Even without the playoffs championship teams have pride

Most other players are likely to play.Green Bay has a definite advantage in turnover ratio (18 to –5), and is playing much better football of late, winning five in a row while the Steelers have lost five. However, the Packers are more highly penalized than Pittsburgh, and the bottom-line is the Packers do not need this win like the Steelers do, and there is no greater intangible than urgency.In all likelihood, the Packers will finish in the fifth seed in the NFC whether we win or lose this game. They will talk about its importance, but much of that is hollow. Also, Green Bay does not strike me as a good enough team to expect six wins in a row from.While Pittsburgh knows it has in all probability blown a playoff spot, they have a reasonable chance of landing one if they win out.

For some of the games they have lost in the stretch, injuries played a factor beyond what they will Sunday.Even without the playoffs, championship teams have pride. They will need this win to salvage some respect, and will not overlook the Packers like they may have the Cleveland Browns, Oakland Raiders, and Kansas City Chiefs; they also did not have the same desperation against the latter two opponents. They do not strike me as a team that will lose a sixth in a row, especially at home. Thus, I am picking the upset: Steelers 23, Packers 20I originally wrote this article for Sports Scribes .. Given the recent buzz over the Big Ten's search for a 12th member, it's no surprise that the Pac-10 has followed suit in saying that it will examine possible additions that would, if added, most likely begin Pac-10 play in 2012 (the Pac-10's TV contracts expire after the 2011-2012 season) Doing so, however, would be incredibly foolish. "There's a pretty high hurdle for us, academically, athletically, geographically," commissioner Larry Scott commented in a press conference held on Wednesday. "We're hard-pressed to really see how you improve upon the structure of the Pac-10 as it is with five sets of natural rivals in four states." Scott couldn't be more right in having reservations about conference expansion, specifically for the Pac-10.

Of all the conferences in the FBS, the Pac-10 is the one that actually got things right in terms of balancing academics, quality football and conference structure. Academics The Pac-10 takes the term "student-athlete" seriously: five of its schools are ranked in the top 50 in the US News "Best Colleges" rankings (including Stanford at No. 4), which places them in a tie for second with the Big Ten (the ACC has six schools). The SEC has two top 50 schools, Florida and Vanderbilt, and Texas is the only representative from the Big XII. Ten Heisman winners have come from the Pac-10, and its schools have claimed 20 national championships over the course of college football history. Over 200 former Pac-10 players currently hold roster spots in the NFL, accounting for more than 10 percent of the league. In the last six years, the Pac-10 is 22-11 in bowl games.