Wednesday was national letter of intent day.  College kids all over the country faxing their letters of intent while college football goobers such as myself are excited.  I'm a Colorado fan, and I'm excited about what coach Hawk did with this class, with the big prize being Darrell Scott, one of the top running backs in the country, as well as some stud linebackers.

So, who is #1?  Various recruiting services ranked the top 25 class, and they were pretty much all over the map.  For example, Colorado was rated #16 by rivals.com and not rated in the top 25 in scout.com.    Here's what I did.  I took the top 25 classes from rivals.com, scout.com, espn.com and cstv.com and then assigned point values from 1 to 25 with the 1 team getting 25 points and the number 2 team getting 24 points and so on.  Based on this, here's a consenus top 25 (first place votes in parenthesis)

1. Alabama (3)
2. Notre Dame
3. Miami (1)
4. Georgia
5. Florida
6. Ohio State
7. USC
8. Oklahoma
9. Clemson
10. Florida State
11. LSU
12. Michigan
13. Texas
14. UCLA
15. Virginia Tech
16. Texas A&M
17. Illinois
18. Arizona State
19. Auburn
20. Minnesota
21. Washington
22. Colorado
23. Pitt
24. Arkansas
25. Nebraska & Oregon

The others receiving votes in order are NC State, Boston College, South Carolina, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss & Missouri. 

These of course will be changing once Terelle Pryor makes a decision on where to go to school.  I give him a lot of credit for not making a decision on the national signing day.  If he doesn't know, there's no reason to sign the paper right now.   It worked out fine for Noel Devine, and had a great freshman season at West Virginia.  Good luck Terelle in your decision. 

So, props to the tide led by that "no good" Nick Saban (as referred by Jim Mandich on a radio show last year).  If these hold true, the ACC & SEC will sure have some tough teams, with each conference landing 3 schools in the top 10. 

Can't wait for spring ball...now GO BUFFS!

There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance.  Athletes should be confident.  They should be confident that they're going shoulder to shoulder with, confidence in their coaches to put them in the right place and the right time with the right play called.  Most of all, they should be confident in themselves in anything they can achieve. 

Then, there's overconfidence.  Call it arrogance, call it cockieness, whatever you call it, it can be dangerous.  The first sign of the Patriot Arrogance comes from their leader, the face of the franchise, Tom Brady.  When informed about Plaxico Burress' prediction of a 23-17 win over the Patriots, Brady's comment was only 17 points?  Well Mr. Brady, seems that Plaxico gave you too much credit. 

Then comes 4th and 13 from the Giants 31.  Conventional wisdom would say kick the field goal.  Not the arrogant Patroits.  No problem getting 13 on a 4th down and forego the field goal.  Once the offense took the field, I made a comment to those at my super bowl party saying how cocky that was.  Sure enough, Brady's pass falls incomplete and this "unstoppable" offense was stopped. 

If I were a Pats fan, I'd be disturbed.  They seemed to have far too much confidence in their ability to do what they want and when they want to, as well as showing a lack of respect for the Giants defense, who by the way, led the NFL in sacks.  On the outside, it seems like they felt invincible, nothing could stop them.  This is dangerous.  Thinking you are untouchable or unbeatable makes you suseptible to something unforseen in your eyes.

I wonder if the Pats had truly lost this game prior to kickoff.  Their arrogance was apparent, and coming from their leader, isn't what should be shown.  Also, with the coaches backing up this arrogance by passing on a field goal that was makeable and in ideal conditions and going for a very long 4th down, 

Arrogance bit the Pats in the rear, and coincidentally, that's where Brady spent a lot of time on Sunday. 

Congrats to the New York Giants...the better team won on Sunday. 

As college football fans, now that the bowl season is over, we as fans turn to recruiting.  Do we get that coveted player that our team desperately needs?  How strong is our class?  Top 20?  Top 10?  And how do we rate these?  Simple...we check out sites such as rivals.com. 

How accurate are their player assessments?  I say this among the news that Xavier Lee, a five star QB, who we all would agree was a bust, made the foolish decision to go pro.  After starting all of six games, and relief in a handful of others, he went 155 for 402 for 2,323 yards, 15 TDs and 11 INTs.  On rivals.com, he was rated #10 overall and the second QB, behind Rhett Bomar.  Out of that top 10, here's how they fared...

1.  Adrian Peterson RB Oklahoma...stud RB without question and offensive rookie of the year this past season for Minnesota.  They didn't miss there.

2.  Ted Ginn, Jr.  Ohio State...electrifying playmaker, great college WR, but drafted far too high by the Dolphins.

3.  Early Doucet WR LSU...led LSU with 57 receptions for 525 yds and 4 TDs, including a TD catch in the BCS title game.

4.  Rhett Bomar QB - Oklahoma.  Poor decision got him a one way ticket to Sam Houston State. 

5.  Keith Rivers LB USC 73 tackles no sacks in his senior season, a drop in production from 2006.

6.  Willie Williams LB Miami-Plenty of legal troubles, ended up at Louisville where he was kicked off the team for possession of marijuana.

7.  Brandon Miller DE Georgia Started 7 of the 11 games he appeared in.

8.  Derrick Harvey DE Florida 18.5 sacks and 76 tackles in his college career.  Declared for the NFL draft.

9.  Jeff Schweiger Jr. DE USC transferred after 2006 season

10.  Xavier Lee QB Florida State.  Enough said, and beaten out by Drew Weatherford, #88 on Rivals list.

Even in the top 10, you see some big time home runs, and big time busts...it's not an exact science.  There are plenty of great players who may not be a five star recruit, so if your school isn't in the top 10 (and I'm a Colorado fan, and they won't be), don't think your team is bad off.  What this does do is give fans like us an idea of what kind of talent our team is bringing in. 

One more thing, to Xavier Lee...transfer instead of going pro...you're simply a Maurice Clarett without the rap sheet.

It's been reported that nearly 25 Florida State Seminoles will be suspended for the bowl game and the first 3 games of the following season.  President T.K. Wetherell blamed lack of oversight by atheltic department officials, a rogue tutor, and lack of attention to detail by a faculty member. 

I wonder if Bobby Bowden, who is the face of FSU athletics, would have survived if his name wasn't a legend at that university.  How do you not know, as head of the football program, that approximately two dozen of his players were cheating?  If there is lack of athletic department oversight, is it simply due to the former AD?  Utlimately, coach Bowden is responsible.  Had this happened at any other university, would the football coach survive? 

Somehow, I doubt it. 

We're just a few days before the holidays, and here are some gifts I wish for those in the sports world this Christmas...

1.  Pat Bowlen, Denver Broncos owner.  The common sense to let Mike Shanahan, VP of football ops go and get someone who has a better eye for talent.  Shanahan the VP of ops has let Shanahan the coach down big time. 

2.  Colorado Buffaloes.  A verbal commitment from Darrell Scott, the top RB prospect in the country.

3.  Atlanta Falcons.  Anybody who wants to be there.  I feel for Arthur Blank.

4.  Jamal Tinsley.  Common sense not to be out at 2 a.m. anymore.  Dude, wake up and realize nothing good happens at 2 a.m.

5.  Roger Clemens.  The guts to put actions behind words and start dropping lawsuits if you're truly innocent.  As John Smoltz said...if that were me and I'm innocent, I'd come out swinging (from the Jim Rome show about a week ago)

6.  NY Mets.  A front line starter.  Without one, the Mets are doomed for another year like last year. 

7.  Oliver Perez.  Some control.  Stuff of a #1, control of a #4.

8.  The NBA.  Anybody but the Sprus winning the west...too dull for me to watch.  Phoenix, Denver, Dallas...HELLO???

9.  The NHL.  Relevence, and common sense to beg ESPN to show your product again.

10.  Florida Marlins Ownership.  Realization that you'll never succeed in south Florida and get out of there.  The fans couldn't care less.  Besides, you can't watch baseball in Florida in the summer outside...it's unbearable. 

11.  Steve Moore.  Justice in your lawsuit.  No player has been wronged by a peer anymore than you have been. 

12.  NY Knicks...Isiah hitting the streets and taking that god awful owner James Dolan with him.  Together they've ruined the Knicks and make them  more of a soap opera than pro wrestling.

13.  College football fans.  Show enough outrage to demand a playoff system so this great sport gets a true national championship

14.  To all of you that you get everything on your list to Santa. 

Happy Holidays everyone!