Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored three goals as the New York Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 on Saturday for their seventh straight win over the Flyers.
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans title chances now.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Move over, Hollywood and NFL types, golf's two real A-listers take center stage Sunday at Pebble Beach, both in need of a win.
The United States swept favored Switzerland out of the Davis Cup on Saturday when Mardy Fish and Mike Bryan beat Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Luis Suarez's refusal to shake hands with Patrice Evra overshadowed Manchester United's 2-1 win over rival Liverpool that lifted the defending champions to first place in the Premier League on Saturday.
Marlies Schild of Austria won her sixth World Cup slalom of the season Saturday after overall leader Lindsey Vonn and defending champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch crashed out in the opening run on the windy Pyrenees course.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
 | Special feature |
 |
NBCSports.com |
Three one-loss teams in the Big 12 South have put together strong arguments for a spot in the BCS national championship game. To remain in the running, Texas will need to avoid a third straight upset loss to rival Texas A&M.
Currently second in the BCS standings, the fourth-ranked Longhorns look to help their chances for a trip to the BCS title game for the second time in four years when they host the struggling Aggies on Thursday night.
Texas (10-1, 6-1) is one of three teams atop the Big 12 South with identical overall and conference records. Like Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech have spent time as favorites to make the national championship game, but the three teams have beaten up on each other in conference play.
The Longhorns knocked the Sooners out of the top spot in the AP poll Oct. 11 before dropping out of first place with a loss to the Red Raiders three weeks later. Texas Tech was No. 2 in the AP poll before falling to Oklahoma on Saturday.
That complicated in the BCS standings. The Longhorns currently have the coveted No. 2 spot, which would pit them against No. 1 Alabama if the season ended today.
But Oklahoma — currently No. 3 in the BCS — has a great opportunity to overtake Texas with an impressive showing against No. 11 Oklahoma State on Saturday.
“You’ve got to give the BCS credit,” said Texas coach Mack Brown, who’s long supported a playoff in favor of the current system. “They’ve got more talk about college football than ever before.”
Brown, however, insisted Monday he didn’t want to talk much about the BCS for fear of letting it get in the way of Thursday’s game. With a loss to the Aggies (4-7, 2-5), the Longhorns can forget about the BCS altogether.
That’s what happened the last two years when the Aggies pulled off upset victories. Texas A&M snapped a six-game losing streak in the series by topping 11th-ranked Texas 12-7 in Austin in 2006, knocking the Longhorns out of the Big 12 title game. The Aggies accomplished the same feat by upsetting the 13th-ranked Longhorns 38-30 last Nov. 23.
“Sitting here and talking about (the BCS) is disrespectful to A&M,” Brown said. “The only input we can have is to play well Thursday night.”
Texas, which last beat A&M in 2005 en route to an undefeated national championship season, hasn’t lost three straight in the 114-year-old series since a four-game skid from 1991-94. The Longhorns are 73-36-5 all-time against their archrivals, including 45-11-1 in Austin.
The Aggies’ recent success in the series is in large part due to Stephen McGee, who scored the game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter in 2006, then passed for a career-high 362 yards and three TDs in last season’s victory.
The senior quarterback, however, likely won’t see much playing time Thursday because of a sprained throwing shoulder.
“It’s evident in watching those games that the entire A&M football team played at another level,” first-year Aggies coach Mike Sherman said. “I think Stephen, certainly being the leader, was a big contributor to the fact that not only did he play well but I think he motivated others to do the same.”
McGee will do most of his motivating from the sidelines Thursday as Jerrod Johnson is expected to make his ninth start. Johnson, a sophomore, was 19-for-30 for 244 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions as the Aggies fell to Baylor 41-21 in their last game Nov. 15.
Sherman’s team could have a hard time containing a Texas offense that’s sixth in the Football Bowl Subdivision with 43.5 points per game and eighth with 471.0 scrimmage yards per game.
Colt McCoy completed 24 of 34 passes for 255 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in a 35-7 win over Kansas in the Longhorns’ last game Nov. 15. The junior improved to 30-7 in his career, matching Vince Young for the most wins in team history. That’s a mark he hopes to break by notching his first win over Texas A&M, one of only two Big 12 teams he hasn’t defeated.
“We just didn’t finish the way we wanted, and that has happened for us the past two years (against the Aggies),” said McCoy, who’s 34-for-60 for 389 yards, one touchdown and four picks in two games against A&M. “We’ve got them at home on Thanksgiving night, and we want to play better than we have in the last two years.
“This is a new team. We’ve done a lot of things different since that time, and we practice and prepare hard every week. ... We’ll be ready to play.”
McCoy says the Longhorns won’t be distracted by the jumbled BCS situation.
“We want to go out there, play the best we can and win,” he said. “We’ll let the other things work themselves out.”
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
CollegeFootballTalk headlines |
 | Video: Football from NBC Sports |
 Memphis fulfills BCS dream Tigers officials thrilled to announce that school has been accepted to join the Big East Conference in 2013. |
 | Slideshow |
 | NBCSports.com |
| Slideshow |
 | more photos |
 | Slideshow |
 | NBCSports.com |
| Slideshow |
 | NBCSports.com |
| Slideshow |
 | NBCSports.com |
| Slideshow |
 |
The Week in Sports Pictures The Giants on top of the football world, getting ready for the London Olympics and more. more photos |
Heisman Hopefuls |
|
| Special feature |
 | NBCSports.com |
Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
Jeremy Lin had the most astounding performance of his remarkable week, scoring a career-high 38 points and outdueling Kobe Bryant as the New York Knicks held off the Los Angeles Lakers 92-85 on Friday night.
