Post-Thanksgiving Post of Randomness!

Well it's the best time of the year once again! You know the time, Thanksgiving through the first week of January. You have the best holidays, the best weather (snow!), and the exciting close of football seasons. My opinions, obviously, but that's how I feel. Probably the most controversial of those three is the end of football season. No not that it's ending; no one likes that! I mean who's good and who's not? Who should play for a title? Of course, we don't have to worry about that in the NFL. There's this little thing called the PLAYOFFS which helps determine who's the best year in and year out. On to the bullets!

• Speaking of a college football playoff, have fun with that whole Big 12 thing. Three teams with identical conference records and an endless cycle of who beat who. Texas beat Oklahoma. Oklahoma beat Texas Tech. Texas Tech beat Texas. Yuck. Who do I think is the best team? Oklahoma appears that way now but I can't shake the fact that they lost to Texas on a neutral field. Yes, I'm dancing around the question. OK, fine! I'll stick with Texas but I wouldn't be too upset with Oklahoma. I'm not gonna fight anyone about it.
• Texas Tech is still a fraud. I don't care if Graham Harrell had smashed fingers, beating Baylor by 7 is unacceptable. How are they still in front of Penn State in the BCS?
• Penn State vs USC in the Rose Bowl. The arrogance of USC (and the LA media) is starting to rear its ugly head...

  "If it's not in the national championship game, yeah, it's a disappointment," Maiava said. "But this is what we do. We win the Pac-10 and then own the Rose Bowl. That's our thing around here."

  -- Kaluka Maiava, USC senior LB
  

  As written here before, Pasadena is a nice place to visit, but the Trojans don't
  want to live there.

  They don't need it for reputation.

  They don't need it for recruiting.

  They needed a Fiesta against a high-scoring Big 12 team, some Sugar against a traditional SEC power, anything that could enhance their national presence and propel them into next season's polls. They don't need another Rose bouquet against another Big Ten vase.

  At this point, I should apologize to those e-mailers from Penn State, who were outraged when I included the Nittany Lions in a list of slow teams from the Midwest. I was wrong.

  They're not really from the Midwest.

-- Bill Plaschke, LA Times columnist

• In other PSU news, Sporting News Today says you can now smell like Penn State football.

  Penn State has an official perfume and cologne, which the developer says captures the essence of the school's blue and white colors, based on "campus flowers and trees."

  The Associated Press reports Masik Collegiate Fragrances of Harrisburg, PA., developed the scent and says the perfume exudes vanilla, lilac, rose and white patchouli. The cologne smells of blue cypress and cracked pepper vapor.

• The Dolphins have officially eclipsed my preseason win prediction of 6. I've been saying they'd go 6-10 (OK 5-11 give or take a win) since July. At 7-5 the Dolphins have not only overachieved in my eyes, they can still make the playoffs and EVEN WIN THE DIVISION. Seriously. Check it out:

  If the Dolphins win out, they'd sit at 11-5. The Patriots, at best, would also be 11-5. And if the Jets won all their games except for their final one against the Dolphins, they would also be 11-5. Onto the tie-breakers.

  #1: Head-to-head - Each team would have split with each other. No winner.
  #2: Division record - All 3 teams would be at 4-2.
  #3: Common games - Other than division games, each team played 8 common games against the teams from the AFC and NFC West. The Dolphins would be 7-1, as would the Patriots. The Jets would only be 5-3. They're out.
  #4: Conference record - Dolphins would be 8-4. Pats 7-5. Dolphins are champs.

  So even after that tough loss at home to the Pats, the Dolphins do indeed control their own destiny. Not bad. A team that won just 1 game a season ago now controls their own destiny with 4 games left.

• Thanksgiving was awesome, thanks for asking. How was yours?

So there's a little round-up of the past week in college football and the NFL. I'll have more on the Dolphins later.

Penn State Accepts Invitation to Alamo Bowl (December 29th, ESPN)

Penn State Athletic Director Tim Curley announced this afternoon that Penn State has received and accepted an invitation to the Valero Alamo Bowl to be played 6pm EST December 29th. ESPN will broadcast the game. The Alamo Bowl, held in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, held the 4th pick out of the Big Ten bowl eligible teams. Although the major bowl selections have not been made (all will be finished by Sunday evening), it appears that Penn State gets the nod over Michigan and Illinois. Unless Ohio State is granted a chance to play in the National Championship game, a scenario that can only happen if Missouri and/or West Virginia lose Saturday, whoever doesn't get the invitation to the Capital One Bowl gets the shaft. While it is not required that the bowls select the teams in order of conference finish, it is recommended and usually followed. Either Michigan or Illinois is screwed if Ohio State goes to the Rose. Only one goes to the Capital One. The other free falls to the Champs Sports Bowl. Wisconsin has accepted a bid for the Outback Bowl. Anyway, I'm torn. I know many Penn State fans were excited about a chance to go to Orlando (the site of the Champs Sports Bowl). The downside of getting to play in the Alamo Bowl is having to (possibly) play Texas Tech. Sure they finished 5th in the Big 12 (4-4, 8-4). But their passing offense is crazy good (#1 in the NATION at ~476 yards/game; 5,707 yards and 48 TDs on the season). Their rushing offense is less than stellar. OK, actually it is the WORST in Division 1-A. But what is the bane of the Penn State defense? PASS D!!! Grrrreat. We should be playing nickel and dime all game. Heck, our four down lineman and Connor should eliminate their running game. Negative rushing yards anyone? I'll go into a bigger preview/detail IF the Nittany Lions even play the Red Raiders. There is a chance we take on Texas A&M. That would be much better.

Long Overdue

I apologize for my lack of blogging as of recent. Blame a hellish week of work and exams for that. I apologize in advance for the absence of frequent updates this weekend -- McDonati is in Bloomington with the Lions, and E and I are out of town. However, I attempt to make my penance with some more college football talk.

First off, did anyone hear about the near-disasterous landing the USC squad had in South Bend? Maybe God really is on the Irish side.

And how about Cinderella's glass slipper shattering last night?

Anyway, last week, the Nittany Lions handed the Wisconsin Badgers a huge, upper-case, bold-faced L, leaving fans scratching their heads for the third-straight week pleading, "Why didn't we do that against Michigan?!" It was a complete role reversal. Suddenly, it was Wisconsin turning over the ball and making silly mistakes and not JoePa's squad. The defense lived up to its end of the bargain once again, holding P.J. Hill to a season low. Man, for somebody who ran into this season with lots of preseason hype, not a lot of talk about him anymore, eh? Anthony Morelli finally looked like a veteran QB and if a play wasn't made, it didn't fall on him. Maybe JoePa was right about his WRs not stepping up and making plays after all... well, at least this week. Yes, Wisconsin was overrated (who called it?!), but this is still a huge win over a ranked team band a great confidence boost.

In a Buy or Sell update, UConn fell to Virginia 17-16 on the road last Saturday, validating my "sell" pick, unless they make an improbable Big East run. I'm now 7-3 on the season for Buy/Sell. Still waiting on Kentucky and Arizona State.

Alright, picks for this weekend.

Florida at Kentucky
Kentucky used up all its magic last week in a thrilling 3-OT victory over LSU last week. A win against Florida keeps them in the SEC East race, but a loss makes South Carolina/Florida the marquee match of the division. The Gators are coming off a 2-game skid and a valuable week of rest, and now they're seeing red. Look for the Wildcats to get chomped in another nailbiter.

LSU at Auburn
Recall that Auburn lost to Sly Croom and Mississippi State at home, 19-14. Also recall that LSU steamrolled M-State on the road 45-0 in the season opener. Yikes. So is the Auburn that lost to USF at home going to show up or the one that shocked Florida in The Swamp? Furthermore, consider that with USF out of the top two, LSU is still well into the thick of the national race. Don't think for a second Les Miles and the fans in Death Valley won't be pumped for this one. LSU takes care of Tommy Tuberville's Auburn team at home.

Tennessee at Alabama
Nick Saban and the Tide have been rolling after two straight losses, but keep in mind that they played Houston and Ole Miss. Tennessee is 1-2 on the road this season, beating M-State last week by 12, but losing to Cal and Kentucky by a combined 53 points. The Tide will roll at home, providing them great momentum into their home date with LSU next week.

Michigan at Illinois
Most people thought Penn State had the best home conference slate in the Big Ten, but my vote would go to Illinois. The Illini welcome their third-straight ranked opponent to Memorial Stadium Saturday, and will chalk up their third win over a ranked opponent at home.

Michigan State at Ohio State
Okay, enough fooling around. MSU had their obligatory win of the season. Time for them to start losing again. Well, okay, maybe that's harsh. MSU and OSU matchups have provided spark in the past, but with this one at home and with OSU's ridiculous defense, the Buckeyes should roll into Happy Valley still the top team in the land.

USC at Notre Dame
Ha! Oh, oops. Sorry. But really, if Booty's out for this one, it could sure get interesting if USC doesn't pull away early. Sharpley has been steadily improving, so it's on the Irish O-line and the defense to make sure this doesn't get ugly.

Texas Tech at Missouri
Missouri has to win this game by outscoring Graham Harrell and the Red Raider offense, because their defense isn't going to win this game for them. Can a defense ranked 100th in passing defense handle Harrell? This one could come down to who scores last, but I think Tech's slightly better defense gives them the edge in this one that ends up having a basketball score.

Buffalo at Syracuse
Bonus pick! This one's gonna be closer than anyone thought at the beginning of the season. Don't look now, but Buffalo's 3-4 and 3-1 in the MAC. Syracuse is a hot-and-cold squad that will shock you one week and disappoint you the next. The disappointments will hit a new low this weekend as Buffalo squeaks by the Orange. Turner Gill becomes the front runner to replace Bill Callahan at Nebraska.