Hardball Heaven

That's what college football is this year. Someone needs to do an in-depth feature on just what the hell is causing all this zaniness. The top-five spots in the polls have fluctuated like the stock market all year long, and it's going to be verrrry interesting to see who ends up playing for the national championship. Maybe this will finally make the NCAA suits reconsider this whole BCS process.

Going into today's activities, the Missouri Tigers were No. 1 and West Virginia was No. 2. Missouri's currently locked in a 14-all tie in the Big 12 title game against Oklahoma, and West Virginia was last seen losing to Pitt, 10-7, with electric QB Pat White supposedly injured.

Someone wrote that Appalachian State should get some consideration for Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year, and I think it's a worthy idea. Their incredible upset over Michigan at the Big House started all this madness. Stanford over USC was also huge.

Some news & notes from around college football today:

- Interesting turn of events in the 'is Les Miles going to Michigan' story. ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit reported this a.m. that Miles was a lock to be the next coach of the Wolverines. Later in the day, before LSU took on Tennessee for the SEC crown, LSU hastily threw together a press conference at which Miles denounced the report and announced that he was in Baton Rouge to stay. Herbstreit reiterated his confidence in his sources on tonight's Mizzou-Oklahoma telecast, so it will be interesting to read the details over the next couple of days.

- Boston College lost a tough one to Virgina Tech today in the ACC Championship. They actually had a lead early, but the Hokies - as is their tradition - made some huge special teams plays, Matt Ryan had a couple of passes picked off, and just like that, BC's Orange Bowl dreams were gone. Feel bad for the Eagles - they had a great year, even if the Ryan for Heisman talk was typical BC delusion - but also feel good for Virginia Tech with all that school has gone through over the last year.

- If my eyes can make it tonight, I'm hoping to see what Hawaii's Colt Brennan is all about. Kid grew up in Laguna Beach and now he's playing QB for a top-rated team in Honolulu. Not too bad.

Switching from the colleges to the pros, I'm beginning to wonder if the Patriots are ever going to play on a Sunday afternoon again. Monday night's game against Baltimore will be their third straight prime-time night game. It's getting tougher and tougher to stay awake.

As for the Pats-Ravens game, I've got a feeling that Tom Brady & Co. will come to play and this could get back to being ugly. The Ravens' offense sucks, which makes their legendary defense less productive. If the Pats do win this game, it will be interesting to see if the national media ratchets up its undefeated talk. I know people are sick of us, but it seems like this story has been a little under-reported lately. The Pats are five wins away from doing something historic, and two of those games are against the currently 0-11 Dolphins and 1-10 Jets. If they get past the Ravens, next week's game against the Steelers will no doubt get the talk revved up again.

The best game on the board tomorrow looks like Jacksonville vs. Indy. The banged-up Colts need to make a statement, while the Jags have been playing well behind steady QB David Garrard and bowling ball RB Maurice Jones-Drew. The Jaguars are my sleeper pick to get in the playoffs and make some waves.

Some reasonably decent TV games tomorrow:

CBS, 1:00 - Jacksonville @ Indy
FOX, 1:00 - Seattle @ Philly
FOX, 4:15 - NY Giants @ Chicago
NBC, 8:15 - Cincinnati @ Pittsburgh

Missouri-Oklahoma update: The Sooners have blown it open at 28-14, but Missouri just kicked a field goal. And believe it or not, West Virginia just lost to Pittsburgh. Unbelievable. Anybody want to play for the title? Anyone? Bueller?