So, now we’re down to just four teams remaining in this year’s NFL season.  So what can we expect in this weekend’s conference championship games?  Well, to answer that we need to analyze the teams.

The NFC matchup features two bird teams.  The Eagles are coming in to this game defying the odds and proving to everyone that benching a quarterback for part of a game is just what they need to turn around a season.  Since that moment Donovan McNabb took the field after his subsequent benching the Eagles have rallied back and are now on the verge of going to the Super Bowl.  The Cardinals are one of the hottest teams right now thanks to the veteran leadership (old age) of Kurt Warner and his air assault.

I like to pit the two mascots against each other as an indication of how the team will do.  In this case the eagle would easily kill a cardinal so you have to go with the Eagles.  Heres what to expect during this game:

1. Donovan McNabb hurls Campbell’s Chunky Soup all over the field after running for a five yard gain and sliding to avoid a hit.

2. Kurt Warner has to leave briefly during the third quarter to change his adult diaper.

3. Andy Reid starts hitting children who want to sit on his lap and tell him what they want for Christmas.

Result: Eagles win, 35 – 24

The AFC matchup features another bird team, the Ravens, up against a tough Steelers defense.  Judging by the mascots in this one I’d have to go with a steeler which I guess is a tough steel mill worker who would probably just hit a raven with a steel rod and kill it pretty efficiently.  Unless the steeler worked in one of those gay steel mills and didn’t believe in killing animals, at which point the raven would pull an Alfred Hitchcock and peck out the steeler’s eyes.  Here’s what to expect in this game:

1. Edgar Allan Poe rises from the grave to cheer on the Ravens

2. Ben Roethlisberger gives Joe Flacco a little rookie initiation wedgie during the pregame warm-up.

3. It snows so hard in Pittsburgh that Andy Reid makes a cameo appearance being pulled in a sleigh by eight tiny reindeer.

Result:  Steelers win, 24 – 10

BYU 59 UCLA 0

There’s really no other way to put BYU’s decimation of UCLA on Saturday. Luckily enough, I was at the game and got to see the pillaging first hand. Maybe it was when BYU blocked UCLA’s field goal, or maybe it was when Scott Johnson hit Raymond Carter so hard he did a full flip and ended up losing the ball and coming out of the game that I started to think that a shut out was possible. Certainly, after UCLA missed a chip shot field goal to put at least 3 points on the board, I figured the football gods were smiling on BYU. Then, Max Hall ties a BYU record by throwing his seventh touchdown of the game. I’m thinking, “Is this really UCLA?” Honestly, I think it was the most complete game I’ve ever scene BYU play. Their quest is for perfection and according to the scoreboard, they may have just achieved it. Now the quest continues for the perfect season and a BCS busting ride into the post season.

All in all it was an extremely bad week for the Pac-10 with four losses coming to Mountain West teams. Maybe the BCS should look into which western conference really deserves the BCS status. #15 Arizona State loses to UNLV? How?! UCLA goes down in flames. TCU lays Stanford to waste, and Arizona can’t handle New Mexico. Needless to say that with Cal losing to Maryland, Washington going 0-3 after being trounced by Oklahoma, the Pac-10 is in a state of disarray. Their one shining hope is, of course, USC who easily handled the most overrated team in the country (in my opinion) Ohio State.

So basically we’re witnessing the fall of the Pac-10 and rise of the Mountain West. The coming weeks will bring even more surprises I’m sure.