Bowl Storylines & 2nd Annual Playoff Predictions

First off, for those who missed the Buckeyes win the Fiesta Bowl over Notre Dame, I need to tell you about what ABC had as the #1 storyline: Apparently, the sister of Notre Dame’s QB Brady Quinn is dating Ohio State LB AJ Hawk. Yes, it had absolutely nothing to do with the game, but they interviewed most of the players about this. Throughout the game, they’d show her in the stands (wearing a jersey that was half-ND, half-OSU), then they’d bring her down on the field to comment on how she felt about different sacks. The weirdest thing is, she got continually uglier as the game wore on. Personally, I believe she isn’t even dating AJ Hawk and this was just a ploy by ABC to capture the attention of the female audience.

As for the Championship game coming up on Wednesday night, I didn’t know who to root for until very recently. Honestly, I hate the Big 12, but now I’ve decided that I hate the “2005 USC” team more than any other team, including Texas, simply because of the asinine ESPN Sportscenter feature matching up the 10 greatest teams of all time against 2005 USC. Mighty Mike pointed this out earlier in the week in a Slate article. The part I like about that USC segment is when they talk about each of the all-time great teams. The part that just confounds all logic is that each time I've seen this segment (3 times maybe?), Herbstreit and Mark May talk about how 2005 USC would destroy (insert team here) by a score of 43-27, and how everyone in America agrees because everyone voted for 2005 USC yet again. The thing is, 2005 USC wouldn't destroy all these other teams. They barely got past Notre Dame. They barely got past an "average" Fresno St. team. They have a very weak defense. I realize they are going for their 3rd straight championship team, but this one is weaker on defense than any of the other ones! I would much rather, as always, let the programmers at EA Sports set up the all-time bracket, and let their simulation tell me who would win. It's objective, and much better than this dumb segment on ESPN. Plus, we'd get ridiculous video game highlights. EA sports would have loved to have done the advertising too, from what they tell me.

Anyways, on towards my 2nd annual playoff forecast:

AFC

5-Jacksonville @ 4-New England – This is what I consider the easiest game on the schedule. I just feel as though Jacksonville has played a creampuff schedule all season, the nerve of them to play the Texans and the Titans twice!
Pick: New England

6-Pittsburgh @ 3-Cincinnati – This should be an interesting game, especially since it’s the only divisional game on tap. Ultimately, the Cincy defense has been pretty non-existent the 2nd half of the season, and I think that will mean a very short trip to the playoffs.
Pick: Pittsburgh

AFC Forecast - Where Rule 1 does NOT work

New England will then be forced to go to Denver. I realize that one of my rules for the playoffs, printed 1 year ago is: "Rule 1: It’s tough to beat a team you already beat. If you played a team once, the losing team OFTEN wins the rematch." However, as you will see shortly, almost every potential playoff game this year is a rematch, and I just don’t think New England has enough to enable a win in Denver. Meanwhile, I also believe Indy will be able to "sweep" Pittsburgh in yet another rematch from earlier in the season. Basically, I'm saying that Rule 1 will not work in the AFC. Finally, Denver will travel to Indy and Indy will have no trouble shredding the “improved defense” of the Broncos.

NFC

5-CAR @ 4-NY Giants – This is, by far, my most anticipated game of the week. I really believe that the winner of this game is capable of reaching the Super Bowl. Then again, any team in the NFC is more than capable of winning the 50-50 matchups that exist, since no one is really that dominating. In the end, I have no idea who will win this game, so I will just go with the team with the better defense, and that is, far and away, the CAR.
Pick: CAR

6-Washington @ 3-Tampa Bay – For this game, I am going to apply “Rule 1”, and because Tampa Bay somehow won the earlier matchup 36-35, I fully expect the Redskins to be enraged enough to win in Tampa.
Pick: Washington

NFC Forecast - where I expect Rule 1 to work every time

Washington travels to Seattle, and I will apply “Rule 1”, so that Seattle wins the matchup. The Seahawks have one of the noisest stadiums, and I just don’t expect the Redskins to survive. Meanwhile, CAR will have no trouble with the Bears, because the Bears are merely following the script from 2001 when they streaked out to a 2nd-round bye with a strong defense, and then got blown out in their first game. In addition, CAR already lost to the Bears so “Rule 1” will work here. Finally, CAR will go to Seattle and win just to complete the Super Bowl matchup I’ve been waiting for all season and because Seattle has not seen a defense this good all season. This is highly unlikely though, since no team has ever won 3 road games to get to the Super Bowl, but if anyone can figure out how to do it, it’s Coach John Fox.

Finally, I expect Indy to win over CAR. Yes, this is the opposite of my pre-season pick (CAR over Indy), but it's what I'm feeling at the moment.

Final Season Stats
Last week: 8-8
Season: 160-96
Manwich Matchup: 10-7 (I’m riding the CAR as far as it can go, and I hope that’s the Super Bowl)
Upset Special: 3-14 (I picked the Bears, even though I hate them. In the words of comic book guy: “worst upset special year ever.” If I hadn't forced myself to pick upsets each week, it would have been an amazing year.)