Expect this one to be ugly from the start

The Cavaliers may want to win it for him, but it's just not happening against a great Hokies team. Virginia will only trail by a score after three quarters, but Virginia Tech will score a touchdown in the fourth quarter to ensure another Commonwealth Cup victory.Prediction: Virginia Tech 31, Virginia 20 19 Miami (FL) (8-3, 5-3) at South Florida (7-3, 3-3); 3:30 PM ET/2:30 PM CT, ABC/ESPN/ESPN-GP (HD)Point Spread: Miami -5You think Miami likes to play these in-state schools They've played Florida A&M, Central Florida, and now the University of South Florida just this season in out-of-conference play. For Miami, it's an opportunity to up their record against teams from the state of Florida to 4-0 in 2009 (when you count in Florida State). It's also a chance for the Hurricanes to firmly assert themselves as No.2 in the state and knocking on the door of No.1 Florida.South Florida has already played Florida State on the road and beaten them 17-7. First, the Seminoles have lost the last two by a combined score of 90-27 and have not won in the rivalry since 2003. Second, the Seminoles are without their backbone, quarterback Christian Ponder, who was basically the whole team for them most of the season.Florida just continues to roll right along as if no one can faze them. Despite good challenges from several teams this season, they are still undefeated and looking at a great SEC Championship matchup with No.2 Alabama for a spot in the National Championship game. Just like it's been the past two years and three out of the last four, this one will end in a rout.Prediction: Florida 42, Florida State 14 The Holy War: 22 Utah (9-2, 6-1) at 18 BYU (9-2, 6-1); 5:00 PM ET/4:00 PM CT, CBS College Sports/The Mtn. (HD) (Co-Game of the Week)Point Spread: BYU -7.5Utah has had a season right around what they were expecting after they were issued a No.18 preseason ranking. BYU, however, had BCS hopes after their defeat of then-No.3 Oklahoma 14-13.

In 2006, John Beck scrambled for what seemed like forever until he threw a touchdown to put BYU on top with no time remaining, 33-31. In 2007, BYU scored a touchdown with around a minute to play to win 17-10. Last year was a rare exception, as Utah dismantled BYU, 48-24.This season, BYU's out looking for revenge and I'll give it to them in a close game.Prediction: BYU 27, Utah 24 Battle for the Golden Boot: Arkansas (7-4, 3-4) at 17 LSU (8-3, 4-3); 7:00 PM ET/6:00 PM CT, ESPN (HD)Point Spread: LSU -3.5Arkansas has defeated LSU the past two meetings in the Battle for the Golden Boot50-48 in a triple overtime classic in 2007 and 31-30 last year in a game in which Arkansas trailed 30-14. It's been a resurgent year for Arkansas and the second "down" year in a row for LSU.Arkansas finished a rough 5-7 season last year with the big 31-30 win over LSU and carried some of the momentum over into 2009. The result has been a potent offense led by quarterback Ryan Mallett, a transfer from Michigan.LSU started the season ranked No.11 and jumped as high as No.4, but they have cooled off over the past few games and lost a tough one to Ole Miss, 25-23, under some extremely questionable decisions by head coach Les Miles.I fully expect LSU to be extremely ticked off over the last two losses to Arkansas and their loss last week, and Mallett will be heavily abused by the LSU defense in this game.Prediction: LSU 28, Arkansas 10 Bayou Bucket: Rice (2-9, 2-5) at 25 Houston (9-2, 5-2); 8:00 PM ET/7:00 PM CT, CSSPoint Spread: Houston -29.5Rice has had an extreme downturn after a great 2008 season, going from 10-3 with the quarterback/wide receiver combo of Chase Clement and Jarrett Dillard, to 2-9and almost certainly 2-10with basically bare cupboards from last season's team. However, the Owls have improved heavily in the past three weeks, winning two straight and losing a game to SMU by three. In their first eight games, the closest they came to a victory was a 27-10 loss against Tulsa.Houston has been one of the better mid-major teams this season, beating then-No. 5 Oklahoma State 45-35 in an early season shocker, Texas Tech at home 29-28, and taking down Mississippi State on the road 31-24. Houston has showcased a strange ability to play down to other opponents, though, losing 58-41 to UTEP and 37-32 to UCF, which gave Central Florida their first win over a Top 25 opponent.None of this falls on Heisman candidate Case Keenum, who has been nearly flawless the entire season. Keenum boasts 4,599 passing yards, a 70 percent completion rate, and 36 touchdowns to just 6 interceptions, giving off shades of great Houston quarterbacks of past like Andre Ware and Kevin Kolb. Expect Keenum to throw all over the Rice defense, which has been close to a sieve nearly all season long.Prediction: Houston 59, Rice 21 Clean, Old Fashioned Hate: Georgia (6-5, 4-4) at 7 Georgia Tech (10-1, 7-1) ; 8:00 PM ET/7:00 PM CT, ABC/ESPN2 (HD) Point Spread: Georgia Tech -8Georgia and Georgia Tech's seasons have been polar opposites, with one being wildly disappointing and the other wildly amazing. Georgia is the former, having a horrific season after being ranked No.13 pre-season. They lost at home to Kentucky for the first time since 1977, to Tennessee 45-19 and Florida 41-17, and their defense is perhaps the worst in Georgia football history.Georgia Tech, however, has performed far above expectation. After a 9-4 season in which Paul Johnson introduced the triple option, the Ramblin' Wreck have been wrecking the rest of the ACC with the triple option this season as well. Save for a 33-17 loss at Miami (FL) on one of those unlucky Thursday nights, the Yellow Jackets have been nearly flawless on offense, with Josh Nesbitt leading the attack at quarterback.Georgia Tech's offense spells trouble for Georgia's horrible defense.

Expect this one to be ugly from the start.Prediction: Georgia Tech 56, Georgia 20 The Victory Bell: UCLA (6-5, 3-5) at 24 USC (7-3, 4-3); 10:00 PM ET/9:00 PM CT, FOX Sports NetPoint Spread: USC -13What an unusual season it has been for the Trojans. Their defense has completely disappeared (55 points surrendered to Stanford, 47 to Oregon, and 36 to Oregon State), and they've suffered the worst loss under Pete Carroll this seasontwice. Losses of 55-21 to Stanford at home and 47-20 to Oregon on the road have completely embarrassed the Trojans, and they'll want to get everything back under control with a victory over UCLA.However, UCLA has other ideas in mind. Remember the 13-9 victory over a national championship-bound USC in 2006 Or the UCLA domination of the series from 1991 to 1998, including the 1994 31-19 win in which they knocked USC out of a Rose Bowl berth UCLA knows they can win this game, and they'll be going in with this mentality.USC's season is all but shot; the best bowl they can realistically hope to go to now is the Holiday Bowl, which is for the second selection out of the Pac-10. The sting of not being able to go to a BCS bowl for the eighth consecutive year for USC has to hurt. While I don't think UCLA will win this game, expect USC to have major difficulty en route to a victory.Prediction: USC 24, UCLA 13 Games/Rivalries Outside of the Top 25:The Border War: Missouri (7-4, 3-4) vs. Kansas (5-6, 1-6) (Arrowhead Stadium); 3:30 PM ET/2:30 PM CT, ABC/ESPN-GPPoint Spread: Missouri -3Despite the combined record of these teams sitting at 12-10 and 4-10 in the Big 12, the Border War is always a good game. The last two games have been splitMissouri won 36-28 in 2007, and Kansas won 40-37 last year. Mark Mangino is possibly playing for his job after the "extreme anger management issues" reports came out about him. While it will be another good game, Missouri will prevail in the end in a close one.Prediction: Missouri 34, Kansas 28 Bayou Classic: Southern University (6-3, 3-2 SWAC) vs. Grambling State University (6-4, 5-2 SWAC) (Louisiana Superdome); 2:00 PM ET/1:00 PM CT, NBC (HD)Fine, go ahead and laugh at me for including a Division I-AA game. What you can't discount, though, is the fact that the Bayou Classic has been played 35 times, and literally, it's almost even: Southern University leads the series 18-17.

They've won twelve of the last sixteen meetings, but Grambling has taken three of the last five.And, if anything, you'll get to see two of the greatest bands ever in college sports: the Southern University Marching Band, also known as the Human Jukebox, and the Grambling State University Tiger Marching Band (according to Wikipedia; you can add "The World Famed" to the beginning of that). You'll see elaborate performances from both sides before the game, at halftime, and after the game. I'm going to be watching and I expect you to do the same.Prediction: Grambling 28, Southern 17 Notre Dame (6-5) at Stanford (7-4, 6-3); 8:00 PM ET/7:00 PM CT, ABC (HD)Point Spread: Stanford -10What better reason to watch this than to witness the end of the Charlie Weis era Also, you may see another inept effort by the Irish and, for sure, several closeups of Jimmy Clausen's black eye.Prediction: Stanford 38, Notre Dame 24Questions and comments are always welcome.. (NYSE:PDE)today announced that it plans to report earnings for the three and twelve monthsended December 31, 2008 on Thursday, February 19, 2009, before the opening offinancial markets in the United States. Following the earnings report, thecompany will conduct a conference call at 11:00 a.m. ET on Thursday, February 19to discuss the financial results and management's operational outlook.Individuals who wish to participate in the conference call should dial913-312-1240 and refer to confirmation code 1597184 approximately five to 10minutes before the scheduled start of the call.In addition, the conference call will be simulcast through a listen-onlybroadcast over the internet and can be accessed by logging onto the company'sworldwide web address at A telephonic replay of theconference call should be available after 2:00 p.m.