To nobody’s surprise, Clemson,  Alabama, Michigan State, and Oklahoma  are the four schools in the Second Annual College Football playoffs.  The semi-finals have Clemson vs Oklahoma  in the Orange Bowl. Alabama vs Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl.  Locally, Pitt will play Navy in the Military Bowl Monday December 28th at Annapolis Maryland.  Penn State will be in Jacksonville Florida  January 2nd.  They will play Georgia in the Tax Slayer Bowl.  West Virginia will play in the Cactus Bowl on January 2nd.  They will play Arizona State in the Cactus Bowl in Phoenix.

The NCAA has rejected the appeal of Syracuse Basketball Coach. His suspension for academic  miss doings, can start right  now.  The 71-year-old legendary coach will miss six non-conference games and three ACC games.  One of the games will the December 30th against Pitt at the Peterson Event  Center.  He will return for the January 9th game against  North Carolina.  Assistant Coach Mike Hopkins will direct the team.  That starts Saturday against Georgtown.  In other college basketball news. There was a huge  upset Thursday Night.  UCLA knocked off #1 Kentucky 87-77. The Bruins were lead by Thomas Welsh’s 21 points. It is UCLA’ first win over a #1 team since 2003.

Coming off their best start in eight years, the Duquesne Dukes face their cross town rival Pitt tonight. It is THE CITY GAME.  The Dukes are 6-1 including a 26-point romp over Penn State a couple of weeks ago.  The Panther are coming off a  loss to #11 Purdue Tuesday night.  The Panthers have won the last 14-games in a row.  Dukes coach Jim Ferry says that has not come up during his preparation for the game. The Game is at the Console Energy Center with tipoff at 7pm.

The  PIAA Quarter Finals in Football start tonight .  The AA Game Aliquippa vs Karnes City will be played at Reeves Stadium Geneva College. WBVP-WMBA airtime is 6:30pm. KIckoff is 7:00pm.  Meanwhile the Aliquippa Girls Basketball Team is in New York City for a weekend tournament.

Good News and Bad News on the injury front for the Steelers Ben Rothlersberger was cleared and did practice on Wednesday. Tight end Heath Miller didn’t practice due to a rib injury. Also sitting out is wide receiver Martavis Bryant with a hip. Suffering knee injuries are linebacker James Harrison, safety Mike Mitchell. Linebacker Ryan Shazier  is still is going through the NFL concussion Proticol.