye week, which is in two weeks, after they play the Bucs and Giants. Is it his fault??? Hell no, its Jerry Jones' fault, but rich dudes never take the fall.

Sunday's List of 13: Wrapping up a college football Saturday
13) This was the first college football Saturday without an underdog of 10+ points winning a game. Army and Ole Miss came close, but lost at the end. UTEP didn't come close, giving up 49 points in the first half of the worst defensive performance I've ever seen.

12) Clemson turned ball over six times in their loss to Georgia Tech, in their first game since Tommy Bowden got fired; what a mess, as the benched QB said the coach "got what he deserved." At least the inmates aren't running the asylum.

11) ESPN's Andre Ware ripped the Clemson AD pretty good as he was standing on sidelines during final minutes of Tigers' home loss to Georgia Tech. "If you want to coach, then coach the team; otherwise, stay upstairs and entertain the alumni."

10) UConn hit right upright with FG attempt with 1:12 left to play, giving Rutgers 12-10 win, their first this year vs a Division I team.

9) Wisconsin is now 0-4 in Big 11, getting thumped 38-16 at Iowa, which also happens to be coach Bielema's alma mater. Not good.

8) Boston College's 28-23 win over Virginia Tech is misleading; both Hokie TDs were scored by the defense. BC scored on a punt return. Eagles won despite turning the ball over five times.

7) This Washington State team is probably the worst in the history of the Pac-10; they've given up 60+ points in four of their five games in league play. Supposedly they have a really good freshman QB that is being red-shirted, should be easy to recruit, since they can sell kids on the chance to play right away. This is a horrible football team.

6) Kentucky scored two TDs in last 4:15 to erase a 20-7 deficit and beat Arkansas 21-20, making Wildcats 5-2 and keeping their bowl hopes very much alive. Razorbacks had a 14-0 lead at halftime.

5) Southern Mississippi fired successful coach Jeff Bower after last year because they wanted a better offense; well, their offense is a lot better, but..........Southern Miss is 2-5. Bower wasn't 2-5 very much.

4) Huge win for Mike Stoops and Arizona late Saturday night; they scored pair of TDs in 0:17 span of third quarter, erased 24-14 deficit and ran away from the Cal Bears, 42-27. At 5-2, Arizona looks good to go to a bowl and save Stoops' job.

3) San Jose State ran two INTs back for TDs in first 16:00, as the Spartans won easily at New Mexico State, improving to 5-2. Tomey has won before at Hawai'i, Arizona, now he is quietly doing it again.

2) Before last week, last time Texas, Penn State and Alabama were all ranked in the top 5 in counry was January 3, 1978.

1) How good is Texas? To score 101 points in consecutive weeks vs Oklahoma and Missouri, wow, thats impressive.

Saturday's List of 13: College knowledge for a fall Saturday...
13) Purdue has no takeaways in its last three games, scored total of nine points in their last two contests.

12) Home side won last eight UL-Lafayette-Arkansas State games.

11) Home team is 11-4 vs spread in Pac-10 confeence games.

10) Underdogs covered the first six Big East conference games.

9) Miami Hurricanes converted just four of last 32 on third down, are an awful 23 for their last 74 passing the ball.

8) Alabama is 3-17 vs spread in last twenty tries as home favorite.

7) Big East teams are 4-13 vs spread as non-conference favorites.

6) Road team is 13-5 vs spread in MAC conference games.

5) Underdog covered the last five Eastern Michigan-Akron games.

4) Underdog is 11-3 vs spread in ACC conference games.

3) Home team covered two of first nine Sun Belt league games.

2) Underdog is 13-5 vs spread in SEC games so far.

1) Northwestern failed to cover last seven tries as Big 11 fave, but Purdue is 9-17 vs spread in last 26 tries as a road underdog.

Friday's List of 13: Our college football List of 13..........
Remember, this is not a ranking, just teams that made an impression over the last week or so..........
13) Clemson-- This ain't the NFL, people. Firing coaches during the season is distasteful and unproductive, especially when the coach is over .500 in conference play during his tenure.

12) Houston-- Trailed UAB 20-3 at half last Thursday, won 45-20 in one of the better turnarounds this season. UAB isn't good, but a rally from 17 down at half is still impressive.

11) Florida State-- 5-1 after win in Raleigh last night; Ponder looks to be pretty good, and defense survived rough start vs Wolfpack, as the Seminoles helped Chuck Amato beat his former employers.

10) Tennessee-- They had one yard rushing last week, after beating Northern Illinois 13-9 at home the week before. Vols have total of 28 first downs in their last three games. Natives are very restless.

9) Oregon-- I know its the 4th-string QB, but 5-19/42 passing stats will come back to haunt the Ducks down the road; QB injuries will someday force teams to get away from the spread offense.

8) Auburn-- Outgained 416-193 at home by Arkansas, somehow lost by just three points, in same week they fired Franklin, the offensive coordinator. Who decided coaches get a half-season to produce, or lose their job? I'm glad my job doesn't depend on 20-year olds doing exactly what they're supposed to, at all times.

7) New Mexico State- Won as 19-point dogs in Reno, as Hal Mumme starts to make progress in Las Cruces, winning three of last four tilts. He has winnable game at home vs improved San Jose State this week.

6) Minnesota-- Already bowl eligible, after being 1-11 last year; too bad the stupid Big 11 Channel has lot of their games; might be fun to see the ol' Gophers play. Having less games on ESPN can't help the recruiting in the league, can it?

5) Oklahoma State-- Big win at Missouri, with 187 rushing yards, 215 passing, and Coach Gundy got through an interview with Erin Andrews without yelling and telling her how old he is. Next up for the Cowboys is a trap game with Baylor.

4) Miami-- Held Central Florida to 78 yards on 64 plays (they had 65 yards in penalties), but because of defensive TD and kick return for TD, they only beat the Knights 20-14. Still not sure what gives with these Hurricanes, but they are at least somewhat improved.

3) TCU-- Crushed BYU last night; I wouldn't want to be the team that draws the Horned Frogs in a bowl; they're fast on defense, have a capable QB and are a hungry club with chip on their shoulders. 32-7 over BYU is a damned good night's work.

2) Penn State-- Winning 48-7 in Madison is impressive, especially in light of their scoring three points in each of last two visits there. Can you remember last time Michigan was a 23-point underdog?

1) Texas- How about some love for Mack Brown? All the guy does is win, he seems like a pleasant human, but you never hear his name as one of the country's best coaches? What does he have to do, go to the NFL for 10 minutes, cash a few checks, then come running back?

Thursday's List of 13: How the Tampa Bay Rays were built.....
Lot of discussion on New York talk radio this week about how the Mets and Bronx Bombers should re-tool their teams to do better in 2009; the usual panic exists, as in trade Wright-Reyes-Beltran, the kind of thinking that makes people dismiss talk radio.

Anyway, I thought I'd look into how the Rays were put together, so here it, how all their players came to be Tampa Bay Rays...........

Starters
2B Akinori Iwamura-- Purchased from Yakult Swallows, 2-15-06.
CF BJ Upton-- 1st round pick, 2002 draft
1B Carlos Pena-- Signed as free agent, 2-1-07
3B Evan Longoria-- 1st round pick, 2006 draft
LF Carl Crawford-- 2nd round pick, 1999 draft
RF Gabe Gross-- Acquired in trade from Brewers, 4-22-08.
C Dioner Navarro-- Acquired in trade from Dodgers, 6-27-06.
DH Willy Aybar-- Acquired in trade from Braves, 1-17-08.
SS Jason Bartl