What a weekend we have in store for us over the next couple of days!!! We’ve got college football, pro football, and the MLB Playoffs. It simply doesn’t get much better than this for all the sports enthusiasts littered throughout the world, and I’m proud to say I’m one of them and will be glued to my TV for three straight days.

Saturday is a huge day on the college football gridiron as a number of teams will battle it out to improve their pecking order in each respective conference as well as stay in the hunt for the National Championship.

The morning slate doesn’t boast any top tiered match-ups, but the afternoon session will have us all up in arms until about 6:00 PM ET. The popular Red River Shoot-out kicks off at 3:30 ET on ABC. Bob Stoops Oklahoma Sooners look to get back on track against Mack Brown’s Longhorns who ended their 5-game losing streak a year ago by laying the smack down and tying their largest margin of victory in the process. The 33-point victory certainly won’t sit well with the current OK players, so rest assure this will be a war; a more defensive one hopefully. With both clubs having lost one game already, another will most definitely eliminate one of these clubs form the National Championship picture. This is going to be a war, and I can’t wait!!!

Another huge battle takes place down in “The Swamp” as the 9th ranked LSU Tigers look to lock horns with Urban Meyer’s 5th ranked Florida Gators in what’s sure to be a bit more entertaining than the Tigers last road trip to Auburn (7-3 final). Surprisingly, the Tigers have been installed the favorite here in the Gator’s own backyard; a place where they haven’t lost a game under the tutelage of Mr. Meyer. Things that make you go hmmmmmm. Tune into CBS at 3:30 ET to see if the Gators can keep its home winning streak intact.

The Commander-in-Chief trophy has belonged to the Navy Midshipmen the last couple of years, but HC Fisher DeBerry would love nothing more than to end his losing streak to Paul Johnson and get a leg up on securing the Trophy in the process. These clubs are almost mirror images of one another, so look for the victor to be the one that capitalizes on a poorly timed turnover. Tune into CSTV at 2:00 ET with military bragging right on the line.

The evening slate is loaded with some very interesting games. The Tennessee Vols hit the road to take on the Georgia Bulldogs between the hedges in a crucial SEC East battle. Many are down on the Bulldogs after a pair of back-to-back unimpressive outings, but HC Mark Richt has had the Vols number of late winning 5 of the L/6 SU. This is Tennessee’s first true road test, so be careful if you plan on backing them in this spot. Plat it small, very small!!! Tune in to ESPN at 7:45 ET to see what transpires.

The PAC 10 takes center stage at 8:00 ET on ABC as the 11th ranked Oregon Ducks invade Berkeley to take on the 16th ranked California Bears. This is another student vs. teacher bout as bears HC Tedford used to be the Ducks offensive coordinator under HC Mike Bellotti before he took over at Cal. So far, Bellotti’s gotten the best of him in their three match-ups in some very close games. However, Cal is for real and their Week 1 gaff at Tennessee was a fluke. Look for the Bears to pull away late in what’s sure to be an instant classic with the athletes both these squads possess.

The 1st round of the post-season will be all but wrapped up by the end of Columbus Day, and we will have wrapped up 5 weeks of the 2006 NFL campaign with Monday Night’s battle between the Ravens and Broncos. Man, time flies when you’re having fun!!!

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All eyes will be on two racers on Sunday when Formula 1 drivers take to the track at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan.

Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso are tied atop the drivers standings with 116 points apiece with only two races to go. Schumacher and Alonso finished one-two in China last week, which allowed Schumacher to close a two-point gap. The win was Schumacher’s second in a row and fifth in his last seven races. Alonso has been on a very long cold streak since winning four races in a row back in May and June. Alonso hasn’t seen the checkered flag since winning the Canadian Grand Prix back in late June. Alonso has had three second-place finishes over that span, but he also was forced to retire on two occasions.

The battle between Schumacher and Alonso isn’t the only one F1 fans will be keeping an eye on this weekend. Schumacher’s Ferrari team and Alonso’s Renault team are neck and neck at the top of the constructors championship. Heading into Japan, Renault sits only one point ahead of Ferrari. Out of 16 races so far this season Renault has won seven of them, while Ferrari has eight wins. Of course Alonso has six of them and Schumacher has seven. Felipe Massa added another win for Ferrari, while Giancarlo Fisichella won the second race of the season for Renault.

If history plays a part this weekend Schumacher should have a pretty big edge over Alonso. Schumacher has won a record six times at Suzuka, with his last win coming in 2004. Alonso’s best finish at Suzuka was last year when he finished third behind Kimi Raikkonen and Fisichella.

The oddsmakers have only Schumacher and Alonso in sight at Suzuka, with Raikkonen barely coming into view. Schumacher comes in as a -120 favorite, while Alonso is a +175 underdog. Raikkonen, who may have won in Japan last year but is still looking for his first victory this season, is listed at +800.

After they finish up in Japan, Formula 1 heads to Brazil for the final race of the season. Whichever racer, Schumacher or Alonso, finishes first this weekend will have a big advantage in the race to the championship in Brazil. No matter what happens, you can be assured Schumacher’s final race of his F1 career next week will be memorable.
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The Pittsburgh Steelers might be the defending Super Bowl champions, but that title isn’t doing much for them right now. The Steelers have lost two straight games, are in third place in the AFC North, have allowed more points than they’ve scored, and have the same number of victories as the Cleveland Browns.

The San Diego Chargers started the season with two straight wins - but they were over league doormats Oakland (27-0) and Tennessee (40-7). The Chargers came up short against a good team last week, losing 16-13 to the undefeated Baltimore Ravens. That loss dropped San Diego into a tie with the Denver Broncos atop the AFC West division, and tripled their points-allowed this season.

So both Pittsburgh and San Diego will be looking to make a statement when they meet on the gridiron at Qualcomm Stadium on Sunday night (with kickoff at 8:15pm ET on NBC). The Steelers will be trying to show that they’re still an elite team, and not a step below the other AFC powers. The Chargers will be trying to show that they can beat a football team that isn’t currently winless on the season.

The oddsmakers have the Chargers pegged as slight home favorites right now, listing the game at San Diego -3. The Chargers had no troubling covering the spread in their wins over Oakland and Tennessee, but they were tagged with an ATS loss against the Ravens. Pittsburgh covered the spread in Week 1 against Miami, but picked up ATS losses in contests against Jacksonville and Cincinnati.

The total for Sunday’s night game is currently sitting at 37.5 points. The Steelers are 2-1 OVER/UNDER this season, and are averaging 16 points scored and 18 points allowed in 2006. San Diego is 1-2 OVER/UNDER so far this year, and are averaging 26.7 points scored and 7.7 points allowed through their three games.

These two teams met once last season, with the Steelers coming away with a 24-22 road victory on October 10. San Diego had been favored by 3 points in that game, while the combined score fell UNDER the posted total of 47 points.

The last time San Diego beat Pittsburgh was way back on January 15, 1995, when the Chargers won 17-13 on the road. The Steelers had been 6.5-point favorites in that playoff contest, and the combined score was an UNDER result.

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Sorry Vancouver and Colorado fans - you’ll be the only ones forced to watch baseball or college football on Saturday. All 28 other National Hockey League teams will be taking to the ice on the league’s first Saturday slate of the season. And with so many games on tap, there’s a good mix of historic rivalries, big-market clashes, divisional contests, and grudge matches on the night’s schedule.

Fans up north will be most interested in the Montreal Canadiens/Toronto Maple Leafs matchup that starts at 7:00pm ET at the Air Canada Centre. This will be Montreal’s second straight road game to start the year, while Toronto began the 2006/07 season with a home-and-home series against the rival Ottawa Senators.

South of the border, though, two of the top matchups are the New York Rangers at Philadelphia and New Jersey at Dallas. The Devils in particular will be a team to watch in the early going. Only some fancy maneuvering by GM Lou Lamoriello at the last minute allowed New Jersey to get all their players under contract and under the cap; a lack of cohesiveness might be on display in the first few weeks.

Out on the west coast, the two Los Angeles-area teams are both hoping that new additions can get them off to strong starts this season. For the Ducks, that big addition was defenseman Chris Pronger, who forced a trade out of Edmonton and ended up in Orange County. For the Kings, it’s new head coach Marc Crawford, who was fired by the Canucks at the end of last season after missing the playoffs. The Ducks play in Phoenix Saturday, while the Kings host St. Louis.

Los Angeles also has a couple of subtractions of note - and that would be forward Eric Belanger and defenseman Tim Gleason. Both were shipped to Carolina last week in exchange mostly for top prospect Jack Johnson, and both will be in the lineup for the defending champions when they play a road game against Washington on Saturday. In a second all-Southeast matchup that night, Todd Bertuzzi and the Florida Panthers travel to Atlanta to battle the Thrashers.

The most intense game on the slate, though, should take place in Calgary, where the Flames will be playing yet another game against the hated, provincial-rival Oilers; the two also clashed on Thursday night. Filling out this Saturday’s NHL schedule are Buffalo at Ottawa, Detroit at Pittsburgh, Boston at Tampa Bay, Nashville at Minnesota, Columbus at Chicago, and the Islanders at the Sharks.
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While the points look attractive in this heated in-state rivalry, don’t fall for the trap that so many have already (line down from 17.5). MSU is a ticking time bomb, and it won’t take much for them to simply give up once the game starts to get away from them. They’ve got a lame duck coach leading them, and an injured field general going up against a nasty defense. Not a recipe for success; especially in “The Big House”!!!! The home squad has been a money burner in this series the L/3 years (0-3 ATS), but I believe that streak comes to an end this afternoon. Michigan State’s club is in complete disarray, and I don’t believe they’ll have the mindset that will allow them to believe they can compete in this game. The Wolverines needed OT to defeat them the L/2 seasons, but the circumstances surrounding those two games were much different. Sparty had yet to see its season crumble in a downward spiral, and still had Big 10 Championship aspirations when they took the field both times. That’s just simply not the case this time around. They suffered a gut-wrenching defeat two weeks ago at the hands of the Irish, and then followed it up with a Homecoming loss to Illinois last week. The Illini hadn’t won a Big 10 road game in almost 2 year’s, and they were 20+ point home chalks!!! Their psyche is bruised and battered heading into this game, and this is quite simply one of the best wolverine outfits Ann Arbor has had in years. On top of that, RB Javon Ringer is done for the season, QB Stanton has bruised ribs and is one solid shot away from missing a couple weeks, and the Spartans O-Line has suffered a number of injuries. Not a good thing when going against this wolverine stop unit that’s completely shut down opposing rushing attacks and has shown no mercy.

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Scratching my head here trying to figure out why the Jayhawks are indeed the underdogs in this spot? I’m not going to waste too much of my time trying to figure it out, but instead I’m going to react to my gut feeling here that the Mighty Mangino’s take care of business at home and play them on the $$$-Line. Texas A&M by no means deserves to be the favorite in this match-up. They’re coming off a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of in state rival Texas Tech, and are now being asked to bounce back from it on the road as favorites no less. Definitely not a recipe for success. Kansas lost a tough one in OT as well (2nd road OT loss this year) last week to Nebraska, but they gained a sense of self-confidence throughout the contest and will most definitely carry it over into today’s bounce back game. Huge coaching edge goes to the crimson and red as Mangino is leaps and bounds better than this Franchione guy whose done nothing but live on his past success at TCU in his last two coaching stops. KU’s offense exploded last week against a decent Husker stop unit, and should have no problems picking apart an A&M defense that gets absolutely no pressure up front. Look for QB Barmann to find wide open passing lanes and hook up with WR’s Murph, Fields, and TE Fine. Then look for RB Cornish to chew up chunks of yardage to keep the Aggies “D” guessing all game long. Kansas did a great job limiting the Huskers on the ground last week, and have done a great job all year only allowing 89 YPG & 3.1 YPC. Look for the Jayhawks front 7 to be in the grill of A&M QB McGee all day, and force him to beat them with his arm. He hasn’t done it yet this year, and I’m not expecting him to get it done this afternoon either. The Aggies are a woeful 3-12 ATS on the road in the Franchione era, while the Jayhawks are spread winners at home in 10 of their L/13 games in Lawrence. On top of that, Mangino’s club has won 3 of their L/4 home games SU when installed as the underdog!!!

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This will be the Midshipmen’s second road game in a row, and they’re going into hostile territory against a much-improved Air Force squad. Colorado Springs won’t be very welcoming, and Air Force will be chomping at the bit to get a piece of Navy after letting last year’s game slip away in the fourth quarter. HC DeBerry and his Fly Boys will snap their losing streak in style, and pick up a very impressive home win and cover!!! The Middies put forth a fantastic comeback a year ago in Annapolis to pull off their third straight victory over the Falcons. They’re coming off a dominating effort over UCONN, but now have to travel out East to take on a resurgent Air force club that’s won two in a row, and would love nothing more than to get a leg up on attaining the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy. Look for them to do so behind an onslaught on the ground, and with what I believe to be the better overall stop unit.
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