Judging from the number of cops escorting the motorcade instead of patrolling the streets, it was a great day to be a criminal in Tuscaloosa.

Mediocrity is on display in the NFL this weekend. Only 4 of the 8 teams playing this weekend gain more yards per play than their opponents gained against them per play. Two of the NFC entrants were outscored on the season as well.

Theo Ratliff is done for the season after playing 44 minutes this year for the Celtics. Tough loser for me, as I had under 42½. He has missed 18 or more games in 8 of the past 10 seasons. Ratliff makes nearly $12 million per year

In my weekly paid-subscription newsletter The Max: I wrote the following. “Those of you 40 and up have an edge on me in this category, but this may have been the greatest football game I’ve ever seen. Obviously there are exciting games every year (Rose Bowl last season) but from OU’s TD drive & 2-pointer, to the INT return, to the amazingly well-executed 4th & 18 hook & lateral, to Peterson’s 1-play TD drive in OT, to the halfback option TD pass, to the brilliant Statue of Liberty 2-pointer…I’ve just never seen such a succession of dramatic plays in such short order before. It was truly incredible. “

A couple of replies from my elders confirmed my view….

One subscriber wrote: “I turned 60 this fall and last night’s Fiesta Bowl was the best game I can remember. That comes from an OU alum who lost a nickel on OU. I even thought I had a shot at winning OU-7 in the 3rd overtime, but that dream was ended by the beautiful Statue of Liberty play which I hadn’t seen successfully executed in many years.”

Another dropped a line to say: “You are 100% dead on in the Max. I will be 50 this month and been involve either as bookmaker or player for 22years and it was definitely a classic.Top five alltime Even though I was in a situation to middle the game I found myself rooting for Boise.Good luck and keep the bb winners coming.”

The national championship game this week will have a hard time matching the drama, of course, but there will be plenty of people to see it, just like the Fiesta Bowl. Capacity is 12,000 more for the bowl games than it is for Cardinals games. How do they add 12,000 seats for the bowl games in the brand new stadium in Glendale, Arizona? Did they just take what they could reasonably expect to sell for Cardinals games and call that “capacity” to make it look good? If they are, in fact, fooling around with the capacity for purposes of supply and demand for Cardinals game, which isn’t necessarily a bad idea.

The University of Minnesota has an interim basketball coach and no football coach right now. Speaking of coaches, assistant coaching seems to be a growth industry in the NFL.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “After meeting with Blank, Mora then met with his 19 assistant coaches and told them he'd been fired.”

Miami Herald: “(Dolphins owner Wayne) Huizenga allowed (coach Nick) Saban the opportunity to hire an NFL-high 21 assistant coaches…”

In fact, Saban had 23 assistant coaches last year. I guess it is a good place for a free-spending owner to shell out extra cash in the salary cap era, but what exactly do all these assistants do?

One quarterback has never started a game in the league, didn’t start this season until week 7, and has thrown 6 TD passes and 8 interceptions in December. The other quarterback has three Super Bowl rings and didn’t toss a pick in his last 4 games in leading his club to a 12-4 record and a playoff berth. Yet Tony Romo is in the Pro Bowl and Tom Brady is not. There’s no stronger evidence regarding the superiority of the AFC over the NFC.

Isiah Thomas says, “I wouldn’t be the person that I am” without the influence of Bob Knight. I guess that’s meant as a compliment, but many would see it as an indictment of The General.

In what could be an act of insanity, the GMAC Bowl in Mobile has been moved to Sunday Jan. 7 to have an exclusive TV window. Tough to envision a scenario where college football fans all over the country are going to be in the mood for this game after watching the New Year’s Day thrillers, or even LSU/Notre Dame a few days earlier. On a day featuring NFL playoff wildcard games, no less! Where this game fits in the schedule, conference handicapping becomes important. In terms of the basic matchups, we have to admit that Southern Miss has to be happy with this opponent. Jeff Bower’s bunch has a history of shutting down the run cold as long as the opponent can’t spread them out with a dangerous passing game. As you saw in the MAC championship game, Ohio has NO passing game. Frank Solich has a month to come up with some workable options. Going 6-0-1 ATS in the last six MAC regular season games is impressive, but doesn't mean you know how to step up in class. If he doesn’t get creative, it could be that only the “flat favorite” syndrome could keep Southern Miss from expressing their superiority. Ohio lost to bowl caliber teams Rutgers and Missouri by scores of 24-7 and 31-6 earlier this season. Southern doesn’t have to be as good as those two squads to cover this single digit spread, but it is tough to lay nearly a TD in a game this meaningless. Neither one of these teams is terribly explosive and we'd suggest a look at the under.

Be sure to check out our colleague Dave Fobare’s free hotline for great sports handicapping information. That free, 24-hour broadcast service is at 770-618-8700. Good luck and be careful. If you don’t get this via email visit www.FootballAnnual.com to receive this each week via email.