Mammoth Blog

With the Copenhagen climate talks starting next week, climate-gate keeps getting worse. There is no precedent for so many academics engaging in coordinated efforts to distort research for political ends. The problems go well beyond deleting e-mails to prevent their disclosure from a Freedom of Information Act request. The UN claims that "there is 'virtually no possibility' of a few scientists" biasing their reports. But it doesn't just involve a few minor figures: implicated are the most powerful and well placed people in academia -- heads of departments and centers.

The Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia, which has been at the center of the scandal, has been incredibly influential in the global warming debate. The CRU collected the world's most extensive surface temperature data set by far and its research and mathematical models formed the basis of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's 2007 report.

But the CRU's temperature data and all of the research done with it are now in question. The leaked e-mails show that the scientists at the CRU don't know how their data was put together. CRU took individual temperature readings at individual stations and averaged the information out to produce temperature readings over larger areas. The problem comes in how they did the averaging. One of the leaked documents states that "our flagship gridded data product is produced by [a method that] renders the station counts totally meaningless" and "so, we can have a proper result, but only by including a load of garbage!" There were also significant coding errors in the data. Weather stations that are claimed to exist in Canada aren't there -- leading one memo to speculate that the stations "were even invented somewhere other than Canada!"

The computer code used to create the data the CRU has used contains programmer notes that indicate that the aggregated data were constructed to show an increase in temperatures. The programmer notes include: "Apply a VERY ARTIFICAL correction for decline!!" and "Low pass filtering at century and longer time scales never gets rid of the trend -- so eventually I start to scale down the 120-yr low pass time series to mimic the effect of removing/adding longer time scales!" The programmers apparently had to try at least a couple of adjustments before they could get their aggregated data to show an increase in temperatures.

All this could in theory be correctable by going back and starting from scratch with the original "raw" data, but the CRU apparently threw out much of the data used to create their temperature measures. We now only have the temperature measures that they created.

The extent to which these academics are willing to go to get the results they want can be seen in their attacks on others. Upset that the editor of Geophysical Research Letters, Jim Saiers, and the journal Climate Research had published research that questioned man-made global warming, these e-mails reveal an attempt to remove Saiers as editor, prevent others from publishing in these journals or citing their work, and, even worse, exclude work critical of the man-made global warming theory from being cited by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

-- Tom Wigley, a scientist with the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research wrote in one of the e-mails: "If you think that Saiers is in the greenhouse skeptics camp, then, if we can find documentary evidence of this, we could go through official AGU channels to get him ousted." Saiers' term as editor ended the following year. In another e-mail, Wigley wrote: "If we could reduce the ocean blip by, say, 0.15 deg C, then this would be significant for the global mean -- but we'd still have to explain the land blip."

-- Professor Mann, the Director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, wrote: "Perhaps we should encourage our colleagues in the climate research community to no longer submit to, or cite papers in, this journal."

-- Professor Phil Jones, head of the CRU and contributing author to the United Nation's IPCC report chapter titled "Detection of Climate Change and Attribution of Causes," wrote: "I can't see either of these papers being in the next IPCC report. Kevin [Trenberth] and I will keep them out somehow -- even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is!"

Despite all this, ABC, CBS, and NBC have failed to even mention anything about this scandal on their news broadcasts. CNN has covered it, but has minimized any concerns. The Obama administration has also either dismissed these events as either irrelevant or just completely ignored them. With trillions of dollars at stake for the climate decisions that are going to be made next week in Copenhagen, Americans deserve some discussion of these e-mails and what they mean.

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One wonders if the UFC titel belts are made out of poisonous lead.

Anderson Silva the UFC's middleweight
champ, like heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar before him, has bowed out of his next title defense.

Silva, according to mmajunkie.com, had bone chips removed from his right elbow in October, and the joint has reportedly proved slow to heal. Silva will not fight Vitor Belfort on Feb. 6 in UFC 109 and reportedly likely won't be ready to fight until April.

The two were supposed to fight on Jan. 2 at UFC 108 but that was also pushed because of Silva's injured elbow.

What now for the UFC? How is the UFC going to stay relevant in the early part of 2010 with two of its biggest stars out for a while?

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The AP Top 25 men's college basketball rankings have been released and once again the Kansas Jayhawks have held on to the top spot following a week that included a 30-point blowout over Oakland on Wednesday and a 37-point pasting of Tennessee Tech on Friday.

Texas inched up one spot to #2 after the Michigan State Spartans suffered a surprising loss to the Florida Gators on Friday. That loss sent the Spartans tumbling, eventually settling at #9 this week in the AP Top 25 while the Longhorns used their impressive win over Pittsburgh to claim the #2 spot.

Villanova round out the top three after they jumped one spot this week after the Wildcats topped La Salle on Saturday. In addition to Villanova the Big East can also claim West Virginia and Syracuse in the top eight teams.

Voters were clearly impressed with Florida's victory over Michigan State as the Gators jumped from unranked to #13 this week. The SEC has already taken some shots for early losses this year but the Gators win helped restore some confidence in the conference which counts the Kentucky Wildcats (#5) and the Tennessee Volunteers (#11) as their only other ranked teams in the Top 25. In comparison the Big East landed seven teams.

AP Top 25 Week 3

1. Kansas (63) 5-0 1,623

2. Texas (1) 5-0 1,508

3. Villanova 6-0 1,442

4. Purdue 5-0 1,389

5. Kentucky 6-0 1,333

6. Duke 6-0 1,316

7. West Virginia 5-0 1,238

8. Syracuse (1) 6-0 1,183

9. Michigan State 5-1 1,109

10. North Carolina 6-1 961

11. Tennessee 5-1 936

12. Washington 5-0 893

13. Florida 6-0 777

14. Connecticut 4-1 742

15. Ohio State 5-1 702

16. Georgetown 4-0 588

17. Gonzaga 5-1 491

18. Clemson 6-1 426

19. Texas A&M 5-1 284

20. Louisville 4-1 252

21. Florida State 6-1 219

22. Cincinnati 4-1 205

23. Butler 4-2 200

24. UNLV 5-0 191

25. Portland 5-1 120

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The Cincinnati Bearcats were rewarded for their outstanding showing in the EA Sports Maui Invitational tournament last week with their first Top 25 ranking of the young season.

The Bearcats joined four other Big East schools in the Top 25, coming in at No. 22 in the AP poll and No. 24 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Amazingly, this is the Bearcats' first AP ranking since January, 2006 and the first Coaches Poll ranking since March 2005.

The men's basketball team finished as runner-up in the Maui Invitational after losing to No. 17 Gonzaga in overtime of the championship game. On the way to the finals, the Bearcats knocked off two ranked foes in consecutive nights: No. 24 Vanderbilt and No. 21 Maryland.

In addition to being ranked for the first time this season, the Maui tournament served as a great first step in building UC's post-season resume with tough-fought games against three ranked opponents.

The Bearcats next game is Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at 7:30 P.M. against Texas Southern (3-4) of the SWAC.

A new, home-based program for toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that combines behavioral change techniques in a playful environment boosted the children's IQ, language ability, and social interaction skills more than a community-based program, according to a new study.

The home-based program included up to 20 hours a week of therapist intervention, plus the intervention of parents, who were taught the same skills.

''This intervention is designed to be appropriate for children as young as 12 months of age," says study researcher Geraldine Dawson, PhD, chief science officer of Autism Speaks, a science and advocacy organization. She conducted the research while a professor of psychology and director of the University of Washington's Autism Center, Seattle.

''We found that after two years the children who received the intervention had made significant gains in their IQ, their language ability, their adaptive behavior, and their social interaction," Dawson tells WebMD.

The IQ of children in the new home-based program -- called the Early Start Denver Model -- rose on average about 18 points after two years, she says. The IQ of the children in the community-based comparison group increased seven points.

''When you see an IQ gain that is this large, the child is much more likely to be able to enter a regular classroom and develop friendships," Dawson says.

The study is published online in the journal Pediatrics.
Intervention in Young Children

Early intervention for children with autism, a developmental disorder estimated to affect one in 150 or more U.S. children, has been evaluated for years. More than 20 years ago, a report of early behavioral intervention found that nearly half the children given the intervention could be mainstreamed into regular classrooms and had IQ gains.

But experts still disagree about whether early intervention makes a long-term difference in autism, which is marked by impairments in communication and socialization, and repetitive, disruptive behavior.

The new study is believed to be the first scientific study that looked at intervening in children so young. "Our entire group was under 2 and a half," says Sally Rogers, PhD, professor of psychiatry, University of California Davis MIND Institute, who developed the intervention with Dawson.

The intervention combines an established approach known as applied behavioral analysis (teaching children new behaviors and changing harmful ones by repetition and practice) with relationship-based techniques presented in a playful manner that interests the child. "When you are working with very young children, it makes sense you would use a more play-based approach," Dawson says.

For instance, a session might include playing with balls, with the therapist tossing them into a bucket, repeating the word ball, and inviting the child to mimic her.

The researchers evaluated 48 children diagnosed with ASD at 18-30 months old, randomly assigning them to the intervention group or referring them to community-based programs. The children had either autistic disorder or pervasive developmental disorder, not otherwise specified (PDD NOS), a milder condition in which some features of autism are identified. At the end, two years later, just three had dropped out of the study.

The goal was to tap into the so-called ''plasticity'' of the young brain and capitalize on the learning potential of the children, thus limiting the damaging effects of autism.

Those in the early-start model averaged about 15.2 hours a week with the therapist, although 20 were made available. Parents logged, on average, another 16.3 hours a week and the kids got about 5.2 hours in other therapies, such as speech therapy.

Children in the comparison group got an average of 9.1 hours of individual therapy and 9.3 hours weekly of group interventions. continue>>>

On-line auction house Ebay was expecting early bird shoppers to steal a march on the Christmas shopping rush by flocking to the website on Sunday.

Many internet retailers are expecting their busiest day of trading on Monday but Ebay was bracing itself for a surge of 5 million visitors on Sunday.

As Sunday is usually the site's busiest day of the week the trading surge is coming a day early for Ebay, said a spokeswoman.

The site is predicting a rise on last year's 4.5 million customers on the same day last year with 14 gifts bought every second. source>>>

his past Friday was the U.S. holiday known as Black Friday. It's the ritual where we all get up at 3am, grab a coffee and some donuts and head to a store to wait out in the cold for the one flat panel television they have in stock for $99. Tomorrow brings the next big shopping day -- this time it's Cyber Monday and it will be held online.

Here are my top picks for places to find the best deals. As always, never ever make a purchase online without first checking if there is a coupon or cash back available. To do this, go to Google and enter the merchant's name and the word coupon (e.g. Best Buy coupon). Also make sure to read the reviews of the products you are considering. I like to always check Amazon for any products I buy as there are normally a good amount of reviews for nearly any product.

Bing Shopping
While I haven't found any real reason to switch to Bing for general searches, Bing Shopping is a great way to get paid for shopping at a variety of popular online merchants. Bing is running a "gold rush" through December 2nd. The gold rush offers increased cash back amounts -- for example, Dell is offering 20%, eBay 10%, HP 20% and Footlocker is offering 25% cash back. Always read the details to make sure your purchases qualify for the cash back reward. If you find a deal on Bing Shopping, make sure to setup a cash back account first and then shop so that you receive the cash back amount.

Fatwallet and Slickdeals
These two forums are my favorite for finding deals. Both Fatwallet and Slickdeals offer forums that are loaded with super deal hunters that post the best deals from across the web. You can also request help in finding a deal. While both sites have other content, I find the forums to be the best place to start. Fatwallet also offers cashback on about 200 stores so make sure you signup for a Fatwallet account. What's great is that the purchase still goes through the merchant's site just like a normal purchase.

Coupon Sites
There are a variety of coupon sites that are providing lists for Cyber Monday sales. CyberMonday.net displays a variety of deals plus coupons for stores including Walmart and BestBuy. RetailMeNot has a listing of coupons for over 200 stores.

Always remember that just because a site says that the product is on sale, doesn't mean it really is. Check prices before making any purchase to make sure it is a deal. Also, if it's your first time shopping at a merchant, make sure that you check their ratings for shipping, returns and customer service. source>>>

Charlie Weis is out as Notre Dame head football coach, a source close to the program told the Daily News.

AD Jack Swarbrick has decided to make a change after Weis finished the season with a 6-6 record and four straight losses to Navy, Pitt, Connecticut and Stanford.

Weis coached Notre Dame for five years and leaves with a 35-27 record. He has told friends in South Bend he has at least six offers from NFL teams to become their offensive coordinator.

Blame it on Jeff Gordon.

If only he had averted his eyes from the kid in the red and white car running the perfect line around Darlington Raceway at that test session so many years ago. If only he hadn't passed his name on to team owner Rick Hendrick. If only he hadn't sat in a conference room with the chief executive officer of Lowe's, swallowed hard, and said, yeah, sure, of course the guy is capable of winning races and championships.
Gordon / Johnson
Points/Rank (full years)

Year Gordon Johnson Diff.
2002 4,607/4 4,600/5 +7
2003 4,785/4 4,932/2 -147
2004* 6,490/2 6,498/2 -8
2005* 4,174/11^ 6,406/5 -2,232
2006* 6,256/6 6,475/1 -219
2007* 6,646 6,723/1 -77
2008* 6,316 6,684/1 -368
2009*~ 6,323/3 6,492/1 -169
* Chase years
^ Didn't make Chase
~ 35 races

How different modern NASCAR history would be. How ironic that the man most responsible for unleashing Jimmie Johnson upon the world is the driver who likely would have gained the most had the once-unknown Busch driver never been unearthed.

"I'm very proud of what that team has accomplished. I'm proud to have been a part of it from the beginning," Gordon said at Homestead-Miami Speedway, site of Sunday's season finale, where Johnson likely will secure his record-breaking fourth consecutive championship on NASCAR's highest level.

"It's a bittersweet thing, because as a driver, you know, we won the championship in '01 when they ran their first race. They watched us win that championship in '01. I think maybe in '02 I finished ahead of him in points. I don't think I've finished ahead of him in points since then. It just reminds me of when the 24 team came together, the people that made that happen, how it came together, how it clicked, all the right things happening. It reminds me a lot about that. You know, I'm happy for those guys, being able to be a part of something like that."

Gordon laughs about it now, this realization that he created a monster. But without Johnson in the way, the driver of the No. 24 car unquestionably wins a fifth championship in 2007, the season when he stockpiled an amazing 30 top-10s yet fell 77 points short of the crown. He'd have a more-than-realistic shot at a sixth title this year, given that he's 61 points behind second place Mark Martin. As it stands now, though, they're all watching Johnson continue a march that may not end until the sport's greatest record is equaled.

Even Gordon, made wary of such prognostications by personal experience -- he heard plenty of talk about seven championships himself after he won his fourth and still most recent title in 2001 -- concedes the possibility given Johnson's success under the current championship format.

"Those guys are on a roll right now, and I don't really see it slowing down," Gordon said. "I think they're very capable of doing it again next year. You know, that's still just five. Seven is a big number. That's tough to get to. I remember a lot of people telling me or asking me, oh man, seven is in reach, seven is in reach. A lot changed.

"To me the only difference is, I don't compare the championships those guys won, or the ones I won, to the new championship. It's totally different. If they continue to keep the 10 races in the Chase that are in there now, I don't know if there's anybody better than the 48 team at those 10 races, those 10 tracks.

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"How 'bout some history?!" Jimmie Johnson shouted as the crossed the finish line at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

No, Johnson didn't win Sunday's Ford 400. Denny Hamlin did. But Johnson accomplished something far more significant than a victory in a single event. His fifth-place finish was more than good enough to clinch his fourth Cup Series title in a row, breaking a tie with Cale Yarborough for most consecutive championships.

"History, boys," Johnson continued. "No one ever -- ever! I don't know how to thank you guys. Thank you so much."

Johnson's title run also completed Hendrick Motorsports' sweep of the top three positions in the final standings, the first time an organization has achieved that distinction. In winning his fourth Chase, Johnson finished 141 points ahead of Mark Martin, who entered Sunday's race 108 points behind his teammate and finished 12th.

Jeff Gordon secured a third-place finish in the points with a sixth-place run.

All but lost in the hoopla surrounding Johnson's record run was Hamlin's fourth victory of the season and his second in the Chase. Surging into the lead after a restart on Lap 222 of 267, Hamlin crossed the stripe 2.632 seconds ahead of Jeff Burton, who posted his second consecutive runner-up finish and his fourth top-10 in a row.

Burton's Richard Childress Racing teammate Kevin Harvick ran third, and Kurt Busch locked up fourth in the Chase standings with a fourth-place finish.

After Hamlin did a celebratory burnout on the frontstretch, and the championship stage was rolled into position, Johnson did an elaborate burnout of his own that started near the entrance to pit road and continued down the front straightaway.

After the smoke settled, Johnson embraced the enormity of what he had just accomplished.

"The truth of it is, to do something that's never been done in this sport -- to love the sport like I do and respect it like I do -- and the greats: Petty, Earnhardt, Gordon ... to do something they've never done is so awesome. To win four championships in eight years, what this team has done ... I don't know where to start. It's unbelievable."

With his niece Alesha Gainey facing an emergency liver transplant in North Carolina, team owner Rick Hendrick wasn't at Homestead to celebrate Johnson's record and several others that accrued to the organization. Hendrick Motorsports won its ninth owners' championship, tying Petty Enterprises for most all time.

In addition, Hendrick won its aggregate 12th owners' championship in NASCAR's top three national series, a NASCAR best. Crew chief Chad Knaus also extended his record number of consecutive Cup titles to four.

"Heavy hearts and prayers with the boss man and the family," Martin said, paying homage to Hendrick. "That sort of takes a little bit of the shine off of it. But congratulations to Hendrick Motorsports, to Jimmie Johnson -- Superman -- and to my team."

Johnson never let up in pursuit of the championship. He raced hard for wins in nine of the 10 Chase races, and for all 400 miles at Homestead, where he threatened to try to run down the leaders to better his eventual fifth-place finish.

It made for a sometimes testy drive into history for Johnson, who was at times annoyed at rival drivers and even Gordon, the mentor and teammate who helped him land his job with Hendrick Motorsports.

Nobody gave Johnson anything, either. The other drivers raced hard around him all day, making Johnson earn every point.

After several tense laps chasing Gordon for fifth place -- Johnson at one point complained over his radio, "I let him go, now why won't he just go somewhere!" -- he asked Knaus if he had enough time to catch Hamlin and the leaders.

Hamlin, who collected his eighth career victory, won from the 38th starting position in a No. 11 Toyota that improved as daylight turned to night, thanks to crew chief Mike Ford's astute adjustments to the car. He managed to keep pace with Johnson at times during the Chase but fell out of contention with three DNFs.

"We're going to be there, I promise you," Hamlin said. "I promise you, the next couple years, we're going to win the championship. But right now, there's no one more deserving than Jimmie."

Even Gordon, who won four quick titles early in his career but has been shut out since 2001, is impressed.

"As a competitor, that Johnson ticks me off. As a friend, teammate, fellow car owner, they're amazing," Gordon said. "I never thought in my career, in my lifetime, I'd see somebody win four in a row. To see it happening right in front of your eyes makes it even more extraordinary."

Added Burton: "If you would have told me four years ago that someone would win four championships in a row, I would have told you you were crazy."

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Lance Smith, host of CMT's Top 20 Countdown, will be pursuing an acting career and other opportunities when his contract with the network expires in December. He says he reached the decision following several months of analyzing his long-term career goals. Before coming to CMT in 2001, Smith had already spent time in L.A. to concentrate on his acting career. "I'll continue to pursue a place in front of a mike or camera, but it will be under a different set of lights," Smith said of his departure from the network. "Once upon a time, before my decade-long stint as a host, I was an actor, and it's time to wear that hat once again. I will forever be grateful for every chance and opportunity given to me by CMT and country music. There's not a better fan base in the world. But most of all I will miss the crews -- my friends behind the scenes. It's the show behind the curtain that I was most fortunate to see." He is already working on the production of an independent feature film. A search is underway to find a new host for Top 20 Countdown.

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A Nashville judge has dismissed assault and harassment charges against John Rich in connection with an altercation involving former Nashville Star contestant Jared Ashley. Following testimony Friday (Nov. 20), General Sessions Judge John Aaron Holt dismissed the criminal charges that were filed after Ashley claimed Rich "sucker punched" him in the jaw in March at the Big & Rich member's private club, the Spot, in downtown Nashville. Rich said Ashley entered the club without permission and refused to cooperate when security guards asked him to leave. During Friday's hearing, Rich acknowledged he pushed Ashley but denied that he punched him. He testified, "In one motion, I took his drink out of his hand and pushed him back out of my space." In dismissing the charges, the judge noted that the Spot is a private club and that there was no evidence that Ashley sustained any injuries. Friday's hearing was in connection with the criminal charges, but Rich and Ashley's civil suits against each other are still pending.

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Taylor Swift won in five categories -- including overall artist of the year -- at the 2009 American Music Awards presented Sunday (Nov. 22) at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. Swift was in London for rehearsals for Monday's (Nov. 23) concert at Wembley Arena and accepted three of the fan-voted awards via satellite.

The other artist of the year nominees were Kings of Leon, Lady Gaga, Eminem and the late Michael Jackson.

"Music has never been, ultimately, about competition," Swift said in accepting the night's top honor. "To even be mentioned in a category with Michael Jackson -- who we'll miss and love forever -- is an unimaginable honor. I just want to say I'm sending my love to the Jackson family and Janet for reaching out to me the way that you have.

"And to the fans, you have given me so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, and I hope you guys have an awesome Thanksgiving. I miss and I love you."

Swift also won the favorite female artist award in the pop/rock and country categories, and she was named favorite adult contemporary artist in a field that included Daughtry and Jason Mraz. Her Fearless album was voted favorite country album.

In the country category, Keith Urban was named favorite male artist, and Rascal Flatts received their fourth consecutive award as favorite band, duo or group.

In one of the more interesting turns of the evening, Gloriana received the breakthrough artist of the year award. Fans voted via cell phone in the category sponsored by T-Mobile. The other contenders were Lady Gaga, Keri Hilson and Kid Cudi. Most media observers predicted Lady Gaga as the most likely winner.

Gloriana member Tom Gossin openly acknowledged the surprise factor of their win.

"We're Gloriana from Nashville, Tenn.," he said. "We're a country group. Could we get a show of hands of everybody that just said, 'Who the heck is Gloriana?' Well, you're not alone." He continued, "We've got so many people to thank ... starting with Miss Taylor Swift. She believed in us and took us out on tour this year before anybody knew who we were, so thank you, Taylor."

In accepting Rascal Flatts' latest AMA honor, Gary LeVox told the crowd, "You guys have been amazing employers this year. Thank you. Keep employing us." He went on to thank several of their business associates, including "all the accountants that take out taxes on every single thing we do."

When Swift accepted the favorite female country artist award, she said, "I want to say thank you to country radio for giving fans a chance to hear my music. Thank you to everybody who came out to see my Fearless tour this summer and this year. Thank you to everybody who follows me on Twitter and goes to my Web site and fan sites. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. This means the world to me."

In a three-hour show that leaned heavily toward pop, R&B and hip-hop, Keith Urban performed "Kiss a Girl," and Carrie Underwood sang her latest No. 1 single, "Cowboy Casanova."

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Although small, the senior class of the Michigan football team has experienced enough to span several classes.

From the 2006 season -- during which the Wolverines reached No. 2 in the national rankings and nearly beat Ohio State for a spot in the national title game -- to Lloyd Carr's retirement to the past two years of once-in-a-generation futility, the seniors have seen it all.

Many of their classmates have departed -- five fifth-year seniors remain from the 2005 freshman class and 13 from the 2006 class -- but the ones who endured through the tumult have impressed U-M coach Rich Rodriguez.

"I think the greatest accomplishment you can have as a college football player is completing through your senior year and graduating," Rodriguez said, entering Saturday's noon regular-season finale against Ohio State. "Even more so than making All-American, All-Big Ten, you've devoted four or five years of your life to the university, to the program, to your teammates. You want it to be a special week that they remember.

"Obviously, if you play well in a game and you win the game, it makes the memory even more so. ... It's a small group. I've only been with them a couple years, didn't recruit 'em. But I have a lot of fond memories of them. It's a very, very special group to me. They're great young men. They're all on track to already graduate or will graduate. They've given an awful lot to this program."

A year ago, the sentiments were the same, but it was a different feeling. Many of those players lasted through the year because it was their last one and leaving the program would have been difficult. This year's group of players showed a more stable commitment, knowing they had at least two years with the new coaching staff.

Unfortunately for these Wolverines, they've experienced many new lows during their final two years and also share the albatross held by their two preceding four-year senior classes -- no wins over the Buckeyes.

"It would be real important," said linebacker Stevie Brown, named one of the Wolverines' permanent captains Thursday, along with fellow seniors Brandon Graham, Zoltan Mesko and Mark Ortmann. "It will be my last game in the Big House so I do want to go out with a win."

Graham, who may be one of the few players whose individual career followed the path he expected, was asked about realizing his career could end Saturday -- if U-M loses, there will be no bowl trip for the second straight year -- and had to catch himself talking about it for fearing he would start crying.

Ortmann, the team's starting left tackle, also knows the importance of the rivalry game.

"It's something that's been playing in all of our minds," Ortmann said. "The past two seasons we've broken a lot of (negative) records that we've held and set a lot of new ones. But it'd be a great way to go out, beating Ohio State and maybe starting a new record there."

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The Penn State Nittany Lions will travel to East Lansing and take on the Spartans from Michigan State this week. Michigan State had a nice come from behind victory last week at Purdue and is looking to end the regular season on a strong note. Revenge will also be on the minds of the Spartans after being beaten 49-18 at Penn State last year. Penn State is 9-2 and is looking like they are in good shape to head to solid New Year's Day Bowl. Get an extra $500 to bet on football when you sign up at BetUS and make an initial deposit of $500 or more.

The Nittany Lions are 9-2 on the year, but in some circles they were expected to do even more. They have lost two home games to Ohio State and Iowa this year, their only two games against solid opponents. The offense has been good, but not great. Daryll Clark is a good senior leader for the team and has thrown 19 touchdown compared to 10 interceptions on the year. Evan Royster started the season slowly, but as the offensive line has improved his numbers have gone back up and he is averaging 5.6 yards per carry this season. The real strength of the Nittany Lions is definitely their defense. Defensively they are giving up 11.6 points per game and only 94 yards on the ground per game. The last three weeks they have given up 19 points per game and 357 total yards per game, so they'll need to get back to early season form in this one.

Michigan State has had a very up and down year so far this season. The low points were the home loss to Central Michigan and the road loss to an injury plagued Minnesota squad. On the other side though they had a nice overtime victory over Michigan and an impressive comeback win against Purdue last weekend. The offense is scoring 31 points per game behind the steady leadership of quarterback Kirk Cousins. Cousins has done an excellent job stepping in at quarterback, throwing for 2,305 yards and 17 touchdowns. Cousins has taken good care of the football, only throwing 5 interceptions on the year. The Spartans are deep at the tailback position, but have become a primarily passing team late in the year. The Michigan State defense has been erratic. The defense is giving up more than 300 passing yards per game in the last 3 outings, so they'll definitely need to get that pass defense figured out.

The college football betting lines show Penn State as a 3 point road favorite in this game. The posted total is set at 47.5 points. If you are making football picks on this game remember these trends: the home team is 9-3 against the spread in the last 12 meetings between these two and the over is 10-2-1 in the last 13 meetings between these teams.

Expect the Michigan State Spartans to come out throwing the ball, which means their offensive line will need to protect Kirk Cousins against a strong defensive front from Penn State. Penn State will try to control the the football and cash in on every opportunity available to them. The turnover battle will be critical in this game. Expect a very good game!

My college football pickswent 6-1 last weekend and I have already set my card for this weekend. With two plays on ESPN's Friday night game and a huge trio of 5 star top plays for Saturday I am ready to beat the books again this weekend. Take a look at the premium packages available and remember all of them come with a guarantee.

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