Music City Bowl Looks To Be A Toss Up

The Music City Bowl, which annually pits the ACC against the SEC, looks to be one of the toughest games to figure out in this bowl season.

I'm excited to say I will be attending this game on Thursday evening and I expect to see a game that could come down to the final possession.

With the game being played at LP Field, it should be predominantly loaded with Tennessee fans.

Here's arguments for both teams on why they will win:

Tennessee's argument

Tennessee could have very easily finished the season 7-5 if not for getting hosed by the refs in the LSU game.

This team has finally hit its stride, winning four in row to end the season. Tyler Bray has also given the Vols some stability at quarterback.

The game may be technically on neutral field, but let's get real here. This will basically be like a home game for the Vols.

North Carolina's argument

One thing that leans heavily in North Carolina's favor is the inexperience in their opponent. A lot of these Freshman and Sophomore on Tennessee may come out skidish to start the game.

The Tar Heels will need to jump on them early, much like they did against Florida State back on November 6th.

The biggest weapon for the Tar Heels is easily T.J. Yates at quarterback. You take out his four-interception game against Virginia Tech, and Yates would be considered a quarterback who rarely turns the ball over.

All season long this team has been playing with a chip on their shoulder after dealing with the multiple suspensions. This season probably should've ended in a better bowl game than the Music City Bowl, but it's still impressive that they even got this far with all they had to deal with as a team.

Final Verdict

In the end I see the inexperience of the Vols ( over 50 Freshmen) will hurt them in this game.

The pro-UT crowd will give the Vols a lift that will keep the game interesting all the way to the end. However, North Carolina will find a way to get the win late in the game.

Look for Yates to carry the Tar Heels to a slim victory over Derek Dooley and the Vols.

Final Score: North Carolina 27, Tennessee 24

NFC Takes Over the NFL Power Rankings

Heading into this season the AFC looked like the dominant conference, but the NFC has narrowed the gap with the emergence of the Falcons and the Eagles.

The Patriots (11-2) still hands down have the number-one spot in the rankings. They've made it look easy over the past few weeks.

In fact, the Patriots haven't scored less than 31 points during their current five-game winning streak.

Coming in a distant second is the Steelers (10-3). These guys will be tough to beat in the playoffs whether they win the AFC North or not.

That defense makes this team a contender for the Super Bowl no matter how they look doing it. If the NFL counted for style points then the Steelers wouldn't be as high, but it doesn't.

In third sits the Eagles (9-4). Now I know what you're thinking. How can you put the Eagles ahead of the Falcons, who are 11-2? For the simple fact that the Falcons don't have Michael Vick. This guy single handily makes the Eagles a playoff team. That defense isn't so bad either.

They also lost to Philly head-to-head in Week 6.

As for the Falcons, who come in fourth on the list, they're a product of their schedule in my opinion. I need more from them.

Six wins over the likes of Carolina, San Francisco, Arizona, Cincy, and Cleveland just doesn't make me a believer of them being any higher that No. 4.

With that said, they will be tough to beat at home.

Rounding out the top five list is the Saints (10-3). They've quietly won six in a row after looking like another ordinary NFC team early in the season.

I don't think a 10-3 defending Super Bowl champion has ever received this little of attention, but they're not getting talked about as much.

A huge showdown with the Falcons in Atlanta comes next week. That game is sandwiched between Baltimore and Tampa Bay, which will be no picnic.

Will found out real quick through these final three games if New Orleans is capable of defending their Super Bowl title.

With the dominating win for the Chargers over the Niners tonight, they are as close as you can get to getting in the Top 5.

I still have trouble putting a team in the top five who needs help from other teams to get in the playoffs. If not for their horrible special teams play, they might be No.1 on this list.

The Ravens join them in knocking on the door of the Top 5 after losing a tough game to Steelers the previous week. They'll most likely finish with one of the AFC wildcards.

Bottom Five

28. Detroit (3-10): This team has played tough football all year and they're so much better than the record. They could easily be 5-8 if not for a questionable call in Week 1, and Ndamukong Suh being forced to kick an extra point. Godspeed Detroit.

29. Arizona (4-9): Decimated by injuries, but they have a manageable remaining schedule to try to save face.

30. Denver (3-10): A later coaching change means this team is going nowhere fast. The Broncos have one win since starting 2-2. Enough said.

31. Cincy (2-11): Really wanted to put this team dead last because they have zero heart at this point. However, I couldn't because they defeated Carolina head-to-head and managed to hang with the Steelers this past week. Still a horrible team, and T.O. needs his bottle now.

32. Carolina (1-12): We all seen this coming heading into the season. No experienced quarterbacks and no help for Steve Smith. This week against Arizona will probably be their last real opportunity to avoid a one-loss season. The other two come against Pittsburgh and Atlanta.

LeBron Makes His Epic Return to Cleveland Tonight

Possibly the most anticipated regular season game in NBA history occurs tonight in Cleveland at Quicken Loan Arena.

Cavaliers guard Mo Williams compared it to an ex-girlfriend coming to your wedding. In this case the ex-girlfriend ditched you for a super model that ended up not being so attractive. At least not so far.

Going into the season many expected the Heat to be better than their record (11-8), and for the Cavaliers to be worse than their record (7-10).

It's hard to imagine how the passionate Cavaliers fans feel heading into this game, and for a lot of them this will be the equivalent of the Cavs winning a championship if the they pull off the win.

Don't be surprise if that happens tonight. We've already seen a few ordinary teams rise up above their normal selves and get the win. The Grizzlies are the only team with a record below .500 to take down the Heat, which was just less than two weeks ago.

The Heat have gotten every team's best shot this season, and the Cavs are going to multiple that by a 100 to try to bring this win home to the Cleveland fans.

Security will be extremely high compared to a normal game and rightfully so.

I'm hoping to see LeBron fail miserably tonight for making a deal with the devil and doing it in the most classless way possible.

With that said, I hope no one does anything overboard tonight, like threatening LeBron's physical health. We all have to step back and remember this is just a game.

Cleveland fans need to focus all that rage into harming LeBron mentally, but certainly not physically in any way. I'm sure some bonehead will go overboard and I hope that person gets the punishment they will deserve by being an idiot.