Previewing the Top 5 Games This Weekend

Bye weeks make this weekend's NFL schedule rather awful (outside of Pittsburgh, of course), but that's not stopping our weekly football pick-off.

Last week, someone who shall remain nameless so boldly picked the Bears to beat the Packers on Monday Night Football that it closed the one-game gap that existed, giving me a season record of 11-4 and tying you the consensus, which has also gone 11-4 in the first three weeks.

This weekend, I've chosen five more games of interest for us to pick, including Steelers-Ravens and Redskins-Eagles in the NFL, and Pitt-FIU, Penn State-Iowa, and Florida-Alabama in college football. My only advice, which I learned after last weekend: don't be afraid to be bold. I'm a regular maverick.

Previewing the Top 5 Games This Weekend [93.7 The Fan]

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THE IOWA-STEELERS CONNECTION

Your eyes aren't deceiving you: the Steelers did not accept an invitation to the Orange Bowl against Georgia Tech on Tuesday night. But seeing a quarterback with the number 12 and running backs #32 and 36 sure do play mind games with you in those uniforms. I wonder if they have a #14 with a penchant for dropping passes?

Anyway, I had always heard there was some connection between the university and the Steelers concerning the similarly-colored uniforms, so with that on my mind, I went a-googling. And it did not take long to find an answer. Wikipedia says....

"In 1979, Hayden Fry helped to create the Tigerhawk, the logo seen on Iowa's football helmets. Since both teams shared the colors of black and gold, Fry gained permission from the Pittsburgh Steelers, the dominant NFL program of the 1970s, to overhaul Iowa’s uniforms in the Steelers’ image. Fry's idea was that if the team were going to act like winners, they first needed to dress like winners. Fry had originally asked Steelers Defensive Tackle "Mean" Joe Greene for a replica helmet and home jersey; Greene was able to send Fry to one of the team owners, and three days later, the owners sent Fry reproduction copies of the home and away uniform of Steeler Quarterback Terry Bradshaw, making Iowa one of only a few schools to use the uniform scheme of an NFL team."

So there you have it; Joe Greene re-routed Hayden Fry to the Rooneys, and the rest is Big Tenleven history. As long as they don't rip off the Terrible Towel, everything will remain cool with Steeler Nation.

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WANNSTACHE STOCK IS UP

The roller coaster also known as the Pitt Panthers moved up to #21 in this week's AP Top 25 after a 41-7 laugher against Louisville at Heinz Field on Saturday. Hats off to Dave Wannstedt and company for, you know, WINNING a winnable home game. Pitt's next opponent, the Cincinnati Bearcats, are #22 following a dramatic overtime win versus West Virginia, who dropped out of the poll this week, again proving what a great hire Bill Stewart turned out to be.

Penn State had their BCS problem solved by Iowa last night, and subsequently fell to 7th. The Lions' remaining schedule includes a home meeting with Indiana and a road matchup with #18 Michigan State. I'm sure the fact that they lost to a team that Pitt beat rubs a little extra salt into the wound.

The newest CBS Sportsline bowl projections have Pitt going to the Orange Bowl and facing projected ACC Champion and Butch Davis-coached North Carolina. I think that scenario would probably satisfy most Panther fans, no?

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