Lambert surprisingly tops news in busy week

It's been a busy sports week with the Yankees' World Series victory, local prep football playoff games, big victories by the BYU and Utah football teams and one big win and a couple of puzzling losses by the schizophrenic Jazz.

So what is everybody talking about in the sports world?

Elizabeth Lambert, of course.

Lambert is the young woman who has become famous, or rather, infamous because of her outrageous behavior in a soccer match against BYU in Provo last week that was caught on tape. Her story was No. 1 in the "most popular" category in the Deseret News Saturday and videos of the young woman have since been seen more than 2 million times on YouTube.

She's the one who pulled a BYU player's ponytail, causing her head to snap back and to fall to the ground. She also tripped an opponent, slugged an opponent and hit an opponent in the face.

Lambert, her coach and school's athletic director have all apologized and she is suspended "indefinitely," which may not seem like much since the Lobos' season is over. A junior, she has another year of eligibility remaining, but she should have to miss at least a few games next season.

FOCUS ON FORT WORTH: There's a big college game this week and we're not talking Ohio State-Iowa. That would have been the marquee college game of the week if the Hawkeyes hadn't stumbled at home against the mighty Northwestern Wildcats.

No, the biggest game between ranked teams happens to be No. 4 TCU vs. No. 14 Utah down in Fort Worth. The game has big implications, much bigger than who will win the Mountain West Conference.

A TCU win would pretty much assure the Horned Frogs of their first BCS bowl bid. The Frogs are ranked No. 4 this week in the BCS standings and a win over Utah will only strengthen their edge over Boise State, which is No. 6. After this week, the Frogs play two of the league doormats, Wyoming and New Mexico.

If Utah should win, it could vault into a BCS game for the second straight year. With a victory, the Utes could jump into the BCS Top 10. Then they would need either Idaho, Utah State, Nevada or New Mexico State to pull a big upset and spoil the Bronco's unbeaten season. That isn't likely to happen.

Neither is a Ute victory. I can't see Utah winning this game, not with a freshman quarterback and an inconsistent offense going against the nation's top defense. However, Kyle Whittingham has shown an ability to get his team ready for big games and the Utes have managed to beat TCU three years in a row.

Here are my predictions for this game.

TCU will win.