FanNation - The Republic of Sport

RHP Ugueth Urbina last pitched in the major leagues in '05.

Rich Pilling/Getty Images

All times Eastern.

• 7:00 p.m., ESPN: Weekly newsmagazine E:60 leads with a feature story on Ugueth Urbina, the former major league reliever and World Series champ currently imprisoned in his native Venezuela for attempted murder. Another (presumably lighter) story tackles Dallas Stars winger and Vogue intern Sean Avery.

• 9:00 p.m., NBC/ABC/CBS/C-SPAN: Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama meet at Nashville's Belmont University for the second of their three debates. Why do we watch the debates on C-SPAN? Take it away, Orange Crate Art:

The best choice for watching a presidential or vice-presidential debate is C-SPAN. Why? C-SPAN's continuous split-screen lets you see both participants at all times, allowing for all sorts of observations about body language and facial expression.

• 10:00 p.m., NBA TV: The Jazz and Lakers meet in the preseason opener for both squads, five months removed from their memorable clash in the West semis. (We just wish they would've chosen Sacramento-Portland for the first glimpse of Greg Oden since his microfracture surgery.)

Bob Stoops and OU are atop the rankings for another week.

John Froschauer/AP

As the midpoint of college football season draws near, SI.com's Stewart Mandel took the opportunity to reboot his weekly College Football Power Rankings.

The result: A strange week. Static up top, where seven schools maintained their standing from last week (including the top six teams: Oklahoma, Alabama, Mizzou, Texas, LSU, Penn State). A dozen other teams gained ground, meaning just one of the 20 holdovers from last week's poll dropped in the rankings: Brigham Young, which slipped one spot from No. 7 to No. 8. Mandel explains the upward mobility in his introduction.

I wouldn't say I started over from scratch -- the top six teams remained unchanged from last week -- but I did adjust several teams' rankings considerably with little regard for how many spots they might be moving up or down from last week. Call it a "recalibration."

A few of the primary beneficiaries/victims:

• Illinois: Like most voters, I dropped the Illini off my ballot last week when they fell to 2-2. But their two losses came against a pair of teams (Missouri and Penn State) I now have ranked in my top six, and Illinois' offense performed well in both games. After watching Juice Williams torch Michigan for 431 total yards Saturday, I believe the Illini are a top 20 team.

• Kentucky: The preseason assumption regarding the Wildcats was that they'd fall back into obscurity without star QB Andre Woodson. But while Kentucky's offense has taken a step back, it now boasts a top 15 defense. While I withheld ranking the Wildcats during their 4-0 start, I moved them in this week following their close loss at No. 2 Alabama.

• USF and Kansas: The Bulls lost at home to Pittsburgh last week. The Panthers are not remotely a top 25 team, having lost to Bowling Green and struggled to beat Buffalo, Iowa and Syracuse. Meanwhile, Kansas, whom the Bulls previously beat, barely survived a dogfight against mediocre Iowa State. Sadly, it marked the Jayhawks' best win to date.

What are your thoughts on the rankings? Do you think Mandel got things right this week? Make sure to stop by the user rankings page to cast your ballot in the community poll.

Adrian Peterson struggled against a tough New Orleans 'D'.

Icon SMI

Last Thursday, we ranked the watchability of every game on the Week 5 slate. Today, we look back and re-rank the games based on what actually went down. At season's end, we'll tally up the pre- and post-game rankings from throughout the year to determine the league's most and least watchable squads -- and the 30 teams in between.

Minnesota 30, New Orleans 27 [RECAP]

Pre-Ranking: 6
Post-Ranking: 1

Comment: The NFL definitely saved the best for last with this exciting Monday nighter. This game had it all: punt return TDs, FG blocks returned for TDs, de-cleating hits, stifling defense (just ask Adrian Peterson) and last-minute drama.

* * *

Indianapolis 31, Houston 27 [RECAP]

Pre-Ranking: 9
Post-Ranking: 2

Comment: It's admittedly hard to watch the Colts offense these days, but that frenetic final four minutes more than made up for it. 

Marseille's Eric Gerets was forced to do without his cigars. 

Boris Horvat/Getty Images

If you think well-compensated pro athletes are immune to the worldwide credit squeeze, think again.

Consider French soccer team Olympique Marseille, whose players had to pony up the cash from their own pockets just to get home after last week's 2-1 loss at Atletico Madrid in a Champions League group stage match.

When the team arrived at Barajas Airport to discover their charter flight was grounded, it was revealed their pilot's credit card had been rejected by oil company Exxon while he was attempting to refuel the plane. Awkward pocket-digging from players and officials ensued.

What to do? The players and coaches passed the hat and came up with the necessary 3,000 euros ($4,090) to buy the fuel.

Marseille Coach Eric Gerets, a former Belgian World Cup player, was not amused.

"I wanted to buy two cigars, but I gave 100 euros, which meant I was not able to smoke today," he said. "I felt as though I was in a film, a bad one. Had we won, I would not have cared, but because we lost it was a little more difficult to take."

An AFP story chalks up the embarrassing situation to an administrative error on Exxon's side, saying the company plans to launch an internal inquiry. Said team travel agent Christophe Villeneuve: "We needed to go home but Exxon were not contactable and [oil company] CLH did not have a great deal of goodwill for us either. So we had to pay in cash which has surely never been done before."

Linebacker Keith Bulluck and the Titans are soaring at 5-0.

AP

As the dust clears on Week 5 of the NFL season, just two undefeated teams remain. In his column from this morning, SI.com's Don Banks sizes up the chances for the Titans (5-0) and the Giants (4-0) to run the table and join last year's Patriots as the only teams to finish the regular season with a 16-0 record.

New York's Antiono Pierce thinks a perfect regular season is unrealistic. ("If we can go undefeated in the division," says the Pro Bowl linebacker, "that could be the best undefeated record we could have.") But in the spirit of good humor, Banks breaks down the remaining schedule for both clubs.

• Tennessee: With 11 games remaining in their regular season after this week's bye, the Titans have a schedule that could allow them to stay undefeated for quite some time yet. Tennessee plays just two games against teams that currently have winning records: Week 10 at Chicago, and home against Pittsburgh in Week 16.

Coming out of their bye, the Titans travel to offensively-challenged Kansas City in Week 7, then return home for a pair of tough challenges against teams that have underachieved thus far: perennial AFC South champion Indianapolis in Week 8, and 2007 NFC title-game qualifier Green Bay in Week 9. The injury-depleted Colts and Packers may have things put together by then, but there are no guarantees.

If the Titans do get to 8-0 at the season's midpoint, their second half starts off with challenging games at Chicago in Week 10 and at Jacksonville in Week 11. Things get a bit easier for a while after that -- Jets at home, Lions on the road, Browns at home, Texans on the road -- but Tennessee will have to earn it in Weeks 16-17, drawing Pittsburgh at home and a road trip to Indy in its final two games.

"It feels great to be 5-0,'' said [Kerry] Collins, after leading the Titans to a fourth-quarter comeback against the Ravens. "What we learned today is we can come from behind and win on the road against a good team. I hope we can keep this going, because I think we can have a good year.''