Birmingham, AL plays host to the Compass Bowl on January seventh with the Pittsburgh Panthers taking on the Southern Methodist University Mustangs. The Pittsburgh Panthers come in just after the one-year Todd Graham experiment at head coach. Graham quit his post on December 14th to take the head coaching position at Arizona State. Defensive Coordinator Keith Patterson will put on the headset for the Pittsburgh Panthers in this clash of titans. SMU enters into play with the threat of the “Death Penalty” handed down in the 1980’s still being talked about today. Former Nfl and Hawaii coach June Jones is now in his 4th year on the side lines of SMU. The wagering line has this set at Pittsburgh (-3) with an over-under of 47 points.
The Pittsburgh steelers are matched up versus the Broncos in the nfl post-season. The Pittsburgh steelers ended as a wild card with an extraordinary record of 12-4 in the AFC North division, whereas the Broncos concluded up with an 8-8 record narrowly claiming winners of the AFC West. The Pittsburgh steelers will be visiting Denver to face off versus them at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
It all boils down to this as the #1 rated LSU Tigers battle against the #2 rated Alabama Crimson Tide in the BCS National Tournament Game at the Superdome in New Orleans, LA on January 9th. Alabama head coach Nick Saban is no stranger to this match, winning the national championship in 2009 and additionally winning it with LSU as a head coach in 2003. LSU head coach Les Miles is additionally no stranger at this moment as he has won the national championship in 2007. Two fantastic squads and head coaches meeting on a collision course in what will certainly be a great game. The sportsbooks presently have this at Alabama (-1) with the over-under established at 40 points.
With regards to scheduling, maybe the Lions just are unlucky. First, they conclude their regular season versus their division rival Packers, who also possess the league’s greatest record. They then follow that up by getting the Saints in the first round of the playoffs.
After finishing with the top record in the league a year ago, and getting dismissed in the 1st round by the Green Bay Packers, the Falcons pray that slipping into the playoffs undetected in 2012 will give them better results. Atlanta ended 10-6 this year, earning them a 1st round wild-card game with the NFC East winning New york giants (9-7).
The Bengals will be facing off vs the Houston Texans in the nfl playoffs. The Bengals will travel to Reliant Stadium in Houston for the match up. Cincinnati concluded their year with a record of 9-7 and achieved the playoffs this year as a wild card in the AFC North division. Houston concluded with a record of 10-6 and came out ahead as the leading team in the AFC South this year.
The Seattle Seahawks (7-8) are going to be visiting challenge the Cardinals (7-8) in an NFC West divisional contest. Each particular squad has fallen just shy of playoff competition this year as they were looking for a wild card spot, but there is a little bit of motivation that a win will offer either squad a winning record. Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll has yet to lose a game vs the Cardinals in his stint, but Arizona qb Kevin Kolb may come back and start for his squad following recovering from a concussion.
This match between the Pittsburgh steelers and the Browns will showcase two squads who have distinct goals for the last two matches of the season. The Steelers are presently in the playoff competition and are simply only getting all set for the playoffs. The Browns on the flip side have had a quite bad season and are only attempting to salvage their season with a couple of more wins. Both squads nevertheless will be competing hard in spite of the difference in their records. It will be a quite tight game if both squads play hard.
The Philadelphia Eagles (7-8) will be visiting the Redskins (5-10) in an NFC East divisional contest in their final game. Both teams are at the bottom of the division rankings and have been eliminated from playoff contention this year. Philadelphia had a lot of press buzz previous to the start of the year being labeled the dream team with their splash in the free agent market.
Week 17 of pro football Year is constantly full of trap contests. The match between the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers in Green Bay is one of this sort of game.