As the NFL season winds down, I am forced to remember all the analysts and friends who couldn’t help but ridicule Brett Favre for coming back – and the Vikings organization for giving him all that time to decide to come back.  One regular season and two weeks into the playoffs later, who is laughing now?

Brett Favre.

No matter what color the uniform, or how old he is, this image of Brett seems to be a constant. (AP Photo/Hannah Foslien)

As a huge Brett Favre fan, I must point out that not only did he throw 33 touchdowns to only 7 interceptions in the regular season, but he only had one multi-pick game (against Arizona when they were embarrassed on Sunday Night Football because their offensive line didn’t make the plane to Tempe).  He didn’t tire out at the end of the year, and despite Adrian Peterson not having big rushing games (because everyone insisted if he had success it would be because A.D. was averaging 400 yards a game), he even managed to take over and dominate a few of these games.  Favre helped his team finish 2^nd in the league in points-per-game, 5^th in total yards, and 8^th in total passing yards.  He made Sidney Rice (whose career was dying in Minnesota) look like the second-coming of Jerry Rice.

However, even after all this success there was still the thought that Favre would choke under the playoff pressure.  So in comes Dallas, arguably the hottest team coming into the playoffs, and what happens?  Favre and

About 90% of the NFL-watching population had no idea who this kid was, until Favre became his quarterback.

the Vikings take them out to the woodshed.  Favre throws for four touchdowns (each more amazing than the previous), zero interceptions, and the Viking defense shut down an over-rated Cowboys O.

I just want to point that out that no matter what happens to the Vikings, whether it be in the next game or in the Super Bowl, Favre has more than proved he is still one of the best.  Maybe it was time for him to go in Green Bay, maybe it wasn’t, but we will never know.  All we have to go on now is the enormous amount of success he is having with the purple and gold…GO VIKINGS!

Moving on to something that I have to comment on…Gilbert Arenas.  For all those people who sat back and thought “Wow, how dumb is Plaxico Burress?” Arenas decided to prove there was someone dumber.  As the story goes, after an argument over unpaid gambling debts with teammate Javaris Crittenton, the two pulled guns on each other.  And if that wasn’t enough, it wasn’t like the two of them were there for a team meeting and snuck them in, oh no, they both had guns (plural) stored in their lockers.  I guess for all the gang violence that takes place at practice?

Are you kidding me?  Arenas claimed that he had brought them from his home to his locker so his children would not find them and play with them.  How noble.  Buy a safe idiot, hide them where your kids can’t reach, put them in a room and lock the door, I mean how many other options are there before you think “I got it! I’ll just bring them to work.”  Imagine a regular person doing that, “Morning Sally, the meeting is still at 10 right? Oh, don’t mind these, I don’t want my kids playing with them.” You would be fired immediately.

Nice Gilbert, way to try and play it all off as a joke. People always pull guns on other people in jest, I could see the misunderstanding.

That must have been the same logic Arenas used when he tried to play this whole thing off as a prank. Or perhaps when he turned his hands into six-shooters during a pregame “dance” before they played the Sixers, to show how much of jokester he is.  As you can imagine, NBA Commissioner David Stern took action, suspending Arenas indefinitely.  Then the legal department stepped in, and Arenas now has to wait until March to find out what kind of sentencing he will receive.  NBA commissioner David Stern has yet to make a decision on what will happen to Arenas after his sentencing (hopefully his career is done).  The team is left scrambling for an answer, but they are just as guilty as he is in my eyes.

Get this: the Wizards organization said they had known about the guns in his locker – apparently he had informed them about the guns when he first brought them in – and they “never thought something like this would come of it.”  Really? I would love to hear them describe the situations that they thought might arise from having firearms in a locker room.  As if the NBA couldn’t be any worse (or more out of control) they decide a good P.R. move would be to let athletes have guns in their lockers?  This way fans get more of a “Beirut circa 1975” feeling when they come to games.

As another College Football Bowl Week kicks off, the talk about how college football needs a playoff system starts right along with it.  This year, it isn’t as bad.  All the teams that should be playing in BCS games are, but that doesn’t stop people from demanding College Football switch over to a playoff system – and I couldn’t disagree more.  Now, let me start by saying that I would love nothing more than to see teams like Alabama and Florida play teams like TCU or Boise State, but a playoff is not the answer.

TCU played teams from a BCS conference this year (and lucked out by beating BYU, who beat Oklahoma in week 1) and they were rewarded with a BCS Bowl Game.

First, it ruins the tradition of the college football regular season.  College football has the best regular season in all of sports because – unlike any other sport – every single game matters.  No other sport can offer that.  Sure some regular season games matter, but – demonstrated by last year’s NFL playoffs – teams can lose up to seven games and still have a shot to make the playoffs, or the Super Bowl…that doesn’t sound like every game matters to me.   That’s what makes college football so exciting; every weekend there is a big game that a team – pursuing a National Championship – cannot afford to lose.

With that being said, let me move on to why the fans have every right to complain – but the teams don’t.  First, win every game on the schedule.  If a team has one loss, then that is the reason you will probably not play for a National Title.  However, there are plenty of one-loss teams that have played, or been in contention to play, for a National Title over the years.  Which brings me to next point…scheduling.  If a team like Utah, or Boise State, has a problem with their Non-BCS conference schedule failing to provide them with a BCS Bowl bid, they should use their non-conference openings to schedule BCS opponents.  Every team has up to four non-conference games they can schedule, so if I am a coach at Utah, I would try and schedule at least two of those four slots against BCS conference opponents (and decent ones too).  That clearly paid off for TCU and Boise State this year – both played some BCS conference teams and now they are playing each other in a BCS bowl.  Now if they want to compete for a chance to play in the National Championship, then they need to schedule some even tougher opponents in those slots (i.e. Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, LSU, Florida).

The Crimson Tide's hard work finally paid off, as they won the toughest conference in College Football and will play Texas for a National Championship.

This doesn’t just go for non-BCS conference teams, but every college football team.  I have always wondered why teams like Florida wouldn’t play teams like Texas in the regular season.  The obvious reason would be they might lose, and then their season is done from Week 2 and on…but teams have done that and still been in contention for a National Championship (i.e. Ohio State vs. USC).  That game is a non-conference game and possibly the best one in the entire season (next to Florida State vs. Florida…up until recently).  Personally, I think that would make a college football season that much more exciting and would go a long way in somewhat fulfilling the public’s desire to see a college football playoff.

In closing, a college playoff will probably never happen (even though it would be fantastic to watch) for several reasons.  The tradition of the college football regular season, the length of that same season (with playoff games added on top of that), and finally – and most importantly– the amount of money they make off the BCS system.  Despite how exciting March Madness is, it does not make anywhere near the amount of money that a bowl system does.  So unfortunately for the avid college football fan, no matter how many schools and fans complain, money will always outlast their grievances.

It’s that time of year again boys and girls.  The time of caring, sharing, giving and receiving.  It’s also the time of year to expose poster-boy athletes, use sex to recruit, and finally, come back home where you belong…

Sure it's a joke, but it's not too far off from what this whole scandal has done to his golden-boy image.

We start with Tiger Woods.  There isn’t much to say about this other than “wow.”  Who would have thought that precious, golden-boy Tiger would be cheating on his wife with – not one – but nine women.  It was so bad that one of his first mistresses couldn’t even handle it, confessing that she couldn’t take how many women he was seeing at the same time (yea, tough break, imagine how his wife must feel).  The only thing worse than this is having your wife beat you up with a golf club (which defines irony) so bad that when you go to run away from her in your SUV, you crash onto your neighbor’s lawn…nice.  Of course Tiger has yet to actually speak on the matter, so all that is speculation, but the longer he waits to finally come out and talk, the worse this story is going to get.  Do yourself a favor, Tiger, confess and move on – it worked for Kobe, it worked for A-Rod, it’ll work for you.

We move along to a much more heart-warming story…for me at least. Allen Iverson returned to the Sixers this past week, and debuted this past Monday against the Nuggets.  Sure it was a losing effort, and A.I. isn’t the same as he used to be, but there is something about seeing that ol’ #3 run around that court that just scratches me

I almost wept like a 6-year-old girl when I saw this intro. (Photo by Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)

right where I itch.  After watching his second game against the Pistons, I thought to myself how everyone must be enjoying this, except Andre Iguodala.  Here is a guy who was told the Sixers were his team, that he is the new A.I. and that Philly is now his city.  Well so much for that.  Iguodala and the rest of the Sixers were lucky if four fans and a homeless man (strictly there for the running water and heat) came to watch their games.  Since “the Answer” has returned, two back-to-back sellouts.  That has to sting a little.  Finally, for all those who don’t like this move because Iverson could be a bad influence…you are idiots.  This team stinks and there is no future here for A.I. to corrupt – at least now we get to watch some close-to-decent basketball being played while Iverson – who certainly is not the same caliber player he left Philly as – shows everyone what he has left.

On to college football.  How bout that Lane Kiffin?  His first full year at Tennessee results in a winning season, no SEC Title, no major bowl bid, and no quality wins.  Yet somehow Lane has managed to make Tennessee the most talked about program in all of college football.  He has been caught committing six secondary NCAA violations, and is currently being investigating for the best one of them all – using sex to recruit.

"What can I say gentlemen...sex sells!"

Apparently, the Volunteers coach was not only using females to ensure his recruits had a good visit on campus (like all colleges do, everyone who has seen the movie He Got Game knows how that works), but Kiffin made sure his recruits kept Tennessee in mind when they were at home.  The story goes that he would send certain women “Volunteers” to travel to players’ home towns to watch them play and help “convince” them to come to Ole Rocky Top.  Some of these girls – now being referred to as “hostesses” – would travel as far as 200 miles to help Lane recruit.  Again, all hearsay, but this one looks to be true and the only thing that is missing is a Lane Kiffin apology and some photos of what these women look like to complete this wonderful, wholesome college football story.

As I watched countless episodes of SportsCenter this past week, there were a few things that caught my attention and that warrant some comments.  First, Sammy Sosa. Wow.  What the hell happened to him?  The guy goes on record and admits he took steroids, which taints his career, but you have to figure that is rock bottom.

Oh no, Sosa found a way to even top cheating in the sport he played.  He bleached himself.  Sosa claimed his skin was feeling old and needed some “rejuvenation,” so he started bleaching his skin? To quote this Michael Jackson wannabe, “It’s a bleaching cream that I apply before going to bed…I use it to soften my skin, but has bleached me some,” he admitted.  Some!?! He resembles a Dominican-version of the kid who starred in Powder.

This doesn't even look like the same person. I guess "bleached me some" and "completely different" mean the same thing to Sammy.

What about taking vitamin D? Or rubbing some lotion on your skin? Then, Sosa managed to top that by adding green eyes to his new faded white skin.  What are you doing, Sosa? You went from being a super-slugger to a reject in the cast of Twilight.  He is now a faded has-been – literally – who just realized that he could buy contacts that change the color of his eye.  When I saw this, I was legitimately scared.  I am surprised there weren’t any stories about someone at the Latin Grammys just dropping their jaw, screaming, and running out because Sosa smiled at them.

Switching gears from complete stupidity to utter stupidity, we move to the Tennessee Volunteers.  Three of first-year head coach Lane Kiffin’s highly touted recruits were charged with attempted armed robbery.

Apparently, Janzen Jackson, a starting safety, and Nu’Keese Richardson, a starting wide-receiver, were among four people who decided a great Wednesday evening activity would be robbing a convenience store.  Defensive back Mike Edwards, and their “Wheel-man” Marie Montmarquet – a 22-year-old female – were charged with three counts of armed robbery at a gas station.

They held up three people in a parked car at gun-point while wearing masks.  The victims got the make and model of the car, a Toyota Prius, and get this – one of them was wearing Tennessee football gear and a victim caught a glimpse of it (apparently they had on either shorts or a t-shirt with the Tennessee football logo on it), the police haven’t said what it was yet).  When the police finally caught the suspects, they located the hoodies and masks, and an air-powered pellet gun (nice touch gentlemen).

"It was exciting holding those men at gun-point, I think next time though, we shouldn't wear our jerseys out to rob people." (AP Photo/Wade Payne)

So let me get this straight.  You get a full-scholarship to play football at the University of Tennessee – a program that is on the up-and-up right now – and you have a shot to play pro-football if you make the best of your time at this university (which is all free by the way), and you decide that’s not enough?  No, no, no, a better path is driving around in your “girlfriend’s” Prius and robbing people at gun point for what? $75-$100 at best?

Yeah, you won’t ever make that much in the NFL, or receive that as an allowance thanks to your free ride at Tennessee.  Even better, do all this while you’re wearing Tennessee football gear, great plan.  I read this and just thought to myself, “How dumb can you be?” I don’t by any means condone this plan, but if you are going to go through with this poorly thought-out scheme, and you have the ski mask on as well, wouldn’t taking off your Volunteers football gear be the next step?  I could only imagine the two of them wearing their jerseys and ski masks thinking “Let’s rob these people, they will never know who it is.”

As a lifelong Kansas City Chiefs fan, I feel I have a responsibility to comment on the recent actions of our “star” running back Larry Johnson.  After a tough loss against division foe San Diego, L.J. decided it was necessary to spout off about his current situation, which is the following: He is stuck on a bad team, not getting the touches he thinks he deserves, and losing all the while.

"People can barely remember that I used to be good...let me go spit on someone to remind them who I am." (AP Photo/Dick Whipple, File)

Johnson decided the best way to vent his frustrations would be to verbally assault members of the media, his coaching staff, and the organization by using a gay slur.  He especially targeted new coach Todd Haley, claiming that he wasn’t a good coach and didn’t know how to use him (correct me if I am wrong, but wasn’t Haley the only reason Johnson still had a job? Because no one would have taken him after the two years he just got done having).  L.J. also mentioned how his dad playing on the Titans team from the movie Remember the Titans, and those people knew how to coach football – which implied that his new coach didn’t.

Now, let me make it clear that while I am a Chiefs fan, I am also an NFL fan…so I am not ignorant.  I know I am a fan of a bad team, we are rebuilding (and have been for quite some time), and I can only imagine how difficult it must be to be a “star” and be stuck on that team (I felt bad for Tony Gonzalez before he got traded to Atlanta).  However, that does not give anyone the right to critique that situation, especially when he is a big part of it.  Todd Haley and I may not know as much the members of that team from Remember the Titans, but we both know that L.J. stinks – and we will be lucky to get anything in return for him if we trade him…on the other hand, Johnson will be lucky if he can still find a job in football after this mess is done.

Larry wants his touches, but when he gets them, he doesn’t do anything with them.  He hasn’t had a solid, injury-free-season, since 2006.  Now, one can easily argue that he hasn’t had a good team since 2006 (no O-line, and the loss of fullback Tony Richardson didn’t help either).  In my opinion, he is done; he has nothing left, maybe one solid year left.  He is now 29-years-old and isn’t getting any younger.  Couple that with the fact that he is a problem off the field (spitting on and accosting women at clubs, openly criticizing the organization, and – recently added – using gay slurs to describe media members as well as his new coach).

"Why can't we be as good as everyone says we are?"

On a side note, USC got smashed by Oregon.  The Trojans, who the BCS computers had sitting pretty at #5 (even with one loss to a then, and currently, unranked Washington Huskies team) – and people (Kirk Herbstreit and EPSN analysts) still had them playing in a National Championship.  Unfortunately, USC had to play Oregon (then #10 in the BCS), at Oregon, and got beat down 47-20 (and the Ducks only allowed the Trojans to score three points in the second half).

All this game did was prove me right, and show the country (yet again) that USC is overrated and should not be involved in National Championship talks until they beat a BCS opponent that isn’t Ohio State or from the PAC 10.  Oregon, a team who got beat by Boise State – now #7 in the BCS – and also managed to lose their “star” running back at the end of that game, managed to destroy the mighty Trojans and hand them their worse loss ever under head coach Pete Carroll.  How they manage to only fall to #12 in the BCS only proves my point – they get favored.  They should at least have fallen out of the top 15 with a loss to Oregon and unranked Washington.

But enough of harping on USC, because to be honest, every team looks overrated so far this season.  Alabama looks solid, but the two teams ahead of them – Florida and Texas – both look inconsistent.  With all the frauds this season, I am routing for Iowa…any team that has a QB who throws five picks and can still win (and manage to make that game look like a blowout) gets my support.

Is there anyone out there who can tell me what exactly Oklahoma State wide receiver Dez Bryant is being suspended for?  I have read the articles and at the end of every single one of them I am left asking myself, “What did he do wrong?”

"C'mon guys...what's the big deal if the kid has lunch with me?"

I understand he lied to NCAA officials about his meeting with former NFL defensive back Deion Sanders; my other question is why would he even have to lie about that?  Unless this kid met up with Deion, ran routes against him and some current NFL players, accepted a paycheck for it, and then talked to an agent…there is nothing wrong here.

One of the stories I read said that Sanders is associated with sports agent Eugene Parker, and because Bryant foolishly lied about the meeting, officials are worried that this meeting might have had certain illegal intentions (money, promises, talking about being a pro before he is one).   I get all that, but I just don’t understand what the big deal is.

There are rules and regulations, I get that, and I am one of the few people who appreciate these rules (especially when these kids accept money prior to becoming a pro), but this is a little ridiculous.  Unless I find out more details, I am on Dez Bryant’s side.

Now, Bryant would have been a Heisman candidate had this not happened.  Since then, talks of Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen winning the Heisman have crept up.  This is another head-scratcher.  Clausen has done nothing Heisman-worthy, and yet somehow he is being talked up as a candidate…and possible winner.

I know Clausen has demonstrated late-game heroics, but look at who these wins were against.  A big come-back win against Michigan State? An overtime win against Washington (that his defense won)? Another big win over Purdue (that Purdue’s head coach handed him)? Squeaking by Boston College? And a loss to Michigan and now USC (the USC game ended with him throwing the ball to a receiver that was on the ground)?

Clausen avoiding the rush like we should be avoiding using his name in Heisman talks. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

That resume doesn’t scream Heisman Trophy to me.  He has thrown for 2,050 yards and 16 TDs against just two interceptions, so he has been playing well…just not well enough to be in the top five for the Heisman.  I know everyone is impressed because he is the only Clausen that has witnessed anything close to success, but his older brothers didn’t set the bar very high.

Let me read off some stats from a QB who did win the Heisman (and should have went to the NFL right after it).  Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford won the Heisman after throwing for 4,720 yards, 50 TDs and just 8 picks – those are impressive numbers.  Clausen has six regular season games plus a bowl game left to try and beef up his stats, but it is highly unlikely.

Sometimes I think voters just don’t know who else to include, so they pick a kid from a big-name, marketable school and throw him in there for no reason.  I will give Clausen all the credit in the world if he can turn it around, but from where I am sitting right now, he won’t be winning it and shouldn’t be involved in talks.

Everybody wants to talk about Manny Ramirez leaving that crucial Game 4 of the NLCS early to shower when he was replaced by Juan Pierre.  There were rumors about “Manny being Manny,” about how he doesn’t care about anybody but himself, and about how unfair it is for Dodger manager Joe Torre to have to deal with this.

"Here's to me doing nothing in the postseason!"

Here’s the thing: first, it’s not that big a deal.  Pitchers do it all the time when they are relieved and no one can be sure that, if the game had not ended, Manny would NOT have come back out.  Fortunately for this Phillies fan…we will never know.

The second thing is that Manny has done something much worse that no one seems to have noticed: He hasn’t been the same since being on his 50-day “vacation” for violating the MLB’s substance abuse policy.  After Manny got busted for steroids (or women’s fertility drugs) he simply hasn’t been the same.  I know there are some people who will argue that he is getting old, or that missing those 50 games hurt him as far as getting into the swing of things – but the numbers do not lie.

This year Manny finished with a .290 batting average, 63 RBI and just 19 home runs.   That’s the worst Manny has done since his second year in the majors at Cleveland (when he ended with an average of .269 and 17 homers).  So maybe he had an off year, but the whole point of having Manny is his power and run-production, especially in the postseason.

So in this year’s NLDS and NLCS, Manny should have been a big factor for the Dodgers, right? In eight games Manny posted the following: a .281 average, four RBI, and one HR.  Narrow that down even further to just the NLCS against the Phillies, and he went .263 with only two RBI in 19 at-bats.

So who cares if Manny is leaving a game early to shower? Dodgers fans should be concerned about what Manny is doing before that shower…not hitting or driving in runs.  The “slugger” is supposed to be worth all the headaches and distractions off the field because of his performance on the field.  That hasn’t been the case ever since Manny had to get off the juice.  Even if the thirty-seven-year-old’s age is a factor, it is a little ironic that his career suddenly starts to fade out right after he gets caught using illegal substances.

"Nice job Manny...way to fail when we needed you most."

Even if Manny comes back and has a huge year for the Dodgers – the team that is suddenly regretting signing him to that long and expensive a contract – critics still was raise the question, “is he on the juice again?” Too big a coincidence on too big a stage for it to be ignored because everyone wants to focus on Manny showering – after he had been yanked – before a game is over.

Every once in a while I will do a little segment like this in which I talk about what really disturbed me over the past weekend in sports or whatever else really “grinds my gears” (to quote Peter Griffin).  This week there are two things I would like to discuss…

"Wouldn't it be easier if we just forfeit to USC every year? I know it would save me a lot of pain and suffering." (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

First, the Cal Golden Bears.  Every year I have to listen to college football analysts talk about Cal’s team: how good they are, how they are going to make a run at the PAC 10 Championship, and how viewers should circle the date when Cal plays USC because it will be a good one.  Let me tell you something, the only reason I would circle that day is to remind myself that that’s the day I need to bet everything I own on USC winning.  Cal stinks.  They have stunk for the past eight years.  The Cal-USC game is supposed to be a rivalry game, but what kind of “rivalry” game shows one team winning nine of the last ten games played (and, even though a win is a win, Cal barely beat USC 34-31 in 2003). That’s not much of a rivalry.  And this year was no different; USC slaughtered an over-rated Cal team 30-3…does that sound like the score of a rivalry game to anyone?

And I know that this goes back to 1912 and that’s why it’s a good rivalry and all that jazz, but right now we are living in the present…and presently Cal is garbage.  They have done nothing but find ways to disappoint.  This year, once again they are ranked high and are in National Championship contender talks, and then they get shellacked by Oregon, and then dismantled by USC in back-to-back weeks.  Even worse than that, is that college football analysts still view a win over Cal as a quality win.  That’s like racing a person on foot while you are in a car…it’s nothing to brag about.  From now on take that game out of the television lineup and replace wit any other college football game.  I’d rather watch a San Diego State inner-squad scrimmage than another Cal-USC blood bath.

"Football is a full-contact sport, you are gonna get hurt Keith...that's why you wear pads and get paid millions to play it."

My second issue…the NFL.  Now relax, I love football and I love the NFL, but after watching the Patriots beat the Ravens mainly because of a “roughing the passer” call in which Terrell Suggs was knocked down and breathed too close to Tom Brady’s knee, that disturbs me.  This is football, let the kids play.  I know athletes are bigger, faster, and stronger nowadays, but it is still a full-contact sport.  There are so many new rules added each year that soon the NFL will be reduced to a highly-skilled flag football league.  You can’t touch the quarterback at all (especially if it’s Brady – who has single handedly been responsible for the creation of two different fraudulent rules), you can’t hit receivers, and now (because of a fantastic hit by Hines Ward) no more crack-back blocks.  Seriously? These guys don’t need protection; they have pads.  There weren’t referees protecting players back in the day when they left the game looking like they just finished a bar fight that involved blunt objects and hand grenades.  I know the league wants to protect the players, but unfortunately it can’t do at the expense of the game.  Fans want to see big hits, big sacks, and real football – not two-hand touch.

And I know those hits hurt, and it’s easy for me to say guys need to deal with it because I am not one of those guys – but I am also not the guy who got to go to college for free, because I played football, got to make millions, because I played football, and (since I have a functioning brain) won’t ever have to work a day in my life after my pro career is over, because I played football.  I would gladly let someone break my jaw, or knock me unconscious for a pro football players’ annual salary.  If you want to make a case for guys’ careers being ended by big hits, and how much damage players have after football is over, then adjust the penalties and have players give some of their money back.  Football is for modern-day gladiators, and all of us fat Romans pay that money because we want to see two gladiators fight to the death…not hug and then retire into the sunset.

First, let me start off by saying that I am neither a Notre Dame fan, nor a Notre Dame hater.  I root for them when they play certain teams, and root against them when they play other teams – but I have to comment on their most recent win against Purdue.

"WE DID IT! Thank God Purdue's head coach is an idiot or we wouldn't have had a shot!" (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

The headlines will read something like “Clausen’s late game heroics give ND the win,” or “Notre Dame rallies for a fourth quarter comeback,” but there is something incorrect there.  While these headlines are accurate, they certainly are not true – at least not completely.

Ask anyone who saw the highlights and they will tell you about how Junior QB Jimmy Clausen fought through an injury to lead his team to victory with a TD pass to TE Kyle Rudolph with under a minute remaining.  That’s one way to put it.  The other way is Purdue handed Notre Dame the game with one of the worst coaching decisions I have ever seen.

Let me set the scene for you:  Purdue is trailing Notre Dame 17-14 late in the fourth quarter.  After a long drive, Purdue QB Joey Elliot hits Jaycen Taylor in the flat for what ends up being a 38-yard TD pass to give Purdue the lead, 21-17.  Notre Dame then gets the ball back on their own 28 with 3:41 left to play and only one timeout.  Pretending you are the coach of Purdue, I assume (and after watching that game this is a big assumption) that you know that simple math tells you a field goal can’t beat you, so all you have to do is prevent The Irish from scoring a touchdown.

After a sack and the use of their final timeout, Clausen – who was playing through a turf-toe injury (I give him credit because that injury is worse than it sounds) – puts together a nice little drive to get his team in Purdue territory with under two minutes left.  Remember, Notre Dame has no more timeouts.  Clausen, who finished the day 15-26 for 171 yards with a TD and a pick, threw a strike to one of his new weapons, WR Golden Tate, that netted him 17 yards and a first and goal on Purdue’s four yard line.

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold up a second, I want to use a timeout and give Notre Dame a shot to win this game...GO IRISH!"

Now, at this point the clock is under a minute and ticking as Clausen fires an incomplete sideline pass, intended for his WR Robby Parris.  So, it’s now second and goal on Purdue’s four with 41 seconds left.  Charlie Wies, in all his offensive brilliance, calls a running play (I guess thinking he can catch the defense tired and off-guard) which Purdue stops at the two yard line.

OK, so now Notre Dame is stumbling around trying to get to the line of scrimmage as the clock ticks away to either A – kill the clock (bringing up fourth down and only giving the Irish one final play to score), or B – run a play called at the line (which is easier to defend since the entire team is panicking to just get the play off, let alone execute successfully)… either way Purdue has the advantage.

So what does Purdue’s head coach Danny Hope do? He uses one of his timeouts with 36 seconds left on the clock.  Apparently he is a big Notre Dame fan and didn’t want this team to upset them.  I sat there wondering to myself, is this guy serious? Is he going to rip off his collared shirt and show the world the Jimmy Clausen No.7 jersey he has been wearing underneath his clothes this whole game?

"I may wear my pants pulled up to my chin, but at least I know not to call a timeout for the other team...thanks Danny!" (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

He not only stops the clock for Notre Dame, removing all the pressure that was just on them, but now he sends them to the sideline to get – not one – but two scripted plays to run.  He gave the Notre Dame offense a chance to catch their breath and say, “OK, here is where they are weak, let’s try this, and then this,” and for what? A chance to get his guys water? To tell them, watch the pass, watch the bootleg, don’t let them score?  I couldn’t get over it, and I wasn’t the only one.  Both announcers calling the game were stunned at this move, and I could only imagine what a Purdue fan was thinking (if he or she hadn’t already hung themselves because they are a fan of Purdue football).

So in short, although Notre Dame and Jimmy Clausen will get all the credit – and like I said, much is deserved, they put together a great final drive – the real MVP of that game for the Fightin’ Irish is Purdue head coach Danny Pope.  I just kept picturing the Notre Dame post-game celebration in the locker room: all the players hootin’ and hollerin’, Weis trying to give a speech, and in comes Danny Pope, shirtless, with his chest painted blue, green and gold screaming “YEA! GO IRISH! WE DID IT!”

For the Washington Huskies, this past weekend was a weekend of many firsts.  It was the first time new head coach Steve Sarkisian faced off against his old team, USC.  The first time the Huskies had beat USC since 2001.  Their first time celebrating back-to-back victories since September 8, 2007.  The first time they had beaten a number three ranked team, USC, since November 14, 1981.  And, after pulling off the biggest upset so far this year with a 16-13 win over the Trojans, the first time the Huskies have been ranked since September 28, 2003 – entering the new polls at No. 24 in the nation.

As for USC, it was the first time they were held to 110 total passing yards since head coach Pete Carroll took over in 2001.  And it was the first time they failed to convert a third down since Carroll took over, going 0-10 on the day.  But there we a few things that aren’t so new to the men of Troy.

USC has now lost to an unranked team in each of the last four seasons – a trend that Trojan fans have to be getting tired of.  In 2008, they were upset by Oregon State.  In 2007, an always powerful Stanford took them by surprise.  And in 2006, UCLA got the best of them.  See the theme here? USC has proven time and time again that they are the most overrated team in college football (barely beating out Notre Dame).  It’s time everyone caught on to that and stopped handing them a top 5 slot and let them earn it by winning, and not with specials on ESPN.

Washington Kicker Erik Folk after he hit the game-winning field goal (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

However, none of the games showcased a powerful (and overrated) Trojans team getting out-played and dominated on the field.  The Huskies’ defense, which allowed the Idaho Vandals to rack up 412 total yards, shut down the Trojans, allowing just 110 pass yards and no 3^rd-down conversions in ten attempts.  Now, I know freshman QB Matt Barkley didn’t play, but it is still USC playing Washington.  The way people hype USC would lead me to believe that their bench has to be better than most teams’ starters.

That being said, it didn’t matter, because Washington handled USC’s backups, and starters, with no problems.

The Trojans jumped out to an early 10-0 lead, exactly how they expected the game to go.  But then something happened that wasn’t supposed to…the Huskies fought back.  Led offensively by junior QB Jake Locker, who was 21-35 for 237 yards and completed passes to nine different receivers, Washington put seven on the board with a Locker rushing touchdown (the kid can do it all).  After that, the Huskies defense took over.

They managed to create three turnovers, mainly because this seemed to be not only USC quarterback Aaron Corp’s first start, but his first time playing football in general.  Corp was 13-22 for a measly 110 yards and a pick, and failed to connect with any of his receivers when it mattered late in the game.  Had it not been for the Trojans run game, Washington might very well have blanked the former No.3 team in the nation.

With 4:07 left in the game the score all tied up 13, the Huskies defense got Locker the ball back at his own 33.  Locker engineered a drive very similar to the one that USC fans saw Barkley execute to help them beat Ohio State the week before – except this time, they were the ones about to lose.

Jack Locker avoiding the rush and finding Jermaine Kearse for a huge 19-yard reception that would set up that game-winning field goal. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

After two dismal plays, Washington was faced with a third-and-15 and 3:03 left on the clock.  But this team didn’t roll over and die for USC like most teams do.  Instead, Locker fired a dart to WR Jermaine Kearse for a 21-yard first down.  Three plays later on another must-convert third down, Locker used his legs to gain four yards and yet another Washington first down.

Then, with under a minute left, Locker dropped back to pass, avoided the pass rush, scrambled out and found Kearse again for a 19-yard completion and a first down.  Couple that with the 15-yard roughing the passer penalty the Trojans got for cheap-shotting Locker, and the Huskies had the ball on the USC eight yard line with 33 seconds left in the game.

Shortly after that, Washington kicker Erik Folk trotted out to make the game-winning 22-yard field goal, and Husky Stadium erupted.  USC admitted they were out-played, but they don’t have to make excuses, everyone else will for them.  The Trojans, who dropped to No.12 (but will somehow be back in the Top 5 inside four weeks because of their tough schedule), will now need other teams to lose if they plan on playing for a National Championship.

The Huskies exposed a USC team as frauds and made a name for themselves by battling with a tough LSU team in week one and upsetting USC in week three.  Watch for the Huskies to build on this momentum and steal the PAC-10 this season.

USC running back Joe McKnight said it best at the end of this monumental upset.  “Washington wasn’t the better team. They just outplayed us,” said an arrogant, but defeated McKnight, “Clearly, we have superior athletes. But hard work beats athleticism any day.”

While it wasn’t too clear that USC had the better athletes, it was very clear that Washington had the better team, and QB, that day and will for the rest of the 2009 season.