I know this my day to give predictions, and we’ll get to those. But I’ll let you know now that they’ll be brief.

From time to time I ask for permission to use this space to share something personal with you. This is another one of those times.

Yesterday we lost a damn good man and a damn good sportswriter. Steve Ellis of the Tallahassee Democrat covered Florida State for nearly 30 years and did it with great distinction. Nobody knew what was going on at Florida State better than Steve and he did it with a work ethic that was legendary.

Did he clash with the folks at Florida State from time to time? You bet. But everybody from President T.K. Wetherell to Bobby Bowden respected Steve Ellis as a pro. In fact, he was a pro that other pros looked up to and relied on as a great resource.

When I really needed to know what was going on at Florida State, I would talk to Steve late at night when I knew he had finally stopped working. Yeah, I was a competitor but our friendship …

Five burning questions as we head into the weekend:

1. Can Georgia handle a little bit of praise? Last week’s win over Auburn doesn’t erase all of the of the problems that Georgia has had with this football team. Those problems are still considerable. But Georgia has not won two straight conference games since it beat South Carolina and Arkansas way back in September. Can the Bulldogs, who got a little love this week, handle it and take care of business against Kentucky? Can they build on it and actually play well for two weeks in a row?

2. Can LSU get excited, or even interested, enough to win at Ole Miss? If LSU beats Ole Miss on Saturday and Arkansas on Nov. 28, the Tigers will finish 10-2 and punch their ticket to the Capital One Bowl in Orlando on New Year’s Day. But LSU is not going to a BCS game because No. 1 Florida and No. 2 Alabama are both virtual locks to be there (and one conference cannot have more than two teams in the BCS). LSU had a …

Thanksgiving is next week and in that spirit I want to take a break from the BCS, player arrests, and the coaching carousel to tell you a good story about a good man.

About a million years ago I played high school football against Tommy West. His Gainesville High School team beat my team from Greene County for a conference championship. West was a running back and a really good player. That’s why he played college football at Tennessee and I became a sports writer.

I followed his career at Tennessee and then later when he became an assistant coach on the rise. He worked for Danny Ford at Clemson and later became the Tigers’ head coach. After he was let go at Clemson he eventually became the head coach at Memphis. Personally, I always knew him to be a class act.

 Last week he proved it to the rest of the world.

Tommy West got fired last week. He’s 55 years old and had done just about everything he could do at a place like Memphis. He made them competitive and took …

I’ve got some advice for our friends at the BCS. In 2010 you will begin a new four-year contract with ESPN. If you’re going to keep the same format and selection process, and the contract says you will, how about an upgrade of the human polls that currently make up two-thirds of your formula?

Currently you have 59 coaches voting in the USA Today Coaches poll. We don’t have enough space, not even on the internet, for me to point out all of the inconsistencies in that poll. The coaches will readily admit that they don’t see very much college football other than their own team and their opponent each week.  Their poll reflects that. The ballots are also secret until the very last one. Secrecy should not be a part of the BCS process.

The Harris Interactive Poll voters are an interesting collection of former players, administrators and current media. There have been some interesting votes there are well.

The Associated Press media poll, the granddaddy of all polls, is …

So what did we learn over the weekend?

1.  Georgia Tech should be concerned if it gets a rematch with Clemson: Clemson’s 14-10 loss to TCU at home (a game where Clemson had the ball inside the TCU 20-yard line with 1:55 left left) looks better and better. Clemson (7-3) can clinch the ACC Atlantic Division title with a win at home on Saturday against Virginia (3-7). Georgia Tech, which had to rally to beat Clemson 30-27 on Sept. 10, will really have to control the ball and keep it out of the hands of C.J. Spiller. Spiller is the hottest college football player in the country right now. Saturday against N.C. State Spiller ran 16 yards for a touchdown, caught a 34-yard touchdown pass, and threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Xavier Dye. It would be Clemson’s first-ever trip to the ACC championship game. With the excitement level at Clemson and Georgia Tech, the ACC championship game in Tampa will get its much-needed sellout.

2. TCU is for real: I had a chance to work …

Last week was a tough one because I believed Duke could beat North Carolina, Oklahoma could beat Nebraska, Notre Dame could beat Navy (what was I thinking there?) and Penn State could beat Ohio State.

That puts us at 73-27 for the season. We’ll try to do better this week as we get on the Fearless Friday Forecast:

1. Georgia Tech at Duke: Georgia Tech should be able to go up to Wallace Wade Stadium and take care of business and clinch the ACC Coastal. The Duke defense is banged up and I don’t see the Blue Devils stopping the Jackets at any point in this game. But the Yellow Jackets could stop themselves. If Tech lays the ball on the ground, this one could get a little scary. Georgia Tech 38, Duke 24.

2. Auburn at Georgia: Georgia gets back to basics behind running back Washaun Ealey, who looks more and more like the answer at tailback. The Bulldogs control the ball and limit the possessions of the Auburn offense. If Georgia can’t run the ball against the …

Five burning questions as we head into the weekend:

1. Is the Georgia Tech D ready for Thaddeus Lewis/David Cutcliffe? The way the Georgia Tech offense is playing, the No. 7 Yellow Jackets should be able to go up to Duke and take care of business. A win gives Georgia Tech the ACC Coastal Division championship. A loss would throw the division into chaos. Duke certainly has a shot in this game because the Blue Devils have Thaddeus Lewis, the ACC’s No. 2 passer with 2,428 yards (only five interceptions) and with David Cutcliffe calling the plays. Georgia Tech’s pass defense is ranked No. 68 nationally and 10th in the ACC (226.7 ypg). The Yellow Jackets have only eight interceptions (Clemson leads the league with 19) and is ninth in the ACC in quarterback sacks with 1.8 per game. If Tech doesn’t turn the ball over several times, the Jackets will be fine. But if they lay the ball on the ground this will be a 60-minute game.

2. Does the HBC have an upset left in …

Nobody asked me, but SEC Commissioner Mike Slive may eventually have to rethink and readjust his position on the coaches and their comments on officiating.

When Slive decided to get tough on coaches who commented negatively on officiating, it was absolutely the right thing to do at the time. And for the rest of this season the threat of fines and/or suspensions should stay in place. The atmosphere is just too toxic and every time there is a controversial call, like the one in last Saturday’s LSU-Alabama game, it just gets worse. So the rule needs to stay in place to keep a lid on things for the rest of this season.

But in the offseason when things calm down, the commissioner may need to take a second look at this policy. Here’s why. Somebody I respect a great deal in this business made this point to me. He didn’t give me permission to use his name so I won’t. But he did change my thinking on this issue.

When their teams get the short end of a bad officiating call, …

We’re getting down to crunch time, so let’s a take minute to project the five BCS bowls and explain why the matchups will occur.

Just remember that the two bowls that lose their designated conference champs to the BCS title game go to the head of the line when it comes time to pick. The bowl that loses the No. 1 team picks first. The bowl that loses the No. 2 team picks second.

Then remaining conference champs are placed in their designated bowls: Big Ten/Pac-10 to Rose; Big 12 to Fiesta, SEC to Sugar, ACC to Orange.

Then the remaining slots in the games are filled with this order of selection: Orange, Fiesta, Sugar.

So here we go. If you disagree, please tell me why,.

BCS CHAMPIONSHIP, Jan. 7, 2010

Matchup: Alabama vs. Texas

How it happened: Florida and Alabama are locked into the SEC championship game on Dec. 5. They could be ranked 1-2. As was the case a year ago, the winner goes to the big game.  With Baylor, Kansas and Texas A&M left, Texas should cruise …

So what did we learn?

1. There will be an SEC team in the BCS championship game. Before the weekend there was a possibility that if No. 4 Iowa finished 12-0, it could jump a one-loss SEC champion and get into the BCS title game. But with Iowa’s 17-10 loss to Northwestern, that question is now moot. With Alabama rallying to beat LSU on Saturday, I don’t think we’re stepping out on a limb to say that both Florida and Alabama will get to Atlanta undefeated. Now some will argue that if either No. 4 TCU (9-0) or No. 5 Cincinnati (9-0), who have tough games remaining, finish 12-0 they should go ahead of a 12-1 Florida or …