Uggh

If you are a college football fan this is not a great weekend for you. There are no games on the schedule involving 2 ranked teams. When the game between #13 Penn State and 6-5 Michigan State is one of the best contests it is time to make other plans. It looks like the best game is surprising #14 Stanford hosting 7-3 Cal.

Picks:

Michigan State over #13 Penn State (Sat 2pm on WSBA)
#14 Stanford over Cal
Colts over Ravens (Sun 12:30 on WSBA)
Steelers beat the Chiefs
Eagles beat the Bears Sunday Night (Sun 7:20 on 96.1 WSOX)
Titans over Texans on Monday Night


Last Week 4-2
Overall 37-23

LPGA Xmas Gift

The LPGA got an early Christmas gift yesterday. The ladies tour's most high profile player won her first pro tournament. Michelle Wie won Lorena Ochoa's event down in Mexico. The tour
has been waiting for Wie to get that breakthrough victory so they can highlight her as a winner on their tour.

The LPGA has lost a number of events for the coming season as sponsors bail in the bad economy. One of the problems the tour had was its top players are not that well known. They REALLY needed Wie to win a tournament. The win comes just 3 days before the release of the 2010 LPGA Tour schedule. I wonder if Wie's win will tip the scales for some deep-pocketed sponsors to pick up an LPGA event.

Do or Die

Monday night's game for the Ravens is pivotal for their post-season hopes. They must beat the Browns or they have little or no chance to make the playoffs. The 4-4 Ravens have unbeaten Indy and then the Steelers the next 2 weeks after the Monday nighter. Baltimore must jump out early and put away the dysfunctional Browns. If the Ravens can sweep all 3 games they would be 7-4 and have an excellent shot at the playoffs with the struggling Packers, Lions and Bears with a chance to go 10-4.

Picks

#18 Penn State over Indiana (Sat 10:30a on WSBA)
#12 Pitt downs Notre Dame
Steelers over the Bengals
San Diego beats the Eagles (Sun 3:15 on 96 point 1 WSOX)
Broncos beat the Deadskins
Ravens over the Browns (Mon 8pm on WSBA)

Last Week 2-4 Overall 33-21

Licking wounds

Penn State fans are licking their wounds after the beatdown by Ohio State on Saturday. The game had a very similar look and feel to the loss to Iowa in September. The Nittany Lions were pushed around at the line of scrimmage on both offense and defense. In addition to losing the battle on the line of scrimmage Penn State also lost the field position battle. The Lions average start for their drives was inside their own 20 for the game. Ohio State always seemed to be starting near midfield and of course their first Buckeyes possession started on the Nits 9. Penn State must also address their play on special teams. Jeremy Boone needs to kick the ball much higher. All his punts were low and the Ohio State returners had a 15-20 yard cushion before they faced a Lions tackler. Compare that to the punts of Ohio State's John Thoma who boomed it high and deep all afternoon and pinned Penn State inside the 20 most of the day.

The losses also points out, once again, the weak non conference schedule that Penn State played this year. How does Eastern Illinois, Akron and Syracuse really prepare you for the likes of Iowa and Ohio State. Penn State must begin to play some better opponents in the non conference schedule if they are going to be a contender.

Good Deed

Got to love Yanks manager Joe Girardi. The Bombers skipper played hero just a few hours after he led the team to their 27th World Series title. On his drive home following Wednesday night's win over the Phils Girardi stopped to help a woman involved in a 1 vehicle accident on a Westchester County roadway. Girardi had his wife call 911 while he attended to the woman. Girardi stayed with the woman until police and medical personel arrived. The woman suffered minor injuries. No word on whether the woman was a Yankees fan...I'll bet she is now.

Picks

#11 Penn State over #15 Ohio State (Sat 2p on WSBA)
#3 Alabama over #9 LSU
Ravens beat the Bengals (Sun 12:30p on WSBA)
Eagles beat the Cowboys (Sun 7:2op on 96.1 WSOX)
Atlanta beats the Deadskins
Broncos dump the Steelers (Monday Night Football)

Last Week 3-2 Overall 31-17