Andy

In what I assume is part of an all-out plan to tank for Matt Barkley, the Chiefs are starting Brady Quinn this week.

Moreover, Freeman was in the pocket when the shove was made, so technically it was illegal contact on top of it. Right, any way you look at it, it's a blown call. It has to at least be illegal contact When they had Pereira on TV afterword he said that Freeman was out of the pocket when the shove occurred so there was no illegal contact, and that since the shove was legal the receiver still can't be the first one to touch it when he reestablishes himself. I can't see the replay right now to see if he was right about when the shove occurred. Pereira was wrong. There was a picture somewhere, and I wish I could find it, that put a bright yellow square where the pocket was, and Freeman was a step or two inside it when the picture shows Williams being shoved.

Long overdue. And I wouldn't miss Rivera either. Whole organization needs an overhaul.

Moreover, Freeman was in the pocket when the shove was made, so technically it was illegal contact on top of it.

I'm less worried about the defense than the offense. It'll take at least 3 offensive TDs to win.

Top 25 games ------------------------ (11) Mississippi State at (1) Alabama (8:30 pm, ESPN) (2) Florida vs (10) Georgia – in Jacksonville (3:30 pm, CBS) (14) Texas Tech at (3) Kansas State (3:30 pm, FOX) Colorado at (4) Oregon (3 pm, Pac-12 Network) (5) Notre Dame at (8) Oklahoma (8 pm, ABC) (7) Oregon State at Washington (10:15 pm, Pac-12 Network – Regional) (9) USC at Arizona (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN2) (9*) Ohio State at Penn State (5:30 pm, ESPN) Duke at (12) Florida State (3:30 pm, ESPNU) Tennessee at (13) South Carolina (12 pm, ESPN) Kent State at (15) Rutgers (3:30 pm, SNY/ESPN3) Cincinnati at (16) Louisville (8 pm Friday, ESPN) Washington State at (17) Stanford (6:15 pm, Pac-12 Network) (18) Clemson at Wake Forest (7:30 pm Thursday, ESPN) (20) Texas A&M at Auburn (7 pm, ESPNU) (21) Boise State at Wyoming (3:30 pm, CBS Sports) (22) Michigan at Nebraska (8 pm, ESPN2) (23) Texas at Kansas (12 pm, FSN) (24) Ohio at Miami (OH) (3:30 pm, STO/ESPN3) Michigan State at (25) Wisconsin (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN2) * Denotes AP ranking, ineligible for BCS Other nationally available games --------------------------------------- Arkansas State at UL Lafayette (8 pm Tuesday, ESPN2) Nevada at Air Force (8 pm Friday, CBS Sports) Ball State at Army (12 pm, CBS Sports) Indiana at Illinois (12 pm, BTN) Iowa at Northwestern (12 pm, ESPN2) Kentucky at Missouri (12 pm, ESPNU) Temple at Pittsburgh (12 pm, SNY/ESPN3) Northern Illinois at Western Michigan (12 pm, ESPN3) Ole Miss at Arkansas (12:20 pm, SEC Network/ESPN3) NC State at North Carolina (12:30 pm, ACC Network/ESPN3) Maryland at Boston College (1 pm, ESPN3) Utah State at Texas-San Antonio (2 pm, ESPN3) BYU at Georgia Tech (3 pm, FSN South/ESPN3) UCLA at Arizona State (3 pm, FX) TCU at Oklahoma State (3:30 pm, FSN) Purdue at Minnesota (3:30 pm, BTN) Eastern Michigan at Bowling Green (3:30 pm, ESPN3) North Texas at Middle Tennessee (3:30 pm, ESPN3) Western Kentucky at Florida International (6 pm, ESPN3) Baylor at Iowa State (7 pm, FSN) South Alabama at UL Monroe (7 pm, ESPN3) UMass at Vanderbilt (7 pm, FSN South/ESPN3) Syracuse at South Florida (7 pm, ESPN3) Central Florida at Marshall (8 pm, CBS Sports) California at Utah (9:45 pm, Pac-12 Network – Regional)

Officials grant Dallas a timeout they definitely didn't call before the ball was snapped on 4th and 2 for the Panthers (on which they had like 15 people on the field), then ignore obvious P.I. on the play that never should have been needed to run because they gifted them a timeout they didn't take in time. Thanks, guys. 1-6 it is after next week's disemboweling by Chicago. ETA: And just for good measure, the refs gift Dallas the clinching first-down on an absolutely awful 'horse-collar' penalty. Jesus.

Bill Snyder has to be one of the best coaches in the country. Amazing job he's doing at K-State. It's a damn shame that he wasn't recognized for it the first time around. He had to come out of retirement and do this for many people to notice. We have a shot of running the table, but will most likely lose one, as the Big 12 is tough. Damn though, I'd love for him to go out with a Ntl. Championship shot. He should have won one when I was at KSU in 98. Would he settle for a Heisman? Collin Klein has to be the front-runner at this point and it's not all that close in my mind.

That and KU is hopeless. I wonder who would win a battle royale between Kansas, Colorado and Boston College.

Blocked FG is the only way ND could lose unless they pulled a 2011 Michigan.

Dumb penalties, missed tackles, mostly listless offense. It's a trap game alright.

One of the greatest moments in gambling history If such a book/website existed that listed the story of all the crazy late game covers/no covers in sports history I'd totally read it Chris Duhon's meaningless buzzer-beating 3 to cover in the Duke/UConn Final 4 game in 2004 would have to be the cover of that one. Leon Lett getting stripped on the 1 yard line kept the Cowboys from covering in that Super Bowl IIRC. Considering the absurd amount of betting involved in any super Bowl that would probably be it for me. The Cowboys won that game 52-17, so I'm thinking they covered anyway. Maybe you're thinking of his Thanksgiving Day gaffe against Miami?

One of the greatest moments in gambling history If such a book/website existed that listed the story of all the crazy late game covers/no covers in sports history I'd totally read it Chris Duhon's meaningless buzzer-beating 3 to cover in the Duke/UConn Final 4 game in 2004 would have to be the cover of that one.

He used to do, and may still do, the color commentary on the MLB The Show video games. He also filled in for Bob earlier this year on one of Bob's trips to watch Michael. He's ok but I don't think he's a long-term fit.

When did Berthume leave ESPN? Has to be fairly recent, no? They aren't officially announcing the pairing until Monday so that Berthume can work at ESPN through the weekend. I like Berthiaume. That should be a good booth.

There's virtually no chance the booth will be better in 2013. Len and Bob were greater than the sum of their parts.

The last few pages are confusing. There is no way in holy hell anyone would ever be able to make me think going to a Cardinals' message board and posting about baseball while the Cubs were in the playoffs was a good idea.

I would call it a dirty play, but Matt Holliday really is that clumsy (see 2009 NLDS), so we couldn't possibly know either way.

The NFL is still pretty darn deterministic. The Giants (twice), Packers and Steelers have all recently won Super Bowls as the last team in the playoffs from their conference. The Cardinals of a few years ago were, IIRC, far and away the worst NFL playoff team ever by most metrics and they damn near won it too. There is some degree of determinance (is that even a word?) from teams that are statistically superior in the regular season, but not a lot.

Yeah, the sad (or not sad depending on your perspective) reality is that with the exception of the NBA, all pro-sports playoffs now are more or less a coin flip. Not to say that the winner is just blindly lucky, just that there is really no way to predict the results of them anymore with a reasonable degree of accuracy.

The problem with the "maybe STL is just doing something right" logic is that apart from having an ace or two (STL doesn't have anyone appreciably better than anyone else's playoff ace, the Lance Lynn and Kyle Lohse garbage from this season notwithstanding), there really isn't any way to build a baseball team that is more likely to win a playoff series than to just win games, period. There may be something to the idea that the team has some sort of really special amount of intestinal fortitude that allows it to perform under pressure, though. Not sure how it would be attained, but it's not an indefensible concept.

It's probably the Cubs fan in me, but I'm frightened of the trap-game sirens that are all over this BYU game.

Same crap, different series.

Top 25 games ------------------------ (1) Alabama at Tennessee (7 pm, ESPN) (7) South Carolina at (2) Florida (3:30 pm, CBS) (3) Oregon at Arizona State (9 pm Thursday, ESPN) (4) Kansas State at (13) West Virginia (7 pm, FOX) BYU at (5) Notre Dame (3:30 pm, NBC) (6) LSU at (18) Texas A&M (12 pm, ESPN) Purdue at (7*) Ohio State (12 pm, ABC/ESPN2) Utah at (8) Oregon State (10:30 pm, ESPN2) Kansas at (9) Oklahoma (7 pm, FSN) Colorado at (10) USC (6 pm, Pac-12 Network) (11) Georgia at Kentucky (7 pm, FSN South/ESPN3) Middle Tennessee at (12) Mississippi State (7 pm, ESPN2) (14) Florida State at Miami (8 pm, ABC/ESPN3) (15) Rutgers at Temple (12 pm, SNY/ESPN3) South Florida at (16) Louisville (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN2) (17) Texas Tech at (23) TCU (3:30 pm, ABC – Regional) Virginia Tech at (19) Clemson (12 pm, ABC/ESPN2) (20) Stanford at California (3 pm, FOX) (21) Cincinnati at Toledo (7 pm, ESPN3) UNLV at (22) Boise State (3:30 pm, NBC Sports) (24) Iowa State at Oklahoma State (12 pm, FX) Baylor at (25) Texas (8 pm, ABC/ESPN3) * Denotes AP ranking, ineligible for BCS Other nationally available games --------------------------------------- UL Lafayette at North Texas (9 pm Tuesday, ESPN2) Houston at SMU (8 pm Thursday, FSN) UConn at Syracuse (8 pm Friday, ESPN) Minnesota at Wisconsin (12 pm, ESPNU) Northern Illinois at Akron (12 pm, ESPN3) Auburn at Vanderbilt (12:20 pm, SEC Network/ESPN3) Wake Forest at Virginia (12:30 pm, ACC Network/ESPN3) Florida International at Troy (1 pm, ESPN3) Army at Eastern Michigan (1 pm, ESPN3) San Jose State at Texas-San Antonio (2 pm, ESPN3) Boston College at Georgia Tech (3 pm, FSN South/ESPN3) Michigan State at Michigan (3:30 pm, BTN) Nebraska at Northwestern (3:30 pm, ABC/ESPN2) NC State at Maryland (3:30 pm, ESPNU) Indiana at Navy (3:30 pm, CBS Sports) Pittsburgh at Buffalo (3:30 pm, SNY/ESPN3) Rice at Tulsa (3:30 pm, FSN) Ball State at Central Michigan (3:30 pm, ESPN3) UL Monroe at Western Kentucky (4 pm, ESPN3) North Carolina at Duke (7 pm, ESPNU) Marshall at Southern Miss (7 pm, CBS Sports) Idaho at Louisiana Tech (7 pm, ESPN3) Penn State at Iowa (8 pm, BTN) Washington at Arizona (10 pm, Pac-12 Network) San Diego State at Nevada (10:30 pm, CBS Sports)

Tampa Bay's punter just recovered a blocked punt in the end zone and proceeded to desperately chuck a dead duck of a pass downfield which was picked off. Very entertaining.