49ers can thank replacement refs for home game

Reading time, two minutes:

• The 49ers dodged this weekend with a little help from the Vikings' Adrian Peterson, a little flair from Colin Kaepernick (Turlock) and that horrendous call that handed Seattle a win over Green Bay on Sept. 24.

• If the replacement refs get that call right, the Packers earn the bye and the 49ers are sweating out Wild-card Weekend.

• By the way, Seattle — with the loss it deserved — still would have advanced. The Seahawks and Chicago would have been 10-6, but the Seahawks won head-to-head.

• Still puts a different spin on all that trendy Seattle-is-the-team to-beat stuff, right?

• Had the Cowboys beaten the Redskins last week, Chicago would be in the playoffs and Lovie Smith would still have a job.

• It passes for logic in the Not For Long league: Tony Romo's late-game interception last week got Lovie Smith fired.

• Peterson's heroics were saluted by the 49ers, but there's more: He rushed for 2,097 yards the season after ACL surgery. Must be one of the greatest performances in NFL history.

• The Modesto Junior College Pirates open the Big 8 Conference season at home Tuesday night with two-way firepower. The men are 8-6 and the women are 11-3.

• Notre Dame already has broken new ground. It's the first team in BCS history to be No. 1 on the field and No. 1 in graduation rate (tied with Northwestern).

• The Irish like the vibe after bowl victories by Stanford, Rice, Vanderbilt and Northwestern.

• Hasn't received enough attention: Stanford's David Shaw became the first African-American coach to win a BCS game. It took 15 years.

• The bowl teams that truly cared: South Carolina, Clemson, Ohio and San Jose State.

• The bowl teams that exhibited, let's say, shaky attention spans: USC, Fresno State, Florida and Purdue.

• When discussions begin about high school football dynasties, they end with De La Salle's Bob Ladouceur.

• Justin Alumbaugh will succeed Ladouceur, which jogs the memory to the fate of John Wooden's UCLA successor Gene Bartow: 52-9 and run out of town.

• Truly silly numbers: Ladouceur's teams totaled more section titles (28) than losses (25).

• De La Salle's 151-game winning streak (1992-2003) started with a victory over ... Merced.

• Not kidding: D.C. Washington will sing the national anthem today in Washington D.C. for the Redskins.

• Giants closer Sergio Romo was detained briefly at the Las Vegas airport. No, he wasn't wearing his "I Just Look Illegal" T-shirt.

• Oregon's Chip Kelly is taking NFL interviews while the Ducks look down the barrel of NCAA sanctions. Coincidence?

• The Columbia College Claim Jumpers have set their admission price for Central Valley Conference games: Free!

• Six quarterbacks in their first or second year have led teams into the NFL playoffs. Conclusions: 1. It's a precocious group, and 2. Quarterback quality in the league has diminished.

• Andy Reid quickly jumped to a new job (Chiefs) four months after his oldest son died due to drug problems. Maybe work is his escape. Or maybe some reflection is in order.

• Jim Harbaugh brought in kicker Billy Cundiff to push slumping David Akers. I detect a trend: Josh Johnson was signed to challenge Kaepernick last August.

• Harbaugh likes competition on the practice field, almost as much as he likes not playing this weekend.

Bee staff writer Ron Agostini can be reached at ragostini@modbee.com or (209) 578-2302.