01/04 (Wild) Quickie

*I will miss Chip Kelly as a college coach, but I am really excited to see what he can do in the NFL.

*Oregon finishes the season as the most telegenic team (Manziel and Co. can make their closing argument tonight), but I can't help thinking that I was more impressed when watching Stanford and Alabama and (yes) Notre Dame and (yes, still) Florida and (yes, despite) Kansas State, at least when K-State was dictating the terms of the Fiesta Bowl during the middle portion of the first half.

*Bill O'Brien might be coming back to Penn State, but his dalliance with the NFL simply means that the proposition is "when" not "if." Penn State might have been able to guilt him into staying with "It's only been a year!" but O'Brien clearly wants in to the NFL -- and inevitably wants out of the continuing Penn State mess. Next year, "It's only been a year!" won't matter, and O'Brien will be no more committed to the program than he was this week as he peeked around for something better.

*NFL Wild Card picks: Green Bay, Seattle, Baltimore, Houston. (If that's chalk, all we can hope is that the games themselves are competitive and compelling.)

*CFB pick: Texas A&M over Oklahoma, teeing up the Aggies as a preseason Top 3 pick for next season. (Early prediction: (1) Alabama, (2) Notre Dame, (3) Texas A&M, (4) Florida, (5) Ohio State.)

*NBA: Hardly a shocker that the Spurs weren't able to get past a motivated Knicks team for SA's 8th straight win -- the thing to admire about San Antonio is that their entire system is built around competing for championships in the spring. Random games during the regular season? Meh.

*CBB: Yup, Colorado got the short end vs. Arizona, in what should have been a season-making upset win for the Buffs.

*Jobs: Anyone really think Andy Reid is going to be successful in Kansas City?

*Nuptials: Congrats to Phil Jackson and Jeannie Buss on their engagement.

*Want to be a part of USA TODAY's historic and influential Super Bowl "Ad Meter" panel that ranks the Super Bowl ads and picks the "winner?" Registration is open. Click "Be a Panelist" here.

-- D.S.