— Chargers 22, Eagles 19 OT
Total of two TD’s, nine field goals in this game.
Chargers drove 80 yards for a TD on their first drive.
Eagles’ only TD was Barkley’s 52-yard run early in 4th quarter.
There was a play in this game with a total of 3 turnovers; unusual.
Eagles lost their last three games, by 3-9-3 points.
Hurts threw for 240 yards, but had four INT’s.
QB Herbert broke his left hand LW, ran for 66 yards, passed for 139.
Chargers won five of their last six games.
— If the Cleveland Browns cut QB Deshaun Watson before June 1st, his $130M cap hit would cripple Cleveland’s 2026 salary cap, so that ain’t happening. They’ll probably re-structure the contract and push the cap damage down the road a little.
— Indianapolis Colts have QB injury issues, big ones; they’re actually bringing 44-year old Philip Rivers in for a workout Tuesday. He hasn’t played in the NFL since 2020; he will be on next year’s ballot for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but if he plays this year, that pushes his Hall of Fame induction back a few years.
Rivers turned 44 Monday; he’s been a high school coach in Alabama the last five years, where he has posted a 44-16 record, losing in the state semi-finals the last two seasons.
— When the Dolphins beat the Jets on a cold day in New Jersey Sunday, it was Tua Tagovailoa’s first career win in eight games when the temperature was less than 47 degrees.
— Arizona Cardinals’ QB Kyler Murray is out for the year with a foot injury; it is doubtful if Murray ever play for the Cardinals again, but his contract is an issue.
Murray’s contract the next three years:
2026- $42.5M
2027- $36.3M
2028- $46.35M
— Eight of the last 11 years, the team that won March Madness was still unbeaten on December 6th. Since 2008, every national champ was ranked in the top 12 of the AP poll in Week 6.
Here is this week’s top 12 in the AP poll:
Arizona-Michigan-Duke-Iowa State
UConn-Purdue-Houston-Gonzaga
Michigan State-BYU-Louisville-Alabama
Famous birthdays, December 9th:
Darold Knowles, 84
Beau Bridges, 84
Michael Nouri, 80
Doc Medich, 77
John Malkovich, 72
Jim Haslett, 70
Otis Birdsong, 70
Richard Brooks, 63
Todd Van Poppel, 54
David Akers, 51
— If you don’t think Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti is a great freakin’ coach, think again. Here is Indiana’s 2023 season, the year before Cignetti went to the Hoosiers.
Indiana went 3-9
One of the wins was against Akron, in 4 overtimes.
Hoosiers lost four games by 17+ points.
Indiana’s last three losses were by 3-3-4 points.
In two years under Cignetti, Indiana is 24-2.
— College/minor league sports are off the rails; several teams declined invitations to bowl games. You’d think players would enjoy going to bowls, but some schools are queasy that bigger $$$ teams are going to scout their players, then poach them for next year.
Then there is Notre Dame, which is whining because they got left out of the playoffs; starting next year, if they’re ranked in the top 12 at this time, they’ll automatically be in the playoff.
— Georgia Southern is going bowling; seven teams declined a chance to play the Eagles in a bowl. Finally, Sun Belt rival Appalachian State signed up to play the Eagles in the Birmingham Bowl December 29th.
Georgia Southern won 25-23 at Appalachian State November 6th.
— Aside from that game between Sun Belt rivals, Sun Belt has eight other teams are going to bowls; they don’t get on national TV much. Five of those eight games will be a Sun Belt team against an opponent from Conference USA.
— Big X fined both Iowa State/Kansas State $500,000 for declining bowl bids; both teams had their coach leave (one bolted, one retired).
— 11 SEC teams are going bowling; Oklahoma-Alabama is a first round matchup in the 12-team playoff. Seven of the other nine SEC teams in bowls will be favored in their game.
— Eight Big X teams are going bowling; seven of them will be favored in their game.
— Virginia Tech hired their former head coach Brent Pry to be their new defensive coordinator, which saves the school a lot of $$$ and Pry doesn’t have to move his family. Fry was 16-24 as Tech’s head coach.
— Memphis is hiring Southern Miss coach Charles Huff as its new coach; Huff was 32-20 in four years at Marshall, 7-5 in his one year at Southern Miss.
— Arizona State QB Sam Leavitt is entering the transfer portal; someone is going to pay him mucho dinero next year.
