UFC 106 Preview

"UFC 106... the rematch you all have been waiting for... or at least the main event we needed to put on because Brock Lesnar has a serious intestinal problem so we could not give you Lesnar vs. Carwin."

The more I look at this card the more intrigue it presents but it is truly one big, marquee fight away from being a massive PPV event. Too bad, hopefully Brock Lesnar gets well in the next 6-12 months and will be back to fight Velasquez and/or Carwin when the UFC puts together that inevitable Interim Title fight.

PREDICTION TIME

TITO ORTIZ over Forrest Griffin
I am going to believe that the well documented back surgery that Ortiz recently underwent is going to drastically improve Ortiz's strength and explosiveness, which will ultimately be the difference in this fight. Expect Ortiz to take Griffin down and continually take Griffin down and pound on him until Ortiz unleashes an impressive return fight to the UFC.

JOSH KOSCHECK over Anthony Johnson
This is a great match up and a distinct challenge for Josh Koscheck. Finally Koscheck goes into a fight where he has to know that if he stands and bangs with Johnson, KOS will go down hard but if KOS takes this fight to the mat then he will have his way with Johnson and earn a big win. KOS has to fight a smart fight otherwise it will be another short night for KOS but I expect him to execute a good strategy and leverage his wrestling to earn a win.

PHIL BARONI over Amir Sadollah
Johny Hendricks put his hands on Amir Sadollah and Sadollah went down. Baroni has a second life in the UFC and I do not expect him to mess it up. Mild upset, give me Baroni.

LUIZ CANE over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Bahna Cane's only career loss was a DQ against James Irvin, Cane is a tough guy who should be able to make a name for himself against a recognized top 10 light heavyweight in Noguiera. The winner of this bout will thrust themselves into the UFC Light Heavyweight title picture.

DUSTIN HAZELETT over Karo Parisyan
Do I already get this one right? Karo 'The Piece of #*(&!' Parisyan pulled out of the card yesterday. Lame. I'll throw Karo under the bus at another point in time. Hazelett earns his show money and win bonus but does not even have to take a punch.

PAULO THIAGO over Jacob Volkmann
Promoted to the main card with the withdrawal of Parisyan. Thiago is a tough kid, his UFC resume consists of a win against Josh Koscheck and a loss to John Fitch. Saturday Thiago gets an unknown to UFC fans in Volkmann but Volkmann is a submission machine with 6 submission wins in his 9-0 career. Upset? Don't think so, Thiago gets the job done.

SpikeTV Feature Fights

MARCUS DAVIS over Ben Saunders... All Saunders has ever done is destroy C level fighters like Brandon Wolff but put it in the bank, Marcus Davis will KO Ben Saunders.

JAKE ROSHOLT over Kendall Grove... This is less of in indictment of the skills of Marcus Davis and is more so a belief that Jake Rosholt is going to be a serious contender in the UFC Middleweight Division and Grove is a stepping stone along the way.

Undercard

BROCK LARSON over Brian Foster... Larson was upset in his last fight, I expect him to come out motivated and put it on Foster who lost to Rick Story in Foster's UFC debut.

CAOL UNO over Fabricio Camoes
Seven straight wins for the UFC newcomer Camoes but I will take the UFC vet Uno to earn a much needed victory in this fight.

GEORGE SOTIROPOULOS over Jason Dent... Dent sucks, Sotiropoulos is a little better then "sucks". Expect Sotiropoulos to win handily and get some air time either on Spike or the pay per view.

Week 10 Wrap

I was away over the weekend and missed most of the NFL action so please excuse the truncated version of this week's NFL rundown.

WEEK 10 PICKS RECAP

AGAINST THE SPREAD... 5-10 (71-73 on the season)
STRAIGHT UP... 8-7 (85-59 on the season)

LIAM STRAIGHT UP... 7-8 (93-51 on the season)

What we learned from Week 10...

• missed most of the games but I do know that...
• Denver is who we thought they would be
• in the NFC all roads pass through Minnesota or New Orleans
• in the AFC the Bengals are for real but the Colts are in control
• no one could have foreseen what the Packers did on Sunday in dismantling the Cowboys
  

IF THE ENTIRE SEASON WAS PLAYED JUST IN WEEK 10

MVP... Peyton Manning - you just knew he was going to find a way to win the game
LVP... Matt Ryan - Matty Ice's stock is falling fast this season

Offensive POY... Chris Johnson - this kid is amazing
Defensive POY... Charles Woodson - owned the Cowboys

Coach of the Year... Marvin Lewis - his defense owned the Steelers
The Jim Zorn Award... Bill Belichick - who else? 4th & lose

YouTube Worthy Play Of The Week

MJD killing fantasy teams around the world.

NFL Week 10 - Picks

THURSDAY

Bears (+3) @ 49ers, PICK: 49ERS

SUNDAY

Falcons (-1.5) @ Panthers, PICK: FALCONS

Saints (-13.5) @ Rams, PICK: SAINTS

Broncos (-3.5) @ Redskins, PICK: BRONCOS

Bills (+6.5) @ Titans, PICK: BILLS

Bengals (+7) @ Steelers, PICK: BENGALS

Bucs (+10) @ Dolphins, PICK: DOLPHINS

Jaguars (+7) @ Jets, PICK: JETS

Lions (+16.5) @ Vikings, PICK: VIKINGS

Chiefs (+1.5) @ Raiders, PICK: RAIDERS

Seahawks (+8.5) @ Cardinals, PICK: SEAHAWKS

Eagles (+2) @ Chargers, PICK: CHARGERS

Cowboys (-3) @ Packers, PICK: COWBOYS

Patriots (+3) @ Colts, PICK: COLTS

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

Ravens (-11) @ Browns, PICK: RAVENS

UFC 105 Preview

CLICHE ALERT... It's the moment of truth for 'The Truth'

'The Truth' Brandon Vera makes the ultimate step up in competition inside the UFC and takes on the best UFC fighter in the history of the company, Randy Couture. Couture at 46 years of age returns to the UFC Light Heavyweight Division and it's time to see whether after two straight loses that Couture is finally finished or whether he has one more run left in his body.

Underneath Vera/Couture are two big fights featuring two fan favourite Brits in Machester. At 170, Dan Hardy finds himself in a tough #1 contender's bout against Mike Swick and at 185 Michael Bisping will look to rebound from being killed by Dan Henderson against Denis Kang. I love both these fights but my advise to both Swick and Kang is "do not, under any circumstances, let your fight get to the judges... just ask Matt Hamill".

Beyond those bouts, Spike will be happy to air the return of the winners of the last season of The Ultimate Fighter, James Wilks and Ross Pearson, for their first fights since winning their TUF crowns.

PREDICTION TIME

RANDY COUTURE over Brandon Vera
No doubt in my mind that Couture wins this fight and wins it in dominant fashion. In the Countdown show Vera clearly stated that he's going to let Couture dictate the pace of this fight and I could not imagine a worse idea. Hopefully that was a little bit of bait and switch, but I don't believe it was after watching Vera's last few fights -- Vera continually fails to bring the fight and dictate the fight to his opponents and if he can not dictate the fight against Krzysztof Soszynski then there's no way he can do it against Randy Couture.

The only thing working in Vera's favour is that this is only a three round fight because if this were five rounds I would expect Couture to beadown Vera for the full 25 but on Saturday 15 minutes will have to do.

MIKE SWICK over Dan Hardy
Dan Hardy simply does not have the tools to win this fight. I'm not the biggest Swick fan but I see Swick finding a way to finish this fight definitively and earning the right to fight Georges St-Pierre.

DENIS KANG over Michael Bisping
Bisping is going to dance like he did against Chris Leben but Denis Kang is not Chris Leben. Until Bisping shows he can take an aggressive fight against an elite fighter then I'm going to pick against him. Unfortunately I think we end up a pretty dull fight here that will go to an uninspiring decision.

MATT BROWN over James Wilks
Matt Brown is a tough draw for Wilks who is just coming into his first non-TUF UFC bout. Brown is a tough dude who should flat-out beat up Wilks.

ROSS PEARSON over Aaron Riley
This is a much better draw for Ross Pearson for his first non-TUF bout. Riley's record in the UFC is not overly impressive but he's fought some tough guys but lost to most of them. Ross Pearson should be able to start the show off well for the Manchester crowd.

Undercard

JOHN HATHAWAY over Paul Taylor... do not care much for this fight except that Taylor is usually a very exciting fighter.

TERRY ETIM over Shannon Gugerty... Yawn.

MATT RIDDLE over Nick Osipczak... Another TUF fight Osipczak is in tough against a young prodigy in Riddle. I think Riddle will be just a little too strong, a little too good for the Slick Brit.

PAUL KELLY over Dennis Siver... Siver does not bring anything to the table that should challenge Kelly. Easy win for Kelly.

ALEXANDER GUSTAFSSON over Jared Hamman... Hamman is an ex-football player and Gustafsson is a an ex-boxer who will probably get his hands on Hamman and score a nice KO win.

ANDRE WINNER over Rolando Delgado... I don't see what Delgado brings to the table to make this a tough fight for a good all-around fighter like Winner. The Brit takes home a nice win.

2009 Predictions... 95-76 (9-7 Main Events, 13-4 feature bouts)
Lifetime... 234-145

Bad Coaching All Around In Week 9

Bad coaching is rampant in the NFL this season and one full display in Week 9.

Mike McCarthy... you lose to Tampa, you did a bad job.
Andy Reid... horrible clock management, kicked a FG when they needed a TD and never got the ball back.
Lovie Smith... unforgivable no show on Sunday at home versus Arizona
John Fox... must take the ball out of Delhomme's hands and put it in #34 and #28 hands more often, had the game versus the Saints won but then blew it
Tom Coughlin... 4 loses in a row and the Giants are struggling big-time
Josh McDaniels... 2 straight loses, following the bye week Denver has looked like the Denver team we were all expecting to see this season

WEEK 9 PICKS RECAP

AGAINST THE SPREAD... 6-7 (66-63 on the season)
STRAIGHT UP... 7-6 (77-52 on the season)

LIAM STRAIGHT UP... 8-5 (86-43 on the season)

What we learned from Week 9...

• my buddy Dudar was at Soldier Field on Sunday, he text me with about 11 minutes to play in the game and let me know he was on his way to the airport
• tough to get a read on the Ravens, good/bad/unlucky?
• Randy Moss is still the man when he wants to be
• Colts survived for the second straight week
• Jacksonville... Atlanta... won... yawn...
• Green Bay is absolutely anti-clutch
• Giants WTF?!?! and I don't mean why the face.
• VY just wins football games
• Seattle wins and covers with the late pick six, thank you
• Poor Matthew Stafford... 5 INTs, tough day after leading Detroit to an early 17-0 lead
• the Saints are clutch
• Denver... "They are who we thought they were!"??
  

IF THE ENTIRE SEASON WAS PLAYED JUST IN WEEK 9

MVP... Randy Moss - 6 receptions, 147 yards, 1 TD, set up another TD with a beauty 1 hand catch. Moss was a difference maker in a big divisional game.
LVP... Kyle Orton - 3 INT is just not good, no second half offense to be found from the Broncos

ROY... Josh Freeman - 14-31, 205, 3 TDs. Looked very good at times and most importantly, go the W, the first of the year for Tampa Bay.

Offensive POY... Kurt Warner - 22-32, 261 yards, 5 TDs took the Bears out of the game early.
Defensive POY... David Hawthorne - replacing three time Pro Bowler Lofa Tatupu, Hawthorne had a pretty good 2 INT and team leading 9 tackle day

Luckiest Man In Football... Ryan Clark - could not play in Denver because of his medical condition but he was not needed and Clark lives to play another day and Pittsburgh gets the W
Unluckiest Man In Football... Alex Smith - has played some decent football but is 0-3 in games he's played since taking over as QB1 in San Francisco

Coach of the Year... Jim Caldwell - Colts are 8-0, obviously Caldwell is doing a fantastic job
The Jim Zorn Award... Mike McCarthy - versus Tampa Bay should have been a gimme, instead Green Bay loses by 10 to the previously win-less Bucs. (Honourable Mention: Lovie Smith)

YouTube Worthy Play Of The Week

RANDY MOSS... first the one handed grab and the second catch a beautiful stiff arm TD.

Jahvid Best Goes Airborn

The "good" news is that Best only suffered a concussion on this play but man did it look ugly for a bit. Best is going to play on Sundays next year, hopefully he bounces back quickly.

No Way Weis Survives

23-21... Notre Dame dropped it's third loss to Navy. 100% completely unacceptable.

Charlie Weis apologists were willing to forgive a loss to Michigan in Michigan. A loss to USC in South Bend was tough to swallow in what could have been a signature win for Weis, but wasn't. A loss in South Bend to Navy in 2009 is unforgivable and should be the straw that breaks Charlie Weis' back and Weis should be fired before the start of the 2010 season.

Piling on to the point that the Irish are now 6-3, out of the Top 25, eliminated from BCS contention, and heading into Pittsburgh next week to play the No. 8 Pitt team in a game that should drop the Irish to 6-4 with UConn and at Stanford left to play, two games that are clearly not gimme wins for the Irish.

It is quite possible that the Irish will finish 6-6, a far cry from 10-2.

THE IMMEDIATE REACTIONS FROM THE BLOGS

The guys over at The Big Lead clearly have a soft spot for the Notre Dame football team (a rarity amongst the major sports blogs) and they are looking at potential successors to Weis on the site today. Names such as Brian Kelly (current coach of No. 5 undefeated Cincinnati), Bob Stoops (current coach at floundering Oklahoma), and the apple of everyone's eye Urban Meyer (current coach of No. 1, undefeated, and defending National Champion Florida) are being brought into the early discussion to replace Weis.

Deadspin brings together a simplistic, photographic, primary source opinion piece.

Matt Hinton at Yahoo's Dr. Saturday thinks that Weis' job is in referendum and that Pitt, UConn, and Stanford are must-wins... duh? 3-0 might be too little too late.

Popular Irish blog The Blue-Gray Sky was not happy.

Mike Coffey had some stern words at ND Nation.

NFL Week 9 - Picks

SUNDAY

Redskins (+10) @ Falcons, PICK: FALCONS

Packers (-9.5) @ Bucs, PICK: PACKERS

Ravens (-3) @ Bengals, PICK: RAVENS

Texans (+9) @ Colts, PICK: TEXANS

Dolphins (+10.5) @ Patriots, PICK: DOLPHINS

Chiefs (+6.5) @ Jaguars, PICK: JAGUARS

Cardinals (+3) @ Bears, PICK: BEARS

Panthers (+13.5) @ Saints, PICK: PANTHERS

Lions (+10) @ Seahawks, PICK: SEAHAWKS

Chargers (+5) @ Giants, PICK: GIANTS

Titans (+4) @ 49ers, PICK: 49ERS

Cowboys (+3) @ Eagles, PICK: EAGLES

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

Steelers (-3) @ Broncos, PICK: STEELERS

Favre Favre Favre Favre Favre... You Get The Idea

That Favre guy was pretty good on Sunday. True story.


WEEK 8 PICKS RECAP

AGAINST THE SPREAD... 6-7 (60-56 on the season)
STRAIGHT UP... 7-6 (70-46 on the season)

LIAM STRAIGHT UP... 8-5 (78-38 on the season)

What we learned from Week 8...

• what the #*(#! happened to the New York Giants?
• the Miami Dolphins are very much alive in the AFC East
• the Texans are a playoff caliber team
• Peyton Manning and the Colts know how to win football games
• we finally saw the Denver we were all expecting to see
• Chicago... finally
• St. Louis beat Detroit in a horrible game - Tampa Bay now the worst team in football
• the NFC East is a complete clusterfuck between Dallas, Philly, and New York
• San Diego sure made Oakland seem competent... sort of
  
• Kurt Warner and the Cardinals win in NY against the Giants one week and then come out and get beat up by the 2-4 Panthers the next
• Brett Favre and the Vikes bounced back and took complete control of the NFC North on Sunday
• the Saints are good... I thought the Falcons were going to get them when they went up 14-7 but the Saints are just good, maybe Superbowl good
  

IF THE ENTIRE SEASON WAS PLAYED JUST IN WEEK 8

MVP... Brett Favre - he's going to get MVP votes as long as Minnesota keeps winning, 4 TDs on Sunday
LVP... Kurt Warner - 3 INTs and did not deliver the goods at home versus the Panthers (Honourable Mention - Eli Manning)

ROY... Percy Harvin - the kid is really, really good

Mark Sanchez once looked like a lock for ROY but a couple of bad weeks and now guys like Hakeem Nicks and Harvin are big time options for ROY. Sanchez had a good day on Sunday but the Jets lost and Harvin won.

Offensive POY... Chris Johnson - 228 with 2 TDs... too fast for the Jags D to handle
Defensive POY... Brian Cushing - in on 10 tackles, an INT, this rookie is very good

Luckiest Man In Football... Vince Young - back in the saddle in Tennessee and facing a flat Jacksonville team, VY delivered an emotional lift to the Titans and the team's first W
Unluckiest Man In Football... Aaron Rodgers - has to follow the act of #4 and #4 has beaten Rodger's Packers twice this year.

Coach of the Year... Wade Phillips - he has the Cowboys playing very good football and now at 5-2 they are tied for the lead in the NFC East with the Eagles
The Jim Zorn Award... Tom Coughlin - the Giants were horrible on Sunday as the Eagles beat the Giants up early and thoroughly throughout the "contest" (Honourable Mention - Jim Mora Jr.)

YouTube Worthy Play Of The Week



This was the second kickoff return of Mr. Ginn on the day who with plays like this he's making Miami fans realize they were wrong for wanting Brady Quinn more then Ginn on draft day a couple years ago.

Thanks to the amazing fan who caught this moment from the stands making an awesome video.

NFL Week 8 - Picks

SUNDAY

Broncos (+3.5) @ Ravens, PICK: RAVENS

Seahawks (+9.5) @ Cowboys, PICK: SEAHAWKS

Rams (PICK EM) @ Lions, PICK: LIONS

49ers (+12) @ Colts, PICK: COLTS

Dolphins (+3) @ Jets, PICK: DOLPHINS

Vikings (+3) @ Packers, PICK: PACKERS

Texans (-3.5) @ Bills, PICK: TEXANS

Browns (+13) @ Bears, PICK: BEARS

Raiders (+17) @ Chargers, PICK: RAIDERS

Jaguars (+3) @ Titans, PICK: TITANS

Panthers (+10) @ Cardinals, PICK: CARDINALS

Giants (PICK EM) @ Eagles, PICK: GIANTS

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

Falcons (+10) @ Saints, PICK: FALCONS

Time To Think About The Future, Part 2

After looking at the quarterbacks who are available (and there are quite a few) now let's look at the teams that could/should be in the market for serious quarterback help in the upcoming 2010 NFL Draft.

THE TEAMS IN NEED?

ST. LOUIS RAMS
The Rams are probably the NFL team most desperately in need of a new franchise QB but surprisingly looking at their roster and their coach they may be a team poised for a resurgence quickly if they can find the right young franchise QB, much in the same way the Atlanta Falcons rebounded and became on the best teams in the NFL.

The Rams drafted Jason Smith, their left tackle of the future in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft. They have some okay young receivers, a fantastic running back, the starts of a decent defense with Laurinaitis and Long, and finally a competent coach in Steve Spagnulo who can put it all together and get this franchise pointed in the right direction.

Mark Bulger is done. Kyle Boller as the backup is a joke. The Rams are going to draft the best available QB in the first round of the NFL Draft it's just a matter of who emerges as that #1 QB prospect.

CLEVELAND BROWNS
This team is awful and is getting horrible quarterback play whether it's from Brady Quinn or Derek Anderson. In all fairness, there are no credible skill players on offense for Cleveland - no real impact running back, no decent receivers, no NFL caliber tight end.

All the Browns have is a Pro Bowl left tackle and a Pro Bowl nose tackle. Everything else is a mess. With the left tackle in place the Browns must go QB early and must get it right in the 2010 NFL Draft if there is any hope for a turnaround in Cleveland any time in the next five years.

TENNESSEE TITANS
Maybe Jeff Fisher's appearance in a Peyton Manning jersey was his way of throwing his name into consideration for a co-ordinator job in Indianapolis after Fisher is fired this season in Tennessee. Just sayin', it might have been a stroke of genius on Fisher's part given that Indianapolis will be in the market for some coordinators at the end of the season given that Tom Moore and Howard Mudd had to be begged to come back this season.

Back to the Titans. The corpse of Kerry Collins is currently playing quarterback for the 0-6 Titans and somehow Vince Young is too crappy to leap frog Collins on the depth chart. The only solution is that the Titans must parlay this early draft pick they will having to them this year into drafting a QB.

Would it not be funny if the Titans drafted Colt McCoy from Texas to replace Vince Young as the identified Titans QB of the future?

CAROLINA PANTHERS
Jake Delhomme is on his last legs in Carolina and there is no QB of the future in Carolina. With a great running game and Jordan Gross as the franchise tackle, the Panthers have plenty of weapons to take pressure off of a young QB much in the same way that Joe Flacco has been brought up in Baltimore. No brainer, the Panthers must go QB in the first round of the 2010 NFL Draft.

WASHINGTON REDSKINS
The Redskins are preparing for a complete franchise overhaul this off-season. Jim Zorn has both feet out the door and at the end of the season there will be a new GM, new head coach, and a new QB of the future as Jason Campbell will be sent packing.

BUFFALO BILLS
Momentum is growing for Ryan Fitzpatrick to fully take over as QB1 in Buffalo. This is a band-aid solution before the Bills draft to get their hands on a new QB of the future this off season. After going with a mid-round developmental pick in Trent Edwards last time, I'm willing to bet that the Bills go with a QB in the first round in 2010 so they get more of a "can't miss" kind of talent.

SAN FRANCISCO 49ers
The Shaun Hill regime appeared to have finally collapsed on Sunday as he was pulled at half time for Alex Smith. Smith played very well but the question is whether the 25-year old Smith is now ready for prime time in the NFL or whether he will be a short term wonder and the 49ers will go QB early in the 2010 NFL Draft.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
I'm willing to bet that Seahawks executives are watching Mark Sanchez emerge in NY this season and wondering whether they made the right choice in going with Aaron Curry. Curry is very good and will be a star for the Seahawks for quite some time but with Matt Hasselbeck unable to put together full seasons at this point in his career, the Seahawks need to draft a real developmental QB in 2010.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS
Brett Favre is not getting any younger and then the question becomes, are the Vikings ready to hand over the starting role to Sage Rosenfels or Tavares Jackson after Favre finally retires?

After getting a glimpse of what a real quarterback can do, will the Vikings be willing to gamble on two career backups to take over and continue to lead this team?

No way.

The Vikings should draft a QB in 2010.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS
Peyton Manning will be 34 years old at the beginning of the 2010 NFL season. Curtis Painter and Jim Sorgi are not the successors to Manning. The question will be, can Manning remain as incredible durable as he has been throughout his career as he reaches his mid-30s or will the Colts draft a big-armed developmental QB in the mid-rounds of the 2010 Draft thinking that he will be ready to go 3-4 years down the road much in the same way Aaron Rodgers has emerged in Green Bay.

Time To Think About The Future: Part 1

Watching some of the bad NFL teams this weekend has attention turning to the 2010 NFL Draft and what quarterbacks will be available to help the helpless teams in the NFL. The initial thinking is that the 2010 Draft is going to be rife with talent, especially in terms of potential franchise quarterbacks, so here in part one of this topic we will look at who the potential top quarterbacks will be.

THE (POTENTIALLY) AVAILABLE QUARTERBACKS

SAM BRADFORD
After re-injuring his shoulder in the Red River rivalry game against the Texas Longhorns, Bradford's reportedly ready for surgery with Dr. James Andrews and to declare himself eligible for the 2010 NFL Draft. A year ago Bradford was poised to be the #1 overall pick, destined for Detroit but instead Bradford returned to Oklahoma for another run at the National Title, but clearly that choice did not work out as planned.

The question about Bradford is now, how far has Bradford's stock dropped as a result of his disappointing and injury riddled 2009 season?

There's no way he's going first overall and there are serious doubts as to whether the 2008 Heisman Trophy winner will be the top QB chosen. It's clear that Bradford is a very skilled player when healthy but he's burdened with the stigma of working primarily out of the shotgun in college and does not possess a Stafford-esque cannon for an arm. However, Bradford is very accurate with the football which has many favourable critics comparing him to the Manning brothers in terms of presence, poise, and accuracy.

Some teams are going to love this kid and be willing to hand over the keys to the future of their franchise to Bradford and there are likely to be other teams that will not want to touch Bradford with a 20-ft pole. As polarizing as he will be, Bradford will be a team's QB of the future starting next season.

COLT McCOY
McCoy took over as QB1 of the Texas Longhorns after Vince Young left for the NFL and one must wonder whether the failures of VY in the NFL will have teams questioning whether McCoy can be a successful quarterback. Clearly VY and McCoy are completely different quarterbacks but neither played a pro-style offense while in Texas and when you combine those two factors with questionable arm strength, on must wonder whether come draft day will McCoy fall out of the first round?

On the positive side for McCoy, he's a great competitor, can play under pressure, has an accurate arm, and has a lot of starting experience after four years. McCoy is also going to be in the thick of the Heisman Trophy race this season, which may or may not raise McCoy's draft stock. Of course, if McCoy can lead the Longhorns to a National Championship this season then that achievement would certainly help McCoy.

JEVAN SNEAD
Snead struggled mightily early in this season NCAA season but he initially entered the season as a QB with loads of 1st round buzz and over the last couple of weeks Snead has looked pretty decent. As a junior Snead might stay at Ole Miss for another season or he could roll the dice if he plays well in the latter part of the season. Unlike Bradford and McCoy, Snead comes from a pro-style offense and has been compared to Aaron Rodgers by some and with a decent showing in workouts and the combine, then Snead could be right back in the mix as a serious 1st round talent.

Snead is a talent who probably carries a nice chip on his shoulder after having to transfer to Ole Miss, and away from the University of Texas after losing the starting quarterback competition to some young punk named McCoy.

TONY PIKE
Tall, productive, and playing on a winning program. Pike's stock is rising but he seems to lack the obvious physical gifts such as dynamic arm strength to warrant a team immediately putting Pike into a starting NFL role. In college Pike is running a spread offense, throwing the ball a lot, throwing on the run a lot and it will be interesting to see how the 6'6" Pike will perform at the NFL Combine and pre-draft workouts as it will be those performances that will define where Pike will fall in the 2010 NFL Draft.

JAKE LOCKER
The stud junior playing for the University of Washington is excelling under first year head coach Steve Sarkesian and the National Football Post has notice and identifies Locker as the #1 prospect available for the 2010 NFL Draft. In comparison NFP ranks Sam Bradford as the #28 prospect and the 4th QB behind Locker, Clausen, and Mallett (McCoy, Snead, and Pike are not listed).

JIMMY CLAUSEN
Another stud junior at Notre Dame, Clausen defeated Locker in their head-to-head game in South Bend. Clausen's draft stock has been sky rocketing as a result of efficient passing performances, clutch game winning drives in crunch time, and gritty clutch play while playing through a turf toe problem. There will be a tonne of pressure on Clausen to return to South Bend for his Senior season and make a run at a National Championship next season but the NFL is calling and according to ESPN's Beano Cook Clausen is leaning towards answering the NFL's call... probably a wise idea if one looks at what's happened to the draft stock of guys who stayed too long - Matt Leinart, Brady Quinn, and Sam Bradford.

As a Notre Dame fan, what can we bribe Clausen with to get him to stay in South Bend for a full year of Clausen, Tate, Floyd, Rudolph, and Allen before they all ship off to the NFL?

RYAN MALLETT
Big, strong, and all-around impressive. Mallett played a year at Michigan under Lloyd Carr and then transferred to Arkansas after the hiring of Rich Rodriguez at Michigan. Mallett sat out his transfer year last season and is now building an impressive resume this season with the Razorbacks. The NFP lists Mallett as the #14 draft eligible prospect as he possesses all the skills of a successful NFL quarterback, although he still has two years of eligibility to further accelerate his draft status should he decide to continue to refine his game in college.

TIM TEBOW
Who wants to take a shot at this kid? If Dan Shanoff from 'The Sporting News' was running a NFL team then his mancrush on Tebow would select the University of Florida legend to build a franchise around but unfortunately for Shanoff most pundits believe that Tebow lacks the requisite skill set to be an effective NFL starting QB. That said, it only take one man *cough* *cough* Al Davis *cough* *cough* to fall in love with Tebow's size and intangibles to turn to Tebow and give him a shot.

RYAN PERRILOUX
Remember this kid? Flamed out at LSU due to immaturity. Perriloux is building a resume at Jacksonville State that could have some teams looking at Perriloux as a long term developmental QB, which there will be a few teams in the market for exactly that kind of talent. On the plus side Perriloux is big, strong kid with lots of skills, although on the downside he has a game better suited for the CFL... kinda like JaMarcus Russell who coincidentally enough was another LSU QB.

Other notable developmental QB options... Tim Hillier, Dan LeFevour, Zac Robinson

Classic Underachievers Starting To Emerge

Slackers Unite Tomorrow Today?

Some classic NFL underachievers seem to be finally getting their act together in the often quirky NFL.

One of the best QB performance turned in over the weekend was from the #1 overall selection in the 2005 NFL Draft, Alex Smith of the San Francisco 49ers. Smith was actually good, not just decent, in the second half of the Niners-Texans game. At just 25 years of age, is Smith now ready to finally become the franchise quarterback that the Niners so desperately need? Let's not get ahead of ourselves, it was just one good week, but all good careers started with just one good week.

The best running back performance of the weekend was clearly Cedric Benson, who coincidentally once considered another "bust" from the 2005 NFL Draft. Benson was drafted 4th overall by the Chicago Bears but now Benson is starring for the Cincinnati Bengals and delivering performances worthy of his 4th overall draft status.

Another slow starter from the 2005 NFL Draft was 8th overall selection, Antrel Rolle who just seems to really be coming into his own as an effective NFL player season. In fact, Rolle lined up as the QB in Arizona's version of the Wildcat on Sunday night and nearly threw a very impressive TD pass to Larry Fitzgerald if Fitz had not shamefully dropped the beautiful pass (and if there was not a holding penalty also called on the TE on the play). And to cap off a great performance from Rolle, he picked off Eli Manning with less then 90 seconds to play to seal a 24-17 Cardinals victory in New York, truly a big victory for the Arizona Cardinals franchise.

Not to be outdone by the 2005 draft class, underachievers from the 2006 NFL Draft also had some decent performances over the weekend.

Reggie Bush, the #2 overall selection of the draft and essentially the #3 running back for the Saints scored the kind of TD that Saints fans have been waiting for him to unleash for three years. Bush was not overly impressive on the stat sheet but his 4th quarter TD brought the Saints to trail the Dolphins by 3 and ultimately the Saints would complete the comeback and blow past the Dolphins to keep the Saints undefeated.



Another 2006 under-achieving draftee #6 overall pick Vernon Davis of the 49ers was the primary target of the aforementioned Alex Smith as Davis unleashed a 7 reception, 93 yards, and 3 touchdown performance. The arrow is pointing way up for Davis.

Picked right behind Davis at #7 in the 2006 Draft was Raiders' Safety Michael Huff. Although Huff had a season high six tackles on Sunday in a Raiders loss but Huff is now on pace for a personal best in tackles and currently leads the Raiders in interceptions with 3 already in 6 games.

The Coup De Gras(s)

How great has Ricky Williams been this season? On Sunday, Ricky with 9 carries for 80 yards and 3 TDs. Williams is on pace for his first 1000 yards rushing season since 2003 and is on pace to get to double digit TDs for just the third time in his career. Williams splits carries with Ronnie Brown out of the run-heavy offense of the Dolphins, and with Brown running most of the Wildcat reps, the Williams-Brown tandem is one of the most effective running attacks in the entire NFL.

Revisiting Shogun Versus Machida

Last night UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida earned a 48-47 decision across three judges cards to retain his UFC Title. Although the Internet has been buzzing with critics that believe that Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua got "robbed" with that decision I did not find the decision all that shocking.

"To be The Man, you have to beat The Man." - Ric Flair

To set the scene I believe that if you believe that Shogun won the fight Saturday night and should be the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion then you should have also been on of the people who thought that Forrest Griffin did enough to beat Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson and deserved the decision victory in that fight as well.

The "victory" of Griffin left me a little empty, I did not get the sense that Griffin did enough to take the title away from Rampage and in the same manner I do not think that Shogun did enough to take the title away from Machida on Saturday night.

The Zuffa Champions have been crowned in significant fashion...

• Brock Lesnar TKO'd both Randy Couture and Frank Mir
  
• Lyoto Machida TKO'd Rashad Evans
  
• Anderson Silva KO'd Rich Franklin
• GSP beat up and stopped Matt Serra
• BJ Penn choked out Joe Stevenson in fantastic fashion
• Mike Brown TKO'd Urijah Faber
• Brian Bowles shocked the world when he KO'd Miguel Torres

These are significant events that clearly signified that the Challenger had surpassed the Champion.

I did not get the sense on Saturday that Shogun had surpassed Machida. Shogun went a long way in exposing holes in Machida's game by repeatedly landing effective kicks to the body and legs. Machida was slowed but was never at risk of being stopped. You could also point out that Machida did not come close to stopping Shogun but in all honestly, Machida has the belt he does not need to stop the challenger just do enough not to have his belt taken from him.

One could perhaps argue that objectively Shogun won the fight but in a Championship bout winning the fight should not and was not enough. The Challenger needs to take the fight and leave no doubt, not necessarily finish the Champion but leave no room for argument that the Challenger is the superior fighter. Again, on Saturday, Shogun did not prove in absolute fashion that he was the superior fighter and worthy of taking away the title. Shogun did not have that quintessential Championship performance.

There is plenty of room for fans and pundits to complain about judging in MMA and the 10-point must system but in the case of Machida versus Shogun on Saturday night I believe that the judges got the score exactly right. Machida did enough to retain his title but only by the slimmest of margins, which proves that the "elusive" and "tactically superior" Machida is vulnerable in certain spots in his game and Shogun showed the world on Saturday what it takes to get close but Shogun did not close the deal.

Machida and Shogun are going to throw down again in what will be the first immediate title rematch since the feud of Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski. Shogun/Machida II should be much anticipated and this time Shogun has to continue his tactical brilliance but take it to just one more level and leave no doubt that he is the best fighter in the world at 205 lbs.

Do Not Make Cedric Benson Angry

There were a number of blowouts on Sunday but there was no performance more inspired then that of the Cincinnati Bengals who absolutely pwned the Chicago Bears.

Cedric Benson was carrying a lot of animosity towards the Bears organization after three unproductive and maligned years in Chicago. Benson has done a complete 180 with his career in Cincinnati and is leading an inspired Bengals offense to NFL prominence. Following behind the stellar play of Benson was the equally as spectacular 5 TD performance of QB Carson Palmer and the big day of Chad Ochocinco.


The question now becomes can the 5-2 Bengals, who are now tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the lead in the AFC North, maintain the intensity for the entire season? The Bengals already have important divisional wins against the Steelers and Ravens (beating the Ravens in Baltimore). Pivotal to the Bengals will be the continued stellar play of Cedric Benson who is currently 3rd in the entire NFL in rushing yards just behind AD and Chris Johnson.

Yeah... it's time to admit that the Bengals are pretty good and in Week 7 they were probably the best team to play on a NFL field.

WEEK 7 PICKS RECAP

AGAINST THE SPREAD... 6-7 (54-49 on the season)
STRAIGHT UP... 7-6 (63-40 on the season)

LIAM STRAIGHT UP... 8-5 (70-33 on the season)

What we learned from Week 7...

• the good teams are good and the bad teams are awful
• Good: Packers, Patriots, Colts
• Bad: Chiefs, Rams, Bucs, Browns, Oakland, Carolina
  
• The Inconsistent: Texans, 49ers, Chargers
  
• JaMarcus Russell is an incredible level of incompetent
• Michael Crabtree is going to be just fine and perhaps very good (5 for 56)
  
• Brett Favre can still turn the ball over at an alarming rate
• New Orleans can play from behind or from ahead, their win in Miami was special
• silver lining for Chicago, Devin Hester has first 100+ yard receiving game
  
• unbelievably your breakout stars of Week 7 were Alex Smith and Cedric Benson, who would have thought that?
• Reggie Bush... a decent little weapon in New Orleans, it's about time
• ditto for Vernon Davis in San Francisco
• Tony Romo had a decent day and so too did Miles Austin again... for one week all is well in Dallas
• Matt Ryan, Atlanta.... mama said there'd be days like this
  
• Antrel Rolle can throw and with that interception in the last 90 seconds of the game Sunday Night he can obviously catch too
• DeSean Jackson and Will Witherspoon made some nice plays for the Eagles to put away the Redskins early
• the Redskins are a horrible mess

IF THE ENTIRE SEASON WAS PLAYED JUST IN WEEK 6

MVP... Cedric Benson - career high 189 yards rushing, 1 TD, and served as the emotional leader in a big Bengals win over a allegedly quality Bears team
LVP... Jay Cutler (Honourable Mention to Jake Delhomme who threw another 3 INTs and is up to an NFL leading 10 interceptions for the season, a dubious honour he shares with Jets rookie Mark Sanchez, although Delhomme has played one less game).

ROY... Shonn Greene - 19 for 144 against the Raiders (yeah, I know) but it could not have come at a better time for the Jets as Leon Washington is now done for the season so Greene needs to step up (Honourable Mention to Beanie Wells who had a break out day for the Cardinals)

Offensive POY... Carson Palmer - 20-24, 233 yards, 5 TDs
Defensive POY... Darren Sharper - his pick 6 in the 2nd Q turned the tide for the Saints and kicked off a huge comeback from being down 24-3 (Honourable Mention to Arizona Defensive Backs who were great on SNF)

Luckiest Man In Football... Alex Smith - yes, the Alex Smith who won his starting quarterback role back in San Francisco after a horrible first half of play from Shaun Hill. The Niners lost but Smith was very good in the second half and almost led the 49ers back to the win.

Alex Smith, 15-22 for 204 yards, 3 TDs to Vernon Davis in just one half of duty in a 24-21 loss in Houston.

Unluckiest Man In Football... T.O. 3 receptions for 27 yards. T.O.'s career on the significant decline and his problems are only being exacerbated by the fact that Ryan Fitzpatrick started at QB for the Bills on Sunday. Somehow the Bills managed to defeat an inept Panthers team.

Coach of the Year... Mike Tomlin - with the assist to Dick LeBeau for solving how to defend both the Vikings emerging passing game and the AD prolific running game
The Jim Zorn Award... Raheem Morris - have we witnessed any evidence that this kid can actually coach at the NFL level? No. (Honourable Mention to Jim Zorn, the 'skins are horrible).

With Lesnar Out, Should The UFC Turn To Kimbo Slice?

Breaking news today... Brock Lesnar has pulled out of his November 21st fight with Shane Carwin due to illness.

That leaves the UFC with less then 30 days to figure out who should fight Shane Carwin in a main event or feature bout of the UFC 106 card. Also on the UFC 106 card, Tito Ortiz versus Forrest Griffin can easily slide up to the the Main Event fight although neither man is on much of a roll in their careers at least both have name value and can sell the show.

However, this leaves a "very disappointed" Shane Carwin without a dance partner for November 21st.

The best answer is the most simple answer. The UFC should elevate Kimbo Slice and insert him into that November 21st fight against Shane Carwin. Less then 30 days notice, I imagine that just fine for the street fight legend Kimbo Slice, he's been saying all season on TUF that he just wants to throw down and this is his chance.


Let's face facts, Kimbo is a clown, the guy is not elite, he's barely mediocre but casual fans still think that Kimbo has granite hands. UFC can has two options when it comes to how to handle Slice coming out of 'The Ultimate Fighter'. The UFC can either feed Slice with some tomato cans and get him a couple wins before cashing in on some big fights or the UFC can just shoot right out the gate and put Slice in the Octagon with Shane Carwin or another real Heavyweight MMA prospect.

If the UFC puts Slice in against tomato cans then the UFC runs the risk of a Seth Petruzelli situation where the tomato can KOs Slice and then the UFC has two fighters it can't make money with, which is no good. If the UFC puts Slice in against Carwin, Carwin can KO Slice and instantly become a widely recognized fighter that can then go in and draw huge money in the eventual Carwin-Lesnar fight.

In all honesty the casual fan has no idea who Shane Carwin is yet and this UFC 106 bout was a little too much, too fast for the audience to really get behind Carwin and make Carwin/Lesnar a money bout. Thus the best interest of the UFC is to get Carwin into a position where he fight a man who can increase Carwin's drawing power. In the long run, Carwin should make the UFC more money then Kimbo Slice should, thus it is logical to feed Slice to Carwin now.

From a business perspective, putting Carwin up against Slice in that UFC 106 fight will ensure a decent buy rate for the pay per view and it will promise the fans the stand up fight that people want with Slice... the stand up fight that some people actually believe that Slice can win. Carwin will be more then happy to stand and trade with Slice and I guarantee that Carwin would decimate Slice in less then 60 seconds.

Classic no-brainer. Carwin versus Slice, UFC 106.

NFL Week 7 - Picks

SUNDAY

Bears (+1) @ Bengals, PICK: BEARS

Colts (-13) @ Rams, PICK: COLTS

Patriots (-14.5) @ Bucs, PICK: PATRIOTS... this is big spread for a game that is being played on another continent and on a field that caused a lot of problems last year. Remember last year that the grass was cut so short that players could not cut and change directions without falling all over the place. If the Pats don't cover and this game is low scoring I won't be surprised.

Vikings (+5.5) @ Steelers, PICK: VIKINGS

Packers (-7) @ Browns, PICK: PACKERS

Chargers (-4.5) @ Chiefs, PICK: CHIEFS

49ers (+3) @ Texans, PICK: 49ers

Bills (+7) @ Panthers, PICK: BILLS

Jets (-6) @ Raiders, PICK: RAIDERS

Falcons (+4) @ Cowboys, PICK: FALCONS

Saints (-7) @ Dolphins, PICK: SAINTS

Cardinals (+7) @ Giants, PICK: GIANTS

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

Eagles (-7) @ Redskins, PICK: REDSKINS

UFC 104 Preview

UFC 104 live from Los Angeles coming tonight, here come the predictions

PREDICTION TIME

LYOTO MACHIDA over Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua
The first title defense opportunity for the enigmatic Machida. This guy is a bad-ass dork who does things a little differently with a hard-to-hit karate style and a propensity for drinking his own urine. Whatever, Machida has earned all our respects after dismantling Rashad Evans and tonight he goes up against a seemingly over-matched Shogun.

If this was 2005 everyone would be still riding the Shogun bandwagon but that ship has sailed and it's impossible to support Rua based on a three fight run in the UFC where he was submitted by Forrest Griffin, unimpressively defeated Mark Coleman, and went through a Chuck Liddell who was clearly prime to be KO'd. Not enough.

The only way I see Shogun possible getting through this fight victorious is either a Matt Serra-esque strike that gets through to Machida's chin or if Shogun can somehow manoever Machida to the mat and Tito Ortiz proved that if there's a hole in Machida's game it might be that he can get sloppy with his mat offense and defense.

However, I do not foresee Shogun having much success against Machida and I expect Machida to wear down Shogun before finishing him in the middle rounds.

CAIN VELASQUEZ over Ben Rothwell
Let's get this straight... The IFL was a crap fighting promotion that had television. If Rothwell's claim to fame was a big run in the IFL then that is just sad. Velasquez has a chin made of concrete, as proved against Kongo, and I just foresee Velasquez just dominating Rothwell in this fight, although it might be the kind of dominance that goes all three rounds on the way to a unanimous decision win.

JOSH NEER over Gleison Tibau
The boys over at Sherdog in their round table showed a lot of love for Gleison Tibau and his incredible birth name from Brazil (Janigleison Herculano Alves) but I just don't get it... Tibau's wins in the UFC have come against Jeremy Stephens, Rich Clementi, Terry Etim, Jeff Cox, and Jason Dent, which is hardly an impressive resume. Tibau has proved to be not-good-enough in losses to Nick Diaz, Tyson Griffin, Joe Stevenson, and Melvin Guillard. I see Neer as more of a fighter in the realm of the Griffin, Joe Daddy, and Guillard more-so then Etim, Cox, and Dent.

JOE STEVENSON over Spencer Fisher
Joe Daddy was brilliant in his June victory Nate Diaz after moving to train with Greg Jackson and last night in the weigh-ins Joe Daddy looked ripped. Stevenson is in great shape and thus I don't think that a game but under-whelming Fisher is going to whipped.

ANTHONY JOHNSON over Yoshiyuki Yoshida

I do not see what Yoshida does well enough to challenge Johnson. For some reason the guys at Sherdog think that if Johnson goes beyond three minutes that he'll gas out and Yoshida will have Johnson for the taking... perhaps everyone missed when Johnson nearly killed Kevin Burns with a third round head-kick last December? Johnson is going to find his way to Yoshida's chin and it could be electrifying.

Free On SpikeTV Undercard!!

RYAN BADER over Eric Schafer
I'm a little weary that Bader has been on the shelf for awhile recovering from knee surgery but I just can not go with Schafer and feel good about it. Bader wins.

PATRICK BARRY over Antoni Hardonk

Barry was a rising star in the UFC Heavyweight Division until Tim Hague choked out Barry and in the process made Barry look pretty silly. Tonight, Barry gets his train back on the rails and rolls through Hardonk.

Undercard

CHAEL SONNER over Yushin Okami... upset special

ROB KIMMONS over Jorge Rivera... Rivera is a sentimental favourite but just not good enough

RAZAK AL-HASSAN over Kyle Kingsbury... How is Al-Hassan going to fight with just one arm
after Steve Cantwell ripped it off last December??

CHASE GORMLEY over Stefan Struve... I don't know much about Gormley but I do know that Struve is not a very good fighter so I'm taking Gormley.

2009 Predictions... 88-72 (8-7 Main Events, 12-4 feature bouts)
Lifetime... 227-141

The Pats Are Back

So the New England Patriots made a little bit of a statement on Sunday...

Rain, sleet, snow, wind, whatever, the Patriots offense will crush you if your team relents for just a moment. Everything went bad for now 0-6 Tennessee Titans who were pounded 59-0 by the Patriots. Kerry Collins is done. Vince Young is horrible. The Titans D is in shambles. In opposition, the Patriots got a game that allowed Brady, Moss, Welker, and Maroney to all get back on track and post some big numbers that will return the Patriots to feared opposition status.

The end message being, six touchdowns in less then three quarters of work from Tom Brady is enough to have me convinced that the Patriots are back in the conversation to be considered one of the AFC's elite teams.

WEEK 6 PICKS RECAP

AGAINST THE SPREAD... 9-5 (48-42 on the season)
STRAIGHT UP... 8-6 (56-34 on the season)

LIAM STRAIGHT UP... 9-5 (62-28 on the season)

What we learned from Week 6...

• the Texans only play well on even numbered weeks... wins in Week 2, 4, 6
• Saints good, as too are the Vikings
• to be successful the Panthers need to take the ball out of the hands of Jake Delhomme
• Daunte Culpepper is not a starting quarterback level talent in the NFL... the CFL maybe
• the Redskins are a horrible, awful mess
• despite losing the Giants are still 5-1 and lead the NFC East
  
• Steve Spagnulo deserves a better fate then being stuck in St. Louis
• the Jets have come back to earth and are now 3-3
• the Patriots are now in first place in the AFC East
  
• football is so unfair given that the Texans and Ravens now sport the exact same record
• Bears versus Falcons is good and fun football for a Sunday night
• Josh McDaniels is lucky to have Mike Nolan as his D Co-ordinator, it's looking more and more like Nolan may get another shot at a head coaching job sooner then later
• Norv Turner is serving his last season in San Diego... book it
  

IF THE ENTIRE SEASON WAS PLAYED JUST IN WEEK 6

MVP... Drew Brees (23-30, 369, 4TDs, 158.3 QB Rating)
LVP... Donovan McNabb... c'mon, losing to the Raiders, not good. 0 TD, sacked 6 times.

Drew Brees delivered the goods in a big-time NFC showdown against the Giants moving the Saints to 5-0 and a top the NFC playoff picture with the Minnesota Vikings who survived a late charge from the Ravens.

ROY... Hakeem Nicks (5 receptions, 114 yards, 1 TD)

An award once destined for the hands of Mark Sanchez, the Jets rookie has gone a long way in a couple weeks to give the award back to the field.

Sanchez's stat line from Sunday... 10-29, 119 yards, 5 INT, 0 TD, sacked twice.

Offensive POY... Tom Brady (380 & 6 TDs)
Defensive POY... Elvis Dumervil & DJ Williams (just terrorized Philip Rivers)

Luckiest Man In Football... Brad Childress... Brett Favre is single handedly saving Childress' head coaching career and a lucky Ravens FG miss in the closing seconds keeps Childress' Vikes undefeated.
Unluckiest Man In Football... Steve Spagnulo, still good coach on awful, horrible, unbelievably bad team

Coach of the Year... Josh McDaniels
The Jim Zorn Award... For the coach that is destined to be fired at any moment, this week's recipient is of course Jim Zorn. As a result of the 'skins performance, Zorn has saved his job by giving up play calling duties... why doesn't Daniel Snyder just take him behind the barn and shoot him?

Notre Dame Football Is About Winning

There are polarizing teams across all of sports.

Dallas Cowboys
Los Angeles Lakers
Montreal Canadiens
Duke Blue Devils Basketball
New York Yankees
Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football

The success of these teams is not measured in doing well or fighting hard. The success of these teams is measured in Championships. The legacy of excellence these teams leave is why fans either love or hate these teams.

Following the departure of Lou Holtz from Notre Dame in 1996, there have been three coaches who have failed to bring Notre Dame back to National Championship prominence. Bob Davey was a disappointment, Tyrone Willingham was a disaster, and Charlie Weis has come close but it has become glaringly obvious that Weis can not get the job done.

On Saturday the Irish fell behind USC 34-14 with 13:33 left and then managed to rally back to 34-27 with the ball on the USC 4 with less then 10 seconds to play and 2 chances to get into the end zone. Jimmy Clausen completed a pass to stud TE Kyle Rudolph in the end zone but the play could not be kept in bounds and then on 4th down a failed slant route sealed the deal on a USC Trojans victory in South Bend.

The Irish are now 4-2 on the season, with loses to their two biggest rivals USC and Michigan. In both cases the Irish were beaten by a true freshman quarterback. The Irish are still knocking on the door of the top 25 but honestly any success this season beyond this point will be hollow and of little meaning.

The remaining schedule for the Irish...

October 24... Boston College
October 31... Washington State (in San Antonio)
November 7... Navy
November 14... @Pittsburgh (Pitt is currently ranked 20th by the AP)
November 21... UConn
November 28... @Stanford

Sure, a win over BC would be nice but the rest of this schedule is fairly uninspiring. Even to run the table and go 10-2 still means that the Irish lost to the two rivals that matter.

Although QB1 Jimmy Clausen has emerged as a Heisman Trophy caliber player, he has never won a big game at Notre Dame and lacks a win against a top ranked team. That is not to say that Clausen has not looked brilliant from time-to-time but if Clausen makes the move to the NFL at the end of the season he will have left Notre Dame without a true signature victory that would solidify his legacy as one of the best quarterbacks to ever play at Notre Dame and the most prolific passer in Notre Dame history.

As for Weis, in his fifth season as the head coach at Notre Dame, his record is easy to decipher. Against teams that *finish* the season ranked in the Top 25, Weis' teams are 1-13.

1-13 (throw USC from yesterday and you will have 1-14)

That is not excellence. That is not even mediocrity. That is pathetic and inexcusable. The players on this team are now all Charlie Weis recruits and although they are better then they were two years ago the Weis regime is not competing at a level that could be considered elite.

Instead, the Irish qualify as scrappy. The thing about being a "scrappy" team is that you're just an "s" away from just being crappy.

At the end of this season Charlie Weis has to be fired. His opportunity has come and gone and at least he will be leaving his successor a decent set of recruits and talent to being his regime but hopefully the next coach will have the ability to lead Notre Dame back to the ranks of the elite in college football.

The stairwell in the Notre Dame locker room posts the iconic 'Play Like A Champion Today' and it's time for the Fighting Irish to find a new coach that can bring the players to that Championship level.

NFL Week 6 - Picks

Sorry for the lack of update last week, Wedding Bells for my buddy Bailey and his wife kept me playing from behind all week.

AGAINST THE SPREAD... 7-7 (39-37 on the season)
STRAIGHT UP... 8-6 (48-28 on the season)

LIAM STRAIGHT UP... 9-5 (53-23 on the season)

SUNDAY

Texans (+5) @ Bengals, PICK: TEXANS

Chiefs (+6.5) @ Redskins, PICK: CHIEFS

Panthers (-3) @ Bucs, PICK: PANTHERS

Rams (+9.5) @ Jaguars, PICK: JAGUARS

Ravens (+3) @ Vikings, PICK: RAVENS

Browns (+14) @ Steelers, PICK: STEELERS

Giants (+3) @ Saints, PICK: SAINTS

Lions (+14) @ Packers, PICK: PACKERS

Eagles (-14) @ Raiders, PICK: EAGLES

Cardinals (+3) @ Seahawks, PICK: SEAHAWKS

Titans (+9.5) @ Patriots, PICK: PATRIOTS

Bills (+9.5) @ Jets, PICK: JETS

Bears (+3.5) @ Falcons, PICK: FALCONS

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

Broncos (+3) @ Chargers, PICK: BRONCOS

You Think That Rocket Ismail Is Pumped?

This Is The Time

This is it. The defining game of the Charlie Weis era at Notre Dame. To put it in terminology that Weis will understand after today we will know if the arrow is pointing up or the arrow is pointing down.

Part way through his fifth season in South Bend Weis lacks a signature victory that can validate his position as a top tier coach in NCAA football. Instead, the best performance from a Weis team against a top calibre program was a near loss to USC during his first season.


USC comes in as a top 10 team, as usual. Notre Dame is back in the top 25, albeit 25th, but playing in South Bend in 40 degree weather, it's time for Weis to finally get his first signature victory.

Playing in Weis' favour is the man wearing No. 7 starting at QB. Many major media outlets now have Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen poised as the leader for this season's Heisman Trophy, but in order to truly distance himself from the Tebows and McCoys of the race, Notre Dame must win tomorrow. Clausen has the master gameplanner in Weis in his corner, and some truly spectacular offensive weapons in Golden Tate and Kyle Rudolph, a decent offensive line, and an average running game, which will clash in opposition to one of the best defenses in college football in USC.

Playing against Weis is that USC has the superior team on paper... but these games are won and lost on the field of play. USC comes to South Bend with a prodigical true freshman QB that was able to waltz into Columbus and defeat the Ohio State earlier this season. Matt Barkley is good but can the California kid step up again and out-duel his long-time friend and equally as hyped California QB in Clausen. USC has a series of experience and explosive weapons around Barkley to attack the inconsistent Irish offense.

So who is better in the battle of strength versus strength... The Irish O versus the Trojans D?

Who is better in the battle of the over-looked... The Irish D versus the Trojans O?

... and which factor will work in mean more, the on-paper favoured Trojans or the home field advantage with Touchdown Jesus.

Weis needs to break the USC 7 game win streak in this rivalry, otherwise it might finally be goodbye Charlie at the season.

NFL Week 5 - Picks

SUNDAY

Bengals (+9) @ Ravens, PICK: RAVENS

Steelers (-10.5)@ Lions, PICK STEELERS

Cowboys (-9) @ Chiefs, PICK: CHIEFS

Raiders (+15) @ Giants, PICK: RAIDERS

Vikings (-10) @ Rams, PICK: VIKINGS

Bucs (+15) @ Eagles, PICK: EAGLES

Redskins (+3.5) @ Panthers, PICK: PANTHERS

Browns (+6) @ Bills, PICK: BROWNS

Falcons (+2.5) @ 49ers, PICK: 49ers

Texans (+5) @ Cardinals, PICK: TEXANS

Patriots (-3.5) @ Broncos, PICK: PATRIOTS

Jaguars (+2) @ Seahawks, PICK: SEAHAWKS

Colts (-4) @ Titans, PICK: COLTS

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

Jets (-1.5) @ Dolphins, PICK: JETS

Favre Still Huge

Favre was masterful on MNF. Simply amazing. This guy is 40 years old but under intense pressure Favre put the Vikings on his back and just cruised them to a victory in a statement game that the Vikings are a legit Superbowl contender this season. Plus, the perception of Favre's greatness was not hurt by Jared Allen and the Vikings' D was all over the Packers and providing a game controlling field position for much of the game.


WEEK 4 PICKS RECAP

AGAINST THE SPREAD... 9-5, 32-30 on the season
STRAIGHT UP... 10-4, 40-22 on the season

LIAM STRAIGHT UP... 11-3, 44-18 on the season

What we learned from Week 4...

• missed the first half of the 1PM games driving back from a wedding in Kingston but settled in nicely after that
• liked the Breast Cancer awareness pink shoes, towels, sweat bands, etc...
  
• Detroit's new losing streak is now at 1, hopefully rookie QB Matt Stafford's knee will be OK
  
• the Bengals let the Browns play too close if the Bengals have visions of the playoffs
• it appears that Houston only plays on even numbered weeks
• Seattle needs Matt Hasselbeck and Seattle needs to draft a QB of the future this year
• who had the Titans at 0-4? Is it Vince Young's turn now?
• the Giants continue to roll
• the Patriots are for real after beating Atlanta and Baltimore in back-to-back weeks... but can they do it on the road?
• Washington is the worst 2-2 team in the league
• maybe Chad Henne will be okay after all but then again it was only the Bills
• the Rams are now clearly the worst team in football
• Cowboys on a short week, going into altitude in Denver, it was predictable that they would fade in the second half
• Rashard Mendenhall now knows not to cross Mike Tomlin, perhaps Limas Sweed will get the same message for next week
• the Packers offensive line just can not protect and that was the difference Monday night
• Favre is still a big game player
  

IF THE ENTIRE SEASON WAS PLAYED JUST IN WEEK 4

MVP... Brett Favre
LVP... Kerry Collins (H.M. to JaMarcus Russell)

ROY... Mohammad Massaquoi - 8 receptions for 148 yards

Off. POY... Rashard Mendenhall (165 rushing, 26 receiving, 2 TDs)
Def. POY... Darren Sharper (H.M. to Jared Allen)

Luckiest Man In Football... Shayne Graham, had the game winning XP blocked only to be given a chance at redemption in the closing moments of OT
Unluckiest Man In Football... Steve Spagnulo

Coach Of The Year... Sean Payton and Gregg Williams who successfully made Mark Sanchez look like a rookie for the first time this season
Anti-Coach Of The Year... Raheem Morris - the Bucs had the Redskins dead with a 10-0 lead a half but could not hold on, Morris just does not have the experience to get this job done