College and Pro Football Round-up

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air has a post up with his predictions on this Saturday's play-off games:

•Saints at Seahawks – Purists are angry that a 7-9 team even got into the playoffs, and even more upset that an 11-5 team had to go on the road as a wild card to play them. They won’t stay angry long. New Orleans hasn’t exactly looked like the world-beaters of last season and ended with a loss last week, but they should be more than a match for the mediocre Seahawks regardless of whether Matt Hasselbeck or Charlie Whitehurst starts the game. Saints should blow past Seattle on cruise control, 31-13.

•Jets at Colts – Say, do you think Rex Ryan’s admission of a personal mission to beat Peyton Manning has Indianapolis a little fired up this week? The Colts started to regain their form towards the end of the season, while the Jets started playing inconsistently down the stretch. Mark Sanchez seems to have righted the ship, but Manning will do better against the Jets’ tough defense than Sanchez will against the Colts’ more ordinary one. Plus, the home field will be a big advantage for Manning. It won’t be easy and we’ll see a couple of lead changes during the game, but the Colts should outlast the Jets, 24-20.

Here's my response:

I think the Saints will beat the Seahawks but not as convincingly as Ed’s numbers (31-13). My guess: Saints 28, Seahawks 23. The Jets on the other hand will upset the mildly favored Colts 26-17, (Manning will throw three INT’s)

On a side note, the Forty Niners won the Jim Harbaugh sweepstakes as another Stanford coach takes the reins of a team that was without coaching last year. Harbaugh reportedly signed a five-year, $25 million contract, leaving Stanford with a stellar 12-1 record this year, and an impressive 40-12 victory over Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl. Stanford’s lone loss was to undefeated Oregon, (Stanford lead Oregon 21-3 in the first quarter, but were held scoreless in the second half losing to the Ducks 52-31)

Since there probably won’t be a National Championship open thread here, I will predict Oregon defeats Auburn 48-31 on Monday night because of Auburns ranking on allowing points, (54th), and Newton won’t run wide open in this game. He will break out for some quality runs in the game, racking up a team leading 1400yds and 20 TD’s, but not as he has against their foes this year. Oregon ranks #1 in scoring and 12th in scoring defense. They won’t completely stop this potent Tiger offense, but as the game plays out I just think Oregon will outscore them.