4. Same as it ever was.
Look, I'm a bowl guy. Love their tradition and what they mean to the fabric of the game.

But this Las Vegas Bowl is the perfect example of why the bowl system needs a little tweaking here and there. If a team has appeared in the same city the three previous seasons — and it's not a BCS bowl — why not allow them to go outside the preset conference affiliations and find another bowl game?

It makes no sense for BYU to make yet another trip to the Las Vegas Bowl — for a fourth straight year — as a reward to the players for a 10-win season. If the WAC can find a way to get Boise State in the Poinsettia Bowl, can't the Mountain West find a way to place the Cougars in a comparable bowl with a similar payout?

BYU-Arizona will be one of the better games this bowl seasons, but those BYU players have gone to Las Vegas — granted, not a bad place to be — and seen enough of Elvis. This isn't brain surgery. How about the Sun Bowl and Las Vegas Bowl making a switch: BYU for Pitt. That leaves us with Pitt vs. Arizona and BYU vs. Oregon State.

Was that so painful?

5. The Big Catch.
We're all infatuated with freshmen wideouts Julio Jones of Alabama and A.J. Green of Georgia, and with good reason. But if you watch the New Orleans Bowl for no other reason, watch it for Southern Miss freshman wideout DeAndre Brown.

As good as Jones and Green are, Brown could be better.

A look at the numbers:

Jones: 51 catches, 847 yards, 16.6 ypc., 4 TD
Green: 55 catches, 951 yards, 17.3 apc., 8 TD
Brown: 66 catches, 1,108 yards, 16.8 ypc., 12 TD

Who's the best? It doesn't matter — all three will be top 15 picks (or higher) in the 2011 NFL draft. Enjoy them while you can.

Also on NBCSports.com Rosenthal: Steelers’ struggles could sink their playoff hopes Circling the Bases: Halladay to Cubs? That’s unlikely College Football Talk: Weis to resign? That’s ‘not happening’ Opinion: So far, Nowitzki is NBA’s MVP  |  Fan Ranker Twitter: Follow us @nbc_sports

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