NFL Week 9 Preview and Predictions

Quarterbacks Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger must lead their teams over the aftereffects of Hurricane Sandy. (AP Photo)

5. Dallas Cowboys (3-4) @ Atlanta Falcons (7-0) - 8:20 PM EST (Sunday), NBC

With a loss to the New York Giants last week, the Cowboys know how important each game is to their playoff chances. They must do a much better job of focusing on limiting their mistakes if they hope to hand the Falcons their fist loss of the season. The Cowboys have been turnover prone throughout the season, while the Falcons have one of the best net differences in turnovers. Furthermore, Dallas has had twice the amount of penalties that Atlanta have had. With Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo continuing to struggle, he will continue to rely on tight end Jason Witten. Last week, Witten had 18 catches for 167 receiving yards. The Falcons continue to roll behind the confident and calm play over quarterback Matt Ryan.

Prediction: Cowboys 30 Falcons 24

4. Denver Broncos (4-3) @ Cincinnati Bengals (3-4) - 1:00 PM EST, CBS

The Broncos and Bengals come into this matchup going in opposite directions. The Broncos have won three out of four games to take the lead in the AFC West. Meanwhile, the Bengals have lost three straight to fall below .500 and into third place in the AFC North. In his last two games, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning has thrown for over 300 yards and three touchdowns. The Broncos defense has played much better lately as well. In their last six quarters, they have allowed only 14 points. Much of the Bengals struggles can be linked to the play of quarterback Andy Dalton. He was able to throw for only 105 yards against the Pittsburgh Steelers last week. He has also struggled badly with turnovers, throwing at least one interception in every game so far this season.

Prediction: Broncos 34 Bengals 13

3. Arizona Cardinals (4-4) @ Green Bay Packers (5-3) - 1:00 PM EST, FOX

The Cardinals were one of the big stories after starting the season 4-0, but have fallen back to reality after losing four in a row. One of the many problems has been keeping their top two quarterbacks, Kevin Kolb and John Skelton, healthy. The struggles of offensive line have left little running room for the backs and even less time for their quarterbacks to pass to their receivers. The Cardinals defense has actually played pretty well, but gets worn down as games continue. Meanwhile, the Packers are playing their best football of the season. Coming off of three straight wins, they have all of the momentum going their way. In those three games, quarterback Aaron Rodgers has thrown for a combined 11 touchdowns.

Prediction: Packers 30 Cardinals 10

2. Minnesota Vikings (5-3) @ Seattle Seahawks (4-4) - 4:05 PM EST, FOX

The Vikings have had a long week to think about their surprising loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday night. The defense unit struggled badly in the loss, but has been pretty good this season on the whole. The Vikings offense has been balanced behind the solid play of young quarterback Christian Ponder, resurgent running back Adrian Peterson and explosive wide receiver Percy Harvin. They will look to be the latest NFC North team to beat the Seahawks, after the Lions beat them in the final minute last week. The Seahawks are in need of a win after two straight defeats have dropped them back to .500. They will continue to rely upon veteran running back Marshawn Lynch to take the pressure off of rookie quarterback Russell Wilson. The Seahawks defense has played well this season as well. They need their big secondary to step up in this matchup.

Prediction: Seahawks 24 Vikings 20

1. Pittsburgh Steelers (4-3) @ New York Giants (6-2)

Mother Nature might have one of the biggest affects on this game. As a result of Hurricane Sandy, the Steelers hotel in New Jersey still has no power. This means that the Steelers will have to fly to New York early Sunday morning, eat brunch at a hotel and then go straight to MetLife Stadium for the game. The Steelers come into the matchup off their most complete effort of the season. In their 27-12 win over the Washington Redskins, their quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw three touchdown passes and their defense kept Robert Griffin III and the Redskins offense from scoring a touchdown. The Giants are playing their best football of the season as well. Four straight wins have put them in control of the NFC East. With starting running back Ahmad Bradshaw questionable for the game, they will need quarterback Eli Manning to continue to play well in this tough matchup.

Prediction: Steelers 27 Giants 24

College Football Week 10 Preview and Predictions

Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron looks to guide his team through its toughest test yet in rival LSU. (Kevin C. Cox)

5. Mississippi (5-3) @ #6 Georgia (7-1) - 3:30 PM EST, CBS

Last week, Georgia came up with a huge win when they needed one. Their defense stepped up and led them to a 17-9 upset of previously unbeaten Florida. The win put them in the driver's seat to win the SEC East and advance to the SEC championship in Atlanta. All they need to do is win out and they are in. However, the problem is that same defense has been subject to letdown and cannot afford to against Ole Miss. The Rebels explosive offense is led by sophomore quarterback Bo Wallace. The unit has averaged 32.4 points per game and scored a combined 71 points the last two weeks in wins over Auburn and Arkansas. Wallace will have a difficult task against the Bulldogs defense. Junior linebacker Jarvis Jones was an absolute game changer against Florida with 13 tackles, three sacks, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.

Prediction: Georgia 27 Mississippi 24

4. #20 Nebraska (6-2) @ Michigan State (5-4) - 3:30 PM EST, ABC/ESPN2

Nebraska got the huge win at home against Michigan last week. The win put them in control of the Big Ten Legends Division. Now, they have to win out to advance to the Big Ten championship. They will have to travel first to East Lansing to take on a rejuvenated Michigan State team. The Spartans are mired in a disappointing season, but came up with a big upset of Wisconsin on the road. They will now look to pull off another upset. This matchup features two opposing forces. The Cornhuskers lead the Big Ten in scoring, total offense and rushing yards. Conversely, the Spartans led the conference in points allowed, yards allowed and rushing defense. They will have to try and slow down Nebraska's dual-threat quarterback Taylor Martinez and sophomore tailback Ameer Abdullah.

Prediction: Michigan State 17 Nebraska 16

3. #24 Oklahoma State (5-2) @ #2 Kansas State (8-0) - 8:00 PM EST, ABC

Kansas State has taken care of business all season long. They have knocked off ranked opponents on the road in Oklahoma and West Virginia. Last week, they destroyed Texas Tech at home. They will look for their third straight win over a ranked opponent on Saturday against Oklahoma State. The Wildcats are led by Heisman favorite Collin Klein at quarterback. They can put up points on the scoreboard all day long, scoring a combined 110 points the last two weeks. The Cowboys will look to keep the Wildcats offense off the field as much as possible behind the strong running game of junior tailback Joseph Randle. He has rushed for a combined 277 yards and three touchdowns the last two weeks.

Prediction: Kansas State 34 Oklahoma State 24

2. #4 Oregon (8-0) @ #17 USC (6-2) - 7:00 PM EST, FOX

Oregon continues to blow out its opponents with its dominating offense. They have scored at least 42 points in all of their eight wins so far this season. The Ducks have yet to move up in the BCS standings because of their weak strength of schedule. They will get their chance to proved against three ranked opponents in their last four games. The first is a big matchup against rival USC in Los Angeles. The Trojans got caught looking ahead to the big matchup and were upset 39-36 by Arizona.

USC will need a huge game out of senior quarterback Matt Barkley and his favorite target, sophomore wide receiver Marquise Lee. Lee has emerged as one of the best receivers in college football. Last week, he had 16 catches for 345 receiving yards and two touchdowns. The Ducks offense is full of explosive playmakers as well. Last week against Colorado, sophomore quarterback Bryan Bennett rushed for three touchdowns, freshman quarterback Marcus Mariota threw for 136 yards and two scores and the rushing duo of Kenjon Barner and De'Anthony Thomas rushed for a combined 211 yards and three touchdowns. Thomas also had an amazing 73-yard punt return for a touchdown.

Prediction: Oregon 48 USC 38

1. #1 Alabama (8-0) @ #5 LSU (7-1) - 8:00 PM EST, CBS

Undefeated and top ranked Alabama has won every one of its games this season by at least 19 points. They will definitely get their toughest test of the season as the travel to Death Valley to take on LSU. The Tigers bounced back from a loss to Florida with wins over ranked opponents South Carolina and Texas A&M. They also got an extra week to prepare for the big rivalry game. LSU will definitely be looking to avenge their 21-0 loss to Alabama in the BCS National Championship game last season.

Both teams boast two of the best defenses in the nation. Alabama's offense is led by one the best game managers in college football. Junior quarterback A.J. McCarron has thrown 18 touchdowns this season without a single interceptions. In fact, dating back to last season, he has thrown 262 consecutive passes without a pick. The running back duo of junior Eddie Lacy and freshman T.J. Yeldon bring balance to the offense. LSU relies upon a deep stable of running backs, including Spencer Ware, Michael Ford, Jeremy Hill, Kenny Hilliard and fullback J.C. Copeland. At quarterback, junior Zach Mettenberger has had his ups-and-downs. He needs to limit his mistakes against the Crimson Tide.

Prediction: Alabama 23 LSU 13

Nuggets Sign Ty Lawson to Four-Year Extension

The Denver Nuggets have signed point guard Ty Lawson to a four-year, $48 million extension. (Chris Humphreys)

The Denver Nuggets had a busy offseason. They landed former All-Star Andre Iguodala in a four-team trade. Then, they signed JaVale McGee to a four-year, $44 million deal. On the eve of their regular season debut, the Nuggets knew they had one last piece of offseason business to take care of. That was to sign their young, budding point guard to a contract extension.

On Tuesday, they managed to do just that. Point guard Ty Lawson agreed to a four-year extension worth $48 million. This means that the Nuggets have McGee, Lawson and Italian small forward Danilo Gallinari locked up under contract for the next four years. Given what happens with the Iguodala experiment, he could be back as well if it is for the right price.

This is a solid core upon which one can build around, but the knew that Lawson is the crucial piece that holds all of the other ones together. Lawson had a career year last season when he averaged 16.4 points, 6.6 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. He shot 49 percent from the field and 37 percent from downtown.

Lawson led the Nuggets and their dynamic offense to the playoffs as the Western Conference's sixth seed. He was the catalyst for their league-leading scoring offense (104.1 points per game) that shot 47.6 percent from the field as a team (second best to the San Antonio Spurs).

As if that weren't enough, Lawson stepped up his game even more in the playoffs. In the Western Conference quarterfinals against the Los Angeles Lakers, he averaged 19.0 points per game, 6.0 assists per game and shot 51 percent from the field. Even though the Nuggets lost the series in seven games, it was not for a lack of superb play by Lawson.

Last season was Lawson's first in complete control of the reins. The fact that he is still only 24 years old and in his fourth season in the NBA means that he might be a golden Nugget for many years to come. The Nuggets are now his team. The rest of the NBA just better hope they can keep up.

Breaking Down the AP Preseason All-Americans

Indiana sophomore Cody Zeller was a near unanimous selection as a Associated Press Preseason All-Americans. (Kevin C. Cox)

We are on the verge of November, which means the college basketball season is just about to tip off. It also means that it is time for all of the preseason honors and predictions to be given out. Today, the Associated Press announced their preseason All-Americans.

A 65-member panel does the deciding voting on who will be the All-Americans. This year, there were a tie for the fifth most votes, so there are six players overall. The players are as follows with the number of votes in parentheses:

• Cody Zeller, Indiana (64)
• Doug McDermott, Creighton (62)
• Isaiah Canaan, Murray State (43)
• Deshaun Thomas, Ohio State (26)
• C.J. McCollum, Lehigh (16)
• Trey Burke, Michigan (16)

There were five main stories that jumped out at me from this year's list.

1. Three out of the six All-Americans are from mid-majors.
I doubt this has ever happened before. Not only are McDermott, Canaan and McCollum from mid-majors, they are all from different conferences. The wealth of college basketball talent seems to spread around the country more and more each season. You no longer have to play at Kentucky, North Carolina or Kansas to be the best players in the country. Each of these players led their teams on deep runs into the NCAA tournament last year and are fully capable of doing it again this year.

2. The other three All-Americans are from the Big Ten.
The AP voters love the Big Ten this year. First, they put Indiana (#1), Ohio State (#4) and Michigan (#5) in the preseason top five in the poll. Now, they named each of their respective stars All-American. Zeller is the top man on a talented and experienced Hoosiers team. Thomas may have been overshadowed by Jared Sullinger (now in the NBA) during last season's Final Four run, but he will shine as the star now. Even though no Buckeye fans will agree with this, Burke is the best point guard in the country and is the most dominant at his craft.

3. One voter is delusional or blinded by his dislike for Cody Zeller.
Zeller is the best college basketball player in the country as of right now. For standing 6-foot-11, he is extraordinarily agile and mobile. He has good scoring instincts and doesn't mind being aggressive. Zeller can be explosive at the rim, runs the floor very well and has a high basketball IQ. He has All-American written all over him. I hope the one voter who chose not to vote for Zeller gets to watch him dominant on a nightly basis.

4. There are no freshman preseason All-Americans.
This isn't about a lack of talent. It is clearly there. It's even quite likely that there will be at least one freshman on the list at the end of March. However, the problem from now is that there aren't any of them that we are confident will make an immediate impact. Kentucky's Nerlens Noel, UCLA's Shabazz Muhammad and and Kyle Anderson and Arizona's Kaleb Tarczewski all have respectable chances at being named All-Americans by season end.

5. If this list is any indicator, this year's March Madness might be crazier than ever.
Not to downgrade their talent one single bit, but this list of preseason All-Americans is one of the weakest I have seen in a long time. The Big Ten is expected to be a tough conference at the top, but after that the rankings are pretty spread wide and far. It appears as though pretty much any team could make a shocking run to the top this season.

Giants Complete World Series Sweep With Team Effort

San Francisco Giants closer Sergio Romo struck out Miguel Cabrera to win the World Series. (Ezra Shaw)

Seemingly everyone I talked to prior to the World Series wanted to talk about how amazing the Detroit Tigers were. They had the best pitcher in the world, the best one-two punch in their middle of the lineup and were coming off a sweep of the New York Yankees. I had more people tell me that the Tigers were going to sweep the San Francisco Giants and waltz their way to the World Series trophy and rings.

On paper, it certainly did seem that way. However, if I have learned anything from my almost 22 years of being a baseball fan, there's a reason they play the game. The unlikely becomes the likely. The Cinderella wins at the buzzer. The Hail Mary is somehow caught in a crowd in the endzone. You get the picture.

After he had only pitched two games this season, the Giants lost All-Star closer and fan favorite Brian Wilson to Tommy John surgery. On August 15, Giants outfielder Melky Cabrera, who lead the National League in hits and was second in batting average, was suspended for 50 games after testing positive for testosterone. Their two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum struggled badly during the entire regular season, finishing with an ERA of 5.18. As the postseason approached, it was their rival Los Angeles Dodgers who pulled blockbuster trade after blockbuster trade in an attempt to win the NL West.

The Giants could have given up at any of these junctures. They seemed to have too big of obstacles to overcome. But they hung tough and won the division. Their reward was hosting the Cincinnati Reds to start the NLDS. In a best-of-five series, the Giants lost the first two games to the Reds.

They now knew that they had to win three straight in Cincinnati to rally and advance past the Reds. That is just way they did. When catcher Buster Posey hit his grand slam in Game 5, it felt like it was all over. He truly showed why he is one of the favorites to win the NL MVP.

In the NLCS, the St. Louis Cardinals came out strong and took a three games to one lead over the Giants. The Giants knew they would need to win three in a row to stay alive and advance once again. In Game 5, they were forced to give the ball to much maligned veteran pitcher Barry Zito. Zito though was lights out and propelled his team to pull off three straight wins. In Game 7, the Giants offense exploded for nine runs in their shutout win to advance to the World Series.

In Game 1 of the World Series, few people gave the Giants a chance against Tigers ace Justin Verlander. Verlander had been dominant all postseason, but the Giants got five earned runs off of him and chased him after only four innings of work. The Giants never looked back, winning the game 9-3.

In Game 2, the Giants gave the ball to a struggling Madison Bumgarner. In his first two starts of the postseason, he had an ERA of 11.52. But in the World Series, he throws seven scoreless innings, giving up just two hits, while striking out 8. The Giants won the game 2-0.

The series now shifted to Detroit. The Giants' Game 3 starter was 35-year-old journeyman Ryan Vogelsong. Vogelsong and Lincecum combined for eight scoreless innings. Closer Sergio Romo came in and closed out his second game in a row.

Looking to complete the sweep in style, the Giants took the Game 4 lead 3-2 on a Posey solo home run in the top of the sixth inning. But the Tigers designated hitter Delmon Young tied up the score again in the bottom half of the inning with a solo homer of his own. The score remained 3-3 heading into extra innings.

To lead off the top of the 10th inning, designated hitter Ryan Theriot hit a bloop single to right field for a base hit. Shortstop Brandon Crawford sacrificed Theriot over to second. The next batter, center fielder Angel Pagan, struck out for the second out. This brought second baseman Marco Scutaro to the plate with a man on second and two outs. On a 3-1 pitch, Scutaro singled to center and Theriot slide into home for the leading run.

Looking to protect a 4-3 lead, Romo came into to close out his third save in as many games. Romo dominated the Tigers first two batters, center fielder Austin Jackson and pinch hitter Don Kelly, and struck them both out on his lethal slider. This brought AL Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera to the plate with the World Series on the line. With the count 2-2, Cabrera fouled off a slider. He had to be waiting on another one with the next pitch because Romo's 89 mph fastball right down the middle froze Cabrera for a called strike three.

The Giants were World Series champions for the second time in three years. They did as a team and with some of the unlikeliest of heroes. Theriot, who scored the game-winning run, made his first start of the postseason in Game 4. Scutaro, who had the game-winning RBI, was an under-the-radar mid-season acquisition. Romo, who closed out the Giants last three wins of the World Series, was the team's third pitcher to assume the role of closer the team this season.

The Giants weren't the likeliest of World Series champions at any point this season. However, in the end, they played team baseball and stepped up when they needed to. As legendary baseball manager Tommy Lasorda once said, "The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man's determination." The Giants showed their determination throughout the season and now are World Series champions as a result.