The Lineup

DEPARTMENTS

10 Leading Off

18 Letters
BCS just can't be bashed enough

20 Catching Up With...

25 Air and Space
Coaches aren't fired. They're let go. That's nicer, isn't it?
by Steve Rushin

27 Scorecard
--Jay Williams vows to return
--Ravens' Modell says nevermore
--Pros will skirt ephedra ban
--Robert Plant gets third degree

38 Faces in the Crowd

94 The Life of Reilly
Call me Kissinger. I negotiated a USC-LSU title game
by Rick Reilly

SI'S 50TH ANNIVERSARY

40 Drawn by Huskies
Two highly ranked basketball teams are Connecticut's No. 1 sports
attraction
by Michael Bamberger

INSIDE...

86 The NBA
--Isiah rebuilds the Knicks

88 College Basketball
--Saint Joseph's: pass, press, win

92 Hockey
--U.S. goalie shines at world juniors

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

50 Splitsville
A winner-take-half formula forced USC and LSU to share the
national crown
--The Trojans sacked Michigan in the Rose Bowl
by Austin Murphy
--The Tigers' D held off Oklahoma in the Sugar
by Tim Layden
--If LSU met USC...
--SI's All-Bowl Team

PRO BASKETBALL

58 Save the Blazers?
That may be too much to ask of Portland's 22-year-old megatalent,
Zach Randolph
by Ian Thomsen

NFL PLAYOFFS

62 Do You Believe...?
Behind the inspired play of Brett Favre, the Packers continued
their magical run
by Peter King
--The Colts' Peyton Manning got off the playoff schneid
--A no-name Titans defender helped silence the Ravens
--Panthers wideout Steve Smith torched the Cowboys
--Dr. Z's forecast for Round 2

BOOK EXCERPT

72 Rose's Confession
"I did bet on baseball," the banished Hit King concedes in his
new autobiography, My Prison Without Bars
by Pete Rose with Rick Hill

THREE COVERS THIS WEEK

Extraordinary news weeks call for unique actions. Pete Rose's
admission that he bet on baseball cried out for SI's cover, but
college football's co-champs, USC and LSU, also merited special
attention. So, while Rose is on all of our covers, the Trojans
get the big picture in California and the Tigers in Louisiana and
Mississippi.

COVER
PHOTOGRAPHS BY WALTER IOOSS JR. (PETE ROSE); ROBERT BECK (USC);
AL TIELEMANS (LSU)
COVER FLAP PHOTO: BOB CHILD/AP

SI EXTRA
To sign up for SPORTS ILLUSTRATED's free subscriber-only e-mail
newsletter, go to sicustomerservice.com/siextra.

SI.com
For more on Pete Rose, including Tom Verducci's analysis, SI's
original coverage of Rose's 1989 gambling investigation and fans'
reaction, go to si.com/baseball.

COLOR PHOTO: PETER READ MILLER FOUR SCORE Green Bay's Brett Favre celebrates a TD pass againstSeattle (page 62).

COLOR PHOTO: WALTER IOOSS JR. (PETE ROSE) NATIONAL

COLOR PHOTO: ROBERT BECK (USC) CALIFORNIA

COLOR PHOTO: AL TIELEMANS (LSU) LOUISIANA