Like Aaron Rodgers championship belt routine, Cam Newton has been showcasing a "ripping open the shirt to reveal a big red S" bit after scoring a touchdown. His scoring has contributed greatly to the teams overall excitement factor, and discussion of the three-headed running attack, albeit at cost of DeAngelo Williams and Jon Stewart's stats, comes up frequently with the professional football analysts. His passing has been terrific, but he's still a very tough guy to get on the ground at 6'5" and 250. How he stretches/falls for first down yardage on a regular basis is amazing.

I had the opportunity to lay a little of my own very positive analysis on him when he was shopping in the Big & Tall area at a local Belk store recently. He didn't say anything back, but I let him know he'd made Believers of those analysts and hard core fans of all in Charlotte. He, Coach Rivera, and tight end Greg Olsen have put it on the line about W's being the only thing that counts in many interviews, and that's cool with everyone I've talked to. There really isn't anything uplifting about "most losses by 5 points or less" as Olsen articulated, and Cam has taken the blame without shrinking, even if many (including myself) still believe the defense gave up three games when Newton had driven the Panthers to go-ahead scores late.

Three wins is more than Charlotte had in 2010, and while they didn't get to draft Andrew Luck of Stanford, its pretty obvious they have a QB who is cool and capable of leading the team to a more promising future, even if that open shirt should only reveal an Auburn logo. Giving Newton a year to grow into a Superman and produce .500 plus performance on those Ws seems legit.

Speaking of Luck: the Colts will undoubtedly draft him #1 unless there is an absolutely glowing report about Peyton Manning's neck problems. While it would be an ultimate sadness to see Manning shoved to the back of the stove, the financial aspect of situation (Colts will owe him a couple tons of cash in March) makes keeping both beyond unlikely. That Luck's Heisman stock somehow went down so dramatically because Oregon scored 50+ on Stanford shows that some voters are sheep, and that in no way denigrates Richardson's efforts for Alabama.

Oh--LSU beats 'Bama in the rematch for national title, and Luuuuv how the bowl bigwigs are going to be sweating things after last two weeks of applecart upsetting games.

Glenn S.