If UTAH wins the school gets bragging rights back and a big big payday. It will put the program in the spotlight and shine an even brighter light on head coach Kyle Whittingham. The win will put UTAH against the winner of the BIG EAST or ACC and give them a meaningless game in the BCS so this is their last real important game of the season. In fact, you’ll remember a few years ago when Utah was undefeated and got stuck playing a PItt team that won the BIg East. PITT got in as the winner of the BIG EAST but that was weak. Utah killed them and helped them be undefeated but they were left wanting more. The same will happen this year to the UTES with a win over the Cougars.

If BYU wins then we have an interesting scenario. We would have a 3 way tie atop the MWC with BYU, TCU and UTAH. TCU crushed BYU and Utah beat TCU. All 3 teams would have a legit claim at the conference title and a legit claim on a BCS spot. This is bad for the conference if you ask me. TCU has lost 2 games now with one of them being to Oklahoma but a 2 loss team from the MWC can’t get into a BCS game at large. Utah can’t get in over BYU if BYU beats them head to head on their home field. BYU can’t get in when they got smoked by TCU, but they have the best claim based on 1 road loss and some convincing wins other wise.

Don’t forget that I dislike BYU football and don’t want them to win but something inside tells me that BYU is going to pull it out on Saturday and screw up everything for everyone. We’ll probably see BYU or UTAH play some 5th place PAC 10 school in the Vegas bowl again where the MWC will again prove that top to bottom it’s a better conference this season.

Warner was brought into Arizona as a mentor for Matt Leinart but has shown that he can still play and read defenses with the best of them. He has some excellent receivers in Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin and doesn’t need the running game as much. In fact, when Edgerrin James went to the bench and the Cards went to a pass first offense they have really starting playing well and winning.

Warner features a career high 71% completion rate which is incredible considering teams know what the Cards are going to do with the ball. He has a 105 passer rating which would be his 2nd best ever and is on pace to have more than 30 Td passes. Warner is peaking at a time when his team needs him to peak and it’s fun to watch. If the Cards finish strong and make the playoffs, don’t be surprised if Kurt Warner walks away with his 3rd league MVP and garners some serious discussion for the Hall of Fame.

Charlie Weis still has 7 years or so on his contract worth around 25 million dollars. What’s that? He had a great year with Willinghams recruits and since hasn’t done much. It’s really time to put up or shut up. He had the schedule this season to really get some wins but something is just missing with this team. They blew a lead versus Pitt and then didn’t even bother to show up against BC last week. Weis’ team sits at 5-4 and the vultures are circling. The guy has brought in top 5 recruiting classes since taking over the team but its yet to show the results that everyone expects in South Bend.

Do I think Charlie should be fired? No, I think he should get a chance to see a recruiting class come in and have them from start to finish before I start judging. If that happens and they win then he deserves to stay and deserves his contract. What people need to remember is that Charlie brought in a top 5 recruiting class even after last years horrible play and are doing the same this year. Kids are being sold on the idea of coming in and bringing Notre Dame back to prominence and it’s working. The only real question is if Charlie Weis will be the coach when it happens.

Aside from that though let’s look at the Titans. Kerry Collins is leading this team and got them the win yesterday. The Bears killed the running game of the Titans and wanted Collins to beat them and he did. He threw for nearly 300 yards on 40 attempts and then he left the rest up to his defense to shut down Grossman and that didn’t prove that difficult. What I thought the entire time was “If Vince were playing would the Bears have won?” Of course, because we all know Vince can’t pass. Vince is a talent but he still can’t throw the ball very accurately and as a result the Titans would’ve lost a few games this season without Collins starting.

Tennessee won’t go undefeated this year and could very well lose next to Jacksonville but don’t sleep on them because they play solid defense, do enough on offense and have a very good seasoned coach who guys love playing for. If they continue to avoid injuries they will be the team to beat come playoff time.

Brady Quinn was drafted a couple years ago out of Notre Dame and finds himself in a great NFL position right now. Derek Anderson, the starter, had a miracle year and it forced Quinn to sit on the bench and watch and watch and watch. This year, Anderson hasn’t been very good and Quinn finally got his shot Thursday night against Denver.

Quinn ended the night 23-35 for 239 yards and 2 TD’s. I had predicted a 20-30 for 155 yards and 2 interceptions. He was careful with the ball and threw a lot of short stuff to Kellen Winslow, who quickly became Quinn’s favorite target. Coach Romeo did a great job getting Quinn in to start against Denver because the Broncos defense is just terrible and Quinn proved that.

I’m not comparing Brady Quinn to anyone right now, let’s just let him develop and see what happens. I wish him luck against every team but the Bears.

Oakland just announced that they are planning on releasing DeAngelo Hall. In case you forgot, Hall was acquired from Atlanta and given a 70 million dollar contract. The Raiders even gave up a 2nd round pick which is like gold in today’s NFL draft. Hall isn’t having a terrible year and will be picked up very quickly after release. He has 3 picks and had a high in tackles last week. The Raiders are terrible and are going into selling mode but are they going to get someone better than Hall to play corner? He was arguably one of the top 5 corners in football and yet after 8 games they might cut him. It’s no wonder this franchise is the laughing stock of the league. Outside of the Bengals as the league joke, the Raiders are 2nd place and closing quickly. Did I mention that they had 3 first downs last week? 3 in the entire game. Demarcus Russell looks horrible and surprisingly easy to tackle for a giant sized QB.

The Raiders have already paid Hall 8 million plus and despite him having a subpar season he’ll be acquired quickly. It doesn’t surprise me though as I watch this, maybe the Raiders will hire Norv Turner once San Diego cans him. Then bring back Art Shell again at some point. Either way, this once proud franchise is going down the drain.

Fulmer won a National Title for the Vols in 1998 but that success just hasn’t stuck with the school this decade and the 3-6 record this season is what ultimately did him in.

I always love to question the timing of certain decisions and this one is no different. The team isn’t going to play in a bowl game this season and has several key recruits on board. By Fulmer resigning what does it give the program the chance to do? It gives the program the chance to keep Fulmer around while they find a new ‘big name’ head coach. Fulmer has always been a company man and will have no problem recruiting for the next head coach that comes in. If Fulmer were to be relieved right now more than likely each recruit would open it up again. Not to say that won’t happen already, but Fulmer sticking around helps with the process.

Tennessee is a great football school with a great tradition and the coach who takes that over is going to be expected to win today and get the team back to contending in the toughest conference in sports.

The Big 12 really is the 2nd best conference in football behind the SEC and yet hampers itself just like the SEC does by making a conference championship game. Has anyone played better teams than Texas this year? This is their 4th straight game playing a team that at one point was ranked in the top 7 teams in the country. They beat Oklahoma on the road, Missouri was easy and then Oklahoma St really tested them. Now the Longhorns face what is arguably the best offense in the country on the road and we’ll see how they respond.

I expect Texas Tech to come out firing like normal and put up points early. I expect Texas to remain composed, like they did when Oklahoma jumped out to the early lead there. Then I expect Texas to submit Texas Tech midway through the 3rd quarter with long drives and a tougher defense than Texas is given credit for.

The game will be in the 30’s and 40’s but Texas will win and it will be fun to watch. I’ll be watching.

1.Texas- Texas Tech is the only ranked team left on the schedule. Where Texas gets hurt is having to play in the Big 12 conference championship game. It isn’t really fair and that’s what gets the BIG 10 in the title game more often than not.
2. Alabama- AT LSU is the toughest game left for these guys and that will be a big one. Both teams want to beat each other but none more than Saban wanting to beat his old school. LSU had better come out prepared because so far Alabama has had the leg up on everyone very early in each game. Just like Texas, Alabama will still have to play in their conference championship game and that could hurt their chances because they’ll end up playing Georgia or Florida there.
3. Penn St. - Just beat Ohio St. on the road and next faces teams that they should beat. Iowa will be tough because they play great defense but Penn St should win out and give themselves a shot for the national title. Since they are in the BIG 10 they don’t have to play a conference championship game.
4. Oklahoma - I expect these guys to stumble once more before the season is over. They have to play Texas Tech and then close out the regular season against Ok. st. who looks really tough. They need some teams ahead of them to stumble if they want a chance.
5. USC - Should honestly cake walk through the west of the terrble PAC 10. I can’t think of a more disappointing conference right now. The Mountain WEst has trounced them this year. Embarrassing. USC would lose 3 games in the SEC if you ask me.
6. Georgia - Florida and Georgia Tech remain as the toughest tests for the Bulldogs. They’ve come back nicely since losing to Alabama. If they can get past Florida they can expect a rematch with Alabama for the SEC title.
7. Texas Tech - Texas, Oklahoma remain for these guys. Nice run Texas Tech.
8. Florida - Georgia and Florida St remain and Florida would love to win out and get a shot at Alabama. If they do that they can sneak into the title game with some help. If any team is going to jump up a few spots it is the Gators who should be undefeated right now but aren’t.

UTAH needs to win out to get into the party and they have a tough game with BYU coming up in a few weeks that will determine that. Boise St sits at the same spot. Both need to go undefeated if they even want to sniff the BCS

How did this happen? I don’t know because I thought the team might lose 3 games all year when it started and now I have that Chicago Cub feeling about them where you wonder if they will ever win again. T.O isn’t getting the ball if it isn’t a short out pass and Brad Johnson isn’t the answer at Qb right now. People talk about PacMan hurting the team but if anything he draws attention away from the horrible lackluster play on the field. The man responsible for intensity and preparation is always the head coach and that’s Phillips.

The choice that many Cowboy fans want Jones to take is to fire Phillips and let offensive coordinator Jason Garrett take over the team but will that fix it? I don’t know. I look at this teams roster and wonder how they can lose by 20 points to the Rams. THE RAMS. Rex Grossman could’ve led the Cowboys to victory over the Rams, or maybe not. The problem might run deeper but if this losing streak continues I’ll be dead wrong on my prediction that Marvin Lewis is the next to get fired and jump on the Wade Phillips bandwagon there.

I’m not a Cowboy fan and regardless of what happens with their coach i hope they keep losing.