A - Atlanta. The offense of the Falcons is built around two stars - Matt Ryan and Michael Turner. Needless to say, it's a blow when both players are lost in the same game. Ryan was lost in the second quarter of their home game against Tampa Bay with a toe injury, and Turner went down in the third when he re-aggravated an ankle injury. Despite the injuries the Falcons were able to pull out a last minute win thanks to solid play from journeyman backup Chris Redman.

B - Boise State. The Broncos did what they needed to do - they maintained their undefeated season - but it wasn't easy. Nevada has an explosive offense, and it led to a high-scoring, exciting game. Now all that is left for Boise State is a rare 13th regular season game. New Mexico State is the opponent, and the only way that Boise State can lose to them is if they forget to show up at the stadium. Beyond that, the Broncos just need to hope that they've done enough to earn a second non-BCS conference BCS berth. They deserve it.

C - Colt McCoy. It took McCoy a long time to find his groove this season, but he is certainly in it now. McCoy was dominant against Texas A&M - there's no other word to describe it. He passed for 304 yards and four touchdowns, and then added 175 yards and a touchdown on the ground for good measure. McCoy and the team around him are playing with the confidence that there is nothing they can't do. Given that, you really have to wonder what was affecting the team earlier in the year.

D - Denver. Perhaps no team in the NFL needed a win more than the Broncos. They got one with authority on Thursday night at home against the Giants. Kyle Orton was back as the starter, and he brought a calm demeanor back to a team that panicked under Chris Simms. Orton wasn't perfect, but he was solid, and was significantly better than Eli Manning. If I was a Giants fan I would be starting to panic - the passing game isn't great, the running game is a disaster, the defense is soft, and the team just isn't very good.

E - Energized. Maybe firing Dick Jauron and giving Perry Fewell the head coaching job in Buffalo was the right move after all. In Fewell's second game at the helm his team exploded in the fourth quarter to run away from the division rivals from Miami. Buffalo trailed by seven after three quarters, but 24 unanswered points in the final stanza led to a very easy win. Buffalo has more typically given up runs like that instead of scoring them this year - or this decade for that matter - so that's a promising sign for the Bills.

F - Frankel, Bobby. Horse racing lost a legend two weeks ago when trainer Bobby Frankel died after a battle with leukemia. Frankel won the Eclipse Award for top trainer five different times, and was particularly dominant with fillies. Though the horses in his barn are now racing under the names of his assistants, Frankel had a last big weekend. Before he died; he had recommended that Ventura, a frustrating second at the Breeders' Cup, be pointed at the Matriarch at Holywood Park. She won it in stakes-record time. It was the second day in a row that a Frankel-trained horse won a grade one race at Hollywood.

G - Grey Cup. Canada's football championship took place in Calgary on Sunday, and it pitted the Montreal Alouettes, favored by 9.5 points, against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The favorites ultimately won, and they did it in the most soul-crushing way I have ever seen. Saskatchewan blew an early lead, and Montreal closed to within two points in the closing minutes. After working their way into field goal range, Montreal had one chance to win as time expired. The kicker pushed it wide, and Saskatchewan started to celebrate - along with the largely pro-Riders crowd in the stadium. But then the flags flew - Saskatchewan had too many men on the field. They lined up again, there was no mistake this time, and Montreal won by a single point.

H - Hossa, Marian. People had been saying all season that the Blackhawks were pretty good, and they were going to be even better once free agent acquisition Marian Hossa was healthy enough to play. Hossa wasted no time proving that thesis. In his first game back from a shoulder injury on Wednesday Hossa scored a shorthanded goal in the second period, and another at even strength in the third to pace the Hawks to a huge 7-2 win at league-leading San Jose.

I - Iverson. The Answer is gone. Maybe. After leaving the Grizzlies after just three games, Allen Iverson announced his retirement on Wednesday. This decision has all the permanence of a boxer's retirement, though. There is already talk that the Sixers will bring him back, and even if they don't I would be shocked if a team doesn't pick him up for the rest of the season. He's a mental case, but he's still a stunningly talented pure scorer who will help put points on the board and butts in the seats.

J - Just one at a time. It's almost as if the Colts and Texans decided that only one team at a time could play on Sunday. The Texans dominated the Colts early to take a 17-0 lead and to go up 20-7 at the half. After the break, though, it was as if Houston just stayed in the dressing room. Peyton Manning found his game, the Texans were terrible, and Indianapolis rolled to an eight point win that was only respectable because the Texans scored in the final minute.

K - Kragthorpe, Steve. Louisville head coach Steve Kragthorpe is now a former Louisville head coach. It should be absolutely no surprise to anyone that Kragthorpe's tenure has ended after three ugly years - he managed to throw away years of progress and impressive results that the program had built up, and replaced it with boring play, lackluster results, and a total failure to compete in the Big East. The program has too much going for it to continue to struggle like this, so hiring Kragthorpe's replacement is a crucial decision for the administration.

L - Lions. Detroit celebrated Thanksgiving in the same way they have so often in recent years - by getting beaten up by a better team. The Lions scored first, but then they let the Packers score 27 unanswered points to put the game totally out of reach. The reason for the result was simple - Aaron Rodgers was brilliant, and Matthew Stafford really, really wasn't. Stafford threw four interceptions, completed less than half of his passes, and never really looked comfortable. You have to really wonder if throwing a young kid to the wolves time and time again is good for his progress.

M - Minnesota. Tubby Smith has undoubtedly made his mark on the Gophers since taking over as coach, and this week he got a huge win to prove it. Minnesota never looked in danger in a convincing win over Butler in the opening round of the 76 Classic in Anaheim. Colton Iverson was a force off the bench with 13 points and 11 boards in just 18 minutes. Unfortunately, the Gophers were unable to keep the momentum going from the win - they suffered an inexplicable loss to Portland in the second round of the tournament.

N - No rest. A small handful of Golden State Warriors really earned their money on Tuesday night. Thanks to a ridiculous string of injuries Golden State was left with just eight healthy players for their trip to Dallas. It seems ridiculous that they only chose to play six of those players in the game, but it worked - they beat the Mavs by eight. It was only the third time since 1976 that a team had used six players in a game. Three players played all 48 minutes, including Monta Ellis who led the way with 37 points and eight assists. Those impressive numbers were tempered somewhat by his 11 turnovers.

O - Oklahoma State. With the Sooners struggling this year, the Cowboys had a chance on Saturday to show that they were the new kings of the state. They failed miserably. With a potential BCS bid on the line, the Cowboys had their worst offensive performance in a decade to lose 27-0 to Oklahoma. Oklahoma State managed just 47 yards of passing and 109 yards of total offensive in the humiliating outing. Oklahoma wasn't great offensively, but they didn't need to be in this mess of a game.

P - Punishing. Stanford running back Toby Gerhart isn't going to win the Heisman, but on Saturday night he left little doubt that he deserves an invitation to New York for the ceremony. The senior single-handedly beat Notre Dame in Charlie Weis' last game at the helm. He carried the ball 29 times for 205 yards and three touchdowns, and threw a pass 18 yards for another TD. He also had 33 yards receiving. Gerhart blew through tackles at will as he put together what was, in my eyes, the most impressive single performance of the season that any player has had.

Q - Quinn, Brady. After one week in which it seemed like Quinn might actually have a future in this league, Quinn came crashing back to the levels we are used to from him this week against Cincinnati. He completed just 44 percent of his passes, and he averaged an impossibly bad 2.9 yards per attempt. The only positive thing you can say about the performance is that he managed not to turn the ball over. Cincinnati didn't light it up offensively - they didn't need to - but they did get a big game from a surprising source. Former Chief Larry Johnson ran for 107 yards on 22 carries.

R - Red Wings. Detroit was probably relieved that they beat the Blues in a shootout on Saturday night, but mostly because they finally managed to score a goal. Before Tomas Holmstrom scored a couple of minutes into the second period the Wings had been shut out for more than 175 minutes - their longest streak of futility since 1977. Detroit was expected to be an elite contender yet again this year, but a crushing string of injuries has hurt their chances early in the season.

S - Spartans. Michigan State basketball was ranked second in the country and came into the season with massive expectations. Florida has failed to recapture the magic of their championship seasons and is an incomplete team. When the teams met on Friday the result should have been a foregone conclusion. Nothing is sports is guaranteed, though, and this time around the Gators outscored the Spartans in both halves to win the game by three. The difference was clear - the Spartans were sloppy, and Florida relentlessly capitalized on the missteps.

T - TCU. To virtually guarantee a BCS berth all the Horned Frogs had to do this week was win their game. They certainly did that, and they earned some style points along the way as well. TCU beat New Mexico, 51-10, on Saturday to hand the Lobos their 15th loss in their last 16 games. The dominance of this team is impressive - they have won their last seven games by at least 27 points. It's the first time in 71 years that TCU has had an undefeated season. The last time it happened they were national championships. Sadly, there is no chance that they'll get a chance to repeat that result.

U - UGA. The Yellow Jackets had a berth in the ACC Championship wrapped up, but you think they still would have been motivated for their big rivalry game against Georgia. Not so much. Georgia has struggled all year, but on Saturday they ran for 339 yards - the most in Mark Richt's tenure - to earn a six point win on the road. Two Georgia running backs had more than 160 yards each as Georgia stole Georgia Tech's playbook and employed it better than the home team did. Now Georgia Tech has to play a yawner of an ACC Championship against a Clemson team that was also humiliated in rivalry action on Saturday.

V - Vegas. The Las Vegas Locomotives beat the previously undefeated Florida Tuskers in overtime on Friday night to win the inaugural UFL championship. That leads to a bigger question - was I the only one who had totally forgotten that the UFL existed? I hope that the powers that be behind the upstart league didn't hope to invade the conscience of sports fans this year, because they certainly didn't. I didn't understand why the league was needed before their season began, and I still don't now.

W - West Virginia. The theme for this weekend in college football was clear - major conference teams with a shot at the BCS were consistently disappointing. Pitt controlled their own destiny - win out and they were in. Those dreams took a hit as the Panthers lost the Backyard Brawl in an upset to West Virginia. They can still make the big time with a win over Cincinnati next week, but this game was not the boost to their confidence that they needed heading into that showdown.

X - Xavier. The mascots of this column had a rough week. They headed to Disney World for the Old Spice Classic, but it wasn't a magical time for them. They opened with a tough loss to Marquette in a game they were never really in. They bounced back to beat a reeling Creighton squad in their second game, but they couldn't maintain the momentum. On Sunday they finished the tournament by losing to Baylor. The game was close, but Baylor scored eight  free throws in the last 27 seconds to drop Xavier to 4-2 on the season.

Y - Yikes. Houston may have lost two games this season, but there is no doubt that they are an impressive offensive team. Case in point - their Saturday win over Rice. The score was 59-0 - at the half. Case Keenum had 323 yards passing and two TDs, plus a rushing TD, in the half before sitting for the rest of the game. Keenum had 323 yards passing and two TDs, plus a rushing TD, in the first half. The final score was 73-14 - the highest total for a team all season.

Z - Zzzzz. A couple of veteran QBs were put to sleep briefly last week, and the concussions kept them out of action this week. Ben Roethlisberger practiced, but since this is his fourth concussion in as many years the smart move was to keep him out. Charlie Batch was hurt, too, so Dennis Dixon got the nod. He was solid until an interception in overtime led to a loss.  In Arizona, Matt Leinart got another chance to show what a disappointment he is after Kurt Warner wasn't ready to play against Tennessee. Leinart was badly outplayed by Vince Young, but still almost pulled off a win.