AMERICAN FOOTBALL: EXPECT CHILLS & THRILLS; Road to the Super Bowl.

Byline: ALAN McKINLAY

THE only certainty about tomorrow's championship games to determine who gets to the Super Bowl is that they are going to be cold.

While both home teams are expected to come out on top, there have been so many upsets and surprises this season that the NFL could easily stand for the No Favourites League.

So, with plenty of evidence to prove there is no point in making predictions, here's what's going to happen...

AFC Championship: INDIANAPOLIS COLTS at NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS, Kick-off 8pm

If the Colts do go all the way and win the Super Bowl, never before will one player have done so little to earn so much.

Hunter Smith has not taken part in either of the two play-off wins the Colts have so far managed, because he's the punter, the man called on to boot the ball when his team's offence fails to get the necessary yards.

But such has been the brilliance of quarterback Peyton Manning and the Colts' attack that Hunter the punter wasn't required - the first time in NFL history a team had gone two playoff games without punting.

The Patriots, however, will certainly change all that. Head coach Bill Belichick is a defensive guru, and has plotted the downfall of the Colts, who have lost 11 of 13 against his teams, and have lost all six in New England.

Belichick is renowned for changing his defensive schemes to surprise the opposition, and, as one American commentator put it, when the Colts take on the Pats' defence, they'll see "more looks than Cher".

This one simply comes down to whether Manning can come up with enough magic to confound the Super Bowl favourites.

Prediction: Yes he can. Colts 24-20.

NFC Championship: CAROLINA PANTHERS at PHILADELPHIA EAGLES Kick-off 8pm

So which is the team of destiny after all?

The "Cardiac Cat" Panthers always win when the game is decided in the last few minutes or overtime, as they proved again in St Louis last week.

But the Eagles trailed 14-0 at half-time against Greeen Bay last week, overcame eight sacks of quarterback Donovan McNabb, and made a fourth-and-26 inside the final two minutes to keep their season alive.

The Panthers' running game is good enough to carry them to a stunning Super Bowl appearance just two years since winning just one game all season against a team that has lost the NFC title game for the past two years.

Prediction: Another heart- stopper. Panthers, 16-14.

CAPTION(S):

McNABB: Eight sacks