Another great Saturday for football

It's too bad that I missed most of it on TV. All I've really seen is the last ten minutes of the second half of USC-Oregon, the second half of Penn State and Purdue and like five minutes of Michigan State and Iowa.

We know for sure now that the national championship will NOT be played by a representative from the ACC or the Big East. That only South Florida lost this week in the top ten should make polling a little easier, and despite Alabama's close call today, #3 LSU did not play and Missouri and Texas did not destroy their opponents sufficiently to move up much.

That being said, look at the Big XII: six weeks in, and there are STILL five undefeated teams. If Kansas didn't blow a fourth quarter lead, there would be six of them.

Frankly, the Big XII has to be the best conference this year. With exception to CU's loss to Florida State and A&M's loss to Miami, this conference has been smoking through play so far.

It's going to be Big XII champ versus EITHER SEC Champ or Penn State. The SEC champ will NOT go through the season undefeated (only Alabama, LSU, and Vandy are left undefeated, and one of those three will go down in the next three weeks [ahem, Vandy] and Alabama and LSU play against each other on Nov. 8). Penn State has a decent shot at going undefeated.

My prediction for the polls: pretty much every team left with only one loss is going to get some votes.

Tomorrow's NFL games look to be not terribly interesting. There are a lot of games played between really good teams and not so good ones. Here are my picks for tomorrow's games:

Kansas City at Carolina: While KC looked decent against Denver, they played against a team with no defense at home. Tomorrow, KC goes on the road (where they have looked dismal) against a team with an actual defense. Carolina wins by at least 2 touchdowns.

Chicago at Detroit: Two teams headed in clearly opposite directions. Chicago is starting to really come together after a desperately needed victory over Philadephia. In conjunction with Green Bay's dismal playing the last two weeks, Chicago is currently a favorite of mine to win the division. Detroit on the other hand, is the epitome of chaos. Chicago's not so great offense lets Detroit stay in it, but the defense makes enough stops to let the offense get into the mojo and win.

San Diego at Miami: San Diego might get caught looking ahead to next week here as they play hosts to the Pats next week. San Diego, like Denver, is a team that has shown no indications of having any defense, and the way the Dolphins slaughtered New England makes me want to pick Miami over San Diego. The game's going to be close, I think, but San Diego will pull another miracle out of the bag.

Washington at Philadelphia: This is my game of the week. Philadelphia at home and desperate for blood to make up ground in the extremely tough NFC East while Washington is looking to build on a DOMINANT performance against Dallas. I desperately want to see this game. My pick is Washington, because they're getting the mojo going too.

Seahawks at Giants: The Burress drama is going to affect the Giants sooner rather than later. Fortuantely for them, they get a creampuff team. It'll be closer than expected, thanks to that drama, but the Giants should stay undefeated.

Buccaneers at Broncos: Talk about a slugfest: amazing offense vs. amazing defense on one side, and on the other, terrible offense vs. terrible defense. Tampa Bay wins on a ground game: the Denver secondary has too many decent players to offset Griese. If Tampa takes to the skies, then Denver may win. Look for a LOT of turnovers on both sides.

Colts at Texans: Desperate to stay in the AFC South, Manning and the Colts go into an emotional Reliant K stadium in the first game since Hurricane Ike. The Texans had a glimmer of hope against the Jags before that was snuffed. The Colts have so many injuries, and the Texans are going to want to win for the homecrowd. Texans win, but barely.

Falcons at Packers: Two teams in dire need of a win to stay in the division. Aaron Rodgers is going to have to pull himself together after that bad loss to the Bucs, while Matt Ryan is going through the Cutler-esque motions from first season. There's a young man looking to be the Falcons' future, but Al Harris may have a career defensive day for the Packers. Packers win by virtue of home field.

Titans at Ravens: After their nailbiter loss to the Steelers, the Ravens need a win to get back in the NFC North and want their defense to carry them to a win. But the Titans have a potent offense with a hot shot rookie running back, a suddenly competent backup-QB and a defense that is just as stifling as the Ravens' D. Titans win and stay undefeated.

Bills at Cardinals: As has happened recently, look for the Bills to go down early. While Arizona has the ability to put the Bills deep in a hole, the question is whether they can contain the Bills' offense in the second half. With injuries starting to mount on the Cardinals, they direly need a win here and they know it. Unfortunately for them, they're playing the year's darling team and will lose in a squeaker.

Bengals at Cowboys: T.O. wants the ball. Ocho Cinco wants to play with T.O. Look for 81 to get what he wants and 85 to start causing more drama. Cowboys shred the hell out of the Bengals. Coach firing talk picks up a LOT of steam after tomorrow. Hot seat gets HOTTER.

Patriots at Niners: Niners' wins this season: Detroit and Seattle. Pats' loss: Miami. Not that this inspires much confidence in either team. The Patriots, like the Chargers, might get caught looking ahead to next week. Had New England played a game last week, I would pick the Niners, but with that week off, and fourteen days of Billichek the Bitter reaming down their throats, I don't see the Pats wanting to deal with another week of him.

Steelers at Jags: I am not convinced that either of these teams is very competent. The Steelers should have lost to Baltimore and the Jags should probably be 0-4. This is going to be one UGLY game. My pick: Jags.

Vikings at Saints: While the Vikes have Adrian Peterson, their problem is that A.P. is all they have. That solves a lot of secondary problems for the Saints. The Saints on the other hand have Drew Brees (clearly MVP so far), Reggie Bush, and an emergent staff of wide receivers. Saints win.