Birmingham, AL plays host to the Compass Bowl on January seventh with the Pitt Panthers taking on the Southern Methodist University Mustangs. The Pitt Panthers come in just after the one-year Todd Graham experiment at head coach. Graham quit his post on December 14th to take the head coaching job at Arizona State. Defensive Coordinator Keith Patterson will don the headset for the Pitt Panthers in this clash of titans. SMU enters into play with the specter of the “Death Penalty” passed on in the 1980′s still being talked about today. Former Nfl and Hawaii coach June Jones is already in his 4th year on the side lines of SMU. The wagering line has this set at Pittsburgh (-3) with an over-under of 47 points.

It all comes down to this as the #1 rated LSU Tigers take on the #2 rated Crimson Tide in the BCS National Tournament Game at the Superdome in New Orleans, LA on January ninth. Alabama head coach Nick Saban is no stranger to this match, winning the national championship in 2009 and additionally winning it with LSU as a head coach in 2003. LSU head coach Les Miles is additionally no stranger at this moment as he has won the national championship in 2007. Two fantastic teams and head coaches clashing on a collision course in what is sure to be an awesome game. The odds makers now have this at Alabama (-1) with the over-under set at 40 points.

The Pittsburgh steelers are matched up vs the Denver broncos in the nfl Playoffs. The Pittsburgh steelers ended as a wild card with an impressive record of 12-4 in the AFC North division, while the Denver broncos ended up with an 8-8 record narrowly claiming champions of the AFC West. The Steelers will be going to Denver to face off vs them at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

The Falcons hope that slipping into the playoffs undetected in 2012 will give them greater results, after finishing with the greatest record in the league a year ago, and getting sacked in the first round by the Packers. Atlanta finished 10-6 this year, earning them a first round wild-card game with the NFC East winning New york giants (9-7).

In terms of scheduling, maybe the Lions just are unlucky. 1st, they complete their regular season vs their division rival Green Bay Packers, who furthermore boast the league’s best record. They then follow that up by pulling the New orleans saints in the first round of the playoffs.

The Bengals will be facing off against the Texans in pro football playoffs. The Bengals will travel to Reliant Stadium in Houston for the game. Cincinnati concluded their year with a record of 9-7 and reached the playoffs this year as a wild card in the AFC North division. Following coming out ahead as the top squad in the AFC South this year, Houston concluded with a record of 10-6.

This game between the Steelers and the Browns will highlight two squads who have diverse goals for the last two matches of the year. The Pittsburgh steelers are presently in the playoff contest and are basically only getting ready for the playoffs. The Cleveland browns on the flip side have had a quite bad year and are only trying to salvage their year with a few more victories. Both squads nevertheless will be playing hard despite the difference in their records. It will likely be a quite tight game if both squads play hard.

The Seahawks (7-8) are going to be visiting challenge the Cardinals (7-8) in an NFC West divisional competition. Each individual team has fallen just shy of playoff contention this year as they were looking for a wild card placement, but there is a little bit of incentive that a win will offer either team a winning record. Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll has yet to lose a match versus the Arizona Cardinals in his tenure, but Arizona quarterback Kevin Kolb could come back and start for his team after recuperating from a concussion.

The Eagles (7-8) are going to visit the Washington Redskins (5-10) in an NFC East divisional match-up in their final game. Both squads are at the bottom of the division rankings and have been removed from playoff competition this year. Philadelphia had a ton of media hype previous to the start of the year being tagged the dream team with their splash in the free agent market.

Week 17 of football Year is always full of trap contests. The game between the Lions and Green Bay Packers in Green Bay is one such game.