Month: October 2024

Kind of an unusual Halloween at Armadillo World HQ; I had plenty of candy to hand out, since the weather here has been great, but my doorbell only rang once all night.

What makes it weird is when the doorbell rang, there were 15-16 kids outside, all with the same couple of adults. Nice kids; the older ones all said thank you. I was just glad the candy went to good use; they wound up with almost half the candy I had here.

Thought more kids would be around; I live in a suburban neighborhood, and it was warm out.

— Jets 21, Texans 13
Jets’ win snaps their five-game losing skid.
Jets in first half: 23 plays, 79 yards, no points
Jets in second half: 31 plays, 220 yards, 21 points
WR Wilson caught nine passes for 90 yards, two TD’s.

Houston led 7-0 at halftime.
Last three weeks, Texans were outscored 41-15 in second half.
Houston QB Stroud completed only 11-31 passes, was sacked 8 times.
Jets would’ve scored TD in first half, but the genius carrying the ball had to show off and dropped the ball before he crossed the goal line- it was his first NFL carry.

— Early season NBA trends (thru Wednesday’s games):
Home favorites are 17-20 ATS
Home underdogs are 16-13 ATS

Teams playing 2nd night in row: 14-9 ATS

Over is 5-0 in Atlanta games.
Over is 4-1 in Toronto games.
Over is 4-1 in Orlando games.

Under is 4-1 in Detroit games.

— Tulane 34, Charlotte 3
Green Wave led 10-3 at halftime.
Tulane has now won six games in a row.
Green Wave was 11-16 on third down, Charlotte 1-9.
Tulane ran 78 plays, Charlotte 44.

— Baseball trade: Braves traded OF Jorge Soler to the Angels for P Griffin Canning.

Soler had an .849 OPS in 49 games with the Braves LY, after he came over from the Giants.

Canning was 6-13, 5.19 in 31 starts for the Angels last year.

— This is first time since 1988 that Oklahoma’s football team has lost three consecutive games by 10+ points.

— Eagles QB Jalen Hurts has it in his contract that he can’t play golf, among other sports; when Philly owner Jeff Lurie played golf with Barack Obama recently, Hurts apparently just rode along in a golf cart all day.

— Orlando Magic star Paolo Banchero scored 50 points Monday, but he tore an oblique muscle in Wednesday’s game and is now out at least 4-6 weeks.

— Famous birthdays, November 1st
Joe Caldwell, 83
Tom Mack, 81
Ted Hendricks, 77

Kent Graham, 56
Toni Collette, 52
Jake Voskuhl, 47

Coco Crisp, 45
Stephen Vogt, 40
Brent Rooker, 30

— Random NHL trend:
When an NHL team is playing a second consecutive night on the road, over is 10-4 in those games.

— Five NHL franchises that are worth the most:
$3.66B- Toronto Maple Leafs
$3.25B- New York Rangers
$2.93B- Montreal Canadiens
$2.67B- Boston Bruins
$2.5B- Los Angeles Kings

— Random trivia: Billy Joel, the great musician, had a 22-2 record as a Golden Gloves boxer when he was a kid; he broke his nose in the 24th fight, and that was it for his boxing career.

— Chris Davis is the new athletic director at Georgia Southern; when he was in college at Miami (FL), he spent some time as Ibis, the Hurricanes’ mascot.

— A’s will play home games in Sacramento the next three years; last year, from June 23-July 12, the average high temperature in Sacramento was 103.8.

Groundskeepers are going to have their hands full, keeping that field in good shape, since the A’s are sharing the stadium with the Giants’ AAA farm team.

— DePaul/Georgetown’s basketball teams were a combined 2-38 in conference games last year; to try and improve their teams’ confidence, both teams have seven games in November, with all 14 games on their home floors.

— NFL teams who have gone over total a lot:
Ravens, over 7-1
Bucs/Panthers, over 6-2
Cowboys, over 5-2

NFL teams who have stayed under total a lot:
Chargers, under 6-1
Texans/Giants, 6-2
Dolphins, under 5-2

— Dodgers 7, New York 6
Dodgers win their 8th World Series title.
Dodgers trailed 5-0 after four innings.
Dodgers scored five (all unearned) runs in the 5th inning.
Freddie Freeman is the World Series MVP.

In the history of the World Series, teams trailing by 5+ runs were 6-227.

Now they’re 7-227.

113 days until the first exhibition game in 2025.

— Jacksonville State 31, Liberty 21
RB Stewart ran for 232 yards and four TD’s.
Gamecocks ran ball for 363 yards (7.4 yards/carry).
Game was 14-14 at halftime.
Liberty lost its second game in a row after a 5-0 start.

— Western Kentucky 31, Kennesaw State 14
WKU QB Veltkamp threw for 276 yards, three TD’s.
Hilltoppers are bowl eligible for the sixth year in a row.
WKU outgained Kennesaw, 462-272.

— USC’s basketball team practiced outdoors Wednesday, at Venice Beach; I’ve been there a couple times, great place with lot of shops, restaurants, vendors, not the kind of place you’d expect to see a college basketball practice.

Living is Los Angeles must be tremendous, there is legit fun to have every day.

— White Sox named 42-year old Will Venable their new manager; he played nine years in the major leagues, has been a big league coach since 2017.

White Sox lost 121 games this season, three years after they won the AL Central, but they have some solid prospects on the way, maybe getting there next year and 2026.

— There aren’t any NBA games this coming Tuesday because it is Election Day and it is important that everyone votes.

My polling place is the building where I went to grade school, over 50 years ago; I enjoy going in and taking a look around. It is also important to vote, but looking around is fun.

From 1933-49, there were no elections in Germany, because they weren’t a democracy; it is important that our country remain a democracy, another reason why I’ll vote Tuesday.

— RIP to the popular actress Teri Garr, who passed away this week at age 79.

She was in Tootsie, Mr Mom, Let It Ride, Young Frankenstein; she was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Tootsie. Garr’s quick wit got her a lot of gigs on late-night talk shows with Johnny Carson, David Letterman. Funny lady.

RIP, ma’am.

— Famous birthdays, October 31
Jane Pauley, 74
John Lucas, 71
Mike Gallego, 64

Bill Fralic, 62
Fred McGriff, 61
Antonio Davis, 56

Steve Trachsel, 54
Mike Napoli, 43
Tony Kemp, 33

— College football trends, in conference games:
— AAC home favorites are 11-5 ATS

— ACC home underdogs are 5-8 ATS

— Big X home favorites are 10-15 ATS
Big X home underdogs are 1-4 ATS
Big X home teams are 11-19 ATS

— Big 18 home favorites are 17-13 ATS
Big 18 home underdogs are 10-9

— MAC home favorites are 8-5 ATS
MAC home underdogs are 7-3 ATS

— Mountain West home favorites are 6-4 ATS
Mountain West home underdogs are 3-7 ATS

— SEC home favorites are 3-16 ATS
SEC home underdogs are 9-5 ATS

— Sun Belt home favorites are 9-7 ATS
Sun Belt home underdogs are 6-4 ATS.

— This week is Week 9 in the NFL; Detroit Lions are playing in Green Bay, their first outdoor game this season.

— Steph Curry sprained his ankle the other night; he’ll be re-evaluated Friday. Warriors beat New Orleans on consecutive nights without him; Pelicans led Tuesday’s game by 20 early on.

— Saw a commercial for a gameshow that Travis Kelce hosts on Amazon; he also has a cereal with him and his brother on the box. Dating Taylor Swift has its benefits. 

— World Series, Game 4:
New York 11, Dodgers 4
Volpe’s grand slam in third inning put New York ahead for good.
Freddie Freeman has now homered in six consecutive World Series games.
New York broke the game open with five runs in the 8th inning.
Game 5 is Wednesday night.

— It is a little strange that Juan Soto has a career on-base %age of .421, but has batted leadoff only twice in his career. You’d think a .421 on-base %age would scream out “leadoff hitter!!!”

— Louisiana 23, Texas State 17
Ragin’ Cajuns led 14-6 at half, kicked three FG’s in second half.
Cajuns QB Wooldridge was 18-28/252 passing, with a TD.
ULL outgained Texas State 423-378; they were +2 in turnovers. 

— Florida International 34, New Mexico State 13
FIU outscored New Mexico State 27-7 in second half.
WR Rivers caught 11 passes for 295 yards, 3 TDs.
FIU outgained the Aggies, 438-246.

— Sam Houston 9, Louisiana Tech 3
Ducker’s 40-yard TD run was the game’s only touchdown
Tech outgained Sam Houston 312-268, but turned ball over four times.
Bearkats improve to 7-2; Tech drops to 3-5.

— Indianapolis Colts are switching back to 39-year old Joe Flacco to play this QB this week against Minnesota.

Flacco completed 65.7% of his passes in his two starts (1-1), with 7 TD’s, one INT. Anthony Richardson completed 44.4% of his passes in his six starts (3-3), with 4 TD’s, 7 INT’s.

— Minnesota Vikings acquired LT Cam Robinson from Jacksonville, in exchange for a 5th-round draft pick. Minnesota left tackle Christian Darrisaw got hurt last week, is out for the year.

— Houston Texans’ WR Stefon Diggs had a non-contact knee injury last week, isn’t expected to play Thursday when the Texans visit the Jets. Diggs has caught 47 passes for 496 and 3 TD’s for Houston this season.

— New Jersey Jets tried out six kickers Tuesday, with K Greg Zuerlein having struggled recently; they play on Thursday, so a decision will be made soon.

— Famous birthdays, October 30:
Jim Perry, 89
Henry Winkler, 79
Phil Chenier, 74

Harry Hamlin, 72
Kevin Pollak, 67
Danny Tartabull, 62

Ty Detmer, 57
Marco Scutaro, 49
Trent Edwards, 41

Marcus Mariota, 31
Devin Booker, 28
Wenceel Perez, 25 

— NFL divisional trends, in non-divisional games:
NFC East teams are 12-12 ATS in non-divisional games.
They’re 0-4 ATS as home underdogs.
They’re 8-4 ATS as road underdogs.

NFC North teams are 18-8 ATS in non-divisional games.
They’re 10-3 ATS as home favorites.
They’re 5-3 ATS as underdogs.

NFC South teams are 6-13 ATS in non-divisional games.
They’re 2-9 ATS at home.
They’re 5-9 ATS as underdogs.

NFC West teams are 9-11-1 ATS in non-divisional games.
They’re 5-8 ATS as underdogs.

AFC East teams are 6-15-1 ATS in non-divisional games.
They’re 2-5 ATS as home favorites.
They’re 2-8 ATS as road underdogs.

AFC North teams are 15-10 ATS in non-divisional games.
They’re 10-4 ATS on the road.
They’re 6-3 ATS as underdogs.

AFC South teams are 9-11 ATS in non-divisional games.
They’re 2-5 ATS as road underdogs.

AFC West teams are 13-6 ATS in non-divisional games.
They’re 9-2 ATS on the road.
They’re 7-3 ATS as a favorite.

— Nuggets 144, Nets 139 OT
Brooklyn led 72-63 at halftime.
Nikola Jokic scored 29 points, had 18 rebounds, 16 assists.

— Mavericks 120, Timberwolves 114
Kyrie Irving scored 35 points, was 6-8 on the arc.
Luka Doncic scored 24, had 8 rebounds and 8 assists.

— Kings 113, Jazz 96
Domantas Sabonis scored 28 points, had 11 rebounds.
Sacramento was minus-6 in the 14:00 he was on the bench.
Utah drops to 0-4 with the loss. 

— Monday in South Dakota, the Sanford Pentagon will host a pretty good tripleheader of college basketball:
Charleston-Southern Illinois, noon
Saint Louis-Santa Clara, 3:00
McNeese State-South Dakota State, 6:00

— YouTubeTV is very good; had the NFL game and the World Series on same screen last night, which was excellent. Easier that watching the second game on my laptop.

— Steelers 26, Giants 18
Steelers’ first TD was a 73-yard punt return by Austin in 3rd quarter.
Austin scored Steelers’ other TD, a 29-yard TD pass.
Steelers averaged 8.7/8.1 yards/pass attempt in Wilson’s first two starts.
Over is 4-1 in their last five games.
Steelers have won their last 22 Monday night home games.

Game was 9-9 at halftime; six field goals.
Giants ran the ball for 157 yards (6.3 yards/carry)
Giants had 11 penalties for only 65 yards.
QB Jones is 25-43-1 as an NFL starter, 1-15 in night games.

— Random facts:
Steelers have had three head coaches since 1969.

Michigan State has had two basketball coaches since 1976.

— Dodgers 4, New York 2
Freeman hit a 2-run homer in first inning.
Buehler threw five shutout IP, on 76 pitches.
Six relievers combined to get the last 12 outs.
Dodgers lead series, 3-0.

— The baseball Shohei Ohtani hit for his 50th home run this season apparently sold for $4,392,000 at a recent auction. 

— P Yoshinobu Yamamoto was 7-2, 3.00 in 18 starts for the Dodgers this year; he signed a 12-year contract worth $325M ($27.1M/year). In his last three playoff starts, Yamamoto gave up only 3 runs in 15.2 IP (5 runs in 5 IP in his first one).

Cubs gave P Shota Imanaga $22.5M for two years (plus team options for 2026-28); he was 15-3, 2.91 in 29 starts this year, which bodes very well for other Asian pitchers who want to come over here for the big bucks.

— Famous birthdays, October 29
Richard Dreyfuss, 77
Kate Jackson, 76
Danny Vranes, 66

Jesse Barfield, 65
RA Dickey, 50
Keenan Burton, 4o

Andy Dalton, 37
Ender Inciarte, 34
Evan Fournier, 32

— How would you like to be the guy that bet $120,000 on the Bears Sunday, only to lose on the Hail Mary on the last play? It was posted on Twitter that the person made the bet at Caeser’s.

— At the SouthPoint casino in Las Vegas, you can bet on which NFL team will score the first touchdown every Sunday. Atlanta Falcons (12-1) were Sunday’s winner.

— Washington State’s football team is 7-1, their best start since 2018, when a Gardner Minshew-led Coog squad was 7-1 under coach Mike Leach. Wazzu has three wins by 5 or fewer points so far this season.

— There are college basketball scrimmages going on; some of them have surfaced on TV, which has been fun to see. Season starts for real next Monday November 4.

— Last three games, USC’s football team has given up 518, 429, 434 total yards. No bueno.

— There are 11 college basketball players this season who used to play for New Mexico, but transferred out of Albuquerque.

— Rice fired football coach Mike Bloomgren after the Owls started this season 2-6; Rice hasn’t had a winning season since 2014, but they play in bowls the last two years, losing both of them.

Bloomgren was 24-52 at Rice; the school owes him around $900,000. 

Commanders 18, Bears 15
Washington led 9-0 at halftime.
Bears scored a TD with 0:27 left to take a 15-12 lead.
Washington threw a 52-yard Hail Mary TD on last play of the game.
This was first game since 1977 where both teams scored go-ahead TD in last 0:30 of play.  

Bears’ first seven drives: 36 plays, 93 yards, six punts.
Bears’ last four drives: 24 plays, 200 yards, 15 points.
Chicago scored 24-24-36-35 points in their wins, 13-16-15 in losses.
Chicago’s three losses are by 6-5-3 points. 

Patriots 25, Jets 23
Patriots drove 70 yards, scored game-winning TD with 0:22 left.
Backup QB Brissett came off bench, won game in relief of injured starter Maye.
Patriots are 24-4 in last 28 games against the Jets.
Jets are 1-8 SU/2-7 ATS in last nine visits to Foxboro.

Jets are 0-5 SU/ATS in last five games.
Jets gave up 23-37-25 points in three games since coaching change. 
Jets are 2-8-1 ATS last 11 games as a road favorite.
Last three weeks, Jets were outscored 45-12 in 2nd half.

Eagles 37, Bengals 17
Eagles had eight drives: 4 TD’s, 3 field goals and a punt.
Philly averaged 11.8 yards/pass attempt.
Eagles won four of their last five games.
Eagles are 7-2-1 ATS last ten games with spread of 3 or fewer points.

Bengals are 0-4 at home, losing by 6-5-3-20 points.
Game was 10-10 at halftime.
Bengals first two drives: 28 plays, 131 yards, TD/FG
Bengals rest of game: 6 drives- 30 plays, 150 yards, 7 points.

Packers 30, Jaguars 27
Packers drove 64 yards, kicked game-winning FG at gun.
Green Bay had short TD drives of 28, 5 yards.
Packers won six of their last seven games.
Green Bay is 3-11-1 ATS in last 15 games as a road favorite.

Jaguars drove 87 yards, tied game 27-27 on TD with 1:48 left.
Both teams averaged over 9.0 yards/pass attempt.
Five of their last six games went over the total.
Under Pederson, Jaguars are 5-3 ATS as a home underdog.

Lions 52, Titans 14
Detroit scored 3 TDs in 2nd quarter, all on short drives: 25-12-22 yards.
Lions scored 52 points; QB Goff threw for only 85 yards.
Lions’ Kalif Raymond had a 90-yard punt return for a TD, a 72-yard kickoff return and another punt return for 64 yards.
Under Campbell, Lions are 12-5 ATS as a home favorite.

Tennessee is minus-13 in turnovers; their special teams have sucked. 
Tennessee is 3-8 ATS in last 11 games as a road underdog.
Titans have been outscored 111-43 in second half. 
Misleading stat: Titans outgained Detroit 416-225. 

Falcons 31, Buccaneers 26
Cousins was 23-29/276 passing, with four TD’s.
Atlanta won four of its last five games SU.
Four of Falcons’ last five games went over the total.
Atlanta is 3-0 SU on road, scoring 22-38-31 points. 

Last five games, Bucs 33-30-51-31-26 points, only went 2-3.
Tampa Bay has eight turnovers in last three games (minus-4)
Since 2021, Bucs are 2-6 ATS as a home underdog.
Tampa Bay’s last five games went over the total.

Cardinals 28, Dolphins 27
Cardinals in first half: 23 plays, 112 yards, 7 points.
Cardinals in second half: 38 plays, 278 yards, 20 points.
Arizona is 17-9 ATS last 26 games as a road underdog. 
Last six games, opponents are 45-76 (59.2%) on third down.

Arizona drove 72 yards, kicked game-winning FG with 0:01 left.
Dolphins led 20-10 with 6:30 left in third quarter.
Miami allowed 17-10 points in its wins, 31-24-16-31-28 in losses. 
Dolphins are 8-13 ATS in last 21 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.

Browns 29, Ravens 24
Browns in first half: 31 plays, 152 yards, 6 points.
Browns in second half: 37 plays, 250 yards, 23 points.
Winston threw 38-yard TD pass with 0:59 left for the win.
Cleveland is 13-5-1 ATS in last 19 games coming off a loss.

On first drive, Ravens were stopped on downs on 10-yard line.
On last drive, Ravens were on Cleveland 25, but couldn’t score TD.
Cleveland was 8-15 on third down, Ravens were 2-10
Over is 7-1 in Baltimore’s games this year.

Texans 23, Colts 20
Houston led 17-10 at halftime.
In first half, QB Richardson was 2-15 passing, for 81 yards.
All eight Colts games were decided by 6 or fewer points.
Colts are 4-1-1 ATS last six AFC South road games.
Indy won four of its last six games (5-0-1 ATS)

Houston beat Colts twice this year, 29-27/23-20.
Texans have five wins by 6 or fewer points.
Texans are 5-14 ATS in last 19 games as a home favorite
Mixon ran ball 25 times for 102 yards and a TD.

Famous birthdays, October 28th:
Lenny Wilkens, 87
Dennis Franz, 80
Annie Potts, 72
Randy Wittman, 65

Bob Melvin, 63
Jami Gertz, 59
Steve Atwater, 58
Julia Roberts, 57

Brad Paisley, 52
Terrell Davis, 52
Jarrett Jack, 41
Spencer Strider, 26 

Chargers 26, Saints 8
Saints’ first five drives: 20 plays, 90 yards, five punts.
New Orleans lost its last six games, last four by 13-24-13-18 points.
Saints are 1-5 against spread in last six games.
Last four games, New Orleans was outscored 71-13 in second half.  

Chargers led 9-5 at halftime.
Bolts in second half: 28 plays, 207 yards, 17 points.
Chargers scored 22-26-23-26 points in wins, 10-10-15 in losses.
Under is 6-1 in their first seven games.

Bills 31, Seahawks 10
Bills ran for 164 yards, outgained Seattle 445-233.
Buffalo is 5-0 when it allows less than 23 points.
Buffalo outscored last four opponents 64-16 in second half.
Buffalo is 17-5-1 ATS last 23 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.

Seahawks were 1-7 on third down, Buffalo 8-15.
Last four games, Seattle gave up 180.5 rushing yards/game.
Seahawks are 0-4 when they give up more than 20 points.
Seahawks are 12-21-3 ATS last 36 games coming off a win.

Broncos 28, Panthers 14
Panthers lost Young’s three starts: 47-10, 26-3, 28-14.
Carolina’s seven losses are all by 14+ points. 
Carolina is 2-11-1 ATS last 14 games as a road underdog.
Panthers gave up 20+ points in first half in seven of eight games.

Denver won/covered five of its last six games.
Broncos’ first two drives: 12 plays, 47 yards, no points.
Broncos’ next three drives: 24 plays, 195 yards, 21 points.
QB Nix was 28-37/284 passing, with three TD’s.

Chiefs 27, Raiders 20
Chiefs converted 12-16 third down plays, led 17-10 at half.
Last five games, Chiefs are 41-74 on third down.
Chiefs won their first seven games (4-3 ATS), by 7-1-5-7-13-10-7 points.
Kansas City is 7-0 despite being minus-5 in turnovers.

Raiders’ first two drives: 22 plays, 120 yards, 10 points.
Raiders’ last six drives: 35 plays, 89 yards, 10 points.
Kansas City won 16 of last 19 series games.
Raiders are 15-7 ATS in last 22 AFC West home games.

49ers 30, Cowboys 24
Dallas led 10-6 at halftime.
49ers’ 1st 3 drives of 3rd quarter: 21 plays, 167 yards, 21 points.
Cowboys gave up 17-15-17 points in wins, 44-28-47-30 in losses.
Cowboys allowed 14.2/12.1/10.3/8.8 yards/pass attempt in losses.

Purdy threw ball for 260 yards, ran for 56 more.
49ers are 13-8 ATS last 21 games as a home favorite.
49ers scored 32-30-36-30 points in wins, 17-24-23-18 in losses.
San Francisco is 12-7 ATS last 19 games coming off a loss.

— World Series, Game 2:
Dodgers 4, New York 2
Hernandez/Freeman hit back/back HR’s in third inning.
Yamamoto threw 6.1 IP, retired the last 11 batters he faced.
Ohtani appeared to dislocate his left shoulder stealing a base in 7th inning.
Dodgers lead series, 2-0; Game 3 is Monday night.

Three of the six umpires in this World Series are in their first World Series.

— Indiana 31, Washington 17
Hoosiers are 8-0 for first time since 1967.
Washington’s defensive coordinator is Steve Belichick, Bill’s son
Washington’s offfensive coordinator is Brennan Carroll, Pete’s son

— Ohio State 21, Nebraska 17
25-point favorite Buckeyes scored game-winning TD with 6:04 left.
Ohio State was 1-10 on 3rd down; they ran ball 31 times for 64 yards.
Nebraska is 5-3; they haven’t gone bowling since 2016.

— TCU 35, Texas Tech 34
Tech led 31-14 with 4:00 left in third quarter, 34-21 with 9:00 left in game.
TCU threw an 84-yard TD pass with 5:10 left for the game-winning TD.
Tech was 8-20 on 3rd down, 2-2 on 4th; TCU was 3-9 on 3rd down.

— Kansas State 29, Kansas 27
K-State kicked a 51-yard FG with 1:42 left for the win.
Wildcats have now beaten Kansas 16 times in a row.
Jayhawks are 5-4 ATS in last nine of those meetings.
Kansas is 2-6 this year, with five losses by 6 or fewer points.

— Upsets of the Week:
Kennesaw State (+25) 27, Liberty 24
Ball State (+13) 25, Northern Illinois 23
Tulsa (+8) 46, Tex-San Antonio 45
North Carolina (+4) 41, Virginia 14

— SMU 28, Duke 27 OT
SMU blocked a short field goal on last play of regulation.
Duke scored TD in OT, went for 2 points/win, but failed on the try.
Mustangs have won five in a row, are 7-1 this season.

— Underdogs were 4-0 ATS in the Conference USA games during the week.

— Baylor 38, Oklahoma State 28
Baylor snapped an 8-game home losing streak in Big X games.
OSU is 0-5 in Big X games, giving up 307.2 rushing yards/game.
Baylor gained 565 yards on 58 plays (9.7 yards/play)

— Ball State 25, Northern Illinois 23
This is a bad loss for Notre Dame; they lost to NIU, which is now 4-4, 1-3 in the MAC, which isn’t a great league. 

— Famous birthdays, October 27th:
John Cleese, 85
Pete Vuckovich, 72
Matt Cavanaugh, 68
Rick Carlisle, 65
Jim Leonhard, 42

Brady Quinn, 40
Jon Niese, 38
Mark Barron, 35
Francisco Mejia, 29
Lonzo Ball, 27

— Tulsa 46, Tex-San Antonio 45
Roadrunners led this game 35-7 at halftime.
Tulsa scored two TD’s in the last 2:26 to pull out a dramatic win.
UTSA threw ball for 443 yards, but had 12 penalties for 129 yards.

— Memphis 33, Charlotte 28
Charlotte scored TD with 1:20 left to take a 28-24 lead.
Memphis threw a 24-yard TD pass with 0:31 left for the win.
Tigers are 7-1; their only loss was 56-44 at Navy.

— James Madison 32, Southern Mississippi 15
Since 2014, Dukes are 113-25 SU (45-24 ATS last 69 games)
In this game, JMU ran ball 41 times for 199 yards.
Southern Miss is 17-38 SU in its last 55 games.

— Wake Forest 27, Stanford 24
These schools are 2,729 miles apart; why are they in the same league?!?!?!?
Deacons kicked a 23-yard field goal with 1:48 left to win the game.
Wake ran ball for 173 yards, had four takeaways (+2).

— Utah State 27, Wyoming 25
Utah State drove 53 yards, kicked a 40-yard FG at the gun for a road win.
Wyoming ran ball for 276 yards (6.6 yards/carry) but turned ball over twice. 

— World Series, Game 1
Dodgers 6, New York 3 (10)
Freddie Freeman hit the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history
New York walked Mookie Betts intentionally to pitch to Freeman
Dodgers led 1-0 after five innings.

Very bad beat if you bet under 8.5.

— Louisville 31, Boston College 27
BC led 27-10 with 4:00 left in third quarter.
Cardinals outgained Boston College, 462-318.
Louisville won despite being minus-3 in turnovers, 4-11 on 3rd down.

— Boise State 29, UNLV 24
Rebels led 24-23 after the third quarter.
Boise State was 3-15 on 3rd down, 4-4 on 4th down
Attendance was 42,228, UNLV’s best-ever home crowd.

— Quite a night in Los Angeles Friday:
Game 1, World Series
Suns-Lakers
Rutgers-USC
East LA Classic at SoFi Stadium (HS football)
Bosco at Mater Dei at Santa Ana Stadium (HS football)
Concert at the Intuit Dome

— Famous birthdays, October 25:
Jaclyn Smith, 79
Pat Sajak, 78
Toby Harrah, 76

Mike Hargrove, 75
Rita Wilson, 68
Dylan McDermott, 63

Nick Collison, 44
Francisco Liriano, 41
Monta Ellis, 39

— Minnesota Vikings LT Christian Darrisaw tore up his knee Thursday night, is out for the year. He got hurt on the last play of the first half.

— The longest TD pass in Detroit Lions history happened in 1966, Karl Sweetan to Pat Studstill for 99 yards in a 45-14 loss to the Baltimore Colts. Sweetan/Studstill later wound up as teammates on the Rams in 1969-70.

Studstill wound up having a brief career as an actor; he was in four episodes of The Dukes of Hazzard and an episode of Magnum PI. All in all, he has 12 acting credits on IMDB.

— 6-8 F Guerschon Yabusele plays for the 76ers; he’s scored 19 points in their first two games this season.

From 2017-19, Yabusele played in 74 games for the Celtics, scoring 2.3 ppg in 6.6 minutes/game; he spent the next five years playing pro ball, in China, France, Spain.

My point in this; it is REALLY HARD to make it onto an NBA roster. Lot of really good players make six-figure salaries playing overseas.

— Last season, every team in the NBA took at least 35% of their shots behind the 3-point arc; as recently as ten years ago, no NBA team took 35% of their shots behind the arc.

— NFL teams take out insurance policies on player contracts; if Browns QB Deshaun Watson can’t play next year because of his achilles injury, that $46M is almost entirely insured. On his salary this year, only $13.9M of it appears to be insured.

— Movie of the Day: Random Hearts (1999)- A police sergeant and U.S. Representative both lose their spouses in a plane crash, and they soon discover that their spouses were having an affair with each other.

Harrison Ford is the policeman, Kristin Scott Thomas is the politician; this is a very good movie but obviously it is sad too, since two people dying also uncovered their chicanery.

Several good character actors (Paul Guilfoyle from CSI, for one) are also in the movie.

— You know you’re watching an old movie when a guy goes in a bar and asks the bartender for change of a dollar, so he can go use a pay phone.

— Arkansas visits Kentucky February 1st; should be good theater, with John Calipari going back to the arena where he made four Final 4’s and won a national title.

— Top 7 mid-major college basketball teams:
Gonzaga
Memphis
Boise State
Virginia Commonwealth
Dayton
Saint Mary’s
Grand Canyon

— I’m debating buying the NBA TV package, so I can watch any game I want; it isn’t expensive, it isn’t that, it just that it bugs me that guys who are making over $500,000/game aren’t going to play both ends of a back/back. Not that difficult, just play ball.

I also prefer college ball to the NBA, so once that starts my attention will be there; college kids play in conference tournaments- they don’t take games off when they play on consecutive days.

— 20 years ago, Iowa actually won a football game 6-4 at Penn State; Hawkeyes outgained the Nittany Lions, 168-147; they were +3 in turnovers. Teams combined to go 10-36 on third down, and each team punted seven times.

Penn State scored two safeties; the second one was intentional, with 8:11 left. 

— Wednesday night, Miami Heat named their home court after longtime coach/team president Pat Riley; this is his 30th year with the Miami franchise.

Riley is 1,381-805 as an NBA coach, winning five NBA titles (4 with Lakers, one with the Heat, in 2006). He also led the Knicks to the NBA Finals in 1994.

Miami has won two NBA titles with Riley as team president and Erik Spoelstra as coach; Riley was inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.

Coach Riley is from Schenectady, NY; he went to Linton High School, in 1992, Linton merged with Mont Pleasant HS to form Schenectady High School, which is located in the former Linton facility. Coach Riley gave the school a lot of money to help refurbish the gym/locker room. The gym at Schenectady is named after him. 

Long time ago (1993-2001), I spent eight years as an assistant basketball coach at Schenectady High; I was the analytics/numbers guy, the geeky coach/scout. This was the most interesting thing I’ve ever done in my life, and one of the most fun.

I was lucky to work for great people and we had really, really good players; we won state titles in 1998 and 2001. When we won the state titles, coach Riley sent us all gifts to commemorate our efforts- I’m looking at them in my living room as I type this.

Congratulations to you Coach Riley, on one of the best careers anyone has ever had. It was an honor to spend eight years working in your gym.

— Rams 30, Vikings 20
Stafford was 25-34/279 passing, with four TD’s. (helps to have Kupp/Nacua healthy)
Rams outgained Minnesota, 386-276.
LA was 4-10 on third down, Vikings 2-7.
Rams scored 27-20-30 points in their wins, 20-10-18-19 in losses.
Rams are 6-3-1 ATS last ten games as a home underdog.

Vikings’ first two drives: 18 plays, 140 yards, 14 points.
Vikings’ last six drives: 30 plays, 125 yards, 2 FGs and a safety
Minnesota ran for only 64 yards; they were 2-7 on 3rd down.
WR Jefferson caught eight passes for 115 yards.
Minnesota is 4-8-1 ATS in last 13 games coming off a loss. 

— Pitt 41, Syracuse 13
Panthers are 7-0 for the first time since 1982.
Pitt scored three defensive TD’s in the first half, led 31-0 at halftime.
Syracuse ran ball for only six yards on 29 carries; they threw 5 INTs in all.

— Old Dominion 47, Georgia Southern 19
Monarchs led 30-7 at half; QB Jospeh threw 4 first half TD passes.
ODU outgained Georgia Southern, 560-416.
Monarchs ran ball 41 times for 256 yards.

— Kennesaw State 27, Liberty 24
1-6 Owls were a 27-point underdog; Liberty came into the game 5-0.
This is Kennesaw State’s first-ever win as a I-A program.
Liberty had nine penalties for 100 yards.

— Jacksonville State 42, Middle Tennessee 20
QB Huff threw for 137 yards and TD, ran for 151 yards and 2 TD’s.
Gamecocks have won four games in a row for first time since 2020.
Jax State outgained the Blue Raiders, 577-365

— There was very sad news Thursday; South Florida basketball coach Amir Abdur-Rahim passed away at age 43.

Abdur-Rahim was undergoing a medical procedure at a Tampa-area hospital when he died due to complications that arose during the procedure. He is survived by his wife and three children.

Abdur-Rahim was a rising star in coaching; he built the Kennesaw State program from the ground up, going 26-9 two years ago, making the NCAAs as a 14-seed.

He then moved on to South Florida last year, went 25-8, 16-2 in the AAC.

Very sad news. RIP, sir.

— Famous birthdays, October 25:
Dan Issel, 76
Dave Cowens, 76
Gifford Nielsen, 70

Mark Vlasic, 61
Pat Swilling, 60
Mike Harkey, 58

Terrell Lowery, 54
Pedro Martinez, 53
Juan Soto, 26

— Dallas Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey missed practice Wednesday for jury duty; he got a letter from the court and was selected as a juror for a felony case. In order to be removed from the jury, both sides and the judge would have to sign off and install an alternate juror.

Cowboys travel to San Francisco Saturday afternoon for their game against the 49ers; they return to Dallas early Monday morning.

— NBA has an in-season tournament starting November 12, kind of an admission that interest in the league is weak before Christmas.

Last year, the Lakers won the tournament; they raised a banner in their arena, but showed their true colors when they fired coach Davin Ham after a 47-35 season and a first-round exit from the playoffs.

If the in-season tournament had any meaning at all, no way does the coach get fired.

— Speaking of the Lakers, the G-League starts November 8; hopefully they’ll send Bronny James to play there, so the young man can play a lot and get the experience he needs. 

Lebron/Bronny played a few minutes together the other night, becoming the first father/son to play on same team, but Bronny only played one year at USC— he isn’t as good as his dad, and likely never will be (who is???). He needs to play a lot to progress into an NBA-level player.

— Watching the Phoenix Suns should be fun this winter; 22 of their first 32 shots the other night were 3-pointers. Coach Mike Budenholzer likes a wide-open style, for to watch.

— Congrats to Atlanta Hawks radio announcer Steve Holman, who recently broadcast his 3,000th consecutive game for the Hawks.

—  NC State QB Grayson McCall is retiring from football, after he had a concussion in a game earlier this month. He is 23 years old, played six years of college football. We wish him well.

— Carolina Panthers’ QB Andy Dalton got banged up in a car accident this week; he won’t start this week, when the 1-6 Panthers visit Denver. 

2nd-year QB Bryce Young will start this week; Carolina lost 47-10/26-3 in the two games he started earlier this season, in Weeks 1-2.

— There are 134 I-A college football teams; Florida State is the only one that hasn’t scored more than 21 points in a game this season.

College basketball starts in 10 days…..some stuff to think about

— UConn won the last two national titles; last team to win three in a row was UCLA, way back from 1971-73. Last spring, Danny Hurley turned down a chance to coach the Lakers; he lost four starters from last year, but his Huskies are still a preseason top 10 team.

— TV/radio personality Doug Gottlieb is the new coach at Green Bay; he’s making $215,000 this year coaching, as well as continuing as host of his national radio show during the week. He was a really good TV analyst on game broadcasts.

Gottlieb played point guard at Notre Dame/Oklahoma State; his late father was a coach, and his brother is still coaching. This should be interesting to follow.

— 6-3 guard PJ Haggerty scored 21.2 ppg last year for Tulsa, more than any freshman in the country; he then bolted to Memphi$, because that’s what happens in college sports now. Rooting for smaller college teams is like rooting for the A’s or the Pirates- your best players are bolting for $$$.

— No Pac-12 this year; it’ll be back down the road, but there is one less automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament this year, and one more at-large bid. Oregon State, Washington State are playing in the WCC this year, Gonzaga’s league.

— 15 of the 18 ACC teams will be in the ACC Tournament……10 of the 13 teams in the MAAC will be in their tournament. In the past, the whole league played in their conference tournaments.

— Since 2015, six ACC teams have made it to a Final Four:
Duke, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Syracuse, Virginia

— College sports has gone mad; realignment of leagues has been to maximize $$$ from football,  and basketball (and other sports) are suffering as a result.

Stanford/Cal are in the ATLANTIC Coast Conference; they’ll take two-game road trips this winter. January 15, 18th Stanford plays at Wake Forest/North Carolina; this makes no sense, and must cost schools a ton of dollar$.

— Famous birthdays, October 24th:
Kevin Kline, 77
Chester Marcol, 75
Omar Moreno, 72
Jay Novacek, 62
Corey Dillon, 50

Eric Hosmer, 35
Jalen Ramsey, 30
Rafael Devers, 28
Jaylen Brown, 28
Amon-Ra St. Brown, 25

— David Patrick is a coach who has now quit as a head coach twice, to become an assistant coach somewhere else, an unusual career move.

From 2018-20, Patrick was coach at Cal-Riverside; they went 10-23/17-15 at UCR, improving from 4-12 to 7-9 in the Big West in his second year, but then he bolted to Arkansas, where he was an assistant for Eric Musselman.

The last two years, Patrick was an assistant at Sacramento State in the Big Sky, where he went 14-18/10-24 in two years. Last spring, Patrick moved on and is now an assistant at LSU.

— Only three Big East teams made the NCAA Tournament last year, the fewest amount of teams since the league re-booted in 2014. One of those teams won the national title, but St John’s and Seton Hall getting squeezed out of at-large bids was surprising.

— Eric Musselman is going to win big (eventually) at USC; he’s added 10 transfers this season, eight of them seniors. There is only one kid on USC’s team who was a Trojan last year, and he only scored 2.3 ppg last year.

— Last seven years, seven different teams have won the C0nference USA conference tournament; last 11 years, eight different teams have won the Big West tournament.

— Steve Lutz is the new coach at Oklahoma State; he was 22-12 in his one year at Western Kentucky last year, after he was 47-23, 21-11 in two years at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. 

Oklahoma State was 21-9 in the one year Cade Cunningham played for them, but in the three years since, Cowboys went 8-10, 4-14. 4-14 in Big X games.

— Utah State is on its sixth head coach in 11 years, which is weird because during that time, they’ve had only one losing season. 

— Since 2010, Ivy League teams are a surprisingly good 8-14 in the NCAA Tournament.

— Coaching carousel was in full gear this past spring:
Rob Lanier went from SMU to Rice
Andy Enfield went from USC to SMU
Eric Musselman went from Arkansas to USC
John Calipari went from Kentucky to Arkansas
Mark Pope went from BYU to Kentucky.

Kyle Smith went from Washington State to Stanford
Danny Sprinkle went from Utah State to Washington
Dusty May went from Florida Atlantic to Michigan
Pat Kelsey went from Charleston to Louisville
Former Louisville coach Chris Mack went to Charleston.

Should be a very interesting season; enjoy!!! 

— Celtics 132, Knicks 109
Celtics led 74-55 at halftime.
Boston shot 29-61 on the arc, and they missed their last 14.
Jayson Tatum scored 37 points.

— Lakers 110, Timberwolves 103
Anthony Davis scored 36 points, grabbed 16 rebounds.
Lebron/Bronny James are first father/son to play in same NBA game.
Lakers had lost their last six season openers.

— Sam Houston 10, Florida International 7
Game was scoreless at halftime.
Sam Houston kicked a 20-yard FG with 1:57 left for the road win.
Bearkats are bowl eligible for the first time as a I-A team.

— Louisiana Tech 14, Texas-El Paso 10
Tech was 6-17 on third down, Miners 1-14.
Bulldogs ran ball 30 times for 7 yards, UTEP 47 times for 166 yards.
Tech has won 11 of its last 12 games against UTEP.

— All 32 NHL teams played Tuesday; the over/under on goals scored for all 32 teams was 101.5. Night ended with 98 goals being scored.

— American League teams won last two World Series; leagues split the last 12 Fall Classics.

— When the Rams won Sunday, Sean McVay tied John Robinson for the most wins (79) by a coach in franchise history.

— Famous birthdays, October 23rd:
Weird Al Yankovic, 65
Doug Flutie, 62
Mike Tomczak, 62
Keith Van Horn, 49

Ryan Reynolds, 48
Kyle Gibson, 37
Nick Bosa, 27
Dylan Carlson, 26

— Random fact that is kind of amazing; Pittsburgh Steelers have had only three head coaches since 1969- Chick Noll, Bill Cowher, Mike Tomlin. 

Steelers are only NFL team that hasn’t played a divisional game yet.

— Indiana Hoosiers QB Kurtis Rourke had surgery on his right (passing) thumb, is out for a while. Indiana, off to its best start since 1967, hosts Washington Saturday.

— Hawai’i is joining the Mountain West on a full-time basis in two years, which figures to hurt their basketball program. Hawaii is 34-21 in Big West games the last three years, but moving up to the Mountain West is a big step up, just ask UNLV.

— If you have a son who is athletic and kind of tall, get him a basketball and send him outside to practice……..a lot

Denver Nuggets signed Aaron Gordon to a 4-year, $133M contract extension.

Washington Wizards signed Corey Kispert to a 4-year, $54M contract extension.

Atlanta Hawks signed Jalen Johnson to a 5-year, $150M contract extension.

Golden State Warriors signed Moses Moody to a 3-year, $39M contract extension.

Houston Rockets signed Alperen Sengun to a 5-year, $185M contract extension.

Minnesota Timberwolves signed Rudy Gobert to a 3-year, $110M contract extension.

It is really, really hard to make it to the NBA, but if you do, it pays off handsomely.

— Fernando Valenzuela, the great Dodger pitcher, passed away Tuesday at age 63.

In 1981, Valenzuela won the NL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young awards as a 20-year-old by going 13-7 with a 2.48 ERA.

Valenzuela went to six consecutive All-Star Games from 1981-86 and also finished in the top five of the Cy Young voting in 1982, 1985, and 1986.

June 19, 1990, Valenzuela pitched a no-hitter against St Louis, the same night Dave Stewart also threw a no-hitter, the only time two no-hitters happened on the same day.

Valenzuela had a 173-153 record in the majors, then was 5-1, 1.98 in eight playoff games.

RIP, sir.

— Ravens 41, Buccaneers 31
Baltimore won/covered last five games, scoring 28-35-41-30-41 points.
First seven drives, Ravens ran 40 plays for 379 yards, 34 points.
RB Henry carried ball 15 times for 169 yards.
Ravens are 10-4 ATS in last 14 games as a road favorite.
Over is 6-1 in Baltimore’s games this year.

Both of Buccaneers’ star WR’s (Evans/Godwin) left with injuries.
Tampa Bay led 10-0 after the first quarter.
Buccaneers scored 33-30-51-31 points in last four games.
Tampa Bay is 2-5 ATS last seven games as a home underdog.
Buccaneers are 4-9 ATS in last 13 games vs AFC teams.

— Cardinals 17, Chargers 15
On their first drive, Chargers fumbled on Arizona’s 2-yard line.
Chargers wound up kicking five field goals on their eight drives.
Last four games, on 17 2nd half drives, Chargers have no TD’s, 4 FG’s. 
Chargers scored 22-26-23 points in wins, 10-10-15 in losses.
Chargers are 3-12 ATS in last 15 games with spread of 3 or less points.

Arizona drove 56 yards, kicked game-winning FG at the gun.
Cardinals are 17-12 ATS last 29 games coming off a loss.
Chargers were 6-14 on third down, Arizona 2-7
Murray’s 44-yard TD run put Cardinals ahead 14-9.
Cardinals are 8-5 ATS last 13 games as a home underdog.

— OK, let’s say you’re voting for who gets into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Let’s take a look at the blind resume for two candidates (both QB’s):

Player A: 117-117 regular season W-L, 8-4 playoffs.
Won two Super Bowls

Player B: 72-72 regular season W-L, 8-2 playoffs.
Won two Super Bowls

Who gets in? Both? Neither? Just Player A? Just Player B? 

Both won two Super Bowls, with a .500 regular season record. Seems logical that both of them should get in, or neither one, right?

— Cleveland Browns are planning on building a domed stadium in suburban Brook Park, which apparently will be privately funded.

— Giants’ QB Daniel Jones is the only starting QB since 2000 with no passing TD’s in six consecutive home games.

— When the Lions play in Green Bay on November 3rd, it’ll be their first game outdoors this season, their eighth game this year.

— Famous birthdays, October 22:
Christopher Lloyd, 86
Wilbur Wood, 83
Jeff Goldblum, 72

Jamie Quirk, 70
Luis Zendejas, 63
Ichiro Suzuki, 51

Carmen Ejogo, 50
Robinson Cano, 42
Corbin Burnes, 30

There will be scapegoats:
— Oklahoma has lost three of its last four games, is 132nd in the country in offense; they fired offensive coordinator Seth Littrell Sunday.

Littrell was North Texas’ head coach from 2016-22; he was an analyst at Oklahoma last year, was promoted to OC this year when Jeff Lebby left to become Mississippi State’s head coach.

— Oklahoma is an underdog of 20.5 points vs Ole Miss this week; it would be the first time since 1997 that the Sooners were an underdog of 20+ points- 348 games ago.

— Utah Utes offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig resigned (was fired) Sunday; Utah lost its last three games, scoring a total of 36 points. Mike Bajakian was promoted to QB coach/offensive coordinator (on an interim basis).

Bajakian joined Utah this year as an analyst after spending four seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Northwestern, a school exactly known for offense, but he was also a QB coach for the Tampa Bay Bucs from 2015-18.

— East Carolina fired football coach Mike Houston after their 3-4 start; Houston was 27-38 in 5+ seasons coaching the Pirates, getting to bowl games in 2021, 2022, but ECU lost its last two games, giving up 100 points to Charlotte/Army. Not good.

— USC has led in the 4th quarter of all their games this season, but they’re 3-4; over the last 20 years, only one other team has led in the 4th quarter of their first seven games, and been under .500 (Utah State in 2011).

— Movie of the Day: One on One (1977)- A small-town basketball star goes to college and tries to impress his tutor, teammates, and coach. 

Robby Benson is the star; lot has changed since this movie was made (I was in high school, for example) but some of it still holds up. Annette O’Toole is his tutor and a very young Melanie Griffith has a cameo at the start of the movie.

One on One was filmed at Colorado State; I think they still use that arena.

— In September, parlays accounted for 32.3% of sports bets in New Jersey, 72.5% of their gross revenue. Parlays are a casino’s very good friend.

— Do NFL coaches get drug tested? I’m wondering this because Detroit coach Dan Campbell does some weird stuff— he takes chances, reckless chances at times.

First possession Sunday, Lions tried a fake punt in Minnesota; it failed badly, but the Lions were good enough to win anyway, kicking a field goal at the end. Couple of years ago against the Rams, Detroit tried an onside kick/fake punt in the first half….of the same game!!!

— 2016 Atlanta Falcons had five coaches on their staff who are currently NFL head coaches:
Dan Quinn, Washington
Raheem Morris, Atlanta
Mike McDaniel, Miami
Jeff Ulbrich, Jets
Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco

— Oh, by the way, the two quarterbacks up above?
Player B is Jim Plunkett
Player A in Eli Manning 

Chiefs 28, 49ers 18
Kansas City is 6-0, last unbeaten team in the NFL.
Chiefs ran ball for 184 yards on 39 carries (4.7/carry)
Chiefs are 11-5 ATS in last 16 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.
Since 2017, Kansas City is 13-4 ATS as an underdog.

Chiefs were 8-14 on third down, San Francisco 2-11.
49ers scored 32-30-36 points in wins, 17-24-23-18 in losses.
49ers are 0-3 when they gain less than 400 total yards (310 this game)
Chiefs have won five in a row vs 49ers, including two Super Bowls.

Lions 31, Vikings 29
Lions’ first three drives: 10 plays, 30 yards, no points.
Lions’ next four drives: 28 plays, 299 yards, 28 points.
WR St Brown caught 8 passes for 112 yards and a TD.
Detroit scored 42-47-31 points last three games (15 TDs on 30 drives).

Lions drove 44 yards, kicked game-winning 44-yard FG with 0:19 left.
Vikings had taken 29-28 lead on a defensive TD with 5:50 left.
Minnesota is 1-6 ATS in last seven NFC North home games
Over is 8-1-1 in last their last ten games with Detroit.

Packers 24, Texans 22
Green Bay drove 39 yards, kicked 45-yard FG at the gun for the win.
Packers are 5-0 when they allow less than 30 points.
Green Bay outscored last five opponents 66-22 in second half.
Packers survived being minus-3 in turnovers (+9 first six games). 

Texans led 19-14 at halftime.
Houston in 2nd half: 30 plays, 76 yards, 3 points.
Stroud was only 10-21/86 passing (2.2 yards/attempt)
Texans are 10-4-1 ATS in last 15 games as a road underdog

Eagles 28, Giants 3
RB Barkley ran ball 17 times for 176 yards against his old team.
Philly led 14-3 at half, outgained the Giants, 339-119.
Overall, Eagles ran ball 45 times for 269 yards.
Eagles are 14-3 in last 17 games against the Giants.

Giants’ first six drives: 23 plays, 32 yards, six punts.
Giants’ QB’s threw for 105 yards, were sacked 8 times for 62 yards.
In four home games TY, Giants have one TD on 41 drives.
Under is 6-1 in Big Blue games this season.

Jaguars 32, Patriots 16
New England lost its last six games, outscored 90-43 in first half.
Last three weeks, Patriots gave up 193-192-171 rushing yards.
Patriots are 30-45 since Tom Brady left town.
NE is 7-20-1 ATS in last 28 games as an underdog.

Patriots led 10-0 early in 2nd quarter; Jaguars led 22-10 at half.
Washington ran a punt back 96 yards for a Jaguar TD.
Jaguars outgained New England 364-295.
Jacksonville is 4-2 in their last six games in England.

Bills 34, Titans 10
Buffalo in first half: 20 plays, 90 yards, 5 punts, 7 points.
Tennessee led 10-7 at halftime.
Buffalo in second half: 36 plays, 299 yards, 27 points.
Bills averaged 9.3 yards/pass attempt (Cooper 4 catches, 66 yards)

1-5 Titans scored 17 or fewer points in their losses; their win was 31-12.
Tennessee is minus-9 in turnovers, has had two punts blocked.
Tennessee is 3-7 ATS in last ten games as a road underdog.
Titans has trailed in only one of their six games at halftime.

Famous birthdays, October 21st
Manfred Mann, 84
Zack Grienke, 41
Shelden Williams, 41

Ricky Rubio, 34
Greg Robinson, 32
Davis Mills, 26

— New York 5, Cleveland 2 (10)
Juan Soto hit a 3-run homer in 10th inning.
Stanton hit 2-run HR to tie game 2-2 in 6th inning.
New York advances to World Series for first time since 2009

Dodgers 10, Mets 5
Tommy Edman batted cleanup, drove in four runs.
Dodgers led this game 6-1 in third inning. 

World Series starts Friday; the #2 and #3 payroll teams in baseball.

Someone needs to tell the FOX TV guys that the Mets were #1 payroll team in the major leagues this season, not exactly a Cinderella story. 

Seahawks 34, Falcons 14
Seahawks threw 31-yard TD pass with 0:04 left in first half to go up, 17-7
Up 24-14, Seattle salted game way with a defensive TD with 12:46 left.
Seahawks are 17-10-1 ATS last 28 games as a road underdog.
Seattle’s team total: over 7-0

Atlanta is 5-15-1 ATS last 21 games as a home favorite.
Atlanta was 8-15 on third down, but turned ball over three times.
Falcons were held to 10-17-14 points in their three losses.
Falcons are 5-14 ATS in last 19 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.

Bengals 21, Browns 14
Bengals ran opening kick of game back 100 yards for a TD.
Bengals rest of first half: 24 plays, 86 yards, no points.
Cincinnati led 7-6 at half; Browns missed PAT after a TD.
Bengals first three drives of second half: 12 plays, 113 yards, 14 points.

Browns had 2 of their 3 QB’s knocked out of this game.
Looked like QB Watson tore his achilles; he is out for the year,
Cleveland scored 17-18-15-16-13-16-14 points in its 1-6 start.
Browns were 8-19 on third down, Cincinnati 2-13.

Colts 16, Dolphins 10
Miami scored a TD on its second drive (11 plays, 58 yards)
Dolphins rest of game: 56 plays, 280 yards, 3 points.
Down 13-10, Miami clanked 54-yard FG off upright with 5:14 left.
Last four games, Dolphins have four touchdowns on 55 drives.
Dolphins’ team total: under 6-0

Colts QB Richardson completed only 10-24 passes for 129 yards.
Indy won four of its last five games (4-0-1 ATS)
All seven Colts games (4-3) were decided by 6 or fewer points.
Under Steichen, Colts are 4-1 ATS as a home favorite.

Commanders 40, Panthers 7
Carolina’s six losses are by 37-23-10-26-18-33 points. 
Carolina is 2-10-1 ATS last 13 games as a road underdog.
Panthers gave up 20+ points in first half in six of seven games.
Carolina is 4-14-2 ATS in last 19 games coming off a loss. 

Rookie QB Daniels (ribs) left early in game, after a 46-yard run.
Veteran backup Mariota was 18-23/205 passing, with 2 TD’s.
Washington’s first score was a 67-yard pick-6 by Fowler.
Commanders won/covered five of their last six games.
Last six games, Commanders scored 19 TD’s, kicked 20 FG’s on 51 drives.

Rams 20, Raiders 15
LA allowed 17 TD’s in first five games; Raiders had no TD’s, 5 FG’s.
Rams had 4 takeaways (+3); their TD drives were 47-26 yards.
Rams are +4 in turnovers in their wins, minus-3 in losses.
RB Williams ran ball 21 times for 76 yards, two TD’s.
First time this season Rams led after the three quarters.

QB O’Connell hurt his thumb; Minshew was 15-34/154 passing (3 INTs)
Raiders have 16 turnovers in seven games (minus-13). 
Since 2019, Raiders are 20-13 ATS as a road underdog.
Opponents have converted only 24 of 83 third down plays.
Rookie TE Bowers caught 10 passes for 93 yards. 

Steelers 30, Jets 15
Jets led 15-6 with 5:00 left in first half.
Jets lost last four games, by 1-6-3-15 points. 
Jets scored 24-24 points in wins, 19-9-17-20-15 in losses.
Jets are 5-12-1 ATS in last 18 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.

Steelers in 2nd half: 4 drives- 36 plays, 227 yards, 24 points.
QB Wilson was 16-29/264 passing, 2 TDs in his first Pittsburgh start.
Steelers are 13-5-2 ATS last 20 games as a home underdog.
Steelers allowed 10-6-10-13-15 points in wins, 27-20 in losses.
Steelers are 16-8-1 ATS in last 25 games with spread of 3 or less points.

— Georgia 30, Texas 15
Dawgs led #1-ranked Texas 23-0 at halftime.
Longhorns benched QB Ewers in first half, put him back in later
Texas ran ball 27 times for only 29 times.
Georgia turned ball over three times, Longhorns four times.

— Tennessee 24, Alabama 17
Vols ran ball 43 times for 214 yards (5.0 yards/carry).
Alabama has lost two of its last three games.
Last three games, Tennessee has been outscored 13-0 in first half.
Alabama had 15 penalties for 115 yards, Tennessee 11 for 95.

— Iowa State 38, Central Florida 35
UCF led 28-14 with 9:00 left in third quarter.
Cyclones scored game-winning TD with 0:30 left.
Iowa State is 7-0 for the first time since 1938.
UCF lost despite running ball 39 times for 354 yards.

— Miami 52, Louisville 45
Miami QB Ward threw for 319 yards, four TD’s.
Hurricanes are 7-0 for first time since 2017.
Louisville ran a kickoff back 100 yards for a TD.
Miami scored a defensive TD to make score 24-14 in 2nd quarter.

— Indiana 56, Nebraska 7
7-0 Hoosiers have yet to trail in a game this season.
Indiana QB Rourke hurt his thumb, didn’t play in 2nd half.
Hoosiers are off to their best start since 1967.
Only 9 of Indiana’s 63 plays came on third down.

— Famous birthdays, October 20th:
Juan Marichal, 87
Noland Smith, 81
Isaac Curtis, 74
Dave Collins, 72

Keith Hernandez, 71
Dave Krieg, 66
Herman Moore, 55
Calvin Broadus, 53 (better known as Snoop Dogg)

— Military schools kept on rolling:
Navy 51, Charlotte 17- Middies had pick-6’s of 61, 84 yards.
Army 45, East Carolina 28- QB Daily ran ball 31 times for 171 yards, 5 TDs

Army is 7-0, Navy is 6-0; they play each other December 14th.

— Duke 23, Florida State 16
Duke had been 0-22 against the Seminoles.
This was first time Duke was favored over Florida State.
Duke was +4 in turnovers; they were outgained 291-180.

— Missouri 21, Auburn 17
Auburn led 17-6 after the third quarter.
Mizzou QB Cook went to hospital for an MRI on his ankle, came back to lead two 4th quarter TD drives.
6-1 Mizzou scored game-winning TD with 0:46 left.

— Illinois 21, Michigan 7
Illini ended a 6-game losing skid against Michigan.
Wolverines outgained Illinois 322-267, but were minus-3 in turnovers.
4-3 Michigan is off to its worst start in ten years.

— UNLV 33, Oregon State 25
Beavers led this game 17-16 at halftime.
Oregon State was on UNLV’s 6-yard line when game ended.
UNLV is 6-1 and bowl eligible for second year in a row.
Rebels ran ball 40 times for 188 yards.

— Upsets of the Week:
New Mexico State (+12.5) 33, Louisiana Tech 30 OT
NC State (+10) 24, California 23
Old Dominion (+10) 24, Texas State 10
Georgia Southern (+9.5) 28, James Madison 14

Texas-El Paso (+7) 30, Florida International 21
Maryland (+7) 29, USC 28
Baylor (+6.5) 59, Texas Tech 35
Michigan State (+6.5) 32, Iowa 20

— Eastern Michigan 38, Central Michigan 34
Chippewas led 34-16 with 12:00 left in game.
EMU scored game-winning TD with 1:42 left.
Central lost despite running ball 45 times for 285 yards.

— SMU 40, Stanford 10
SMU threw TD passes of 87-45-38 yards in first quarter.
Bowl-eligible Mustangs have won eight straight road games.
Stanford has lost 11 home games in a row to I-A teams.

— South Carolina 35, Oklahoma 9
Gamecocks scored two defensive TD’s in the first quarter.
South Carolina had nine sacks, four takeaways (+4 TO’s)
Oklahoma is 4-3, 1-3 in its first season in the SEC. 

— Maryland 29, USC 28
USC led this game 21-7 at halftime, 28-14 with 11:00 left.
Maryland scored game-winning TD with 0:53 left.
Terps were only 2-13 on third down; they were 3-6 on 4th down.
Trojans have lost four of last five games; they’re 5-9 in last 14 games.

— Cincinnati 24, Arizona State 14
Down by 10 points, ASU missed field goals of 48-41 yards in 4th quarter.
Sun Devils have having open tryouts for kicker on campus Monday.
Both teams are now 5-2. 

How teams do on first drives of a half:

NFC
Cardinals
Scored TD on first drive in five of six games.
Outscored 21-7 on first drive of third quarter.

Falcons
In four of last five games, they kicked FG on first drive of second half.
Overall, have outscored opponents 29-26 on first drive of a half.

Panthers
Opponents on first drive of last 4 games: 17 plays, 42 yards, 4 punts.
Overall, opponents have outscored them 34-16 on first drive of a half.

Bears
First drive of game: 36 plays, 109 yards, 4 punts, 3 points.
In 3 of last 4 games, have takeaway on first drive of 2nd half.

Cowboys
First drive of half: 12 drives, 6-7 on field goals, no TD’s.
Opponents on first drive of half: 7 TD’s, 4 field goals, one punt.

Lions
First drive of last 3 halves: 70-70-70 yards, all TD’s.
Overall, have outscored opponents 31-23 on first drive of a half.

Packers
First drive of 2nd half: 32 plays, 275 yards, 4 TDs and a FG.
Overall, outscored opponents 41-24 on first drive of a half.

Rams
Last four games, Rams allowed TD on first drive of second half.
Rams on first drive of a half: 53 plays, 228 yards, no TD’s, 2 FG’s.

Vikings
Vikings have outscored opponents 17-0 on first drive of their five games.
Opponents on first drive of a half: 45 plays, 110 yards, 7 punts, one FG.

Giants
Last two games, Giants have takeaway on first drive of 2nd half.
Opponents have outscored them 30-9 on first drive of a half.

Saints
First drive of 2nd half, last 5 games: 26 plays, 54 yards, five punts.
Overall, Saints have outscored opponents 38-26 on first drive of half.

Eagles
First drive of game: 16 plays, 12 yards, 4 punts and a turnover.
First drive of 2nd half: 38 plays, 240 yards, 17 points. 

49ers
49ers have outscored opponents 41-14 on first drive of a half.
49ers on first drive of 2nd half: 44 plays, 322 yards, 28 points.

Seahawks
First drive of game: 30 plays, 124 yards, 2 turnovers, 3 points.
First drive of 2nd half: 44 plays, 323 yards, 21 points.

Buccaneers
First drive of last 3 games: 27 plays, 216 yards, 21 points.
Bucs have outscored opponents 38-27 on first drive of a half.

Commanders
Commanders’ first drive of half: 83 plays, 439 yards, 40 points.
Opponents’ first drive of half: 78 plays, 509 yards, 44 points.

Famous birthdays, October 19th:
Lynn Dickey, 75
Lionel Hollins, 71
David Palmer, 67

Brad Daugherty, 59
Keith Foulke, 52
Leonard Little, 50

Rajai Davis, 44
Anthony Santander, 30
Zack Gelof, 25

AFC
— Baltimore
Outscored opponents 31-10 on first drive of a game.
12 halves: Ravens have 7 TD’s, 2 FGs on first drive.

— Buffalo
Outscored opponents 45-30 on first drive of a half.
12 halves: Bills have 6 TD’s, one FG on first drive. Also missed a FG.

— Cincinnati
In 4 of last 5 games, Bengals scored TD on first drive of 2nd half.
Overall, outscored opponents 45-38 on first drive of a half.

— Cleveland
Opponents on first drive of game: 20 plays, 3 yards, 6 punts.
Overall, outscored opponents 27-3 on first drive of a half. 

— Denver
First drive of 3rd quarter: 24 plays, 46 yards, six punts.
Overall, opponents have outscored them 17-10 on first drive of a half. 

— Houston
Last 3 weeks, Texas outscored opponents 14-0 on first drive of game.
Overall, outscored opponents 33-24 on first drive of a half.

— Indianapolis
First drive of last three games: 70-71-70 yards, all TD’s.
Opponents outscored them 16-3 on first drive of second half.

— Jacksonville
Jaguars have been outscored 28-3 on first drive of games.
Jaguars on first drive of half: 66 plays, 256 yards, 10 points.

— Kansas City
First drive of half: 4 TD’s, 3 FG’s, 3 turnovers, no punts.
Opponents on first drive of game: 44 plays, 311 yards, 24 points.

— Las Vegas
Last two games, Raiders drove 70 yards for TD on their first drive.
Overall, opponents have outscored them 36-17 on first drive of a half.

— LA Chargers
Chargers have outscored opponents 17-3 on first drive of their games.
Opponents’ first drive of half: 54 plays, 225 yards, 4 FG’s, no TD’s, 5 punts.

— Miami
Dolphins first drive of half: 55 plays, 219 yards, 3 turnovers, 2 FG’s, no TD’s.
Opponents on first drive of 2nd half: 24 plays, 66 yards, 4 punts, one FG.

— New England
Patriots’ first drive of game: 26 plays, 37 yards, six punts.
Last 3 games, opponents’ first drive of half: 48 plays, 329 yards, 30 points.

— NJ Jets
First drive of game: 30 plays, 100 yards, 4 punts, 3 points.
Jets have outscored opponents 20-17 on first drive of their games.

— Pittsburgh
Opponents’ first drive, last 3 games: 24 plays, 161 yards, 17 points.
Opponents’ first drive of 2nd half: 23 plays, 76 yards, no points. 

— Tennessee
Titans’ first drive of a game: 26 plays, 113 yards, 7 points.
Opponents’ first drive, last 7 halves: 48 plays, 337 yards, 31 points.

— Virginia basketball coach Tony Bennett surprisingly retired Thursday, 19 days before the Cavaliers’ season opener against Campbell.

Unusual timing for sure; Virginia players have a 30-day window to enter the transfer portal, but how many teams have scholarships open now? Virginia also added three transfers this year to come in and play for Bennett. They can’t be real happy.

Bennett was at Virginia for 15 years; he won a national title in 2019, won six ACC regular season titles, two ACC tournaments and made the NCAAs 10 times in his 15 years in Charlottesville. 

Reading into the stuff that has been written so far, this sounds similar to Jay Wright leaving Villanova; Bennett has apparently had enough of the NIL culture in college sports these days, so he has decided to walk away from a very lucrative job.

This will be the first time since 1982 that the ACC doesn’t have a basketball coach who has won a national championship.

— Broncos 33, Saints 10
Sean Payton wins big in his return to the Superdome.
Broncos ran ball 35 times for 225 yards (6.4 yards/carry).
First seven drives, Denver scored two TD’s, kicked four FG’s.
QB Nix threw for 164 yards, ran for 75 more. 

New Orleans lost its last five games, by 3-2-13-24-23 points.
Saints were outscored 44-7 in 2nd half of last two games.
Saints are 4-8 ATS last 12 games as a home underdog.
Saints are 9-13-2 ATS in last 23 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.

— Guardians 7, New York 5 (10)
Pinch-hitter Jhonkensy Noel tied game with a 2-out, 2-run HR in 9th inning.
David Fry hit a walk-off home run in the 10th inning.
New York lost its last six playoff games that went extra innings.
New York leads series 2-1; home team has won all three games. 

— Dodgers 10, Mets 2
Mookie Betts was 4-6 with three runs scored, 4 RBI
Shohei Ohtani homered, scored four runs.
Max Muncy reached base in 12 consecutive at-bats, before making an out. 

— Marshall 35, Georgia State 20
Thundering Herd led 25-10 at halftime.
Marshall ran ball 37 times for 295 yards (8 yards/carry)
Only nine of Marshall’s 57 plays came on third down.

— Virginia Tech 42, Boston College 21
Hokies led 28-0 at halftime.
BC rallied, cut lead to 28-21 after three quarters.
Tech ran ball 40 times for 368 yards (9.2 yards/carry)

— Army, Navy are both in the college football top 25, for first time since 1960.

— Famous birthdays, October 18th:
Bobby Knoop, 86 (my glove in Little League was a Bobby Knoop model)
Mike Ditka, 85
Willie Horton, 82

George Hendrick, 75
Pam Dawber, 74
Jerry Royster, 72

Lindsey Vonn, 40
Yoenis Cespedes, 39
Zac Efron, 37

Big West basketball notes:
— Cal-Bakersfield
Last three years, Roadrunners are 16-38 in Big West games.
Last time they made the NCAAs: 2016, when they were in the WAC.

— Cal Poly
Last five years, Cal Poly went 8-77 in Big West- they fired the coach.
New coach is from Division II Colorado Mesa; he wants to play fast.
Last time Cal Poly made the NCAAs: 2014. 

— Cal-Davis
Last two years, Aggies were 25-14 in Big West games, 1-2 in Big West tourney.
Last time Cal-Davis made the NCAAs: 2017. 

— Cal State Fullerton
Since 2009, Titans made NCAAs twice (2018, 2022)
Last three years, Fullerton was #229 or worse in eFG%.
Since 2018, Titans are 10-3 in Big West tournament games. 

— Hawai’i
Last three years, Hawai’i is 34-21 in Big West conference games.
Hawai’i has been .500+ in conference games the last 12 years.
Since 2017, Rainbows are 2-7 in Big West tournament games. 

— Cal-Irvine
Since 2013, Anteaters are 149-48 in Big West games.
Problem is, they’re only 17-10 in conference tournament games.
Cal-Irvine hasn’t won the Big West tournament since 2019.

— Long Beach State
Long Beach won Big West tournament LY, after they fired their coach.
Last three years, Long Beach is 33-22 in conference games.
New coach is a former San Diego State assistant.

— Cal-Northridge
Last three years, Matadors are 16-40 in conference games.
Last NCAAs for Northridge: 2009
Since 2015, Matadors are 1-7 in conference tournament games. 

— Cal-Riverside
Four years under coach Magpayo, Riverside is 41-26 in Big West games.
Last 20 years, Highlanders are 0-6 in their second Big West tourney game.
Three of last four years, Riverside went WL in conference tourney. 

— Cal San Diego
Tritons were 21-12, 15-5 LY, their 4th year as a Division I team.
Tritons led San Diego State by 14 with with 7:36 left last December, lost 63-62; they’re probably a team to watch in this league.

— Cal Santa Barbara
Gauchos won the Big West tournament in 2021 and 2023.
In 7 years under Pasternack, UCSB is 76-41 in conference games.
Last year was his worst year with Gauchos, 16-15, 9-11 in conference.