( Note: This is the first in a six-part series over the next three weeks) The NFL expanded its playoff field to include 12 teams beginning in the 1990 season. Heading into the 2009 season, there had been 110 teams from 1991 through 2008 to follow a playoff appearance with another one the very next...

Nick Saban's Alabama team of 2008 entered its SEC championship game showdown with Florida ranked No. 1 in the nation sporting a 12-0 record but as 10-point underdogs to then-No. 2 Florida. The oddsmakers, not the polls, had it right as the Gators won 31-20. Florida would advance from there to beat...

The 2010 college football season got underway Thursday night with four ranked teams taking the field. No. 2 Ohio State had little trouble with Marshall, beating them 45-7 in Columbus. Terrelle Pryor opened his Heisman 'campaign' by completing 17 of 25 passes for 247 yards and three TDs (one of...

The first month of the 2010 CFB season closes with Thursday night's Big 12 showdown between Texas A&M and Oklahoma State. Both schools enter undefeated, two of 25 such schools. The AP's preseason top-three remain the same in the most recent poll (9/26). Alabama is a solid No. 1, followed...

Three weeks down and 14 to go in the NFL's 2010 regular season. Eight teams entered Week 2 at 2-0 and eight more at 0-2. Just three teams emerged still unscathed after Week's 3 play (two unbeatens were guaranteed to lose as the Pittsburgh at Tampa Bay and Green Bay at Chicago games featured a...

It's almost impossible to believe that after four weeks of the 2010 season, the NFL's lone unbeaten team is the 3-0 KC Chiefs. The Chiefs are coming off a 4-12 year in 2009 and the team's three-year record coming onto the 2010 season was 10-38. The Chiefs were idle last week but fellow 3...

Alabama received a season-high 58 first-place votes (of 60) in the October 3 AP poll but those same pollsters showed the Tide very little 'love' after their 35-21 loss on Saturday at South Carolina. It was the first time a No. 1 team had lost a non-championship (SEC or BCS) game since Texas'...

I opened last week's NFL Notes with the following statement, "It's almost impossible to believe that after four weeks of the 2010 season, the NFL's lone unbeaten team is the 3-0 KC Chiefs." The Chiefs acquitted themselves well at Indy last week but fell 19-9 to the Colts. So unlike...

An age-old axiom says you need to run the ball to win in the NFL and for those who believe in that, the following numbers will support that belief. Teams with the most rushing yards in a game are 65-25 SU (.722) and an equally impressive 61-27-2 ATS (69.4 percent) after six weeks. Teams who have run...

Each CFB 'weekend' in November will open on Tuesday, although we rarely get a significant contest until Thursday. That's the case this weekend as the lone pre-Saturday game of any consequence will be No. 20 Va Tech (22nd in the BCS) hosting Ga Tech on Thursday night. The Hokies have made...

One doesn't need an advanced mathematics degree to figure out that Week 9 is the midway point of the NFL's 17-week schedule. End the season right now and not a single NFC division winner from last year would repeat. The Cowboys won the East last season at 11-5 but are in last-place at 1-6 entering...

Michael Vick put on a clinic last Monday night as the Eagles decimated the Redskins, 59-28. Vick completed 20-of-28 passes for 333 yards with four TD passes and not a single interception. He also ran for 80 yards (on just eight carries) while tacking on another two Ds on the ground. "Jaws"...

The week opened with the nation’s No. 1 team, Ohio State, as its lone unbeaten at 24-0 and Centenary (Summit League) as the lone winless team at 0-25. The Buckeyes’ lone game this week is at Wisconsin (No. 13 in the AP and No. 14 in the coaches’ poll) on Saturday, which has won 16 straight home games...

I wrote a two-part NBA report when the teams returned from the All Star break. I noted then, that the Chicago Bulls entered the All-Star break with a winning percentage over .700 (38-16, .704) for just the fifth time in franchise history. Three of the previous four times Chicago had done that, the Bulls...