The River City Rivalry comes to Nippert Stadium Saturday night when the No. 19 Cincinnati Bearcats (8-2, 4-1) take on the No. 20 Pittsburgh Panthers (7-2, 3-1). This has been a one-sided rivalry with Pittsburgh taking all seven contests. If the Bearcats were to win it would be the first time ever that they will have in their possession the Victory Bell (from the rivalry game with Miami (OH)), the Keg of Nails (rivalry with Louisville) and the 46-inch tall, 96 pound River City Rivalry Trophy.

Both teams are coming off wins over Louisville. Pittsburgh beat the Cardinals 41-7 two weeks ago. They had a bye last week. Cincinnati beat Louisville last week, 28-20. It was their first win over the Cards in six years. The winner of the game this weekend takes control of the BIG EAST and very well could end up winning the conference which would guarantee them a BCS bowl game.

The Bearcats have had back-to-back emotional games against West Virginia and Louisville. Both games were on the road and both went the Bearcats way and could very well help them in their game against PITT.

Cincinnati has made it to where they are at this point in the season thanks in large part to having the best passing attack in the BIG EAST. They average 253.9 yards passing per game. There was a question as to whether Tony Pike would play this week after leaving the Louisville game early due to injury, but it appears he is OK and will start this weekend. The Bearcats have used five total quarterbacks this season due to injuries. Pike has the majority of the starts and is second in the BIG EAST in passing efficiency (137.5). It helps that he has great receivers to throw to in Mardy Gilyard and Dominick Goodman.

While the Bearcats have a strong passing game, the Panthers have one of the best rushing attacks in the BIG EAST. They're led their sophomore running back, LeSean McCoy who has 1,043 yards on 210 carries. That's an average of 5.0 yards per attempt. He also has 16 touchdowns this season. The Bearcats have done well against the run for most of the season. They will have to keep McCoy in check and force junior quarterback Bill Stull to beat them. Stull has only thrown for 1,778 yards and five scores this season. He doesn't have a multi touchdown game this year. If the Bearcats can force the game onto his shoulders either by shutting down McCoy or by getting out ahead by a good margin on the scoreboard, their first win in this rivalry may finally come to pass.

The game kicks off at 7:15 pm and will air on ESPN2. Its the fourth game in a row to be broadcast on one of the ESPN networks. Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly delcared this game as the Ring of Red game. The Bearcats will sport their all red uniforms for the first time since 2003. Coach Kelly is asking for fans to participate by wearing red to the game as well. So remember to come early, be loud, wear RED!

Over the last two days the last two awards in baseball were given out. The Most Valuable Player honor is considered the greatest award in the game and this year it went to St. Louis Cardinals' first baseman, Albert Pujols, and Boston Red Sox second baseman, Dustin Pedroia.

This is Pujols' second MVP award as he won it back in 2006 also. He came up just short in 2006 when the Philadelphia Phillies' Ryan Howard was voted as the MVP. That was the same season the Cardinals won the World Series thanks in large part to Pujols. When Howard was given the award Pujols said that he didn't think any player whose team did not make the playoffs, which the Phillies did not in 2006, should win the award. Well, the Cardinals didn't make the playoffs this year, but of course that just mean that Pujols would retract what he said about Howard a couple years ago. And he did just that.

Pujols beat out Howard this time around receiving 18 of the possible 30 votes. Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers came in third in voting with Los Angeles Dodgers' newcomer Manny Ramirez finishing fourth. Pujols finished the 2008 season batting .357 with 37 homers and 116 RBIs playing with an elbow injury that required surgery. Howard his 48 homeruns and had 146 RBIs.

Pedroia became the first second baseman to win the AL MVP award in almost half a century (Nellie Fox of the Chicago White Sox, 1959). Last season he won the AL Rookie of the year in addition to a World Series championship ring. Earlier this month he also received his first Gold Glove award.

Batting .326 with 17 homeruns and 83 RBIs to go with 20 stolen bases, Pedroia beat out Minnesota Twins' first baseman Justin Morneau and teammate Kevin Youkilis. He received 16 of the 28 possible first place votes. Pedroia lead the AL in hits, runs and doubles and helped get the Red Sox to a wild-card berth. With this award, Pedroia becomes the 20th player to win both the Rookie of the Year award and an MVP honor in their career.

These players may not be the best options this week, but they certainly have the best fantasy match-ups:

QB's
1. Jeff Garcia - Bucs at DET (allows 19.4 points per game to QBs)
2. Peyton Manning - Colts at SD (allows 18.4 points per game to QBs)
3. Eli Manning - Giants at ARI (allows 17.9 points per game to QBs)

RB's
1. Buffalo RB's - Bills at KC (allows 32.8 points per game to RBs)
2. Chicago RB's - Bears at STL (allows 30.0 points per game to RBs)
3. Oakland RB's - Raiders at DEN (allows 29.1 points per game to RBs)

WR's
1. Tampa Bay WR's - Bucs at DET (allows 25.6 points per game to WRs)
2. NY Giant WR's - Giants at ARI (allows 25.0 points per game to WRs)
3. Houston WR's - Texans at CLE (allows 24.9 points per game to WRs)

TE's
1. Indianapolis TE's - Colts at SD (allows 13.4 points per game to TEs)
2. Oakland TE's - Raiders at DEN (allows 9.1 points per game to TEs)
3. Tennessee TE's - Titans vs. NYJ (allows 9.1 points per game to TEs) 

Take a look at what receivers were the centers of attention in Week 11:

Sheena the Sports Report Girl recaps the week that was college football: