Second Season

It's a touchdown for NBC's Friday Night Lights! The Texas drama - it's about much more than football - has been renewed for a full second season. No word yet on what night NBC will air a show that has struggled in the ratings (against stiff-armed competition) but quickly became one of the season's biggest critical darlings. Credit goes to NBC's president of entertainment, Kevin Reilly, a big fan of the show, for showing patience and letting the fans spend more time with coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler)

The only touchdown the Ravens needed against the Buffalo Bills yesterday came courtesy of one of their standout defensive players. Cornerback Chris McAlister provided the touchdown when he intercepted quarterback J.P. Losman and returned it 31 yards. The play propelled the AFC North champions to a 19-7 win at M&T Bank Stadium and gave the Ravens the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs and a first-round bye. McAlister's interception return with 3:46 left in the third quarter broke open what had been a two-point game and provided a spark to an otherwise lethargic offensive performance.

Starting his second season on varsity, Edgewood's Ed Jones transferred after his sophomore year from Charlotte, N.C., where he lived with his grandmother, to reside with his mother in Edgewood. Jones, 6 feet 3, played a major role last season in the Rams' 19 victories, averaging 10 points. He is adjusting to a new coach, Lamont Pennick. How is the team responding to the new emphasis on fundamentals and discipline? We're doing good. It's a little different from last year, but we're adjusting to it. The main difference is the team.

Not even halfway into its premiere season, the reality show Ace of Cakes has been picked up by the Food Network for a second season based on its impressive ratings and appeal of its star, Baltimore cake maker Duff Goldman. The show, which is centered on Goldman's bakery, Charm City Cakes, has become one of the Food Network's top five shows and debuted last month to an audience of 1.7 million viewers. The cable channel has ordered 13 more episodes for a second season to begin in January.

When Chris Robinson took over McDonogh's girls lacrosse team last season, the Eagles were coming off an 8-13-2 season with only one win against an A Conference team. At that point, Robinson, who had coached Mount Hebron to five straight state titles, found the Eagles eager to learn his style of coaching and set their program on the upswing. Nobody expected it to rise so fast. Last season, the Eagles won the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A2 Conference, going 17-2 overall and 4-2 against opponents in the elite A1 Conference.

That television's last interstellar opera left standing could have risen from the ruins of a campy '70s sci-fi series has as much to say about today's hot-button issues as a shortage in outer-space escapism. Battlestar Galactica, the top-rated show on cable's Sci-Fi Channel -- and the only date in town for hard-core fans -- is a dark vision of humanity on the brink of extinction, fleeing its own robotic creations. That's a far cry from the optimistic outlook that disappeared with the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise (2001-2005)

COLLEGE PARK -- Ralph Friedgen clearly didn't care for the question. Before answering, he shifted his weight, leaned forward on the podium, then furrowed his brow and frowned. Maryland's football team had just lost its fourth home game of the season - this one to Boston College, 31-16 - putting the Terps' postseason bowl aspirations in jeopardy for the second straight year. The inquiry, which would have been laughable two seasons ago, suddenly seemed quite appropriate: After nearly five years, had Friedgen's program plateaued?

Coach: Frank Haith, second season at school (16-13), second overall (16-13) 2004-05 record: 16-13, 7-9 (tied for sixth in ACC; NIT first round) Returning starters: Junior G Anthony Harris, junior F-C Anthony King, junior G Guillermo Diaz, senior G Robert Hite, junior G Anthony Harris Sun prediction: NIT Why it will happen: The Hurricanes have several unproven post players, and with the exception of King, only Raymond Hicks and Gary Hamilton have played...

Southeast Division Miami Heat Last season -- 59-23. Coach -- Stan Van Gundy, third season, 101-63. Heat's formula -- The Heat has the most star-studded roster in the NBA. By adding Jason Williams and Gary Payton at point guard and Antoine Walker and James Posey at forward, they are overloaded with talent. The trick will be getting everyone to play as well together as last season's team did. The buzz -- Shaquille O'Neal believes that the team still revolves around him and that his presence will keep everyone in line.