Bowl season heating up• It might be cold outside but the bowl season is warming up as it's finally getting to the time of the year where exciting matchups are being played. With the current landscape of college football, nearly any team with 6 wins can make a bowl (as is evidenced by this sterling matchup) but most of the mediocre games are played earlier in the bowl season and now we have better games remaining, most of which begin in January.
• On Thursday, Florida State used a suffocating defense to recover from a 14-0 deficit to defeat Notre Dame 18-14 and are now the only team to win a bowl every year from 2008 to 2011 and Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III led Baylor to a comeback win over Washington.
• On January 2nd you could spend all day watching great matchups as there are 6 games and except for Ohio State vs Florida (two national powers having a down year) every team playing is ranked. The best game will likely be the Fiesta Bowl which matches up high powered offenses; Brandon Weeden and Justin Blackmon of Oklahoma State against Andrew Luck's Stanford Cardinal, but the Rose Bowl claims the Pac-12 winner against the Big 10 winner (Oregon and Wisconsin respectively) and that game will be very entertaining as well. After the 2nd, there will be a few more games but no more than one per day and Sportico will preview most of those as well in a little more detail.
Trouble in paradise?
• In our Wednesday spotlight on Kevin Durant, we mentioned the fact that he plays alongside all-star point guard Russell Westbrook. The relationship between the two budding superstars has been reported to be strained. Durant is the more well known star, but Westbrook wants more attention for the work he does, which manifested itself a bit in the playoffs last year when Westbrook was criticized for taking (and missing) far too many shots.
• This strain bubbled over Wednesday night when the two stars got into a shouting match on the sidelines after Westbrook’s anger at a third teammate's shot selection spilled over. Both players downplayed the incident (as did Thunder coach Scotty Brooks) however it remains to be seen if this tension will continue to cause a schism on one of the best young teams in the league.
• Thursday night (as the NBA continues to play an absurd amount of games to fit as many games into their lockout-shortened schedule) Durant hit a game winning 3-pointer to defeat the Dallas Mavericks 104-102 in a rematch of last year's Western Conference Finals. The Thunder are 4-0 and will have a day off before playing again on New Years Eve.
NFL Playoff Picture clearing up
• The easy division: the NFC – The Packers have run away with this regular season. They have lost once, but have clinched the first round seed in the NFC. Both the San Francisco 49ers and New Orleans Saints have clinched their divisions, and will be the 2 and 3 seed depending on this weekend (if the 49ers win they have it, if the Saints win and the 49ers lose the Saints will be the number 2 seed). The two wild cards (5th and 6th seeds) have already been clinched by the Detroit Lions and Atlanta Falcons. The one spot left to be filled is the 4th seed. The Dallas Cowboys travel to the New York Giants in a winner-take-all game.
• The AFC is a bit more confusing: The New England Patriots have clinched at least the #2 seed, and will be the #1 seed if the current #2 team (Baltimore Ravens) lose. If they win, they will clinch the #1 spot. The Ravens will clinch the #2 spot with either a victory or a Pittsburgh Steelers loss. The Steelers are currently the 5th seed (as the first wild card team) but can leap to the #2 seed if they win and the Ravens lose.
• The Houston Texans have clinched the #3 Spot. The #4 spot will go to the Denver Broncos if they win, or the Oakland Raiders lose while the Raiders will take it if they win and the Broncos lose. The 6th spot comes down to four teams. The Cincinnati Bengals have the inside track, if they win they have it, however they play the extremely tough Baltimore Ravens who, as we've noted, still have something to play for. The New York Jets, Tennessee Titans and Raiders each have a chance if a LOT of different things break their way. We will have a full recap of the weekend, and preview of the playoffs on Monday’s Sportico.
