Thursday Night Recap

The Baltimore Ravens salvaged their season with a 23-20 overtime road win against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night.

The game was rife with goofy plays (a failed fake field goal by the Ravens, two missed field goals by the Steelers), but it left the Ravens 1-3 and still breathing. The Steelers are 2-2.

Let’s hope the weekend football viewing is better than this strategic nightmare. Here’s your weekend TV six-pack.

COLLEGES

No. 13 Alabama (3-1) at No. 8 Georgia (4-0): Georgia averages 45.5 points per game, against mostly soft competition. Alabama QB Jake Coker has turned the ball over five times (four interceptions).

No. 23 West Virginia (3-1) at No. 15 Oklahoma (3-0): WVU is allowing 7.7 points a game. Oklahoma averages 553.3 yards a game, the Mountaineers 543.3. Could the difference be one first down?

No. 21 Mississippi State (3-1) at No. 14 Texas A&M (4-0): The Bulldogs’ loss was to LSU, no shame in that. QB Dak Prescott is a dual threat. A&M freshman receiver Christian Kirk had 173 receiving yards and the winning TD catch in an overtime 28-21 win over Arkansas. He’s worth watching.

NFL

Oakland Raiders (2-1) at Chicago Bears (0-3): The Raiders can score, but leak a bit defensively. The Bears are awful and can’t score. Fun to see the Raiders on the rise again.

Minnesota Vikings (2-1) at Denver Broncos (3-0): The Broncos are relying more on a defense that can snuff the run (57 yards per game). That’s the challenge for the Vikings and Adrian Peterson.

Dallas Cowboys (2-1) at New Orleans Saints (0-3): The Saints allow more than 400 yards a game. Dallas fell apart in the second half of its loss to Atlanta. QB Brandon Weeden can’t do this alone, but can he do it with the rest of the team?
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .