Friday, Nov. 18
8:00 PM
Oklahoma State (2) at Iowa State
ESPN
Oklahoma State is killing teams on their way to the Dec. 3rd showdown against Oklahoma.
Toledo at Central Michigan
ESPN-U
Wait were you fulfilled with just three helpings of MAC action? Well, here’s a fourth to finish you off.
Saturday, Nov. 19
12:00 PM
Citadel at South Carolina (12)
ESPN-3.com
South Carolina still is treading water in the SEC East division.
Kentucky at Georgia (14)
SEC Network
Georgia has two games remaining before playing in front of their fans in the Georgia Dome for the SEC Title.
Nebraska (16) at Michigan (18)
ESPN
Loser of this game can kiss good bye any chance of winning the Big Ten Legends Division.
Wisconsin (17) at Illinois
ESPN-2
Wisconsin needs a win to say in contention for the Big Ten Leaders Division.
Cincinnati at Rutgers
ESPN-U
Cincinnati still has a chance to lose their lead in the Big East conference. They have to lose two of their last three to miss on a BCS game.
1:00 PM
Samford at Auburn (24)
ESPN-3.com
Auburn is the only four loss team in the BCS Standings.
Army at Temple
ESPN-3.com
It seems as if Temple is the only MAC team this week that doesn’t get to play on ESPN, ESPN 2 or ESPN U.
2:00 PM
Georgia Southern at Alabama (3)
ESPN-3.com
Alabama on upset watch this week?
3:00 PM
Arkansas State at Middle Tenn
ESPN-3.com
Arkansas State working on a perfect conference record this year.
3:30 PM
Mississippi State at Arkansas (6)
CBS
Mississippi State can play a very tough defense and will give this Arkansas team some trouble this week.
Clemson (7) at North Carolina St.
ABC
Clemson has clinched the ACC Atlantic division. So they will lose this game by 21 this week for no reason.
Colorado State at TCU (19)
Versus
TCU playing the jealous love last week telling Boise State, “If we can’t get into a BCS Bowl Game you can’t either!”
Penn State (21) at Ohio State
ESPN/ABC
Both teams that suffered horrible scandals to their football programs in the ’11 season.
Miami (FL) at South Florida
ESPN-U
Miami lost last year to South Florida, which resulted in their head coach being fired.
Texas Tech at Missouri
ABC
Did Texas Tech get extremely lucky against Oklahoma a month ago or what?
4:00 PM
Navy at San Jose St
ESPN-3.com
Navy needs a win to stay bowl eligible.
Boston College at Notre Dame
NBC
Notre Dame can continue their winning streak, as they head to the final game against Stanford.
5:00 PM
Utah State at Idaho
ESPN-3.com
If no one watches this game, does it still count?
7:00 PM
LSU (1) at Ole Miss
ESPN
Ole Miss is playing for nothing. Is that the perfect recipe for an upset?
Vanderbilt at Tennessee
ESPN-U
Vanderbilt needs a victory to become bowl eligible, while Tennessee needs a win for their first in the SEC.
7:30 PM
Virginia at Florida State (25)
ESPN-2
At one time this would have been an Ole Miss blow out. Now, who knows if they can win the game.
Colorado at UCLA
Versus
Upset of the century game two! No, we still aren’t saying #gameofthecentury still?
8:00 PM
USC at Oregon (4)
ABC
I joked about the LSU and Alabama upset watches above. But this one is serious. USC going to Oregon after an emotional win last week, just could sneak in an upset this week.
Oklahoma (5) at Baylor (22)
ABC
Oklahoma has stumbled their way back into the National Title picture.
Kansas State (13) at Texas (23)
FX
Texas needs a big win this week over a good Kansas State team.
10:15 PM
California at Stanford (9)
ESPN
Poor California, they get a very upset Stanford team this week. Andrew Luck throws five touchdown passes.
New Mexico State at BYU
ESPN-U
And if you are still awake and the Stanford game ends early, click over to finish off your night with BYU.
Oh, Yes, He Can!!!
It’s official. Tebowmania has taken over the league.
Beating the Dolphins, the Raiders, and the Chiefs didn’t really count. Leading the Broncos from behind with a 95-yard drive against one of the best and proudest defenses in the NFL has taken the legend of Tim Tebow to a new level.
Tim Tebow and his Broncos, after a sluggish night through more than three quarters, put together an Elway-esque effort to steal a victory from the Jets. The 17-13 win moved the Broncos to 5-5, and dropped the Jets to 5-5.
Facing third and four from the Jets 20, with a growing sense that this one would be settled in overtime, the Jets opted to blitz, Tebow avoided it by rolling left, and he rumbled past the first-down sticks and into the end zone.
Hampering the Jets was the early loss of running back Shonn Greene, who injured his ribs. Coupled with the absence of LaDainian Tomlinson (knee), the Greene injury forced Joe McKnight to carry the load, and McKnight grounded and pounded for only 59 yards on 16 carries.
Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez played erratically for most of the night, and an interception returned for a touchdown by cornerback Andre Goodman was the only seven-pointer that the Broncos could muster until Tebow orchestrated that epic 95-yard march.
It started with a near disaster, as Tebow passed from the end zone to Eddie Royal, who caught it in the end zone and nearly was tackled by Jets safety Jim Leonhard. Royal juked past a sliding Leonhard and sprinted to the 13.
The Broncos had only 134 offensive yards before that 95-yard drive, which included seven runs by Tebow for 57 yards. Perhaps most impressively, Tebow managed to keep possession of the back end of the ball as Jets linebacker David Harris tried to rip it out while Tebow was falling to the ground.
The Jets now have their backs against the wall — again — with two losses in four days and a visit from the Bills on deck in Week 12.
Next up for the Broncos? A trip to San Diego. And for the first time ever, the Broncos and Tebow widely will be expected to win the game.
NCAA Basketball Power Rankings
1 Last Week: 1 North Carolina Tar Heels (2-0)
John Henson, Carolina's most valuable defender, shoots jumpers right-handed but prefers to block them left-handed. "Most shooters are righties, so my left hand matches up well against them," the 6-foot-10 forward told me in October. "And for some reason, I believe I'm quicker with my left hand -- and that I can get more extension with it. I don't know if I think that or know that, but if a guy comes at me for a right-handed layup, I have a better chance of blocking it left-handed."
I charted Henson's career-high nine blocks from the Carrier Classic to try to understand three things that don't appear in the box score: Just how left-hand dominant he is as a defender, how far he ranges to affect shots, and how often the Tar Heels keep the ball after he gets a hand on it. In the graphic below, there's a "JH" circle marking his starting position on each block, and an "x" marking the shooter's starting position. The arrow in between is red for a lefty block, or yellow for a righty (eight of nine were lefty, it turned out). The arrow heading away from each "x" is the post-block path of the ball; it's light blue if UNC secured possession, or green if Michigan State did (the Tar Heels got it five of nine times).
Henson, who boasts a 7-4 wingspan, has quite a bit of range: On three occasions, he started with at least one foot in the lane, but leapt to swat shots hoisted from well outside the painted area.
Next three: 11/20 vs. Mississippi Valley State, 11/22 vs. Tennessee State, 11/25 vs. South Carolina (Las Vegas Invitational)
2 Last Week: 2 Kentucky Wildcats (2-0)
As amazing as Henson is, could Wildcats freshman Anthony Davis -- who's the same height with the same wingspan but has even more speed -- end up blocking a higher percentage of shots? After two games apiece, Henson's block percentage was 16.3 and Davis' was 19.2.
I charted the seven swats Davis had against Kansas in the Champions Classic, and identified a few differences between him and Henson. All of Davis' blocks were right-handed. Davis' mode of attack is mostly to shadow drivers and then swoop in to block them from behind, whereas five of Henson's blocks were due to him lunging out at shooters. A Davis block was more likely to end a defensive possession, as UK recovered five of the seven. And aside from one tipped three-pointer, Davis did most of his work around the rim:
Next three: 11/19 vs. Penn State, 11/20 vs. Old Dominion/South Florida (Hall of Fame Tip-Off), 11/23 vs. Radford
3 Last Week: 3 Ohio State Buckeyes (2-0)
Buckeyes point guard Aaron Craft was by far the best turnover creator in SI's defensive study, generating a takeaway on 6.59 percent of the possessions he was on the floor for as a freshman. (That may seem like a low number, but believe me -- it's an incredibly high rate.)
Because so many things Craft does aren't credited in box scores, I created the "Turnometer" to monitor his overall turnover impact as a sophomore. It will appear periodically in this season's Power Rankings, in the form of the graphic below. "Steals credited" are his deserved* steals from the official stat sheet; "charges taken" is self-explanatory; "moving screens" are the offensive fouls he draws by running hard through screens; and "TOs uncredited" is a catch-all for his outside-the-box-score production. For example, in the first half of the opener against Wright State, Craft stripped the ball from a driver, only to have a teammate corral it, and he also forced a shot-clock violation by suffocating two different guards over the final 10 seconds of the possession.
Through two games, Craft has created 11 turnovers, or one on 9.69 percent of his possessions:
* I actually had to take one steal away, as the box score on Ohio State's website gave Craft a first-half steal against Florida that should have gone to William Buford.
Next three: 11/18 vs. Jackson State, 11/21 vs. North Florida, 11/23 vs. VMI
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