Saturday's Big 3: Week 4

Here are the top three games on the college football schedule for week four of the season:

3) #4 Florida at Tennessee
A SEC East rivalry is renewed at the Gators take on the Rocky-Top singing Vols. Tennessee is going to have their hands full now that Florida WR Percy Harvin is back to 100% after a heal injury that has limited his touches. With Harvin at Tim Tebow's disposal, I see the Gators going in to a hostile enviorment and picking up the W.

2) #3 Georgia at Arizona St.
This is as far west as the 'Dawgs have been for a regualr season game since 1960. Some of the appeal of this game was knocked off after ASU was upset last week, but it's a great game none the less. ASU QB Rudy Carpenter (975 passing yards) will look to slice up the secondary, and Georgia RB Knowshon Moreano looks to add to his Heisman resume. This will be a very close game, but Georgia will go get the win in the dessert.

1) #6 LSU at #10 Auburn.
The Tiger Bowl is the biggest game of this weekend. It's been 10 years since LSU has beat Auburn on the road, a streak that Auburn fans hope to see continue. Auburn's D, who only allowed 2 points last weekend, will look to limit LSU RB Charles Scott, who has rushed for an average of 11.4 yards per carry. Eleven of the last 18 matchups bewteen the two have been decided by a touchdown or less, including four in a row. This weekends game will be more of the same, but I see Auburn, with the home field advantge, getting the win over the Bayou Bengals.

It's no supurise that all of these games have a SEC team in them, it's clearly the deepest conference in college football.

Wizzards Lose Arenas

The AP is reporting that Washington Wizzards franchise point guard Gilbert Arenas will be out at least until December following surgery to his left knee Thursday. The procedure to remove what is being called "loose debris" is the third surgery that Arenas has had in the past 17 months.

This is bad news for a Wizzards team not known for its depth. The team in July signed the seven year pro to a six year $111 million deal.

Rays Prove Themselves Yet Again

Once again the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox had a series showdown in which first place was up for grabs and once again it was the Rays, not the defending champs, who came out on top.

Tampa scored ten runs, six of which came of Boston starter Tim Wakefield during his 2.1 innings of work, en route to a 10-3 victory and two game strong hold on the AL East. Willy Aybar, Fernando Perez, and Gabe Gross all homered in a winning effort for the Rays who now have 90 wins on the season.

The win makes Tampa Bay just the sixth team in Major League Baseball history to win 90 games in a season after having ten consecutive prior losing seasons.

David Ortiz homered twice for the Red Sox who have now lost four of their last five against the division leading Rays.

The two teams will not face each other again in the regular season, but both appear to be locks to make the playoffs at this point setting up a potential match-up in the ALCS. Tampa won the season series 10-8.

QB Shuffle

A pair of NFL teams announced today that they will be changing quarterbacks on Sunday.

The Minnesota Vikings have elected to go with 15 year veteran Gus Frerotte for their Sunday matchup with the Carolina Panthers. Frerotte will be replacing Tavaris Jackson who had started both games so far this season. Jackson had been the Vikings starter most of last season, nearly leading the Vikings to a playoff berth. Viking's coach Brad Childress had the following to say in regards to the move:

"I'm just not seeing right now the aggressiveness from Tarvaris that I saw throughout the offseason, training camp, the two preseason games that he played in. And part of it may be experience. I know Gus will give us that. And I know his approach will also lend itself to that."

Elsewhere in the NFL the Kansas City Chiefs announced that Tyler Thigpen will get the start Sunday against the Atlanta Falcons. Thigpen will be the Chiefs third different quarterback in three games this season; Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard were the other two. The start will be the first of his career for the second year pro out of Coastal Carolina.

"For what we're trying to do, I think he can do a good job of it," coach Herm Edwards said. "He'll be limited in some things but we want to take a look at him. We're trying to look at young players, it's part of the process. Is he a two? Is he a one? Is he always going to be a three? You don't know until they play, until they have an opportunity to play."

Sox Slug Their Way To A First Place Tie

For the first time since the day after the All-Star break, the Boston Red Sox have found themselves in a tie for first place atop the AL East. The long ball led the way for Boston, with a total of six players going deep. Leading the way was David Ortiz, who hit a 3 run bomb in the first inning, followed my Mike Lowell, also in the first. Jason Bay hit a shot in the 4th inning with Jason Varitek and Kevin Youkilis following suit in the same frame. Jacoby Ellsbury hit the final sox homer in the 5th inning. Dustin Pedroia also added an RBI.

Pitching wise, Disuke Matsuzaka picked up his 17th win, going 5 innings with 7 strikeouts. Tampa stater Scott Kazmir didn't fare as well, going 3+ innings, giving up 4 homers and 4 walks.

This is a rough start for the Rays in what could be called their most important homestand in franchise history. They have two games remaining with Boston, then wild-card hopeful Minnesota comes in for a four game series. If the Rays start to slide, the eyes of the Twins will be wide open, looking for the last spot in the playoffs.

Lester Pitches Sox Within 1

Johan Santana to Boston for Jon Lester, Jed Lowrie, and Michael Bowden. Thats all it would have taken to land one of the most dominant pitchers Major League Baseball has seen in years. All winter media outlets all across the country wondered why the Red Sox would not bite on this deal. Many assumed they were just waiting out the Twins hoping to lower their price, others simply thought they would cave and give in to the outcry by the Boston fans for the once in a lifetime chance to acquire a talent like Santana. Instead, GM Theo Epstein stood firm behind his belief that the key to success for the Red Sox both short and long term rested firmly with the organization's young stud prospects. Many questioned, some called him crazy, but in the end it is Epstein who is having the last laugh.

Jon Lester pitched eight innings of four hit baseball on Sunday, outdueling one of the game's top pitchers in Roy Halladay en route to a 4-3 Sox win. In the heat of a pennant race it was been the youngsters like Lester who have been the difference. The win moves Lester to 15-5 with a 3.15 era. Not bad when you consider that Johan Santana, the star who Lester was almost traded for, is 13-7 with a 2.70 era. And oh by the way, the other major piece to that proposed deal, Jed Lowrie, has been a spark plug for the Sox both offensively and defensively since his call up replacing Julio Lugo as the everyday shortstop, has nearly a .400 on base percentage while committing zero errors in 68 games.

Sunday's win moves Boston just one game back of the first place Tampa Bay Rays, a team who just will not go away. How many times has it appeared that the Rays' run was about to end only to see them kick it back into gear and maintain their lead? Looking back over the past month of entries on this site alone will show just how impressive their run has been. They too have been led by some young stars of their own, all coming together to will the team to victory. That, however, can all change on Monday when the Sox and Rays open up a three game series in Tampa Bay. It is a chance for Boston to take over the AL East lead for the first time since June.

Then again, the Sox are 0-6 at Tropicana Stadium this season.

Only time will tell how this season will shake out. Either way, it is time to put up or shut up for both teams. Time to let young guys do the talking.

Big Z Throws No-No

In a game that was to be played in Houston but was moved to Milwaukee in the wake of Hurricane Ike, Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano, who had not pitched since September 2nd due to arm trouble, no hit the Astros. He walked Michale Bourne in the bottom of the fourth inning, which kept him from a perfect game. The Cubs last no hitter was thrown by Milt Pappas on September 2nd, 1972.

Pats Do It Without Brady

Offensive flare may put fans in the seat, but it's defense that wins championships.

The New England Patriots returned to that motto on Sunday with a 19-10 victory over the New York Jets. Led by sacks from Richard Seymour and Adalius Thomas and seven tackles from rookie linebackers Jerod Mayo the Patriots were able to limit Brett Farve and the Jets to 250 yards of total offense.

Matt Cassel, making his first start since his senior year in high school, was steady throughout, not putting up impressive numbers but managing the game well in a winning effort. Stephen Gostkowski paced New England offensively with four field goals.

This is a good start for the Brady-less Pats. They will look to make it 3-0 against the Miami Dolphins next week.

Brett Who?

All is well in the land of the cheezehead.

Aaron Rodgers is making Packers fans quickly forget the former hall-of-fame quarterback. Led by Rodgers' three first half touchdown passes the Green Bay Packers cursed to a 48-25 victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Rodgers, who finished the day 24 of 38 for 328 yards and 3 TD's, impressed throughout with his excellent arm strength.

Thats two weeks in a row that Rodgers has led the Packers to a convincing victory. He is making the Packers' decision to go with the inexperienced 24 year old over the 38 year old veteran a good one.

McFadden, Raiders Save Kiffin

At 33 years old Lane Kiffin is the youngest head coach in the NFL. He just may get to keep that title for another week as Kiffin's Oakland Raiders defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 23-8 on Sunday. Led by Darren McFadden's career high 164 yards rushing, including a nineteen yard touchdown run, the Raiders looked a lot more like the team owner Al Davis and company expected than the deer in headlights team they looked like in week one.

Rumors have circulated all week regarding the potential firing of Kiffin if things in Oakland did not get turned around in a hurry. Kiffin and Davis have bumped heads several times over the past few months prompting Davis to go as far as saying "he's not the guy I hired."

It will be interesting to see just how much time this win will buy Kiffin. It was a much better effort on the field in week two, but the Raiders only have so much to work with. Its just a matter of time before they get blown out again and the drama continues.