This will be the stiffest test for Rumble

It seems that the 2009 Romo will either be the guy who throws three picks, and needs to be escorted from the stadium under heavy security to avoid being pelted with bottles, or the QB who makes Miles Austin look like Michael Irvin.Of course, this is just a completely unfair exaggeration, because Romo is obviously a pretty good fantasy QB. However, here are a couple of things to consider as we head into the final weeks of the season.First off, the Dallas Cowboys schedule against the pass is fairly unfriendly down the stretch. Here is their schedule from Weeks 11-16:Washington, Oakland, NY Giants, San Diego, New Orleans, Washington.Secondly, ever since becoming a starter in 2006, Romo has yet to have a good December. Over his career, he has a 19 INT to 14 TD ratio, and a QB rating of 72 in the final month of the season. RB Laurence Maroney, Patriots It's probably worth hanging onto Laurence Maroney through the end of the season, but remember to set your expectations sufficiently low enough to avoid the bag-holders remorse that will likely occur.Maroney hasn't been terrible, but that's about as complimentary as you can get with this guy.If nothing else, he's been consistent with his typical pattern of an occasional great game, and then right back into the witness protection program.Maroney's numbers could take an additional hit if Sammy Morris makes it back this week, and also consider that the Patriots are facing some pretty good defenses over the next three weeks, with the Jets at home up next, and then away games against New Orleans and Miami. QB Ryan Fitzpatrick/Trent Edwards, Bills Bills' coach Dick Jauron was just fired, but was he really going to start Ryan Fitzpatrick againIt would surely make sense to bench Trent Edwards if the Bills had anything that could be confused with a potentially better option, but what in the world has Ryan Fitzpatrick done to suggest he is that better optionIn the battle of the former Ivy League QBs who are probably better suited as government lobbyists or aerospace engineers, Harvard's Ryan Fitzpatrick has a 49 QB rating and has completed 49 percent of his passes this season, while Stanford's Trent Edwards has a 78 QB rating and has completed 61 percent of his passes.Applying simple mathematics to this situation, it's easy to conclude that Trent Edwards is partly awful with a chance of occasional offense, while Ryan Fitzpatrick does little more than keep the punter busy.Either way, this is a situation to keep away from. RB Larry Johnson, Cincinnati It's nice to see Larry Johnson escape the Kansas City Chiefs so he can possibly finish out his career with a playoff contending team, which engages in something resembling marginally effective offensive football.Of course the problem still remains that Johnson is missing a few steps from the front porch on his old house, and is in jeopardy of getting shutdown by the building inspector.For now, Johnson looks to be around No. 18, the Huskies could have fallen apart. With the leadership of coach Randy Edsall, the team stuck together and dedicated the rest of the season to their fallen star.Nothing can compare with the loss of Howard, but this year's Huskies have had more of their share of heartbreaks on the field. The five UConn loses, all to to teams either ranked when they played or currently ranked, came by a total of 16 points.This is not your average five-loss team! The Huskies are capable of staying on the field with the best teams in college football, and they've shown it this year.UConn dominated North Carolina for three quarters but a freakish holding penalty in the end zone casued a saftey to be called on UConn. North Carolina won 12-10.Pittsburgh came back in the fourth quarter to win 24-21. West Virginia needed Noel Devine to tip-toe down the side line, with two minutes left in the game, to beat them 28-24.Rutgers threw an 80 yard pass with 33 seconds on the clock, after UConn took the lead, and won 28-24. Two weeks ago, after trailing Cincinnati by more than two touchdowns, UConn fought back to lose by two points, 47-45.Besidesdedicating the season to Howard, there are other reasons why the Huskies want to leave South Bend with a win:If UConn wants to go to a bowl game, they need to win two of their last three games to become bowl eligible. In order to better their hopes, they'll need to win all three games and finish 7-5.Zach Frazer, a Notre Dame transfer,quarterbacks UConn. Frazer will want to play well against his old team.UConn and Notre Dame have a proposal to play 6-10 games in the coming seasons. Notre Dame wants the Huskies to play their "home" games atneutral sites in New Jersey andMassachusetts.The Connecticut legislature isn't happy about playing these games out of state. A win on Saturday would help UConn encourage the Irish to play the games at UConn's home field.The Huskies will bring a balanced offense with them on Saturday. Jordan Todman (826 yds) and Andre Dixon (730 yds) are two punishing runners who've done a good job replacing Donald Brown, now with theIndianapolis Colts. They run behind a huge offensive line that has no trouble pushing other teams around.Frazer, who replaced the injured Cody Endres at quarterback, needs to pick up his accuracy but if he gets the ball to Marcus Easley, UConn's leading receiver, defenses have problems. Easley broke one for 88 yards earlier this year.UConn's defense is solid. Cincinnati was the only team to score more than 28 points against them. Lindsey Witten, one of the country's sack leaders, will be trying to get to Clausen but the UConn pass defense has given up too many passing yards.Pittsburgh's Bill Stull passed for 268 yards against the Huskies. Louisville's Adam Froman (295), Rutger's Tom Savage (236), and Cincinatti's Zach Collaros passed for 480 yards. Expect Clausen to have a huge day, what else is new! EXTRA POINTSSix points is too many to give away. I expect UConn to cover the spread.UConn has shown, throughout the season, they don't quit. They come off a bye week and have had time to prepare for Clausen.All the rumors swirling around Notre Dame about Weis' job can be a huge distraction.PREDICTION: UConn 31 Notre Dame 26. So here we are, just days removed from UFC 105 and days away from UFC 106.

Throw in the Strikeforce card featuring Brett Rogers and Fedor Emelianenko on Nov. Last but not least, we close out a great year with WEC 45, which will run head-to-head with Strikeforce on Dec 19.On to my main card predictions. Karo Parisyan vs. Parisyan has been inactive since the end of January.He defeated Dong Hyun Kim, but that decision was later overturned because of a failed drug test.The past few years have not been kind to "The Heat." He was diagnosed with an anxiety order, knocked out by Thiago Alves, and forced to withdraw from a bout at UFC 88 the day before because of a back ailment.Hazelett's layoff was caused by a knee injury he incurred while training for a bout with Ben Saunders that was scheduled for UFC 96.The "Submission Wizard" is one of the UFC's brightest young fighters and will be looking to capture an unprecedented third submission-of-the-night bonus.On top of the two bonuses he has captured for his stunning submissions, he was also awarded a fight-of-the-night bonus against Josh Burkman at The Ultimate Fighter 7 finale.Parisyan was at one time the No. 1 contender and was scheduled to face Matt Hughes until he was sidelined with an injury. He never regained that status and has been up and down ever since.Hazelett is young, hungry, and fearless This will be Parisyan's third fight in the last two years.

For "McLovin," it will be his fourth, which leads me to believe the bout will be somewhat sloppy I'm going with the youngster here Hazelett via unanimous decision Phil Baroni vs. Amir Sadollah - Welterweight: Yeah, the NY Bad Ass is back in the UFC! Does anyone really care I know I don't, and I am usually very loyal to NY fighters and athletes. All of his drama and childlike antics have helped hide the fact that he is just not that good of a fighter.Yes, he does have power in both hands and could knock out anyone with one punch, but other than that, what does he haveSadollah is another guy whose personality has helped hide the fact that he is not a great fighter.I realize it's way too early in his career to judge him just yet, but he just seems too timid to be a successful mixed martial artist.Maybe training with Xtreme Couture will help him, but I really don't see him going very far.This fight is really simple: If Sadollah can hang around and get the bout into the second round, he will win. Baroni is notorious for his poor cardio.He usually gasses somewhere around the middle of the first round. He will look to rush Sadollah and land one of his trademark knockout blows.

Luis Cane - Light Heavyweight: Welcome to the jungle, 'Lil Nog!!! Minotauro's twin brother makes his octagon debut against a fellow Brazilian who hits hard and who is looking to use 'Lil Nog as a stepping stone toward a title shot.Cane is on a three-fight win streak and has looked very impressive during his tenure in the UFC. He is also a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu but nowhere near the level of Nogueira.Cane's only loss was by disqualification and 'Lil Nog has only been finished once in three career losses. I see Cane becoming the second man to finish him on Saturday night.Fighting in the cage is much different than a ring, and Cane will use it to his advantage by punishing Nogueira against the fence.Cane by second round TKO. Josh Koscheck vs. Anthony Johnson - Welterweight: This is the fight I am looking forward to the most Johnson will be fighting for the second time in four weeks. Don't count on it happening again.This will be the stiffest test for "Rumble." He is facing a top five welterweight in Koscheck. Both men have solid wrestling backgrounds with Koscheck being the more accomplished of the two.If Koscheck sticks to the same game plan that he has utilized in his last few fights, we can expect to see a slug fest.Someone is getting knocked out here unless Koscheck goes back to his wrestling roots and tries to incorporate some solid ground and pound.It is my belief that an impressive win here may catapult either fighter, especially Johnson, over Dan Hardy to be the next victim of Georges St.