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The Saints make just about everyone outside of the Hoosier State feel good. Drew Brees seems like a nice guy, Sean Payton is a bold coach and the city of New Orleans needed the win. But did Super Bowl XLIV also show that the BCS isn't as flawed as we think?

Roughly 70 percent of SportsNation is confident the best team was crowned champion in both college and pro football this season (perhaps we should have polled on the Las Vegas Locomotives' UFL title). But look what happens when it comes to exactly how confident.

So if we're more certain that Alabama was the best team in college football than we are that the Saints were the best team in the NFL, which system is really closest to fair?

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All the words have been written and said -- most emphatically by Tony Dungy, of all people. You've made your party plans and worked on excuses to call in sick Monday. It's just about time to listen to Carrie Underwood. And watch Super Bowl XLIV, of course.

SportsNation has high expectations for the Colts and Saints. A third of fans are more excited about the big game than in an average year, and only a small minority (outside of Minnesota, at least) are less excited. So while it might not be the game SportsNation predicted (again, sorry Vikings fans), it is one people are eager to watch.

• Vote: Which side would you take in 15 intriguing Super Bowl prop bets?

Only 25 percent of SportsNation believes Reggie Bush's NFL career has lived up to the hype. But ESPN.com senior national columnist Gene Wojciechowski writes that Sunday's game is a chance for him to escape the shadows of both Mario Williams, the guy picked ahead of him in 2006 and Kim Kardashian, Bush's celebrity significant other.

• "Now Bush will play in a Super Bowl against the Indianapolis Colts, while Williams and the Texans still wait to play in their first playoff game. Doesn't mean the Texans botched things by choosing Williams (at least, not yet). Just means that Bush, in a game that defines careers and reputations, can prove he's much more than a Kim Kardashian accessory." -- Read Gene Wojciechowski's full column

Frankly, it seems like we all have a lot invested in two people who haven't done a great deal of note in their professional lives. But that's about to change. Perhaps not the part about them accomplishing anything, but definitely the part about our investment in them.

Billions of dollars are wagered on the Super Bowl, including all those quirky proposition bets. And one of the more popular floating around this year? How many times Kardashian will end up on television (the over-under is 2.5).

Getting the over to come through may take a big day from Bush, more likely if you think the longest scoring play in the game will come on a touchdown rather than a field goal (like, say, a punt return) or that the Saints and Colts will pile up more points Sunday than LeBron James and Kobe Byrant. If you can think it, you can probably bet on it.

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Rex Ryan has done his best to make Sunday's game between the Jets and the Colts interesting, and SportsNation kind of likes the big guy's bloviating. Outside of New England, more voters than not like Ryan, although it's difficult to believe one out of every three voters doesn't have an opinion of him either way.

But even in New York and New Jersey, voters are confident the Colts will win.

The real drama comes from the Saints and the Vikings. Minnesota and North Dakota are convinced the Vikings will win. Louisiana and Mississippi are likewise convinced the Saints will win. The rest of the country? Well, take a look at the electoral equivalent of throwing up your hands and shrugging.

• SN Map: How confident are you in your pick for the NFC Championship Game?

Ryan wasn't the only one talking about football this week. With a week to prepare, SportsNation bloggers had ample time to air their opinions like Drew Brees airing passes against the Cardinals secondary.

• "History does fall into place here when considering that the Vikings have not won a road playoff game in about a decade. As for the Saints who have not won a home playoff game since last week. It looks like 72,000 screaming fans and a power surging Saints crew won't make history easy to change." -- Read unrevolution's full post.
• "I don't believe in karma, but I talked to a customer from Indy yesterday who does. The thing he kept saying over and over was that what was bugging him was that the Jets shouldn't be here in the first place. The Colts could have kept the Jets out of the playoffs before they laid down for them in week 16. We talked about the "football gods" who punnished the Patriots for Spygate in the most painful way possible, and how the karma says that he smells an upset simply to punnish the Colts for not playing hard in that game. Now, again, do I believe in that stuff? No. But it is interesting to think about, and stuff like that seems to happen more often than coincidence would allow it to if it were just left to chance." -- Read Galilee55's full post.

• Rank 'Em: Playoff Power Rankings | Quarterbacks | Coaches
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Last week was a nice pigskin appetizer, thanks mostly to the Packers and Cardinals filling our need for drama, but it doesn't get any better than the second weekend of the NFL playoffs (all right, at least until next weekend). Last week's predictions didn't go so well, but that's not dimming SportsNation's enthusiasm.

• 59 percent of SN plans to watch all four games, and 89 percent will watch at least two.
• Will SN watch anything but football? Not in the West or South.

When not busy talking about Lane Kiffin, SportsNation bloggers have counted down the hours to kickoff by enumerating the ways teams can win -- or lose -- the games this weekend.

• "As a Jets fan, I hope they win, but I'm afraid the Jets season will come to an end on Sunday. However, if they do indeed lose on Sunday, Jets fans shouldn't be disappointed. This was a very successful year considering how their year ended last year. Secondly, Jets fans should be happy because the future of this team with Rex Ryan looks bright." -- Read Goldbrick4's full post.
• "Ray Rice is going to pound and the Colts D can only hope to contain him. Their best hope is trying to contain Rice and make Flacco throw, but I don't see that happening. The Ravens D will have the same gameplan as before, and it worked since only allowing the Colts to score 17. I don't think Manning will choke, but I think he'll come up short." -- Read Feldman9000's full post.
• "Finally, since the teams from a talent and style standpoint are relatively evenly matched, the difference may come at the end of the game where the desire of the QB to win the game may be the key factor. Who wants it more? Secondly, the experience in big games may on the face lead people to think Favre has the edge because he will be less mistake prone, but Favre throughout his career has made some big plays for the opposing team. So, in fact, Romo may be a safer bet at the end." -- Read RJSuncoast's full post.

• Vote: Would you rather entrust a team to Sean Payton or Ken Whisenhunt?
• Rank 'Em: Where does Kurt Warner rank among playoff quarterbacks?

What do Warren Moon, Jim Kelly, Drew Bledsoe and Boomer Esiason all have in common? Each one threw more touchdown passes in the NFL than Kurt Warner has entering Saturday's playoff game against the Saints in New Orleans. What does Warner have that those quarterbacks don't? SportsNation's overwhelming support as the best of the bunch.

If reports are right, the next loss for the Cardinals will be the last game of Warner's NFL career. SportsNation has had a bit of a rocky relationship with Warner. Just two years ago, voters rated him the NFL's No. 19 quarterback, behind illustrious names like Derek Anderson and Jon Kitna. But as Warner's numbers soared in the desert, so did his support.

Nobody makes a living beating Brett Favre and Peyton Manning in popularity contests, but when it comes to which of the three quarterbacks voters would most like to see win a second Super Bowl title, Warner is in what amounts to a statistical dead heat.

• Rank 'Em: Playoff Power Rankings | Quarterbacks | Coaches
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• Local team chats: ESPN Boston | ESPN Dallas' Calvin Watkins | ESPN Dallas' Ed Werder

The NFL playoffs are finally here, and even if there are certain encounters (Jets-Bengals II) that SportsNation isn't giddy about, the weekend itself is about as good as it gets.

• 52 percent of SN prefers wild-card weekend to the opening weekend of March Madness.
• 57 percent of SN said the wild-card games are a bigger deal than BCS title game.

But with a rookie coach for the Jets, a guy in Dallas famously looking for his first playoff win with the team and nary a Super Bowl ring amongst the bunch that doesn't belong to Bill Belichick, are the coaches the wild cards in the weekend of wild-card games? Check out the highs and lows of how the eight coaches in action this weekend fared this season.

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Maybe it's people finally coming around on Andre Johnson as the league's best receiver (or at least good argument fodder against Larry Fitzgerald). Maybe it's fans of every other AFC playoff participant channeling Machiavelli. But at least within the confines of Week 17 and the wild-card race, the Houston Texans are more "America's Team" than that other team.

That SportsNation appears to be rooting for the Texans against the Patriots and against the playoff odds this weekend is a little surprising, considering the team hasn't exactly been highly regarded this season. As you can see, SportsNation ranked it last among the five main wild-card contenders (sorry, Dolphins and Jaguars) at just about every stop.

So what needs to happen for the Texans to claim their first playoff berth? Just beat the Patriots and get help with two wins from the Chiefs, Raiders and what's likely to be the Bengals' second string. Uh-oh. Assuming a win against the Patriots, here are the scenarios.

1. Jets lose or tie against Bengals AND Ravens lose or tie against Raiders
2. Jets lose or tie against Bengals AND Broncos lose or tie against Chiefs
3. Ravens lose or tie against Raiders AND Broncos lose or tie against Chiefs

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Just in case the playoff races weren't generating enough story lines, the NFL has blessed us this holiday week with several side dishes to munch on. Brett Favre and Brad Childress aired out some grievances which led us to ask you which one has more power on the Vikings. Mike Holgren took a job as the main man in Cleveland but fans are wondering if Seattle might have been a better opportunity. The Saints lost and pretty much every former player on ESPN's payroll is laughing at SportsNation's belief that a loss can be a good thing. And there were at least a few folks in Montana who didn't completely dismiss the Redskins' botched fake field goal as the worst play they have ever seen.

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Your move, Mr. Brees. Peyton Manning used his national (sort of) stage to full advantage Thursday night, leading the Colts to yet another come-from-behind win in the fourth quarter with a memorable long touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne. Now it's Drew Brees' turn to keep his team marching toward perfection on a national (sort of) stage Saturday night.

Unlike the Heisman race, which seemed in search of a favorite all season, the MVP chase in the NFL has been a two-man duel since early in October.

On the flip side, Wade Phillips and the Cowboys might not be so thrilled about having Saturday's spotlight all to themselves. Phillips matched a season low last week with a 14 percent approval rating from SportsNation, and a loss in New Orleans won't improve matters.

• "If Dallas loses out, I don't see how Wade Phillips keeps his job. Unfortunately, I see Dallas losing out. New Orleans, I see winning out. This is their only test left. Roy Williams is giving instigation to a team that doesn't need to be instigated. I use to think Roy Williams was a class act until this season. The Saints are going to do everything in their power to finish 16-0. ... DAL 16 NO 32." -- Read Feldman9000's full post.