Author: Armadillo Sports

— Other than March, this might be the best week of the year for college basketball; ton of games on TV from all over the country, with games on very late at night. Good stuff.

— Auburn 90, Memphis 76
Auburn wins Maui Classic, scoring 86 ppg in three games.
Auburn is 7-0 already, with four top 40 wins.
Auburn shot 72% inside the arc. 

— Alabama 95, Rutgers 90
Alabama was 10-25 on the arc, Rutgers 2-13
Bailey/Harper combined for 59 points for Rutgers; they’re both freshmen.
Alabama survived being minus-11 (20-9) in turnovers.

— Dayton 85, UConn 67
Defending national champ Huskies went 0-3 at the Maui Classic.
UConn is 4-3; four teams they beat are all ranked #321 or lower.

— West Virginia 86, Gonzaga 78 OT
Zags led by 5 with 0:25 left in regulation.
Senior G Small scored 31 points, had 7 rebounds for WVU
Gonzaga star Nembhard was 1-10 from the floor.

— Michigan State 94, North Carolina 91 OT
Spartans led by 14 late in first half.
UNC is 1-3 vs top 100 teams; they trailed by 21 in the one win.
Spartans are 6-2 despite shooting 22.4% on the arc (#361)

— Oregon 78, San Diego State 68

Ducks were 18-26 on foul line, Aztecs 4-8
Oregon out-rebounded San Diego State, 41-24.
Ducks are 7-0, with three top 100 wins.

— There were 12 teams that won Wednesday that trailed at one time by 10+ points.

— Wednesday night college basketball upsets:
West Virginia (+14.5) 86, Gonzaga 78 OT
Western Michigan (+9) 73, Youngstown State 62
Dayton (+7.5) 85, UConn 67
Appalachian State (+7) 66, Sam Houston State 63
Sacramento State (+6.5) 63, Air Force 61
Georgia State (+4.5) 74, Tulsa 71
Michigan State (+4.5) 94, North Carolina 91 OT

— Famous birthdays, November 28:
Paul Warfield, 82
Ed Harris, 74
S. Epatha Merkerson, 72

Preston Dennard, 69
Judd Nelson, 65
Jon Stewart, 62

Walt Weiss, 61
Johnny Newman, 61
John Burkett, 60

Matt Williams, 59
Leandro Barbosa, 42
Andrew Bogut, 40

— Louisville 89, Indiana 61
Cardinals are 4-1; experience team #10, continuity team #352
Last three years, Louisville was 25-71, 11-49 in ACC games.
Bringing in a boatload of transfers is making a big difference.

— Texas A&M 77, Creighton 73
Aggies scored 27 points in 1st half, 50 in 2nd half.
Creighton was 13-37 on the arc, 10-23 inside arc.
Bluejays are 0-3 vs top 100 teams, scoring 63 ppg.

— Sacramento State 63, Air Force 61
Hornets trailed by 17 late in first half.
Sac State shot 9-21 on arc (42.9%), 13-35 (37.1%) inside arc.

— Oklahoma 79, Providence 77
Senior G Elvis scored 26 points, had one assist- his job is to score.
Sooners shot 60% inside thew arc.
This was the first top 200 game for both teams.

— Michigan 78, Xavier 53
Wolverines shot 11-22 on the arc.
Michigan is 6-1, with the #15 eFG% in country.
New coach May is really good; he led FAU to Final 4 two years ago.

— Samford 84, Utah Valley 76
Samford starts 3 seniors; they trailed by 13 with 10:42 left to play.
Samford forced 23 turnovers (+10); they shot 55.8% inside arc.
Utah Valley started three sophs, two juniors. Experience matters.

— If you watch a basketball game on TV with no sound on, it is interesting to see how much contact the refs allow; watching the second half of Dayton-UConn as I type this, the officials are letting the guys play. You see lot of contact, without lot of fouls called. 

— Dodgers signed P Blake Snell for five years, $182M (36.4M/year).

Last year, Snell was 5-3, 3.12 in 20 starts for the Giants; he was 14-9, 2.25 in 32 starts for San Diego the year before. He is 76-58, 3.19 in 211 career starts.

Dodger players got a full World Series share of $477,441 apiece- they voted that more people than usual get full shares, so the full share was less than what Ranger, Astro players got in the previous two years.

— Kansas 75, Duke 72
Kansas star Dickinson played only 24:00; he was ejected for a flagrant foul.
Duke is 4-2, losing this game and by 5 to Kentucky.
Kansas is #1 in country in experience, #110 in continuity; they’re off to a 6-0 start.

— Alabama 85, Houston 80 OT
Houston led by 4 with 1:03 left in regulation.
Alabama was 30-41 on foul line, Cougars 26-33.
LJ Cryer was 9-26 from floor, had 2 assists; his job is to shoot.

— Colorado 73, UConn 72
Huskies led by 11 late in the first half.
UConn lost last two games, by total of three points.
In those games, UConn was 29-37 on foul line; opponents, 47-68.
UConn-Dayton is an unlikely 7th-place game Wednesday in Maui.

— Samford 103, North Dakota State 98, OT
Bison led by 15 with 4:38 left to play. Yikes.
Samford shot 73% inside arc, only 13-23 on foul line.
North Dakota State was 20-39 on arc; one of their subs was 7-8.

— Wyoming 64, Tulane 63
Tulane led by 16 with 13:58 left in the game.
Teams combined to shoot 8-42 on the arc.
Jordan Nesbitt had 10 points, 13 rebounds; he didn’t start.

— In Division I college hoop this year, there are 25 sets of brothers who are teammates.

— Tuesday night college basketball upsets:
Colorado (+14.5) 73, UConn 72
Western Illinois (+11.5) 64, South Alabama 63
Boston College (+9.5) 63, Boise State 61
Cal-Fullerton (+5.5) 72, Pepperdine

— Famous birthdays, November 27:
Dave Giusti, 85
Don Strock, 74
Curtis Armstrong, 71

AJ Duhe, 69
Michael Rispoli, 64
Brooke Langton, 54

Nick Van Exel, 53
Ivan Rodriguez, 53
Adam Archuleta, 47

Jimmy Rollins, 46
Lamarcus Joyner, 34
Eloy Jimenez, 28

— North Carolina fired football coach Mack Brown; the 73-year old Brown has UNC headed to a bowl games for the sixth year in a row, but the school decided to move on. 

Brown is 282-149-1 as a head coach, 113-78-1 in Chapel Hill, 14-12 in bowl games.

— East Carolina fired its football coach last month when they were 3-4; the interim coach has gone 4-0 since then, so now interim coach Blake Harrell has become head coach Blake Harrell.

ECU has scored 45.8 ppg in the four games with Harrell in charge; they’re bowl eligible.

— One of the teams Harrell beat was Tulsa (38-31); they fired football coach Kevin Wilson Sunday, a day after the Hurricane lost 63-30 at South Florida. Wilson was 7-16 in his two years at Tulsa; wide receivers coach/recruiting coordinator Ryan Switzer is the interim coach.

— Texas-Texas A&M are playing this year for the first time since 2011, when they were big rivals in the Big X. Now they’re SEC rivals; last time they played, Longhorns won 27-25 on a walk-off field goal by Justin Tucker, now the Ravens’ kicker.

— Since 2005, double digit favorites are 9-0 ATS in NFL Thanksgiving Day games.

— With Tampa Bay Rays playing home games at a spring trining facility next year, MLB juggled the Rays’ schedule a little bit, I’m guessing to keep as many of their games as possible out of the extreme summer heat in Florida.

47 of Tampa Bay’s first 59 games will be at home; 69 of their last 103 games are on the road.

— 33-year old lefty Yusei Kikuchi signed a 3-year, $63M contract with the Los Angeles Angels; Kikuchi was 5-1, 2.70 in ten starts for the Astros LY, after they acquired him from Toronto. 

In his MLB career, Kikuchi is 41-47, 4.57 in 154 starts.

— There is a NFL survivor pool at Circa in Las Vegas; it costs $1,000 to get in- there were 14,266 entries this year, so the prize pool is $14,266,000.

Before last week, there were 99 people left in the survivor pool; one genius didn’t put a pick in, so he’s out. 33 people had Washington, eight others had Houston, so they’re below 60 people left in the pool. 

— Ravens 30, Chargers 23
Ravens first two drives: 8 plays, 5 yards, 2 punts
Ravens next five drives: 45 plays, 348 yards, 30 points.
Ravens are 20-5 ATS in last 25 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.
Over is 10-2 in Baltimore’s games this year.

Ravens ran the ball 37 times for 212 yards.
Baltimore was 8-15 on 3rd down, 3-3 on 4th; Chargers were 5-14 on 3rd down.
John Harbaugh is now 3-0 against younger brother Jim.
Chargers are 5-13 ATS in last 18 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.

— Memphis 99, UConn 97, OT
Tigers led by 13 with 4:00 left in game, but it went to OT.
Memphis was 29-40 on foul line, UConn 19-24
Memphis was 12-22 on arc, UConn 14-30

Six of the eight players Memphis used are seniors.

— Modern college basketball- Memphis’ roster is mostly transfers:
PJ Haggerty- six games at TCU, 30 games at Tulsa
Tyrese Hunter- 35 games at Iowa State, 71 games at Texas
Dain Dainja- 3 games at Baylor, 71 games at Illinois.
Colby Rogers- 47 games at Cal Poly, 28 games at Siena, 33 games at Wichita

PJ Carter- 11 games at Campbell, a year at a junior college, 30 games at UTSA
Nicholas Jourdain- 74 games at Temple.
Moussa Cisse- 29 games at Memphis, 61 games at Oklahoma State, 26 games at Ole Miss, now he is back in Memphis.

Memphis is #6 in country in experience, #319 in continuity. An older team that figures to get better as they play together more.

— PJ Haggerty took 298 foul shots for Tulsa last year, 2nd most in country (Zach Edey, 436).

— Auburn 83, Iowa State 81
Cyclones led by 18 with 4:18 left in first half.
Auburn shot 59% inside arc, had five players in double figures.
Nine of ten Auburn players who played are seniors.

— North Carolina 92, Dayton 90
Flyers led 56-35 early in second half.
Carolina was 27-34 on foul line, Dayton 12-15.
Dayton shot 14-32 on the arc, 18-42 inside the arc.

College basketball trends (these records are all against the spread, thru Sunday)……..
I’ll list the leagues as ranked on Kenpom.com
— SEC
23-16 ATS as a favorite, 7-7 as underdog, 9-6 on neutral courts

— Big X
16-29 ATS as a favorite, 7-9 as underdog, 4-11 on neutral courts

— Big 18
29-35 ATS as a favorite, 8-6 as underdog, 4-3 on neutral courts

— Big East
14-18 ATS as a favorite, 6-2 as underdog, 6-2 on neutral courts

— ACC
20-21 ATS as a favorite, 11-12 as underdog, 7-8 on neutral courts

— Mountain West
14-13 ATS as a favorite, 7-8 as underdog, 2-3 on neutral courts

— Famous birthdays, November 26
Jan Stenerud, 82
Art Shell, 78
Richie Hebner, 77
Roger Wehrli, 77

Harry Carson, 71
Bob Walk, 68
Mike Moore, 65
Harold Reynolds, 64

Chuck Finley, 62
Mario Elie, 61
Shawn Kemp, 55
Cal Raleigh, 28

— Atlantic 15
15-18 ATS as a favorite, 5-13 as underdog, 5-10 on neutral courts

— West Coast
16-16 ATS as a favorite, 9-12 as underdog, 3-3 on neutral courts

— American
16-16 ATS as a favorite, 9-11 as underdog, 4-11 on neutral courts

— Conference USA
10-5 ATS as a favorite, 16-9 as underdog, 7-2 on neutral courts

— Missouri Valley
15-13 ATS as a favorite, 16-11 as underdog, 8-4 on neutral courts

— WAC
3-15 ATS as a favorite, 7-12 as underdog, 1-1 on neutral courts

— Big West
13-11 ATS as a favorite, 20-13 as underdog, 5-1 on neutral courts

It is still very early in the college basketball season; everyone is still learning which teams have how much and that includes the coaches. 

Cowboys 34, Commanders 26
Down 27-20, Washington threw an 86-yard TD pass with 0:21 left.
Seibert missed the PAT, his second missed PAT of the game.
Dallas then ran the onside kick back for a TD.
Cowboys snap a 5-game losing streak with this upset win.

This game was 3-3 at halftime.
Washington lost last three games, after a 7-2 start.
Commanders allowed 26+ points in all five losses.
QB Daniels threw for 275 yards, 2 TDs, ran for 74 yards and another TD. This was first game in NFL history with 2 missed PAT’s, 2 kick returns for TDs and also a blocked punt.

Titans 32, Texans 27
Titans’ first three drives: 22 plays, 212 yards, 17 points.
Tennessee led 20-17 at halftime.
Houston took 24-23 lead on pick-6 0:04 left in 3rd quarter.
Titans went ahead for good on 70-yard TD pass with 9:35 left.
Titans scored 17 or fewer points in their losses; 31-20-32 points in wins.

Houston is 2-4 in last six games, after a 5-1 start.
Texans are 2-5 when they give up more than 20 points.
Houston is 5-15 ATS last 20 games as a home favorite.
Texans are 2-7 ATS in last nine AFC South home games.

Vikings 30, Bears 27, OT
Minnesota drove 83 yards, kicked game-winning FG in OT.
Bears had scored 11 points in last 0:22 of regulation to tie game.
Bears lost their last five games, three of them by 3 or fewer points.
Vikings won/covered their last five visits to Chicago

Bears are 3-11 ATS in last 14 NFC North home games.
Minnesota is 8-2-2 ATS in last 12 games as road favorite.
Addison caught 8 passes for 162 yards and a TD.
Minnesota scored 30 points despite Jefferson catching 2 passes for 27 yards.
Last three years, Vikings have 23 wins by 8 or fewer points, most in NFL.
Vikings are 9-0 when they allow less than 30 points.

Chiefs 30, Panthers 27
Chiefs led 27-16 after third quarter.
Chiefs’ first five drives: 52 plays, 319 yards, 27 points.
Carolina drove 51 yards, tied game on TD with 1:49 left.
Kansas City then drove 57 yards, kick game-winning FG at gun.

Chiefs are 10-1 SU; they’re 0-5 ATS in last five games.
Kansas City ran ball for 165 yards, their 2nd-most this season.
Over is 8-3 in Carolina games this year.
Panthers’ opponents’ team total: over 8-3

Famous birthdays, November 25
John Laroquette, 77
Bernie Kosar, 61
Jill Hennessy, 56

Anthony Peeler, 55
Donovan McNabb, 48
Nick Swisher, 44

Alec Burleson, 26
Jaylen Waddle, 26
Blake Corum, 24

Dolphins 34, Patriots 15
Miami won last three games, giving up 15-19-15 points.
Dolphins led 31-0 after the third quarter.
Last six weeks, Dolphins outscored foes 77-25 in 1st half.
Miami is now 7-1 in last eight games vs New England.

New England’s first seven drives: 37 plays, 160 yards, no points.
Patriots are 6-14 ATS in last 20 games coming off a loss.
New England is 10-22-1 ATS in last 33 games as an underdog.
Patriots are 32-48 since Tom Brady left town.

Buccaneers 30, Giants 7
Buccaneers’ first six drives: 52 plays, 366 yards, 30 points.
Tampa Bay led 23-0 at halftime.
Mayfield threw for 294 yards, also ran for a TD.
Buccaneers’ team total: over 9-2

Giants in first half: 17 plays, 46 yards, 3 punts, no points.
Giants lost their last six games (0-6 ATS).
Giants are 0-6 SU/1-5 ATS at home, losing by 22-5-10-25-5-23 points.
Giants haven’t had a positive turnover ratio in any game TY.

Lions 24, Colts 6
Detroit won its last nine games (8-1 ATS).
Last five games, Lions outscored opponents 77-11 in 2nd half. 
Detroit is 6-0 SU/5-1 ATS on road this season.
Opponents have converted 24 of last 84 third down plays.

Under Campbell, Lions are 8-3 ATS as a road favorite.
Colts in second half: 20 plays, 94 yards, no points.
Colts are 6-9 ATS last 15 games as a home underdog.
AFC South underdogs are 9-15 ATS in non-divisional games.

Broncos 29, Raiders 19
Raiders led 13-9 at halftime.
Denver in 2nd half: 38 plays, 163 yards, 20 points.
Raiders in 2nd half: 44 plays, 180 yards, 6 points.
Denver is 6-0 if they score more than 20 points, 1-5 if they score 20 or less.

Last five weeks, Broncos converted 36-70 third down plays.
Raiders are 0-7 SU/2-5 ATS in last seven games
Raiders have 22 turnovers in 11 games (minus-17). 
Raiders’ opponents’ team total: over 8-3

QB Minshew broke his collarbone, is out for year.
First time in nine years Denver won at the Raiders. 

Packers 38, 49ers 10
Packers won six of their last seven games.
Green Bay’s first three drives: 34 plays, 187 yards, 17 points.
Green Bay outscored last eight foes 128-58 in second half.
Packers out rushed San Francisco, 169-44. 

Backup QB Allen was 17-29/199 passing (first start since 2022)
49ers are 1-6 when they score less than 30 points.
49ers are 0-5 when they gain less than 400 yards. 
San Francisco is +7 in turnovers in wins, minus-7 in losses.

Seahawks 16, Cardinals 6
Seattle’s only offensive TD came on a 61-yard drive just before halftime.
Seahawks scored a defensive TD on a pick-6 in third quarter.
Seattle allowed 26+ points in losses, 20 or less in wins.
Under is 4-1 in their last five games. 

Arizona was 3-12 on third down, Seahawks 7-14.
Cardinals are 1-4 SU/ATS in last five visits to Seattle.
Cardinals are 2-5 ATS in last seven NFC West road games.
QB Murray is 34-42-1 SU as an NFL starter.
These teams are for first atop the NFC West. 

Eagles 37, Rams 20
Eagles led 20-14 at halftime.
Barkley ran 70 yards for TD on first play of 3rd quarter.
Barkley ran ball 26 times for 255 yards, 2 TD’s.
Eagles are 7-0 SU/5-2 in their last seven games overall.

Philly was 9-15 on third down, Rams 0-8.
Last four games, Rams are only 8-41 on third down.
Eagles are 7-1-1 ATS in last nine games with spread of 3 or fewer points.
Rams are 1-6 scoring less than 26 points, 4-0 scoring 26+.

College basketball notes……..
— LSU 109, Central Florida 102, 3 OTs
UCF led 38-18 late in first half.
LSU is 5-1, with the #27 eFG% defense.

— Drake 81, Vanderbilt 70
MVC’s Bulldogs win Charleston tournament, with 4 starters poached from a D2 team.
Bulldogs shot 61.5% inside the arc.
6-4 junior Stirtz had 16 points, 11 assists.

— Bradley 80, Middle Tennessee 69
MVC’s Braves win tournament at Coastal Carolina.
Bradley starts four seniors; they shot 10-22 on the arc.
Braves are #33 team in country in continuity.

— Georgia 66, St John’s 63
Dawgs are rebounding 43.7% of their missed shots (#5 in country)
St John’s had 21 offensive boards, but shot 2-19 on the arc.
Rough 1-2 trip to Atlantis, with losses by 1-3 points.

— Kennesaw State 79, Rutgers 77
Kennesaw led by 18 at halftime.
Owls out-rebounded Rutgers, 46-24.
Kennesaw survived being minus-13 in turnovers (22-9).

— Wisconsin 81, Pitt 75
Wisconsin is 7-0, scoring 79+ points in every game.
Badgers are playing pace #152, their fastest pace in at least 28 years.
Badgers are shooting 86.5% on foul line, #1 in country. 

Seven top 25 teams lost Saturday.
As I’m typing this, there is a car race going on thru the streets of Las Vegas. Weird.

I can’t process that Cal-Stanford is an ACC game, USC-UCLA is a Big 18 game.

— Oklahoma 24, Alabama 3
Last spring, Alabama poached Miami OH’s kicker; his FG was the Tide’s only score.
Oklahoma had lost its last four I-A games.
Alabama completed only 11-27 passes, threw 3 INTs.

Alabama is 8-3; Miami OH is 7-4; would be messed up if they met in a bowl game.

— Florida 24, Ole Miss 17
Underdogs are 30-15 ATS in SEC games this season.
Rebels outgained Florida, 464-344, but were minus-2 in turnovers.
Gators beat LSU/Ole Miss last two weeks, they’re 6-5/bowl eligible.

— USC 19, UCLA 13
Trojans outscored UCLA 10-0 in fourth quarter.
USC’s only TD of game was the decisive score, with 6:55 left.
Trojans are 6-5, are now bowl eligible. UCLA won’t go bowling.
USC has led in the 4th quarter in all five of their losses.

— Arizona State 28, BYU 23
ASU is 9-2, having a great year, but coach Dillingham over-thought the end of this game so badly he damn near committed coaching malpractice. Seriously.

Sun Devils led 28-23 and had the ball deep in BYU territory with 1:04 left; they tried this weird stuff to kill the clock that failed, running backwards a couple times to kill time, but BYU wound up with one play to run a Hail Mary from its own 49-yard line.

Hail Mary failed, but I’d be curious to know what coach Dillingham think about all that now.

ASU led this game 28-9 late in third quarter, held on for dear life; they’ve won four in a row.

— Auburn 43, Texas A&M 41 OT
Auburn led this game 21-0 with 5:00 left before halftime.
Auburn tied the game on a 20-yard FG with 0:05 left.
A&M was 10-19 on third down, Auburn 5-14.

The overtime system is strange; once they hit the 3rd overtime, teams alternate plays from the 2-yard line, like a shootout in the NHL. Not a great system.

— Texas Tech 56, Oklahoma State 48
Mike Gundy is a good coach, but Cowboys are 0-8 in conference games. 

Oklahoma State gave up 38+ points in each of its last seven games.
Texas Tech was 14-22 on third down, Cowboys were 2-9.

— Kansas 37, Colorado 21
Kansas punter Damon Greaves’ family made the trip from Australia to Kansas City for this game; problem is, the Jayhawks didn’t punt in this game. Not once.

Kansas is 5-6; five of their six losses are by 6 or fewer points. They need a win at Baylor next week to become bowl eligible.

— Upsets of the Week:
Georgia State (+21) 52, Texas State 44
Oklahoma (+14) 24, Alabama 3
Florida (+12) 24, Ole Miss 17
Kennesaw State (+9) 27, FIU 26
Appalachian State (+7.5) 34, James Madison 20
UAB (+7) 40, Rice 14
Central Michigan (+5.5) 16, Western Michigan 14

Saturday’s college basketball notes:
— Fresno State 72, Long Beach State 69
Bulldogs outscored Long Beach 14-0 over the final 2:48.
Fresno was 30-44 on foul line, Long Beach 3-4. AT Long Beach!!!!

— UNLV 72, New Mexico State 65
Rebels were 30-42 on foul line; PG Thomas was 13-19.
New Mexico State shot 31.3% from floor, had 21 offensive boards.
Game was 62-62 with 4:25 left to play.

— Stanford 71, Santa Clara 69
Cardinal trailed 67-59 with 3:29 left in game.
7-1 senior Reynaud had 32 points, 16 rebounds.
Stanford survived shooting 10-21 on the foul line.

— Milwaukee 76, Wofford 74
Panthers were 19-33 on foul line, Wofford 8-15.
Wofford led by 8 with 14:08 left to play.
Teams combined to shoot 11-41 on the arc.

— Famous birthdays, November 24:
Oscar Robertson, 86
Dave Bing, 81
Rudy Tomjanovich, 76

Steve Yeager, 76
Henry Bibby, 75
Katherine Heigl, 46

Ryan Fitzpatrick, 42
Jeimer Candelario, 31
Tyler Soderstrom, 23

More college football…….
— Nebraska 44, Wisconsin 25
Cornhuskers snap 4-game skid, are bowl eligible for first time since 2016.
Dylan Raiola threw for 293 yards and a TD.
Wisconsin had beaten Nebraska nine times in a row.

— Cal 24, Stanford 21
Stanford led 21-7 with 1:00 left in third quarter.
Mendoza’s third TD pass of day with 2:40 left was a game-winner.
Golden Bears have beaten their arch-rival four years in a row.

— Illinois 38, Rutgers 31
Illini threw a 40-yard TD pass with 0:04 left for the win.
Rutgers had taken the lead on a TD with 1:08 left.
Scarlet Knights led 17-15 after the third quarter.
Illinois is very quietly 8-3.

— Marshall 42, Old Dominion 35
Marshall QB Braxton threw for 210 yards, ran for 140 more.
Thundering Herd scored game-winning TD with 4:03 left.
Monarchs outgained Marshall, 513-469.

— Penn State 26, Minnesota 25
Nittany Lions were 1-11 on third down, 3-4 on fourth down.
Minnesota led 10-0 early in second quarter.
Penn State is 5-0 on the road for the first time since 1985.

— Ohio State 38, Indiana 15
Game was 7-7 late in first half when Indiana’s punter fumbled a snap, and Ohio State had a short TD drive because of that. Things unraveled from the there for the 10-1 Hoosiers.

Buckeyes outgained Indiana 316-151; Hoosiers completed only 8-18 passes- their QB was sacked six times. 

— Duke 69, Arizona 55
Duke led 34-27 at halftime. won fairly easily.
Blue Devils avenged LY’s 78-73 home loss to Arizona.
Wildcats lost their last two games, after beating a couple of stiffs.

— Pittsburgh 74, LSU 63
Bayou Bengals led 28-27 at halftime.
Pitt is 6-0, is shooting 60.8% inside the arc.
Pitt-Wisconsin is another interesting game Sunday.

— Vanderbilt 76, Seton Hall 60
Commodores shot 66.7% inside arc, 10-27 on arc (1.15 points/possession)
Vandy’s new coach Byington was 56-15 the last two years, at James Madison.
Vanderbilt-Drake is an interesting game on Sunday’s card.

— Tennessee 77, Baylor 62
Vols improve to 6-0; they led 31-9 early on, 47-24 at halftime.
This is closest game Tennessee has had so far.
Vols have rebounded 40.4% of their missed shots (#9 in country)

— Nebraska 74, Creighton 63
Cornhuskers were a 10-point underdog; they thrashed Creighton.
Nebraska was +10 in turnovers; 2nd time in three years they upset the Bluejays.

— Utah State 77, Iowa 69
Aggies out-rebounded Iowa, 47-31; they had 15 offensive boards.
Utah State is 5-0; they’re on their 4th coach in five years, their 6th coach in 11 years, and they only had one losing season the last ten years. Unusual program.

— Nevada 64, VCU 61
VCU led by 15 early in second half.
Nevada survived shooting 15-26 on the foul line.
VCU lost its first two games in Charleston this weekend, both by 3 points.

— Famous birthdays, November 21:
Dale Sveum, 61
Steve Alford, 60
Vin Baker, 53

Malik Rose, 50
Jonathan Papelbon, 44
Justin Turner, 40

Ross Stripling, 35
Tyler Wade, 30
Gavin Lux, 27

— Drake 75, Florida Atlantic 63
Drake is 5-0; four of their starters played for a D2 team last year.
Bulldogs were 10-25 on arc; they play Vanderbilt in Charleston title game Sunday.

— Elon 84, Notre Dame 77
ACC teams aren’t supposed to lose to CAA teams.
Elon shot 61% inside the arc.
Elon outscored Notre Dame 43-31 in second half.

— Mississippi State 84, SMU 79
SMU led by 13 early in game.
Mustangs lost despite shooting 66.7% inside arc, 23-34 on foul line.
Miss State is 5-0, with solid wins over Utah, SMU. 

— Bradley 77, Wright State 74
Bradley outscored Raiders 11-5 over the final 4:04.
Braves start four seniors; they’re #33 in continuity.
Bradley-Middle Tennessee is title game in this tournament Sunday.

NFL/baseball notes………
— Giants benched QB Daniel Jones this week; he asked the team to release him, and they did, even though their salary cap would’ve been better off had they kept him until next June- they would’ve saved $30.5M on the 2025 salary cap had they done that.

Jones was 25-45-1 as the Giants’ QB, 1-1 in playoff games, 3-13 the last two years. 

— 49ers’ QB Brock Purdy is out for this week’s game in Green Bay. Brandon Allen gets the start at QB; he is 2-7 as an NFL starter (Broncos/Bengals) with his last start in 2021.

— NFL flexed the Week 16 Broncos-Chargers game from Sunday to Thursday night, replacing the Browns-Bengals game, good news for fans in Cincinnati. A December 19 night game in Ohio doesn’t sound like that much fun.

— Cincinnati Reds acquired P Brady Singer from Kansas City for 2B Jonathan India, OF Joey Wiemer

Singer was 9-13, 3.71 in 28 starts for the Royals LY; he started 127 games in five years with Kansas City.

India hit .248 with 15 homers LY; he was Rookie of the Year in 2021.

— P Dustin May, who missed most of the last two years with injuries, signed a one-year deal with the Dodgers for $2,135,000. May is eligible for free agency after next season. 

— Browns 24, Steelers 19
Browns drove 45 yards, scored game-winning TD with 0:54 left.
Steelers had scored two TD’s in 1:42 span to take a 19-18 lead.
Steelers’ first five drives: 32 plays, 157 yards, 3 points.
Cleveland led 10-3 at halftime.
Only second time this year Cleveland scored more than 18 points.

Loss ends Pittsburgh’s five-game winning streak.
WR Jeudy caught six passes for 85 yards on a snowy night.
Steelers were 7-16 on third down, Cleveland 1-10.
Browns did convert all four tries on 4th down.
Last two games, Steelers scored two TD’s on 21 drives.

— Georgia Tech 30, NC State 29
Tech drove 75 yards in 1:08, scored game-winning TD with 0:22 left.
NC State had taken a 29-23 on a touchdown with 1:30 left.
Wolfpack ran ball for 253 yards (8.7 yards/carry), but still lost.

— Shohei Ohtani won MVP in National League, despite only being a DH and having Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman as teammates. Ohtani hit 54 homers, stole 59 bases; he is the first-ever 50-50 guy, I get that, but make the award Player of the Year then.

Aaron Judge won MVP in the American League; he hit 58 homers, knocked in 144 runs, had an OPS of 1.159. Judge makes $40M a year; the Mets are offering Juan Soto $47M a year. Stay tuned for that drama.

— Diamondbacks’ 2B Ketel Marte finished third in MVP voting, so he gets a $3M raise next year, from $16M to $19M. Hope he buys his agent a new car.

— Random trivia: The last time there was a major league game that went extra innings, with both pitchers throwing a complete game, was July 23, 1986 in Anaheim, Brewers-Angels.

Danny Darwin, Kirk McCaskill were the two pitchers; Brian Downing hit a walk-off homer for the Angels. Game only took 2:22 to play.

— While writing that paragraph, it dawned on me that about a week after that game, I was in Anaheim Stadium, for a free scrimmage with the Rams-Chargers. Got to see Dan Fouts throw a football, saw Eric Dickerson, Dieter Brock and the Rams. That was fun, and it was a few days after my first-ever trip to Las Vegas.

— A friend of the website, Mr Bell, sent me some NFL trends to ponder:

Lions are 8-2 ATS on first half lines
Houston Texans are 10-1 ATS in first half
Dallas has gone over 1.5 field goals made in eight of ten games.
Any field goal over 47.5 yards in Dallas games: 9-1 (if Aubrey kicks)
Chargers 7-1-1 in first half last nine games.

— Famous birthdays, November 21:
Jack Reynolds, 77
Greg Luzinski, 74
Jamie Lee Curtis, 66

Mark Malone, 66
Steve DeOssie, 62
Hugh Millen, 61

Benoit Benjamin, 60
Mark Ruffalo, 57
James Thomas, 44

Jonny Gomes, 44
Scarlett Johansson, 40
Brock Osweiler, 34

Thursday college basketball notes:
— Baylor 99, St John’s 98, 2OT
Jeremy Roach drained a 3-pointer for the Bears’ walk-off win.
St John’s led by 18 late in first half.
Baylor was 15-29 on the arc, St John’s 14-24.

— Oregon 78, Oregon State 75
These rivals parted ways when the Ducks bolted to the Big 18; too bad.
Beavers led by 12 with 11:49 left in game; they had 17 offensive boards.
Oregon State is playing in the WCC this year; that’ll be interesting.

— Drake 80, Miami 69
Drake has a new coach, who brought four players with him from D2 Northwest Missouri State; Bulldogs shot 59% inside the arc, beat an ACC team. 

One small problem; Drake plays FAU Friday and three of their starters played 39 or 40:00 in this game.

— Seton Hall 69, VCU 66 OT
VCU led by 8 with 11:22 left in game; they were only 9-37 on the arc.
Seton Hall shot 37% inside arc, had 18 turnovers; not good.
They said on TV “Seton Hall doesn’t have a point guard” Also not good.

— FAU 86, Oklahoma State 78
Owls were 35-49 on the foul line; 49 FT’s in a college game is a lot.
FAU outscored the Cowboys 52-39 in second half.
FAU had split its previous two games, both of which went to OT.

— Teams scoring highest %age of points on 3-pointers:
Indiana State
Utah
Furman
Akron
Niagara

— Teams whose roster has the least continuity:
West Virginia
Tennessee-Martin
Niagara
Missouri State
IU Indy

— They have an NFL survivor pool at the Circa Casino in Las Vegas, with a winner-take-all prize pool of $14,266,000. Cost $1,000 a pop to enter.

Heading into Week 12, there are 99 players left, out of 14,266 who started.

— Alabama 100, Illinois 87
Alabama had only 7 turnovers, shot 68% inside the arc.
Alabama-Houston in Las Vegas next week should be quite a game. Contrast in styles.

— Texas-El Paso 79, Cal-Santa Barbara 76
Miners never trailed, led by 15 late in first half.
UTEP made 11-22 shots on the arc.

— Jacksonville 74, Virginia Tech 64
ACC teams aren’t supposed to lose to Atlantic Sun teams.
Dolphins outscored Tech 45-25 in second half.

Long time ago (I was 10 years old) Jacksonville actually played in the national title game, losing 80-69 to UCLA. Dolphins had a great center, Artis Gilmore, who went on to play 17 years in the NBA. Jacksonville hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since 1986.

— Cal-Davis 75, Grand Canyon 68
TY Johnson had 21 points, 3 assists, 8 turnovers. He must have the ball a lot.
Aggies start four seniors, are #64 in continuity.
Grand Canyon is 2-2; their opponents are shooting 42.3% on the arc (#352).

— Arizona State 93, Cal Poly 89
79-possession game, a very fast pace.
ASU was 27-41 on foul line, Cal Poly 10-15.
Cal Poly is 3-3; they haven’t had a winning season since 2013, but the new coach has invigorated the program, playing this fast tempo. 

— DePaul is 5-0 this season, under new coach Chris Holtmann, after going 3-29 last year under the previous coach. Blue Demons have played stiffs (schedule #354) but they’ve beaten the stiffs, a big step forward.

This year, DePaul is experience team #63, continuity team #355- lot of transfers; they made 15-39 shots on the arc in Tuesday’s 78-69 win over Eastern Illinois. DePaul doesn’t play a good team until December 4th at Texas Tech, but they appear to be vastly improved.

— Famous birthdays, November 21:
Marlo Thomas, 87
Earl Monroe, 80
Goldie Hawn, 79

Cedric Maxwell, 69
Troy Aikman, 58
Ken Griffey Jr, 55

Michael Strahan, 53
Danny Kanell, 51
Miles Simon, 49

Jena Malone, 40
Justin Tucker, 35
Cooper Rush, 31

Thursday would’ve been the 80th birthday for the great Harold Ramis, who was an actor and a director; he was in Ghostbusters and Stripes. His writing/directing credits include Caddyshack, Second City TV, Groundhog Day, Animal House, among many others. Very funny man.

— Chicago Bears changed offensive coordinators last week; if you have DJ Moore on your fantasy team, you might be happy about that.

Last week, Brown caught 7 passes for 62 yards, with 56 of those yards after that catch- he ran shorter patterns.

In Chicago’s first nine games, Moore had only 176 yards after the catch, 19.6 yards/game.

Looks like the Bears are going to get him the ball quickly and let him do his thing.

— P Nick Martinez was the only potential free agent to accept his $21.05M qualifying offer, turning down the chance to hit the free agent market. Martinez was 10-7, 3.10 in 142.1 IP for the Reds last year, starting in 16 of his 42 appearances.

— There is another Japanese pitcher other than Roki Sasaki who is coming to America next year for his MLB debut. 

23-year old Sasaki is highly touted, but 35-year old Tomoyuki Sugano also has an impressive resume, and he will be a lot cheaper to sign, because of his age.

— Ten years ago, 34 major league pitchers threw 200+ innings; this past season, only four pitchers threw 200+ innings.

Logan Gilbert, Seth Lugo, Logan Webb, Zack Wheeler

— San Francisco Giants have a new general manager, Zack Minasian; his brother Perry is the Angels’ GM, his other brother Calvin is the clubhouse manager for the Atlanta Braves.

— Nine years ago, Golden State Warriors started the season 24-0, the best start ever by an NBA team. This year’s Cleveland Cavaliers are 16-1, the 2nd-best start.

— John Stockton was a great point guard for the Utah Jazz; he dished out 17,645 assists in his 19-year Hall of Fame career. His son David Stockton also played at Gonzaga, played in six NBA games several years ago— he is still playing in the G-League, and has given out the 4th-most assists in the history of that league.

NBA trends (thru Monday, November 18)

Hawks (7-8):
— 3-1 SU in their last four games.
— 3-1 ATS as a road underdog.
— Over 11-4

Celtics (11-3):
— 7-2 SU last nine games. 
— 5-3 ATS as a road favorite, 2-4 as home favorite.
— over 3-0 last three games.

Nets (5-9):
— lost five of their last six games SU.
— 2-1 ATS as a favorite
— 7-3 ATS as an underdog.
— over 3-1 last four games

Hornets (5-8):
— lost six of last nine games SU.
— 4-2 ATS as a home underdog.
— under 6-2 last eight games.

Bulls (6-9)
— 3-7 SU in last ten games.
— 5-4 ATS as a road underdog.
— over 6-2-1 on road

Cavaliers (15-0):
— 15-0 SU (4-2 ATS last six games).
— 6-2 ATS as a home favorite, 3-0 as an underdog.
— over 8-3 last eleven games.

Mavericks (7-7):
— won last two games, after an 0-4 skid.
— 0-2 ATS as a road favorite.
— under 6-2 at home.

Nuggets (7-5):
— lost last two games, scoring 94-90 points (check Jokic’s status).
— 0-3 ATS as a road favorite.
— over 8-2 last ten games.

Pistons (7-9):
— 6-4 last ten games SU.
— 7-3 ATS as underdogs.
— under 7-1 on road

Warriors (10-3):
— won 8 of last 10 games SU.
— 6-2 ATS on the road.
— 4-1 ATS as an underdog.
— over 7-1 last eight games

Rockets (10-5):
— won five of last six games SU
— 5-2 ATS as a home favorite, 3-1 as an underdog.
— under 5-2 on road

Pacers (6-8):
— 1-3 SU in their last four games.
— 4-2 ATS as an underdog.
— over 10-2 last 12 games.

Clippers (8-7):
— won six of last nine games SU
— 4-2 ATS as a road underdog.
— under 5-2-1 last eight games.

Lakers (9-4):
— 5-0 SU/3-2 ATS last five games
— 5-1 ATS at home, 2-5 ATS on road.
— over 7-5 last 12 games.

Grizzlies (8-6):
— 6-3 SU last nine games.
— 4-2 ATS as a home favorite.  
— over 4-2 last six games

Heat (6-7):
— 3-5 SU last eight games.
— 5-3 ATS on the road
— over 5-2 last seven games.

Famous birthdays, November 20th:
Veronica Hamel, 81
Louie Dampier, 80
Rick Monday, 79

Richard Masur, 76
Bo Derek, 68
Callie Thorne, 55

Joey Galloway, 53
JD Drew, 49
Tarik Skubal, 28

Bucks (5-9):
— won three of last four games.
— 2-5 ATS on the road.
— under 9-3 last 12 games.

Timberwolves (8-6)
— 5-3 SU last eight games.
— 2-5 ATS as a home favorite.
— over 8-3 last eleven games.

Pelicans (4-10):
— lost 10 of last 12 games SU
— 1-5 SU/0-6 ATS on the road. 
— under 4-1 last five games. 

Knicks (8-6):
— won last three games, scoring 124 ppg.
— 5-2 ATS as a home favorite.
— over 3-1 last four games. 

Thunder (11-3):
— 4-3 SU last seven games, after a 7-0 start. 
— 4-1 ATS on road.
— over 5-2 last seven games

Magic (9-6):
— won/covered their last six games.
— 6-1 ATS as home favorite, 1-5 as road underdog.  
— under 8-1 last nine games. 

76ers (2-11):
— lost last four game SU; 1-6 ATS last seven 
— 0-4 ATS as favorite, 2-4 as road underdogs.
— under 6-1 last seven

Suns (9-6):
— lost four of last six games SU
— 0-4 ATS as a home favorite.
— over 6-3 last nine games

Trailblazers (6-8):
— won/covered last three games.
— 5-3 ATS as a home underdog.
— under 3-1 last four games

Kings (8-7):
— 3-4 SU/2-5 in last seven games.
— 3-6 ATS at home. 
— over 3-1 last four games

Spurs (6-8):
— 3-5 SU in last eight games
— 1-4 ATS as a road underdog.
— over 6-3 last nine games

Raptors (3-12):
— 1-7 SU in last eight games.
— 10-5 ATS, all as an underdog.
— under 5-2 last seven games

Jazz (3-10):
— 3-4 SU in seven games SU, after an 0-6 start
— 2-4 ATS as home underdog, 4-3 as road dog.
— under 8-4 last 12 games.

Wizards (2-11):
— 0-9 SU/1-8 ATS last nine games
— 3-10 ATS, all as an underdog.
— over 3-1 last four games.

— Texans 34, Cowboys 10
Texans led 17-10 at half, outscored Dallas 17-0 in 2nd half.
RB Mixon ran ball 20 times for 109 yards, three TD’s.
Houston’s opponents’ team total: under 5-1-1 last seven games.
Houston is 9-4 ATS in last 13 games coming off a loss.  

Cowboys were 5-15 on third down, 0-4 on fourth down.
Dallas lost last five games, giving up 47-30-27-34-34 points.
Cowboys are 0-7 when they allow more than 17 points.
Since 2021, Dallas is 1-5 ATS as a home underdog.

— New Jersey Giants benched QB Daniel Jones Monday, naming Tommy DeVito the starter for this week’s game vs Tampa Bay, with Drew Lock named as the backup.

DeVito went 3-3 as the Giants’ starter last year; Jones was 25-45-1 as the Giants’ QB, 3-13 the last two years, after he went 9-6-1 in 2022, with a playoff win at Minnesota. He is making $40M a year, but looks like he’ll be elsewhere next season.

— Gonzaga 80, San Diego State 67
Senior G Nembhard had 19 points, 10 assists.
San Diego State shot only 37.7% from the floor.
Zags have 7 of their top 8 scorers back from last year. 

— Khalif Battle is a senior guard for Gonzaga; he is 23 years old and has had an interesting trip thru college basketball. 

2019-20- Started his career at Butler, playing around 8 minutes/game for a 22-9 Butler squad.
2020-23- Started for three years at Temple, playing 26 mpg two years ago; Owls went 38-39 those three years, 24-25 in conference games. 

2023-24- He played at Arkansas LY, playing 24 mpg or so for the 16-17 Razorbacks, who were 6-12 in the SEC.

2024-25- Now he is at Gonzaga, a top-5 team in the country; he scored 17.3 ppg in the Zags’ first three games, had xx points against the Aztecs Monday night.

— Florida Atlantic fired football coach Tom Herman on Monday with two games left in his second season at FAU; Owls were 4-8 last year, are 2-8 this season.

UMass fired football coach Don Brown Monday; Minutemen went 6-28 the last three years. UMass plays Georgia this week, bad news for interim coach Shane Montgomery. Brown had led UMass to the I-AA national title game in 2006, but I-A is a much tougher gig.

— Indiana signed football coach Curt Cignetti to an 8-year contract worth $8M/year, which is what happens when you’re still unbeaten in November. Cignetti went 52-9 in five years at James Madison, before moving on to the Hoosiers this year, bring 13 players with him from JMU.

— There are three unbeaten teams left in college football: Army, Indiana, Oregon.

Go figure.

— Famous birthdays, November 19
Ahmad Rashad, 75
Richard Todd, 71
Allison Janney, 65
Meg Ryan, 63
Gary Disarcina, 57

Justin Duchscherer, 47
Ryan Howard, 45
Adam Driver, 41
Framber Valdez, 31
Joey Gallo, 31

— Sacramento Kings’ G De’Aaron Fox just scored 109 points in consecutive games, only the third time that has ever happened in NBA history. Wilt Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant also did it.

— NBA pre-game/post-game show Inside the NBA will be on ESPN starting next season, a big upgrade to ESPN’s NBA programming.

— Wisconsin 87, Rio Grande Valley 84
Badgers are 5-0 this month, playing pace #239; last two years, Wisconsin played slower, the #307/344 pace. Four of the Badgers’ next five games are against top 60 teams.

— Cal-Fullerton 62, Idaho State 61
Titans put three guys in double figures; two of them didn’t start.
Idaho State had 22 offensive boards; Fullerton had 23 defensive rebounds.

— There are murmurs on the Interweb that the Mets offered Juan Soto $660M for 14 years, which works out to $47M a year. We’ll see who else steps up to the plate, whether another team will make an offer to try and at least drive up what the Mets/Bronx will have to pay Soto.

— Baltimore Orioles are going to move in the left-field wall at Camden Yards next season; parts of the left-field fence will will be pulled in at varying distances between 9 and 20 feet, and the fence will be four or five feet shorter in some areas.

— Thanksgiving Day is November 28 this year, the latest it can be- the college hoop schedule has been kind of spread out so far, not that much good stuff. Lot of cupcake games, but Purdue-Marquette is a headline game on Tuesday’s schedule. Holiday tournaments will be in full force next week, always a good thing. 

Packers 20, Bears 19
Packers blocked a 46-yard FG on last play of the game.
Green Bay drove 78 yards, scored game-winning TD with 2:59 left.
Packers’ last three drives: 17 plays, 218 yards, 14 points.
Packers are 9-7 ATS in last 16 NFC North road games.

Bears were 9-16 on third down, Green Bay 1-5.
Packers averaged 14.4 yards/pass attempt.
Bears lost last four games, scoring 15-9-3-19 points.
Green Bay won last 12 series games (10-2 ATS) 

Steelers 18, Ravens 16
Steelers won/covered their last five games.
Pittsburgh didn’t score a TD; they kicked six field goals.
Steelers are 18-7-1 ATS in last 26 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.
Since 2014, Steelers are 13-5-2 ATS as a home underdog.

Baltimore had 3 turnovers, plus 12 penalties for 80 yards.
Derrick Henry has scored at least one TD in every game this year.
Pittsburgh won eight of last nine series games.
Under is 7-0 in last six meetings.

Rams 28, Patriots 22
Rams’ first two drives: 9 plays, 69 yards, no points.
Rams’ next five drives: 30 plays, 296 yards, 28 points.
Rams won four of their last five games.
Rams are 4-0 scoring 26+ points, 1-5 scoring less than 26.

QB Maye was 30-40/282 passing, with two TD’s.
NE is 10-21-1 ATS in last 32 games as an underdog.
Patriots are 32-47 since Tom Brady left town.
Over is 4-1 in New England’s home games.

Colts 28, Jets 27
Colts drove 70 yards, scored game-winning TD with 0:46 left.
Indy’s last two drives: 14 plays, 140 yards, 14 points.
QB Richardson threw for 272 yards, ran for 32 more.
Colts outgained the Jets, 332-253.

Jets’ first five drives: 16 plays, 27 yards, no points.
Jets rest of game: 38 plays, 223 yards, 27 points.
Jets are 1-7 SU/ATS in their last eight games.
Jets are 0-7 if they allow 27+ points.

Saints 35, Browns 14
Game was 14-14 after the third quarter.
Saints were 5-10 on third down, Cleveland 3-13.
Cleveland lost seven of its last eight games.
Browns scored 18 or fewer points in nine of 10 games.

New Orleans is 2-0 since they changed coaches.
Saints ran ball for 214 yards, threw for 259 more.
Saints’ last three drives of game: 17 plays, 185 yards, 21 points.
Taysom Hill ran seven times for 138 yards, 3 TD’s.

Vikings 23, Titans 13
Vikings’ first four drives: 33 plays, 187 yards, 16 points.
Minnesota won its last three games, giving up 13-7-13 points. 
Minnesota is 7-2-2 ATS in last eleven games as road favorite.
NFC North favorites are 16-9 ATS in non-divisional games.

Titans’ first six drives: 34 plays, 93 yards, 3 points.
Tennessee ran ball 19 times for only 33 yards.
QB Levis is 4-12 as an NFL starter.
Tennessee is 1-6 ATS in last seven games coming off a loss.

— Famous birthdays, November 18
Brenda Vaccaro, 85
Linda Evans, 82
Glenn Carano, 69

Warren Moon, 68
Owen Wilson, 56
Gary Sheffield, 56

Sam Cassell, 55
David Ortiz, 49
Jameson Taillon, 33

Cory Littleton, 31
Shea Langeliers, 27
Caleb Williams, 23

Lions 52, Jaguars 6
Lions scored a touchdown on their first six drives.
Detroit won its last eight games (7-1 ATS).
Last three games, Lions outscored opponents 67-11 in 2nd half.
Under Campbell, Lions are 13-5 ATS as a home favorite.

Detroit led 28-6 at halftime.
Detroit converted 6-10 third down plays, 3-3 on fourth down.
Lions ran 76 plays for 645 yards, Jaguars 47 plays for 170.
First time in five games Jacksonville didn’t cover the spread.

Dolphins 34, Raiders 19
Miami’s lead was only 17-12 after third quarter.
Miami in second half: 32 plays, 226 yards, 3 TDs and a FG.
Dolphins converted 8-12 third down plays, 2-2 on 4th down.
Last four games, Miami is 29-48 on 3rd down. 

Last six games, Las Vegas is 0-6 SU/2-4 ATS.
Last seven games, Raiders averaged 5.8 or fewer yards/pass attempt.
QB Minshew is 17-28 as an NFL starter.
TE Bowers caught 13 passes for 126 yards and a TD. 

Broncos 38, Falcons 6
Denver’s first five drives: 41 plays, 262 yards, 28 points.
QB Nix was 28-33/307 passing, with four TD’s.
Broncos outgained Atlanta, 400-226.
Denver is 5-0 if they score more than 20 points, 1-5 if they score 20 or less.

Atlanta kicked field goals on two of first three drives.
Falcons in second half: 28 plays, 77 yards, no points.
Falcons were held to 17 or fewer points in their five losses.
Falcons are 7-15 ATS last 22 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.

Seahawks 20, 49ers 17
Seahawks drove 80 yards, scored game-winning TD with 0:12 left.
Seattle is 5-0 when it allows 20 or less points, 0-5 when it allows more.
Seattle scored two TD’s on last three drives: 31 plays, 183 yards, 14 points.
Seahawks snapped a six-game losing skid against San Francisco.

San Francisco lost three of last four home games.
49ers are 2-4 in games decided by six or fewer points.
49ers are 2-5 when they run ball for less than 180 yards.
San Francisco held its last three opponents under 300 yards. 

Bills 30, Chiefs 21
Leading 16-14, Bills scored TDs on last two drives: 22 plays, 153 yards.
Bills outgained Chiefs 366-259, converted 9-15 on third down.
Buffalo won its last six games overall (5-1 ATS)
Bills are 18-5-1 ATS in last 24 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.

Bills are first team since Week 1 to gain more than 320 yards vs KC.
Last four games, Chiefs were held to 85.3 rushing yards/game.
Chiefs are 12-20 ATS in last 32 games coming off a win.
Chiefs still lead AFC West by two games; Bills lead AFC East by 4.5 games.

Chargers 31, Bengals 24
Chargers led 24-6 at halftime, 27-6 early in third quarter.
Bengals tied game with 3 TD’s in a row: 21 plays, 191 yards, 21 points.
With game 27-27, McPherson missed two FG’s in 4th quarter.
Chargers drove 84 yards in four plays, scored game-winning TD with 0:18 left.

Bengals gave up 35+ points in their last five losses.
Cincinnati is 1-6 in games decided by 7 or fewer points.
Over is 8-2 in Cincinnati’s last ten games.
Chargers won a close game, but they’ve still lost ten games in a row that were decided by 3 or fewer points. 

— Georgia 31, Tennessee 17
Tennessee led 10-0 after the first quarter.
Game was 17-17 at half; Vols didn’t score in 2nd half.
Vols were 10-17 on third down, Georgia 8-13.
Dawgs have now won eight in a row against Tennessee.

— Clemson 24, Pittsburgh 20
QB Klubnik ran 50 yards for game-winning TD with 1:16 left.
Up to that point, Clemson had 8 yards rushing for the whole game.
Clemson led 17-7 at halftime.
WR Williams caught 13 passes for 149 yards, two TD’s.

— Oregon 16, Wisconsin 13
Ducks kicked a 24-yard field goal with 2:36 left.
Wisconsin led this game 10-6 at halftime.
Oregon outgained the Badgers, 354-226.

— USC 28, Nebraska 20
QB Maiava threw for 259 yards, 3 TD’s in his first start for USC.
Nebraska was on USC’s 5-yard line in the last few seconds, but didn’t score.
Both teams are 5-5, need a win to become bowl eligible.
Nebraska hasn’t been to a bowl since 2016; they’ve lost their last eight games that could’ve made them bowl eligible, with seven of those losses by 8 or fewer points.

— Stanford 38, Louisville 35
Stanford kicked a 52-yard field goal as time expired.
Cardinal’s win snaps a six-game losing skid.
Louisville led 35-21 with 7:00 left in the game.

— South Carolina 34, Missouri 30
QB Sellers ran 15 yards for game-winning TD with 0:15 left.
Mizzou had taken lead on a 37-yard TD pass with 1:10 left.
Gamecocks averaged 11.8 yards/pass attempt.

— Florida 27, LSU 16
Game was 10-10 at halftime.
Gators had lost five games in a row against LSU.
LSU lost its third straight game overall, by 15-29-11 points.

— Upsets of the Week:
Stanford (+20.5) 38, Louisville 35
Louisiana Tech (+12.5) 12, Western Kentucky 7
New Mexico (+11.5) 38, Washington State 35

Syracuse (+10) 33, California 25
Arizona State (+7.5) 24, Kansas State 14
Troy (+7.5) 28, Georgia Southern 20

South Alabama (+7) 24, Louisiana 22
Rutgers (+5.5) 31, Maryland 17
Florida (+3.5) 27, LSU 16

— Temple 18, Florida Atlantic 15 OT
FAU led 7-6 after the third quarter.
Temple kicker Trujillo made four field goals.
FAU forced OT on a TD/2-point play with 0:34 left.

— Sam Houston 23, Kennesaw State 17 OT
8-2 Bearkats outgained 1-9 Kennesaw 382-243.
San Houston was 8-17 on third down, Owls 3-13.
Kennesaw tied game on a 9-yard TD pass with 0:25 left.

— SMU 38, Boston College 28
Surprising Mustangs improve to 9-1, with seven straight wins.
QB Jennings threw for 298 yards, three TD’s.
Boston College QB James threw for 237 yards in his first college start.

— Baylor 49, West Virginia 35
Hope you bet the over; it was 35-28 at halftime.
Baylor won its 4th straight game, scoring 59-38-37-49 points.
This was Baylor’s first win in seven visits to Morgantown.

— Liberty 35, UMass 34, OT
UMass led 20-7 at halftime.
Minutemen missed a 43-yard FG at end of regulation.
UMass scored first in OT, but missed the PAT.

— Famous birthdays, November 17
Martin Scorsese, 82
Lauren Hutton, 81
Danny DeVito, 80

Adrian Branch, 61
Reggie Wayne, 46
Nick Markakis, 41

Ryan Braun, 41
Seth Lugo, 35
Minkah Fitzpatrick, 28

College basketball from Saturday…….
— Missouri State 111, Tulsa 106, 3OT
Bears were 32-51 on foul line, Tulsa 30-44.
Tulsa led by 5 points in the first OT.
Martin scored 18 points in 44:00 for Missouri State; he didn’t start.

— Bucknell 80, Richmond 76, 2OT
Richmond led 35-14 late in first half.
Spiders are 0-3 vs D-I teams, shooting 23.9% on the arc.

— Radford 92, Evansville 81
Purple Aces led 50-28 late in first half.
Evansville shot 17-35 on the arc, Radford 10-19. 

— East Carolina 78, George Mason 77, 2OT
ECU was down 75-71 with 2:17 left in 2nd overtime.
East Carolina had 24 offensive rebounds; they only played 7 guys more than 5:00

— Syracuse 104, Youngstown State 95, 2OT
Penguins led by 9 early in second half.
Teams combined to shoot 13-53 on the arc. 

— Marquette 78, Maryland 74
Maryland led by six points early in second half.
Visiting Marquette was 18-24 on foul line, Terps were 9-14.
Marquette played nine guys double figure minutes; quality depth.

— Purdue 87, Alabama 78
Alabama was 9-29 on the arc, Purdue 9-16
Crimson Tide led by 6 with 11:00 left in game.
Purdue only had 3 turnovers in a 68-possession game.

— Virginia 70, Villanova 60
Cavaliers made 14-25 shots behind the arc. Impressive.
Virginia didn’t play any seniors in this game.
Villanova started five seniors; they’re 0-3 vs teams in the top 250.

— Butler 81, SMU 70
Butler shot 46.2% on the arc, 37.1% inside the arc.
Bulldogs had six players score in double figures.
SMU’s Harris scored 21 points in 30:00; he didn’t start.

— Florida 87, Florida State 74
Gators shot 66.7% inside arc.
Senior G Clayton was 4-10 on arc, scored 25 points.
Florida has a 7-foot-9 freshman who will redshirt this year. 7-foot-9.

— Michigan 76, TCU 64
Wolverines won despite being minus-9 (21-12) in turnovers.
TCU shot 34.4% from the floor, scored 0.88 points/possession.
Horned Frogs are #90 in experience, #330 in continuity; lot of transfers.

— Charleston 119, Florida Atlantic 116, 2OT
Charleston led by 13 with 6:47 left in regulation.
Cougars were 15-30 on arc; FAU was 16-29.
93-possession game; five guys who didn’t start scored in double figures.

— Tennessee-Martin and Oregon State have the most foreign players on their team this season; both teams have players from nine different countries.

— Famous birthdays, November 16th:
Herb Washington, 73
Marg Helgenberger, 66
Dwight Gooden, 60
Maggie Gyllenhaal, 47

Amare Stoudemire, 42
Denzel Valentine, 31
Jason Sanders, 29
Grayson Rodriguez, 25

— Colorado State 24, Wyoming 10
Favored Rams led 14-0 after the first quarter.
Colorado State is 7-3, 5-0 in Mountain West games.
Rams averaged 11 yards/pass attempt.

— Texas-San Antonio 48, North Texas 27
Roadrunners led 27-7 at halftime.
There were five TD plays of 39+ yards in this game.
Both teams are 5-5, both need a win to be bowl eligible.

— East Carolina 38, Tulsa 31
ECU scored two TD’s in last 5:30 of game; they’re 6-4 and bowl eligible.
Pirates ran ball for 222 yards, survived having 125 penalty yards.

— Movie of the Day: The Verdict (1982)- An alcoholic lawyer sees the chance to salvage his career and self-respect by taking a medical malpractice case to trial rather than settling, even though his client was offered a hefty settlement. 

Paul Newman is the lawyer, Jack Warden is his friend, James Mason is the opposing lawyer.

Very good movie, albeit a little dated now. Paul Newman’s character plays pinball on those cool old-fashioned pinball machines that used to be in bars.

— Tampa Bay Rays will play next season in Tampa, but at the spring training home of the Bronx Bombers. Rays actually have to pay their division rivals $15M to use the facility, because Tropicana Field was wrecked by by a hurricane last month.

— Los Angeles Angels added utility man Kevin Newman for one year, $2.5M; they’ve also added P Kyle Hendricks, C Travis d’Arnaud- they’ve been the busiest baseball team this off-season.

— Pitcher Cole Irvin signed a $1M contract with the Doosan Bears of the KBO; $1M is the most a first-year player can make in Korea.

Irvin is 28-40, 4.54 in 93 MLB starts over six seasons for four teams.

— Cal Poly in the Big West appears to be a vastly improved team; they went 65-202 the last nine years, going 4-65 in conference games the last four years, but the 2-2 so far this year, with 75-71 win over Seattle, plus respectable losses to San Francisco, Cal.

Mike DeGeorge is the new coach; his teams play a faster style, which should help recruiting.

— Mentioned on Tuesday how November 13 was Felix Unger Day, in reference to the great TV show The Odd Couple. Turns out that Garry Marshall’s birthday was November 13; he was one of the show’s writers, and a creative genius with an amazing resume of movies to his credit.

— Eagles 26, Commanders 18
Commanders led 10-6 after the third quarter.
Eagles’ first five drives: 30 plays, 177 yards, no points.
Eagles rest of game: 43 plays, 350 yards, 26 points.
Eagles won 12 of last 14 series games.

Philly was 9-16 on third down, Commanders 3-12.
Eagles outgained Washington, 434-264
Last five games, Washington was outscored 67-36 in 2nd half.
Commanders are 4-7 ATS in last 11 NFC East road games.

College basketball teams that will be interesting to follow this year…….

— Connecticut
UConn won last two national titles, winning title games by 17-15 points.
Huskies were first team since Florida (2006/2007) to win consecutive titles.
Last team to win 3+ consecutive national titles? UCLA, from 1967-73
UConn lost four starters from LY; they’re #199 in experience this year.

— Arkansas
Hard to process, but John Calipari is now the Arkansas coach.
Arkansas was in 3 of last 4 NCAA’s, making two Elite 8’s and a Sweet 16 under Eric Musselman.
Calipari hasn’t made the Sweet 16 since 2019.
Hogs are #232 in experience, #327 in continuity; Calipari is used to that.

— USC
Speaking of Musselman, he is now the Trojans’ coach, as they join the Big 18.
This year’s Trojans are #31 in experience, #349 in continuity; 10 transfers.
USC is 3-0; they struggled to beat Texas-Arlington 98-95 Wednesday.

— Southern Methodist
Andy Enfield bolted USC for SMU and ACC; Dallas is nowhere near the Atlantic Ocean. 

Mustangs are #29 in experience, #209 in continuity; Enfield’s teams usually defend well.
So far, SMU scored 93 ppg in beating three stiffs (schedule #331)

— Whats left of the Pac-12? (they’re playing in WCC this year)

Oregon State went 11-49 in Pac-12 the last three years, after an Elite 8 in 2021.
Seven players bolted the Beavers’ program after last season. 

This year, OSU is 3-0 vs schedule #322; they’ve continuity team #260.

Washington State
New league, new coach, new players after Coogs went 25-10 last year.
David Riley is the new coach; he went 31-5 in the Big Sky last two years.
Wazzu has only one guy back from LY; they’ve scored 97 ppg in a 3-0 start.

— Villanova
Wildcats made Final Four three years ago, then Jay Wright abruptly retired.
Since then, Villanova is 37-35, 20-20 in conference games, 0-0 in NCAA’s.
This year, Villanova is #34 in experience, #261 in continuity; lot of transfers.
Wildcats are 2-2 this year, with losses to Columbia/St Joe’s. No bueno.

— Famous birthdays, November 15th:
Sam Waterston, 84
Bob Dandridge, 77
Greg Anthony, 57
Sasha Pavlovic, 41

Asia Kate Dillon, 40
Trevor Story, 32
Karl-Anthony Towns, 29
Wyatt Langford, 23

— Fresno State
68-year old Vance Walberg is the coach; he coached Pepperdine (2006-08), was an NBA assistant for four years, was a high school coach the last eight years, at a school five miles from the Fresno State campus.

Fresno hasn’t been in NCAAs since 2016; they’ve got only two players back from last year, but Walberg recruiting last year’s junior college player of the year, so they’ve got talent. Bulldogs lost an 82-possession game 91-86 in Santa Barbara Wednesday. Walberg’s teams play fast.

— Seton Hall
Shaheen Holloway led Saint Peter’s to the Elite 8 three years ago; his 2nd Seton Hall team was 25-12 last year, 13-7 in Big East but they didn’t make the NCAA’s.

So far this year, Seton Hall has scored only 53.7 ppg in a 1-2 start, losing to Fordham/Hofstra. Pirates are experience team #88, continuity team #240; they’ve got three top 100 games before Big East play starts December 17.

— Louisville
Pat Kelsey is Louisville’s 5th coach in nine years; they went 11-49 in the ACC the last three years and haven’t made the NCAA’s since 2019. Kelsey’s teams have been in three of last four NCAA tournaments, at Winthrop/Charleston— his teams play fast.

This year’s Cardinals are experience team #9, continuity team #350— Kelsey pounded the transfer portal. Louisville split its first two games, forcing turnovers 28.9% of the time. Won’t be long before Louisville is back in the field of 68.

— St John’s
Rick Pitino was Louisville’s coach the last time they won an NCAA game, in 2017.
St John’s hasn’t won an NCAA game since 2000; this year’s Red Storm is experience team #91, continuity team #264- they’ve beaten three stiffs, by 32-23-21 points.

Pitin0 is a great coach; he plays his son’s New Mexico team Sunday, then has three more top 100 games before Big East games start. Chances are St John’s will be in March Madness for the first time since 2019.

— Richard Pitino’s New Mexico Lobos are playing the fastest tempo in America so far this year; Lobos are 3-0 with a win over UCLA- they’ve forced turnovers 24.6% of time (#30). Lobos were in NCAA’s last year for first time since 2014.

— Siena had its first losing season in six years last year, but they fired the coach anyway and hired Syracuse assistant Gerry McNamara- the rumor was he could add some boosters to help Siena’s NIL situation, which wasn’t good.

McNamara’s best recruit might be special assistant Brian Beaury, who won 654 games at St Rose, a Division II team in Albany (the school went out of business LY). Beaury is a great coach who will help a rookie head coach.

Siena is off to a 3-0 start, beating Brown/Bryant in overtime; they’re #19 in country on offensive boards, #301 on the defensive end. Saints are #349 in experience, #331 in continuity.

— Steve Alford’s Nevada Wolf Pack is #5 in experience, #107 in continuity; they’ve scored 80.7 ppg in their 3-0 start, making 49.1% of their 3’s, best in the country so far. Nevada was 25-11 in the Mountain West the last two years and figure to contend there again this year. 

— First things first……best wishes to Spurs coach Greg Popovich, who suffered a mild stroke on November 2nd. 75-year old Popovich has missed the Spurs’ past seven games; he’s started a rehabilitation program and is expected to make a full recovery. Popovich is the oldest coach in NBA history; he has 1,560 wins, winning five championships.

Get well soon, coach.

— There are 1,271 regular season games in an NBA season; every once in a while you see one with a little extra intensity. Tuesday night in San Francisco, Klay Thompson returned to the Bay Area with his new team, the Dallas Mavericks, after playing 11 years with Golden State, helping the Warriors win four championships.

Golden State won the game 120-117; Thompson scored 22 points, but Steph Curry scored 37 for the 9-2 Warriors. This was basketball at its highest level, a very entertaining game.

— Hofstra 49, Seton Hall 48
Pirates lost last two games, to Fordham/Hofstra, both by a point. Not good.
Seton Hall is scoring 53.7 ppg, shooting 37.6% inside the arc.

— St Joe’s 83, Villanova 76
Hawks beat Villanova for second year in a row; going back to last year, Wildcats are 9-13 in their last 22 games. Villanova made the NCAAs the last nine years Jay Wright was coaching; this would be the third year in a row they miss the NCAA’s, bad news for the current coach.

— Cal-Santa Barbara 91, Fresno State 86
Fresno has a new coach and only two players back from last year; they were 16-24 on the foul line in this game. UCSB G Turner was 15-16 on the line, all by himself.

There are a lot of college teams that are total rebuilds; they’re learning on the go. Guys who were junior college coaches have an advantage now; they’ve done all this before.

— Oregon 80, Portland 70 OT
Ducks were down 13 with 8:11 left in game, but they fought back, forced overtime and escaped with a win to improve to 3-0. Portland had lost its previous game by 41 points to UCSB.

— North Dakota State 88, Santa Clara 80 OT
Santa Clara led 37-18 early; they led by 5 with 0:14 left in regulation, Ugly loss for a team that starts four seniors and is #11 in country in continuity. North Dakota State had lost its first two D-I games, but they made 15-32 on the arc in this game.

— Famous birthdays, November 14th:
Mike Livingston, 79
Jack Sikma, 69
Curt Schilling, 58

Lionel Simmons, 56
Josh Duhamel, 52
Kyle Orton, 42

TY Hilton, 35
Francisco Lindor, 31
DeVonta Smith, 26

Mid-week college football
— Buffalo 51, Ball State 48 OT
Ball State led 45-31 with 6:00 left in game.
Bulls tied game on a 33-yard TD pass with 1:49 left.
Cardinals outgained 6-4 Buffalo 520-470.

— Bowling Green 31, Western Michigan 13
Falcons ran ball for 226 yards (6.8 yards/carry)
Western Michigan was 4-15 on 3rd down, 5-6 on 4th down.
Bowling Green is 6-4, and bowl eligible.

— Toledo 37, Central Michigan 10
Rockets had 5 takeaways, including a 45-yard pick-6.
Toledo led 27-3 at halftime.
Chippewas have lost five games in a row.

— Miami OH 34, Kent State 7
Kent State scored a TD 1:20 into the game; that was it for them.
Miami outgained the Golden Flashes, 477-178.
Redhawks ran ball for 275 yards; they’re bowl eligible now.

— Northern Illinois 29, Akron 16
Huskies had two guys run ball for 100+ yards.
NIU outgained Akron 439-255; they led 23-16 at halftime.
Akron scored a touchdown on a blocked punt.

— Ohio U 35, Eastern Michigan 10
Ohio QB Navarro threw for 277 yards, ran for 106 more.
Bobcats led 14-7 at halftime.
Ohio outgained Eastern Michigan, 433-266.

— Movie of the Day: He Got Game (1998)- The best high school basketball player in the country has to choose what college to go to; his father, who is in prison, will get his sentence shortened if the son goes to the college where the warden of the prison wants him to.

Denzel Washington is the father, Ray Allen is the son, Ned Beatty is the warden, Jim Brown is a probation officer. A mostly sad movie, but it is well done. 

— Cincinnati Reds hired Brad Mills as Terry Francona’s bench coach; Mills has been one of Francona’s coaches in 17 of his 22 major league seasons- he also managed Houston from 2010-12.

— Tropicana Field in St Petersburg isn’t going to be ready for the 2025 season; they think it’ll be ready for 2026, but next season is only 20 or so weeks away and the Rays have a new stadium opening in 2028, so will they spend $55M to fix this ballpark?

Speculation is that the Phillies’ spring training ballpark in Clearwater is the favorite to be used by the Rays for the 2025 season.

— Red Sox P Nick Pivetta got a qualifying offer for $21.05M for next year; he is expected to turn it down, even though he was 6-12, 4.14 in 26 starts last year. Word has it that Pivetta wants a 3-year deal; he’s going to be 32 on Valentine’s Day, so three years should be the ceiling on any kind of deal he gets.

— Indianapolis Colts are going back to 2nd year QB Anthony Richardson this week for their game with the Jets. Richardson has completed only 44.4% of his passes but has run for 242 yards. Colts have split his six starts; they’re 1-3 when 39-year old Joe Flacco starts.

— Vikings’ rookie QB JJ McCarthy underwent a second surgery earlier this week on his right knee as he continues to recover from a torn meniscus; it is not good when you’ve had two surgeries on the same knee, before you’ve played in a game. 

McCarthy is still expected to be ready to play next season; the question is, if Sam Darnold keeps winning games, will the Vikings need McCarthy to play?

— Slugger Mark McGwire got his first major league hit in 1986 off of Tommy John, who was in his 23rd major league season at the time. 

Tommy John’s dentist back then was………Mark McGwire’s father.