This Week in Sports: November 10, 2012

The Week that Was:  This past week was an absolute treat for football fans.  College and pro.

College Football:  The afternoon game between Notre Dame and Pitt didn't make it into last week's preview.  The Fighting Irish were returning home after putting a solid beating on the Oklahoma Sooners in Norman.  The lowly Pitt Panthers should not have posed much of an obstacle.  But, the Panthers came to play.  It took #3 Notre Dame three overtimes to get past Pitt and remain undefeated.

Saturday night featured three marquis match ups.  In Manhattan, KS, the #2 Kansas State Wildcats hosted the #24 Oklahoma State Cowboys.  As they've done against their last two ranked opponents, K-State put plenty of points on the board and cruised to a comfortable 44-30 victory.  However, KSU's star quarterback Colin Klein was injured in the second half.  It appeared to be a head injury of some sort, but there is no word about whether he will miss any time due to the injury.  Out on the West Coast, #4 Oregon traveled to #17 USC.  Maintenance staff at the Colosseum must have been busy changing lightbulbs in the scoreboard during this offensive explosion.  Oregon won 62-51 and moved to 9-0 on the season.

Cal Sports Media via AP Images

Heading into the weekend, the game that was getting most of the media attention was Alabama vs. LSU.  And, that game lived up to the hype.  For the most part, this game was a defensive struggle.  The #5 LSU Tigers held the lead in the 4th quarter.  But, the #1 Crimson Tide scored on their final possession to win the game 21-17.

NFL:  We have made it to the halfway point of the NFL season.  The Indianapolis Colts continued their winning ways in a pivotal home game against the Miami Dolphins.  With the win, the Colts moved to 5-3 on the year and put themselves solidly in the running for a playoff berth in the AFC.  The Pittsburg Steelers also made a strong push for an AFC playoff berth by beating the New York Giants in New York.  In the Sunday night game, the Atlanta Falcons showed the world that they really are ready for primetime.  The Falcons beat the Cowboys and remained the only undefeated team in the league.


The Week Ahead:  As November marches along, NFL games start to take on more significance and the Los Angeles Lakers steal some headlines after an ugly start to their NBA season.

College Football:  The biggest game of the college football weekend once again involves Alabama.  Coming off last week's emotional victory at LSU, the #1 Crimson Tide return home to face the high scoring #15 Texas A&M Aggies.  The Aggies are lead by a fabulous freshman quarterback named Johnny Manziel.  It should be interesting to see if Manziel can make anything happen against the vaunted Tide defense.

NFL:  Sunday night might give us the most interesting game of the season up to this point.  The 7-1 Houston Texans will head to Chicago to play the 7-1 Bears.  Both teams are in comfortable position to make the playoffs at the end of the season.  But this game should tell us a lot about the strengths and weaknesses of both teams.  It could very likely be a Super Bowl preview.

NBA:  One of the biggest stories of the offseason was the Los Angeles Lakers' roster makeover.  The Lakers added all-time great point guard Steve Nash to the team and essentially swapped Andrew Bynum for Dwight Howard.  The Lakers got off to a slow, 1-4 start this week.  And, after just one week, the Lakers top brass had seen enough.  Mike Brown was fired as head coach.  And guess who is rumored to be on the verge of signing a contract to coach the Lakers once again.  Phil Jackson, of course.



Check out Banshee Sports on Facebook.  "Like" it if you like it.