Time to tackle basketball with no hoopla on the gridiron

Letdown: November is a time of year to anticipate big college football games. So what do we get instead? No. 1 Florida playing Florida International and No. 2 Alabama taking on Chattanooga. Ohio State is playing Michigan, but that's not nearly the attraction it used to be. Any good basketball games on?

Name game I don't know how TCU would stack up against the more politically connected BCS powers, but how can you not root for a team called the Horned Frogs?

Rich If only because we can all use a good laugh now and then, let's enjoy the stories about the Buffalo Bills trying to entice Mike Shanahan. As if a coach with his many attractive options would want anything to do with Buffalo. Now that's funny.

A challenge Ann Bowden, Bobby's wife, about her 80-year-old husband's desire to coach one more season at Florida State: "They'll have to fire him for him not to go another year. If they've got guts enough to do it, let them do it." Tough talk, but won't it take more guts for FSU to keep Bobby and anticipate another aimless season?

Unveiled Ann Bowden's comments - "We don't need the university as much as they need us." - reveal the family arrogance that is usually hidden behind Bobby's good-old-boy charm.

Well-grounded Should we presume ODU has been working on its run defense in preparation for today's game at VMI? In a 22-17 loss to Army last week, VMI rushed for 328 yards but completed only 2 of 6 passes for 19 yards.

Another look Not to sound like a Bill Belichick apologist, but on that fourth-and-2 play, head linesman Tom Stabile blew the call. He gave the Patriots a bad spot. Everybody knows that, right?

Inviting fear With Belichick being pilloried from coast to coast for his gamble, it only makes it less likely other coaches will take calculated risks on fourth down. Football will be less interesting as a result.

Stat stuff Remember when Tom Brady's Patriots once dominated Peyton Manning's Colts? That was a while ago - Indy's won five of the last six in the series.

TV timeout Still trying to figure out why blabbermouth Keith Olbermann is a panelist on NBC's Sunday night NFL show. If any cable news magpie should be invited to talk football, it's CNN's Wolf Blitzer. He's got the name for it.

Idle thought The Heisman Trophy race feels more irrelevant than usual. It hasn't helped that the current Heisman holder, Oklahoma's Sam Bradford, was knocked out of the picture by injury in the first game.

The future Stanford's spectacular rout of Southern Cal last week showcased Andrew Luck, the Cardinal's 6-foot-4 redshirt freshman quarterback. Luck is the next big thing in college football.

Next move Too bad the Knicks are apparently not going to sign Allen Iverson. Iverson and the Knicks could have been the perfect match - desperate player with hopeless team.

Add A.I. It's easy to see why no NBA contender wants to touch Iverson. Teams know the little man with the huge ego would chafe at coming off the bench. Too bad. With the right attitude, Iverson could be a great sixth man for a top team.

Bob Molinaro, (757) 446-2373, bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com