Be Careful What You Ask For

Don't you just love when grown men feel the need to show whose is bigger? In a classic battle of egos, an otherwise dreary crosstown rivalry turned into a pissing contest. With 52 seconds remaining and a 14 point lead, USC quarterback Matt Barkley took the snap and dropped to a knee to begin running the clock out. Apparently, UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel decided that he would decide when the game was over as he called his first of three timeouts to extend the game. With a third down play coming and UCLA still with two timeouts, USC could have run one more play and punted the ball back to the Bruins with around 40 seconds remaining. Pete Carrol, however, decided that if Neuheisel wanted to keep playing, he would oblige. Barkley took the third down snap, faked the hand off and threw a 48 yard touchdown to Damian Williams. UCLA took offense and benches cleared as the USC team celebrated on their sideline and the Bruins left their sideline to cross the field. To me, two things stand out about the situation.

First. If Rick Neuheisel is going to call timeout and extend the game, he has to have his team ready to play defense. Was it the best idea for USC to throw the ball deep? Maybe not, but this is a rivalry game. If the winning team has already decided to take a knee and let the game end, you have to let it be. It is hard to agree with the argument that Pete Carrol showed no class and poor sportsmanship when he directed his team to take a knee in the first place. If UCLA wanted to decide when the game was over, they should have played better and been in the lead. Otherwise, if you want the game to continue; you better keep playing.

Second. It is rather comical to hear fans talk about how classless this move was by USC when two weeks ago they defended Stanford's decision to go for two when the game was a blowout. Going for two simply to try and reach 50 points when a game is clearly out reach is a completely different move. Had USC gone for two after the touchdown, you could use the comparison. If you approve of Stanford's move, you do not have a leg to stand on in arguing against USC's late touchdown.

Thanksgiving Pigskin Preview

Green Bay at Detroit: The Lions, coming off a dramatic comeback victory over the Cleveland Browns, welcome their long time rival to Ford Field for a Thanksgiving showdown. The Packers are looking for a win to remain in the NFC playoff picture, while the Lions are simply looking to put back back to wins together for the first time since 2007. It is going to be a tough task for the home team in this one. For starters, the Lions secondary is all banged up and they will be forced to start safety Marvin White, who was signed only a month ago after being cut by the Cowboys. Starting alongside him will be rookie Louis Delmas who is nursing injuries of his own. Add that to the fact that starting QB Matthew Stafford is nursing an injury to his non throwing shoulder after separating it at the end of last weeks game, and things look even worse. It is hard to imagine the Lions secondary being able to stop Aaron Rogers and company in this one, but it may be closer than the most people think.

Oakland at Dallas: The Raiders travel to Jerry's World after an improbable victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, while the Cowboys come off a very uninspiring defeat of the Washington Redskins. The Raiders offense seems to have found some rhythm behind new starting QB Bruce Gradkowski, probably because his throws are actually to his receivers. If the Raiders defense can put some pressure on Tony Romo, he will make plenty of mistakes and make this game closer than it should be. I'll take the Raiders and the upset as Romo will again prove that he is not a top flight NFL QB.

New York Giants at Denver: Boy how the Broncos have come back down to Earth. The team that had everyone talking about how wrong they were to start the season is now proving everyone right. The Denver defense is still playing very well, but the lack of offense is catching up to them. As opponents have had a chance to watch tape of Kyle Orton, the lack of any ability to throw the ball deep has become evident. Teams are now taking away the short stuff and forcing Orton to throw the ball down the field more. The Giants snapped their four game losing streak with an overtime win against the Falcons last week, but they have been struggling themselves of late. The Broncos defense should be able to keep this game close through the first half, but the offense will not be able to keep us as the game wears on. Look for the Giants to win this game by two scores.

LVSC Week 12 NFL Rankings

Every week Las Vegas Sports Consultants, the world's largest oddsmaking company, releases their top polls/rankings for the major sports. They describe their polls as ones in which "teams are ranked purely by the numbers, without media, regional, league, conference or any other biases – just the facts as determined by LVSC’s team of experts." Because they use the same information that is used to make the betting lines, it is perhaps the most complete and accurate poll. We will post the updated college football poll here every Tuesday and the updated NFL rankings on Wednesdays.



No big changes here. The top 5 stays the same while San Diego moves into the 6 hole. I would not be surprised to see them move ahead of Pittsburgh soon as well. The Chargers have definitely found their identity and, as a result, started playing great football. Philip Rivers is definitely one of the better leaders in the game. His confidence, borderline cockiness, seems to have rubbed off on his teammates. The big matchup this week will see the Saints and Patriots battle it out for the top spot on Monday Night.

LVSC Week 13 College Football Rankings

Every week Las Vegas Sports Consultants, the world's largest oddsmaking company, releases their top polls/rankings for the major sports. They describe their polls as ones in which "teams are ranked purely by the numbers, without media, regional, league, conference or any other biases – just the facts as determined by LVSC’s team of experts." Because they use the same information that is used to make the betting lines, it is perhaps the most complete and accurate poll. We will post the updated college football poll here every Tuesday and the updated NFL rankings on Wednesdays.



The top 5 spots stay the same this week, but Oklahoma drops from the six hole down to tenth following their loss to Texas Tech. They continue to be the team with the most disparity from the BCS polls as they remain unranked by the BCS. Stanford's loss drops them 5 spots to number 18. Interestingly, they are back behind USC who they destroyed just two weeks ago. It goes to show how much pure athleticism factors into college football. Notice that TCU holds a 2 point margin over fifth place Oregon. I am telling you, this team is for real. They definitely have the talent to hang with the big boys.

The Most Impressive Teams Today

In looking at today's games, two teams really stood out. New Orleans went down to Tampa Bay and beat the Buccaneers 38-7. While Tampa Bay is far from a top flight team, these are the games that have a tendency to jump up and bite the favored team. These are the games that an undefeated team has a tendency to look past. It is easy to get up for the big games, but it isn't quite as easy to get up for the games that everyone knows you're supposed to win. Top teams always win the games they are supposed to win and that's what the Saints did on Sunday. The second team that caught my attention was the San Diego Chargers. I have been saying for the past couple of weeks that the Chargers really seem to be hitting their stride and Sunday that continued. They went into Denver and took over the division lead with a dominant victory over a division foe. While the Broncos may not be quite as good as their record, they are still no pushover. That is especially true at Invesco. The Chargers defense, however, went into Denver and completely controlled the game. The offense didn't put up huge numbers, but they still managed to put 32 points on the board. The Chargers again continue to build momentum and, if this keeps up, they are going to be very tough to beat come playoff time.

Oh Neaux!

What was Les Miles thinking? With a chance to win the game, he let his team down. QB Jordan Jefferson was sacked with 17 seconds left in the game to create a 4th and 26 and Miles let eight seconds run off the clock before using his last timeout. Boy would those eight seconds have come in handy. On 4th and 26, Jefferson completed a deep pass to WR Terrance Tolliver that would have setup a field goal to win the game. Instead with only one second left on the clock, the field goal team was not ready to run on the field and Jefferson spiked the ball to stop the clock. As it turns out, spiking the ball with no time left on the clock doesn't help much. Had Miles called his timeout properly after the 3rd down play, LSU would have had plenty of time to spike the ball and kick the field goal. Had he had his field goal team prepared, they could have at least tried to get the last play off as a field goal attempt. Unfortunately for the Tigers, he did neither. You can chalk this loss up to the coaching staff.

Games of the Day

Ohio State at Michigan: The Wolverines welcome Ohio State to the Big House today in the latest installment of this storied rivalry. Clearly Michigan is not playing at the high level it is used to and Ohio State has already clinched the Big Ten title and a trip to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl. Despite all that, you never know what is going to happen in these rivalry games. Ohio State should be able to score at will and win this game going away against a soft Michigan defense. I imagine the Wolverines will keep this game close for a little while, but Ohio State should pull away. One thing is for sure, Rich Rodriguez could definitely use an upset to help get some of the Wolverine faithful off his back.

Cal at Stanford: Stanford is easily playing the best football in the country right now as they welcome the Cal Golden Bears to town for "The Big Game." Hard to imagine Cal pulling this one out, especially without star running back Javhid Best. Best will miss today's game as he continues to recover from a severe concussion suffered in the game against Oregon State. Andrew Luck, Toby Gerhart and the entire Cardinal offense has been absolutely rolling in recent weeks. The overpowering run game allows Stanford to get a lead and then just take the air out of the ball and control the clock. I think this game is closer than you would guess, but Stanford comes out on top.

Oregon at Arizona: In a wide open Pac Ten, there are still multiple teams fighting for a trip to the Rose Bowl. Arizona needs the win to remain in contention. Oregon would seem to be the better team, but Arizona is incredibly tough to play at home. Mike Stoops has the Wildcat defense playing at a high level and QB Nick Foles is one of the better, unknown players in the country. I think Arizona takes this one and joins the rest of the teams atop the Pac Ten.