Some would argue that Oklahoma's wins over Texas Tech and Oklahoma State at the end of the year shows that they are a better side. However just because those results are fresh in the mind does it really mean they should leapfrog Texas and play Missouri in the Big 12 Title game?

I've ended the last two paragraphs with question marks – how rare.

Anyway – I don't. I look at the two losses they had. Texas lost to Texas Tech on a last play miracle catch, spin and run into the end zone. They had beaten Oklahoma (#1), Missouri (#11) and Oklahoma State (#6) on the spin before going into Lubbock and losing on that play. It was a brutal schedule and even losing a game you had to like them the rest of the way.

The win over Oklahoma was on a neutral site whereas Oklahoma's win over Texas Tech was at home. Texas Tech were mauled by Oklahoma yes but they were always a fraud and this was their first trip to a ranked team all season long. The fact that in one swift loss they have dropped all the way from the BCS Championship Game all the way down to the Cotton Bowl says a lot.

So it was really a straight shoot-out between Texas and Oklahoma for that spot in the Big 12 Title Game and they have already played each other on a neutral site. Surely that should be the ultimate deciding factor? Texas' 45-35 win over then #1 Oklahoma was very impressive and remember Oklahoma have not beaten a #1 ranked team (Texas Tech were #2 when they played).

The whole BCS has always been a bone for much contention and this year is no different. If you had an eight-team play-off then both Oklahoma and Texas would get in but possibly Florida would not if they lost to Alabama. So you have to work out if winning your BCS conference should lead to an automatic play-off spot (look at the ACC and Big East) and say that if the winner wasn't ranked in the top 16 then you could give that spot to an at-large.

If this was the case then you would see Penn State, USC, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, Alabama, Utah and then Ohio State or Boise State is an eight-team play-off. Sounds good doesn't it?

I was obviously hoping to see my Jags come over but the chance to watch the great Tom Brady is one that whets the appetite. The Patriots have been the team of the decade and even though they lost their star QB in Game 1 (which may well of screwed up more than one fantasy team) understudy Matt Cassel has done a surprisingly decent job and has kept them in the AFC East and AFC Wildcard race.

The Bucs will be designated the home team and are also in play-off contention this year. The currently have a 9-3 record in the NFC and lead the NFC South and face a huge Monday Night Football game next week when they travel to North Carolina to face the Panthers.

The London game will be the third one played in the regular season and with a 2010 game already agreed in principle, it looks like the game looks set for a long future and maybe opening the door in the long term for a franchise to be based in London, which is starting to become more feasible.

The National Football League dominates the domestic front but they don't want to rest on their laurels. The London game has been a huge success so far and with the sport growing in stature here in the UK, you can expect more of the same in the future.

I know looking forward to this match-up. Yes – it could've been better but getting the Pats to agree to come to London is a huge coup for NFL UK and these are two of the biggest supported franchises over here.

Does the NFL have a future outside of the States?

We'll start off at the Orange Bowl where the Big East Champion Cincinnati will take on the winner out of the ACC Virginia Tech. This is not a surprise as the Orange Bowl had the final pick below the Sugar and Fiesta Bowls and they took at-large teams over the Big East entrant.

Next we'll go down to the Sugar Bowl where the unbeaten Utah will face the team who were #1 in the country going into the weekend, Alabama. Utah are undefeated and are the BCS buster for this year whereas Alabama have had a great season but the Sugar Bowl will feel like a let down after being so close to playing for all the marbles.

The Fiesta Bowl next and we start the big heavyweight match-ups. Two at-large picks here as Ohio State beats off Boise State for the right to take on Texas in Arizona. Texas in my opinion should be playing for the title but due to some convoluted logic Oklahoma got the nod.

The granddaddy of them all is the Rose Bowl where the Pac-10 Champ USC will play yet again and take on my Nittany Lions of Penn State coming out of the Big Ten. Both teams were very close to going undefeated and playing for the title but close losses at Oregon State and at Iowa put pay to those ambitions. This game will be a lot closer than the experts think.

And on to the BCS National Championship game where we find the SEC Champ Florida and the top dogs in the Big 12 Oklahoma. The Gators are widely regarded as the best team in the nation having just bumped off #1 Alabama and Oklahoma have won out in that quite sensational Big 12 South.

This really would've been a great year for the play-off. The Big East and ACC should be struck off from the automatic bids as neither conference is that strong. That would've left us with the Champions from the Big 12 (Oklahoma), SEC (Florida), Big Ten (Penn State) and Pac-10 (USC). That leaves us with four at-large spots which would go to Texas and Alabama as no brainers and then you got Utah, Boise State, Texas Tech and Ohio State (in my order of personal preference).

Those Fiesta, Rose and BCS games do look rather tasty though I must say...

Knee problems have plagued him recently, leaving him, in his own words, unable to “train in an optimal way”. As a result of this inability to train properly, Andersen has decided to retire from the sport after amassing an impressive total of 2,544 points during a career which has lasted for twenty-five years.

He can retire from the sport extremely proud of his numerous achievements which make for very impressive reading. Andersen reached the final of the Super Bowl in 1999 whilst playing for the Falcons and has since described this as the “pinnacle” of his career.

However, other highlights will undoubtedly include the day in mid-December two years ago, when he became the top scorer in the history of the NFL. This landmark achievement came in a tough match against the Dallas Cowboys. Although this match ultimately ended in defeat for the Falcons, the personal victory made the player truly ecstatic.

The good news for Andersen is that his position at the top of the NFL scorer list is unlikely to be seriously challenged for some time to come since the player currently sitting in second place has already retired. Gary Anderson retired from the sport four years ago after amassing a total of 2,434 points.

The biggest shock for me came in San Deigo as the Indianapolis Colts went into California riding a nine-game win streak but came a cropper in Overtime 23-17. A big sack on Peyton Manning on 3rd down in the Colts' final drive ensured they would punt and the Chargers marched down the field for the tying Field Goal.

The Chargers would win the coin toss and receive. Aided by two questionable 3rd down flags against the defense, nullifying potential stops, the home team would score and rubber stamp their place in next weekend's round of games and a trip to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers.

In the other AFC match-up, the #6 seed Ravens took the #3 seed Dolphins apart on their way to a 27-9 mauling of their hosts. A four pick day from Chad Pennington isn't what you are looking for in the play-offs and when you consider that the Dolphins turned the ball over less than anyone in the NFL this season then it must be regarded as a pretty big shock as well.

Behind rookie QB Joe Flacco and the irrepressible Ed Reed, the Ravens breezed through and look forward to going to Tennessee next week to face the top seeded Titans.

Over in the NFC the Arizona Cardinals won their first play-off game at home in 61 and their first anywhere since 1998 as they overcame the Atlanta Falcons 30-24. Behind the play of veteran QB Kurt Warner (who I think is HoF bound) the Cardinals did just enough to stay in the end of season tournament but it all probably ends next week in Carolina.

The final game was the Eagles going into Minnesota to take on the Vikings and the away side won for the second time this weekend. Behind solid if unspectacular play from QB Donovan McNabb, the Eagles scored enough and with arguably the most dominant defensive display of the weekend, they held the Viking to a couple of big plays to beat them by a couple of scores.

They go to the Meadowlands next week to face the defending champion Giants in what is the most enticing match-up of round two of the 2009 NFL play-offs.

The Broncos won the Super Bowl in 1998 and managed to defend their title the following year. Although the club won half of their matches this season, several bad results towards the latter stages left them unable to be a part of the play-offs. During his time at the club, Shanahan won 146 matches and lost a total of 89.

Shanahan’s sacking has come as a shock to many, especially since he was such an experienced coach. Only Jeff Fisher, who became head coach of Tennessee in the early 1990s, had been serving as a coach for longer than Shanahan.

The owner of the Denver Broncos, Pat Bowlen, revealed that the decision to sack him was extremely “difficult” but one which simply had to be made. Bowlen still admires Shanahan as a man but believes that the club needed a change in their “football operations”.

The sacking of the Broncos coach came after three other clubs fired their managers within a very short space of time. The Detroit Lions, the Cleveland Browns, and the New York Jets all made the decision to sack their coaches and the resultant vacancies could be good news for Shanahan, who will presumably be in high demand now that he has left the Broncos.