Armadillo Sports

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

Wednesday- Open for lunch at noon
Thursday-  Open Mike Night, 7:00
Friday- Indiana-Oregon on TV; karaoke at 8:00
Saturday- Live music at 8:00…….NFL playoff games
Sunday- Watch NFL playoff games on 12 TV’s

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

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Saturday/Sunday NFL info is posted
Friday’s college football info is posted

Friday’s 6-pack:
Some teams getting highest %age of their points on foul shots:
26.7%— Nevada
26.5%— Tulane
26.5%— USC
26.5%— Campbell
26.5%— Cal-Bakersfield
26.0%— Tarleton State

Quote of the Day
“He’s hungry, he’s driven, he’s a great human being. And all he wants to do is see is teammates have success. Carson Beck, I cant say enough good things about him. Absolutely awesome.”
Miami Hurricanes coach Mario Cristobal

Friday’s quiz
Who was the host of the excellent game show, The Newlywed Game? 

Thursday’s quiz
Of the 14 teams in the NFL playoffs, 12 of their starting QBs were first round draft picks; Jalen Hurts was a 2nd round pick, Brock Purdy was a 7th round pick.

Wednesday’s quiz
When the Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2012, Joe Flacco was their QB. 

— Miami 31, Ole Miss 27
Miami drove 75 yards, scored game-winning TD with 0:18 left.
Hurricanes ran 88 plays from scrimmage, Ole Miss 60.
Miami converted 11-19 third down plays, Rebels 2-10.
Miami will play the Indiana-Oregon winner for the national title January 19.

— All four semi-final teams in the College Football Playoff have Australian punters. 

— Miami Dolphins fired coach Mike McDaniel, who was 35-35 in four years coaching the Dolphins- he went 20-16 the first two years, 15-19 the last two, missing playoffs the last two seasons. Curious to see who they hire as their next coach; that person will be Miami’s ninth head coach since the last time they won a playoff game, in 2000.

QB Tua Tagovailoa is a $$$ problem; Miami can’t cut him this year, or he would be a $99.2 dead cap hit, a huge number, so they’ll have to keep him, at least for another year.

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers kept head coach Todd Bowles, but they fired seven assistant coaches, which means that next year, Baker Mayfield will have his sixth different offensive coordinator in the last six years.

— Miami Marlins traded P Edward Cabrera to the Cubs, for OF prospect Owen Caissie and two lesser outfield prospects. Cabrera was 8-7, 3.53 in 26 starts for the Marlins last year.

— In the NBA, Atlanta Hawks traded G Trae Young to Washington Wizards, for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert. Young is averaging 19.3 ppg this year, first time in the last seven years he is scoring less than 20 points/game.

— Random trivia; Jets were the only NFL team this season to start the same five offensive linemen in every game.

— Famous birthdays, January 9th
ML Carr, 75
JK Simmons, 71
Otis Nixon, 67
Stan Javier, 62
Joely Richardson, 61

David Costabile, 59
Chad Johnson, 48
Michael Beasley, 37
Marcus Peters, 33
Kerris Dorsey, 29

— Cal-Davis 93, UCSB 86
Gauchos led 33-15 midway thru the first half.
Cal-Davis shot 65.4% inside arc, scored 1.31 ppp
6 of the 8 guys who played for Cal-Davis scored in double figures.

— Gonzaga 89, Santa Clara 77
Game was tied 37-37 at halftime.
Graham Ike scored 34 points, had 11 rebounds.
Gonzaga shot 65.1% inside the arc.
Zags won 52 of their last 56 games against Santa Clara.

— Northridge 95, Cal Poly 90
Cal Poly led by 14 with 12:49 left in the game.
Matadors’ PG Davis scored 23 points, had 15 assists.
Cal Poly shot 16-44 on arc, 13-26 inside arc.

— Portland 90, Pacific 89 OT
Portland outscored Pacific 9-3 in last 0:22 of overtime.
Pilots shot 13-23 outside the arc.
First win in five WCC games for Portland.

— LMU 84, San Francisco 82, 2OT
McBride had 18 points in 38:00 for LMU; he didn’t start.
LMU had 50 points in paint, San Francisco had 26.
Ryan Beasley scored 32 points for USF.

— Tennessee-Martin 76, Morehead State 68
Morehead led by 16 late in the first half.
Tennessee-Martin shot 58.6% inside the arc.
Skyhawks are 12-4, with wins at Bradley, at UNLV

— Ohio State 72, Oregon 62
All five OSU starters scored between 10-14 points.
Buckeyes are shooting 61% inside the arc (#9) this year.
Ducks are struggling, off to an 8-8 start, 1-4 in the league. 

— In the NBA, Bulls-Heat game was postponed because of condensation on the floor; it will be made up down the road. During the delay before they postponed the game, the Bulls’ mascot stood at half court, flung the ball over his head with his back to the basket and swished it. Pretty impressive. 

— Vanderbilt 96, Alabama 90
Vandy was 35-50 on foul line, Alabama 29-38; lot of fouls.
Crimson Tide was 9-40 on the arc, 17-30 inside arc.
Commodores are 15-0, one of six unbeaten teams in the country.

— UConn 103, Providence 98 OT
Providence led by 11 with 3:12 left in regulation.
UConn shot 18-32 on the arc; Friars were 14-24.
Silas Demery had 23 points, 15 assists for UConn

— Saint Louis 71, VCU 62
Saint Louis outscored VCU 10-0 over last 2:30 of the game.
VCU only shot 28.6% from the floor, at home.
Billikens are 14-1; they lost by a point to Stanford.

— Creighton 76, Villanova 72
Bluejays shot 62.9% inside the arc.
Villanova led by 10 points in the first half.
Creighton is 4-1 in Big East; they’re 6-5 in non-league games.

— Marquette 66, Xavier 65
Golden Eagles snapped a six-game losing skid.
Marquette out-rebounded Xavier, 47-34
Xavier shot 31.4% inside arc, 11-24 on the arc.

— Clemson 74, SMU 70
Clemson never trailed; they’re 13-3, 3-0 in ACC games.
Tigers have #25 eFG% defense in country.
SMU is 12-3, 1-3 on road, with only win at Mississippi State

— Arkansas 94, Ole Miss 87
Arkansas shot 14-30 on arc, scored 1.30 ppp.
Arkansas won its last three games, scoring 97.7 ppg
Razorbacks are 12-3; all three losses are to teams in top 12 in country.

— BYU 104, Arizona State 76
Cougars shot 70% inside arc, 14-31 on the arc, scored 1.34 ppp.
BYU scored 59 points in the second half.
Arizona State lost its last four games, giving up 91.8 ppg. 

— Famous birthdays, January 8th:
Calvin Natt, 69
Mark Herrmann, 67
Jason Giambi, 55

Billy Joe Hobert, 55
Mike Cameron, 53
Jeff Francouer, 42

Jeff Hoffman, 33
Chris Paddack, 30
Jhoan Duran, 28

— More and more, college basketball teams prefer that all their shots either be layups or 3-pointers; 15-foot jumpers are pretty much frowned upon.

These are the teams whose 2-point shots are the shortest in the country:
Saint Louis
Texas A&M
Marquette
George Washington
South Florida
St Thomas

— One thing about college basketball the next few weeks; this is Gonzaga’s last year to beat the tar out of WCC opponents- they’re moving up to the new/improved Pac-12 next year.

— In-game interviews with coaches are useless; none of them ever say anything, they’re mainly spouting cliches and trying to get back to their bench.

— Colorado Rockies signed P Michael Lorenzen for one year, $8M; Lorenzen was 7-11, 4.64 in 26 starts for the Royals last year. Colorado will be his 7th big league team.

— Three of 14 teams in the Atlantic 14 are nicknamed the Rams; VCU, Rhode Island, Fordham all have Ram mascots.

— Random observation: NFL kickers are way better than they used to be. Jaguars’ Cam Little has made field goals of 67, 68 yards this year; he made a 70-yarder in an exhibition game.

— Indianapolis Colts ran a successful fake punt last week, then on the very next play, they kept the punt team on the field and ran another fake punt. Other team was so confused they got a penalty for having too many men on the field.

— Matt Campbell is the new football coach at Penn State; he’s already poached 19 players from Iowa State, his old team. 

— Baltimore Ravens fired coach John Harbaugh after 18 years; Harbaugh was 190-124 as Ravens’ coach, 13-11 in playoff games- they won the Super Bowl in 2012. 

Ravens made the playoffs six of the last eight years, would have gotten there again this year had their rookie kicker made a 44-yard field goal at the end of Sunday’s game in Pittsburgh.

Something to tuck away: Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers play at Baltimore next fall.

— There were 63 Venezuelan-born ballplayers in the major leagues last year; five of them are on my fantasy team. The chaos in Venezuela could screw up this spring’s World Baseball Classic; there is still enough time for all the major leaguers to get back here in time for spring training and the WBC.

— Philadelphia Phillies hired Don Mattingly as bench coach; his son Preston is the Phiilies’ general manager. Mattingly was bench coach with the Blue Jays the last three years.

— Texas Tech poached QB Brendan Sorsby from the Cincinnati Bearcats, are apparently paying him $5M next year.

— One wish for next football season; Pete Carroll in a TV booth somewhere, think he would provide good energy and a lot of knowledge.

— Famous birthdays, January 7th:
Erin Gray, 76
David Caruso, 70
Brian Baldinger, 65
Ron Rivera, 63

Nicolas Cage, 62
Todd Day, 56
Frank Menechino, 55
Francisco Rodriguez, 44

Jhoulys Chacin, 38
Dean Kremer, 30
Ozzie Albies, 29
Lamar Jackson, 29

— Detroit Lions fired offensive coordinator John Morton after only one season; Detroit went 9-8 this year, missed the playoffs for first time in three years.Lions scored 28.3 ppg; they scored 33.2 ppg last year, when Ben Johnson was the OC.

— Washington Commanders let both their coordinators go, a year after they played in the NFC title game. OC Kliff Kingsbury should’t be unemployed very long. Washington’s defense finished last in yards allowed, 27th in points given up, so firing the DC was expected.

QB Jayden Daniels played four full games; Washington was 5-12 this year, after going 12-5 LY.

— New Jersey Jets had only four takeaways all season, are the first NFL team EVER not to intercept a pass all season. Jets wound up minus-19 in turnovers.

— Dallas Cowboys fired DC Matt Eberflus; next season Dallas will have their fourth different DC in four years. Cowboys traded their best defensive player to Green Bay before the season, then went 7-9-1, 1-8 when they scored less than 30 points. Dallas allowed the most points in the league, were 30th in yards allowed.

— Movie of the Day: Tequila Sunrise (1988)- A retired drug dealer in Los Angeles tries to go straight but his past and his underworld connections bring him into the focus of the DEA, the Mexican feds and the Mexican drug cartels.

Mel Gibson is the dealer, Michelle Pfeiffer runs the restaurant where he eats, Kurt Russell and JT Walsh are cops trying to bust drug dealers. Raul Julia is an old friend of the dealer.

Good movie; I found it the other day on YouTube.

— Nebraska’s basketball team is 15-0; they’re ranked in top 10 for the first time since 1966. 

— Texas A&M 90, Auburn 88
Auburn hit 3-pointer at buzzer that was waved off after a replay review.
Auburn led by 16 points with 13:29 left in the game.
Texas A&M shot 61.3% inside the arc.
Aggies have won won five in row, 10 of last 11 games.

— Kansas 104, TCU 100, OT
TCU led by 9 with 1:14 left in the game.
Kansas was 30-40 on foul line, Horned Frogs 15-24.
Jayhawks avoided their first 0-2 start in league play since 1991.

— Wisconsin 80, UCLA 72
Badgers led 33-13 midway thru first half.
UCLA shot 1-17 on the arc, 15-23 on foul line.
Bruins are 1-4 on the road, with only win at Washington.

— Duke 84, Louisville 73
Louisville led by 12 late in the first half.
Duke outscored Cardinals 46-26 in second half.
Blue Devils shot 64.7% inside the arc. 

— South Carolina 78, LSU 68
Gamecocks led this game 43-15 in the first half.
Carolina shot 12-21 from the arc.
6-4 junior Strong scored 30 points in 25:00

Postseason trends for all 14 teams in the playoffs:
AFC
— Denver Broncos
Lost Wild Card game last year, their first playoff game since 2015.

Sean Payton is 9-9 in playoff games, won Super Bowl 16 years ago.
QB Nix lost his one playoff game, 31-7 to Buffalo.

Denver is 9-3 in last 12 home playoff games.
Overall, Broncos are 3-5 in Super Bowls.

— New England Patriots
Patriots are in playoffs for first time in four years.
New England’s last win in a playoff game: 2018.

Mike Vrabel is 2-3 in playoff games (0-2 in home games)
QB Maye will be playing in his first NFL playoff game.

New England is 6-5 in Super Bowls.

— Jacksonville Jaguars
Jaguars are in playoffs for first time since 2022, third time in last 18 years.

Liam Coen will be coaching in his first NFL playoff game.
QB Lawrence is 1-1 in playoff games.

Overall, Jacksonville is 8-8 in playoff games, 4-1 at home.
Jaguars have never made it to the Super Bowl.

— Pittsburgh Steelers
Steelers are in playoffs for third year in row, fifth time in last six years.
Pittsburgh lost its last five playoff games; their last playoff win? 2017

Mike Tomlin is 8-11 in playoff games; he won Super Bowl in 2008
QB Rodgers is 11-10 in playoff games; he won Super Bowl in 2010.

Steelers lost three of last four home playoff games.
Pittsburgh is 6-2 in Super Bowls.

— Houston Texans
Texans are in playoffs for the third year in a row.
Houston has been in playoffs eight times:
6-2 in their first playoff game of a season, 0-6 in second one. 

DeMeco Ryans is 2-2 in playoff games.
QB Stroud is 2-2 in playoff games.

Houston is 6-2 in home playoff games, 0-6 on the road.
Texans haven’t made it to a Super Bowl.

— Buffalo Bills
Bills are in the playoffs for the seventh year in a row.
Buffalo lost its last eight road playoff games; last road playoff win? 1992

Sean McDermott is 7-7 in playoff games.
QB Allen is 7-6 in playoff games.
Buffalo is 0-4 in Super Bowls.

Since 2020, Bills are 0-4 vs Chiefs in playoffs, 7-1 vs everyone else.

— Los Angeles Chargers
Chargers are in playoffs for third time in four years. 

Jim Harbaugh is 5-4 in playoff games, 0-1 in Super Bowl.
QB Herbert is 0-2 in playoff games.
Chargers lost their only Super Bowl, in 1994.

Since 2008, Chargers are 3-6 in playoff games.
Chargers’ last home playoff game was in 2009.

Famous birthdays, January 6th:
Harold Jackson, 80
Howie Long, 66
Sean Landeta, 64

Norm Charlton, 63
Kate McKinnon, 42
AJ Hawk, 42

Ndamukong Suh, 39
Kevin Gausman, 35
Jameis Winston, 32

NFC
— Seattle Seahawks
Seahawks are in playoffs for first time in three years.

Macdonald is coaching in his first playoff game.
QB Darnold lost his only playoff game, 27-9 to the Rams

Seahawks are 1-2 in Super Bowls.
Seahawks won 10 of their last 11 home playoff games.
Since losing Super Bowl to New England in 2014, Seattle is 3-6 in playoff games.

— Chicago Bears
Bears are in playoffs for first time since 2020.
Chicago’s last playoff win? 2010

Ben Johnson is coaching in his first playoff game.
QB Williams is playing in his first playoff game.

Chicago split its two Super Bowls, winning in 1985.

In Super Bowl era, Bears are 2-6 in road playoff games.
Chicago is 3-5 in last eight home playoff games.

— Philadelphia Eagles
Eagles are in playoffs for fifth year in row, 8th time in nine years.
Philadelphia has won two Super Bowls, including last year’s. 

Nick Sirianni is 6-3 in playoff games, 1-1 in Super Bowls.
QB Hurts is 6-3 in playoff games.

Eagles are 5-0 SU/4-1 ATS in last five home playoff games.
Eagles lost five of their last six road playoff games.
Overall, Eagles are 2-3 in the Super Bowl.

— Carolina Panthers
Carolina is in playoffs for first time since 2017.

Dave Canales is coaching in his first playoff game.
QB Young is playing in his first playoff game.

Panthers are 4-3 in road playoff games.
Panthers are 5-2 in home playoff games.
Carolina lost both its Super Bowls.

— Los Angeles Rams
Rams are in playoffs for 7th time in McVay’s nine years as coach.

Sean McVay is 8-5 in playoff games, 1-1 in Super Bowl.
QB Stafford is 5-5 in playoff games.

Rams won their last four home playoff games.
Rams are 6-3 ATS in their last nine playoff games.
Rams are 4-4 SU in last eight road playoff games, 2-3 in Super Bowls.

— San Francisco 49ers
49ers are in playoffs for fifth time in last seven years.

Kyle Shanahan is 6-4 in playoff games, 0-2 in Super Bowls
QB Purdy is 4-2 in playoff games.

Last six times 49ers were in playoffs, they went WWL

San Francisco won its last seven home playoff games.
49ers are 5-3 in last eight road playoff games

San Francisco is 5-3 in Super Bowls; their last win? 1994.

— Green Bay Packers
Green Bay is in playoffs for sixth time in last seven years.
Packers are the #7-seed for third year in a row.

Matt LaFleur is 3-5 in playoff games
QB Love is 1-2 in playoff games. 

Since 2014, Packers are 3-6 in road playoff games.
Packers lost their last three home playoff games.
Green Bay is 4-1 in Super Bowls (last win, 2010)

Steelers 26, Ravens 24
Ravens missed a 44-yard FG at the gun; Steelers win AFC North.
Steelers drove 65 yards, took lead for good on 26-yard TD pass with 0:55 left.
Baltimore lost four of its last six games, after a 5-0 streak. 
Ravens miss playoffs for only second time in last eight years.

Baltimore led this game 1o-3 at halftime.
Steelers in second half: 40 plays, 237 yards, 23 points.
Pittsburgh won three of its last four games.
Steelers host Houston in first round of playoffs next Monday. 

Falcons 19, Saints 17
Atlanta’s win made Carolina Panthers NFC South champs.
Panthers host the Rams Saturday in first round of the playoffs.
After the game, Falcons fired both their coach and GM.
Raheem Morris went 8-9/8-9 in his two years coaching Atlanta.

Last 2 years. Falcons were 12-10 when QB Cousins plays, 4-8 when didn’t
Atlanta’s first TD in this game came on a 5-yard drive, after a blocked punt.
New Orleans outgained the Falcons, 340-208.
Saints wound up 5-4 this year when rookie QB Shough started. 

Jaguars 41, Titans 7
Jacksonville clinches AFC South, their third playoff spot in last 18 years.
Jaguars won their last eight games, scoring 33.6 ppg 
Tennessee QB Ward hurt his shoulder early on, threw only three passes.
Jaguars host Buffalo in first round of the playoffs Sunday.

Titans are 9-19 ATS in last 28 games as an underdog.
Up 14-7, Jaguars broke game open with a 58-yard pick-6.
Jacksonville K Little booted a 67-yard FG at the halftime gun.
Liam Coen has an impressive 13-4 in his first year as Jaguars’ coach.

Broncos 19, Chargers 3
Denver clinches #1-seed in AFC and a bye next week.
Broncos won 13 of their last 14 games.
Chargers sat out #1 QB Herbert, who has broken left hand.
Chargers’ first five drives: 19 plays, 51 yards, 4 punts, one INT

Denver is in playoffs for second year in row, after an 8-year absence.
Broncos’ only TD of the day came on a 45-yard pick-6 in first quarter.
Chargers travel to Foxboro to play the Patriots Sunday night.
Jim Harbaugh is 72-34-1 as an NFL coach, 23-12 with the Bolts. 

Patriots 38, Dolphins 10
RB Stevenson had 9 touches for 153 yards, three TD’s
Patriots swept Miami for the first time since 2016.
New England hosts the Chargers Sunday night in Foxboro.
Patriots outgained Miami, 457-180.

Miami allowed 27+ points in all 10 of its losses this year.
Dolphins went 15-19 last two years; they were 20-16 McDaniel’s first two years.
Miami hasn’t won a playoff game since 2000.
Rookie QB Ewers was 16-23/137 in his first road start; he left late with an injury.

Rams 37, Cardinals 20
Arizona led this game 20-16 with 3:51 left in third quarter.
From that point on, Rams ran 24 plays for 217 yards, three TD’s.
QB Stafford threw for 259 yards, four TD’s.
Rams go to Carolina for a playoff game late Saturday afternoon.

Rams are 9-0 when they allow less than 26 points.
This was Sean McVay’s 100th win (100-62) as a head coach.
Rams have made the playoffs in seven of his nine years as coach.
Before McVay came to the Rams, they missed playoffs 12 years in a row. 

Raiders 14, Chiefs 12
Daniel Carlson kicked a 60-yard FG with 0:08 left for the win.
Chiefs had kicked FG’s with 3:33/1:01 left to grab a 21-11 lead.
Despite the win, Raiders own the first pick in April’s NFL Draft.
There were no TD’s in this game; both teams kicked four FG’s.

Chiefs ended a dismal season 6-11, losing their last six games.
#4 QB Buechele averaged 6.3 yards/pass attempt, was an improvement.
This was the Raiders’ first win since October 12 vs Tennessee.
Total yardage: Raiders 204, KC 168. Teams were combined 7-33 on 3rd down.

— Famous birthdays, January 5th:
Robert Duvall, 95
Rick Mount, 79
Jim Gantner, 73
Alex English, 72

Bob Dernier, 69
Steve Fuller, 69
Joe Cribbs, 68
Clancy Brown, 67

Danny Jackson, 63
Bradley Cooper, 51
Warrick Dunn, 51
Nori Aoki, 44

Texans 38, Colts 30
Houston kicked a 43-yard FG with 0:12 left for the win.
Texans scored TD on a fumble return on ensuing kickoff for final margin.
QB Stroud, other Houston starters, didn’t play most of second half.
Texans visit Pittsburgh in the playoffs next Monday night.

Rookie QB Leonard threw for 270 yards, two TD’s in his first NFL start.
WR Pierce caught four passes for 132 yards, two TD’s.
Colts are 8-3 ATS last 11 games as a road underdog.
Houston goes into the playoffs on a nine-game win streak. 

Commanders 24, Eagles 17
Washington outscored Philly 14-0 in fourth quarter.
Eagles rested QB Hurts, RB Barkley, several other starters.
Commanders led 10-7 at halftime after Moody kicked a 56-yard FG.
This was only second win in last 12 games for Washington.

Commanders led 10-7 at halftime after Moody kicked a 56-yard FG.
Washington was 6-for-11 on 3rd down behind 39-year old backup QB Johnson.
Philly was penalized nine times for 123 yards in this game.
Eagles host San Francisco in playoffs next week at 4:30 Sunday

Lions 19, Bears 16
Detroit kicked 42-yard FG at the gun to end their season 9-8.
Lions led 16-0 after the third quarter.
Detroit’s first three drives: 36 plays, 197 yards, 13 points.
Lions scored only one touchdown, were 4-5 kicking field goals.

Chicago kept the #2-seed, hosts Green Bay in playoffs Saturday night.
Bears lost 28-21 at Lambeau in Week 14, beat Packers 22-16 in Week 16.
Bears’ first five drives: 30 plays, 107 yards, no points.
Bears in fourth quarter: 22 plays, 158 yards, 16 points.

Giants 34, Cowboys 17
Giants win clinched the Raiders having the #1-pick in draft.
Giants won last two games, after a nine-game losing skid.
Giants were 8-14 on third down, Dallas 2-8.
Rookie QB Dart threw for 230 yards, finished his rookie season 4-8. 

Giants beat Cowboys for first time in last 10 meetings.
Giants led this game 16-10 at halftime. 
Dallas used backup QB Milton in second half.
Cowboys had consecutive losing seasons for first time since 2000-02.

Browns 20, Bengals 18
Cleveland kicked a 49-yard FG at the gun for the win.
Browns scored two defensive TD’s in first 16:00 of this game.
Bengals missed the PAT after their first two touchdowns.
Cincinnati outgained the Browns 364-200; turnovers were a killer.

Bengals were 1-8 when they scored less than 31 points.
QB Burrow threw for 236 yards, three TD’s.
Browns were 8-26 the last two years; will Watson play QB next year?
Bengals missed playoffs last three years, going 24-26.

Vikings 16, Packers 3
Green Bay kicked FG on last play to avoid being shut out.
#3 QB Tune is 0-2 as an NFL starter, losing 27-0/16-3.
Packers get QB Love back Saturday for a playoff game in Chicago.
Green Bay lost its last four games, after a 9-3-1 start.

Minnesota won its last five games to finish season 9-8
QB McCarthy got hurt (again), didn’t finish the game.
Vikings outgained Green Bay 363-121 in this game.
WR Jefferson caught eight passes for 101 yards. 

Bills 35, Jets 8
Game was 21-0 at half; not a spunky effort by the Jets.
Jets are 0-6 SU/1-5 ATS last five visits to Buffalo.
Buffalo won five of six, eight of their last eleven games overall.
Bills visit Jacksonville for a playoff game Sunday afternoon.

Jets are first team EVER not to intercept a pass all season.
Jets lost their last five games, giving up 34-48-29-42-35 points.
Jets were 0-12 when they score less than 27 points.  
Jets are 5-11-1 ATS last 17 games as a road underdog

— Buccaneers 16, Panthers 14
This game was played in a rainy quagmire in Tampa.
Both teams are now 8-9, tied for first in NFC South.
If Atlanta wins Sunday, it creates a 3-way tie; Carolina would advance
If New Orleans wins Sunday, Tampa Bay would advance.

Tampa Bay was 8-15 on third down, Carolina 1-8 (2-2 on 4th down)
Panthers ran the ball 14 times for only 19 yards.
Chase McLaughlin kicked field goals of 29-36-48 yards.
Just second win in last nine games for the Buccaneers.

— Seahawks 13, 49ers 3
Seattle wins NFC West, gets a first round bye in the playoffs.
Seahawks outgained San Francisco 361-173.
Seattle ran for 180 yards, didn’t score TD in three trips to red zone.
K Myers was only 2-4 on field goals; he had made 18 in a row coming in.

49ers will be #6-seed if Rams win Sunday, #5-seed if Arizona wins.
49ers’ first three drives: 12 plays, 39 yards, no points.
Seattle’s first four drives: 34 plays, 187 yards, 10 points.
Seahawks were 6-13 on third down, San Francisco 2-9.

— College Basketball Upsets of the Day:
Providence (+12) 77, St John’s 71
Mississippi State (+9.5) 101, Texas 98
Cal-Bakersfield (+9.5) 81, Cal-Davis 79
Georgia State (+8.5) 89, Coastal Carolina 71
James Madison (+8.5) 78, Arkansas State 74
Monmouth (+8.5) 62, Towson 48
Western Carolina (+8.5) 80, Furman 77 OT

There were 18 teams that won Saturday, after trailing by 10+ points. Lot of comebacks. 

— SEC basketball
Alabama 89, Kentucky 74
Crimson Tide led 50-34 at halftime.
Alabama shot 15-38 on the arc; Kentucky was 4-19.
Alabama is 11-3; they’ve played the toughest schedule in country so far.

Arkansas 86, Tennessee 75
Vols led by 5 with 12:29 left in the game.
Arkansas was 29-33 on foul line, Tennessee 12-23
Acuff had 29 points, 4 assists for the Razorbacks.

Georgia 104, Auburn 100 OT
Georgia shot 63.9% inside the arc.
Dawgs have won seven games in a row, are 13-1, vs schedule #321.
Georgia’s only loss was in OT to Clemson, on a neutral floor.

KenPom has four SEC teams ranked in the country’s top 30.
Going into Saturday, Bracketology had SEC getting 9 teams in NCAA’s.

— Big X 
BYU 83, Kansas State 73
Freshman AJ Dybansas had 24 points, 8 rebounds, 7 turnovers.
K-State shot 3-21 on the arc.
BYU has won 10 in a row, is 13-1 against schedule #51.

Central Florida 81, Kansas 75
Knights have won 11 in a row, are a very quiet 12-1 team.
UCF is #5 team in country on the offensive boards.
Kansas star Peterson had 26 points in 23:00; only third game he’s played since November 11th.

Houston 67, Cincinnati 60
Bearcats led by 10 early in the second half.
Freshman G Flemings had 19 points, 6 assists, 5 steals.
Cougars have won seven in a row, are 13-1 vs schedule #106.

KenPom has five Big X teams ranked in the country’s top 20.
Going into Saturday, Bracketology had Big X getting 8 teams in NCAA’s.

— Big East
Providence 77, St John’s 71
Red Storm led 15-2 early on, 39-32 at halftime.
6-9 senior Ejiofor was 14-23 on foul line. One guy; 23 foul shots.
First win for Providence in seven games vs top 100 teams.

Villanova 85, Butler 67
Villanova shot 67.6% inside the arc.
Butler is 1-3 in Big East games, giving up 90.8 ppg.
Villanova has won five in a row, is 12-2 vs schedule #49.

KenPom has only three Big East teams ranked in the country’s top 40.
Going into Saturday, Bracketology had Big East getting 5 teams in NCAA’s.

— Big 18
Iowa 74, UCLA 61
Hawkeyes led 38-14 early in the game.
6-4 senior Stirtz scored 27 points, had 5 assists.
Iowa shot 66.7% inside the arc, scored 1.19 ppp.

KenPom has six Big 18 teams ranked in the country’s top 25.
Going into Saturday, Bracketology had Big 18 getting 10 teams in NCAA’s.

— ACC
SMU 97, North Carolina 83
Game was 39-39 at halftime; SMU scored 58 points in 2nd half.
SMU shot 14-27 on the arc, scored 1.40 ppp.
Mustangs are 12-2 (5-2 vs top 100 teams) vs schedule #88.

Duke 91, Florida State 87
Duke was 23-25 on foul line, Seminoles 11-16.
Florida State shot 61% inside arc; they led by 4 points early in second half.
Duke is 13-1; their only loss was 82-81 to #20 Texas Tech.

KenPom has four ACC teams ranked in the country’s top 30.
Going into Saturday, Bracketology had ACC getting 8 teams in NCAA’s.

— Famous birthdays, January 4th:
Dyan Cannon, 89
Charlie Manuel, 82
Dave Foley, 63
Ted Lilly, 50

Eric Weddle, 41
Scott Sizemore, 41
Kevin Pillar, 37
Kris Bryant, 34

Michael Lorenzen, 32
Reynaldo Lopez, 32
Derrick Henry, 32
Victor Wembanyama, 32

— Charlotte 104, Wichita State 100, 2OTs
Wichita led by 18 in 2nd half, by 5 with 0:19 left in regulation.
Charlotte was 29-38 on foul line, scored 1.39 ppp.
Charlotte is 7-8; their last two wins were in overtime.

— Ohio U 68, Eastern Michigan 67
Eagles led 35-15 early on, 32-15 at halftime.
Ohio U outscored them 53-35 in second half.
Bobcats have won 7 of last 8 games, after a 1-6 start.

— Bowling Green 101, UMass 100 OT
Falcons trailed by 7 with 0:54 left in regulation.
6-2 senior Campbell was 20-27 on the foul line, scored 47 points.
Bowling Green is 8-4 vs D-I teams (schedule #283).

— Toronto Blue Jays signed 3B Kazuma Okamoto to a 4-year, $60M contract; down the road, he is seen as more of a 1B than 3B, but with Vladimir Guerrero entrenched at 1B, seems like he’ll be a 3B or DH for now. 

 

— Word of the Day: Polarizing- Something/someone who divides people into sharply opposing factions. I bring this up now that Ole Miss is in the semi-finals of the college football playoff, after Lane Kiffin built a good program, then bolting on his team before the playoff, to go to SEC rival and make more money.

By the way, the two wins by Ole Miss in the playoffs have earned Kiffin another $500,000 in bonus money, which LSU is paying him.

— Here is Kiffin’s career timeline:
1994-96- was a backup QB at Fresno State.
1997-98- student assistant coach at Fresno State (his father wouldn’t let him quit playing, unless he became a student assistant coach).

1999- grad assistant at Colorado State
2000- defensive quality control coach, Jacksonville Jaguars

2001- tight ends coach, USC
2002-03- wide receivers coach, USC
2004- pass game coordinator, USC
2005-06- offensive coordinator, USC

2007-08- head coach, Oakland Raiders
2009- head coach, Tennessee Vols
2010-13- head coach, USC

2014-16- offensive coordinator, Alabama
2017-19- head coach, Florida Atlantic
2020-25- head coach, Ole Miss

Going to be very interesting to see how he does with LSU.

— Wake Forest 43, Mississippi State 29
Down 3-0 in first quarter, Wake ran kickoff back 100 yards for a TD.
Deacons scored on TD passes of 64-62 yards.
Wake Forest won four in row, seven of last eight games.
Miss State lost eight of its last nine games, after a 4-0 start.

— SMU 24, Arizona 19
Mustangs led 24-0 at halftime.
SMU survived three turnovers (minus-2), being outgained 441-392.
SMU won seven of its last nine games.

— Navy 35, Cincinnati 13
Navy ran the ball 51 times for 241 yards.
Navy won five of last six bowl games.
Cincinnati lost its last five games overall, giving up 37.8 ppg

— Texas State 41, Rice 10
Bobcats QB Jackson threw for 173 yards, 3 TDs, also ran for a TD.
Texas State’s lead was only 10-7 at halftime.
Bobcats outgained Rice, 436-195.

— Famous birthdays, January 3rd:
Victoria Principal, 76
Mel Gibson, 70
Jim Everett, 63
AJ Burnett, 48

David Tyree, 45
Eli Manning, 44
Doug McDermott, 33
Dallas Goedert, 30

— College conferences’ bowl records SU/ATS:
AAC- 5-4/4-5
ACC- 8-4/6-6
Big X- 5-3/5-3

Big 18- 9-4/8-5
Conference USA- 4-3/4-3
MAC- 2-3/3-2

Mountain West- 2-5/3-4
SEC- 4-9/4-9
Sun Belt 4-6/5-5

— The four head coaches whose teams are all alive in the college football playoff? At one time or another, they were all an assistant coach under Nick Saban.

— Tennessee Vols’ punter Jackson Ross is a 26-year old Australian who used to play tennis, and then got paid to play Australian Rules Football.

— Friday, 3,753 college/minor league football players entered the transfer portal, roughly 27 players for every I-A team in the country.

— Last two years, Cincinnati Bengals have lost six games when they scored 34+ points; in the history of the NFL, only two other teams have ever lost three games like that in the same year- 1985 Chargers, 2002 Chiefs.

— Biggest upset in bowl game history? Back in 1998, Idaho (+17) upset Southern Mississippi 42-38 in the Humanitarian Bowl.

— Gonzaga 80, Seattle 72 OT
Seattle led by 13 with 12:30 left in the game.
Redhawks are 12-4, but 1-2 in their first year in the WCC.
Gonzaga is 15-1; their only loss was against Michigan, by 40. 

This is Gonzaga’s last year in the WCC; they’ll be in the Pac-12 next year.

— Nebraska 58, Michigan State 56
Cornhuskers are 14-0 for the first time ever, vs schedule #140.
Nebraska shot 13-37 on the arc, only 5-20 inside the arc.
Spartans shot 34% from the floor.

— Washington State 78, LMU 76
Lions led by 14 midway thru the first half.
Wazzu shot 56.2% inside the arc, 10-23 outside the arc.

— Manhattan 80, Quinnipiac 79
Jaspers trailed by 18 with 16:37 left in the game.
Manhattan is in bottom 5 in country on the defensive boards.
Both teams are 3-1 in the MAAC. 

— Handicapping Week 18 of the NFL is tougher than normal; some teams aren’t playing their starters because they’re in playoffs next week. Eagles are sitting Jalen Hurts and some of their other starters, Chargers are sitting Justin Herbert, Jordan Love is sitting out for Green Bay.

— Houston Astros made a splash in free agency Thursday, signing P Tatsuya Imai to a three-year contract worth $54M, plus some other incentives. He replaces free agent Framber Valdez, who won 57 games for the Astros the last four years.

— Ole Miss 39, Georgia 34
Georgia led this game 21-12 at halftime.
Ole Miss QB Chambliss threw for 362 yards, two TD’s.
Total yardage: Ole Miss 473, Georgia 343
Rebels move on to play Miami in the next round of the playoff.

Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss played for D-II Ferris State last year, leading them to a national title. How was somebody this good playing Division II ball?

— Indiana 38, Alabama 3
Hoosiers win their first bowl game since 1991.
Indiana outgained Alabama, 407-193.
Alabama ran the ball 17 times for only 23 yards.
Indiana moves on to play Oregon next; they beat the Ducks 30-20 in October.

Alabama was a 7,5-point underdog, the biggest underdog they’ve been since 2008. 

— Oregon 23, Texas Tech 0
Tech came into this game scoring 42.5 ppg.
Oregon led this game 6-0 at halftime.
Tech gained only 215 yards, had four turnovers.
Ducks move on to play Indiana in the next round.

— Miami Dolphins hired Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman as a consultant in their search for a new general manager, which is a little odd, seeing how Dan Marino already works for the team. He is an advisor; this isn’t a permanent job. 

Dolphins haven’t won a playoff game since 2000; ownership wanted a voice from the outside to provide a different perspective.

— Famous birthdays, January 2nd:
Calvin Hill, 79
Mike Newlin, 77
Jim Essian, 74
Edgar Martinez, 62

David Cone, 62
Christy Turlington, 57
Dax Shepard, 51
Kirk Hinrich, 46

Kate Bosworth, 43
Kyle Stowers, 27
Aaron Wiggins, 27
Fernando Tatis Jr, 26

— College conferences’ bowl records SU/ATS:
AAC- 4-3/3-4
ACC- 6-4/4-6
Big X- 5-1/5-1

Big 18- 9-4/8-5
Conference USA- 4-3/4-3
MAC- 2-3/3-2

Mountain West- 2-5/3-4
SEC- 4-8/4-8
Sun Belt 3-6/4-5

— NCAA Tournament is still a couple months away, but ESPN’s Bracketology has these teams as the #1-4 seeds, if the tournament were this week:
#1-seeds: Michigan, UConn, Arizona, Iowa State
#2-seeds: Vanderbilt, Duke, Gonzaga, Purdue
#3-seeds: Houston, Michigan State, Alabama, BYU
#4-seeds: Louisville, Kansas, Illinois, Nebraska

— Vanderbilt guard Frankie Collins torn a meniscus in his knee and is out indefinitely; he is a senior who is scoring 7.8 ppg and 4.7 assists/game.

— ESPN’s fantasy football posted the players who were on the highest %age of teams that won their league’s championship this year:

29.1%- Puka Nucua
25.2%- Jaxon Smith-Njigba
23.8%- Bijan Robinson
22.4%- Trey McBride
20.1%- Christian McCaffrey

— Before the Cotton Bowl, Ohio State practiced in an indoor practice facility at Highland Park High School, where Matthew Stafford/Clayton Kershaw went to school.

You read that right; a high school in Texas has an indoor practice facility for its football team.

— Last five years, number of pitchers who started 30+ games:
2021- 41
2022- 43
2023- 44
2024- 51
2025- 53

— New Orleans Saints have won four games in a row, for the first time since 2020.

Happy New Year!!! Thanks for reading; hope 2026 is fun for all of us.

The one thing I’d really like to see this year is for everyone to be nicer to each other; just because we may disagree on some stuff, let’s be civil about it. 

— Duke 42, Arizona State 39
Duke scored game-winning TD with 2:10 left.
QB Mensah threw for 327 yards, four TD’s.
Arizona State QB Sims threw for 375 yards, 3 TD’s.
ASU gained 619 yards, but was minus-2 in turnovers.

— Iowa 34, Vanderbilt 27
Hawkeyes led 14-3 at halftime.
Vandy QB Pavia threw for 347 yards, 2 TD’s.
Big 18 teams are 7-3 SU/6-4 ATS in bowl games.
SEC teams are 3-6 SU/ATS in bowl games.

— Texas 41, Michigan 27
Game was tied 17-17 at halftime.
Texas in second half: 26 plays, 224 yards, 24 points.
Longhorns ran ball 33 times for 235 yards (7.1 yards/carry)
QB Manning threw for 221 yards, ran for 155 more.

— Utah 44, Nebraska 22
QB Dampier threw for 310 yards, two TD’s.
Nebraska’s first two drives: 20 plays, 157 yards, 14 points.
Nebraska rest of game: 45 plays, 186 yards, 8 points.
Utah ran ball 45 times for 225 yards (5 yards/carry).

— Miami 24, Ohio State 14
Hurricanes were a 7.5-point underdog.
Up 7-0, Miami scored on a 72-yard pick-6 to break game open.
Ohio State ran ball 24 times for only 45 yards.
Miami plays the Ole Miss-Georgia winner in the next round of the playoff.  

— Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz has had 94 players taken in the NFL Draft, the most of any current college head coach.

— Famous birthdays, January 1st:
Frank Langella, 88
Bob Brudzinski, 70
LaMarr Hoyt, 70
Fernando Tatis Sr, 50
Tiago Splitter, 40

Dallas Keuchel, 37
Jason Pierre-Paul, 36
Trumaine Johnson, 35
Tyler Higbee, 32
LaMonte Wade, 31

College conferences’ bowl records SU/ATS:
AAC- 4-3/3-4
ACC- 6-4/4-6
Big X- 4-1/5-0

Big 18- 6-4/5-5
Conference USA- 4-3/4-3
MAC- 2-3/3-2

Mountain West- 2-5/3-4
SEC- 3-6/3-6
Sun Belt 3-6/4-5

— Movie of the Day: 21 (2008)- Six MIT students form a card counting team and go to Las Vegas to win a lot of money. Kevin Spacey is the professor who trains the group; Laurence Fishburne is a casino employee who isn’t fond of card counters.

Jeffrey Ma, who the movie’s main character is based on, plays a blackjack dealer in some of the scenes. This movie was inspired by real people, real events.

— Virginia Tech 95, Virginia 85, 3OTs
Tech was 28-41 on the foul line, Virginia 11-15.
Ben Hammond scored 30 points for Tech; he didn’t start.
Cavaliers fall to 11-2; they were 10-45 on the arc.

— Villanova 71, DePaul 66
Villanova shot 28.6% inside arc, 10-23 outside arc.
Wildcats were 21-31 on foul line, Blue Demons 7-12.
DePaul is 0-3 in Big East, scoring 62 ppg.
Since 2007-08, DePaul is 56-276 in conference games.

— Clemson 64, Syracuse 61
Clemson shot 57.5% inside the arc.
Syracuse was 20-24 on foul line, Tigers 6-12.
Clemson is 11-3, 4-2 vs top 100 teams.

— Wichita State 75, UAB 70
Blazers led 40-24 late in the first half.
Shockers shot 9-20 on the arc, UAB 3-12.
Wichita is #14 team in country on offensive boards.

— VCU 89, St Bonaventure 82
Bonnies led by 7 with 8:10 left in the game.
Rams were 26-28 on foul line, St Bonaventure 14-15.
6-3 soph Hill scored 19 points in 26:00 off the bench.

— Creighton has a 6-4 guard, Austin Swartz, who is scoring 9.5 ppg in 18.4 minutes/game; what is unusual is that in his 239:00 on the floor, he’s only taken two foul shots. 29-74 on the arc, 18-33 inside the arc, 1-2 on the foul line. Very unusual. 

— Cincinnati Bengals are worth $5.5B, the least of any NFL team.

There are only four major league baseball teams worth more than the Bengals:

Cubs, Red Sox, Dodgers, Bronx.

— Louisiana Tech 23, Coastal Carolina 14
Chanticleers led 14-3 at halftime.
Coastal in second half: 41 plays, 107 yards, 3 turnovers.
La Tech in second half: 34 plays, 175 yards, 3 turnovers, 20 points.

— Illinois 30, Tennessee 28
Illinois drove 65 yards, kicked game-winning FG at the gun.
Tennessee had taken lead on 94-yard kick return with 4:58 left.
Illini ran for 221 yards, outgained Tennessee 417-278.

— TCU 30, USC 27 OT
TCU scored 10 points in last 4:24 to force overtime.
TCU scored TD on 3rd-and-20 play to win game in OT.
Underdogs are 8-3 ATS in last eleven Alamo Bowls.

— Former Eagles-49ers-Oregon-UCLA head coach Chip Kelly is the new offensive coordinator at Northwestern. Kelly was OC for the Raiders this year, at Ohio State last year. Football coaches move around a lot.

— Clemson fired offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, making him the scapegoat for the Tigers’ 7-6 season. Clemson was 26-14 in Riley’s three years there; he is the brother of USC head coach Lincoln Riley.

— Chargers’ QB Justin Herbert (left thumb) won’t play against Denver this week; Trey Lance (2-3 as an NFL starter) will get the nod.

— Famous birthdays, December 31:
Anthony Hopkins, 88
Ben Kingsley, 82
Tim Matheson, 78
Bebe Neuwirth, 67
Rick Aguilera, 64

Bryon Russell, 55
Esteban Loaiza, 54
Brent Barry, 54
Heath Shuler, 54
Jason Campbell, 44

— Movie of the Day: Hustle (2022)- A scout for the 76ers discovers a phenomenal streetball player while in Spain and sees the prospect as his opportunity to become an assistant coach. If you like basketball, this is an excellent movie.

Adam Sandler is the coach, Queen Latifah is his wife, Juancho Hernangomez is the player who gets discovered on a playground in Spain. There are a lot of NBA players/executives in this movie. The basketball workout scenes are well-done.

— Creighton 89, Butler 85
Bluejays shot 58.1% inside the arc, scored 1.23 ppp.
Butler had 21 offensive rebounds (#14 on offensive boards)
Creighton is 3-0 in the Big East, scoring 90.3 ppg.

— Oregon State 70, San Francisco 62
Good bounce back for Beavers (lost by 38 to Santa Clara Sunday)
San Francisco led 30-25 at halftime.
Oregon State was 11-23 on arc, Dons 4-21

— Seton Hall 79, Marquette 73
Marquette led by 6 with 2:50 left in the game.
Seton Hall out-rebounded Marquette, 51-33.
12-2 Pirates are #15 experience team; they’re forcing turnovers 23.1% of time (#8)

— Duquesne 89, Davidson 83, 2OT
Dukes shot 35.3% inside arc, 16-35 outside arc.
Duquesne out-rebounded Davidson, 53-39
6-2 senior Guinyard played 46:00, scored 24 points, had 6 assists.

Some baseball notes…….
— Last year, Houston Astros scored 4.23 runs/game, their worst mark since 2014; they missed the playoffs last year for the first time since 2016. Altuve-Alvarez were hampered by injuries last year; they need to be healthier and to score more runs this coming season.

— 2024 White Sox scored the fewest runs of any team since 1972; last year, they scored 140 more runs than they did the year before, and now they’ve added 1B Munetaka Murakami, so their offense figures to improve again.

Last three years, Chicago won 61-41-60 games, after going 81-81 in 2022.

— Last year, the 12 worst teams in on-base %age missed the playoffs; Rockies/Royals walked the fewest times in the major leagues. Adding Isaac Collins from Milwaukee figures to spruce up the Kansas City offense (his OBP% was .368).

— Orioles re-signed P Zach Eflin for one year, $10M; last year, Eflin was 6-5, 5.93 in 14 starts in a injury-hampered season. He had a 2.60 ERA in 2024, is 68-67, 4.28 in 188 career starts. 

I don’t care who wins individual awards; understood there are degenerates who bet on this stuff, but to me, it isn’t important. 

I don’t give a rat’s ass who wins MVP.
I don’t care who wins Coach of the Year. In any sport.

It. does. not. matter.

I care about who makes the playoffs.
I care about who wins the Super Bowl……you know, team stuff.

Down the road, Hall of Fame inductions should not rely on how many MVP’s you won; stats and the eye test should determine who gets in the Hall of Fame. MVP voting is subjective. 

— Falcons 27, Rams 24
Atlanta kicked a 51-yard FG with 0:21 left for the win.
Falcons had an early pick-6, led 21-0 at halftime.
Atlanta won its last three games, scoring 29-26-27 points.
Last two years, Falcons are 11-10 when Cousins is the QB, 4-8 when he isn’t.

Rams were minus-3 in turnovers, and lost a road game.
Week 13 at Carolina, Rams were minus-3 in turnovers, and lost a road game.
LA blocked a field goal for a TD and had a long kick return.
Bijan Robinson ran ball 22 times for 195 yards; he had 34 receiving yards.

— Georgia Southern 29, Appalachian State 10
Arnold carried ball 11 times for 152 yards.
Georgia Southern ran for 242 yards, outgained App State 413-379.
App State QB’s threw 4 INT’s, were minus-3 in turnovers.

— Bowl records, by conference (SU/ATS):

AAC- 4-3/3-4
ACC- 4-4/3-5
Big X- 2-0/2-0

Big 18- 5-0/4-1
Conference USA- 3-3/3-3
MAC- 2-3/3-2

Mountain West- 2-5/3-4
SEC- 2-4/2-4
Sun Belt 3-5/4-4

— Do college football players enjoy going to bowl games in cold weather places?
Boise, Boston, New York City; I’m guessing Florida, Arizona, Las Vegas, New Orleans are much better options for bowls.

— Famous birthdays, December 30:
Sandy Koufax, 90
Tracey Ullman, 66
Kerry Collins, 53

AJ Pierzynski, 49
Grant Balfour, 48
Dominic Raiola, 47

LeBron James, 41
Carson Wentz, 33
Drew Waters, 27

— Indiana State 81, Belmont 80 OT
Belmont led by 11 late in the first half.
Sycamores won despite going 13-26 on foul line.
Tyler Lunblade was 7-14 on arc, scored 26 points; for the season, he is 51-120 (42.5%) on the arc, 16-29 inside the arc. He doesn’t come inside the arc much.

— Murray State 84, Southern Illinois 81
Racers shot 63.3% inside arc, led 47-34 at halftime.
Murray State led by 20 with 2:13 left in first half.
Racers start four seniors, are 11-3, 3-0 in MVC, vs schedule #258.

— Bradley 76, Evansville 68
Evansville led 35-31 at halftime.
Bradley is forcing turnovers 22% of time (#15)
Bradley has won seven in a row, is 10-4 vs schedule #297.

— Charleston 72, Drexel 63
Drexel led 17-3 at the second TV timeout.
Charleston shot 66.7% inside the arc.
Jlynn Counter was 11-14 from floor, scored 29 points.

— Michigan State 114, Cornell 97
Spartans led 55-53 at halftime.
83-possession game, very fast tempo.
Michigan State was 29-43 on foul line, Cornell 18-23.

— Alabama 102, Yale 78
Alabama shot 22-54 on the arc, 12-23 inside arc, scored 1.48 ppp.
Alabama also had 21 offensive rebounds.
Yale is good; they’re 11-2- this was their first game in 19 days.

— Washington 74, Utah 65
Utah led 37-36 at halftime.
Washington shot 63.2% inside the arc.
Huskies are most experienced team in country; they have #9 eFG% defense. 

49ers 42, Bears 38
Purdy threw a pick-6 on the first play of the game.
49ers scored a TD on four of their next five drives.
Bears’ last four drives: 46 plays, 286 yards, 17 points.
Chicago had ball on SF’s 2-yard line on last play, but didn’t score.

49ers outgained Chicago, 496-440.
First game in NFL this year that both teams had 2 TD’s in first quarter.
49ers are 10-1 ATS as a favorite this year. 
Seahawks @ 49ers next week is for the NFC West title. 

Seahawks 27, Panthers 10
Seahawks won ten of their last eleven games.
Seattle ran ball 36 times for 163 yards.
Seattle in second half: 35 plays, 167 yards, 24 points.
Seahawks will be #1 seed in NFC if they beat 49ers next week.

This game was 3-3 at halftime.
Carolina in second half: 25 plays, 71 yards, 2 turnovers, 7 points.
Panthers @ Tampa Bay next week will decide NFC South title.
Carolina is 3-7 when they score less than 27 points. 

Dolphins 20, Buccaneers 17
Rookie QB Ewers threw for 172 yards, two TD’s.
Miami was outgained 380-298; they were +3 in turnovers.
Dolphins are 7-0 when they allow less than 27 points.
Miami is 11-7 ATS last 18 games as a home underdog.

Tampa Bay lost four in row, seven of its last eight games.
Tampa Bay lost last four games by total of eleven points.
Bucs are 9-13 ATS last 22 games as a road favorite.
Panthers @ Tampa Bay next week, for NFC South title.

Browns 13, Steelers 6
Cleveland led 10-3 at halftime.
Steelers in 2nd half: 37 plays, 146 yards, no points.
Ravens-Steelers next week is for AFC North title.
Steelers have lost their last four visits to Cleveland.

Only TD of game was Sanders’ 28-yard pass to Fannin in 2nd quarter.
Pittsburgh averaged only 3.9 yards/pass attempt.
Browns are 12-7-1 ATS last 20 games as a home underdog.
Browns allowed 10-6-10-6 points in their four wins. 

Patriots 42, Jets 10
QB Maye threw for 256 yards and five TD’s.
Patriots are 12-1 SU/10-3 ATS in their last 13 games.
Last seven games, Patriots scored 30.9 points/game.
Over is 8-2 in their last ten games.

Patriots’ first six drives: 47 plays, 391 yards, six TD’s.
New England outgained Jets 440-307, led 35-3 at halftime.
Jets lost their last four games, giving up 34-48-29-42 points.
Jets are 0-11 when they score less than 27 points.   

Famous birthdays, December 29th:
Ted Danson, 78
Sean Payton, 62
Richie Sexson, 51
Jack Wilson, 48

Kate Moennig, 48
Laveranues Coles, 48
Clint Stoerner, 48
Julio Rodriguez, 25

Saints 34, Titans 26
Tennessee led this game 20-10 at halftime.
Saints in 2nd half: 28 plays, 334 yards, 24 points.
Saints are 5-2 in last seven games, after a 1-8 start.
26-year old rookie QB Shough is 5-3 as an NFL starter.

Titans are 9-18 ATS in last 27 games as an underdog.
Tennessee is 0-11 ATS last 11 games coming off a win.
Titans were 1-8 SU/4-5 ATS at home this season.
Over is 7-3 in Tennessee’s last ten games.

Jaguars 23, Colts 17
Jacksonville won its seventh game in a row.
Jaguars are 12-1 if they allow fewer than 31 points.
QB Lawrence threw for 263 yards, also ran for two TD’s.
Jaguars can clinch AFC South with win over Tennessee next week.

Colts are first team since 1995 to start a season 7-1, but miss the playoffs.
Colts led this game 10-7 at halftime.
Jaguars outgained Indianapolis 370-204.
Colts ran ball 22 times for only 69 yards. 

Bengals 37, Cardinals 14
Bengals’ first five drives: 40 plays, 231 yards, 24 points.
QB Burrow threw for 305 yards, two TD’s.
Bengals scored 31+ points in their last five wins.
WR Chase is first player ever with 80+ catches, 1,000+ RY and 7+ TD catches in each of his first five years in the NFL.

Bengals outgained Arizona, 429-233.
Cardinals lost eight in row (1-7 ATS) , 13 of last 14 games.
Cardinals are 0-10 when they allow more than 22 points.
Last four weeks, Cardinals allowed 37 points/game.

Giants 34, Raiders 10
Raiders lost their 10th game in row, will probably get #1 pick in ’26 draft.
QB Smith sprained his ankle late in this game.
Raiders are 13-19-2 ATS last 34 games as an underdog.
Las Vegas has nine losses by 11+ points this season.

Giants first two drives: 11 plays, 34 yards, two punts.
Giants rest of game: 51 plays, 311 yards, 27 points.
2nd year in row Giants won in Week 17 to lose first pick in draft.
WR Robinson caught 11 passes for 113 yards.

Eagles 13, Bills 12
Buffalo scored TD with 0:05 left, went for 2 points but failed
Down 12-0, Bills scored TD with 5:11 left, but missed PAT
Philadelphia is now 7-3 this year in one-score games.
Eagles’ only TD came on a 45-yard drive in first quarter. 

Philly is 15-7 ATS in last 22 games coming off a win.
Bills outgained the Eagles, 331-190.
Buffalo’s loss clinches AFC East for New England.
Right now, Buffalo is the #7-seed in the AFC.

— Northern Colorado 86, Colorado 81
Bears snapped a 13-game losing streak against Colorado.
Northern Colorado shot 11-21 on the arc.
Señor G Denker scored 33 points, had 8 rebounds, 8 assists.

— Saint Mary’s 78, Loyola Marymount 73
LMU led by a hoop with 4:43 left in the game.
Saint Mary’s shot 7-14 on arc, scored 1.31 ppp.
Gaels are 12-2, despite being experience team #333.

— San Francisco 67, Seattle 59
Seattle shot 32% inside arc, 4-17 outside arc.
USF has #38 eFG% defense ; they’ve won three games in row.
Seattle is 11-3, vs schedule #266.

— Charleston Southern 77, Richmond 72
Bad loss for Richmond, which is 10-3 vs schedule #345.
Spiders were 25-29 on foul line, Charleston Southern 15-23
Charleston Southern shot 10-37 on arc, 16-28 inside arc.

— Washington State 67, Portland 62
Portland led by 8 with 9:28 left in the game.
Portland shot 8-31 on the arc, 14-24 on foul line.
Wazzu won WCC opener, after going 4-8 in non-league games. 

I pay a decent amount of $$$ for the NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV, so I can watch whatever game I want, but couldn’t watch the Baltimore-Green Bay Saturday night; it was only on the Peacock Network. This is BS. 

How greedy are these people? There are so many TV networks now, they’re going to wind up hurting their own product because of this. If someone buys the Sunday Ticket, they should get access to EVERY game.

— Texans 20, Chargers 16
Texans clinch playoff spot, third year in row they’re in playoffs.
Houston won its last eight games (6-2 ATS).
First two drives, Texans had TD passes of 75-43 yards.
Houston outgained the Chargers 362-275.

Chargers’ first four drives: 15 plays, 22 yards, four punts.
Houston led 14-3 at halftime.
Houston has won five of last six games against the Chargers.
Chargers are in the playoffs; they’ll have a road playoff game in two weeks.

— With Chargers’ loss, Denver clinches the AFC West

— Ravens 41, Packers 24
Henry ran the ball 36 times for 216 yards, four TD’s
With the win, Ravens keep their playoff hopes alive.
Baltimore needs the Steelers to lose in Cleveland Sunday.
Ravens are 16-5-1 ATS last 21 games as a road underdog.

Baltimore led 27-14 at halftime.
Green Bay lost its last three games, giving up 34-22-41 points.
Baltimore was 10-14 on third down, Packers 3-6
Packers averaged 10.5 yards/pass attempt, but were minus-2 in turnovers.

Green Bay’s loss makes Chicago the NFC North champ

— Last six Super Bowls, with conference seeds:
2019- #2 AFC 31 (-1.5), #1 NFC 20
2020- #5 NFC 31 (+3.5), #1 AFC 9
2021- #4 NFC 23 (-4.5), #4 AFC 20
2022- #1 AFC 38 (+1.5), #1 NFC 35
2023- #3 AFC 25 (+2), #1 NFC 22
2024- #2 NFC 40 (+1), #1 AFC 22

Underdogs covered the last five Super Bowls
A #1-seed has won only one of last six Super Bowls

— Cincinnati Reds added two outfielders Saturday:
JJ Bleday hit .215 in 404 games his first four years in the majors; he hit 20 homers, had a .762 OPS for the A’s in 2024.

Dane Myers has hit .245 with a .653 OPS in 172 games, over three years with the Marlins. He is a righty hitter, Bleday is lefty.

— Famous birthdays, December 28th:
Ray Knight, 73
Denzel Washington, 71
James Brooks, 67

Carl Willis, 65
Zane Smith, 65
Keith Lee, 63

Seth Meyers, 52
Dylan Cease, 30
Dillon Gabriel, 25

— Bowl records, by conference (SU/ATS):

AAC- 4-3/3-4
ACC- 4-4/3-5
Big X- 1-0/1-0

Big 18- 5-0/4-1
Conference USA- 3-3/3-3
MAC- 2-3/3-2

Mountain West- 2-5/3-4
SEC- 2-3/2-3
Sun Belt 2-4/3-3

— East Carolina 23, Pittsburgh 17
Pitt led 7-3 at halftime.
ECU’s first five drives in 2nd half: 19 plays, 151 yards, 20 points.
ECU won despite being outgained 376-249; they were +4 in turnovers.

— Penn State 22, Clemson 10
QB Grunkenmeyer threw for 262 yards, 2 TD’s on a cold day in NYC.
Penn State was 11-19 on third down, Clemson 5-15.
Penn State outgained Clemson 397-236.
Both teams finished the season 7-6.

— BYU 25, Georgia Tech 21
Georgia Tech led 21-10 at halftime.
Tech in second half: 36 plays, 188 yards, 2 turnovers, one blocked FG
BYU finishes season 12-2, their most wins since 2001.

— Army 41, UConn 16
Army ran the ball 56 times for 368 yards.
Army was 8-12 on third down, UConn 1-9.
Army led 14-10 at halftime, on a cold day at Fenway Park.

— Fresno State 18, Miami OH 3
EJ Warner threw for 219 yards and a TD in his last college game.
Bulldogs outgained Miami, 396-192.
Miami kicked a FG on their first drive of the day, didn’t score again.

— North Texas 49, San Diego State 47
Mean Green led 28-20 at halftime.
Total yards: North Texas 618, San Diego State 532.
QB Mestermaker was 27-47/250 passing, with three TD’s.

— Virginia 13, Missouri 7
Missouri drove 75 yards for a TD on their first drive.
Missouri rest of game: 48 plays, 185 yards, no points.
Virginia was 13-23 on third down, Mizzou 3-12
Cavaliers finish their season 11-3. 

— Minnesota 20, New Mexico 17 OT
Golden Gophers won their 9th straight bowl game.
Down 14-7, New Mexico ran a kickoff back 100 yards for a TD.
This was New Mexico’s first bowl outside of Albuquerque since 2004.

— If you were wondering, the all-time record for most consecutive bowl wins is 11,  set by Bobby Bowden’s Florida State teams from 1985-95.

— Northwestern 34, Central Michigan 7
QB Stone threw for 226 yards, 3 TD’s.
Central Michigan lost three fumbles, committed four turnovers in all.
Wildcats have won six bowl games in a row.

— Texas-San Antonio 57, FIU 20
FIU actually led this game 14-0 in first quarter.
Roadrunners led 31-14 at halftime.
FIU went for it on 4th down 10 times, were 1-10.

— Michigan hired former Utah coach Kyle Whittingham as their new coach; Whittingham was 177-88 in 22 years at Utah, going 11-6 in bowls (they lost the last five). Utah is 10-2 this year; this is a big upgrade for the Wolverines.

— Green Bay Packers ruled out QB Jordan Love (concussion) for tonight’s game with the Ravens; Green Bay clinched a playoff spot when Detroit lost Thursday. Malik Willis will start for the Packers; he is 3-2 as an NFL starter, has thrown for 134 yards in three games this year.

— Famous birthdays, December 27th:
Tovah Feldshuh, 77
Craig Reynolds, 73
Mark Budaska, 73
Kent Benson, 71
Donald Igwebuike, 65

Eva LaRue, 59
Kevin Ollie, 53
Deuce McAllister, 47
Carson Palmer, 46
Cole Hamels, 42

Greg Zuerlein, 38
Rick Porcello, 37
Jordan Montgomery, 33
JJ Koski, 29
Brock Purdy, 26

— It was freakin’ freezing here in upstate New York Friday, and now it is snowing out; this is my annual “Why the hell don’t I live in Las Vegas?” night. Once a year, I curse myself out for living in a place where it occasionally gets very cold, and it costs me $40 to get my driveway plowed.

— They’re remodeling the grocery store I go to; its been taking a long time- they’re supposed to finish next month. It is funny going there; no one seems to know what aisle anything is in any more. Used to take me 10 minutes to do my shopping; takes a lot more now. I’m wondering how much it costs to do all that work.

— Thursday night in Denver, the Nuggets beat Minnesota 142-138 in OT; Nikola Jokic scored 56 points, grabbed 16 rebounds, had 15 assists— he scored 18 of his points in the 5:00 overtime, the most any player has ever scored in an overtime.

— College/minor league sports are off the rails; quarterbacks are transferring:
UNLV QB Anthony Colandrea is in the portal, after leading the Rebels to a 10-4 record. He played at Virginia in 2023-24.

(The last four Heisman Trophy winners have all been transfers)

Some other QB’s who are in the transfer portal:
Sam Leavitt, Arizona State
Drew Mestemaker, North Texas
Dylan Raiola, Nebraska
Josh Hoover, TCU

Rocco Becht, Iowa State
Brendan Sorsby, Cincinnati
DJ Lagway, Florida
Byrum Brown, South Florida
Aaron Philo, Georgia Tech

— Since the weather sucks outside, here are some baseball tidbits to help us feel warmer; most of this info came from an article by David Schoenfield on ESPN.com

Pittsburgh Pirates hit 117 home runs last year, 31 fewer than any other team,. Which why they acquired Brandon Lowe, Ryan O’Hearn. Paul Skenes had a 1.97 ERA but was only 10-10, because the Pirates don’t score enough freakin’ runs.

Mets ranked 27th out of 30 teams in IP by starting pitchers, now they let their closer walk to the Dodgers. Mets are going to be very interesting to watch between now and the start of spring training- they need to add talent, both hitting and pitching.

St Louis Cardinals went 232-254 the last three years, their worst three-year stretch since 1988-90, which is why they’re cleaning house now. This year’s attendance was 991,084 fans lower than the Cardinals’ home attendance in 2023- the natives are restless.

Milwaukee Brewers hit .258 as a team last year, but they hit .279 with runners in scoring position, that doesn’t happen much. It probably isn’t sustainable either, so Milwaukee’s offense could suffer this coming season.

Orioles/Marlins both got only 62 RBI from their first basemen last year, tied for worst in the major leagues. That explains why the Orioles went after Pete Alonso.

Cincinnati Reds got only 51 home runs from outfielders; they play their home games in one of the best home run parks there is, which may explain why they moved Noelvi Marte to RF.

Arizona Diamondbacks got saves from 17 different pitchers last year, an all-time record (’21 Rays, ’24 Dodgers each got saves from 14 pitchers).