It's finally over! We'll give you a break and finish with the top five.

1. Sam Bradford, Oklahoma, QB, So., 11-1. No. 4 AP. (Last Week: 1)
Last week: 30-44, 370 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs, 1 Rushing TD; QB rating: 168.8 in a 61-41 win at No. 11 Oklahoma State.
Season: 268-393 passing, 4,080 yards, 46 TDs, 6 INTs, 5 rushing touchdowns. QB rating: 191.

Bradford road the roller coaster of competition all season to end up where he began ? atop the Heisman Trophy list. By becoming the second sophomore to win the award, he'll become the second player in as many years with a chance to catch Archie Griffin as the only men to be twice named the game's best player. Because of his style of play, he's got an even better chance than Tebow had because his predecessor's role was purposely limited this year. Bradford won't have that problem in 2009 if he decides to return which, if he's smart, he'll do. Bradford is as polished as any quarterback in the country, but an additional season would be a huge benefit athletically and economically. Out of the two, the second will likely be the bigger factor.

2. Graham Harrell. Texas Tech, Sr., 11-1. No. 8 AP. (Last Week: 2)
Last Week: 41-50, 309 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT; QB rating 143.1 in a 35-28 win over Baylor.
Season: 306-568, 4,747 yards, 41 TDs, 7 INTs, 6 rushing touchdowns. QB rating: 163.
Harrell came into the season as a "system quarterback" from a second-tier program with little chance to win college football's oldest award. As it was, he came within one game of winning the statue and a place in the national title game. In his senior season, Harrell proved himself to be a smart field leader with an accurate arm who played under control and mastered his offense. However, draft wonks remain unimpressed with his future as an NFL quarterback calling him a career backup. A second-day selection shouldn't be surprising as Herrell will have to prove that unlike his "system" predecessors, ie, Andre Ware and nearly every BYU QB, he's more than just a byproduct of an efficient scheme. At 6'3" and 206 pounds he's a bit undersized for an NFL quarterback.

3. Colt McCoy, Texas, QB, Jr., 11-1. No. 3 AP. (Last Week: 3)
Last week: 23-28, 311 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, 11 rushes, 49 yards, 2 TDs; QB Rating 199 in a 49-9 win over Texas A&M.
Season: 291-375 passing, 3,445 yards, 32 TDs, 7 INTs, 117 rushes, 527 yards, 10 TDs; QB rating: 179.2.
Rumor has it that McCoy's decision to turn professional after the season could hinge on whether Detroit is looking at taking a quarterback with the first pick in the draft. Any truth to the story seems unlikely since he's already commented about returning for his senior season and because the draft is easily manipulated to scare away unwanted suitors. Beyond winning a national title or Heisman Trophy, there is no other reason to risk further injury in college. Neither award will boost his draft-day status and he's likely to enter a more crowded field as Bradford and Tebow are most likely to return for another season. McCoy won't tumble as far as another Colt did a year ago, but the lesson is there. Timing is everything.

4. Chase Daniel, Missouri, QB, Sr., 9-3. No. 19 AP.  (Last Week: 4)
Last week: 25-41, 288 yards, 4 TDs, 2 INTs, 9 rushes, 103 yards; QB Rating 142.4 in a 40-37 loss to Kansas.
Season: 331-441 passing, 3,880 yards, 34 TDs, 13 INT; 50 rushes, 239 yards, QB rating: 168.5.
Missouri had its eyes on the mythical national title and their senior signal caller on the individual award. Neither will happen, but Daniel can look for a bit of conference pay back by knocking out Oklahoma in the Big 12 conference title. His future, however, isn't as clear. Daniel has good mobility, but not enough for teams to forget about his small size (6'0") and less than ideal arm strength. Second-day employment offers and back up opportunities are most likely in his futures.
 
5. Tim Tebow, Florida, QB, Jr., 11-1. No. 2 AP. (Last Week: 5)
Last week: 12-21 passing, 185 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INT, 16 rushes, 80 yards, 1 rushing touchdown; QB rating: 178.3 in a 45-15 win at Florida State.
Season: 160-246 passing, 2,299 yards, 25 TDs, 2 INTs, 137 rushes, 507 yards, 12 TDs; QB rating: 175.5.
Just missing out on a national title shot is likely to force Tebow back for a final season in Tallahassee. Confusion about how his abilities will translate to the NFL game should be an even better reason for playing out his eligibility. Tebow is an enigma. He's a unique athlete who seems to have no ceiling yet appears to lack some basic professional skill sets. His physique and arm strength are pluses but too often seems to get by on athletic ability more than practiced technique. He'll also have to prove himself as a pocket passer as he lacks NFL scrambler speed.
 

While it may not be a popular idea with the folks in the 313, the 734 or in any other of the ten remaining telephone prefixes that make up the calling zones of The Big Mitten, the NFL has to take a serious look at pulling it's holiday classic out of the Motor City.

The Lions, and therefore the game, have become embarrassments.

After six decades of playing host to some of the greatest, and worst, games in NFL history, such an inglorious end would be a tragic blow to an area that has seen more than its fair share pf grim news in recent years. But the NFL isn't in the business of playing social worker to economically depressed regions. Its loyalty is to the dollar and to maintaining a carefully manufactured image.

Both of which could suffer should the Lions continue to put on their annual display of ineptitude.
The Lions have been playing on Thanksgiving Day since 1934, with the city's involvement going back to the original Turkey Day game in 1920 when the Detroit Heralds lost to the Dayton Triangles, 28-0. And though the biggest contest to that time was the professional debut of Red Grange in 1925, whose star power went a long way toward making the NFL a legitimate enterprise, it wasn't until '34 that the game became the national showcase that we have come to know.

Lions' owner George A. Richards, a radio executive who moved the team from Portsmouth to Detroit, along with NBC, set up a 94-station network to broadcast the game between the 10-1 Lions and the undefeated and defending champion Chicago Bears to a national audience, and the tradition was born. The next year Detroit defeated the Bears on their way to the NFL Championship. It proved to be one of the few forward-looking decisions the team would ever make.

Two decades later, the Lions were on top, winning eight of 10 holiday games and three NFL championships. Any thought of playing the game anywhere else was laughable as the team won on Thanksgiving four more times in the next five years to usher in the 1960s. After 30 years, Thanksgiving belonged to the team in Honolulu Blue and silver.

The game again made sense during the Barry Sanders years. Because of the team's general mediocrity, most NFL fans couldn't get a glimpse of the era's most exciting player.

And the team responded, winning seven times during Sanders' 10-year career, even though the Lions won just 78 regular season games in that same span. But in the decade since he was chased away from the game after a career of team futility, the Lions have done nothing to merit being highlighted on the biggest food-eating day of the year.

Since 1998, Detroit has lost seven times, including five in a row counting this year's 47-10 debacle at the hands of  the  Tennessee Titans in which the Lions didn't even resemble a professional football team.
Linebackers lunged at ball carriers, cornerbacks exhibited the tackling skills of kickers, and the offensive line proved to be nothing more than speed bumps on the way to the quarterback.

So bad were things that Titans center Kevin Mawae burst out laughing during the post-game interview while explaining how he knew the game would come down to line play. Tennessee ran for 292 yards with both LenDale White and Chris Johnson scoring twice while running for 100 yards each. Detroit, on the contrary, gained just 23 yards on the ground while surrendering more points than in any of their 68 previous contests.

Though it is not up to a former Pro Bowl tight end turned broadcaster to offer apologies to what remained of the television audience, Shannon Sharpe was correct in saying the game was an embarrassment.
Lions' kicker Jason Hanson confirmed this opinion, saying the team just proved what everyone outside the organization was saying: The Lions stink.

That's a paraphrase. And although head coach Ron Marinelli (10-34) doesn't expect to be fired, continuing his mantra that he still has great belief in himself, he's clearly the only one with such confidence.

With the Big Three auto compaaies in a massive tailspin, along with the economy of the metro Detroit area - and therefore the entire state of Michigan, and therefore the entire nation - hanging in the balance, Lions fans do not deserve another slap to the collective jaw that would be brought if one of their favorite holiday traditions leaves town like so many manufacturing jobs.

But without a solid commitment by the Lions to rescue the game from the abyss that has become Lions football, the NFL should pull the plug  on the team's Thanksgiving Day game.
Give them three years to improve, or else.
Sorry, Detroit.

smurray@midweek.com

With only one week to go, the seesaw battle continues.

While a short coaching stay was predicted in these pages at the season's opening for Lightening coach Barry Melrose, the coach known more for his mullet than his coaching resume deserved a longer tenure than 16 games to try to resurrect a franchise that just four years ago won the Stanley Cup. Then again, his players deserved more than their coach blaming them for his demise. In the coach's mind he was just too tough, and because of this his players purposely undermined his efforts and went to management, telling them Melrose had to go. Is it possible he was the victim of prima dona athletes preferring a less-strenuous style of play? Perhaps. Melrose loves to talk about what a tough guy he is and how he demands hitting, passion and other such macho coaching cliches while trying to convince anyone who will listeners of his unique qualities as a head coach. Melrose wouldn't be the first coach to be pushed out by his players, but pointing fingers without considering any culpability on his own part for a team that iss last in the NHL in goals scored and points is simply hypocritical if not a flat-out delusional. Speaking to Ron McLean on Hockey Night in Canada, Melrose portrayed himself as the plain-talking innocent bystander who claimed to have let GM Brian Lawton off the hook, saying he's not a guy who talks a lot and just told his former boss, "Don't worry about it [explaining the reasons and] dropped my phone off and went to the dressing room and got my stuff." McLean continued to lob softballs from the blue line while Melrose discussed the conspiracy. "Obviously, a lot of guys didn't want to be held accountable on this team and obviously they went to Lenny and Oren (team owners Len Barrie and Oren Koules) and said they don't like this style of coaching and would you get rid of him. I don't think there's any secret about that," claimed Melrose. McLean, showing the unbiased coverage that has made Hockey Night the game's unabashed purveyor of truth and intelligent discourse, grilled Melrose, saying, "It looks like somebody from the team, and this is a team that won the Stanley Cup, was very close to the previous head coach, and ... it looks like somebody went to either Len or Oren or to Brian and said, 'You know what? This can't happen. This is not working. Do you feel like you were stabbed?'" McLean continued his fair and balanced coverage by snorting in agreement when Melrose said, "I don't think the players wanted to play for me. You don't have to be Kreskin to figure that out." More challenging for the self-proclaimed world's foremost mentalist would be explaining why Melrose found it necessary to publicly bash his players after losing the first two games of the season, or why he left the locker room in a huff, forcing his team to practice on its own. Melrose may want people to think that he's a blood-and-guts coaching Neanderthal bent on bringing some toughness back to the NHL. But Melrose last coached in the 1990s, and not two decades prior when Scottie Bowman, the NHL's all-time winningest coach, was so disagreeable to play for that the saying went that his players hated him for 364 days and that on day 365 they hoisted the cup. As Melrose and McLean were passing the blame on everyone but the coach, one of their targets, Lawton, suggested to a Tampa television station that in Melrose's decade-plus time as a commentator, the game has passed him by. "I don't think there is any doubt that the game has changed over the last 14-15 years," said Lawton, who then offered the political explanation that his former employee refused to employ, saying that the responsibility for the poor play fell on everyone's shoulders, including his own. As Lawton suggested, the team's failures are not the fault of Melrose alone. The Lightening have to take responsibility for bringing aboard a coach who won all of 43 games in his last two years in Los Angeles. The Lightening's inexperienced ownership made the mistake of copying the NBA in hiring a coach who was more celebrity than chalkboard artist. It's a mistake they would be smart to learn from. Former Coyotes' assistant Rick Tocchet is the coach for the time being. Made famous because of his involvement in a gambling ring that resulted in the longtime NHL veteran receiving two years' probation and suspension from the league, Tocchet brings in a wealth of on-ice experience, if not a lengthy coaching resume. Whether this translates to better performance from Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Vaclav Prospal or talented 18-year-old Steven Stamkos, who didn't get the minutes ownership had wanted, remains to be seen. Tocchet still may be too poisonous to continue in such a leading role, but after a 22-year NHL career, he should at least be able to relate to his players - which is something Melrose refused to do. smurray@midweek.com

It may be a stretch to suggest that Pete Townsend was thinking of the NBA while penning his tale of a revolution that ends up changing absolutely nothing, but league owners sure did channel the guitarists look at continued folly. Each new season brings with it new coaches who have either worn out their welcome with a previous employer or were darn good players, who, though lacking any on-the-job training, seemed so smart on the court or when calling the game from the sideline. With these often-used guidelines it would follow that the best coaching candidate would be an accomplished player who has gone on to coaching success - a Lenny Wilkens type. Such men are hard to find. Four-time all stars who become coach of the year and win three titles in six full seasons aren't just sitting around waiting for a phone call. That is, so long as the coach wasn't too prickly as a player and whose players do not take time off for maternity leave. For Bill Laimbeer the message is clear. It is better to have no experience than to have coached a womens team no matter the amount of success. And that we still don't like you. Since taking over the Detroit Shock at the end of the 2002 season, Laimbeer has done nothing but win. His team took home the championship in his first full year on the job and has added two more titles for a franchise that has become the model of success for the still-struggling WNBA. As both coach and general manager, he's drafted well and hasn't been afraid to make big trades to shore up his team's weaknesses - such as sending talented rookie Tasha Humphrey, Shay Murphy and a second-round pick to Washington for Taj McWilliams-Franklin. The trade filled the void created when Cheryl Ford was lost for the season with a knee injury she reaggrevated during the so-called brawl with the L.A. Sparks. The then-stuggling Shock went 6-1 after the trade to retake the lead of the Eastern Conference. He's also developed a team that plays in his own unique image. The Shock play Laimbeer ball. They are tough, defensive minded and smart. The biggest secret to the success of the Bad Boys Pistons' teams was not their physicality, but in their understanding of the game. Those teams won with intellect and hard work. Making players fearful to drive the lane was an added bonus. And just as he had with the Pistons, Laimbeer has benefited from being surrounded like-minded players. Deanna Nolan is as tough as her home town. The Flint Michigan native often has to be reined in by her coaches when her emotions get the best of her. If you haven't seen her, think of a female Isiah Thomas but with much more visual appeal. Kara Braxton, a 25-year old, 6-foot, 6-inch center/forward, may not have joined the team with a Laimbeer-ish temperament, but she voiced her belief in the system prior to the 2006 WNBA finals saying "I mean, they were the Bad Boys of the NBA, and they brung it over, and now we're the Bad Girls of the WNBA." In defense of the league, Laimbeer did make more enemies than friends in his playing career, and like Kareem, who has never been seriously considered for anything more than just a rudimentary role, this has closed the door on many would be possibilities. And while it may seem ridiculous to hold grudges for so many years, the NBA has a long memory. No further evidence is needed than Sparks coach and former Laker defensive stopper Michael Cooper, who traded some barely-hidden barbs with his former nemesis in June. Of the Sparks, Laimbeer said they play "... that hyper-showtime garbage and we're more blue-collard, hard nose, physical ..." A style of play that Cooper called "... dirty ball. Thug ball." Needless to say that Laimbeer won't be walking the sidelines anytime soon in L.A., Boston or Indiana but when compared the litany of unknowns, hardly knowns, retreads and former stars with no experience looking to get back in the action, the silence of Laimbeer's phone is deafening. Coaching virgin Mark Jackson was the supposed Knicks coach in waiting until he fumbled his interview with president Donnie Walsh who pubically endorsed Jackson saying his lack of experience was not a major factor. The former Knick guard also interviewed with Chicago and Phoenix. Had Jackson gotten the job he would have joined Bulls new floor leader Vinnny Del Negro as rookie coaches. Even before these moves, the NBA has not shied away from players with little or no coaching experience feeling these guys will be able to relate to todays prima donna athletes since they were recently ones themselves. Isiah Thomas went from killing the CBA to coaching the Pacers who was proceeded by another untested coach, Larry Bird. Magic Johnson was just a mess in his short time coaching the Lakers. Reggie Theus was able to turn his experience as the head coach of an undisciplined New Mexico State team into a job in Sacramento. Before Doc Rivers was a world champion coach with Boston he was given the reigns to a young Orlando team even though he had never coached and Avery Johnson had all of five months experience before being handed the reigns in Dallas. And, of course, closer to home and much more confusing, Michael Curry was named head coach of the Pistons after just one year on the bench. Laimbeer has always said he's a Detroit guy and it is where he wanted to stay. But now with a off-season home in Florida and his children grown and on their own, his ties to the only city where he can truly feel loved, is slipping. He let his contract expire this year and gave some serious thought to calling it quits even though after seeing him on the sidelines it is hard think of Laimbeer settling down to a sedimentary lifestyle. He recently came to a verbal agreement to stay with the Shock. Yes, there are tremendous differences between the WNBA and its older counterpart. The men play a much longer season and unlike in his current job, in the NBA its the lunatics who run the asylum. But Laimbeer has experience and success. He's gotten several rosters of players to believe in his system and while the men are much tougher nuts, it's hard to imagine a team - outside of the old Portland JailBlazers - having as many personalities than those that inhabited the Silverdome when he won his two NBA titles. smurray@midweek.com