It's Championship Day in college football, but you'll have to wait a day to see the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play. To help you get through this trying time until there's NFL football, here are some stories you can read.
A hot topic on the web was the altercation between Aqib Talib and a referee that happened immediately following the game. Reportedly there was some shouting and cussing back and forth, and Talib had to be restrained. Despite that, the league has decided no punishment will be handed down. But Pat Yasinskas thinks the Bucs needs to take this seriously, because they can't be tolerant of this behavior, especially so because it's Talib. But despite this, Talib will line up against Roddy White again. Round 1 was won by Talib but lost by the Bucs, Round 2 - to be determined on Sunday. Yasinskas also talks about the other Bucs cornerback, Ronde Barber, and talks about the chances of Ronde making the Hall of Fame.
Another storyline throughout the week was what would happen at safety after Cody Grimm got injured. Sabby Piscitelli was expected to start, but was suddenly released on Sunday instead. Joe Henderson took the opportunity to level some more criticism at Sabby, who got a "face full of honesty" according to him. But Piscitelli's agent was actually happy with the way the Bucs handled, saying that they had his client's best interests at heart.
As for the team, the theme the past few weeks has been improvement at many different points. One of those is the O-line, which has persevered despite injuries to key players. Their opposite number, the D-Line, have really stepped it up though. And it seems to have started with Gerald McCoy turning it up over the past few games. That improvement has allowed the Bucs defense as a whole to play a lot better as well. Sadly, the improvement isn't getting people into the game - Sunday's game is still blacked out.
However, there are still critics of this team despite that improvement. The New York Times takes it to a new extreme, suggesting that the Buffalo Bills are a fundamentally better team than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They don't do a very good job of convincing me, but it's a good read to get a fresh perspective on this team.
And then there's the weekly Bucs analysis by Steve White. This time, he condensed all his thoughts into just one post. However, he also took a look at the Packers-Falcons game to come away with some tips for the Bucs D-Line for Sunday's game.
But enough about the Bucs themselves, let's talk about the coaches. Ray Flier of NFL Fanhouse writes about Raheem Morris and his background as a coach. A good read to see where Raheem came from and how he thinks. Another Bucs coach was the famous John McKay. Ira Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune thinks highly of McKay - and his son Rich McKay. To go along with John McKay's induction into the Ring of Honor on Sunday, the Tampa Tribune also has a cool slideshow of McKay pictures.
Finally, some videos for you guys. First, CBS Sports previews Falcons-Bucs. Next, NFL.com does the same thing. That's not the only thing though, Gerald McCoy was interviewed by NFL Network. And lastly, NFL Playbook tries to analyse the upcoming game, to see who is more likely to win.