The second week of the playoffs is always a different animal … or an odd bird, perhaps.

I just talked to Kevin Niehus, one of our broadcasters at the Johns Hopkins-Thomas More game and he said Johns Hopkins looked pretty good getting off the bus. And that’s what we’re left with here in the second week of the playoffs — the teams that might not look good in that instance have been eliminated.

This is also an odd week because of Thanksgiving. The holiday changes everyone’s travel plans, it keeps students away from the game because they’re at home or otherwise away from campus, and the games just have a different feel. The stadium might be a little more empty. The day might be a little colder. But the games are even more important.

That’s what we’re looking at today.

All aboard.