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COLLEGE FOOTBALL PICKS- (covers.com): red hot byu gets little respect from oddsmakers. Two teams that finished the regular season heading in very different directions will meet at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas for the Pioneer PureVision Las Vegas when the No. 20 Brigham Young Cougars (10-2) take on the Oregon Ducks (7-5). The Cougars enter on a nine-game winning streak after going undefeated in the Mountain West Conference to claim their first conference title since 2001. Paving the way was one of the most dangerous passing attacks in the country led by senior quarterback John Beck. Beck helped BYU finish fourth in the nation with an average of 319.3 passing yards per game. Beck’s numbers were downright video game like with a completion percentage of 70 with 30 touchdowns against just six interceptions. Despite the impressive stats, he will have his work cut out for him against an Oregon team that’s allowing just 156 passing yards per game. Oregon comes in winless in its last three games, including a heart-breaking last minute loss to rival Oregon State in its season finale on Nov. 24. That game saw the Ducks allow a season-high 255 yards through the air; just the third time they allowed an opponent to pass for over 200 yards all season. On offense, Oregon couldn’t be more different than BYU. The Ducks finished the season ranked first in the Pac-10 and eighth in the country with an average of 189.2 rushing yards per game. Their ground attack is led by sophomore Jonathan Stewart, who is anything but the prototypical running back at 6-foot-2 and 260 pounds. Stewart emerged early in the season as a darkhorse Heisman Trophy candidate before injuries and Oregon losses stalled his campaign. Nonetheless, Stewart finished the season with 960 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns on just 176 carries. Oregon’s biggest question mark is its play at quarterback. Junior Dennis Dixon was the team’s starter much of the season, but slowly gave way to fellow junior Brady Leaf as the season progressed. Leaf, the brother of former Washington State star Ryan Leaf, played his first full game as a starter against Oregon State. He threw for 274 yards, one touchdown and one interception and is expected to get the start in Las Vegas. It will be the second straight trip to the Las Vegas Bowl for the Cougars, who lost 35-28 to California last year. Head coach Bronco Mendenhall is using the experience to adjust the team’s practice schedule. The Cougars won’t practice as much as they did last year, working on just strength and conditioning until Dec. 11, at which time they’ll get back on the field to prepare for their meeting with the Ducks.

NCAA FOOTBALL PICKS: (covers.com): rice qb questionable for new orleans bowl. New Orleans will return as a site for college football`s postseason when the Troy Trojans (7-5) face the Rice Owls (7-5) in the Superdome for the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl. The game was played last year in Lafayette because of Hurricane Katrina, but it’s back in the Superdome for the sixth edition of the bowl game. Both teams struggled early in the season and turned their seasons around with strong conference play. Rice finished second in the West division of C-USA while Troy edged Middle Tennessee for the Sun Belt Conference championship. Rice pulled off one of the biggest turnarounds in the nation after going 1-10 last season, and few would have predicted the Owls would enter this bowl season on a six-game winning streak. Rice is led by one of the nation`s top receivers, Jarett Dillard, who compiled 82 catches and 20 touchdowns this season . He’ll face a respectable Troy pass defense that’s allowing 207.3 yards per game and he could be doing it without the help of his starting quarterback. Chase Clement is questionable because of a shoulder injury. Rice finished seventh nationally in turnover margin and Clement was a large reason for that, throwing only five interceptions all year. Backup quarterback Joel Armstrong, wasn`t nearly as careful with the football in the Owls’ regular season finale. He was intercepted twice and lost a fumble, but if Clement can return for the Owls, Armstrong can return to receiver and give the team more depth at that position. The Trojans are making their second bowl appearance since becoming a Division I-A program five years ago. Troy uses a spread offense which gives quarterback Omar Haugabook the chance to pass or run on most downs. Haugabook ranked second in the Sun Belt conference in quarterback rating (119.1) and led in touchdowns (17). On the down side, Haugabook tossed 16 interceptions the Trojans finished with one of the worst turnover margins (107th) in the country at minus-10. In spite of the carelessness, the Trojans went 6-1 in conference play to finish the season and claimed the Sun Belt for the first time in only third season as a member. This will be Troy`s second bowl appearance in the last five years, while Rice will be making its first bowl game since 1961.

NCAA FOOTBALL FREE PICKS- (covers.com) : defensive usf sees high total for east carolina. The South Florida Bulls and East Carolina Pirates start off the first Saturday of the bowl season, meeting in Birmingham, Ala. with the Papajohns.com Bowl at stake. Both teams posted more wins than predicted by preseason pundits and ended their regular seasons with wins over more heralded football schools. Both teams also had three recent head-to-head meetings due to a common Conference-USA lineage before South Florida moved to the Big East last season. The Bulls scored at least 38 points to go 3-0 in the series between 2002 and 2004, though the Pirates averaged 28 points per game themselves in those high-scoring games. USF finished its 8-4 season with an upset win at West Virginia, once again relying on the arm and legs of quarterback Matt Grothe. The redshirt freshman won the starting job in the summer and topped the Big East with 3,102 total yards. Grothe led the team with 609 yards and nine touchdowns on the ground and threw for 14 more majors. Tailback Ricky Ponton didn’t deliver the expected boost to the Bulls’ running game when he returned from a team-imposed suspension mid-season. The fact that no South Florida running back topped 52 yards over the team’s final five games will add an unnecessary burden on Grothe to deliver on the ground. The Bulls’ defense is built around speed and pursuit. Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano admitted that his highly-touted defense couldn’t imitate USF’s all-out blitzing strategy against West Virginia because his defenders couldn’t match the Bulls’ collective speed. South Florida ended up leading the Big East in total defense and scoring defense during conference games. Jim Leavitt’s team struggled, however, with often-overlooked aspects of the game. The Bulls were the most penalized team in the Big East and their 28 turnovers also topped the conference. The team’s kickers converted only six of 14 field goal attempts and missed two extra points, and South Florida also owned a conference-low 36.2 yards per punt. East Carolina overcame a 2-4 start to finish 7-5 and capped the campaign with an upset win at North Carolina State. The winning record was a major accomplishment for a team that had gone 8-26 over the previous three seasons. Second-year head coach Skip Holtz leaned on a strong defense to finish second in Conference USA’s East Division. A defensive line that returned all four starters led to a drastic improvement against the run with East Carolina allowing only 144 rushing yards per game. The Pirates allowed a conference-worst 218 yards per game last season. They also plundered careless quarterbacks for a conference-high 16 interceptions. The newly implemented spread offense became more run-oriented as the year progressed and the Pirates’ 5-1 finish displayed their mastery of clock management by season’s end. By November, East Carolina was running the ball 60 percent of the time on offense (up from 44 percent in September) and led the conference in time of possession in the final month. The more conservative game plan hurt quarterback James Pinkney’s numbers compared to 2005, but he traded stats for wins. The return to health of Aundrae Allison is a big positive for the passing game. Allison caught 83 passes for 1,024 yards in 2005 before suffering a knee injury that made him sit out spring scrimmages. He reestablished himself as a top target in the season’s second half, making 40 catches for 420 yards over the last six games. Brandon Fractious emerged as the top running threat in the team’s revamped ground game. The undersized senior ran for more than 90 yards per game in November. This marks the second time ECU has played in Birmingham this season. The Pirates lost to UAB Sept. 9, 17-12. NCAA FOOTBALL PICKS- (associated press): tulane hires former ucla coach. New Mexico offensive coordinator Bob Toledo is taking over at Tulane, The Associated Press has learned. Two people familiar with the decision, who asked not to be identified because a formal announcement was pending, said Monday that Toledo - a former head coach at UCLA - had been hired by the Green Wave. UCLA takes on Florida St. on December 27th in the Emerald Bowl. Books have the Bruins as 4 1/2-point favorites with the total set at 41. Tulane scheduled a news conference for 5:30 p.m. (EST) on Monday to introduce its new coach. Toledo will take over for Chris Scelfo, who was fired after Tulane finished 4-8 this season. Toledo helped New Mexico finish 6-6 and earn a berth in the inaugural New Mexico Bowl. Toledo coached at UCLA from 1996-2002, compiling a 49-32 record that included a school-record 20-game winning streak and two Pac-10 championships. Despite his successes, he was fired in 2002 by Dan Guerrero, then in his first year as UCLA`s athletic director, who said he felt the program wasn`t heading in the right direction after a 7-5 season. Scelfo spent eight seasons at Tulane and went 37-57. He also guided the Green Wave through the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when the team was displaced, played 11 games in 11 different cities and finished 2-9. NCAA COLLEGE FOOTBALL FREE PICKS- (associated press): clemson tight end to miss bowl game. Clemson tight end Thomas Hunter broke his foot in practice Sunday and will not play in the Music City Bowl against Kentucky. ``This is very disappointing because Thomas was a big part of our offense,`` Clemson head coach Tommy Bowden said. ``He has had a very productive year and a very productive career.`` Hunter, a senior, had 16 catches for 305 yard this season for a team-best 19.1 yards per reception. For his career, he had 29 receptions for 425 yards. The Tigers (8-4) play the Wildcats (7-5) on Dec. 29. Oddsmakers have Clemson listed as a 10-point favorite with the total set at 58 NCAA COLLEGE FOOTBALL FREE PICKS: (associated press): arizona state hires dennis erickson.

Dennis Erickson has accepted the head coaching job at Arizona State, Idaho athletic director Rob Spear said Saturday night. The 59-year-old Erickson spent one season at Idaho in his second stint at the school, going 4-8. He led Miami to two national titles, also has been a head coach at Wyoming, Washington State and Oregon State and coached Seattle and San Francisco in the NFL. Erickson has a 149-64-1 record in 18 seasons as a college coach. At Oregon State, he took over a program that had an NCAA Division I-record 28 straight losing seasons. His first team in Corvallis went 7-5 and an Oahu Bowl appearance. His second Beavers` team routed Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl to cap an 11-1 season. Arizona State sports information director Mark Brand had no comment, but Spear said Erickson told him Saturday afternoon that he was accepting the Sun Devils` job. Athletic director Lisa Love had conducted a secretive search since firing Dirk Koetter, but Erickson`s name surfaced as a candidate almost immediately. Arizona State must pay a $150,000 buyout to Idaho, far less than would have been required in a higher-profile football program. Erickson had signed a five-year deal, and Spear said he was ``very disappointed`` in the coach`s decision to leave after only one season. ``Had we known that we were going to end up in this situation we would never have gone down that road,`` Spear told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. ``We made a commitment and we thought we had a commitment from the other end, but I wish Dennis Erickson the best.`` Erickson replaces Dirk Koetter, who was fired after going 40-33 in six seasons. Koetter will coach the Sun Devils against Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl on Dec. 24. Oddsmakers list the Sun Devils as 8-point underdogs in the Hawaii Bowl. The total is set at 74 1/2. Erickson coached the Seahawks from 1995 through 1998, compiling a 31-33 record. He returned to the NFL for two seasons with San Francisco. His first 49ers team went 7-9 in 2003, but he was fired after a 2-14 record in 2004. A year ago, Erickson returned to where he started his head coaching career, vowing to stay at Idaho to rebuild the Vandals` long-suffering program. But the Arizona State job apparently was too good to resist. Erickson`s first head coaching job was with Idaho from 1982 through 1985. The former Montana State quarterback coached one season at Wyoming and two at Washington State before moving to Miami. Under Erickson, the Hurricanes went 63-9 in six seasons and won national championships in 1989 and 1991. The Sun Devils were 7-5 and are in a bowl game for the third year in a row. Love gave Koetter a three-year, $2.85 million contract extension a year ago, but she decided this season that he couldn`t take the program to the level she wants it to be. Koetter`s Sun Devils were 2-19 against ranked teams, 0-12 against Pac-10 teams in California and 21-28 in the Pac-10 overall. FREE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PICKS- (covers.com): top ten ats teams as of 12/12. 1 Central Michigan 2 Nevada 3 East Carolina 4 Ohio State 5 Brigham Young 6 Rice 7 Wisconsin 8 Texas Christian 9 Texas A&M 8-2-1 10 San Jose State

FREE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PICKS- (espn.com) security on't let smiths heisman on plane. Troy Smith's Heisman Trophy was shipped home because airport security would not allow the Ohio State quarterback to take it on the plane Tuesday. Smith wore a black leather jacket with the Heisman insignia on back when he arrived at the airport from New York, where he was presented college football's most coveted trophy. Eddie George, the last Buckeye to win the Heisman in 1995, had his trophy get stuck in an airport X-ray machine, losing the tip of its right index finger and bending the middle finger. "We decided to have it shipped. That's much easier. How times have changed. Eddie carried it on the plane and put it in the seat next to him," sports information director Steve Snapp said. Smith said he didn't mind. "No, because Eddie's finger got bent," Smith said. "I don't want that to happen to mine." Also Tuesday, Smith was named the first-team quarterback on The Associated Press' All-America team.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL FREE PICKS: (associated press) boston college interviews steelers quarterback coach. Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback coach Mark Whipple has interviewed for the head coaching job at Boston College, Steelers coach Bill Cowher said Monday while endorsing his assistant for the job. "I know Mark met with them [Sunday], and he said it went well," Cowher said Monday at his weekly press conference. "He's excited about the opportunity. I think he'd be a great candidate for that school. What Mark has done has been well documented. He's a quality person and a good football coach. He'd be a great asset to any school." Boston College athletic director Gene DeFilippo was uncharacteristically absent from the basketball team's Atlantic Coast Conference opener against Maryland on Sunday night. Spokesman Chris Cameron said DeFilippo was out of town because of the coaching search but could not confirm he was in Pittsburgh. Cowher said that, if hired, Whipple would finish the NFL season with the Steelers. Whipple was the coach at New Haven and Brown before taking over at the University of Massachusetts, where he had a 49-25 record from 1998-2003 and won the NCAA Division I-AA championship in '98. Tom O'Brien left BC this month to take over at North Carolina State. NCAA FOOTBALL PICKS: (associated press): la lafayette fires coach. After five seasons at Louisiana-Lafayette, football coach Rickey Bustle is making changes to his staff. Bustle on Monday fired offensive coordinator Rob Christophel, defensive coordinator Brent Pry, wide receiver coach Brian Crist and cornerbacks coach Terry Sims. "The business side of athletics is tough," said Bustle. "It's especially difficult when it comes to decisions about making a difference in a football program, in particular the coaches who have worked extremely hard to build a program and have been loyal and excellent role models to the community, their players and the university." Christophel, Pry and Crist were all members of Bustle's original staff hired in December 2001. Sims replaced Clay Jennings before the 2005 season after Jennings left to take a position at the University of Houston. "This change has no reflection on these coaches' character and coaching ability," Bustle said. "Our program is at a point where we need a shot in the arm of new enthusiasm and a change of philosophy." The Ragin' Cajuns finished last season 6-6; they are 23-35 since Bustle took over. Both Christophel and Pry were Bustle's original coordinators. Pry was promoted to assistant head coach in 2004. No timetable has been set on hiring new coaches, but Bustle said the process was under way.