New Orleans Saints 

The Saints moved to 10-0 for the first time in the 43-year history of the franchise with a 38-7 rout of the Buccaneers on Sunday at Tampa.

Quarterback Drew Brees said his team can play even better after he threw for three touchdowns. "We haven't peaked yet," said the quarterback. "The sky's the limit for this team. It can only get harder and by no means are we going to sit back on what we've accomplished thus far.  Every team we face from here on out will be will wan to give us that first loss."

Two of Brees' touchdown passes went to receiver Robert Meachem  and one went to tight end David Thomas. Mike Bell rushed for two touchdowns as the Saints scored 34 unanswered points. The Saints' defense recorded three interceptions and a forced fumble that the offense turned into 17 points.

The Saints increased their lead in the NFC South to five games as Atlanta (5-5) lost in overtime to the Giants.

The Saints will go after victory No. 11 against New England in a Monday Night Football game at 7:30

"We're 10-0 and I like where we're at," said Saints coach Sean Payton. "A lot of guys stepped up today and did a good job."

The Saints played without two injured starting cornerbacks (Jabari Greer and Tracy Porter) and were missing starters Reggie Bush and Sedrick Ellis.

"Any time you can go on the road and win a division game it's big," said Payton. "We did a good job of protecting the football and the defense came up with big stops and takeaways and the special teams did a good job of keeping very good return men in checks.

"I am pleased with the effort and the results. Now we'll turn our attention to a very good New England team that will be coming into New Orleans  for a Monday night game."

The Saints didn't commit any turnovers and outgained the Bucs 370 yards to 219. The Saints rushed for 187 yards and Brees was 19-of-29 for 187 yards.

Meachem caught TD passes of 4 and 6 yards while Bell scored on runs of 3 and 1 yards.  Pierre Thomas rushed for 92 yards on 11 carries.

Brees said the Saints offense (No. 1 in the NFL) can get even better.

"The last four games we kind of got back to some old habits that we didn't want to, which was the turnovers and negative plays," said Brees. "We needed a game like this to come out and look sharp in all phases."

The Saints No. 1 draft choice Malcolm Jenkins started at cornerback in place of Greer and intercepted his first pass that he returned 14 yards. He also had seven tackles. Jonathan Vilma and safety Chris Reis also had interceptions and Scott Fujita had a sack that forced a fumble that Anthony Hargrove recovered that set up Brees' TD pass to Thomas.

Saints cornerback Chris McAlister, signed last week to bolster an injury-riddled secondary, was inactive.

Saints guard Carl Nicks said the Saints played at a high level and its goal is to go 19-0. "I can't wait to play against New England," said Nicks. "That what you dream about when you get drafted, playing a team like that."

How the Tampa media saw the game

Ira Kaufman, tampatrib.com: "Anthony Hargrove was still strides away from the New Orleans locker room when the majesty of the moment caught up with the veteran defensive tackle.

"That's 10," he said, raising his right arm in salute to a perfect start. "That's 10-0.

"This was the type of game we want to have ...total dominance," said veteran safety Darren Sharper. after the Saints forced four turnovers and sacked Josh Freeman three times. "We wanted to pressure Freeman and make him throw early. I guess we did,

"Outside linebacker Scott Fujita turned in the game's biggest play early in the second half with Tampa Bay trailing 17-7

"I came from a long way to get there," said Fujita, who lined up on the right side and chased down Freeman, forcing a fumble a the Tampa Bay 15. 'The Bucs came out ready to play today, so that was a key turnover for us.'

"Lop-sided field position contributed to the route as New Orleans punter Thomas Morstead averaged 48.8 yards and the Saints boasted an average drive start as their own 39,compared to the 22-yard line for Tampa Bay's 12 possessions.

"'We knew Tampa was going to give us their best shot, so we're happy with the result," saints right tackle John Stinchcomb said. 'They are a division opponent we have a lot of respect for and they've been playing better football the past few weeks.'

"Coach Sean Payton is now 12-0 when the Saints don't commit a turnover and New Orleans would lock up the NFC's No. 1 playoff seed by winning out.

"Despite playing with five new starters Sunday, New Orleans made it look easy as David Thomas became the 18th different Saint to score a touchdown this season.

"Eighteen guys - that's pretty impressive," Fujita said. 'We'd like to get some linebackers in that group.'"

New Orleans Hornets 

Udonis Haslem's desperation jumper off the glass with 15.4 seconds left delivered the final blow and the Heat's defense shut down the Hornets in a 102-101 victory on Sunday at Miami. 

David West missed a short jumper in the lane with 1,9 seconds left for the Hornets (6-9), who overcame an 11-point deficit to pull ahead late in the fourth, but couldn't finish off the job.

The victory ended a three-game losing streak for the Heat (8-5) The Heat held the Hornets to only one field goal over the final six minutes of the game.

Rookie guard Marcus Thornton, whose draft rights were traded by the Heat in June, scored a career-high 24 points coming off the bench to lead the Hornets, who had a three-game win streak end. The Hornets shot only 39.6 per cent.

The Heat stopped a Hornets team that had beaten Atlanta and Phoenix during its winning streak with the absence of Chris Paul (ankle).

Peja Stojakovic scored 14 points for the Hornets, as did James Posey.West finished with 9 rebounds and Darren Collison hit 11 points.

"Nothing came easy because of the Heat and their defensive intensity," said Hornets coach Jeff Bower."Nothing came easy for us either other than small spurts."

West, Emeka Okafor and Devin Brown watched from the bench for nearly seven minutes with two fouls apiece in the first quarter for the Hornets, but Thornton provided a lift. He had 15 of the Hornets' 18 points in a 3-minute stretch in the first half.

Collison, who played at UCLA last season, said he didn't mind having former USC coach Tim Floyd on board. "I knew what he was capable of," said the rookie. "If there was one school that probably gave me more problems guarding me defensively, it would probably be USC. So I know his defensive schemes are on point."

The improving Hornets return home to play Milwaukee on Wednesday night in the Arena. 

LSU 

Talk about big-time mismanagement, the Tigers coaches were confused even when time ran out as if they didn't understand what was going on.  I can't believe that a savvy coach like Miles could have let the situation get out of hand.

The first mistake was letting so much time expire before ultimately calling a timeout after third down.  The next mistake was not running the field goal unit out there after connecting on fourth and 26. With only 1 second left, there was no way to spike the ball even though that's what the Tigers attempted.

A WRBZ-TV video shows Miles wanted Jefferson to spike the ball. Not fessing up to your mistakes after a game is understandable, but to pass the blame on to the quarterback is not the way to do it.

I'm sure Tigers fans won't get over this loss and series of blunders any time soon.