Author: Armadillo Sports

September’s Too……..is a good bar
1165 Central Avenue in Colonie, just west of Osborne Road

Wednesday- They have good food, plenty of TV’s
Thursday- Falcons-Buccaneers on TV………
Friday- Karaoke at 7:00
Saturday- Live music…….
Sunday- Watch NFL games, from 4:00-midnight

You can order food from them via Door Dash
Check it out, it’s a fun place

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Thursday night NFL info is posted
Saturday’s college football info is posted

Wednesday’s 6-pack:
Week 15 NFL spreads:
— Colts @ Seattle (-13.5)
— Packers (-2.5) @ Denver
— Titans @ San Francisco (-12.5)
— Panthers (-2.5) @ New Orleans
— Vikings @ Dallas (-5.5)
— Dolphins @ Pittsburgh (-3)

Quote of the Day
“There are so many guys in that locker room that are fighting through so many different injuries and things worse than what I’m going through. So, it’s the least I can do to show up and give my best effort for them.”
Chargers QB Justin Herbert

Wednesday’s quiz
What team did Edwin Diaz break into the major leagues with?

Tuesday’s quiz
New York/New Jersey Jets have existed since 1960; the first three years they played, they had a different nickname- they weren’t the Jets, they were the New York Titans. 

Monday’s quiz
Since 1998, Kansas City Royals have hit the fewest home runs. 

— DH/OF Kyle Schwarber re-signed with the Phillies, getting a contract worth $150M over five years. 32-year old Schwarber hit 187 home runs for the Phillies the last four years- he hit 56 HR’s last year, knocked in 132 runs.

— Los Angeles Dodgers signed closer Edwin Diaz, giving him $69M for the next three years. Diaz will be 31 in March; he had 28 saves for the Mets last year.

— Chicago White Sox won the #1 pick in the 2026 amateur draft, Tampa Bay got the #2 pick. White Sox lost 121-102 games the last two years. 

— 44-year old Philip Rivers has un-retired, signed with the Indianapolis Colts’ practice squad; Rivers coaches a high school team in Alabama. He hasn’t played since 2020.

Right now, Brett Rypien is the Colts’ only healthy QB; Riley Leonard is banged up, Daniel Jones is out for the year, Anthony Richardson is on IR.

— NFL divisional trends:
AFC East
12-6 ATS non-divisional underdog

AFC North
Home teams 5-2 ATS divisional games
13-24 ATS non-divisional games
7-15 ATS non-divisional underdog

AFC South
Home teams 5-3 ATS divisional games
14-7 ATS non-divisional underdog

AFC West
Home teams 5-1 ATS divisional games
1-9 ATS non-divisional road favorite

NFC East
Home teams 4-2 ATS divisional games
8-12 ATS non-divisional underdog

NFC North
Favorites 5-2 ATS divisional games
8-5 ATS non-divisional home favorite

NFC South
Home teams 1-4 ATS divisional games
3-7 ATS non-divisional favorites

NFC West
Home teams 1-6 ATS divisional games
22-12 ATS non-divisional games

Famous birthdays, December 10th:
Susan Dey, 73
Mark Aguirre, 66
Paul Assenmacher, 65
Luis Polonia, 62
Bryant Stith, 55

Will Myers, 35
Carlos Rodon, 33
Sheldon Neuse, 31
Nestor Cortes, 31
Joe Burrow, 29

— BYU 67, Clemson 64
Clemson led 44-22 early in the second half.
BYU frosh Dybantsa scored 28 points, had 9 rebounds, 6 assists.
BYU is 8-1 now; they’ve played schedule #11.

— Illinois 88, Ohio State 80
Illjni was 29-32 on foul line, scored 1.26 points/possession.
Buckeyes’ G Thornton scored 34 points, had six assists.
Illinois is 8-2, 3-2 vs top 100 opponents.

— Michigan 89, Villanova 61
Wolverines shot 66.7% inside arc, had 53-33 edge on boards.
Michigan led this game 53-23 at halftime.
Michigan is 9-0, with six top 100 wins (schedule #8)

— UConn 77, Florida 73
Huskies are 9-1, with four top 100 wins (schedule #44)
Gators out-rebounded UConn, 40-28.
Florida is 5-4, losing by 6-4-1-4 points.

— McNeese State 66, Rhode Island 64
6-1 G Archie scored 18 points in 24:00 off the bench.
Teams combined to shoot 11-39 on the arc.
McNeese is 8-2; last three years, they’re 66-13.

— San Jose State 89, Long Beach State 83 OT
Long Beach led by 9 with 2:57 left in regulation.
San Jose shot 61.8% inside the arc.
Long Beach slips to 2-9, 1-9 against Division I teams.

— USC 94, San Diego 81
Game was 38-38 at halftime.
USC shot 64.5% inside arc, 27-35 on the foul line.
Trojans are getting 25.7% of their points on foul line (#17 in country)

— 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. 

Packers 28, Bears 21
Green Bay picked off a pass in end zone with 0:22 to preserve the win.
Packers converted 8-12 third down plays; Chicago was 8-16.
Green Bay is 9-0-1 when it scores 23+ points, 0-3 otherwise.
As a head coach, Matt LaFleur is 12-1 against Chicago. 

Chicago in first half: 29 plays, 76 yards, 3 points.
Bears’ 1st 3 drives in 2nd half: 34 plays, 184 yards, 17 points.
Chicago is 0-3 when they score less than 24 points.
With the loss, Bears slipped from #1 seed in NFC to #7 seed. 

Bills 39, Bengals 34
Bengals led 28-18 with 8:00 left in the game.
Buffalo took lead for good on a pick-6 with 5:25 left.
Bills in second half: 35 plays, 240 yards, 21 points.
Cincinnati was 10-12 on third down, Bills 6-11. 

Cincinnati lost nine of its last 12 games.
Bengals covered four of last five games as an underdog.
Buffalo is 9-0 when they score 26+ points, 0-4 when they don’t.
QB Allen threw for 251 yards, 3 TD’s on a snowy day. 

Texans 20, Chiefs 10
Houston won five in row, 8 of last 10 games.
Texans are 7-0 when they score 20+ points.
Houston is 14-9 ATS last 23 games as an underdog.
Last ten games, Texans are +15 in turnovers.

Chiefs in first half: 27 plays, 113 yards, zero points.
Under is 7-1 in last eight Kansas City games.
Kansas City has lost four of its last five games.
Chiefs are 6-7, their worst record thru 13 games since 2012. 

Titans 31, Browns 29
Titans led 31-17 with 5:00 left in the game.
Browns then scored two TD’s, but went 0-2 on 2-point conversions.
Tennessee ran ball 35 times for 184 yards.
Titans scored TD on their first drive for first time this year. 

Browns’ QB Sanders threw for 364 yards, three TD’s.
Browns outgained Tennessee 412-292.
Cleveland lost five of its last six games.
Browns are 0-10 when they allow more than 10 points.

Steelers 27, Ravens 22
7-6 Steelers led 17-9 at half, took over first place in AFC North.
Rodgers threw for 284 yards and a TD, also ran for a TD.
Pittsburgh is 6-2 when it allows less than 31 points.
Since 2018, Pittsburgh is 41-21-1 ATS as an underdog.

Ravens outgained Pittsburgh, 420-318.
Baltimore is 0-6 when they allow more than 19 points.
Ravens are minus-14 in turnovers in losses, +9 in wins.
Ravens are 5-10 ATS in last 15 AFC North home games.

Saints 24, Buccaneers 20
Tampa Bay led 10-7 at halftime.
Saints’ first three drives in 2nd half: 23 plays, 153 yards, 17 points.
Saints won five of their last seven visits to Tampa.
Saints are 15-4-1 ATS in last 20 NFC South road games.

Buccaneers were 2-7 on 4th down conversions in this game.
Tampa Bay is 1-6 when they allow 24+ points.
Tampa Bay lost four of its last five games.
7-6 Buccaneers are tied with Carolina atop NFC South.

Famous birthdays, December 8th:
Gus Otto, 82
Kim Basinger, 72
Steve Dils, 70
George Rogers, 67

Wendell Pierce, 62
Teri Hatcher, 61
Jeff George, 58
Mike Mussina, 57

Vernon Wells, 47
Philip Rivers, 44
Josh Donaldson, 40
Dwight Howard, 40

Rams 45, Cardinals 17
Rams’ first drive: 10 plays, 60 yards, FG.
Rams’ second drive: 6 plays, 74 yards, TD.
Rams’ third drive: 10 plays, 65 yards, TD.
Rams’ last drive in 1st half: 7 plays, 92 yards, TD.

WR Nukua caught 7 passes for 167 yards, 2 TD’s.
Rams won seven of their last eight games.
Cardinals lost five in row, 10 of last 11 games.
Cardinals are 0-7 when they allow more than 22 points.

Dolphins 34, Jets 10
Dolphins’ first three drives: 15 plays, 178 yards, 21 points.
Miami won its last four games, giving up 13.3 ppg.
Dolphins ran ball 41 times for 239 yards (5.8 yards/carry)
Miami is 14-6 ATS in last 20 AFC East road games.

Undrafted rookie QB Cook played most of game, his NFL debut.
Jets were outgained 358-207, were minus-3 in turnovers.
Jets are 0-8 when they score less than 27 points.  
Last five games, Jets gained 169-245-282-269-207 total yards.

Jaguars 36, Colts 19
Jaguars had short TD drives, of 21-28 yards.
Indy QB Jones tore his achilles, is out for the year.
Jacksonville won five of last six games, scoring 30.3 ppg 
Jaguars are 9-1 if they allow fewer than 31 points.

Indy lost four of last five games, after a 7-1 start.
Colts’ QB’s now: rookie Leonard, journeyman Brett Rypien.
Colts are 0-5 when they score less than 29 points.
Indy has lost its last ten visits to Jacksonville. 

Seahawks 37, Falcons 9
Seattle kicked 48-yard FG with 0:04 left to tie game 6-6 at the half.
Shaheed ran back opening kick of 3rd quarter 100 yards for a TD.
Seahawks in second half: 33 plays, 259 yards, 24 points.
Seahawks won seven of their last eight games.

Falcons in second half: 31 plays, 163 yards, 3 turnovers, 3 points.
Falcons were 1-13 on third down, committed 3 turnovers.
Atlanta lost seven of its last eight games.
Atlanta is 1-9 when it allows more than 14 points.

Vikings 31, Commanders 0
Vikings’ first two drives: 26 plays, 159 yards, 14 points.
Vikings were +3 in turnovers; they were minus-15 coming into game.
Minnesota ran ball for 162 yards; they were 6-11 on third down.
Last five Minnesota games stayed under the total.

Commanders are 0-8 SU/1-7 ATS in their last eight games.
Washington is 0-9 when it allows more than 24 points.
QB Daniels re-injured his left (non-throwing) elbow.
Last eight games, Washington is minus-11 in turnovers.

Broncos 24, Raiders 17
Broncos won their last 10 games, last four by 3-3-3-1-7 points.
First game this season that Denver never trailed in.
Denver is 2-7 ATS last nine games as a road favorite.
Broncos outgained Las Vegas 356-229.

Denver was 7-12 on third down, Raiders 3-9.
Raiders lost seven games in a row, 11 of last 12.
Last eight games, Raiders ran the ball for only 47.8 yards/game.
QB Smith got hurt; Kenny Pickett/Aidan O’Connell are the backups. 

— Iowa State 81, Purdue 58
Cyclones shot 11-23 on arc, scored 1.25 ppp
Iowa State outscored Purdue 46-27 in second half.
First loss for 8-1 Purdue, which has played schedule #26.

— Duke 66, Michigan State 60
Michigan State shot only 29.5% inside the arc.
First loss for 8-1 Spartans, who have played schedule #35.
Duke is 10-0, with five top 100 wins.

— Washington 84, USC 76
Trojans led 48-30 at halftime.
Huskies out-rebounded USC, 45-31.
First loss for 8-1 USC, which has five wins by 5 or fewer points.

— Louisville 87, Indiana 78
Cardinals led 41-27 at halftime.
Louisville shot 13-31 on the arc, 12-23 inside the arc.

Ryan Conwell is a senior G for Louisville. His college career:
2022-23- South Florida- coach got fired after 14-18 season
2023-24- Indiana State- coach bolted to Saint Louis after a 32-7 season
2024-25- Xavier- coach bolted to Texas after a 22-12 season
2025-26- Louisville

— Memphis 78, Baylor 71
Memphis subs outscored Baylor’s thin bench, 37-15
Baylor’s subs play #356 minutes in country, bottom 10 figure.
Bears shot only 33.3% inside arc in this game.

— Basketball Upsets of the Day:
Omaha (+8.5) 60, Portland State 55
SE Missouri State (+6.5) 74, Chattanooga 70
Western Michigan (+6.5) 83, SIU-Edwardsville 73
NC-Greensboro (+6.5) 82, East Carolina 78
Iowa State (+5.5) 81, Purdue 58
Boise State (+5.5) 77, Butler 68
Cal-Riverside (+5.5) 88, Cal Poly 84

— Georgia 28, Alabama 7
Alabama ran the ball 16 times, for minus-3 yards.
Just 2nd win For Georgia in last 12 games vs Alabama.
Alabama is on the bubble now to get into the 12-team playoff.

— Indiana 13, Ohio State 10
Down 13-10, Buckeyes missed a 27-yard field goal with 2:48 left.
Indiana wins its first league title since 1967.
Ohio State ran ball 26 times for only 58 yards. 

— Duke 27, Virginia 20 OT
Virginia scored 10 points in last 4:00 to force overtime.
Duke scored TD in OT on a 4th down pass play.
8-5 Duke wins ACC title; will ACC have team in the playoff? 

— Texas Tech 34, BYU 7
BYU drove 90 yards for a TD on their first drive.
Rest of game, BYU ran 45 plays for 110 yards.
Texss Tech likely gets a first-round bye in the playoff.

— Western Michigan 23, Miami OH 13
Broncos had a 67-yard TD run 1:27 into the game.
WMU ran ball 56 times for 286 yards (5.1 yards/carry)
Western Michigan is 9-3-1 against spread this year.

— Famous birthdays, December 7th:
Ellen Burstyn, 93
Al Woodall, 80
Johnny Bench, 78
Larry Bird, 69

Mel Owens, 67
C Thomas Howell, 59
Eric Chavez, 48
Lou Amundson, 43

Jake McQuaide, 38
Kyle Hendricks, 36
Pete Alonso, 31
Hunter Henry, 31

One of my favorites, the late Ted Knight, was born on this day in 1923.

— Illinois 75, Tennessee 62
Tennessee led 32-30 at halftime.
Illinois shot 11-28 on arc, scored 1.21 points/possession.
Tennessee lost its last three gams, after a 7-0 start.

— New Hampshire 88, Boston U 82 OT
Terriers led 65-40 with 10:42 left in the game.
New Hampshire had been 0-7 vs Division I opponents.

— Oral Roberts 72, Montana State 68
Bobcats led 42-22 at halftime.
Oral Roberts was 24-26 on foul line, Montana State 9-13.
Ty Harper was 14-16 on foul line; took more FT’s than the other team. 

— Arizona 97, Auburn 68
Arizona led 44-32 at halftime.
Arizona is 8-0, with four top 40 wins.
Auburn is 7-3, 3-3 vs top 100 opponents. 

— Tulane 34, North Texas 21
UNT outgained Tulane 415-344, but was minus-5 in turnovers.
Green Wave led 24-6 at halftime; they’ll probably be in the 12-team playoff.
Both head coaches in this game are moving on to bigger $$$ jobs.

North Texas freshman QB Mestamaker has led the Mean Green to an 11-2 record; he didn’t start any games when he was in high school. Kind of amazing.

— James Madison 31, Troy 14
12-1 Dukes ran the ball 42 times for 318 yards (7.6 yards/carry)
JMU outgained the Trojans, 411-177.
Dukes led 17-14 at halftime.
JMU’s last TD was a defensive score that salted the game away.

— Kennesaw State 19, Jacksonville State 15
Owls win Conference USA in their first year as a I-A team.
Kennesaw drove 75 yards, scored game-winning TD with 0:51 left.
Owls led 12-0 after three quarters, but Jax State led 15-12 with 4:00 left.

— Boise State 38, UNLV 21
Broncos win their third straight Mountain West title.
Next year, Boise is joining the revamped Pac-12.
Boise led 21-0 midway thru the second quarter.
Broncos are likely going to play Washington in the LA Bowl.

— Gonzaga 94, Kentucky 59
Gonzaga crushed the Wildcats; they led 43-20 at halftime.
Zags lost their previous game, nine days ago, 101-61 to Michigan.
Kentucky is 5-4, 0-4 vs top 100 teams, 0-4 when they allow 60+ points.

— Xavier 79, Cincinnati 74
Crosstown rivalry game was 37-37 at halftime.
Xavier shot 66.7% inside arc, only 6-28 on the arc.
In a 74-possession game, Xavier had only four turnovers.

— Notre Dame 87, TCU 85 OT
Horned Frogs led by 11 late in the first half.
Notre Dame won despite going 9-20 on the foul line.
Notre Dame shot 61.8% inside arc, made 12-26 on the arc.

— UAB 74, Drake 69
Blazers out-rebounded Drake, 44-30.
Drake led by 5 early in the second half.
UAB was 21-28 on foul line, Bulldogs 12-16.

— Famous birthdays, December 6th:
Larry Bowa, 80
Steven Wright, 70
Lindsay Scott, 65
Lance Blankenship, 62
Kevin Appier, 58

Sarah Rafferty, 58
Kevin Cash, 48
Adam Eaton, 37
Johnny Manziel, 33
Giannis Antetokounmpo, 31

— Penn State hit the jackpot with their coaching search, hiring former Iowa State coach Matt Campbell as their new football coach.

Campbell was 35-15 in four years at Toledo, then went to Iowa State and was 72-55 in ten years coaching the Cyclones. Iowa State is tough place to win; Campbell is a very good coach.

— Iowa State is replacing Campbell with Washington State coach Jimmy Rogers, who led the Coogs to a 6-6 record this year, despite not being in a league. Next year, Wazzu will have its third head coach in three years, but at least they’ll back in a league. 

— Kansas State changed football coaches this week; Chris Klieman retired after going 54-34 in the Little Apple, an impressive run. There were reports that the players voted to skip going to a bowl game this year, after a 6-6 regular season, but K-State alum Collin Klein is the new coach, and whole bowl thing was still up in the air late Friday night.

— Random fact: 17 NFL teams play their home games on artificial turf fields, 15 play on natural grass.

— Dallas Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey kicked five field goals Thursday night, making kicks from 55-57-63 yards; he is the first kicker EVER to make three FG’s of 55+ yards in the same game.

— If you like college basketball, you should have ESPN+; they show ton of games on there, and you can watch replays of games all night, including teams from smaller leagues. 

— Lions 44, Cowboys 30
Lions had 11 drives: 5 TD’s, 3-4 on FG’s, 2 punts.
Goff threw for 309 yards and a TD.
Detroit is 11-1 ATS last 12 games coming off a loss.
Last 12 games, Lions are +9 in turnovers.

Lions are 18-11 ATS last 29 games as a home favorite.
Detroit has six wins this year by 13+ points.
Prescott threw for 376 yards, but threw two INTs.
Dallas is 5-0-1 scoring 33+ points, 1-6 scoring less than 33.

Big West started conference play Thursday:
— Cal-Santa Barbara 84, Long Beach State 77 OT
Gauchos were 32-38 on foul line, Long Beach 19-24.
Aidan Mahaney played 40:00, scored 26 points for UCSB.
UCSB is 8-2, but 1-2 vs teams ranked in top 150.

— Cal Poly 94, Fullerton 91
Cal Poly plays #2 tempo in country; they shot 18-37 on the arc.
Peter Bandelj scored 37 points for the Mustangs.
Fullerton’s bench outscored Cal Poly’s subs, 55-18.

— Cal-Irvine 73, Cal-Riverside 60
Both teams shot under 40% inside the arc.
Anteaters shot 10-18 on the arc; unusual for them.
Right now, Irvine has the #4 eFG% defense in the country.

— Cal-Northridge 87, Cal-Bakersfield 66
Matadors shot 65.1% inside the arc- they need to get layups.
Northridge is shooting 27.1% on arc (#335), 66.5% on line (#298)
Roadrunners are 1-5 vs teams ranked in the top 250.

— Robert Morris 80, Green Bay 78
Colonials outscored Green Bay 15-2 over the final 2:53.
Green Bay shot 63.3% inside arc, was 25-31 on foul line.
Robert Morris is off to 7-3 start; they were 26-9 last year.

— Merrimack 68, Rider 66
Merrimack shot 56% inside arc; they’re shooting 45.4% for year (#324)
6-2 frosh Kennedy played all 40:00, scored 19 points.
Merrimack is #363 team in country on defensive boards. 

— Famous birthdays, December 5th:
Jeroen Krabbe, 81
Jim Plunkett, 78
Bill Simpson, 74

Babe Laufenberg, 66
Charlie Batch, 51
LeGarrette Blount, 39

— If you had Boston College +7.5 Wednesday night at home vs LSU, you had a very bad beat; game went to overtime, and LSU won by nine, 78-69. Three of BC’s top four scorers were guys who didn’t start.

— Chris Paul is in his 21st season in the NBA, but the LA Clippers sent him home this week and he is no longer on the team, a surprising event. Clippers are 5-16, have lost 14 of their last 16 games. 

He’s made $403M in salary in his Hall of Fame career

— San Francisco Giants hired former big league manager Ron Washington as infield coach; Washington had heart bypass surgery this past summer, he is 73 years old. Giants have a new manager this coming year, former Tennessee Vols manager Tony Vitello.

— Some bowl matchups have been set:
Cure Bowl- South Florida vs Old Dominion
Xbox Bowl- Arkansas State vs Missouri State
Hawai’i Bowl- California @ Hawai’i 

— James Madison hired former Florida coach Billy Napier as its new football coach; Napier was 40-12 in four years at Louisiana, 22-23 in four years with the Gators- he got fired this year when Florida started the season 3-4.
James Madison is 101-21 since 2016, as they moved up to the I-A level.

— Red Sox-Pirates made a trade Thursday:
Pirates acquired:
OF Jhostynxon Garcia
P Jesus Travieso

Red Sox acquired:
P Johan Oviedo
P Tyler Samaniego
C Adonys Guzman

— One of the surprising things that has happened the last year or so is the amount of time I spend watching podcasts on YouTube, whether it is college basketball or fantasy baseball. 

Not all of the podcasts are great, you have to decide that for yourself, but it is good to learn from smart people and I think it helps in making this blog better. Usually if the podcast has BetMGM as a sponsor, that’s a good sign.

That said, there are some podcasts that are comically bad, like a guy sitting in his mom’s basement running his mouth about whatever. You need to avoid those.

— Arkansas 89, Louisville 80
Louisville never led, was 8-37 on the arc.
Arkansas was 27-35 on foul line, Cardinals 14-18
Arkansas is 6-2, 1-2 against top 100 teams. 

Coming into this game, Louisville…….
was shooting 37.3% on the arc
was getting 41.2% of their points on 3’s
54.5% of their shots were 3’s

— Minnesota 73, Indiana 64
Gophers snap three-game skid, win Big 18 opener under coach Medved.
Minnesota used only three subs, who played total of only 21:00.
First loss for 7-1 Indiana; it was also their first true road game.

— Alabama 90, Clemson 84
Alabama led 45-30 at halftime.
Clemson led by 2 with 2:41 left in the game.
Alabama is 6-2 against the toughest schedule in the country so far.

— LSU 78, Boston College 69 OT
LSU played three starters 39:00+.
Boston College shot 36.8% inside the arc.
Tigers are 8-0 vs schedule #294; their last 3 opponents are in top 125.

— Auburn 83, NC State 73
Auburn shot 12-22 on arc, shot 63.6% inside arc.
That good shooting overcame 20 Auburn turnovers.
Auburn is 7-2 vs schedule #52, they’re 3-2 vs top 100 teams.

— SEC won their challenge against the ACC 9-7, winning six of seven games Wednesday; last year, SEC was 14-2 in the challenge.

— Big Sky won their challenge against the Summit League, 6-3.

— Furman 97, Elon 88
Elon led by 18 midway thru the first half.
Furman shot 74% inside the arc, scored 1.35 points/possession.
Furman is #24 continuity team; they’re 5-4 vs schedule #88.

— North Alabama 65, San Francisco 63
USF led 24-6 out of the gate; this is an ugly loss.
North Alabama out-rebounded the Dons, 46-31
Teams combined to shoot 12-46 on the arc. 

— Famous birthdays, December 4th:
Jeff Bridges, 76
Bernard King, 69
Lee Smith, 68
Frank Reich, 64

Stan Gelbaugh, 63
Marisa Tomei, 61
Jeff Blake, 55
Tyra Banks, 52

Blake Snell, 33
Joe Musgrove, 33
Paul Blackburn, 32
Jackson Holliday, 22

— Something I’ve never typed before: Five-star QB Jared Curtis, the #5 recruit in this year’s class, flipped his commitment from Georgia to Vanderbilt. The kid lives in Nashville, but not many elite players choose the Commodores over blue-blood programs like Georgia.

— These schools have hired new football coaches in the last few days:
South Florida hired Ohio State OC Brian Hartline

Kansas State is hiring Texas A&M OC Collin Klein, a former Wildcat QB

North Texas hired Texas assistant Neal Brown; he was 35-16 coaching Troy State, 37.35 at West Virginia.

UCLA is hiring former James Madison coach Bob Chesney, who has a 131-51 career record, coming up thru the small college ranks. He was 20-5 in two years at James Madison.

— Head coaches at BYU, Texas Tech got raises/contract extensions for staying where they are.

— WR Adam Thielen got asked for/got his release from the Vikings, hooked up with the Steelers, as he tries to make the playoffs in his last NFL season. Thielen is 35; Steelers have the #24 passing game in the NFL right now, so they can use the help.

— Former Orioles manager Brandon Hyde has signed on with the Tampa Bay Rays as senior adviser of baseball operations. Hyde managed Baltimore for six years, going 421-497- they were 0-5 in the playoffs, in 2023/2024.

— Former Orioles’ OF Cedric Mullins signed on with Tampa Bay, for one year, $7M; Mullins was a 30-30 guy back in 2021, but hit under .240 the last three years. 

Conference play started in the Big 18 Tuesday night…….
— USC 82, Oregon 77
Ducks led by 10 late in the first half.
4-4 Oregon lost its last four games, all vs top 100 teams.
8-0 Trojans shot 58.8% inside the arc.
USC is 4-0 in games decided by 5 or fewer points. 

— Purdue 81, Rutgers 65
Rutgers is 0-3 vs top 100 teams, losing by 25-5-16 points.
Rutgers is shooting 46.1% inside arc (#307 in country)
Purdue is 8-0, and they’ve played schedule #57 so far.

— Michigan State 71, Iowa 52
8-0 Spartans shot 58.8% inside arc, out-rebounded Iowa 37-18.
Michigan State led 35-21 at halftime.
Spartans have four top 100 wins; they’ve got #26 eFG% defense in country.

— Famous birthdays, December 3rd:
Tom Woodeshick, 84
Wayne Garrett, 78
Julianne Moore, 65

Daryl Hannah, 65
Gene Nelson, 65
Paul Byrd, 55

Lindsey Hunter, 55
James Laurinaitis, 39
Troy Melton, 25

— UConn 61, Kansas 56
Kansas led 33-29 at halftime.
UConn is 7-1, with three top 100 wins (schedule #56)
Jayhawks star freshman (hamstring) missed his 7th straight game.

— Marquette 75, Valparaiso 72 OT
Valparaiso led by 8 with 7:02 left to play.
Marquette was 27-32 on foul line, Valpo 8-12.
Marquette is 5-4 vs schedule #231 (0-4 vs top 100 teams); junior PG Jones missed his sixth game in a row. 

ACC-SEC challenge started Tuesday night…….
— Duke 67, Florida 66
Duke hit a 3-pointer with 0:19 left for the win.
Blue Devils led by 15 late in the first half.
Gators out-rebounded Duke, 44-33. 

Duke doesn’t play many non-conference road games:
This year: W114-59 @ Army
Dec 6th @ Michigan State
2024-25: W69-55 @ Arizona
2023-24: L75-80 @ Arkansas
2022-23: none
2021-22: L66-71 @ Ohio State
2020-21: none
2019-20: W87-75 @ Michigan State

— North Carolina 67, Kentucky 64
Kentucky led by six with 5:50 left in the game.
Wildcats were 17-22 on foul line, Tar Heels 9-15.
North Carolina had a 41-30 edge on the boards.

— Texas A&M 81, Pittsburgh 73
Pitt led by 4 with 6:23 left in the game.
Aggies are 7-2, forcing turnovers 22.7% of time (#14)
A&M has #43 eFG% in country under new coach McMillan, who went 93-39 the last four years at Samford in the Southern Conference. 

— Virginia Tech 86, South Carolina 83 OT
Hokies shot 58.7% inside arc; they had 37-28 edge on boards.
6-8 junior Hansberry had 22 points, 14 rebounds for Tech.
Tech is 7-2, 3-2 vs top 100 teams (schedule #96).

— Syracuse 62, Tennessee 60
4th straight top 20 game for Syracuse, which lost previous three.
Tennessee shot 4-13 on arc, 8-15 on foul line.
6-8 junior Carey scored 22 points in 23:00 off the bench for the Vols.

— Miami 75, Ole Miss 66
Miami had 45-29 edge on boards; they led 42-26 at halftime.
Ole Miss was only 12-40 (30%) inside the arc.
Miami is 7-2; they’ve got #37 eFG% defense.

— Georgia 107, Florida State 73
Dawgs shot 72.5% inside the arc.
8-1 Georgia led 49-30 at halftime.
5-3 Seminoles lost last two games, by 36-34 points.

— Notre Dame 76, Missouri 71
Missouri led by 12 points late in first half.
First loss for 8-1 Mizzou, which had played schedule #364 before this game.
First top 100 win in four tries for Notre Dame.

— Oklahoma 86, Wake Forest 68
Sooners outscored Wake Forest 49-33 in second half.
Oklahoma out-rebounded the Deacons, 42-24.
Oklahoma is off to a 6-2 start, 2-2 vs top 100 teams. 

— Patriots 33, Giants 15
Patriots in first half: 35 plays, 259 yards, 23 points.
New England also ran a punt back 94 yards for a TD; they led 30-7 at the half.
Patriots won their last ten games (8-2 ATS).
Over is 5-2 in their last seven games.

Giants in first half: 25 plays, 89 yards, 7 points.
Giants have lost their last seven games (3-3 ATS)
Down 17-7, Giants’ kicker fell down when he was trying a FG. Just fell down, never actually kicked the ball.
Giants also fumbled a kickoff in first half; rough night for their special teams.

— New York Mets signed reliever Devin Williams for three years, $51M. Williams had a career-worst 4.79 ERA over 67 appearances for Bronx last year; he is insurance for the Mets if they do not bring Edwin Diaz back in 2026.

— Kentucky fired football coach Mark Stoops, paid him $37.7M to take a hike, after he went 82-80 in 13 years coaching the Wildcats (4-4 in bowls). They replaced him with Will Stein, the offensive coordinator at Oregon, who grew up in Kentucky.

— NC State-Virginia will play a football game in Brazil next August, the first college football game in South America. The game will be played in a 44,661-seat stadium that helped host the 2016 Summer Olympics.

— Missouri recently became the 40th state to have legalized sports betting. 

— Denver Broncos are 10-2, but they’ve been behind in every game; they’re the only team ever to win that many games when they trailed in all of them. Next-best record was the 1978 Houston Oilers, who were 8-4 thru 12 games.

— Famous birthdays, December 2nd:
Steven Bauer, 69
OJ McDuffie, 56
Mark Kotsay, 50

Britney Spears, 44
Aaron Rodgers, 42
Daniela Ruah, 42

Matt McGloin, 36
Brandon Knight, 34
Ashton Jeanty, 22

— NFL divisional trends
AFC East
Underdogs 5-3 ATS divisional games
12-6 ATS non-divisional underdogs

AFC North
Home teams 5-1 ATS divisional games
18-24 ATS non-divisional games

AFC South
Home teams, favorites 5-2 ATS divisional games.
12-8 ATS non-divisional underdogs

AFC West
Home teams 4-1 ATS divisional games
4-10 ATS non-divisional road team
8-15 non-divisional favorite.

NFC East
Home teams 5-2 ATS divisional games
6-11 ATS non-divisional underdogs

NFC North
Favorites 4-2 ATS divisional games
11-9 ATS non-divisional favorite

NFC South
Underdogs 3-1 ATS divisional games
16-20 ATS non-divisional games

NFC West
Home teams 1-5 ATS divisional games
16-7 non-divisional favorites

— Middle Tennessee 76, UAB 61
UAB led by a point at halftime.
Blue Raiders are 3-0 vs teams ranked outside top 100
UAB is shooting 26% on the arc this year. (#345)

— Colorado 78, Cal Baptist 70
8-0 Buffs trailed 23-9 midway thru the first half.
Colorado already has three top 100 wins.
Frosh guard Johnson scored 17 points in 27:00 off the bench.

— Bowling Green 82, Kansas State 66
Underdog Falcons never trailed, shot 12-26 on the arc.
Ugly loss for K-State, which shot 12-22 on foul line, 6-23 on arc.
Wildcats have lost three in a row, giving up 86-86-82 points. 

— Villanova 74, Temple 56
Villanova led 29-28 at halftime, in this inner-city rivalry.
Wildcats out-rebounded Temple 43-24.
Villanova is 6-1, but lost their only top 100 game (BYU)

49ers 26, Browns 8
49ers won their last three games, by 19-11-18 points.
49ers are 9-0 when they allow less than 26 points.
49ers were 11-17 on third down, Cleveland 3-11.
49ers are 5-0 ATS as a road favorite this year.

49ers led the Browns 10-8 at halftime.
Browns in 2nd half: 28 plays, 60 yards, no points.
Cleveland gained less than 280 yards in their last seven games.
Browns are 0-9 when they allow more than 10 points.

Jaguars 25, Titans 3
Jaguars scored TDs on 2 of  first 3 drives, led 15-3 early.
Jacksonville won last three games, scoring 35-27-25 points.
Jaguars held 9 of last 11 opponents under 100 yards rushing.
Jaguars are 8-3 ATS in last eleven AFC South road games.

Tennessee is 0-7 SU/3-4 ATS in last seven games.
Titans are 3-9 ATS in last 12 AFC South home games.
Tennessee is 5-16-1 ATS last 22 games coming off a loss.
Titans are 7-16 ATS in last 23 games as an underdog.

Texans 20, Colts 16
QB Stroud threw for 276 yards after missing last three games.
Texans were 6-13 on third down, Colts 3-10.
Houston won its last four games, by 7-3-4-4 points.
Texans are 6-0 when they score 20+ points.  

Colts’ first four drives: 18 plays, 71 yards, no points.
Houston led 10-6 at halftime.
Colts scored fewer than 20 points for first time this season.
Colts lost three of last four games, after a 7-1 start.

Dolphins 21, Saints 17
Miami won three of last four games, after a 1-6 start.
Down 19-11, Saints scored a TD with 1:17 left, but failed on 2-point try.
Saints recovered onside kick, got to Miami’s 36, but were stopped on downs.
De’Von Arcane ran ball for 134 yards and a TD. 

Saints lost five of their last six games.
New Orleans is 0-10 when it allows more than 14 points.
In seven of last eight games, Saints ran ball for less than 90 yards.
Saints are 0-4 in games decided by 7 or fewer points.

Jets 27, Falcons 24
Nick Folk kicked a 56-yard FG on last play to win on a rainy day.
Jets trailed 24-17, scored 10 points in last 1:53 of the game.
Jets are 3-2 in their last five games, after an 0-7 start.
WR Mitchell caught 8 passes for 102 yards and a TD. 

Game was tied 7-7 at halftime.
Atlanta lost six of its last seven games.
Falcons are 0-5 in games decided by 6 or fewer points.
Atlanta is 1-8 when it allows more than 14 points. 

Panthers 31, Rams 28
QB Young threw TD passes of 35-33-43 yards.
Carolina is 5-1 when they score 27+ points, 2-5 when they don’t
Panthers are 6-1 in games decided by 7 or fewer points.
Carolina is 5-0 ATS this year in games coming off a loss.

Rams were minus-3 in turnovers, throwing pick-6/INT in end zone.
LA allowed 33-26-31 points in their three losses.
Carolina was 7-15 on third down (3-3 on 4th), Rams 2-5.
7-6 Panthers are half-game behind Tampa Bay in NFC South.
 
Buccaneers 20, Cardinals 17
Buccaneers in first half: 34 plays, 147 yards, 10 points.
Tampa Bay led 10-3 at halftime.
Tampa Bay was 7-16 on third down, Arizona 3-8
Last eleven games, Tampa Bay is +9 in turnovers.

Cardinals are 0-7 in games decided by 4 or fewer points.
Arizona’s first five drives: 27 plays, 128 yards, 3 points.
Cardinals lost four in row, nine of last ten games.
Arizona is 1-8 when they allow more than 17 points. 

Famous birthdays, December 1st:
Bette Midler, 80
George Foster, 77
Larry Walker, 59
Steve Walsh, 59

DeSean Jackson, 39
Dan Straily, 37
Javier Baez, 33
Gary Payton II, 33

 Seahawks 26, Vikings 0
Vikings lost four in row, six of their last seven games.
Last four games, Minnesota is minus-11 in turnovers.
#3 QB Brosmer was overmatched, threw an 85-yard pick-6.
Minnesota was shut out for first time since 2007.

Seattle kicked FGs on four of their first seven drives.
Seattle is 4-1 ATS as a home favorite this year.
Seahawks won five of their last six games.
Seahawks held 8 of last 10 opponents under 300 TY.

Chargers 31, Raiders 14
Chargers outgained the Raiders, 341-156.
Chargers converted 12-17 on third down, Las Vegas 2-8
QB Herbert broke a bone in his left (non-throwing) hand.
Bolts are 8-3 ATS last 11 games as a home favorite.

Game was tied 7-7 at halftime.
Chargers in 2nd half: 31 plays, 199 yards, 24 points.
Raiders lost six games in a row, 10 of last 11.
Raiders are 11-18-2 ATS last 31 games as an underdog.  

Bills 26, Steelers 7
Pittsburgh led 7-3 at halftime.
Bills scored a defensive TD on first play of third quarter.
Steelers in 2nd half: 21 plays, 95 yards, zero points.
Pittsburgh lost five of its last seven games.

Buffalo outgained the Steelers, 372-166.
Bills ran ball 51 times for 249 yards (4.9 yards/carry).
Bills are 13-8 ATS in last 21 games coming off a loss.
Buffalo is 8-0 when they score more than 20 points.

Broncos 27, Commanders 26 OT
Both teams scored TD in OT; Washington went for 2 points/win, but failed.
Denver is 2-6 ATS last eight games as a road favorite.
Broncos won their last nine games, last four by 3-3-3-1 points.
Seven of their last eight wins were by 4 or fewer points.

Backup QB Mariota threw for 294 yards, two TD’s.
Commanders kicked FG at gun of regulation to force OT.
Washington is 0-7 SU/1-6 ATS in their last seven games.
Commanders are 0-5 in games decided by 9 or fewer points.

— College football coaching changes:
Lane Kiffin quits Ole Miss, bolts to LSU. He will not coach the Rebels in the college football playoff. 

Ole Miss named defensive coordinator Pete Golding its new head coach; he has never been a head coach before.

Florida hired former Tulane coach Jon Sumrall, who is 42-11 in four years as a HC.

Arkansas hired former Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield, who was 50-24 with the Tigers, 4-0 in bowl games.

Auburn hired former South Florida coach Alex Golesh, who was 23-15 in three years at USF, 2-0 in bowls.

Oklahoma State hired former North Texas coach Eric Morris, who was 22-15 in three years with the Mean Green.

Michigan State fired Jonathan Smith, who was 9-15 in two years at MSU, after going 25-13 his last three years at Oregon State. Spartans are expected to hire Pat Fitzgerald, who was 110-101 when he was coaching at Northwestern, his alma mater. 

— SMU 35, California 38
Golden Bears led 31-14 with 14:00 left in the game.
SMU rallied to take lead, but Cal scored game-winning TD with 0:43 left.
Mustangs missed a 52-yard field at the end that would’ve forced overtime.
Result puts 7-5 Duke in the ACC title game, against Virginia.

— Alabama 27, Auburn 20
Alabama drove 75 yards, scored game-winning TD with 3:50 left.
Alabama led this game 17-0 early in second quarter.
Alabama-Georgia is the SEC title game next Saturday. 

— Ohio State 27, Michigan 9
Buckeyes snap a four-game losing skid against their arch-rival.
Michigan scored on 3 of first 4 drives, but they kicked 3 field goals.
Rest of game, Michigan ran 18 plays for 39 yards, and no points.

— Troy 28, Southern Miss 18
Goose Crowder threw three TD passes for the 8-4 Trojans.
Troy outgained Southern Miss 428-304, overcame 11 penalties for 87 yards.
Troy will play James Madison in the Sun Belt title game next weekend.

— Vanderbilt 45, Tennessee 24
QB Pavia threw for 268 yards, ran for 165 more.
Game was tied 21-21 at halftime.
First time ever Vanderbilt won 10+ games in the regular season.

— Upsets of the Week:
California (+13.5) 38, SMU 35
Georgia Southern (+9.5) 24, Marshall 19
UAB (+7.5) 31, Tulsa 24
Army (+7.5) 27, Tex-San Antonio 24

Troy (+6.5) 28, Southern Miss 18
Kent State (+5.5) 35, Northern Illinois 31
Navy (+5.5) 28, Memphis 17
Middle Tennessee (+4.5) 31, New Mexico State 24 OT

— Baltimore Orioles signed reliever Ryan Helsley to a 2-year, $28M contract; Helsley had 21 saves for St Louis last year, but they traded him to the Mets at the trade deadline and he didn’t do well in New York, posting a 7.20 ERA in 22 games as a set-up man.

— Stanford Cardinal hired Washington Commanders QB coach Tavita Pritchard as its new football coach. Pritchard is a former Stanford quarterback who was also an assistant coach there from 2010-22.

— Texas A&M is 11-1 after getting upset Friday; they’ve beaten four teams who fired their coach during the season.

— Lions/Cowboys both play every year on Thanksgiving; how do they do the next week, with the little mini-bye built into their schedules? 

Last 11 years, Dallas is 7-4 ATS in their game after Thanksgiving.
Last five years, Detroit is 4-1 in their game after Thanksgiving.

— Famous birthdays, November 30th:
Jim Chones, 76
Bob Tewksbury, 65
Bo Jackson, 63
Ben Stiller, 60
Shane Victorino, 45

Rich Harden, 44
Elisha Cuthbert, 42
Kaley Cuoco, 40
Chase Anderson, 38
Daylen Lile, 23

— Drake 84, Georgia Tech 74
Bad loss for ACC, losing to an MVC team that is outside the top 100.
Drake was 20-2y on foul line, Tech was 7-18.
Tech is 5-3, but 0-3 vs top 200 teams.

— Cal-Santa Barbara 74, Seattle 71
Seattle led by 8 early in the second half.
Seattle was +8 in turnovers, but got out-rebounded 33-18
Gauchos were 22-25 on foul line, Seattle 14-22.

— Penn 73, LaSalle 71
LaSalle led by 15 early in the second half.
Penn was 10-20 on the arc; they got out-rebounded 40-31.
6-9 junior Power played all 40:00, scored 29 points for Penn.

— LSU 96, DePaul 63
Tigers led 50-22 at halftime.
7-0 LSU has played schedule #328 so far.
It gets tougher now; next 3 games: @ Boston College, vs Texas Tech, SMU

— Some teams with worst continuity coming into the year:
Xavier
Baylor
Central Florida
Indiana
Maryland
Memphis
Miami FL
West Virginia

— Bears 24, Eagles 15
Chicago ran ball 47 times for 281 yards (6.0 yards/carry)
Bears won five in row, nine of last ten games
Chicago was 10-17 on third down, Eagles 4-12.
Bears are 9-3, 6-1 in games decided by 5 or fewer points.

Eagles’ first six drives: 23 plays, 63 yards, 3 points.
Philly ran for less than 100 yards in seven of last ten games.
AJ Brown caught 10 passes for 132 yards.
Last four games, RB Barkley has run ball for only 54.3 yards/game.

— Vanderbilt 96, Saint Mary’s 71
Gaels beat Vandy 59-56 last year, in NCAA Tourney game (59 possessions)
Vandy gets revenge here, in much faster game (72 possessions)
Commodores scored 1.33 ppp, led 51-34 at halftime.
Vandy is 8-0, with three top 100 wins, and the #5 eFG% in country.

— Stanford 78, Saint Louis 77
Billikens led by 15 midway thru the first half.
Stanford trailed Minnesota by 10 in Thursday’s win.
Stanford shot 29.7% inside arc, 13-27 outside arc.

— Pittsburgh 67, Ohio State 66
Demarco Miner scored 18 points, hit 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Pitt played seven guys, and the 7th guy only played 7:00.
Buckeyes led by 5 with 4:12 left in the game.

— UConn 74, Illinois 61
UConn never trailed; Illinois shot only 6-29 on the arc.
Huskies are 6-1, with #10 eFG% defense in country.
Illinois is 6-2, losing both their games away from Evanston.

— SMU 87, Mississippi State 81 OT
Miss State led by 9 with 7:36 left in the game.
SMU is 8-0, with top 100 wins over Butler (87-85) and this game.
Mustangs start four seniors; they had a 50-40 edge on the boards.

Top 5 experience teams in country:
1) Indiana
2) SMU
3) Liberty
4) Gonzaga
5) Texas

— Famous birthdays, November 29th:
Mike Easler, 75
Kim Delaney, 67
Howard Johnson, 65
Andrew McCarthy, 63

Don Cheadle, 61
TJ Rubley, 57
Mariano Rivera, 56
Jamal Mashburn, 53

Anna Faris, 49
Russell Wilson, 37
Stefan Diggs, 32
Julius Randle, 31

— BYU 83, Dayton 79
Dayton led 36-30 at halftime.
Richie Saunders scored 29 points for BYU.
Dayton lost, despite shooting 15-33 on the arc.
This was a high-level game.

— BYU’s Saunders is the grandson of the guy who founded frozen foods company Ore-Ida- they invented Tater Tots. Saunders has an NIL deal with Ore-Ida, which makes sense. 

— Oklahoma 75, Marquette 74
Oklahoma shot 11-28 on arc; Nijel Pack scored 24 points.
Marquette is 0-4 vs top 100 teams; they led by 12 with 13:19 left to play

— VCU 86, Virginia Tech 68
VCU shot 11-21 on the arc, led 45-35 at halftime.
Rams are 5-3; five of their eight games were against top 100 teams.

— Some teams who’ve played the hardest schedules so far:
1) Oakland
2) Alabama
6) Rider
8) Morehead State
9) Michigan

— Western Kentucky 75, Wichita State 70
Wichita led by 9 with 13:24 left to play.
Hilltoppers went 1-2 in Atlantis tourney; games were decided by 5-6-5 points.
Only six guys scored for WKU, only four of them had more than 5 points.

— Top five teams in country, via KenPom’s ratings:
1) Michigan
2) Purdue
3) Duke
4) Iowa State
5) Gonzaga

— Packers 31, Lions 24
Packers’ first six drives: 47 plays, 320 yards, 31 points.
Jordan Love threw for 234 yards, four TD’s.
Green Bay is 8-0-1 when it scores 23+ points
Since 2019, Packers are 18-8-1 ATS as a road underdog.

Detroit is 3-4 in its last seven games, after a 4-1 start.
Lions are 1-5 when they score less than 34 points.
WR Williams caught seven passes for 144 yards and a TD.
Detroit was 8-13 on third down, Green Bay 6-12.

— Cowboys 31, Chiefs 28
Dallas won its last three games, scoring 33-24-31 points.
Cowboys were 9-16 on third down, outgained Chiefs 457-362.
WR Lamb caught seven passes for 112 yards and a TD.
Cowboys are 13-6 ATS last 19 games as a home underdog.

Chiefs’ first two drives: 14 plays, 109 yards, 14 points.
Chiefs’ next four drives: 25 plays, 94 yards, four punts.
Chiefs lost their last four road games, by 3-7-3-3 points.
Chiefs committed 5 pass interference penalties, most of any team in last 35 years.

— Bengals 32, Ravens 14
Ravens turned ball over five times on 12 drives.
Ravens are 0-5 when they allow more than 19 points.
QB Burrow threw for 261 yards, two TD’s.
Bengals were 8-19 on third down, Baltimore 3-10.

Just second win in last ten games for the Bengals.
Loss snaps the Ravens’ five-game winning streak.
Evan McPherson kicked six field goals for Cincinnati.
6-5 Steelers are atop AFC North, by half-game over 6-6 Baltimore.

— Navy 28, Memphis 17
9-2 Navy clinches at least a tie for AAC regular season title.
Middies ran ball 60 times for 200 yards.
Navy was 8-15 on third down, Memphis 4-12.
Memphis led this game 17-14 at halftime.

— South Florida 97, Western Kentucky 91 OT
Hilltoppers led 50-33 late in first half, by 6 with 1:14 left in regulation.
6-5 freshman Nyorha scored 11 points in 11:00 off the bench for USF.
South Florida shot 13-36 on arc; they’re 4-3, 0-3 vs top 100 teams.

— TCU 84, Florida 80
Gators led 44-39 at halftime.
6-5 soph Posey scored 21 points in 21:00 off the bench for TCU
Florida had 19 turnovers, Horned Frogs only nine.
Florida is 4-2, vs schedule #48.

— Michigan State 74, North Carolina 58
Spartans were 5-10 on arc, North Carolina was 4-23.
7-0 Michigan State is #49 in continuity, 6-1 UNC is #310.
Spartans have 3 top 40 wins (Arkansas-Kentuckyp-UNC)

— Famous birthdays, November 28th:
Ed Harris, 75
S. Epatha Merkerson, 73
Sixto Lezcano, 72
Preston Dennard, 70

George Andrews, 70
Dave Righetti, 67
Judd Nelson, 66

Jon Stewart, 63
Johnny Newman, 62
Matt Williams, 60

Pedro Astacio, 57
Robb Nen, 56
Leandro Barbosa, 43
Jarvis Landry, 33

— Indianapolis Colts’ QB Daniel Jones is dealing with a fractured fibula, a nice way of saying he will try to play through having a broken leg. Jones threw for 181 yards vs Kansas City in an OT loss last week, but ran the ball only three times.

Colts are 8-3, lead the AFC South by a game; they host Houston Sunday. 

— Missouri Tigers signed football coach Eli Drinkwitz to a six-year contract extension, worth roughly $10.7M/year. Mizzou is 28-9 the last three years, and has played in a bowl game the last six years under Drinkwitz’s tutelage. There were rumors that Penn State was interested inn hiring him, which is part of why he had a lot more to be thankful for Thursday.

— Colorado Rockies named interim manager Warren Schaeffer their full-time manager for 2026. Schaeffer was the Rockies’ 3rd base coach during their 7-33 start last year, but was named interim manager when Colorado fired Bud Black- their front office was terrible.

Schaeffer has been a member of the Rockies organization for over a decade and becomes the eighth full-time manager in club history. Paul DePodesta is Colorado’s new front office boss; he is the Jonah Hill character in Moneyball, so the Rockies are becoming analytics-driven.

— Vanderbilt 89, VCU 74
Lot of fouls; Vandy was 24-33 on foul line, VCU 27-35.
7-0 Vandy has a 61.6 eFG%, 5th-best in the country.
Vandy is #7 in country experience; they play Saint Mary’s Friday.

— Saint Mary’s 77, Virginia Tech 66
8-0 Gaels never trailed, shot 59.5% inside the arc.
For season, Gaels are shooting 40.4% on arc (#22), 81.7% on foul line (#8)
Saint Mary’s has #9 eFG% defense; they beat Wichita/Va Tech last two days, both top 100 teams.

— Saint Louis 71, Santa Clara 70
Santa Clara led by 9 early in second half.
This was first top 100 win for Billikens, who are shooting 63.6% inside arc (#8)
First loss for Santa Clara, which has top 100 wins over Xavier/McNeese State

— Houston Rockets are only NBA team that hasn’t played on back/back nights yet this season. Warriors have done it five times, 76ers four times, most in the league so far. 

Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving; thanks for reading every day (you do read this every day, right???) Hope you all enjoy the day.

— Michigan 101, Gonzaga 61
Wolverines were awesome this week, winning by 40-30-40 points.
All three of those wins were against top 50 teams.
Michigan shot 69.7% inside arc, shot 13-27 on arc.

— USC 88, Arizona State 75
Trojans shot 73.5% inside arc, win the Maui Classic.
One of USC’s best players, Rodney Rice, didn’t play in this game (shoulder)
Trojans are 7-0, with three wins by 3 or fewer points.

— Texas 102, NC State 97
Texas shot 16-32 on the arc, scored 1.42 points/possession.
NC State scored 1.35 points/possession but lost; unusual.
Texas is #5 experience team that is 6-2 vs schedule #312.

— Baylor 91, San Diego State 81
Baylor led 40-36 at halftime, pulled away in second half.
Bears improve to 5-1, with three top 60 wins.
Shaky start for the Mountain West; they’re only 51-30 SU this month, 7-15 against teams in the top 100.

— Kansas 81, Tennessee 76
Tennessee led this game 41-34 at halftime.
Kansas was 26-30 on foul line, Vols 17-22.
Kansas is 6-2, against schedule #26. 

Jayhawks went 3-0 in Las Vegas this week, even though star freshman Peterson (hamstring) didn’t play in any of the games.

— Famous birthdays, November 27th:
Don Strock, 75
Curtis Armstrong, 72
AJ Duhe, 70
Mike Scioscia, 67

Ken O’Brien, 65
Michael Rispoli, 55
Brooke Langton, 55
Nick Van Exel, 54

Ivan Rodriguez, 54
Adam Archuleta, 48
Jimmy Rollins, 47
Brendan Haywood, 46

— Toronto Blue Jays signed P Dylan Cease to a 7-year, $210M contract; Cease has started 32 or 33 games each of the last five years. He was 8-12, 4.55 for San Diego last year; for his career, he is 65-58, 3.88 in 188 starts.

— The baseball they use in the major leagues is slightly bigger than they one they use in the pro leagues in Japan, which may be why Japanese pitchers sometimes take a while to adjust to pitching in this country.

— Jim Mora Jr is the new football coach at Colorado State, which moves to the revived Pac-12 next season. Mora coached at UConn the last four years, going 18-7 the last two seasons. He was previously 46-30 in six years coaching UCLA, 31-33 in four years as an NFL head coach.

Colorado State has had only one winning season the last eight years, going 8-5 last year- they haven’t won a bowl game since 2013, losing their last five bowls.

— Baylor is the only college basketball team that, over the last five years, has had a player taken in the first 19 picks of the NBA Draft.

— Movie of the Day: Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)- A sportswriter discovers that his grade school-aged son is a chess prodigy. 

Joe Mantegna is the sportswriter, Joan Allen is his wife. Ben Kingsley/Laurence Fishburne are chess experts who try and influence how the kid plays the game, in vastly different ways.

This is a very good movie. 

— Auburn 85, St John’s 74
St John’s led 39-30 at halftime.
Auburn shot 59% inside the arc.
St John’s is 4-3, with only one top 100 win (Baylor).

— Saint Mary’s 70, Wichita State 65
Gaels outscored Wichita 6-0 over the last 1:16 of the game.
Brickfest; teams combined to shoot 6-30 on the arc.
Saint Mary’s is 7-0, but this was their first top 100 game.

— Wagner 103, Manhattan 101 OT
Jaspers led by 19 late in the first half.
Manhattan led 56-43 at halftime.
1-5 Wagner gets its first win; they shot 58.3% inside arc, 9-16 on arc.

— Virginia Tech 66, Colorado State 64
Tech is 6-0, with two top 100 wins (Providence, Colorado State)
Hokies were 13-16 on foul line, Colorado State 6-8.
Virginia Tech-Saint Mary’s is an interesting game Thursday

— VCU 78, South Florida 66
VCU was 23-32 on foul line, South Florida 12-20
Teams combined to shoot 9-37 on the arc.
VCU is 4-2, but this was their first top 300 win (lost to Utah State/NC State)