The University of Maine football team is off to a 3-0 start this season and is taking on arguably the best team they’ve played to date.

UMaine is traveling to Chicago this weekend to play the No. 18 Northwestern University Wildcats, the Black Bears’ second Football Bowl Subdivision opponent this season. The Wildcats are 3-0 and play in the prestigious Big 10 conference.

“It’s the best football team I’ve prepared to play against, personally, since I’ve been here,” head coach Jack Cosgrove said.

“To put it in perspective, if we were getting ready to play a ranked football team this would be a huge game. It puts it in perspective as to the challenge we’re facing and the result will be determined on Saturday,” he continued.

UMaine’s first matchup against an FBS school this season resulted in a win against the University of Massachusetts Minutemen Sept. 7. The Black Bears’ last contest, a 35-22 victory over the Bryant University Bulldogs last Saturday, turned out to be their toughest challenge yet.

“My respect for Bryant went way up when I watched the tape,” Cosgrove said. “They just played very solid and played hard.”

Bryant jumped out to a 16-7 lead against the Black Bears before UMaine came back, kept their poise and earned the win to stay perfect in 2013.

The Black Bears can’t afford to start off the game the way they did last week in hostile territory against one of the best teams in the nation.

“My biggest concern is we haven’t started well. We need a great start to this game,” Cosgrove said.

The Wildcats’ three wins this season have come against the University of California, Syracuse University and the University of Western Michigan. They are led by an offense that is in the top 25 in points with 43.3 a game. Northwestern’s defense has given up around 24 points a game so far this season.

But don’t count the Black Bears out: they have a defense that has given up an average of 14 points per game and could be trouble for the Wildcats if they begin strong.

“The goal is to prepare to win. It’s a long football game and it starts with the opening kickoff,” Cosgrove said. “How we respond to the environment, how we execute our fundamentals and how they play will determine the end result.”

UMaine will look for senior quarterback Marcus Wasilewski to continue his stellar play and for the defense to force some turnovers if the Black Bears are to have a shot.

“We know it’s going to be a challenge,” Wasilewski said. “Northwestern has a great team this year but at the same time we look at it as any other game and we’re going to prepare for it as any other game and prepare to play our best.”

The Black Bears are used to being the underdogs in these types of games and really thrive on being counted out.

“We’re used to being the underdog, throughout all our years here, and we love it,” Wasilewski said. “We love being the underdog and not getting respect because it just drives us even harder and that’s one of the assets that makes us so together as a team because we feel that chip on our shoulder together.”

“A lot of the time you go into these games worrying about size and speed and all the advantages they have, but the bottom line is you need to play football,” Cosgrove said.

The Black Bears can be seen playing Northwestern this Saturday, Sept. 21 at 3:30 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.

For years, no one has questioned what the best team in Los Angeles is. The Los Angeles Lakers have been on top of the Western Conference for decades and have solidified themselves as one of the best franchises ever.

This year, they’ve struggled tremendously and have been plagued with injuries to star players like Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol. Metta World Peace has also been bitten by the injury bug.

Through the ups and downs the Lakers have found themselves hovering around the 8th spot in the West with five games remaining — they’re half a game behind the Utah Jazz. Despite a solid second half of the season, the Lakers might find themselves out of the playoffs for the first time since the 2004-05 season.

In fact, in the team’s 65-year history, they’ve only missed the playoffs five times.

However, if the Lakers make the playoffs, anything can happen. They’ll either play the Spurs or Thunder in the first round and could pose a problem for the Spurs, who are half a game ahead of the Thunder for the No. 1 seed.

The Spurs have had their troubles in the playoffs in recent years, and with Kobe at the helm, the Lakers could make a run. If the Thunder grab the No. 1 seed, though, the Lakers will run into some problems.

LA’s other team, the Clippers, has had a lot of rebuilding years and have made the playoffs only nine times in their 43 year history.

Last year, they lost in the Western Conference semi-finals after a 40-26 record in the shortened season.

This year, they hit the 50 win mark for the first time in franchise history and swept the season series against the Lakers for the first time ever.

Acquiring Chris Paul has pushed the Clippers over the edge, and in all likelihood they will earn the No. 4 seed in the West, However, they could move up to the No. 3 seed or slide to the No. 5 seed.

They’ll likely see the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round, since they are 2-1 against them this season with one game remaining. When these two teams get together, they’re usually pretty good games to watch.

The Clippers have had their best season in franchise history, but they’ll have their work cut out for them if and if and when they have to face the Thunder, Spurs or Nuggets in the playoffs.

The futures of both franchises look pretty good. If the Lakers keep Howard and find a few missing pieces, Kobe can help lead them back to glory next year. Kobe already said he wants to keep playing if he can stay healthy.

Let’s not forget that it took the Heat a year to mesh well before they were great. Howard has finally become used to playing in LA and should have a great year next year if he stays. If they do beat out the Jazz for the last playoff spot this year, they could make some noise.

The Clippers are a young, experienced team. You don’t get to say that often, but with Chris Paul leading the team with two young, big men in Blake Griffin and Deandre Jordan, this team will be scary for years to come.

They’ll need that one player to help them compete with the Thunder though or they might find themselves second– or third-best every year. The Clippers have experience with Caron Butler, Chauncey Billups and Jamal Crawford, so they’ll need to find one more young solid starter at shooting guard or small forward.

There looks to be many years of competitiveness between these two teams. Who knows what will happen in the playoffs this year, but one thing is for sure: The best team in LA right now is not the Lakers, it’s the Clippers.

Since Rajon Rondo’s season-ending injury, the Boston Celtics have actually been a better team. Rondo, arguably the team’s best player, went out with a partially torn anterior cruciate ligament with the Celtics record sitting at 20-23.

Without him, the team is 16-10. They’ve won seven games in a row during the stead, starting with a game against the Heat, when the status of the injury was made public.

The Celtics currently hold the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference and have an opportunity to pass the Chicago Bulls and the Atlanta Hawks for the No. 5 seed before season’s end.

Even with the recent success, the Celtics are not a championship team; their last loss against the Heat proved they can play with any team. But knowing the Celtics will likely lose before the finals this year, it makes me wonder what the team is going to do with Rondo during the offseason.

Rondo is clearly a talented player, averaging 13.7 points per game and 11.1 assists when he went down. He also had a career high 5.6 rebounds per game. Rondo was on his way to another solid year, tying John Stockton’s record of 37 straight games with 10 or more assists — only Magic Johnson has a longer streak, with 46 games.

When Rondo went out, the Celtics’ offense was a huge concern. Most wrote the Celtics off, figuring they would spiral into a losing season. But just the opposite happened. Veteran players such as Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry stepped up, increasing their production.

Then, talk of Rondo’s intentions came about. Many wondered if his goal was only to break records and get assists. I don’t completely believe this is the case, but I am starting to think the Celtics really are better off without him. Regardless, the team is more complete, playing bettertogether on the court.

Although this is hard to say about someone who is the team’s best player, others have filled the gap since his injury. Not only have the veterans contributed, younger talents have emerged since the injury.

Most notably, Jeff Green has really had a coming out party. He had an impressive game against a routing of the Suns, with 31 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 blocks. More recently, Green scored 43 and grabbed 7 rebounds against the Heat in a tight loss.

Avery Bradley has also filled the void of Rondo, moving to fill the position as point guard. Bradley is averaging 9.5 points per game and only 2.1 assists, but continues to improve; he will only get better. He’s limited himself to just over one turnover a game at 1.4.

The Celtics have a lot of leadership in the locker room, starting with head coach Doc Rivers. Rivers was never ready to write the team off after the injury and has really helped keep them together.

I don’t know what the future holds for Rajon Rondo, but I do know that the Celtics would be better off if they shop Rondo around in the offseason. The Celtics will still be alright if they keep Rondo, but to try to get a young, big man and a pick for Rondo would be smart.

The young players on the team have proven so far that they can pick up the slack, even though they’re less talented than Rondo. Who knows, maybe Green or Bradley could emerge during the playoffs and help Garnett and Pierce out; perhaps the Celtics could make another run. Although it is unlikely, I wouldn’t write this team off yet, with or without Rondo.