1. DIG IN.....And get ready to enjoy a bowl of Poinsettia beauty.....San Diego State versus B.Y.U. in tonight's Poinsettia Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium....The Aztecs (9-3) have won seven in a row for the first time in 31 years, and are coming off of their first-ever Mountain West Conference championship.....Nevertheless, B.Y.U. (7-5) is a 2 1/2-point favorite, largely because of the history between the two teams.....B.Y.U. leads the all-time series 27-7 with one tie (a classic 52-52 draw in 1991) and has won the last five meetings, never trailing in a single one.....The matchup may come down to SDSU's rushing attack (16th in the nation) against B.Y.U.'s No. 2-ranked rush defense.....
2. ROLLING THUNDER.....The Oklahoma City Thunder continues to dominate the NBA in the early going....The Thunder won in Atlanta on Wednesday night, 100-92 as Kevin Durant scored 41 points.....The victory was OKC's 12th-straight and improved their league-best record to 21-4.....Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Clippers kept pace, winning their 11th in a row, 93-77, over the New Orleans Hornets at Staples Center.....LA is 19-6, two games back of OKC for the league's best mark.....
3. MORE WEST FOR THE EAST?.....Reports say that the Big East Conference now has reached out to both UNLV and Fresno State about adding those two schools to the conference along with San Diego State, Boise State and everyone else from the old Conference USA.....The Big East apparently also has had some preliminary discussions with B.Y.U. about joining up as well.....Nothing is certain except for the fact that the Big East has 12 teams due to play football in 2013, and that the Aztecs will be one of the 12.......
4. ONE MESS TO ANOTHER??.....The New York Jets, who host the Chargers this Sunday with Greg McElroy at quarterback, reportedly are planning to try and trade Mark Sanchez this off-season, and at the same time looking to acquire troubled Philadelphia QB Michael Vick....Vick has been out of action with the Eagles for several weeks due to injury.....The Jets don't appear to want Sanchez back due to poor play, like Monday night when he threw four picks against Tennessee and New York was eliminated from playoff contention......
5. FLYING IRISH......For leading Notre Dame to the BCS championship for the first time, Irish coach Brian Kelly on Wednesday was voted Associated Press college football coach of the year.....Kelly received 25 votes from the AP college football poll panel. Penn State's Bill O'Brien was second with 14 votes. Stanford's David Shaw (four), Texas A&M's Kevin Sumlin (three), Kansas State's Bill Snyder (two) and Alabama's Nick Saban (one) also received votes......Kelly is the first Notre Dame coach to win the AP award, which started in 1998......Notre Dame last won a national championship in 1988, under Lous Holtz.......
