Charlie Weis Fired, Who's Next for the Irish?

Charlie Weis was fired today, much to the surprise of absolutely no one. I think he got a fair shot to keep his job, and he has absolutely no one to blame but himself. It came down to the fact that Notre Dame did not have a defense that could stop anybody and relied too much on its offense to bail them out of games. Weis put a target squarely on his large back when he said 6-5 wasn't good enough for Notre Dame and that the Irish would have a schematic advantage every week.

With Weis being fired it gives the media the opportunity to debate whether or not Notre Dame is still a great job to have in the world of college football. I think it is, of course my opinion is biased as I am a Notre Dame fan. It's not as great as it used to be in the past when Notre Dame was one of the few programs on television every week. But it's still a great place to go to school and to play football. The facilities there are top notch and the fans there really care about their football. The next coach for the Irish will be given incredible talent to coach, even more so if they can convince Jimmy Clausen to stay for his senior year.

I think the next coach for Notre Dame has to be someone with head coaching experience and I think when it's all said and done it will come down to these three candidates:

Urban Meyer: I know he's already said that he's staying at Florida for as long as the Gators want him, but I still think the Irish have to talk to Meyer and see if he can be convinced. Meyer loses Tebow this year and may want to take on the challenge that will be Notre Dame. The Irish have to give Meyer a call and see what his true feelings are and make sure he wasn't just putting up smokescreens to avoid being a distraction for his team while they are trying to win a National Title.

Brian Kelly: I think he's probably the guy who gets the job and might be the best shot at convincing Clausen to come back for one more year. He's been a winner at every program he has taken over and given the talent that Notre Dame is able to bring in he might win in his first year. Cincinnati, while a good program will never get the attention it may deserve because they compete in the same state as Ohio State and it makes sense that Kelly uses this undefeated season as a stepping stone to a bigger program.

Gary Patterson: This is the candidate that I wish Notre Dame would hire. I think the Irish should hire him because of the defense that his TCU Horned Frogs have been playing the past 2 years. The Irish have had a high octane offense for the past 5 years that Weis was there but the biggest problem was they couldn't stop anyone. Defense wins championships and that's what is expected at Notre Dame. TCU has gone undefeated this season yet they will probably not play in the National Championship game. An undefeated season for Notre Dame would undoubtedly put the Irish in the title game and if the Irish came calling I think Patterson would listen and strongly consider the offer.

College Football Top 25 Heading into Week 14

It's Championship weekend for the major conferences. The Pac-10 gets a pseudo championship game with Oregon and Oregon State, here's the rankings:

1. Florida (12-0)(1): The Gators put together an all around impressive performance against Florida State. They look to be prepared for Alabama this weekend.

2. Texas (12-0)(2)

3. Alabama (12-0)(3): Took a comeback and some resillency but the Crimson Tide pulled it out and remain undefeated. They have some work to do but they’ll be prepared for the Gators.

4. TCU (12-0)(4): Complete the first undefeated season in school history and the Horned Frogs have likely become the only Nebraska fans in the state of Texas this weekend. A Texas loss puts TCU in the National Title game.

5. Cincinnati (11-0)(5)

6. Boise State (12-0)(6)

7. Ohio State (10-2)(8)

8. Iowa (10-2)(10)

9. Oregon (9-2)(11): The Ducks face off with Oregon State this weekend and the winner gets to play in the Rose Bowl.

10. Penn State (10-2)(13)

11. Georgia Tech (10-2)(7)

12. Pittsburgh (9-2)(8)

13. Virginia Tech (9-3)(15)

14. Oregon State (9-2)(16)

15. BYU (10-2)(18)

16. LSU (9-3) (12)

17. USC (8-3)(19)

18. Miami (9-3)(21)

19. Houston (10-2)(23)

20. California (8-3)(22)

21. Oklahoma State (9-3)(14)

22. Nebraska (9-3)(NR)

23. Stanford (8-4)(NR)

24. Northwestern (8-4)(NR)

25. East Carolina (8-4)(NR)

Dropping Out: Utah(24), North Carolina (25), Mississippi(20), Clemson(17)

A Comprehensive Weekly Look at the Top Teams in European Football

Another week of European Soccer Rankings! We had some good European action and a great batch of domestic league games this week so there should be a lot of movement in the rankings. Notice that Chelsea now has some company at the top of the standings! Here is a summary of mine and Blaine’s arguments (as written by Blaine):

“I know that it’s real disappointing to have a tie for first place in these rankings. However, I couldn’t with a clear conscience vote Chelsea over Barça this week. Chelsea had a decent win over a fine FC Porto club midweek, then a huge 3-0 win over Arsenal earlier today. However, Barça had a much more impressive mid-week win over previous juggernaut Inter Milan. Even though they only lost 2-0, Inter was far more outclassed than the score would suggest, and Barça basically dominated every facet of the match from start to finish. I basically said after that match that if Barça wins El Clàsico today, it would be really difficult to not rank them first. This morning, as I said, Chelsea crushed Arsenal. However this afternoon I saw a truly magnificent performance by Barça against Real Madrid. After losing a man in the 60th minute, Barça held together and didn’t allow Madrid to score despite numerous chances, due to world class defense and some brilliant midfield work by Iniesta, Messi, and Xavi. I really couldn’t not rank Barça first, with 2 victories as impressive as these.I can definitely see where Tom is coming from, however. Chelsea has not only been absolutely murdering their Premiership competition, but they've been playing quite well in the Champions' League. They appear to be the class of by far the best league in Europe, and should certainly make a deep run in the Champions' League, but I really think that overall Barça is the better, deeper, and more talented squad.”

However, there were indeed other teams that played football this weekend. We saw a tale of two halves as Manchester United scored 3 in the second half to defeat Portsmouth 4-1. Aston Villa and Tottenham battled to an exciting 1-1 draw in a match that may have an impact on Champions League positions come the end of the season. Manchester City managed to extend the record-setting draw streak to 7 with a 1-1 score line against Hull City. In Scotland, Celtic returned to the top of the table by virtue of a 3-1 win over St. Mirren and 1-0 loss for Rangers at Aberdeen. Sevilla missed a chance to run with the big boys with a disappointing 2-2 draw at home against lowly Malaga. Inter continued their dominance of Serie A with a solid 1-0 win over Fiorentina, dropping Fiorentina to a very surprising 10th in the league. Juventus dropped vital points at Cagliari, AC Milan won at Catania on two injury-time goals by Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, and Genoa defeated Sampdoria 3-0 in a very rowdy, if not one-sided, Genoa derby. In France, AJ Auxerre saw their run at the top of the table end with a 1-0 loss at Paris Saint-Germain and a 3-0 win for Bordeaux at AS Nancy Lorraine. Bayer Leverkusen continued their unbeaten streak in the Bundesliga with an impressive 4-0 win over Stuttgart and Bayern Munich has risen all the way to 4th win a nice 3-0 win over Hannover 96. Werder Bremen and Wolfsburg played out to a thrilling 2-2 draw, where Edin Dzeko grabbed the lead for Wolfsburg in the 85th, only to see Per Mertesaker grab a point for Werder Bremen in the 90th. Ajax got another 5-1 win, their third in four games, and both Twente Enschede and PSV Eindhoven got the full three points as well in the Netherlands. Olympiakos took a one point lead in the Greek Super League with their 2-0 win over Panathinaikos, and Rapid Vienna and Red Bull Salzburg decided nothing with their 0-0 draw, and are still tied atop the Austrian Bundesliga standings. In Russia, FK Rubin Kazan officially won the title, with Spartak Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg grabbing the Champions League spots. Lokomotiv Moscow and CSKA Moscow should both see time in Europe next fall as they finished fourth and fifth respectively. A big thank you to anyone who has actually read this far, here is the good stuff:

Biggest Riser: Bordeaux, from 17 up to 12 after a very good 2-0 win over Juventus and a 3-0 win in the league.

Biggest Faller: Manchester City, Sevilla, Juventus, and Lyon all dropped four spots. Sevilla’s drop was most dramatic, from 5 to 9.

An interesting note: This is the least amount of teams that we have ever had in the “receiving votes” section. This should mean that the rankings of Blaine and I are becoming more and more similar. However, that does not really seem to be the case just looking at them side-by-side. I think it is simply that the divide between teams that should be in the rankings and teams that should not be in the rankings is becoming slightly clearer. Where to rank those teams, however, is not.

Rank Team (Nationality) Points
T1. Barcelona (Esp) 49
Blaine: I didn’t really care for either team in this morning’s “El Clàsico”, I was really just hoping for fair play and lots of bicycle kicks, and perhaps a 5-4 final score. Unfortunately we got a 1-0 final score, with a very impressive showing by both clubs, and a match that was much more exciting than the scoreline would indicate. I learned quite a bit about both clubs from this match. I found out that money really can improve the heck out of your club, as Madrid played wonderfully just a few months after losing at home 6-2 to a worse Barça side (same club more or less but with Eto’o rather than Zlatan Ibrahimovic). However they simply didn’t play well enough. Madrid didn’t finish their chances, partly due to some ridiculous play by Barça captain Carlos Puyol. This match, however, absolutely confirmed what I suspected earlier in the week after Barça’s 2-0 thrashing of Inter Milan, and that is that they’re the best club in Europe. The 2-0 win over Inter was much, much more of a slaughter than the score would suggest, as Inter basically got their butts handed to them all day. Today, they held together after going down a man for nearly 30 minutes, and somehow managed to beat Real Madrid (with a relatively healthy Cristiano Ronaldo). Basically, Barça beating the previously ranked 3rd and 6th clubs merits their jumping to 1st, despite Chelsea’s very impressive 3-0 massacre of Arsenal.
T1. Chelsea (Eng) 49
Tom: Chelsea have not lost a match since a 2-1 away defeat to Aston Villa on October 17. They have also only drawn once since then, a Champions League fixture at Atletico Madrid. This week they again proved why they (should) consistently hold the top spot in these rankings with an impressive 1-0 win at FC Porto then a 3-0 thrashing of Arsenal at the Emirates in which they out-classed their opponent on every level. At this point it is hard to make an argument for anybody besides Chelsea winning the best league in Europe, as long as they stay healthy and on form as they have been all season long. United is not the same squad without Ronaldo and some players there are in poor form anyways, and the van Persie injury erases almost all hope of an Arsenal comeback now that they are 11 points back of the leaders. Chelsea is winning each game by an average of exactly 2 goals each and at this rate they have effectively turned the Premier League into a race for Champions League positions.
3. Manchester United (Eng) 45
4. Inter Milan (Ita) 43
T5. AC Milan (Ita) 42
T5. Real Madrid (Spa) 42
T7. Arsenal (Eng) 34
T7. Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) 34
9. Sevilla (Spa) 32
Tom: Sevilla is coming off of a brutal week in which they lost at Champions League minnow Unirea Urziceni 1-0, and followed it up with a bad 2-2 draw at home with Malaga, a game in which they were even down 2-0 at a point. Malaga currently sits in a three-way tie at the bottom of La Liga. Luis Fabiano saved Sevilla with three goals this time, but as these are volatile rankings, they will certainly drop considerably. Sevilla could have drawn even with Real Madrid with the full three points, and manager Manolo Jimenez reflects: “We lost a tremendous opportunity to close the gap to Barcelona and Madrid and distance ourselves from two of the teams chasing us, but football is so unpredictable.” However, they have a chance to win their Champions League group outright with a match against lowly Rangers in a little over a week, so that should ready them for the second half of the season with a possible title run.
10. Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) 31
11. Juventus (Ita) 30
12. Bordeaux (Fra) 28
13. FK Rubin Kazan (Rus) 24
T14. Twente Enschede (Ned) 22
T14. Werder Bremen (Ger) 22
16.Ajax Amsterdam (Ned) 18
17. Lyon (Fra) 17
18. Valencia (Spa) 16
19. Manchester City (Eng) 15
Tom: Manchester City has embarked on a remarkable run of 7 straight draws. This last one came in 1-1 form home against Hull City. There should be of some concern as the draw run has included the likes of Wigan, Fulham, Birmingham, Burnley, and Hull City. Next week City welcome leaders Chelsea, and a win would be most welcome to both them and rivals United, as Chelsea has an easy fixture list in the league until they host Arsenal on February 6.
20. Fiorentina (Ita) 12
T21. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) 10
T21. Schalke 04 (Ger) 10
23. CSKA Moscow (Rus) 9
24. Genoa (Ita) 5
25. Braga (Por) 4

Also Receiving Votes: Hamburg SV (Ger) 3, Dynamo Kiev (Ukr) 2, AJ Auxerre (Fra) 1, Sampdoria (Ita) 1


Here is how the voters voted:

Rank	Tom	Blaine
1	Chelsea	Barcelona
2	Barcelona	Chelsea
3	Inter Milan	Manchester United
4	Manchester United	AC Milan
5	Real Madrid	Real Madrid
6	AC Milan	Inter Milan
7	Arsenal	Tottenham Hotspur
8	Bayer Leverkusen	Sevilla
9	Bordeaux	FK Rubin Kazan
10	Juventus	Bayer Leverkusen
11	Werder Bremen	Arsenal
12	Sevilla	Juventus
13	Valencia	Twente Enschede
14	Tottenham Hotspur	Ajax Amsterdam
15	Lyon	Bordeaux
16	Schalke 04	Manchester City
17	Twente Enschede	CSKA Moscow
18	PSV Eindhoven	Fiorentina
19	FK Rubin Kazan	Werder Bremen
20	Ajax Amsterdam	Lyon
21	Manchester City	Genoa
22	Fiorentina	Braga
23	Hamburg SV	Valencia
24	Dynamo Kiev	PSV Eindhoven
25	AJ Auxerre	Sampdoria

Next 5 in for Tom, in order from least to most vowels in the team name: Braga (Por), Benfica (Por), Marseille (Fra), Sampdoria (Ita), Deportivo La Coruna (Spa)

Next 5 in for Blaine, in reverse alphabetical order: Schalke 04 (Ger), Napoli (Ita), Marseille (Fra), Dynamo Kiev (Ukr), AJ Auxerre (Fra)

Hope everyone has a fantastic week, with some Carling Cup action and the Europa League coming our way! Only 4 days until the World Cup Draw!!!! Noon ET on ESPN2 on December 4!!!

Heisman Contenders and BCS Bowl Projections

Top 5 Heisman Candidates

5. Jeremiah Masoli, QB, Oregon: Masoli really hasn’t garnered a lot of attention but he’s done a great job running the spread for Oregon and is a dynamic player but he’s a distant fifth to the remaining four candidates.

4. Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama: Ingram was #1 on this list last week, but after his poor performance in the Iron Bowl he plummeted. Also if you compare his numbers to that of Iowa’s Shonn Greene last year, you’ll see that Ingram’s numbers aren’t all that impressive for a Heisman contender.

3. Tim Tebow, QB, Florida: I don’t know if you heard but Tebow played his final game in The Swamp this past Saturday. He was incredible against Florida State, accounting for 5 touchdowns, but I still don’t think he’ll win it this year.

2. Toby Gerhart, RB, Stanford: Simply put, Gerhart is a semi-truck with legs. He just runs over defenders and is putting up just gaudy numbers while not being the prototypical running back for a major college program and being the main offensive weapon.

1. Colt McCoy, QB, Texas: He played his way into the first spot on this list. He ran and passed his way to over 400 yards and accounted for 5 TDs in Texas’ game against Texas A & M. It’s his award to lose in my opinion.

BCS Bowl Projections

National Championship: Florida – Texas

Rose Bowl: Ohio State – Oregon

Fiesta Bowl: Iowa – Boise State

Orange Bowl: Georgia Tech – Cincinnati

Sugar Bowl: Alabama – TCU

Boise State and the Big Ten can thank Oklahoma for routing Oklahoma State this past weekend. Okie State’s loss virtually ensures that Boise State will go to a BCS Bowl as well as getting a second Big Ten team into the BCS. As far as the Big Ten selection I think it has to be Iowa, they beat Penn State in Happy Valley and if the BCS execs pick Penn State over Iowa then the system becomes even more flawed and the need for a playoff becomes even more glaring.

Weekend Soccer Preview

As always, home team listed first, all times Eastern. Click on the league name for league table!

Game(s) of the Week (Rankings from Poll)
11:00 ET Sunday (English Premier League)
(T7) Arsenal v (1) Chelsea – FSC
This is the game of the weekend in the Premier League, the big London derby. Chelsea is top of the table and Arsenal sit 8 points back in 3rd, though Chelsea has played one more game. Both clubs are coming off of midweek wins in the Champions League so the Sunday match time will be beneficial to both teams. Arsenal is coming off of a 1-0 defeat at Sunderland in the league, where they were without striker Robin van Persie. They will be without van Persie again this week, as well as Gael Clichy, Abou Diaby, Nicklas Bendtner, and possibly William Gallas. Chelsea does not have those injury problems, with only Jose Bosingwa out as Frank Lampard is set to return. Chelsea and Arsenal lead the league with 33 and 36 goals respectively, though Chelsea has only given up 8 goals in 13 matches. Both Didier Drogba and Nicholas Anelka have good histories against Arsenal and the injury-plagued Gunner defense will have to work to stop the attack if they wish to stay in the race for the championship this season. The away side won all matches between the teams last season, including a 2-1 win for Chelsea in the FA Cup semis in mid-April and a 4-1 win for Chelsea at Arsenal in mid-May. Look for Arsenal to deploy Andrei Arshavin, Theo Walcott, and Eduardo in the attack, and hopefully we will see goals early and often.
My Pick: Arsenal 2, Chelsea 2
13:00 ET Sunday (Spain’s La Liga)
(T3) Barcelona v (6) Real Madrid – GolTV, ESPN360
Spain is gearing up for the first Clasico of the season and the first with the new version of the “Galacticos” of Real Madrid. Madrid will hope to have a fully-fit Cristiano Ronaldo, as he returned to action as a sub late in their mid-week clash with FC Zurich after almost two months out with an ankle injury. The loss of Ronaldo had an obvious effect on Madrid, as they only won two of their six games in October including the embarrassing 4-0 defeat at Alcorcon (which Ronaldo likely would not have played in anyway). Madrid has turned it on slightly lately, with a decent draw at Milan at the start of the month and four consecutive wins since then, including a measly 1-0 victory over that pesky Alcorcon side. Still, they sit atop La Liga with a 9-1-1 record, one point ahead of Barcelona. Barcelona is still undefeated on the season but have drawn 3 of their last 5 games, at Valencia, Osasuna, and Athletic Bilbao. A Champions League group that has been more difficult than expected can maybe be at fault for some of these matches. Anyone who watched Barcelona-Inter Milan midweek saw how Barcelona can still dismantle a quality opponent even without superstars Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Lionel Messi. These two strikers have both begun training with the first team again, and hopefully they will be ready to contribute to this already star-studded affair. Word on the street is that Madrid will deploy Ronaldo and Karim Benzema up top with Kaka just behind to form a formidable attack of their own. The Cristiano Ronaldo-Lionel Messi rematch will be fun to watch after they met in the Champions League final last season. This is the reason Madrid spent so much money in the off-season constructing the ‘perfect squad.’ Barcelona ran away with the treble last season, and until Madrid proves it can beat Barcelona, Barcelona will remain the top team in Spain.
My Pick: Barcelona 3, Real Madrid 2 in a thriller.

Other Games between two ranked teams
9:00 ET Sunday
(T3) Inter Milan v (24) Fiorentina – FSC
Inter Milan will be glad to return to Serie A action after they were absolutely out-classed at Barcelona mid-week. Inter Milan has won 6 of 7 at home in the league, the only exception being a 1-1 draw against Roma on November 8, which came only 4 days after a trip to Ukraine to meet Dynamo Kiev. Possibly the most impressive streak in European football is at stake, which is Jose Mourinho’s 150 game unbeaten streak at home in the league and domestic cup competitions, which dates back to his time with Porto. Fiorentina, on the other hand, had a much happier midweek European intervention, as they defeated Lyon 1-0 at home to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition for the first time in club history. However, in their last Serie A match, they lost 3-2 to Parma and sit sixth in the league, a full 11 points behind Inter Milan. Fiorentina’s Adrian Mutu is still out, and it will likely be Alberto Gilardino on his own up top against the attack of the Diego Milito and the slightly disappointing Eto’o for Inter Milan. Both teams will be coming out with something to prove after disappointing results at some point in the last week, and Inter Milan will have to make sure they are not looking ahead to their huge matches against Juventus and Rubin Kazan in the coming two weeks.
My Pick: Inter Milan 2, Fiorentina 1. Fiorentina will drop a bit more in the league before making their inevitable comeback.

Top of the Table Clashes
9:30 ET Sunday (Austrian Bundesliga)
Red Bull Salzburg v Rapid Vienna
Both clubs share an identical 10-4-2 record after 16 games, and Rapid Vienna holds first place on goal differential (+23 to +19). The first meeting of the season resulted in a 2-2 draw in Vienna. Salzburg has dominated its Europa League group, with a perfect 4-0-0 record including an impressive 2-1 win at Lazio and a home 2-0 win over Villarreal. Rapid Vienna has a 3-0 win over Hamburg in the Europa League but sit in third place behind Hapoel Tel-Aviv and Hamburg and ahead of Celtic. Salzburg won the league last year by 4 points over Rapid Vienna, so Vienna will be looking for revenge.
11:30 ET Sunday (Greek Super League)
Olympiakos v Panathinaikos
“The Derby Of Eternal Enemies” – Panathinaikos is in first in the Greek Super League with 29 points from 11 games, two points ahead of Olympiakos. Panathinaikos has been spurred on by the two-pronged attack of Djibril Cisse and Kostas Katsouranis, who have scored 8 and 6 goals respectively. Both squads have only given up 6 goals on the season in the relatively low scoring Greek league. Olympiakos has drawn their past two Greek Super League matches and have not won a game in any competition since October 31. Both teams remain unbeaten in the league so this will be a hard fought match. Interestingly enough, the last four matches between the two teams in the league have all been draws.
13:00 ET Sunday (Spain’s La Liga)
(T3) Barcelona v (6) Real Madrid – GolTV, ESPN360
See Russian Premier League

English Premier League
10:00 ET Saturday
Blackburn Rovers v Stoke City
Fulham v Bolton Wanderers
(T15) Manchester City v Hull City
Portsmouth v (2) Manchester United – ESPN2
West Ham United v Burnley – FSC
Wigan Athletic v Sunderland – FSC (delayed)
12:30 ET Saturday
Aston Villa v (11) Tottenham Hotspur – FSC
7:00 ET Sunday
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Birmingham – FSC (Delayed)
8:30 ET Sunday
Everton v Liverpool
The “Merseyside Derby” – Everton is coming off of a tough 3-2 loss at Hull City midweek, which is nothing compared to the devastation of Liverpool being officially eliminated from the Champions League. Liverpool is enduring a nightmare of a season and a win against friendly rivals Everton would help ease the pressure on Rafa Benitez.
11:00 ET Sunday
(T7) Arsenal v (1) Chelsea – FSC

Scottish Premier League
7:45 ET Saturday
Aberdeen v Rangers
10:00 ET Saturday
Celtic v St. Mirren
Motherwell v Dundee United

Spain’s La Liga
12:00 ET Saturday
Sporting Gijon v Villarreal – GolTV
14:00 ET Saturday
(21) Valencia v Mallorca – ESPN360
16:00 ET Saturday
(5) Sevilla FC v Malaga – GolTV
11:00 ET Sunday
Racing Santander v Deportivo La Coruna
13:00 ET Sunday
(T3) Barcelona v (6) Real Madrid – GolTV, ESPN360
15:00 ET Sunday
Athletico Madrid v Espanyol – ESPN2, ESPN360

Italy’s Serie A
12:00 ET Saturday
Udinese v Livorno – ESPN360, FSC (Delayed)
14:45 ET Saturday
Genoa v (22) Sampdoria – FSC, ESPN360
9:00 ET Sunday
Atalanta v AS Roma
Cagliari v (T7) Juventus – ESPN360
(T3) Inter Milan v (24) Fiorentina – FSC
Parma v Napoli
14:45 ET Sunday
Catania v (9) AC Milan – FSC


German Bundesliga
9:30 ET Saturday
Mainz v (25) Hamburg SV
TSG Hoffenheim v Borussia Dortmund
(12) Werder Bremen v VfL Wolfsburg – ESPN360
Werder Bremen is currently 2nd in the Bundesliga, five points ahead of Wolfsburg, who sit in 8th. Bremen has not lost since the opening game of the Bundesliga season and is even undefeated in the Europa League. Meanwhile, Wolfsburg has only taken 5 points from the last 4 games in the Bundesliga and are in danger of dropping out of the Champions League, as they take on Manchester United in less than two weeks’ time. Werder Bremen striker Claudio Pizarro is still suffering from a nagging foot injury and could be out for the rest of 2009.
12:30 ET Saturday
Borussia Monchengladbach v (T18) Schalke 04 – GolTV
9:30 AM Sunday
(10) Bayer Leverkusen v VfB Stuttgart
11:30 ET Sunday
Hannover 96 v Bayern Munich – ESPN360

French Ligue 1
13:00 ET Saturday
Paris Saint-Germain v AJ Auxerre
15:00 ET Saturday
Lens v Marseille
11:00 ET Sunday
AS Nancy Lorraine v Bordeaux
15:00 ET Sunday
Lyon v Stade Rennes

Dutch Eredivisie
14:45 ET Friday
Sparta Rotterdam v (23) PSV Eindhoven – ESPN360
12:45 ET Saturday
AZ Alkmaar v VVV Venlo
14:45 Saturday
Willem II Tilburg v (T15) Twente Enschede
6:30 ET Sunday
ADO Den Haag v Feyenoord Rotterdam
Vitesse Arnhem v (T18) Ajax Amsterdam – ESPN360

Portuguese Liga
16:15 ET Saturday
Sporting Lisbon v Benfica – ESPN360

Russian Premier League
The Russian Premier League is in its final matchday. Every team has played 29 games with just one left. First and second place get UEFA Champions League Group Stage spots, third place gets UEFA Champions League Third Qualifying Round spot, fourth place gets UEFA Europa League Playoff round spot, and fifth place gets UEFA Europa League Third qualifying round spot. Sixth gets nothing. A spot in the Europa League qualifying rounds will go to the winner of the Russian Cup, and only Zenit and FC Moscow still remain in that competition, which will conclude in 2010. Note that Lokomotiv Moscow are ahead of FC Moscow on head-to-head. FK Rubin Kazan and Spartak Moscow have clinched first and second places respectively.

Team	GD	Pts
FK Rubin Kazan	+38	60
Spartak Moscow	+29	55
Zenit St. Petersburg	+20	51
Lokomotiv Moscow	+11	51
CSKA Moscow	+15	49
FC Moscow	+12	48

6:00 ET Sunday
CSKA Moscow v Saturn Moscow
FC Khimki v Lokomotiv Moscow
FC Moscow v Dinamo Moscow
Kuban Krasnodar v FK Rubin Kazan
Zenit St. Petersburg v Spartak Moscow
Third through sixth places are still up for grabs in the Russian Premier League. Zenit faces a tough opponent in Spartak, but Spartak has nothing to play for and the game will be in St. Petersburg. Lokomotiv Moscow travels to FC Khimki, who has secured last place and a relegation spot, so Lokomotiv has a good chance of securing themselves a spot in Europe next fall. Both CSKA and FC Moscow face tough opponents at home in Saturn and Dinamo Moscow respectively, and they will likely be battling each other for the final European place. My prediction is that Zenit holds onto the Champions League qualifying spot while Lokomotiv and CSKA both remain in their Europa League slots.

Turkish Super League
13:00 ET Friday
Bursaspor v Galatasaray
13:00 ET Saturday
Fenerbehce v Kasimpasa

Belgian Jupiler League
14:30 ET Friday
Anderlecht v KV Kortrijk

Austrian Bundesliga
9:30 ET Sunday
Red Bull Salzburg v Rapid Vienna

Greek Super League
11:30 ET Sunday
Olympiakos v Panathinaikos

Also, I’d like to let everybody know that my prediction of Liverpool 2, Manchester City 2 was spot on last week. Leave your thoughts in the comments section! One week until the World Cup Draw, noon ET on ESPN2!

Champions League Roundup

Top two in each group move on to the knockout stages, while third place drops down to the Europa League. The final matches will be played December 8 and 9. Here are the tables along with some commentary:

Group A

Team	W	D	L	GD	Pts
Bordeaux	4	1	0	6	13
Juventus	2	2	1	0	8
Bayern Munich	2	1	2	1	7
Maccabi Haifa	0	0	5	-7	0

Games Remaining: Juventus v Bayern Munich, Maccabi Haifa v Bordeaux
Bordeaux has clinched the group and Maccabi Haifa is out of Europe, so the match in Torino will decide everything. A win or draw will put Juventus through to the knockout stages, while a win for Bayern Munich will see them through to the knockout stages. Still, a spot in the Europa League is a consolation prize for whomever doesn’t make it through.

Group B

Team	W	D	L	GD	Pts
Manchester United	3	1	1	2	10
VfL Wolfsburg	2	1	2	3	7
CSKA Moscow	2	1	2	-1	7
Besiktas	1	1	3	-4	4

Games Remaining: Besiktas v CSKA Moscow, VfL Wolfsburg v Manchester United
Manchester United has stumbled somewhat in the last two matches, with a home draw to CSKA Moscow and a home loss to Besiktas, although United was fielding a reserve-based side. Still, they have clinched a spot in the knockout stages by virtue of head-to-head records, and can secure first place with anything other than a loss to Wolfsburg. To move on to the knockout stages, Wolfsburg will need a win against United or a draw with United while CSKA Moscow don’t win, or a CSKA loss to Besiktas. For CSKA Moscow to move on, they need to defeat Besiktas and have Wolfsburg not win, or they can draw with Besiktas as long as Wolfsburg lose to United. For Besiktas to qualify for the Europa League, they will need to defeat CSKA Moscow 1-0 or by a 2 goal margin and United would have to not defeat Wolfsburg. It is all pretty simple really.

Group C

Team	W	D	L	GD	Pts
Real Madrid	3	1	1	6	10
AC Milan	2	2	1	1	8
Marseille	2	1	2	2	7
FC Zurich	1	0	4	-9	3

Games Remaining: FC Zurich v AC Milan, Marseille v Real Madrid
Real Madrid and AC Milan have virtually secured their places in the knockout stages, and Marseille is assured of a spot in the Europa League. Marseille can qualify by beating Real Madrid 3-0 or by a 4 goal margin, or a win against Madrid along with an unlikely loss or draw for Milan against Zurich. Zurich have already defeated Milan at the San Siro, but don’t look for that result to happen again.

Group D

Team	W	D	L	GD	Pts
Chelsea	4	1	0	7	13
FC Porto	3	0	2	2	9
Atletico Madrid	0	3	2	-6	3
APOEL Nicosia	0	2	3	-3	2

Games Remaining: Atletico Madrid v FC Porto, Chelsea v APOEL Nicosia
Chelsea and FC Porto have both secured places in the knockout stages of the competition. Atletico Madrid is likely to move on to the Europa league as APOEL will find it hard to take away points from a visit to Stamford Bridge. In the last matchday, Atletico Madrid missed out on a chance to secure that Europa League spot when they drew with APOEL 1-1.

Group E

Team	W	D	L	GD	Pts
Fiorentina	4	0	1	6	12
Lyon	3	1	1	5	10
Liverpool	2	1	2	-1	7
Debrecen	0	0	5	-10	0

Games Remaining: Liverpool v Fiorentina, Lyon v Debrecen
The biggest shock of Europe has occurred in Group E, where Liverpool has already been eliminated from Champions League competition by virtue of Lyon taking 4 points from Liverpool in their two games. Thus, even if they both end up on 10 points, Lyon holds the tiebreaker. Still, Liverpool will still take part in the Europa League, and will certainly be a major factor in the remainder of that competition.

Group F

Team	W	D	L	GD	Pts
Barcelona	2	2	1	3	8
FK Rubin Kazan	1	3	1	-1	6
Inter Milan	1	3	1	-1	6
Dynamo Kiev	1	2	2	-1	5

Games Remaining: Dynamo Kiev v Barcelona, Inter Milan v FK Rubin Kazan
This is still the most thrilling group in the Champions League, and every team has a chance to qualify for the knockout stages. The lengthy and complicated scenarios can be found here. The Inter Milan-Rubin Kazan match will be the most exciting, as the winner will move on, and in the case of a draw, it is possible that neither team advances.

Group G

Team	W	D	L	GD	Pts
Sevilla FC	3	1	1	6	10
Unirea Urziceni	2	2	1	2	8
VfB Stuttgart	1	3	1	0	6
Rangers	0	2	3	-8	2

Games Remaining: Sevilla FC v Rangers, VfB Stuttgart v Unirea Urziceni
Sevilla has secured a place in the knockout stages of the competition and Rangers has been eliminated from all European competition, so it comes down to the final match in Germany between Stuttgart and Unirea Urziceni. The meteoric rise of Unirea has been unbelievable as this is only their fourth ever season in the first division and they were the ranked third-lowest out of the teams in the group stage of this competition.

Group H

Team	W	D	L	GD	Pts
Arsenal	4	1	0	8	13
Olympiakos	2	1	2	-2	7
Standard Liege	1	1	3	-2	4
AZ Alkmaar	0	3	2	--4	3

Games Remaining: Olympiakos v Arsenal, Standard Liege v AZ Alkmaar
Arsenal has clinched a spot in the knockout stages of the competition, and for Standard Liege to qualify over Olympiakos for the second position, they would only need to defeat AZ and see Arsenal defeat Olympiakos. For AZ to come in third in the group, they simply need to defeat Standard Liege.

We have a HUGE weekend of soccer coming up!!! Stay tuned for the Weekend Soccer Preview.

A Possible Playoff Format

Well with the college bowl season fast approaching the cry for a playoff system in college football is starting to grow stronger. I for one am a big fan of a playoff system and here's my idea for a possible playoff format. It's a very elaborate plan that I doubt will ever happen, but maybe way in the future something close to this will take place.

First off every major conference must have a championship game so every major conference needs 12 teams and 2 divisions. Notre Dame will join the Big Ten, Utah and Boise St. join the Pac-10, Navy, Army, UCF, and Buffalo join the Big East. So all 6 major conference have 12 teams and can have a championship game.

The 6 conference champs get automatic bids to the playoffs and then there will be 2 play-in games containing the top 4 BCS teams that did not win their conferences or play in a mid-major conference, and no conference can have more than 2 teams in the playoffs. A selection committee will decide the seedings for the tournament.

With each conference having a championship game then the season will last the same amount of time for everyone going a week after Thanksgiving. The 6 conference champs will then get a week off while the 2 play-in games are played in that off week. Then there will be 3 weeks of College Football going from 8 teams to 4 teams to 2 teams to a National Champion.

Top 25 heading into week 13, the Big Ten is done with league play but everyone else still has big football remaining:

1. Florida (11-0) (1)

2. Texas (11-0) (2)

3. Alabama (11-0) (3)

4. TCU (11-0) (4)

5. Cincinnati (10-0) (5)

6. Boise State (11-0) (6): The Broncos have been campaigning very hard so the BCS Bowls don’t forget about them come
selection time, but if they aren’t careful they could lose against Nevada this weekend.

7. Georgia Tech (10-1) (7)

8. Ohio State (10-2) (8)

9. Pittsburgh (9-1) (10)

10. Iowa (10-2) (11)

11. Oregon (9-2) (12): Won a great game against Arizona on Saturday night. If the Ducks can beat Oregon State in the Civil War, they will represent the Pac-10 in the Rose Bowl.

12. LSU (8-3) (9)

13. Penn State (10-2) (14)

14. Oklahoma State (9-2) (15): The Cowboys are still alive for a BCS Bowl if they beat Oklahoma this weekend and Texas
keeps winning.

15. Virginia Tech (8-3) (17)

16. Oregon State (8-3) (19)

17. Clemson (8-3) (NR)

18. BYU (9-2) (18)

19. USC (7-3) (20)

20. Mississippi (8-3) (NR)

21. Miami (8-3) (24)

22. California (8-3) (NR)

23. Houston (9-2) (22)

24. Utah (9-2) (25)

25. North Carolina (8-3) (NR)

Dropping Out: Rutgers (23), Arizona (21), Wisconsin (16), Stanford (13)

A Comprehensive Weekly Look at the Top Teams In European Football

Welcome back to the Curcio/Nielsen ratings! After a weeklong hiatus that saw arguably the most controversial international footballing moment of our lifetimes (Thierry Henry is no longer allowed in the Republic of Ireland), we’re ready for the next edition of the rankings, and we hope you are too! This weekend saw a number of pretty ridiculous games, the most insane of which took place in London this morning. Tottenham Hotspur, the club that Tom refuses to believe in, beat a reasonable Wigan Athletic side 9-1. The amount of typo involved in that score is zero. The score was nine to one. The only thing more unbelievable than the final score was the fact that at halftime, Tottenham Hotspur had a whopping 1-0 lead. Then Jermain Defoe realized that he’s a beast, scored a hat trick in 7 minutes (goals in the 51st, 54th, and 58th), then added two more to increase his day’s goal total to an impossible 5 freaking goals! Just for that he has earned a spot in the Blaine Curcio hall of fame, because that is just the most ridiculous individual performance I’ve ever seen in a football match up to this point. And for those of you who don’t care for football and don’t quite understand how truly insane 5 goals is, think about the complete opposite of Jay Cutler’s 5 INT performance last week. Or just a 4 HR game by a baseball player. Anyway, now that my mancrush of Jermain Defoe had been proclaimed from the rooftops, let’s talk about some other matches. Manchester United and Chelsea both cruised to easy wins against premier league minnows, winning 3-0 and 4-0, respectively. FK Rubin Kazan clinched the Russian Premier League title with their home draw to Zenit St. Petersburg. Arsenal will certainly be dropping in both rankings with their 1-0 loss to Sunderland, while Sevilla continues to rise with their respectable away victory vs. Tenerife. Real Madrid somewhat continues their woes with a thoroughly unimpressive home win against Racing Santander. That’s about all I’m going to write because this is getting rather long, but here’s the rankings!

Rank Team (Nationality) Points
1. Chelsea (Eng)50
2. Manchester United (Eng)47
T3. Barcelona (Esp) 45
T3. Inter Milan (Ita) 45
Blaine: Yes, they were already written about a few weeks ago in this very blog, but Inter Milan has officially morphed from a football club into an unstoppable force (at least in Serie A matches). Inter hasn’t lost a Serie A match since September. Their matches since their last defeat go like this: Inter 2-1 Udinese, Genoa 0-5 Inter, Inter 2-1 Catania, Inter 5-3 Palermo, Livorno 0-2 Inter, Inter 1-1 AS Roma, Bologna 1-3 Inter. That’s 6 wins and 1 draw, and with no signs of slowing down, Inter is running away with the Scudetto. Juve has been keeping pace for now, but Inter has a more confident and more talented squad with an insane man at the helm (Jose Mourinho). Basically, if Inter can get their act together in the Champions’ League as much as they have in Serie A, it will be devastating for anyone who has to play them. Don’t be surprised if they’ve clinched Serie A by St. Patrick’s Day.
5. Sevilla (Esp) 41
Blaine: Being led by an intense desire to piss off Real Madrid and Barcelona, Sevilla continue to march on in La Liga, holding their 3rd place spot convincingly. By continuing to waltz right on through their relatively weak Champions’ League group, Sevilla has allowed themselves to play quite the formidable squad in most of their La Liga matches. Having not lost a match since October 17th, they’re looking quite good compared to the thoroughly mediocre (at least lately) giants of Barcelona and Real Madrid. If Sevilla can keep being as consistent as Greg Maddux, they may have a chance at sneaking into first place in La Liga.
6. Real Madrid (Esp) 40
T7. Arsenal (Eng) 37
T7. Juventus (Ita) 37
9. AC Milan (Ita) 36
10. Bayer Leverkusen (Ger) 30
11. Tottenham Hotspur (Eng) 27
12. Werder Bremen (Ger) 22
T13. Lyon (Fra) 21
T13. FK Rubin Kazan (Rus) 21
T15. Manchester City (Eng) 20
T15. FC Twente (Ned) 20
Blaine: I couldn’t very well not write about FC Twente, given that they’re rising quickly and, appropriately enough, they have 20 points. They’re currently ripping the Dutch Eredivisie to shreds, and are sitting in 2nd in a thoroughly underwhelming Europa League group. I would love to be able to say that Twente haven’t lost in some ridiculous amount of time this season, but I can’t say that. That is, because they haven’t lost. Yes you read that correctly, this season in Dutch Eredivisie play, FC Twente have not lost. We’re in late November. In 14 matches, they have 12 wins and 2 draws. And 0 losses. The only thing more insane than that is the fact that they only hold a 2 game lead over 2nd place PSV (which is a statement to how top-heavy the Eredivisie is), but still a very impressive run so far by Twente.
17. Bordeaux (Fra) 19
T18. Schalke (Ger) 14
T18. Ajax Amsterdam (Ned) 14
20. CSKA Moscow (Rus) 13
21. Valencia (Esp) 12
22. Sampdoria (Ita) 8
23. PSV Eindhoven (Ned) 7
24. Fiorentina (Ita) 6
25. Hamburger SV (Ger) 5

Others receiving votes:
AJ Auxerre (Fra) 4, Fenerbahce (Tur) 4, Braga (Por) 3, Dynamo Kiev (Ukr) 1, Napoli (Ita) 1

Here is how the voters voted:

Rank	Tom	Blaine
1	Chelsea	Chelsea
2	Inter Milan	Manchester United
3	Manchester United	Barcelona
4	Barcelona	Sevilla
5	Real Madrid	Inter Milan
6	Arsenal	Juventus
7	Sevilla	Real Madrid
8	AC Milan	AC Milan
9	Juventus	Arsenal
10	Bayer Leverkusen	Tottenham Hotspur
11	Werder Bremen	FK Rubin Kazan
12	Schalke 04	Bayer Leverkusen
13	Lyon	CSKA Moscow
14	Valencia	Twente Enschede
15	Tottenham Hotspur	Manchester City
16	Bordeaux	Ajax Amsterdam
17	Manchester City	Bordeaux
18	Twente Enschede	Lyon
19	PSV Eindhoven	Werder Bremen
20	FK Rubin Kazan	Fiorentina
21	Hamburg SV	Sampdoria
22	Ajax Amsterdam	Fenerbahce
23	Sampdoria	Braga
24	AJ Auxerre	AJ Auxerre
25	Dynamo Kiev	Napoli

Next five in for Tom, in order of Blaine's preference:
Fiorentina, Fenerbahce, Marseille, Benfica, Braga

Next five in for Blaine, in order of Legendary Status
Jermain Defoe, Marseille (due to their ability to thoroughly dominate Tom in FIFA every single day of his life), Parma (gotta love the Italians), Valencia, Shahktar Donetsk

That's it for this week's rankings, and remember, as we get into this holiday season, don't eat the yellow snow!

Heisman Contenders and BCS Bowl Projections

With the College Football regular season winding down it’s time to look at who is going to win the Heisman Trophy and what schools will be playing in BCS Bowls come January. Let’s start with the top Heisman candidates:

Top 5 Heisman Candidates
5. Toby Gerhart, RB, Stanford: Gerhart had the ability to soar up to the number 1 candidate had his team won against Cal. He still is putting up incredible numbers for a power rusher and deserves some Heisman love.

4. Tim Tebow, QB, Florida: Tebow doesn’t have the numbers for the Heisman; he is however still a great player on arguably the best team in the nation. He’s a great leader and definitely deserves Heisman consideration.

3. Jordan Shipley, WR, Texas: If Shipley’s quarterback wasn’t Colt McCoy; he would have even more Heisman consideration. His work as a wide receiver and on special teams is remarkable. He’ll unfortunately not get a lot of votes due to his roommate, McCoy.

2. Colt McCoy, QB, Texas: At the beginning of the season this was supposed to be a race between Tebow, McCoy, and Sam Bradford. McCoy has been solid all season, providing the only source of offense early in the season while Texas was starting off slow. He’ll likely get a few votes taken away from him due to some voters voting for his teammate.

1. Mark Ingram, RB, Alabama: This really has become Ingram’s award to lose. He’s putting up dominant numbers against tough defenses in the SEC. He’s doing this while defenses know that he’s Alabama’s main offensive threat. In a year where it took a long time for a player to claim the top spot in the Heisman race, but Ingram has and he’s as good as any previous winner.


BCS Bowl Projections

National Championship Game: Alabama - Texas

Rose Bowl: Ohio State – Oregon

Orange Bowl: Georgia Tech – Cincinnati

Sugar Bowl: Florida – Boise State

Fiesta Bowl: TCU – Iowa


The way the selection order goes is the bowls that lose their automatic qualifiers pick first and the bowl that loses the #1 team gets to pick first, so after all the automatic qualifiers are paired up with their bowls the order will go: Sugar Bowl, Fiesta, Orange, Fiesta, and finally the Sugar Bowl. The Sugar Bowl will undoubtedly pick the loser of the SEC Championship game as its replacement team. The Fiesta Bowl’s replacement pick is where it gets interesting. The Fiesta can choose to honor its Big 12 tradition and pick Oklahoma State if they beat Oklahoma next week or they can pick TCU, Boise State, Iowa, Penn State, or even the Big East Champion. I see the Fiesta taking TCU and then Iowa. With the Sugar Bowl up next I see them taking an undefeated Boise State team to play Florida. That leaves the Orange Bowl to take the Cincinnati Bearcats to matchup against the ACC Champ, Georgia Tech. And the one BCS bowl that has two Conference ties, the Rose Bowl getting Ohio State and Oregon.

Weekend Soccer Preview

As always, home team listed first, all times Eastern.

Game(s) of the Week (Rankings from Poll)
7:45 ET Saturday
Liverpool v (19) Manchester City-ESPN2
This is a very important match for both clubs as we are about one-third of the way through the season. Manchester City sits in 6th on 20 points from 11 games while Liverpool is in 7th on 19 points from 12 games. Both teams came into the season with eyes on Europe and they are fighting each other for a spot at the moment. Liverpool’s train wreck of a season has a chance to get back on the tracks with the return of Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson, and Daniel Agger. However, Fernando Torres and Fabio Aurelio are both likely out of the lineup. Midfielder Gareth Barry will hope to factor in the line-up for City after picking up a groin strain while on duty for England during the week. Barry was nearly signed by Liverpool back in may before going to Manchester City.
My pick: Liverpool 2, Manchester City 2
9:30 ET Sunday
Bayern Munich v (10) Bayer Leverkusen-ESPN360
This is a game very similar to the match-up above. Bayern is wallowing back in 8th place, yet still only 6 points behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen, and only 3 points out of second. Bayern Munich, like Liverpool, is not used to being anywhere but the top of the table and this game could very well set the tone for the rest of Bayern’s season, determining whether they will be title contenders or if they will simply hope for a European spot. Bayern Munich general manager Uli Hoeness is calling this the “game of the season,” and has even gone so far as to warn manager Louis Van Gaal, saying he needs to alter his management style. Former Bayer Leverkusen keeper Hans-Jorg Butt will be in goal for Bayern, and was direct in his assessment of the upcoming match: “There can be no excuses-Leverkusen is a direct rival, we are playing at home and we have got to win.” Leverkusen has (shockingly) not beaten Bayern Munich since 1989, but they are the last remaining unbeaten team in the Bundesliga and will look to end the first streak and continue the second. Still, I think Bayern will take this opportunity to show why they are the most expensive team in the Bundesliga.
My pick: Bayern Munich 3, Bayer Leverkusen 1. Louis Van Gaal saves his job.
MLS Cup Championship
8:30 PM ET Sunday
Real Salt Lake v LA Galaxy-ESPN360
Landon Donovan and David Beckham look to prove that they can indeed work together perfectly to achieve the ultimate success in United States club football. Beckham missed England friendlies last weekend and mid-week to concentrate on this MLS Cup run.

Top of the Table Clashes
See Russian Premier League
10:00 ET Saturday (League Two, England)
Dagenham & Redbridge v Rochdale
Dag &Red sit atop of the table in the fourth league of England, with Rochdale only 2 points behind in third. Strikers Paul Benson and Chris Dagnall lead Dagenham and Rochdale respectively with 9 goals each and both are tied for 3rd in goals scored in the league.

English Premier League
7:45 ET Saturday
Liverpool v (19) Manchester City-ESPN2
10:00 ET Saturday
Birmingham v Fulham
Burnley v Aston Villa
(1) Chelsea v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Frenchmen William Gallas and Nicolas Anelka for Chelsea go up against Irishmen Kevin Doyle and Andy Keogh for Wolves.
Hull City v West Ham United
Sunderland v (3) Arsenal
(T4) Manchester United v Everton
United are in a run of mediocre form in the league, losing two of their last three games to fall five points back of first place Chelsea. Everton has been struggling with injuries all season and currently sit in 12th in the Premier League after three straight years of top six finishes. Wayne Rooney’s childhood club was Everton and he made his debut for them at age 16, becoming the youngest ever to score a goal in the Premier League. He has hit a dry spell lately and will look to capitalize on a bit of a break from competitive games and score some goals. Louis Saha returns to Old Trafford on great form, with seven goals in eight starts in the league this season. The Manchester United back line is injury and suspension-plagued, with Neville suspended while Rio Ferdinand, Jonathan Evans, John O’Shea, and Fabio all doubts because of injury. Look for a back four consisting of Rafael, Nemenja Vidic, Wes Brown, and Patrice Evra, United have won every game in which they’ve taken a lead this season. Everton is the only team to not score in the first 15 minutes of any match this season. Look for United to attack early, take a lead, and hold on to it.
My pick: Manchester United 2, Everton 0
8:30 ET Sunday
Bolton Wanderers v Blackburn Rovers
10:00 ET Sunday
(T15) Tottenham Hotspur v Wigan Athletic
11:00 ET Sunday
Stoke City v Portsmouth

Scottish Premier League
10:00 ET Saturday
Rangers v Kilmarnock
7:45 ET Sunday
Dundee United v Celtic

Spain’s La Liga
12:00 ET Saturday
Deportivo La Coruna v Atletico Madrid-ESPN360
Tenerife v (6) Sevilla FC
14:00 ET Saturday
(T7) Real Madrid v Racing Santander-ESPN360
16:00 ET Saturday
Athletic Bilbao v (2) Barcelona
13:00 ET Sunday
Malaga v Real Zaragoza-ESPN360
15:00 ET Sunday
Osasuna v (T22) Valencia

Italy’s Serie A
12:00 ET Saturday
Bologna v (T4) Inter Milan-ESPN360
14:45 ET Saturday
(12) Fiorentina v Parma-ESPN360
9:00 ET Sunday
(T7) AC Milan v Cagliari
AS Roma v Bari-ESPN360
Livorno v Genoa
Sampdoria v Chievo Verona
14:45 ET Sunday
(9) Juventus v Udinese

German Bundesliga
9:30 ET Saturday
SC Freiburg v (T15) Werder Bremen
(20) Schalke 04 v Hannover 96
VfB Stuttgart v Hertha Berlin
VfL Wolfsburg v Nurnburg-ESPN360
9:30 ET Sunday
Bayern Munich v (10) Bayer Leverkusen-ESPN360
11:30 ET Sunday
(21) Hamburg SV v VfL Bochum

French Ligue 1
15:00 ET Friday
Marseille v Paris Saint-Germain
13:00 ET Saturday
(11) Bordeaux v Valenciennes
Grenoble v (13) Lyon
15:00 ET Saturday
AJ Auxerre v AS Monaco

Dutch Eredivisie
12:45 ET Saturday
Roda JC Kerkrade v AZ Alkmaar
14:45 ET Saturday
(T17) Twente Enschede v Vitesse Arnhem
6:30 ET Sunday
Feyenoord Rotterdam v FC Utrecht
(25) Ajax Amsterdam v Heerenveen-ESPN360
10:30 ET Sunday
PSV Eindhoven v SC Heracles Almelo

Russian Premier League
The Russian Premier League is getting down to the vital final two match days. Every team has played 28 games with two left. First and second place get UEFA Champions League Group Stage spots, third place gets UEFA Champions League Third Qualifying Round spot, fourth place gets UEFA Europa League Playoff round spot, and fifth place gets UEFA Europa League Third qualifying round spot. Sixth gets nothing. A spot in the Europa League qualifying rounds will go to the winner of the Russian Cup, and only Zenit and FC Moscow still remain in that competition, which will conclude in 2010. Note that Lokomotiv Moscow are ahead of FC Moscow on head-to-head.

Team	GD	Pts
FK Rubin Kazan	+38	59
Spartak Moscow	+30	55
Zenit St. Petersburg	+20	50
Lokomotiv Moscow	+9	48
FC Moscow	+14	48
CSKA Moscow	+14	46

6:00 ET Saturday
Dinamo Moscow v Lokomotiv Moscow
FC Moscow v Spartak Nalchik
FK Rubin Kazan v Zenit St. Peterburg
Spartak Moscow v CSKA Moscow
The top two spots are effectively decided for the season, but both teams are still involved in very important games. Spartak Nalchik is 14th in the table out of 16 teams so FC Moscow should get an easy win, making it vitally important that Lokomotiv Moscow pull off a win at a tough Dinamo Moscow team. CSKA’s European hopes ride on the match at Spartak Moscow. They will want to follow up what has thus far been a decent showing in the Champions League with another spot in Europe next fall.

Turkish Super League
13:00 ET Saturday
Besiktas v (T22) Fenerbahce
13:00 ET Sunday
Galatasaray v Manisaspor

MLS Cup Championship
8:30 PM ET Sunday
Real Salt Lake v LA Galaxy-ESPN360

Other Games on ESPN360
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup all weekend
10:00 ET Saturday
Barnsley v Cardiff
2:45 ET Monday
Preston North End v Newcastle United
Coppa Italia Midweek

The final 32 teams that will compete in South Africa
AFC
Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea
CAF
Algeria, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa
CONCACAF
Honduras, Mexico, United States
CONMEBOL
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay
OFC
New Zealand
UEFA
Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland
World Cup Draw is December 4 at noon ET on ESPN2!!!!!!

Ireland Got Robbed.

As many of you may know, as it has been unsurprisingly huge news, Ireland got robbed of a possible spot in the World Cup yesterday. The playoff was tied on aggregate 1-1 and the second leg was in extra time in France. Fiorent Malouda plays a ball to a clearly offside Thierry Henry in the 104th minute. Henry, in an attempt to keep the ball in play on the end line, deflects it from his hand onto his foot to the head of William Gallas who sheepishly put it into the net for the goal that undeservedly sent France to the World Cup.
For all of yesterday I was absolutey furious about this. I have never been a big Thierry Henry fan since his days with Arsenal and I am more or less indifferent towards the French national team. On top of that I am half Irish so of course I want to see them get to a World Cup as they have only made three in their history, last in 2002. Still, I have had a day to cool down and now I can think about this logically.
First, we can look at the play itself. It is a common occurrence for a player to be offsides and Henry should rightfully play on if it is not called. In fact, there is a chance (a very small chance) that Henry knew he was off and handled it because he figured it would get called back anyways. In either case, Henry claims it was "accidental" and "instinctual" for him to handle it and keep it in play. If we give Henry the benefit of the doubt on this, it's fine for him to have done what he did. Ultimately it falls on the referees and linesmen to get the call right, and they simply did not. Some people foolishly have suggested Gallas should not have put the ball in the goal. Gallas looked sheepish as he did it and was probably thinking like the rest of the world, thinking that Henry's handball would get called and there'd be no goal. Gallas cannot be faulted for putting the ball into the net. All in all, it is hard to put blame on France for the travesty. 99% of the time it would get called back and there would be no argument on their part about it.
So, the blame lands squarely on the shoulders of the referee and linesman. Swedish referee Martin Hansson confidently told the Irish as he walked off the pitch, "There was no handball." My response to this is that he's an idiot. The play was not a hard one to follow and there seemed to be no obvious blockage of the official by other players. Blame is placed on his linesman as well, who should be virtually on the end line and have a perfect view of the play. When it comes down to it, UEFA President Michel Platini will point to this as the perfect reason as to why there should be officials behind each goal, and frankly, he has a point now. However, you will never see him place any blame on the officials in this instance.
Platini is a Frenchman and FIFA President Sepp Blatter has already been criticized for protecting the big nations in this World Cup Qualifying. The puzzling decision was made late in qualifying to seed the 8 teams that would participate in the UEFA playoff. This meant that big guns such as Portugal and France did not meet up, which would have deprived the World Cup of considerable star power. It would be outrageous to suggest that there is some kind of conspiracy theory behind the World Cup, but it would be equally outrageous to suggest that this game should be forced into a replay. There is an incredibly remote possibility that it happens, as a Bahrain-Uzbekistan World Cup playoff was replayed back in 2005, but no doubt France would have to agree to the replay, which is a long shot. Even so, it is a replay that would likely be opposed by both Platini and Blatter for a multitude of reasons.
Hopefully from this dark day in football can come some light. Whether it be Platini's extra officials goalside, or some kind of review system that somehow does not slow down play, changes must be made. We see replay all over American sports and it is time for Europe and the rest of the world to utilize this technology. My best suggestion for replay is to have an extra official in a booth that reviews the game as it happens. On clear-cut cases such as handballs, goals, maybe offsides, etc., that a referee misses (and that leads directly to a goal), the play will be reviewed in the booth and if it is found that it was a missed call, the official can buzz the referee who can stop play and return it back to the goalie for a goal kick. It is hard to imagine this happening in international football, but it would be a much better result than what happened in France yesterday.

Week 12 College Football Picks

We’ve got big games in the Pac-10 and Big Ten this weekend and the rest of the schedule is full of rivalry games that might not end up being as entertaining as rivalry games are supposed to be:

#12 Oklahoma State over Colorado

#6 Boise State over Utah State

#1 Florida over Florida International

#2 Alabama over Chattanooga

#3 Texas over Kansas

#4 TCU over Wyomimg

#8 LSU over Mississippi

#10 Ohio State over Michigan

#13 Iowa over Minnesota

#15 Virginia Tech over N. Carolina State

#16 Wisconsin over Northwestern

#17 Stanford over #25 California

#19 Oregon State over Washington State

#20 Miami over Duke

#21 Utah over San Diego State

#22 BYU over Air Force

#23 Clemson over Virginia

#24 Houston over Memphis

Michigan State over #14 Penn State: In the battle for the Land Grant Trophy, MSU pulls the upset. Penn State has flopped in their two previous games against serious opponents and I just don’t see them going into East Lansing and pulling off a victory.

Arizona over #11 Oregon: Arizona and Oregon both control their own destinies to get to the Rose Bowl to face off with Ohio State. Arizona and its 20th ranked rushing defense finds a way to stop the running attack of the Ducks and the Wildcats put themselves in the drivers seat for the Pac-10 Championship.

Last Weekend's Coaching Decisions, Who got 'em right?

Over the weekend there were some questionable coaching decisions, let’s take a look.

Saturday night in the Iowa-Ohio State game both Jim Tressel and Kirk Ferentz had opportunities to win the game late in the fourth quarter but both decided to play it safe and take it to overtime. I think Tressel made the right call, he has a defense that’s full of NFL caliber players and he probably figured that giving the ball back to the Hawkeyes who are being quarterbacked by a redshirt freshman wasn’t going to hurt them. And he was right in the end.

Kirk Ferentz on the other hand made the wrong call in my opinion. You’re on the road in front of 100,000+ people and your offense just scored to tie the game. You’re redshirt freshman quarterback has played well the entire game and you only have to go about 40-45 yards to get it to a field goal to win. You have to realize matching score for score with the Buckeyes was going to be difficult in overtime, so take your chances and go for the win. I know Ferentz said that he’s made many coaching mistakes this season and that’s why he chose to play it safe but when you’re on the road in the toughest place to play in the Big Ten, you need to take a shot when the opportunity is available.

The other coaching decision is the one getting a lot more press. Bill Belichick’s decision to go for it on 4th and 2 from their own 28-yard line was no doubt a decision that required a lot of manhood. There is no doubt that there are many people out there slamming Belichick, but he made the right choice. It’s been talked about at nausea on ESPN the past two days but the Patriots have an offense led by a Hall of Fame quarterback who can make plays, so going for it on 4th down was the smart choice, they make it, it keeps Manning on the sidelines and gives the Patriots to win. And to those who keep saying that this decision was disrespecting the Patriots defense give me a break. Belichick’s decision showed me that he must have a ton of respect for his defense, he had to know that there was a huge risk in going for it and he obviously felt comfortable with the fact that if they didn’t pick up the first down, his defense was given 30 yards to work with to stop Manning from putting the ball in the end zone. And if you’re a defensive player (cough, Tedy Bruschi, cough), you should relish the opportunity and challenge that it is to stop an offense like the Colts with so few yards to work with.

College Football Top 25 Heading into Week 12

The top nine have remained the same but here is the Top 25 heading into week 12:

1. Florida (10-0) (1)

2. Texas (10-0)(2)

3. Alabama (10-0)(3)

4. TCU (10-0)(4): TCU is proving to be just a dominate team in my mind. I wish they had the chance to play for the National Title but it doesn’t look like it’s going to work out that way.

5. Cincinnati (10-0)(5)

6. Boise State (10-0)(6)

7. Georgia Tech (10-1)(7)

8. Ohio State (9-2)(8)

9. LSU (8-2)(9): Talk about bad luck, if LSU wins out their only two losses will be against two of the top three teams in the nation and they’ll be left out of the BCS. This is why we need a playoff folks.

10. Pittsburgh (9-1)(12)

11. Iowa (9-2)(11): James Vandenberg showed a lot of poise going into Ohio Stadium for his first career start. It’s unfortunate
Kirk Ferentz didn’t give him the chance to win the game, but they know now they have a viable backup if Stanzi has another 5 interception game.

12. Oregon (8-2)(14)

13. Stanford (7-3)(25)

14. Penn State (9-2)(18)

15. Oklahoma State (8-2)(19)

16. Wisconsin (8-2)(20)

17. Virginia Tech (7-3)(23)

18. BYU (8-2)(22)

19. Oregon State (7-3)(24)

20. USC (7-3)(10): This is clearly not one of Pete Carroll’s better teams and he didn’t like Stanford running up the score late in
the game. If you don’t like it, you have to stop it. USC is struggling but I have a feeling it won’t last a long time.

21. Arizona (6-3)(13)

22. Houston (8-2)(17)

23. Rutgers (7-2)(NR)

24. Miami (7-3)(15)

25. Utah (8-2)(17)

Dropping Out: West Virginia (23)

Weekend Soccer Preview

No domestic leagues this weekend, just the wrap-up of World Cup Qualifying!!!

UEFA Playoffs
Legs played Saturday, November 14, and Wednesday, November 18. Home team in first leg listed first. Teams each host one match, and the away goals rule will be used.

Russia v Slovenia
Russia is in an interesting spot ahead of these qualification ties. They are heavily favored and certainly employ a talent advantage over the Slovenians, but there are some issues within the squad. Several Russian national team players have taken up spots in Western European clubs and are not receiving the playing time necessary to retain top form, such as Roman Pavulychenko (4 apperances, all as subs, for Tottenham), Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (3 starts, 2 subs for Everton), and Pavel Pogrebnyak (7 apperances, 3 subs for Stuttgart). Eleven of the twenty-four men selected for the Russia squad are from the clubs CSKA Moscow or Zenit St. Petersburg, and only 5 come from outside the Russian Premier League. Slovenia looks to qualify for their second ever World Cup, as they went winless at the 2002 World Cup in Japan/South Korea. The only thing I can say for certain about Slovenia is that I have heard of exactly 0 players on their national team.
Prediction: 1st leg: 2-2, followed by incessant and typical Russian negativism about their national team; 2nd leg: 5-1 Russia, after they remember that they are a lot better than Slovenia. Russia through to the World Cup on 7-3 aggregate.

Greece v Ukraine
Ukraine had a fairly impressive qualification campaign, but was saddled with the unfortunate draw of England into their group. They were the only team to beat England, which was a 1-0 result at home, albeit the game after England clinched first in the group. In the 6 games in which they did not play Kazakhstan or Andorra, Ukraine was 2-3-1 with a +1 goal differential. Ukraine went 4-0-0 with a +14 goal differential in the other four games, to give an idea of the polarized quality of the group. Greece has the leading scorer in UEFA qualification, Theofanis Gekas, to go along with the full support of Yogi’s Pizza of Lake Zurich. Greece is no longer the defensive stalwart they once were, but won each game in qualifying by an average score of exactly 2-1. Secondary striker Georgios Samaras of Celtic FC says they would be happy with a 0-0 in the first leg, which is entirely possible. First legs of playoffs can be tame in terms of pace of play as teams try to feel each other out and not make fatal mistakes that can ruin their chance of advancing before the return leg is played.
Prediction: 1st leg: 1-0 Ukraine, 2nd leg: 3-1 Ukraine. Ukraine to the World Cup on 4-1 aggregate.

Ireland v France
In the most anticipated match-up of these European playoffs, the Republic of Ireland is looking to take part in its first major international competition since World Cup 2002. Ireland is undefeated at home thus far in qualification, including a solid 2-2 against Italy. Not only that, but they are also undefeated away with an even more impressive 1-1 draw in Italy. On the other hand, France has struggled on the road in qualification, with a 3-1 loss at Austria and an unimpressive 1-0 win against the lowly Faroe Islands to go with two draws and a couple 1-0 wins. It may be difficult for France to come away from rowdy Croke Park with a positive result, and anything can happen on the return leg if Ireland is one game from a spot in the World Cup.
Prediction: 1st leg: 1-0 Ireland; 2nd leg: 1-1 draw. Ireland to the World Cup on 2-1 aggregate score.

Portugal v Bosnia-Herzegovina
Portugal will be without superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, who was apparently ordered to be hexed by Paris Hilton, and is subsequently injured. No matter why he’s gone, he is gone and it will be a tough pair of matches for Portugal to navigate through. Bosnia finished second in a scary group involving Spain, Turkey, and Belgium. They gave Spain a tough test in Spain, losing only 1-0. They did manage 25 goals from ten games, led by an attack of rising stars Edin Dzeko , Vedad Ibisevic, Zvejdzan Misimovic, and Zlatan Muslimovic (no, not Ibrahimovic). Portugal was unimpressive in their qualifying group, managing only 5 wins in 10 games, including a loss at home to Denmark, and way draws to Denmark and Sweden and a home draw to Albania!!! These will definitely be two interesting matchups.
Prediction: 1st leg: 1-1, 2nd leg: 2-2. Unfortunately, Portugal to the World Cup on the away goals rule.

OFC & AFC Playoff
2:00 AM ET Saturday (That is late Friday Night)
New Zealand v Bahrain, second leg
First leg was played almost a month ago and came to a 0-0 draw in Bahrain. New Zealand will need an outright win, as any non-goalless draw will lead to Bahrain advancing on the away goals rule. A 0-0 draw will lead to the most important penalty shootout in either country’s history, but a spot in the World Cup should never be decided on penalties. Neither country has ever qualified for the World Cup, so expect a cracker down under.
Prediction: New Zealand 3-2 Bahrain after extra time.

CONMEBOL & CONCACAF Playoff
Costa Rica v Uruguay
Costa Rica is looking to qualify for its third consecutive World Cup. This is the third consecutive qualification process in which Uruguay needs a playoff to advance to the Finals. For 2002, they got past Australia to make it, but in 2006 Australia returned the favor and defeated them on the way to the World Cup. Costa Rica only lost once at home in qualifying, a 3-0 defeat against Mexico. However, Uruguay is more intimidating than any stadium they will have visited in the qualification campaign besides possibly Estadio Azteca in Mexico. These will be high-energy, hard-fought matches.
Prediction: 1st leg: 2-1 Costa Rica, 2nd leg: 1-1 between two tired teams playing in two hemispheres in a 5 day span. Costa Rica through to the World Cup on 3-2 aggregate.

Africa
Group A
Morocco v Cameroon
Togo v Gabon
Cameroon leads this group 10 (+5) to 9 (+3) over Gabon. They are the only two teams with a chance left to win this group and both must go on the road to do so. A win by Cameroon or a loss by Gabon sees Cameroon through to the World Cup, as do draws by both teams. A Gabon draw and Cameroon loss would see things get messy, but you can do the math. Cameroon drew Morocco 0-0 in Cameroon earlier in qualification, while Gabon defeated Togo 3-0 in Gabon. Still, I don’t see either team losing these vital matches, and if one does, it will be Gabon in Togo.
Prediction: Cameroon 3-1 Morocco, Gabon 1-1 Togo. Cameroon advances to the World Cup.

Group B
Kenya v Nigeria
Mozambique v Tunisia
Tunisia leads Nigeria 11 (+4) to 9 (+4). I will not pretend to know anything about any of these teams, but Tunisia has qualified for the last three World Cups, never making it past the group stage. Nigeria made the 1994, 1998, and 2002 World Cups, making it to the Round of 16 in the first two of those. Nigeria also has notable players such as Nwankwo Kanu, Yakubu, Mikel John Obi, Obafemi Martins, and Taye Taiwo.
Prediction: Nigeria 4-1 Kenya, Tunisia 0-0 Mozambique. Nigeria miraculously qualifies for the World Cup.

Group C
Egypt v Algeria
Algeria leads Egypt 13 (+7) to 10 (+3). Simply put, Algeria must win, draw, or lose by one to qualify. A three-goal win for Egypt sees them through to the World Cup. A two-goal win for Egypt means a playoff will be played in Sudan next Wednesday.
Prediction: Of course I have to say a 2-0 win for Egypt to force the playoff. Then, Egypt wins 4-3 in a thrilling match in extra time.

Interesting Baseball Fact of the Day: The most HR hit in a single season by a player who was born in Illinois is 52 for Jim Thome, who was born in Peoria, Illinois. He also holds the record for most career HR for a player who was born in Illinois, with 564.

Week 11 College Football Picks

Here are the picks for week 11, there are some pretty interesting games on the docket this weekend:

South Florida over Rutgers: I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rutgers win but I really like South Florida and if they didn’t lose their starting QB a few weeks ago their season could have been really special.

Florida over South Carolina

Alabama over Mississippi State

Texas over Baylor

Boise State over Idaho

Georgia Tech over Duke

LSU over Louisiana Tech

USC over Stanford

Pittsburgh over Notre Dame: Charlie Weis needs to win this week and once more to probably keep his job at Notre Dame, I don’t think he does it and let the Urban Meyer to South Bend rumors begin!

Oregon over Arizona State

Miami over North Carolina

Houston over UCF

Arizona over California

Penn State over Indiana

Oklahoma State over Texas Tech

Wisconsin over Michigan

Virginia Tech over Maryland

BYU over New Mexico

Oregon State over Washington

Cincinnati over West Virginia: in a game that will go a long way in determining the Big East champ I think Cincinnati continues their undefeated season but they still have games against Illinois and Pittsburgh left

Iowa over Ohio State: Here’s the game that determines the Big Ten Champ. I think the Hawkeyes will once again rise above adversity and pull out its fourth win on the road in arguably four of the toughest places to play in the Big Ten.

TCU over Utah: TCU is probably the best team after the top 3 and I don’t think they’ll lose this weekend. It should be a good game but TCU is just so good on defense and their offense is no slouch either.