Yet, what a great opportunity for Boston College. For what has been a powerhouse of a football team, USC finally falls down to a December bowl game and the Eagles are faced with a chance at history.

Current Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez fled to the NFL following his junior season at USC and after some media attention between him and Pete Carroll, top high school prospect Matt Barkley was the one lining up under center. Despite all the hype, Barkley is still a freshman and led the Pac-10 with 12 interceptions. And though the Trojans 23^rd in the nation defensively, the main problem has been consistency. Two of their four losses consisted of their opponent scoring 47+ points; not the defense we’re used too.

Boston College, on the other hand, has a forceful 18^th ranked defense and looks to keep Barkley’s struggles at a high. And because of a 14^th ranked rushing defense, I expect the Eagles to force the game out of the hands of USC’s talented backs and into Matt Barkley’s, a tough challenge for the freshman’s first bowl game. When it comes to defending the pass though, that’s where the Eagles fall through the cracks. Allowing 2,568 passing yards this season, this may be USC’s best shot at moving the ball. If they can do that, Boston College is in trouble.

Not exactly the most reliable offense, Boston College doesn’t have a consistent quarterback in Dave Shinskie and will have to rely heavily on running back Montel Harris to carry them through this game. With 13 touchdowns this season, Harris is most defiantly their best shot at outscoring Barkley and the USC offense. However, Harris can’t do it alone. As I mentioned earlier, Dave Shinskie is a concern and he’s going to have to step up it up through the air if they want to have a realistic shot at pulling off the upset.

History shows that since 2001, both teams win 82% of the time when scoring 20+ points and tend to struggle when it’s a low-scoring game. So expect this one to be a battle of field position; whoever can take advantage of end-of-half field goals and turnovers will have a definite edge.

For a prediction, I think that Boston College will hang tough most the game, but will slip away as it gets late in the game. Barkley will have a solid performance with 3 touchdowns and an interception, two being to tight end Anthony McCoy and the other to receiver Damian Williams, and back Joe McKnight will score one on the ground, all leading to a 31-17 Trojan victory.

The opening contest featured New York City’s traditional basketball powerhouse, St. John’s University Red Storm (7-1) against the University of Georgia Bulldogs (4-4). St. John’s was for many years one of the premier basketball programs in the nation. The school ranks seventh in Division I victories, 1,693, and ninth in winning percentage in Division I games. The team has fared poorly since the controversial and unsuccessful years the team was coached by Mike Jarvis. The team, thus far this season, appears to be improved.

The Red Storm, on the familiar court of MSG, where it was appearing in its 638^th game, took an early 9-3 advantage. The visitors, after its 9-3 scoring run, tied the game at 12 with 11:58 remaining in the half. St. John’s scored 8 of the next 10 points to achieve its biggest lead of the half, 20-14. St. John’s not only never relinquished the lead, but increased it to double digits in the second half. The final score was 66-56. Red Storm coach Norm Roberts spoke enthusiastically of how his players closed the game in the second half, “I thought we played with more energy in the second half. We were much better defensively. I thought we turned them over, which is what we needed to do, and I thought we finished plays better and moved the ball better in the second half.”

Interestingly, four of the men were starting their first game of the year. Sean Evans, D.J Kennedy, and Paris Horne were not in the starting lineup for the first time this season. All three upperclassmen were late for the team bus to MSG, and were kept from their normal starting spots. Roberts explained, “If you have seniors showing up three minutes late or whatever, what are you telling our freshmen? That they can show up late too. D.J., Paris and Sean are great leaders, great kids. Ninety-nine percent of the time, they do everything we want them to do, but today they were a little late, so it was a good teaching point, learning point…I think it is important for our guys to learn from mistakes because everybody makes them and try to turn a negative into a positive.” Justin Burrell also did not start for the first time this year. He sprained his right ankle in the team’s last contest, and is expected to miss three weeks of action.

The usual non-starters did an excellent job. Evans spoke with high praise of the job done by the newcomers to the team who were in the starting lineup, “I think that is a big from our team. It shows we have depth. A lot of people stepped up today. It took a load off from me. Everybody came off from the bench and played well.”

The second game was an elite match-up of highly ranked teams, each of which had its large group of vocal supporters in the arena.  The University of Kentucky Wildcats (9-0) kept its record unblemished as it won a close victory over the Connecticut Huskies (6-2). After the first four minutes, the game appeared as if it would be a rout as the Wildcats took a 12-0 lead.  The game turned into a “barn burner” after the Huskies scored the next 10 points. The 18-16 Kentucky lead with 9:17 remaining in the first half was its last until it recaptured the advantage with a 41-40 score with 11:35 left in the contest. Jerome Dyson, with 13 points in the first half, put the huskies back into the fray. The 64-61 Kentucky win gave the team a 9-0 mark. This was the first time since the 1930-31 season that the winningest team in NCAA Division I history has started a season this well. The fourth ranked team in the nation is carrying five freshmen on the roster. Three of them had major roles in the victory. The player of the game was John Wall, who scored 25 points and had six steals. Kemba Walker, who guarded him in the contest, said, “He’s not a freshman at all. The ball is always in his hands and that’s good for him and his team.” Calipari, the former New Jersey Nets coach, who was booed lustily when introduced before the game, was not enthusiastic about his team’s play, “We were lucky to win. We got to get more consistent. We’re a 4-5 club.”

First of all, I think Cincinnati is absolutely for real.  It’s a shame that there is no playoff in college football, because Cincinnati deserves a shot to play for a national title (although I wouldn’t argue they are one of college football’s two top teams.)  Also, I’d like to thank the football gods for placing this game on a Friday, so that it doesn’t interfere with the many great games taking place on Saturday.  West Virginia is a solid team, and luckily for the Mountaineers, Noel Devine will play, although it remains to be seen if he will be at his maximum production.  I do respect West Virginia, but I think there is definitely a sizeable difference between these two teams, and while I expect it to be competitive, I expect the Bearcats (and their expected 2 QB rotation for this game) to take it.

Cincinnati 38, West Virginia 28

Iowa @ Ohio State

Seven days ago, Iowa was undefeated.  Now, they are a 17 point underdog (yes, you heard me, 17 point underdog) to an unimpressive Ohio State team.  I really have no idea why this spread is so high.  Sure, Ricky Stanzi is injured, but Ohio State hasn’t had a good offense all year and Iowa allows under 16 points a game, so the spread just doesn’t add up.  As for what will happen in this game, it’s tough to say.  Iowa was squeaking out wins all season until they lost to lowly Northwestern last week, while Ohio State, as said earlier, hasn’t exactly set the world on fire.  I’m definitely not expecting this game to be high scoring, and I’m going to take Iowa in a close one, as I expect their defense to get the job done.

Iowa 13, Ohio State 10

Stanford @ USC

Two years ago, it was one of the biggest upsets in college football history when Stanford went into the Coliseum and knocked off mighty USC.  This year, Stanford is flying high, and is actually ahead of USC in the Pac-10 standings (5-2 vs. 4-2.)  Stanford proved themselves nationally with a huge win over Oregon last week, and they hope to take their high powered rushing offense to USC.  Some are even expecting Stanford to win this one, and I personally wouldn’t be shocked to see it happen.  However, USC should be able to exploit Stanford’s main weakness; their secondary.  USC’s weakness this year has been their passing game, but USC has more talent at receiver, and their receivers should be able to get it done this week.  Stanford will keep this one really close, and Toby Gerhart will certainly have a great game for the Cardinal, but expect the Trojans to finish on top.

USC 30, Stanford 27

Arizona @ California

At the beginning of the season, I said Arizona would finish fourth in the Pac-10.  The media said Arizona would finish eighth.  While I knew the media was overlooking Arizona, and that Arizona was certainly better than mediocre ASU and UCLA, I was wondering if maybe I, as an Arizona grad, was overestimating my beloved Cats just a little bit.  However, I ended up underestimating my school.  Nick Foles, who didn’t even start the first three games, has proven to be one of the best underclassmen quarterbacks in the country, and Arizona has had a very easy time putting points on the board.  Cal, on the other hand, is simply pretty average.  Add in the fact that their best player, Jahvid Best, is out for this game, and Arizona should take this one.  It’s simply going to be tough for the Golden Bears to score enough points in this one to win it.

Arizona 31, California 16

Notre Dame @ Pittsburgh

How many more games are left for Charlie Weis to coach before he gets fired at the end of the year?  This one actually has some potential for an upset.  Pitt has looked very good this year on both sides of the ball (they rank in the top 20 in both offensive and defensive scoring.)  However, this could be a dangerous game for them.  Notre Dame can put points on the board and keep it close, and deep down, Notre Dame is more talented.  Also, as for why I think this can be an upset, Pitt is coached by Dave Wannstedt.  I don’t think I need to expand on why that’s my justification.  But then again, Notre Dame is coached by Charlie Weis, effectively making this the toilet bowl of coaching.  But I still think Notre Dame wins this game, it’s just a gut feeling.  Weis still gets canned either way.

Notre Dame 31, Pittsburgh 24

Five other games to watch: Tennessee @ Ole Miss, Auburn @ Georgia, Utah @ TCU, Idaho @ Boise State, Nebraska @ Kansas

LSU @ Georgia

This is a tough game to predict.  On one hand, #4 LSU is definitely not the fourth best team in the country, at least in my opinion.  On the other hand, Georgia isn’t really that great either.  They needed a last second field goal to beat Arizona State, a team that will probably finish in the bottom half of the Pac-10, and their defense hasn’t looked good in their other games.  However, I do like the Bulldogs in this one, for two reasons.  First is their home field advantage, and secondly, their offense has been pretty impressive.  This could involve into a mini shoot out, and that’s why I like Georgia: their receivers are better (especially since they have AJ Green) and QB Joe Cox has been solid.

Georgia 42, LSU 31

Oklahoma @ Miami

Will Sam Bradford be back?  That’s the big question going into this battle of elite programs.  Miami’s comeback took a hit last week when they got drubbed by Virginia Tech, but at least they get to host the Sooners in this one.  However, Sam Bradford or no Sam Bradford, Oklahoma is a really good team.  Their defense has only allowed 14 points all season, and that includes games against two really good offenses in BYU and Tulsa.  Miami is still on the upswing, but Oklahoma is simply the better team, and since Landry Jones has been playing well in place of Sam Bradford, I’m thinking the Sooners can win this one either way.

Oklahoma 24, Miami 14

USC @ Cal

This game would be way bigger if Cal had won last week.  If so, this game would have been an opportunity for Cal to be a great position to win the Pac-10.  However, last week Oregon cleared something up: Cal won’t be winning the Pac-10.  Cal got beat in every way, and after being completely exposed, they get to face the Pac-10’s best team.  Now, for USC, they simply don’t lose these types of games.  They will lose to Oregon State or Washington, but not a Pac-10 power.  It doesn’t matter if the game is on the road.  USC is USC, and USC this game.  Plus, Matt Barkley is supposed to be back, just adding fuel to the USC bandwagon (to win this game, at least).

USC 35, Cal 20

Auburn @ Tennessee

Auburn isn’t ranked in the top 25, but they haven’t looked like an unranked team.  The firing of Tommy Tuberville (and subsequent hiring of Gene Chizik) was highly criticized, but things are looking great at Auburn, especially on offense.  Tennessee is their toughest test so far this season, but the Volunteers haven’t looked particularly strong this season, with wins against miniscule programs and a loss against UCLA.  Tennessee looks like they will improve in the future under Lane Kiffin, and they have some good players for the future like RB Bryce Brown, but Auburn’s lowest point total this season is 37 points, and they should score a good amount against Tennessee as well.

Auburn 38, Tennessee 30

Arkansas @ Texas A&M

This game was selected on default.  Really, any of the five other games to watch could have been picked for this (well, maybe not the military academy one), but both of these programs are improving, and games at neutral locations are always fun, especially when it’s at a stadium with the biggest TV screen in the world (okay, well that’s bad logic, but the neutral site should give this game a unique atmosphere.)  As for who is going to win, Arkansas looks like they are emerging faster than the Aggies.  Their offense looks great, and QB Ryan Mallett is just going to get better with every game, so I’ll go with the Razorbacks.  Bobby Petrino’s offense certainly looks a lot better this year than it did a year ago.

Arkansas 34, Texas A&M 20

Five other games to watch: Wisconsin @ Minnesota, Michigan @ Michigan State, Florida State @ Boston College, UCLA @ Stanford, Air Force @ Navy

Last week: 3-2

Season to date: 8-2

The BCS has been around for over a decade.  Before the BCS, the Pac-10 and Big 10 champion always played each other in the Rose Bowl, and because of this, it meant that the two highest ranked teams at the end of the season were not always playing one another in the national title game.  To change this, the BCS was created, where a system mixing polls and computer rankings was created to find the two “best” teams in the country to play each other on one glorious night to establish one national champion.

Of course, we all know this has worked out just as well as Jon and Kate’s marriage.  In the majority of the years since the BCS was created, there has been a controversy over the two teams placed by the system into the national title game.  As we all know, last year was a particularly good example of why the BCS is such a terrible system, with Utah and Boise State finishing the regular season undefeated and Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech, Alabama, Florida, Penn State, and USC all having one loss and all feeling as if they belonged in the title game.

One thing last year the perfect example of why the BCS is a failure comes from the Big 12, where we all remember that Oklahoma beat Texas Tech, who beat Texas, who beat Oklahoma, and that all three had one loss.  They all had a legitimate reason for believing they belonged in the title game (although most recognize that Texas Tech was not as good as the other two, beating Texas on a series of fluke plays before being blown out by Oklahoma), and in the end, Oklahoma was selected to the title game, where they would lose to Florida.

This year, it is obviously yet to be determined what kind of BCS problem we will have.  Maybe it will be like the problem of 2008, or maybe it won’t be a problem like it was during the 2005 season, when two and only two BCS conference teams finished undefeated (Texas and USC.)  Still, even if the BCS works once in a while, it doesn’t work all of the time (or even half the time), and it’s time to finally fix this.  It’s time for a playoff.  I’m saying this even though I realize a playoff is likely to never happen, but college football absolutely, positively needs a playoff.

The playoff, a fixture in American sports, is used to determine the title winner of everything, except, of course, the champion of NCAA D1 FBS football.   Even all of the other NCAA football divisions use it, everyone but the FBS.  Of course, there’s a reason for this, since if everyone agreed that a playoff was the best option, we would have it.

The reason why a playoff doesn’t exist is because the college presidents of BCS schools don’t want one.  They like the BCS.  It guarantees them a ton of money, with no team having to play more than one game.  It makes it hard for non-BCS conference schools to get involved, and thus take away from the money for BCS conference schools.  It insures that the season ends right before the start of the spring semester of college, meaning less practice and travel time for athletes.  However, there are arguments to be made against these key reasons why college presidents want to keep the BCS.

In terms of money, the BCS presidents love that they make so much off of one game, but with a playoff, there will still be tons of interest, great TV ratings, and more games, meaning more money.  With a playoff, college football’s postseason would rival the greatness of the NCAA basketball tournament, and it surely would be a huge cash win for all of the college presidents.  In reality, this should entice college presidents towards supporting a playoff.

In terms of non-BCS conference schools, it’s about time to give them a shot of winning a national title.  Utah probably would not have won the title last year, as I doubt they would have beat Florida or Oklahoma, but the regular season they had means they deserved a shot, which would make college football a whole lot more fair (and is something a playoff would provide.)  Secondly, not only is a playoff the most fair system, but with more postseason games, there would be more profits for the colleges involved.

Thirdly, we’ve heard college presidents give their speeches about how a college playoff would make the academic schedule harder for the players.  This is funny, because they are only using this argument because it’s convenient for them.  I don’t see these same college presidents crying foul about baseball players playing up to five games a week, forcing players to miss the majority of the school week at times.  Football games are played on Saturdays, players can fly out on Friday and barely miss any classes (if any at all.)  Also, the playoff would be during the beginning of the spring semester, which isn’t exactly the most stressful time in the classroom anyway.

Opponents of the BCS are also concerned that a playoff system would take away from the bowls, but this isn’t true at all.  The same bowl games for 7-5 teams will have the same meaning for those involved with a playoff than they are now.  Also, certain bowl games can be mixed into a playoff system.  The first round of a sixteen team playoff can be at the home sites of the highest ranked teams.  I propose sixteen teams, because I feel eight could leave some deserving teams out, although an eight team playoff would be better than none at all.  The quarterfinals would be Fiesta, Sugar, Rose, and Orange Bowls, allowing these bowl games to retain an elite status.  Semifinals and finals are neutral sites.

There it is, a sixteen team playoff.  A true national champion.  Conference champions of the “big six” conferences, ten at-larges determined by a selection committee.  Winners of the small conferences could potentially have a shot.  Lose two early games and then get hot towards the end of the season, and you still have a chance at winning at all.  This is my dream, and this is how college football needs to be.

The Giants got pushed around in the second pre-season game against the Bears. The game had an October feel to it as temperatures where in the low 60s at kickoff. Three things are clear early on for the Giants: First, third-year back Ahmad Bradshaw will see increased playing time in 2009. Second, LB Clint Sintim out of Virginia will be a factor in the Giants defense. Third, Super Bowl hero David Tyree is now an afterthought in the Giants offense.

If you thought things just couldn’t get any worse for the Mets, they did, ace pitcher Johan Santana will be sidelined the remainder of the season with surgery on his left elbow. Every time I hear or see a story about the Mets, I hear the “MASH” theme play in my subconscious. The Mets have no luck – just three years ago they were an inning away from the World Series. Sometimes, teams miss their window. Just look at the 1982 California Angels, the 1997 Orioles, the ’92 & 93 & ’96 Braves, the ’88 & ’90 A’s and of course the Red Sox in 1975, ’78 or ’86.

AJ Burnett and Jorge Posada’s blowout isn’t anything knew in the Bronx. Randy Johnson preferred to pitch to John Flaherty and one former reliever also admitted he didn’t like throwing to Posada.

Except for one problem, it didn’t happen. When the Golden State Warriors, choosing at number seven, picked Curry to replace their recently traded shooting guard, ironically the former Knick, Jamal Crawford, a huge collective sigh of disappointment came from all the Knick fans gathered at Madison Square Garden’s WAMU Theatre yesterday.

Even more telling was Curry’s reaction, dropping his head into his hands upon hearing his name called by Commissioner David Stern as if to mutter, “Oh, crap, missed the Knicks by one pick.”

With the very next choice, the Knicks selected a 6’10” power forward, Jordan Hill from the University of Arizona.

“Jordan was one of the best big men in this year’s draft. He can score, rebound and block shots,” President, Basketball Operations Donnie Walsh said. “He can run the floor. He’s improved each year.”

Hill, 6-10, 235-pounds, averaged 18.3 points and 11.0 rebounds in his junior year with the Wildcats, setting a school record for boards in a single season (375). The Newberry, SC-native finished as the Pac-10 leader in point-rebound double-doubles (20), ranked second in rebounding and blocked shots (1.71) and third in scoring.

“I’m excited to get Jordan here. Players like him are hard to find,” Head Coach Mike D’Antoni said. “He is going to help us defensively right away and it is an added bonus that he is a good shooter.”

Forget all the nice quotes and statistics compiled by the young man, Hill. This is not the guy the Knicks wanted nor is he the type of impact player this franchise needed to excite Knick fans. He may be a good player, a very nice guy, and even a useful piece of the puzzle that goes behind building a championship contender. Or, he may turn out to be like past highly-rated power forwards who recently came out of the University of Arizona. People like Channing Frye, whom the Knicks picked at number eight in the 2004 draft and who never panned out. Or, Sean Rooks, an acclaimed forward from the early nineties who evolved into a bench player most of his NBA career.

Suffice to say, Knicks fans in the building expressed their dissatisfaction with the choice of Hill with vociferous booing.

“I’ve been through that in Indiana,” Walsh said. “They booed Chuck Person. They booed Reggie Miller. I can go on and on.”

Walsh seemed bent on improving the Knicks defensive disposition in this draft as he also acquired Florida State guard Toney Douglas from the Lakers for $3 million and a 2011 second-round pick. Douglas, the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, was selected at No.29 by the Lakers and was the eighth point guard taken in a draft that saw the Timberwolves take three themselves. The Knicks also finalized their trade for 7-footer Darko Milicic, who like Richardson is in the final year of his contract, will be used as a center and power forward.

Milicic was the No.2 pick of the 2003 draft, selected after LeBron James and before Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. But Milicic has yet to find a niche in the NBA. He’s averaged 5.5 points for three teams and has made just 98 starts.