The ACC-Big Ten Challenge returns for its 10th season starting Monday and running through Wednesday.

And I use the word "challenge" loosely because this hasn't been much of a challenge for the ACC. The conference has beaten the Big Ten each of the first nine years, a point of shame for those of us from the Midwest.

But this is a new year. Can the Big Ten win it? Ummmm, sadly, no. Here's a look at the matchups, with my predicted winners in bold:

Monday
Wisconsin at Virginia Tech: An interesting contrast in styles. Virginia Tech likes to run, while Wisconsin is a methodical, fundamentally-sound halfcourt team.

Tuesday
Duke at Purdue: This is the marquee matchup with the Big Ten's best team hosting the second-beat team from the ACC. Coach K has wised up this year, allowing sophomore Nolan Smith to run the point instead of worthless clown Greg Paulus. Smith is a far superior perimeter defender, and Duke is a better team for it.

Clemson at Illinois: A straight homer pick on my part. The Illini are 6-0 and have some nice wins over Vanderbilt, MAC preseason favorite Kent State and Tulsa. Big man Mike Tisdale (left, with coach Bruce Weber) scored 20 points against Kent and 12 against Tulsa over the weekend to earn MVP honors in the South Padre Island Invitational. Clemson (7-0) has played a soft schedule so far.

Ohio State at Miami: Haven't seen either team play so far, but Miami has a roster full of upperclassmen and the homecourt advantage.

Virginia at Minnesota: Ehhh...I'll just pick Minnesota to keep Timberwolf off my case.

Iowa at Boston College: Iowa has played a soft schedule and doesn't have much scoring punch this year. BC senior Tyrese Rice will be the best player on the floor.

Wednesday
North Carolina vs. Michigan State at Ford Field: This should be a great atmosphere that favors Michigan State, but North Carolina is laying waste to everyone in its path. Michigan State did not distinguish itself with an 18-point early-season loss to middling Maryland at the Old Spice Classic.

Indiana at Wake Forest: The Hoosiers were damn lucky not to lose Chaminade at the Maui Invitational. Enough said.

Michigan at Maryland: Two enigmas here. Michigan beat UCLA, but it needed a huge rally and overtime to overcome mighty Savannah State. Homecourt advantage makes the difference in this matchup.

Florida State at Northwestern: The Seminoles came up a nice neutral-court victory over California on Saturday and have too many athletes for Northwestern.

Penn State at Georgia Tech: Just for fun, we'll call a Big Ten upset here. Tech hasn't played anybody yet and was lucky to squeak past Jacksonville. Penn State lost to Rhode Island, but has done a better job of kicking the snot out of inferior competition.

Looks like we've got a 7-4 advantage for the ACC. I hope I'm wrong. Good luck to all Big Ten teams this week.

The Bears (6-5) head up to the Roller Dome on Sunday night to take on the Minnesota Vikings (6-5) with first place in the NFC North at stake.

The Vikings are favored by three points at home, and rightfully so. Sure, the Bears already have one win over Minnesota this season - a 48-41 victory at Soldier Field.

But in that game, the Bears showed no signs that they could stop the Vikings' offense. Minnesota piled up 439 total yards on the afternoon. There were two things that saved the Mediocrities of the Midway: 1) The Vikings committed five turnovers, and 2) The Bears scored two special teams touchdowns, including one by former NIU star Garrett Wolfe (left).

I wouldn't count on five turnovers happening again. But the potential for a big-play on special teams is one straw the Bears have to clutch at. The Vikings have been absolutely terrible on special teams, as pointed out by Sun-Times beat writer Brad Biggs.

Paging, Devin Hester.....Devin Hester will you please contribute something, anything to the cause this year? A big kickoff or punt return against the weak Minnesota coverage units could go a long way toward the Bears chances of springing an upset.

Secondly, the Bears have a good record in domes. They are 7-3 in their last 10 dome contests, including 3-1 this year. The only loss, a 22-20 defeat at Atlanta on a field goal at the final gun.

The Bears defense, a speedy but undersized lot, seems to play its best on turf. On average, they have given up 265 yards per game inside and 359 yards per game outside. That's a difference of 94 yards. We'll see if that helps the cause Sunday night.

I don't think the Bears are going to steal this win on the road, but it isn't beyond the realm of possibility if they can make a big play or two on special teams and keep the Vikings' offense reasonably contained.

Late in the fourth quarter of Aurora Christian's 37-28 state title game loss to Bloomington Central Catholic, Eagles coach Don Beebe (left) made an interesting coaching move.

Here's the situation: AC is down nine points with 29 seconds to go. They are facing 2nd-and-2 from the BCC 22-yard line. At that point, Beebe decided to send out the field-goal unit. ON 2ND-AND-2!!!!

Jake Van Gilse's 39-yard attempt came up well short and wide left, clinching the state championship for BCC.

I know exactly what Beebe was thinking. Down two scores, he absolutely needed points on the next play, one way or another. If you get points, you go for the onsides kick and still leave yourself enough time for a couple more plays to try for the second score.

If this had been pro football, I would have agreed with this decision 100 percent. A 39-yard field goal is easy pickings for the millionaires in the NFL. I've seen some pro coaches grab the field goal first in late-game situations where they are down by two scores, and I've liked that strategy every time I've seen it.

But I don't like it here.

You see, unlike the NFL, a 39-yard field goal is a low-percentage play in the high school game. You are counting on 17-year-old kids to execute a snap, a hold and a kick with the season on the line in the outdoor elements of Champaign's Memorial Stadium. I can't blame Van Gilse for the miss. Frankly, I thought the kid had no chance of making that kick.

To me, you let quarterback Jordan Roberts take a shot for the end zone in that situation. If you get the TD on the next play, there's still enough time left for the onsides kick and a couple more plays to try to score again.

Roberts threw for 365 yards and four touchdowns in the losing cause on Friday. In addition, he is one of the most prolific passers in the history of Illinois high school football.

Roberts' skilled quarterback play and leadership were the biggest reasons for the 13 straight wins Aurora Christian collected this season. On that final play, I would have rolled the dice on Roberts' arm over the field-goal team. Maybe that arm had one more big play left in it. We'll never know.

Granted, a whole heckuva lot would have had to go right for Aurora Christian to wiggle its way out of that late 9-point deficit. I just don't see how going for the field goal right there gave the Eagles the best opportunity to do that.

Can't make it down to Champaign? Be sure to join Mr. IHSA State Football Game Live Blogger Jim Owczarski for tonight's Class 4A state title game between Aurora Christian and Bloomington Central Catholic.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m., and as always, Jim will keep you updated and take your questions.

Check back tomorrow as Jim will also be on hand for the Class 7A title game between Geneva and East St. Louis, slated for a 4 p.m. kickoff.

As you can see a couple entries down, I wasn't expecting much from this year's menu of Thanksgiving football.

As it turned out, all the games were blowouts. To quote Beacon News Franchise Emeritus Bill Kindt, "Ehhh.....I'm not surprised. I expected that to happen all along."

A quick review of Thursday's results:
Tennessee 47, Detroit 10
Dallas 34, Seattle 9
Philadelphia 48, Arizona 20

Even the college football game sucked:
Texas 49, Texas A&M 9

Not a single one of four games was competitive into the fourth quarter.

My brother-in-law is a police officer, and he was scheduled to work the overnight shift on Thanksgiving. We speculated that all this bad football would cause people to turn off the TV and (horror of horrors) spend more time with their family.

As any police officer will tell you, spending time with drunken, annoying family members only leads to an increase in domestic violence calls. That's the last thing we need on a pleasant holiday such as Thanksgiving.

So, I call upon NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to make some changes. Kick the hapless Lions off Thanksgiving Day and give us a halfway decent game to watch. Don't make us actually talk to the people in our family. It could lead to violence.

Thank you.

Just last week, Detroit guard Allen Iverson was talking about the need to create chemistry with his new Pistons' teammates.

"For me, it's just getting a chance to settle in," quote The Answer. "The most important thing is getting more practice time."

I guess it ain't that important.

Iverson didn't show up for practice Thanksgiving morning, apparently furious that Detroit coach Michael Curry required his team to workout on the holiday.

Iverson received a hefty fine and will not start for Detroit tonight against Milwaukee. I don't really care one way or another about this mess, but I feel like this is a good excuse to link to Iverson's classic practice rant from his days with the Philadelphia 76ers.

"How the hell am I supposed to make my teammates better by practicing?"

I realize that Thanksgiving football is a Detroit tradition and all, but having the Lions on national television is enough to cause fans a little indigestion after they eat their turkey dinner.

The Lions are really terrible this year, 0-11 in fact, and they are matched up with the Tennessee Titans (10-1) on Thanksgiving Day. Tennessee is coming off its first loss of the season, a 34-13 defeat at the hands of the New York Jets last Sunday.

You never really know in the NFL. Anything can happen, but one would imagine the Titans will be eager to get back on track. They won't look past the Lions, and they'll slaughter them by three touchdowns or more. That's good if you're a Tennessee fan. Probably pretty boring for the rest of us. At least you won't miss much if you sit down for dinner during the game.

The late afternoon game isn't much better. Dallas (7-4) hosts Seattle (2-9) in what figures to be another one-sided matchup. In fairness to the schedule-making computer, this game looked like a good one at the start of the year. The Seahawks have been one of the most disappointing teams in the NFL this season.

The night game is actually a decent matchup, Philadelphia (5-5-1) hosts Arizona (7-4). Alas, the game will be televised on NFL Network. That means most of the country can't watch.

Thanksgiving football: It just ain't what it used to be.

Indiana University's basketball program got three years probation for failing to monitor former coach Kelvin Sampson (aka Sanctions) and his illegal recruiting phone calls.

Sampson himself is facing five years of recruiting restrictions if he gets hired by another school. He will be banned from all recruiting activities for the first three years. Serves him right.

Sampson, now an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks, says he is "deeply disappointed" by the decision. I'd say the rest of the world is "deeply disappointed" that Sampson sullied the tradition of a Big Ten basketball program that has been clean and historically successful.

I don't feel sorry for Indiana fans because many of them turned a blind eye to Sampson's cheating. Some of them even defended Sampson's actions. They mocked Illinois fans because Sampson talked star guard Eric Gordon out of his verbal commitment to Illini coach Bruce Weber. They assured us that Gordon would lead them to multiple Final Fours.

Instead, they got one year of Gordon, a first-round elimination from both the Big Ten Tournament and the NCAA Tournament and three years of probation. I hope they are satisfied. The Hoosiers are going to suck this year and probably next year as well.

While I personally will enjoy each and every Hoosier loss, the reality is a weak program at Indiana is bad for the Big Ten and bad for college basketball. Kelvin Sampson is to blame. Hopefully, he never works in the college game again.

Former Indiana and Texas Tech coach Bob Knight presented ESPN announcer Dick Vitale (left) with his National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame induction medal on Sunday.

Now that Knight works for ESPN, you can expect Vitale to suck up to "The General" more than ever. In fact, Vitale is already arguing that IU should rename Assembly Hall after Knight.

Of course, Vitale will also spend massive quantities of time touting the "greatness" of North Carolina Great White Hope Tyler Hansbrough, who turned down the allure of NBA "greatness" to return for his senior season.

This guy hits the nail on the head. Vitale spends too much time touting his various agendas when he should be analyzing the game.

There are quite a few good broadcasters on ESPN. Vitale isn't one of them. I hope he retires, rides off into the sunset and enjoys his Tampa Bay Rays.

From Rivals.com, a pretty good analysis of what has gone wrong the last couple years. The writer agrees with me that the program will return to prominence shortly.

Illinois coach Ron Zook (left), with his headset off, scratching his head, trying to figure out just what the hell is going on out there on the field. It's an all too common sight for Illini fans this year.

What was missing this year, Zooker?

"I wish I knew the answer to that question," Zook said after Saturday's 27-10 loss to Northwestern, which finished a miserable 5-7 campaign for the Illini. "I really do. There's no question there's something that has been missing this year."

Namely, the wins have been missing this year. Sure, there have been worse times for Illinois football. Those who went to college with me remember the dark era from 1996-1998 where the team went 5-28. That included the dismal 0-11 season my senior year at Illinois, in 1997.

Then there was the 8-38 stretch from 2003-2006, until last year's Rose Bowl team came out of nowhere and thrilled those of us who bleed Orange and Blue.

Illinois fans have been through some tough times. Just look at those miserable records. But this year is the most disappointing season I've been through as an Illini fan. Sure, there have been worse teams. But all those teams that sucked were expected to suck.

I didn't expect this year's team to suck. I figured they'd do no worse than 7-5. I never expected this group not to make a bowl. The disappointment is rolling around in my stomach and it doesn't sit well.

Click here to keep up with the action as Geneva takes on Crystal Lake South tonight in the Class 7A state football semifinals.

Beacon News football writer, Sox fan, ladies man and American patriot Jim Owczarski (left) is live on the scene. He'll take your questions and give you updates throughout the night, all while risking a severe case of frostbite.

Meanwhile, I'll sit here in my nice, warm office and hold down the fort.

This was a pleasant surprise last night. A lightly-regarded Illinois team went on the road and earned a 69-63 win over Vanderbilt, an SEC team that qualified for the NCAA tournament last year.

The Commodores have only two starters back from last season, so perhaps they are weaker this year. But quite a few teams have gone into Nashville and lost to Vanderbilt in recent years. Heck, Tennessee was ranked No. 1 in the nation last year and got beat there.

So, for the Illini to get this victory was nice. They did it behind some good shooting. Yes, that's right: Good shooting. Illinois made 10-of-19 from 3-point range. Sophomore guard Demetri McCamey (left) hit five 3s and finished with 23 points and six assists. Senior guard Trent Meacham hit four 3s and a pair of critical free throws in the final seconds to finish with 14 points.

Speaking of critical free throws, the Illini were 11-for-11 from the line. You never would have seen that during the Shaun Pruitt/Brian Randle era. In addition, the Illini hammered Vanderbilt on the glass to the tune of 21 offensive rebounds and 20 second-chance points.

There's a long road back to the top of the Big Ten for Illinois. It's going to take a couple years. Perhaps this win is the first step on the journey. We'll see.

This guy must have been a Cubbie fan.

Don't worry. This blog entry isn't actually about gastric bypass surgery. I saw a magazine cover with the headline "Better than gastric bypass" while I was in line today at the supermarket, and I thought it was kinda catchy. So, I copied it.

Right now the Chicago Bulls are only slightly better than gastric bypass. I'd probably rather spend a week in traction than watch one of their games. This was an ass-whipping of monumental proportions.

For those of you who had Nov. 20 in the "Day that Larry Hughes bitches about playing time" pool, you win.

During last night's debacle against Portland, my colleague Chris Pummer wondered aloud whether coach Vinny Del Negro (left) will be fired on Christmas Day, a la Scott Skiles.

Maybe Del Negro will just say, "To hell with it," and go have gastric bypass surgery. I could hardly blame him.

Brad Childress, Aurora native and coach of the Minnesota Vikings, isn't too popular with Jaguars wide receiver Troy Williamson.

In fact, Williamson, a former first-round pick of the Vikings, challenged his former coach to "duke it out" with him at the 50-yard line when Jacksonville hosts Minnesota this Sunday.

Hopefully, everyone was able to pick up the print edition of today's Beacon News. Our annual prep basketball preview section is inside. We've got all the information you need to get ready for the season and some fun features too.

If you missed it, you can find most of the content here.

Good luck to all area teams!

Does this look like fun or what? Northern Illinois and Kent State got to play in the snow Tuesday night. Too bad this one wasn't on TV.

I don't think coaches like snow games too much. Fans and players? They love it!

"I thought it was a blast," said NIU freshman quarterback Chandler Harnish after the Huskies 42-14 victory. "I've never played in snow. It was a fun experience. We had to focus on each snap and make sure the running back got the ball on the handoff. We were playing football and we were executing, which we haven't done the last couple of games."

Harnish rushed for 117 yards and passed 173 yards in the victory, which improved the Huskies' record to 6-5 and made them bowl-eligible. It is unlikely NIU will be chosen for a bowl game, but the team deserves credit for a quick return to respectability following a 2-10 debacle of a season a year ago. The Huskies have been competitive in every game but one, a lopsided loss to unbeaten Ball State two weeks ago.

But, back to the snow. The weather adds an extra element to the game. Usually, you get more turnovers and the kicking game becomes an adventure. The Huskies had no fumbles and no interceptions Tuesday, which was key to their success.

Hopefully, we'll get another snow game involving a local team before the season ends. Hey, Aurora Christian and Geneva are still alive in the prep football playoffs. Thanksgiving weekend snow for the state title games? Ya never know. And the Bears do have three home games in December. It could happen.

Mike Mulligan from the Sun-Times believes the Bears could ride a favorable schedule to a division championship in the mediocre NFC North.

Let's look at the remaining schedule for the three contending teams and make predictions. We'll check back at the end of the season and see how it turned out.

One of these things is not like the other:

Player A) .300 avg., 23 HRs, 129 RBIs
Player B) .328 avg., 17 HRs, 83 RBIs
Player C) .288 avg., 36 HRs, 100 RBIs

Guess which one won AL MVP. It's Player B. Seriously.

That's Boston second baseman Dustin Pedroia, the guy to the left. What a farce.

Player A is Twins first baseman Justin Morneau, who was hands down the best player in the American League this year. Player C is Carlos Quentin, who was hands down the second-best player in the American League until he broke his wrist on Sept. 1.

The MVP is supposed to go to the guy who is most valuable to his team. Do the Twins contend all the way to the last day of the season without Morneau? Not a chance.

How about the White Sox? They had a winning record in every month but one in 2008. That one losing month was September, while Quentin was on the disabled list. Think he was of some value to this year's division championship team? If Quentin had missed a month in June instead of September, would he have finished either first or second in the MVP voting? The guess here is yes. Quentin still appeared in 130 games this season. That's plenty good enough.

As for Pedroia, he wasn't even the best player on his team. That would be J.D. Drew, who was injured late in the year, but carried the Red Sox during a period where designated hitter David Ortiz was on the DL.

Do the Red Sox make the playoffs without Pedroia? Probably. Do the White Sox make the playoffs without Quentin? No chance in hell. Do the Twins win 88 games without Morneau? No chance in hell. Case closed.

Morneau deserved the MVP. So did Quentin. Pedroia shouldn't have been in the top five. I guess ESPN's Boston-loving campaign worked. This is a sham.

It seems to me that safety Mike Brown is the only person associated with the Bears who truly gets it. Check out what Brown said after the Bears lost 37-3 Sunday in Green Bay:

"All I can tell you is that, obviously, our defense isn't what it used to be. Everyone wants it to be what it used to be, and it's not that. It's all about performance, and we haven't been performing well. Wherever we're ranked, that's where we deserve to be ranked, know what I'm saying?"

Yes, Mike, we do.

"It is what it is," Brown continued. "Once we come to grips that our defense isn't what it's supposed to be, we'll all be better off. Our perception is that we have a good defense. The reality is we don't."

Ain't that the truth. The Bears got gouged for 427 yards against Green Bay. Packers QB Aaron Rodgers had this to say, "I didn't hit the ground once. I barely got touched. No sacks, no quarterback hits, only a couple of hurries."

OK, I'm not really going fishing. In fact, I've never gone fishing. But I am going on vacation.

In a shocking development, the New York Yankees on Thursday declined a $6 million option on former White Sox reliever Damaso Marte.

There really isn't anything on TV tonight.

Two years ago, I couldn't have imagined referring to a 5-4 Illinois football team as "disappointing." But that's the word that best describes this year's team.

Rex Grossman replaced injured Bears quarterback Kyle Orton to start the second half of Sunday's 27-23 win over the Detroit Lions. When Grossman failed to produce points on his first drive, he was booed off the field.

Yikes!