I don’t think the loss hurt Kansas much. They have sewn up the Big 12 regular season title and should be an easy pick for a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. So do they need some motivation to go to Missouri on Saturday and win? Jayhawk fans are probably hoping that Sherron Collins has recovered from his emotional “Senior Day” and will be ready to lead his team to victory.

Purdue has a lot of competition for the Big 10 title. Michigan State could earn a share of the title if they can beat Michigan on Sunday. Ohio State has already clinched a share of the title and Purdue needs to beat Penn State this weekend to earn their share. This conference should be well represented in the tourney but will any of them be a #1?

University of Kentucky is hanging tough for their shot at a #1 seed. Defending the 3 point line has improved tremendously since the season started. The hope now is that the Wildcats 3 point shooting has turned around as well. They have been inconsistent at times shooting from long range but seem to be better as of late. With John Wall projected to be the #1 NBA draft pick this year, UK had better make the best of this year with him before he’s gone.

And the New Orleans Saints finally had their secondary healthy last week – just in time to play shutdown coverage against Kurt Warner. The Saints defense made sure that Warner couldn’t get comfortable and didn’t have tine to find an open receiver.

So this week will we still be talking defense? Can the Vikings’ Chad Greenway and Ben Leber take care of Reggie Bush and Drew Brees? Bush has been a bit of a disappointment to Saints’ fans but he came on strong last week and they will need him to do that again this week, especially if tight end Jeremy Shockey doesn’t play because of a sore knee. Brees is hoping that wide receiver Robert Meachem is back this week since he is their main deep threat. That would help open up some holes for the running game.

Or will this be Adrian Peterson’s week to run against the Saints’ #21 ranked run defense? The Vikings might need more production out of AP since receiver Percy Harvin is questionable for Sunday’s game because of migraines. Harvin has played with migraines before but also has missed one game this season because of them so it’s unknown yet if he can play through this one.

So, the NFL championship game might come down to who isn’t playing as much as who is.

Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis couldn’t have done his job much better last week. Philip Rivers passed 45 times against the Jets but only 4 were thrown into Revis’ coverage area. And one of those was juggled and intercepted by Revis. This week Revis’ next challenge will probably be Colts Reggie Wayne. Will Peyton Manning have more success throwing the ball against Revis?

Last week the talk around the Colts vs Ravens game was all about Ray Lewis and the Ravens’ defense. But it ended up being the Colts’ defense that influenced the outcome of the game. This leads to the much anticipated match up of the brawn on the Jets’ line and the 228 pound rusher Shonn Greene against the speed and quickness of the Colts defense. If you have to make a pick for this year’s NFL AFC Championship game the best bet is to look at the NFC.

The San Deigo Chargers have had a very potent rushing game in years past with LaDaimian Tomlinson and Darren Sproles but this year those numbers aren’t as high as many expected. So Rivers will have to keep passing the ball in order to open up some running lanes. Fortunately, he has lots of help in that area. Besides Jackson, the Chargers have receiver Malcom Floyd, tight end Antonio Gates and even Sproles to catch those passes. As high powered as the Chargers offense is, their defense is tied for worst among play off teams allowing 4.5 yards per rush. Shonn Greene should have a good time running against this defense and that could make for a very long day for the Chargers.

And then there are the options that Kurt Warner has for the Cardinals – Larry Fitzgerald, Steve Breaston, Early Doucet. And Anquan Boldin is probably going to be a game time decision. Defenses appear to be in big trouble for both teams. But that isn’t really a surprise for teams that have such highly talented quarterbacks. Both Brees and Warner have quick releases, are quick thinking and accurate passers with just enough of a running game to keep the other team honest. Personally, I can’t wait for this game because I love offense! But if you are more of a defensive type, then this might not be the game for you. Sorry.

Historically the Minnesota Vikings have been a run first offense until Bret Favre came to town. Have they become a pass first offense? Favre has over 4000 yards passing this season and Adrian Peterson has averaged only 4.4 yards rushing per carry – his worst production in his three seasons. The Vikings say they still intend to re-establish their running game but Dallas comes to town allowing the 4th fewest rushing yards. So Favre will probably be padding his numbers this week. Actually balance will be most important and the bye week probably helped the Vikes rest and heal – mentally as well as physically.

Super Bowl or bust seems to be the battle cry of the Indianapolis Colts since they basically gave away their chance for a perfect season. So now their fans want to know how they are going to avoid the same old problems of early playoff exits. The Colts haven’t won a playoff game since winning the Super Bowl in February 2007. And they’ve been knocked out of the playoffs following first round byes the past 3 years. Hopefully, this year’s bye week will give them the rest that they need to come back out as the championship team that they believe they are.

Did New Orleans peak too early? They had a near perfect game on Monday night of Week 12 beating the Patriots. But they seem to have (hopefully) hit bottom with an overtime loss at home to the 3-12 Tampa Bay Bucs. The Saints are fortunate that the falling Vikings lost to the Chicago Bears this week on Monday night.

And how about those Vikings? After a great 10-1 start, they seem to be following the downhill path of last year’s New York Jets…….by the way, that was Brett Farve’s team last year. They are now looking very shaky, losing 3 of the last 4 games. Losing this week to the lowly 6-9 Bears they made Jay Cutler suddenly look like the “star” that Chicago was expecting him to be when they traded for him.

Maybe slow and steady wins the race. That seems to be the way the Arizona Cardinals have played all year. They are only giving up an average of 17.4 points on the road and average 4.2 yards rushing. The Cardinals have won 10 games and clinched their division for the second year in a row. Quarterback Kurt Warner is leading his team with his 100th touchdown pass and his 52nd career 300 yard game last weekend. Earlier in the season he became only the 2nd player to throw for 14,000 yards with two teams.

And then there’s the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles. There’s history between these two teams that could provide for quite a rivalry for the next couple of weeks. Last year the Eagles knocked the Cowboys out of the playoff picture. This year the Cowboys beat the Eagles at home in November by holding their star receiver, DeSean Jackson to only 2 catches. We could get plenty of chances to see if they can keep that pressure on Jackson since these two teams play each other this week for the NFC East title and then could play again next week in the first round of the playoffs.

So we have to look at the teams’ physical strengths and weaknesses, but also their mental toughness. The physical part might be the easiest part to research and analyze. What style of football do they play? How have they performed offensively and defensively? Maybe one team has dominated the running game but only because all their opponents have trouble stopping the ground game. Or maybe a team has handled the tough running backs all season but can’t handle a pass happy quarterback or exceptional receivers.

The mental part of teams’ preparedness might be tougher to judge. A team that is feeling overlooked by a major bowl often has a hard time getting fired up for the game. But many 6-6 teams are ecstatic to get a chance to continue their season. Not all 6-6 teams are equal though. Depending on their conference, some 6-6 teams play much tougher opponents than others. So we have to consider what conference a team plays in and their strength of schedule. The other part of the mental aspect of a team is how they handle an extended layoff between games. The Big 10 conference season ends a month and a half before the BCS Championship game – that’s a long time to “prepare”. During this layoff many things can happen to the personnel that we have to be aware of – suspensions, injury updates, coaching changes.

One final thing to be aware of is location, location, location. Even though bowl games are played on neutral sites, many times those sites are decidedly closer to one school than the other. This can give a team a decided advantage by making it basically a “home” game. Lots of teams brag that they travel well, but no matter how well supporters follow a team, playing close to home is always easier.

So get those office pools ready, do your homework, and have fun! It’s going to be a great couple of weeks of college football!

The Indianapolis Colts are always accused of receiving calls in the favor of Peyton Manning. It is obvious that Peyton Manning is a very marketable football player for the NFL. One argument I have heard is that officials protect him more because it is better for the NFL. They use him in many of their ads promoting professional football. If Peyton Manning misses four to six weeks because he had his eyes gauged due to hands to the face it is not good business. But this simple has no credibility to it. The real reason he gets calls that could go one way or the other is because officials like him. He does not create a scene or have any questionable ethics or morals that reflect poorly on the NFL as an organization, nor does he degrade the officials during a game like many players past have done. Not convinced?

Look at an NFC team like the Arizona Cardinals with wide received Larry Fitzgerald. A true gentleman is just one of the names this remarkable football player has been referred to. While making NFL picks on Arizona is probably not profitable long term, the fact is those questionable interference calls usually go in his direction. He picks up the ball and hands it to the officials. If there is a pass interference call that gets missed he does not signal for a flag or yell at the officials. He goes back to the line of scrimmage to do what he gets paid to do. Next time their is a questionable call, the officials are more likely to make good on the missed call by making one in his favor.

With all the flamboyant players in the NFL it is simple to see which ones are going to get more of those questionable calls. I can assure you, in a league like the NFL “the fix” is never in. Put yourself in the place of the officials. They do not consider your nfl football picks nor the nfl lines and odds on the game when making the call. They simply make a judgement call that could go one way or the other. Who would you make the call for? The player that just cussed you out on national television for missing a call, or the classy gentleman that went back to the huddle to do it again.