Couch Potato Alert: 11/14

South Carolina vs. Florida
Florida is considered one of the hottest teams in college football, as they have won their last five games by an average of 39 points. South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier would love to knock off his alma mater out of this year’s BCS championship title hunt. And he will try to defeat the Gators by rotating quarterbacks (Stephen Garcia and Chris Smelley) on every offensive play. The rotation system did not seem to bother either quarterback in last week’s 34-21 victory over Arkansas; they combined to throw for 219 yards with two touchdown passes and only one interception. It will not matter how well the QB duo performs if the Gamecocks defense cannot contain Tim Tebow, he accounted for seven touchdowns in a 51-31 victory at South Carolina last season. National coverage will begin Saturday at 3:30 PM on CBS.

UFC 91: Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar for the UFC Heavyweight Championship Title
The main event of UFC-91 is a classic example of two contradictory styles going against one another, as Randy Couture puts up his heavyweight title against Brock Lesnar at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Lesnar is still untested as a fighter, as he going into only his fourth MMA fight this Saturday night. Couture is unstoppable coming into matches where he is an underdog with a 9-1 record. Lesnar is bigger, stronger, faster and hopes to neutralized Couture’s Greco-Roman wrestling style being a former NCAA wrestling champion himself. Couture has out-muscled larger opponents in his career and expects his experience to come into play in this fight. He hopes to avoid the takedown by moving side-to-side and using his hand speed and quick legwork to neutralize his opponent’s superior strength. If Lesnar can take Couture off his feet, the question will become: Can he keep him on the mat? Pay-per-view coverage will begin Saturday at 10:00 PM

Dallas Cowboys vs. Washington Redskins
The Dallas Cowboys hope the return of quarterback Tony Romo to the starting lineup will provide a spark and help them get a “W” in the win column this Sunday night in Washington. Since winning their first three games, the Cowboys have dropped four of their last six games and likely will need to win at least five of their final seven games to hopefully be considered for a playoff spot. Injuries could have a large role in determining if the Washington Redskins make the playoffs. They may have to go the rest of the season without running back Clinton Portis, who is second in the NFL in rushing with 995 yards. He injured his knee at the end of the first quarter against the Pittsburgh Steelers two weeks ago and has not returned to the lineup. National coverage will begin Sunday at 8:15 PM on NBC.

MMA Pound for Pound Rankings

MMA FightersThe Love of Sports ranks the top 10 current pound for pound MMA fighters. The intro explains how the writer, E. Spencer Kyte, compiled the rankings.

1. Much like the BCS, strength of schedule counts. While Anderson Silva made like The Governator and kicked the bejesus out of “The Predator,” he still stands behind Georges St. Pierre, whose performance against Jon Fitch was far more impressive than “The Spider” showed against Patrick Cote.

2. You don’t fight, you don’t get ranked, simple as that. Randy Couture’s undoubtedly one of the best pound for pound practitioners in the business when he’s inside The Octagon. Problem is, he hasn’t set foot inside The Octagon since August 2007. Same rules apply to Norifumi “Kid” Yamamoto.

3. After those other two, it all comes down to personal preferences.

1. Georges St. Pierre
“Rush” still stands at the top of the heap, primarily for the reason already mentioned above. The secondary reason would fall to #3 – he’s Canadian, I’m Canadian.

2. Anderson Silva
What else is there for this man to do? Regardless of how uninspiring his win at UFC 90 may have been, he’s still won eight fights in a row and doesn’t have a challenger at 185. Maybe Dana White should stop being critical of him and give him the dream fight against Chuck Liddell he’s been asking for.

3. Fedor Emelianenko
The more I think about “The Last Emperor” and his destruction of Tim Sylvia at “Affliction: Banned,” the more I think he deserves top billing on this list. As the fine folks at Fighter! magazine so intelligently said it, Emelianenko did to Sylvia in 36 seconds what it took Randy Couture five rounds to accomplish.

4. B.J. Penn
Personally, I really would’ve liked to see “The Prodigy” take another fight in between waiting for GSP in early-ish 2009. Kenny Florian was willing and waiting, but that’s just the fight fan in me complaining. A win over GSP would not only avenge an earlier loss, but also send Penn to the top of this chart.

5. Urijah Faber
Hurricane Ike could only delay Michael Thomas Brown’s destiny to be added to the roll call of challengers disposed of by “The California Kid.” Words can’t explain how much I’d love to see Faber tack on five or 10 pounds, move up to lightweight and really show if he’s as good as we think he is or simply the big fish in a shallow featherweight pool.

No Kimbo Slice? Oh, I forgot – he’s a fraud.