SEASON CLOSE TO THE END

With just a week to go in the NFL regular season, the #1 pick at the 2007 draft is still up for grabs between Detroit and Oakland. Both teams are 2-13, but Detroit's 16 opponents this year have won four fewer games than those of Oakland meaning if the draft were held today the Lions would have the top pick. Here’s the full, updated ‘if the draft were held today. Meanwhile, as advertised, there was some shuffling of the rest of the teams with top picks. As a result of losing to Tampa Bay, for example, Cleveland moved up from the 6th spot to the 3rd pick were the draft to be held today, while Tampa Bay dropped a spot to #4 and Arizona slipped to #5 after upsetting the 49ers. At the same time, Houston and Washington are in a virtual statistical tie for the 6-7 spots. However, should Washington and Houston end up with the same winning record for their combined opponents, the Texans will get the higher pick as they lost to the Redskins earlier in the season....


Motor City Bowl between CMU's Chippewas and Middle Tennessee State. Here’s a quick look at who to watch in tonight’s bowl action....

Tuesday December 26

Motor City Bowl, Detroit; 7:30 PM ET; ESPN

Central Michigan (9-4) vs Middle Tennessee State (7-5)

Under normal circumstances a match-up between Central Michigan and Middle Tennessee State wouldn’t even make it to regional television. These is nothing normal about these circumstances, however, as pro scouts will be trooping to Detroit tonight to check out a couple of solid Central Michigan prospects in DE Daniel Bazuin (#93, 6-3, 275) and OT Joe Staley (#73, 6-5, 295). Bazuin, for example, had 16 sacks in 2005 but slumped somewhat this fall although he remains one of the better two-way DEs in the country. Meanwhile, Staley, a converted TE with 4.7 speed, is one of the most athletic LT prospects in the 2007 draft class. Other Chippewas who should get at least free agent interest this spring include rover Isaac Brown (#6, 5-11, 205), another exceptional athlete who has also played RB and FS at CMU, LB Doug Kress (#46, 6-1, 240), WR Damien Linson (#3, 5-11, 185) and C Drew Mormino (#78, 6-3, 305). And for future reference, the Chippewas also have a terrific future prospect in sophomore RB Ontario Sneed (#34, 5-11, 205), while red shirt freshman QB Dan LeFevour (#13, 6-3, 215) has done a nice job leading the offense since taking over on the second play of the season.
For its part, Middle Tennessee State isn’t likely to have any players selected at the 2007 draft, but have do have a number of free agent type prospects in QB Clint Marks (#17, 6-2, 205), RB Eugene Gross (#20, 5-9, 210), RT Germayle Franklin (#73, 6-4, 320), a big, albeit not particularly athletic road grader type, LBs J.K. Sabb (#25, 5-11, 225) and Justin Rainey (#1,5-10, 215) and P/PK Colby Smith (#46, 5-9, 185). The Blue Raiders best player though may be junior DB Damon Nickson (#5, 6-0, 180), an All-America safety who picked off 5 passes this fall, but is somewhat undersized.