OctToBeR 12, 2005

NFL Picks: Week 6

Josh Lewis Reporter

New England at Denver

Tom Brady & Co. are no longer invincible, as shown by their two losses in the past three weeks. Meanwhile, Champ Bailey’s Broncos are off and running at 3-1. The Pats can and will be beaten. Denver 31, New England 27

Atlanta at New Orleans

The Falcons, led by Michael Vick, are among the strongest teams in the NFL. The Saints carry the hopes of the Sinking City on their collective back.

New Orleans may be mediocre on -

paper, but their resolve is clear and motivation is a powerful thing. New Orleans 26, Atlanta 21

Carolina at Detroit _

The Panthers sit at 2-2, but have shown flashes of the team that made it to Super Bowl XXX VIII (for sane people, that’s 38). On the other hand, Detroit sucks. Carolina 40, Detroit 27

Cincinnati at Tennessee

The Bengal’s have surprised by going 4-0, with sophomore QB Carson “Sunshine” Palmer leading the way. Unfortunately, Sunshine isn’t as good as his hippie namesake from Remember the Titans, and that guy was a bench warmer. The Titans triumph again. Tennessee 48, Cincinnati 39

Cleveland at Baltimore Romeo Crennel hasn’t had much success with the Browns so far, but that

shouldn’t come as a surprise. Nothing short of Gandhi could turn this team around. Baltimore has also struggled, but expect their morale to be boosted by a blowout win. Baltimore 39, Cleveland 6

Jacksonville at Pittsburgh

_ The Jags are looking like a half-decent

team this year, but they’re no match for Big Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers. Pittsburgh 38, Jacksonville 24

Miami at Tampa Bay

Both these teams are rebounding from awful seasons. But the Bucs are 4-0, and even Ricky Williams won’t stop them. Tampa Bay 23, Miami 20

Minnesota at Chicago

Something is wrong in Minnesota. A team with this much talent, even minus Randy Moss, should not be 1-3. Chicago is no powerhouse either, but they’re playing better than Daunte Culpepper’s struggling Vikes. Chicag 19, Minnesota 14

N.Y. Giants at Dallas

Eli Manning is starting to show why he was a first overall pick (and the second coming of Alexei Yashin), leading the Giants to a 3-1 start. Dallas, led by Drew Bledsoe, has been inconsistent. The grizzled veteran outplays the baby-faced prima donna in this one. Dallas 31, Giants 25 Washington at Kansas City

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THE CADRE ¢ 14

Does Top 10 Really Mean Top 10? How CIS football is ranked

Lucas Timmons The Athenaeum (Acadia University)

WOLFVILLE, N.S. (CUP) — Having a school’s varsity team ranked in the Canadian University Sport Top 10 is a matter of pride for any university, its athletes, and student supporters. That being said, it is important to note that the rankings can be more for ego and promotion, rather than being an accurate predictor of whether or not a team gets to play in the post-season.

The national top 10 in CIS football is determined by conducting a nation-wide poll of sports journalists. The committee is made up of 15 members—one national, three from Atlantic Canada, three from Quebec, four from Ontario, and four from Western Canada. All members are journalists who cover CIS football regularly and are known to be interested in what happens outside of “their” town and “their” conference.

Because ofa lack of television coverage, not all of the reporters get to watch all the teams compete and their decisions are based on game reports and the historical strength of teams and their conferences. They follow national stat leaders, game reports or, in some cases, travel to other cities to watch the games. Richard Boutin from Journal du Quebec and Ray Cloutier from Chorus Quebec both traveled to Halifax for the Laval vs Saint Mary’s match-up.

Monty Mosher of the Halifax Chronicle Herald is a member of the National Top 10 committee and has voted for several years.

“I make my first set of rankings each year based on the previous year’s finish, what I know about graduating players and recruiting (this may not be very much) and the historical strength of the teams and conferences,” Mosher said.

Mosher continued: “From there I pretty much operate on a principle that you can’t move up by losing and you can’t fall by winning. It usually takes a few weeks to get a reasonable reading, but by October it is usually a fair measure of where teams stand.”Mosher began voting in the rankings years ago because the CIS needed steady voters. There were also no consequences to voting.

“Tf there was a wildcard playoff team determined even in part by the poll, I would not participate. Since this is simply to help increase the profile of the sport, I have no problem with it,” Mosher said.

The official stance of the CIS is that the Top 10 is a promotional tool. The communications manager of the CIS, Michel Belanger, believes that the Top 10 is an accurate measure of teams in the CIS.

“I'd say teams | through 6-7 every week are pretty much a [given], with 7-8 through 10 [as well as the three or four teams just outside the Top 10] being a little more questionable,” Belanger said.

Because of the growing fan base of CIS football and the general dissatisfaction of the National Top 10 an alternative has been created. College Colours (www.collegecolours.com/) offers a top 27 (all teams) across the CIS along with commentary why a team was placed where it was. While this alternative is good for football fans seeking a set of different opinions it should be noted that the top 10 on College Colours is very similar to the National Top 10.

The members of the committee are as follows:

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