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I think all three go top 5 maybe top 4. After the Rams as of today Tampa, Cleveland, and Detroit pick next and could all go to those teams. If they pass then maybe 1 could fall. If Detroit and Tampa pass on one of those three they deserve to lose the entire next decade. Yeah, I wasn't really guessing as to who would be there, moreso just indicating he thought going after an elite pick wasn't out of the question. At that spot it'll probably be more of a Mt. Cody/Rolando McClain/Carlos Dunlap/etc. type player.

It's still a possibility, obviously, but as I said before the game, I really think he needed a big game today, like a 175-yardish performance just to give himself some breathing room. I'm rooting for him, but it's going to be close. The good thing about him is that he could have a huge game in the most unlikely of games - i.e. against SD or Miami. As long as he has multiple games left, he has a chance at it, but I agree that's a slim chance. Den (8-5): vs. Oak, @ Phi, vs. KC NE (8-5): @ Buf, , vs. Jax, @ Hou Mia (7-6): @ Ten, vs. Hou, vs. Pitt NYJ (7-6): vs. Atl, @ Ind, vs. Cin Balt (7-6): vs. Chi, @ Pit, @ Oak Jax (7-6): vs. Ind, @ NE, @ Cle Pitt (6-7): vs. GB, vs. Balt, @ Mia Hou (6-7): @ StL, vs. Mia, vs. NE Ten (6-7): vs. Mia, vs. SD, @ Sea Obviously Tennessee would have to win out and put them at 6-7. Denver, with home games against Oakland and KC, I think is a virtual lock since they have the easiest schedule left and they're a game up already. After that, they would need a few other things: 1) New England to win out since they play Jacksonville and Houston 2) Indianapolis to keep trying for 16-0 (and get to 15-0) since they play Jacksonville and the New York Jets the next two weeks. 3) Pittsburgh needs to lose to Green Bay, then beat both Baltimore and Miami (Key) If these things happen, you'll have Tenn, Balt and NYJ with seven losses, Mia, Jax, Hou and Pitt with eight losses. I'm not sure of all of the tiebreakers but then they would need the Jets to lose to either Atl or Cincy (Possible) and Baltimore to lose to either Chi or Oak (Less possible) to win it outright. There are obviously some things that the Titans need to go their way, but it's possible. Ultimately, I think Baltimore and Denver grab the two wild card spots since those two appear to have the easiest schedules left. Thanks for the breakdown. I'm not particularly good at stuff like that. Sounds extremely unlikely (at best), but at least we're not eliminated yet.

Worst winner since the last Bama guy to win the award. You may know this and I just missed the joke, but Bama's never had a Heisman winner before.

Tell Tennessee fans no defensive player will win the award. We're still pissed about the 97 Heisman. Suh absolutely should have won. Ingram had a great year and very much deserved top 5 consideration (probably top 3), but Suh was the best player in college football this year. And that's what the Heisman is supposed to be awarded for. I agree with you on Spiller, though. He should have been in New York over Tebow.

Interesting stat I read online: If you average out the stats of the last three Heisman winning running backs (Reggie Bush, Ron Dayne and Ricky Williams), here's what you have: 1,899 yards/20 TDs/6.9 YPC Here are Mark Ingram's stats this year: 1,542 yards/15 TDs/6.2 YPC

It might make good sense to trade down with one of those picks. There will still be lots of really good players in the middle of the 1st round, so a team might make a really good offer for one of those picks. Then you get the 10-20 talent level player with one pick and still have 2-3 more decent picks extra.

I would say you are but I haven't given up hope for my 49ers yet so I would be hypocritical if I did. Either way at this point I'd just as soon the Titans win out. Unless we make the playoffs we likely won't fall out of the 15-19 range in the draft, so the difference between 6-10 and 9-7 at this point isn't big enough to ignore the slim, outside possibility we might make the playoffs on a fluke three or four way tie. Interestingly enough, Mike Keith (voice of the Titans) was on the radio the other day and didn't rule out the possibility of the Titans trading up into the top 10 to make a run at a McCoy, Suh, Berry, etc. type impact defensive player (whoever ends up falling outside the top 5 or so). That would be extremely interesting.

5 INTs by the Tennessee defense, including at least one pick six.

The Prairie View A&M head coach really needs a promotion quickly. PVAM lost some 80 straight games and their worst loss was 92-0 in that stretch. They rebounded and won the SWAC championship this year. But yeah, Gill is a very good hire and, I think, is a very good coach. Al Golden should be getting a lot of interest quite soon as well if he can keep Temple in the 6-8 win range. Joe Schad reported that Notre Dame actually interviewed Golden. Granted it was almost certainly a "let's get acquainted with this guy just in case he keeps doing well and we need a coach again in 5-7 years" type thing, but his name is definitely out there. I'm guessing he's gone from Temple after 2010. Very possible. I heard his name on occasion this offseason, but he'll likely be a hot name by next season.

Nice win for the Titans today. VY hurt his hammy on a 44-yard run, though. Hopefully he'll be good for next week (Warp's Dolphins), but there's already talk it may be Collins for that game. I was hoping for more CJ yardage today, but he didn't even hit the 125 average he'll need to reach 2,000. Also, I don't know whether to start thinking playoffs again for the Titans or not. Winning out is still not likely, but is very possible. With as many 7-6 and 6-7 teams as are out there, 9-7 seems like it could end up being a playoff berth. Am I just talking crazy?

The Prairie View A&M head coach really needs a promotion quickly. PVAM lost some 80 straight games and their worst loss was 92-0 in that stretch. They rebounded and won the SWAC championship this year. But yeah, Gill is a very good hire and, I think, is a very good coach. Al Golden should be getting a lot of interest quite soon as well if he can keep Temple in the 6-8 win range.

I'll reiterate since I don't think I've said it enough: Ndamukong Suh should have won the Heisman. It's supposed to go to the best player in the country and that was Suh.

I still say Suh should've won. And I'm surprised McCoy didn't.

Pitt/Penn State every year (or at least most years) would be fun to watch.

The Packers are banged up it appears.

No idea where exactly to post this, so I'll put it here. National Football Post's Wes Bunting is doing a series outlining the best pro prospects at each position in each conference. So far he's done the SEC, Pac 10 and Big 10. He's going to do every BCS conference (not sure about the more minor ones). Here's a link to the Big 10 team. Mike Kafka is his best Big 10 QB, Evan Royster is his best RB and Arrelious Benn is one of his best WRs. Tony Moeaki is his best TE.

I think it's frustrating to many people to put so much into the season every year and then get to bowl season and watch scenarios like Wisconsin falling from a better bowl because they won't travel - not because of anything they did on the field - or a not-as-exciting bowl matchup of TCU/Boise being made just so the NCAA won't have to watch another Utah/Bama upset. It's still a great game, but I think they're missing an opportunity to make it that much better if they were to go to a playoff system.

You can be sure the Cubs have nothing new to say that Bradley hasn't been told many times before under similar circumstances. This is not exactly uncharted water for this dude. The guy is what he is, and expecting him to change his stripes now is pretty silly, especially as a result of some reconciliatory meeting. Of course he is, but he's an extremely productive player. Bradley's replacement in RF and his possible replacement (Cameron) in CF aren't as productive as he is and both are older than he is. Is Cameron that much less productive than Bradley overall? Cameron had a better eqa last year and plays much better defense than Bradley at a tougher defensive position. Bringing in Cameron also allows us to move Kosuke to right and significantly improve the defense there as well. Bradley's 2007 and 2008 numbers certainly blow Cameron away, but most of the time they're kinda similar.

Fulmer stayed on at UT as a lame duck coach from early November on. He and his staff still recruited and kept most of the committed players. It can work, it's just a bit of an odd situation. Fulmer wasn't leaving to take a better job. He still wasn't going to be the coach the next season. Just because Kelly decided to leave for a better job doesn't mean Cincy isn't a bad place to play and he can still extohl the virtues of the school. Most of the kids he's recruiting at Cincy aren't being recruited by bigger schools anyway.

Fulmer stayed on at UT as a lame duck coach from early November on. He and his staff still recruited and kept most of the committed players. It can work, it's just a bit of an odd situation.

Same thing as in 2004 when Auburn was left out solely because they started the year voted lower in the polls by sports writers and Sports Information Directors. Results on the field matter, but not significantly moreso than what SIDs and sports writers think.

Really though, if ND decided that Brian Kelly was the best man for the job, not having him for an extra 2-3 weeks really shouldn't have been the deciding factor in not hiring him. I understand them really wanting him there as soon as possible, but to go to a "second best" candidate over less than a month is a very short-term type of decision making that shouldn't be done when hiring a coach.

Yeah, Melky Cabrera is the only option I've heard of who would be more than a 1-2 year gap filler. Their #1 target, Mike Cameron, would be a Cub for, at most, 2 years. As for Colvin, I think eventually he could develop into a solid starter, but only if he can stick in center. He'll probably be the type of player, though, who spends his first few years in the majors as a 4th outfielder type. Maybe at some point he gets a starting shot and sticks, but he'll have to develop into that role, I think.

That would be fine though. Would you want a coach on his way to another program(in the same recruiting grounds) out "recruiting" for you for 6 weeks? If a program didn't want that coach around, they could let him go ahead and go. It's the one thing I'll ever give credit to Michigan, dumping Frieder after he said he was on his way out. Some coaches will stay and genuinely recruit for the school. Sometimes, though, it's better for a coach to go ahead and go to the school hiring him.

I found all those matchups interesting, but didn't watch any but the UGA/GT game because they were meaningless in the current system and there were more meaningful games on (just like you mentioned any good college football fan ought to have been watching Bama/UF). I don't like the current system simply because it trivializes what is a great regular season and there is no legitimacy to the postseason. Teams are placed into postseason spots according to who sports writers like better and who bowl executives think will make them more money. That's it. It's not about performance on the field during that exciting regular season. When a team like TCU can do everything right and still not have a realistic shot at the title game, something is wrong with the system. Whether the answer is a plus-one, an 8-team playoff, a 12-team playoff or a 16-team playoff, I don't know. But a playoff of some type is likely the only realistic and reasonable answer.