Author: Armadillo Sports

— Blue Jays 13, Mariners 4
Vladimir Guerrero was 4-for-4 with a home run.
Toronto hit five homers; they had 18 hits overall.
Road team has won all three series games; Seattle leads, 2-1
Game 4 is Thursday in Seattle.

— Jacksonville State 38, Delaware 25
Cam Cook ran ball for 117 yards, three TD’s.
Gamecocks led 20-6 at halftime.
Delaware threw ball for 422 yards, but was minus-2 in turnovers.

— Texas-El Paso 35, Sam Houston State 17
Skyler Locklear threw for 236 yards, 2 TDs; ran ball for 48 yards, 2 more TD’s
Miners led 14-10 at halftime.
UTEP ran ball 34 times for 175 yards (5.1 yards/carry)

— NHL’s New York Rangers are first NHL team ever to get shut out in their first three home games of a season.

— Famous birthdays, October 16th:
Mel Counts, 84
Timothy Robbins, 67
Kevin McReynolds, 66

Adrian Murrell, 55
Kordell Stewart, 53
Bryce Harper, 33

John Wolford, 30
Steve Avila, 26
Noelvi Marte, 24

— When Gonzaga visits San Francisco this year, the game will be at the Chase Center, home of the Golden State Warriors, for the third year in a row. Gonzaga draws fans, and bigger arena makes USF a lot more money than playing in their campus gym would.

— In the history of the baseball playoffs, there have been 25 teams who hit two 3-run homers in the same game (or a 3-run and grand slam); all 25 of those teams won.

— Russell Westbrook signed on with the Sacramento Kings; this will be his 18th year in the NBA, the Kings are his 7th NBA team:

2008-19- Oklahoma City
2019-20- Houston
2020-21- Washington
2021-23- Lakers
2023-24- Clippers
2024-25- Nuggets
2025-26- Kings

In his career, Westbrook has earned $348,234,946 in salary.

— Some NBA over/under win totals for the coming season:

Thunder 62.5
Cavaliers 56.5
Nuggets 53.5
Rockets 52.5

Celtics 40.5
Bulls 32.5
Wizards 21.5
Jazz 18.5

— Angels/Orioles seem to be competing to hire Albert Pujols as their next manager; Orioles went 60-59 this season under interim manager Tony Mansolino, after they fired Brandon Hyde.

Last year, Pujols won a championship with Leones del Escogido of the Dominican Winter League; it was the first time he had managed. He is supposed to manage the Dominican Republic in next spring’s World Baseball Classic.

— Sacramento Kings signed Keegan Murray to a five-year, $140M rookie contract extension that will keep him in Sacramento through the 2030-31 season.

— Dodgers 5, Brewers 1
Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw a complete game (111 PT)
Muncy/Hernandez homered for Los Angeles.
Dodgers’ bullpen got total of three outs in the first two games.
Dodgers lead series 2-0; Game 3 is in Los Angeles Thursday.

— Dodger P Blake Snell has very interesting career numbers:
March/April 7-12, 3.89 in 32 starts
May 6-12, 4.57 in 32 starts
June 11-12, 4.44 in 29 starts

July 13-6, 2.43 in 36 starts
August 23-10, 2.45 in 48 starts
September/October 21-10, 2.15 in 45 starts

Much, much better in second half of the season.

— In the 30 years before Indiana hired Curt Cignetti as its football coach, they averaged 4.1 wins per year. Cignetti is 16-2 at Indiana; he makes $9M a year.

Worth it.

— The world is going nuts, or maybe just daytime TV sucks; I walk into a bar for lunch Tuesday and there is a discussion on TV as whether the Baltimore Ravens should fire John Harbaugh. 

Huh????

Harbaugh is 186-120 coaching the Ravens, won a Super Bowl. They’re off to a bad start this year; fire the defensive coordinator and move on. Discussing firing Harbaugh is nonsensical.

— I’m a believer that QB’s/WR’s should get stat credit for yardage they gain on pass interference penalties. Would have to be a separate category, but it would be interesting to see the numbers at the end of a season.

— I’m watching Miami-Atlanta NBA exhibition game the other night; they show the Hawks’ owner Anthony Ressler sitting with his wife and it dawns on me that he is married to actress Jami Gertz, who has 102 acting credits on IMDB.com

She was in the movie Less than Zero with Andrew McCarthy/Robert Downey Jr, a very good but very sad movie. She represented the Hawks at the NBA Draft Lottery twice. The Resslers have been married since 1989.

— Famous birthdays, October 15th:
Jim Palmer, 80
Joe Klecko, 72
Mark Wade, 60
Vanessa Marcil, 57
Fred Hoiberg, 53

Connor Barwin, 39
Blaine Gabbert, 36
Teoscar Hernandez, 33
Jack Flaherty, 30
Brandon Pfaadt, 27

— Liberty 30, New Mexico State 27
Liberty led 20-6 at halftime, held on for dear life.
New Mexico State missed a 47-yard FG on the last play.
Aggies outgained Liberty, 388-293, but had three turnovers.

— Florida International 25, Western Kentucky 6
Panthers kicked four field goals, led 19-6 at halftime.
FIU ran ball 39 times for 249 yards.
FIU had lost its previous five games vs Western Kentucky.

— Arkansas State 15, South Alabama 14
Red Wolves kicked a 38-yard FG at the gun for a walk-off win.
1-6 South Alabama led 14-3 after three quarters.
Arkansas State outgained the Jaguars, 367-293

— Last five baseball players to play for five teams in one season:
2018- Oliver Drake- Indians, Angels, Brewers, Twins, Blue Jays
2024- Mike Baumann- Orioles, Angels, Marlins, Mariners, Giants
2025- Jose Urena- Angels, Dodgers, Twins, Mets, Blue Jays

— Steve Weinman, who spent 13 years in the Chicago Bulls’ front office, has been hired by Wake Forest to be the general manager for the Deacons’ men’s/women’s basketball teams.

He’ll work closely with the head coaches on “roster construction, recruiting strategy, transfer portal evaluation, resource allocation and planning”.

— Air Force Falcons are only college football team that has gone over the total in every game they’ve played (6-0) this season.

— RIP to Sandy Alomar Sr, who passed away at age 81; he played 15 years in the big leagues for six different teams, mostly the Angels. He has two sons who played in the major leagues, Sandy Alomar Jr and Roberto Alomar.

Sandy Alomar Jr had 1,168 career hits; he made the All-Star Game in 1970.
RIP, sir. 

Falcons 24, Bills 14
Bijan Robinson ran ball 19 times for 170 yards, with an 81-yard TD.
Atlanta led 21-7 at halftime.
Falcons in first half: 36 plays, 340 yards, 21 points.
Falcons in second half: 31 plays, 118 yards, 3 points.

Bills drove 73 yards for a TD on their first drive.
Bills’ next six drives: 19 plays, 48 yards, no points.
Falcons outgained Buffalo, 443-291.
Buffalo scored 41-30-31-31 points in wins, 20-14 in losses.

Bears 25, Commanders 24
Bears drove 36 yards, kicked game-winning 38-yard FG at the gun.
Chicago was +3 in turnovers, outgained Washington. 381-329.
Bears won their last three games, scoring 31-25-25 points.
In their three wins, Chicago is +10 in turnovers.

Washington turned the ball over twice on their first nine plays.
Chicago led 13-7 at halftime.
Bears outgained Washington, 381-329.
4th quarter of this game was played in the rain. 

— Dodgers 2, Brewers 1
Treinen struck out Turang with bases loaded to end the game.
Blake Snell allowed one hit in eight shutout IP.
Freddie Freeman homered, doubled for LA.
Game 2 is Tuesday in Milwaukee. 

— Mariners 10, Blue Jays 3
Rodriguez/Polanco both hit 3-run homers.
Josh Naylor went 3-for-4 with two RBI
First two games in this series, Toronto is 1-for-42 from the 3rd inning on.
Game 3 is in Seattle Wednesday.

— Famous birthdays, October 14th:
Art Shamsky, 84
Al Oliver, 79
Charlie Joiner, 78
Ron Wolfley, 63

Keith Byars, 62
Lori Petty, 62
Joe Girardi, 61
Jim Jackson, 55

Frank Wycheck, 54
Merrill Kelly, 37
Jared Goff, 31
Emeka Egbuka, 23

— Penn State fired football coach James Franklin after the Nittany Lions lost three games in a row, the last two as 20-point favorites, but jeez……Franklin was 104-45 at Penn State and was in the College Football Playoff last year.

Franklin gets paid $49.5M to take a hike. Someone really, really wanted him fired.

— Mike Shildt is out as manager of the San Diego Padres; it is unclear whether he jumped or got pushed, though he said the decision was his. 

“While it has always been about serving others, it’s time I take care of myself and exit on my terms…….I gave every fiber of my being to help achieve Peter Seidler’s vision of bringing a World Series Championship to San Diego.

We fell short of the ultimate goal, but I am proud of what the players, staff and organization were able to accomplish the last two seasons.”

Shildt had six winning seasons in his six years as a manager; he was 435-340, making it to the playoffs his last five years.

— Tennessee Titans fired coach Brian Callahan Monday; he was 4-19 in 1+ years coaching the Titans. His father Bill was the Titans OL coach; he has also left the team.

Senior offensive assistant Mike McCoy will take over as interim coach. McCoy previously was the head coach of the San Diego Chargers from 2013 to 2016. He had a 27-37 record, making the playoffs in his first season.

— College football conference trends:
American
Favorites 14-5 ATS

ACC
Road teams 14-10 ATS

Big 18
Underdogs 17-11 ATS

Big X
Favorites 17-8 ATS

Conference USA
Home teams 8-3 ATS

Mid-American
Home teams 11-4 ATS

Mountain West
Home teams 6-7 ATS

SEC
Home teams 14-8 ATS

Sun Belt
Home teams 12-4 ATS

— NFL divisional trends:
AFC East
Home teams 1-4 ATS divisional games
7-7 ATS non-divisional games
AFC North
5-12 ATS non-divisional games

AFC South
9-8 ATS non-divisional games

AFC West
5-2 ATS non-divisional home games
3-8 ATS non-divisional road games

NFC East
8-8 ATS non-divisional games

NFC North
8-7 ATS non-divisional games

NFC South
Non-divisional road underdogs 5-3 ATS

NFC West
Home teams 0-4 ATS divisional games
10-6 ATS non-divisional games

 — Movie of the Day: The Rewrite (2014)- An Oscar-winning script writer in a slump leaves Hollywood to teach screenwriting at SUNY-Binghamton, where he falls for a single mom taking classes there.

Hugh Grant, Marisa Tomei, JK Simmons, Allison Janney, excellent cast.

This is a nice movie; the world needs more nice.

— Oregon-Rutgers play this week; because college/minor league sports are run now by over-educated morons, these teams are in the same league. 

These two schools are 2,909 miles apart; they’re not the only ones. Cal/Stanford in the ACC, Washington in the Big 18, it all makes zero sense.

— Last week in college/minor league, 8 of the top 25 teams lost.

— Rams played in Baltimore Sunday, are playing in London this week; they’re spending this week in Baltimore, and are practicing at the Orioles ballpark, Camden Yards.

— The last four QB’s taken #1 in the NFL Draft had their coaches fired during their rookie year:
2021- Jaguars, Trevor Lawrence/Urban Meyer
2023- Panthers, Bryce Young/Frank Reich
2024- Bears, Caleb Williams/Matt Eberflus
2025- Titans, Cam Ward/Brian Callahan

Happy Thanksgiving Day to all our Canadian friends………

Chiefs 30, Lions 17
Chiefs led 13-10 at halftime.
Chiefs in second half: 33 plays, 212 yards, 17 points.
Chiefs are 8-4 ATS last 12 games coming off a loss.
Chiefs are 14-8 ATS last 22 regular season games vs NFC teams.

Lions scored 40.3 points/game in their wins, 13-17 in losses.
Detroit in second half: 22 plays, 112 yards, 7 points.
Chiefs outgained Detroit, 355-297.
Kansas City didn’t have a penalty the whole game.

Buccaneers 30, 49ers 19
Mayfield passed for 256 yards, two TD’s.
Bucs’ first four drives: 14 plays, 44 yards, 7 points.
Bucs rest of game: 37 plays, 290 yards, 23 points.
Only 8 of Tampa Bay’s 50 plays were on 3rd down. 

Buccaneers led 20-16 at halftime.
49ers in second half: 29 plays, 97 yards, 3 points, 2 turnovers.
Last five games, SF ran ball for 77-73-83-74-67 yards.
49ers lost star LB Warner for the season (ankle). 

Panthers 30, Cowboys 27
Rico Dowdle had 34 touches for 239 yards and a TD.
Carolina is 3-0 at home, 0-3 on the road.
Carolina ran ball for 239/216 yards in last two games.
Panthers allowed 24+ points in five of six games.  

Carolina outgained the Cowboys, 410-292.
Dallas allowed 30+ points in four of last five points.
Last four weeks, Dallas allowed 433.6 yards/game.
Cowboys ran the ball 19 times for only 31 yards. 

Chargers 29, Dolphins 27
Chargers drove 44 yards, kicked game-winning FG with 0:05 left.
Dolphins had taken 27-26 lead on a TD with 0:46 left.
Miami led 13-9 at halftime.
Chargers in 2nd half: 39 plays, 230 yards, 20 points.

Miami has allowed 29 ppg in its 1-5 start. 
Tagovailoa threw for 205 yards, but three INTs.
Miami is 0-5 when it allows more than 21 points.
RB Achane ran ball for 128 yards, two TD’s. 

Rams 17, Ravens 3
Rams’ first two drive of 3rd quarter: 11 plays, 97 yards, 14 points.
Rams allowed 9-19-20-3 points in wins, 33-26 in losses.
Rams are 8-1 ATS in last nine games as a road favorite.
Star WR Nucua (ankle) only played six snaps in second half.

Ravens drove 53 yards, kicked FG on their first drive.
Rest of game: 64 plays, 179 yards, no points, 3 turnovers.
Ravens lost their last four games (minus-8 in turnovers)
AFC North teams are 5-12 ATS in non-divisional games.

Colts 31, Cardinals 27
Arizona led 24-17 after the third quarter.
Colts in 4th quarter: 19 plays, 149 yards, 14 points,
Colts are 4-0 at home, scoring 33-29-40-31 points.
Indy scored 29+ points in all five of its wins.

Cardinals lost last four games by total of nine points.
Backup QB Brissett threw for 320 yards, two TD’s.
Under Gannon, Arizona is 11-6 ATS as a road underdog.
Under Gannon, Arizona is 9-3 ATS vs AFC teams.

— Famous birthdays, October 13th:
Paul Simon, 84
Rich Kotite, 83
Reggie Theus, 68

Doc Rivers, 64
Derek Harper, 64
Jerry Rice, 63

Trevor Hoffman, 58
Quincy Carter, 48
De’Von Achane, 24

Mariners 3, Blue Jays 1
Cal Raleigh homered for the Mariners.
Jorge Polanco knocked in Seattle’s other two runs.
Bryce Miller held Toronto to two hits in 6 IP.
Seattle leads series, 1-0; Game 2 is Monday. 

Broncos 13, Jets 11
Jets are 0-6, with four losses by 6 or fewer points.
Jets ran 57 plays in this game, for a TOTAL of 82 yards.
Justin Fields is 14-35 as an NFL starting QB.
Denver drove 65 yards, kicked game-winning FG with 5:06 left.

Jets kicked FG’s on first two drives, both started in Denver territory
Jets rest of game: 51 plays, 85 yards, 3 points,
Denver won its last three games, giving up 3-17-11 points.
Under is 5-1 in Broncos’ games. 

Steelers 23, Browns 9
Rodgers threw for 235 yards, two TD’s.
Last 9 years, Pittsburgh is 9-0 SU/7-2 ATS coming off a bye.
Pittsburgh is 15-4 ATS last 19 AFC North home games.
Steelers held Cleveland to 3.3 yards per play. 

Browns’ first three drives: 15 plays, 29 yards, three punts.
Cleveland didn’t score a TD; they trailed 9-3 at halftime.
Browns scored 16-17-13-10-17-9 points in their 1-5 start.
Browns are 0-5 SU/ATS last five visits to  Pittsburgh.

Patriots 25, Saints 19 
NE’s first four drives: 24 plays, 219 yards, 22 points,
Kayshon Boutte caught five passes for 93 yards, two TD’s.
Patriots scored 33-42-23-25 points in wins, 13-14 in losses.
Patriots are 7-3-1 ATS last 11 games as a road favorite.

Saints were 3-9 on third down, Patriots 6-13.
New England held Alvin Kamara to 31 yards on 10 carries.
Saints are 7-14 ATS last 21 games as a home underdog.
Rattler is 1-11 as an NFL starting QB.

Seahawks 20, Jaguars 12
WR Smith-Njigba caught 8 passes for 162 yards and a TD.
Seahawks won four of last five games, scoring 30.4 ppg.
Seattle is 3-0 on road (31-17 Pitt/23-20 Arizona/20-12 Jaguars)
Seahawks have won their last nine road games. 

Jaguars were 4-16 on 3rd down, had 10 penalties for 76 yards.
Seahawks are 22-6 in last 28 1:00 kickoffs on East Coast.
Seattle sacked Trevor Lawrence seven times for 44 yards.
Seattle held last five foes to 73 rushing yards/game.

Raiders 20, Titans 10
Raiders led 10-0 at half, snapped a four-game skid.
Titans in first half: 30 plays, 76 yards, four punts, no points.
Last 3+ years, Raiders are 11-4 ATS as a home favorite.
RB Jeanty carried ball 23 times for 75 yards and a TD. 

Not much offense: total yards, 226-225 Raiders.
Las Vegas won despite running ball 32 times for only 68 yards.
Titans had three turnovers, were only 3-13 on third down.
Tennessee is 1-5 SU/ATS, losing by 8-14-21-26-10 points.

Packers 27, Bengals 18
Packers ran ball 33 times for 153 yards, outgained Cincy 409-268.
Green Bay won their three home games, 27-13/27-18/27-18.
Green Bay led 10-0 at halftime.
Bengals in first half: 21 yards, 102 yards, no points.

Bengals lost last four games, by 38-25-13-9 points.
Flacco was 29-45/219 passing; he threw 2 TD’s, beat the spread.
Green Bay outgained the Bengals, 409-268.
Green Bay scored 27+ points in four of its five games.

— Brewers 3, Cubs 1
Milwaukee hit three solo homers to move on to the NLCS.
Brewers used five pitchers; Misiorowski got 12 outs, allowed three hits.
Dodgers-Brewers NLCS starts Monday night in Milwaukee.

— Northwestern 22, Penn State 21
Penn State is first team in last 30 years to lose consecutive games, when they were favored by 20+ points in both of them.

Penn State QB Allar hurt his leg, is out for the year.

Northwestern drove 75 yards, scored game-winning TD with 4:51 left.

— Pittsburgh 34, Florida State 31
QB Heintschel threw for 321 yards, two TD’s.
Both teams averaged over 10 yards/pass attempt.
Florida State has lost its last eight ACC games.

— Alabama 27, Missouri 24
QB Simpson threw for 200 yards, three TD’s.
Alabama has won five in a row since an opening loss to Florida State.
Crimson Tide was 6-15 on third down, Missouri 1-10.

— Upsets of the Week:
Northwestern (+21) 22, Penn State 21
Marshall (+14.5) 48, Old Dominion 24
Bowling Green (+10.5) 28, Toledo 23
Pittsburgh (+10.5) 34, Florida State 31

Troy (+9.5) 48, Texas State 41 OT
Kennesaw State (+7.5) 35, Louisiana Tech 7
UCLA (+7.5) 38, Michigan State 13
Indiana (+7.5) 30, Oregon 20

— Navy 32, Temple 31
QB Horvath ran for 51-yard TD with 0:39 left, then Middies scored a 2-point conversion for the win to stay undefeated (6-0). 

Horvath ran for 155 yards, also threw for 141 more.

Temple outgained Navy 518-384; they led 17-7 at halftime.

— Nebraska 34, Maryland 31
Nebraska drove 81 yards, scored game-winning TD with 1:08 left.
QB Raiola threw for 260 yards, four TD’s, but also had 3 INTs
Matt Rhule has the Cornhuskers are 5-1 this season.

— UNLV 51, Air Force 48
QB Colandrea ran for a 19-yard TD with 0:36 for the game-winning TD
Colandrea threw for 361 yards for the 6-0 Rebels, who are bowl-eligible.
Air Force ran ball 66 times for 428 yards, still somehow lost.

— Georgia 20, Auburn 10
Auburn led 10-0 in 2nd quarter, lost a fumble on Georgia’s one-yard line, and it was all downhill from there. 

Georgia beat Auburn for the ninth year in a row.
Dawgs won despite running ball 31 times for only 79 yards.
Auburn had 11 penalties for 103 yards

— UCLA 38, Michigan State 13
Bruins won last two games, scoring 42-38 points, after an 0-4 start.
Jalen Berger gained 113 yards on 15 touches, scored three TD’s.
UCLA outgained the Spartans 418-253.

— Famous birthdays, October 12th:
Jack Marin, 81
Susan Anton, 75
Sid Fernandez, 63
Chris Chandler, 60

Hugh Jackman, 57
Leon Lett, 57
Charlie Ward, 55
Ketel Marte, 32

— Ole Miss 24, Washington State 21
Rebels were favored by 32 points, hung on for the win.
Wazzu led 14-10 with 2:00 left in third quarter.
6-0 Ole Miss was 7-15 on third down, Coogs 2-10.

— Troy 48, Texas State 41 OT
QB Kilcrease threw for 415 yards, five TD’s.
Texas State led 31-17 at halftime.
Troy forced OT by scoring a TD with 1:13 left in regulation.
Bobcats lost despite running ball 53 times for 326 yards.

— Indiana 30, Oregon 20
QB Mendoza threw for 215 yards and a TD
Indiana outscored the Ducks 10-0 over the final 7:00.
Oregon’s 18-game how winning streak was snapped.

— BYU 33, Arizona 27 OT
BYU improves to 6-0 with the overtime win.
BYU was 8-16 on 3rd down, Arizona 4-17
BYU ran the ball 51 times for 258 yards.
Arizona led 17-14 at halftime.

— RIP to the great actress Diane Keaton, who passed away at age 79.

She has 283 acting credits on IMDB; she won an Oscar and two Golden Globes.

She was the mom in Father of the Bride; she was in Annie Hall, Baby Boom, And So It Goes, The Godfather, lot of really good movies.

She will be missed. RIP, ma’am. 

— Mariners 3, Tigers 2 (15)
Longest winner-take-all playoff game in baseball history.
472 pitches thrown; Mariners used three of their starting pitchers.

Jorge Polanco had a walk-off single to end the game.
Kerry Carpenter was 4-for-5 with two walks for Detroit.
There were 37 strikeouts in this game.

Mariners-Blue Jays play in the ALCS; they came into existence the same year, 1976.

— Modern baseball: Seattle took George Kirby out after he got 15 outs on only 66 pitches. He was pitching on five days rest. Why take him out? He gave up three hits in 5+ IP.

— With Jaxson Dart doing well as a rookie QB, would any NFL team take a look at Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin as a head coach? Coaches who can develop quarterbacks are popular.

— North Carolina’s recent football records:
2024: 6-7
2023: 8-5
2022: 9-5
2021: 6-7
2020: 8-4
2019: 7-6…….so far this year, they’re 2-3

From what you read on the Interweb, hiring Bill Belichick hasn’t gone well, and may not last much longer. Strange situation.

— South Florida 63, North Texas 36
Game was tied 21-21 at halftime.
USF scored four TD’s in a span of 5:45 early in third quarter.
Bulls ran the ball 57 times for 306 yards.

— Colorado State 49, Fresno State 21
Underdog Rams led 35-14 at halftime.
Bulldogs outgained Colorado State 469-334, but had four turnovers.
CSU QB Brousseau threw for 144 yards and three TDs.

— Washington 38, Rutgers 19
Rutgers led 13-10 at halftime.
Huskies’ QB Williams threw for 402 yards, 2 TD’s (14.9 yards/attempt)
Williams also ran the ball 13 times for 136 yards and 2 more TD’s.

Famous birthdays, October 11th:
David Morse, 72
Norm Nixon, 70
John Fourcade, 65
Joan Cusack, 63
Chris Spielman, 60

Matt Bomer, 48
Mike Conley, 38
Gio Urshela, 34
TJ Watt, 31
Brian Allen, 30

— Since 2010, the average payroll for the Bronx Bombers has been $216,082,060 and that includes 2020 (the pandemic year) when they only played 60 games and their payroll that year was $110,852,878.

Over the last 16 years, their average payroll has been $216,082,060, which means that since 2010, they’ve shelled out a total of $3,457,312,965, during which time they’ve made one World Series, and they lost that one. 

3 billion dollars, no world titles. Not good.

— Buffalo Bills have played five games; on their first drive of each half, they’ve scored eight TD’s, kicked a field goal, lost a fumble. Tough team to stop.

— In their last four games, Philadelphia Eagles have run the ball for only 73.5 yards/game; they have been outgained in all six games this season.

— Big 18 hasn’t won a national championship in college basketball since Michigan State back in 2000.

— TV show suggestion on Netflix: Running Point- Kate Hudson stars as the owner of a pro basketball team, it is a bizarre version of Lakers’ owner Jeannie Buss’ career/life. Pretty good show.

— Before last week, there were 12,404 people alive in the Circa Casino Survivor Pool in Las Vegas. More than 7,700 of those people got knocked out last week; tough week for favorites. 

Giants 34, Eagles 17
Giants in first half: 28 plays, 193 yards, 20 points.
Eagles in 2nd half: 21 plays, 140 yards, no points, 2 turnovers.
Giants ran ball 39 times for 172 yards, were +2 in turnovers.
Giants were 11-16 on third down, Eagles 1-9

Rookie RB Skattebo ran ball 19 times for 98 yards, 3 TD’s.
Giants have won two of three games started by rookie QB Dart.
Barkley carried ball 12 times for 58 yards.
Eagles have been outgained in all six of their games.

— Dodgers 2, Phillies 1 (11)
Winning run scored on an error on a ball hit back to the pitcher.
Game was scoreless after six innings.
Both teams scored a run in the 7th.
Dodgers advance to the NLCS, starting Monday.

— Cubs 5, Brewers 0
Matthew Boyd got the first 14 outs, allowing two hits.
Ian Happ hit a 3-run homer in the first inning.
Game 5 is in Milwaukee Saturday.

— Southern Miss 38, Georgia Southern 35
Golden Eagles led 28-7 at halftime, hung on for dear life.
Southern Miss ran ball 48 times for 184 yards.
Georgia Southern had 3 turnovers, 12 penalties for 104 yards. 

— Tulane 26, East Carolina 19
Green Wave drove 75 yards, scored winning TD with 0:35 left
Tulane led 12-0 at halftime.
Tulane outgained ECU 458-340; they had 96 penalty yards.

— Jacksonville State 29, Sam Houston State 27
Gamecocks kicked a 52-yard FG at the gun for a road win.
Jax State outgained the Bearkats, 499-286.
Jax State ran the ball 63 times for 370 yards.

— Kennesaw State 35, Louisiana Tech 7
Dexter Williams threw for 284 yards, four TD’s.
Owls outscored Louisiana Tech 21-0 in second half.
Kennesaw converted 9-14 third down plays. 

Famous birthdays, October 10th:
Gene Tenace, 79
Ben Vereen, 79
Bradley Whitford, 66
Brett Favre, 56

Pat Burrell, 49
Jodi Lyn O’Keefe, 47
Troy Tulowitzski, 41
Andrew McCutchen, 39

Geno Smith, 35
Lourdes Gurriel Jr, 32
Vinnie Pasquantino, 28
Josh Giddey, 23

— Lebron James is going to miss the start of the NBA season; he is out 3-4 weeks because of sciatica on his right side.

— Only two NBA teams that have never had a Rookie of the Year: Nuggets, Heat. 

— Cardinals’ QB Kyler Murray (foot) didn’t practice Wednesday/Thursday; if backup Jacoby Brissett starts Sunday against the Colts, he’ll be the 40th different quarterback to start a game this season.

— In 1970, NFL kickers made 59% of all their field goal attempts.

This year, NFL kickers are making 72% of their FG attempts from 50+ yards out.

— Houston Astros missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016; this week, they cleaned house (kind of), firing:

assistant general manager
both hitting coaches
their catching coach
their trainer

Similar to what the Mets did last week; they kept their GM and their manager, which is kind of weird. If you’re that unhappy with the outcome, how do the managers/GMs keep their jobs?

— Most career postseason home runs:
Manny Ramirez 29
Jose Altuve 27
Kyle Schwarber 23
Bernie Williams 22

— In September, Washington Nationals rookie OF Daylen Like was the first player since Willie Mays in 1957 to hit 7+ triples and 6+ home runs in the same month.

— This season, there were 465 pitch clock violations, down from 602 last year, 1,048 in 2023.

The rule changes MLB put in have done a good job of shortening games.

— Top home run parks in the major leagues this season:
Los Angeles, Toronto, Baltimore, Philadelphia

Worst home run parks:
Pittsburgh, Texas, Arizona, Boston

— Couple nights ago, was watching YouTube late at night, and every MLB team has at least one podcast on there. Guys like me, sitting on their couch, spewing opinions about what went right or wrong this season. Some of them are good, some of them aren’t. 

First of all, I couldn’t talk for an hour straight like that- no way. They must have notes or a script to follow, but that’s not my thing. Two-person podcasts are better, by the way.

My question is this: If you’re a major league player, and you make a few million $$$ a year, do you ever listen to these podcasts? Do you dismiss these nerdy types as wannabe athletes and ignore them?

Two guys do a podcast about the Cincinnati Reds; you would never know that the Reds made the playoffs this year, for only the second time in 12 years. Lot of criticism.

— Tigers 9, Mariners 3
Mariners led this game 3-0 in the fifth inning.
Javier Baez went 2-for-4, with 4 RBI
Riley Greene, Gleyber Torres also homered.
Game 5 is in Seattle on Friday

— Cubs 4, Brewers 3
Cubs scored four runs in the first inning and made them stand up.
Chicago bullpen got the last 15 outs, allowed only two hits.
Jake Bauers homered for Milwaukee.
Game 4 is at Wrigley Thursday.

— Blue Jays 5, New York 2
Blue Jays used 8 pitchers; no one got more than five outs.
Nathan Lukes was 2-5, with two RBI
Toronto wins series 3-1, moves on to the ALCS.

— Phillies 8, Dodgers 2
Ranger Suarez had 5 IP as the bulk reliever, allowed only one run.
Schwarber hit two home runs, had three RBI
Trea Turner was 3-for-5, with two RBI
Game 4 is Thursday in Los Angeles

— Wednesday was the last day this year with more than two baseball games.

— Mets went 83-79 this year, missed the playoffs, then fired the pitching coach, both their hitting coaches, their 3rd base coach, their catchers’ coach and the bench coach.

Somehow the “strategy coach” didn’t get fired; not really sure what he does, but if a team fires six of their coaches, how good could their strategy have been?

Turns out the strategy coach is a 35-year old ex-pitcher who went to Princeton, majoring in economics. He pitched in 119 games for Toronto, posting a 4.33 ERA in 120.2 IP.

David Stearns, who runs the Mets’ front office, went to Harvard, where he was a writer for the school’s newspaper.

Famous birthdays, October 9th:
Freddie Patek, 81
Shera Danese, 76
Brian Downing, 75
Robert Wuhl, 74

Scott Bakula, 71
John O’Hurley, 70
Mike Singletary, 67
Kenny Anderson, 55

Dexter McCleon, 52
Mark McLemore, 45
Derek Holland, 39
Starling Marte, 37

— Cleveland Browns traded 40-year old QB Joe Flacco to division rival Cincinnati Tuesday, and Flacco will start for the 2-3 Bengals this week in Green Bay.

Flacco has a career record of 116-95, 10-6 in playoff games.

The move leaves Cleveland with two rookie QB’s, Dillon Gabriel/Shedeur Sanders, as well as journeyman Bailey Zappe, who is 4-5 in nine NFL starts.

— Browns don’t have a bye week after playing in England Sunday, which is unusual, Team that didn’t have a bye week after playing overseas are:

11-6 SU/9-8 ATS.  Browns are +5.5 in Pittsburgh Sunday.

— Indianapolis Colts lost their kicker (knee) for the year last week; they signed Michael Badgley as their new kicker. Badgley kicked for the Colts in 2021.

— Virginia off to a 5-1 start this season; they beat Louisville 30-27 in OT last week, in a game where they got outgained, 383-239, but the Cavaliers scored two defensive TD’s, and held Louisville to 54 rushing yards on 27 tries.

— Best college football teams against the spread this year:
6-0 Memphis
5-0 Louisiana Tech
5-0 Texas Tech
5-0 Utah State
4-0-1 Ohio State

— This past week was the first time the Ravens, Bills, Chiefs all lost in the same since Week 9 of the 2017 season, when Josh Allen/Lamar Jackson were still in college.

— 5-0 college teams that haven’t been 5-0 in a while
1959- North Texas
1974- UNLV
2013- Texas Tech
2014- Georgia Tech
2016- Texas Q&M
2022- Ole Miss

This is the time of year where seasons overlap; college basketball starts November 3rd. Here is an early look at the Big East Conference:

— Butler (15-20, 6-14 LY)
haven’t made the NCAA’s since 2018.
shot 37% behind the arc last year (#31)
added senior G Jackson, first-team Horizon League all-star LY
6-7 senior Ajayi scored 17.2 ppg for Pepperdine two years ago, then bolted to Gonzaga, but only scored 7.4 ppg LY, so he is at his third school in three years.

— UConn (24-11, 14-6 LY)
made NCAA’s last 5 years, won 2/last 3 national titles.
last two years, played slow pace (#343/#330)
are deeper this year, expect to play faster.
brought in transfer point guards, from Georgia/Dayton.
62% of their scoring from LY is back, which is a lot.
odd stat; they lost their last four visits to Seton Hall.

— Creighton (25-11, 15-5 LY)
made last 5 NCAA’s, making Sweet 16 three times.
top four scorers from last year are gone.
added five transfers TY, including two from Iowa.
were 3rd-worst team in country at forcing turnovers LY.
have better depth this year (#295/bench minutes LY)

— DePaul (14-20, 4-16 LY)
haven’t made NCAA Tournament since 2004
have been .500 in conference games since 2007.
48.8% of scoring is back from LY, which is good.
only Big East team whose leading scorer is back.
added 5 transfers this year.
shot 34.4% on arc LY; transfer RJ Smith shot 38.6% on arc, at Colorado.

— Georgetown (18-16, 8-12 LY)
made 1 of last 8 NCAA Tourneys (2021)
last four years, they’re 12-67 in conference games.
added six transfers TY, including three big guys
junior PG was once Ivy League Rookie of Year at Harvard
need better shooting (shot 32.3% on arc LY)
were 10-3 out of conference LY, but they played easiest non-conference schedule in country.

— Marquette (23-11, 13-7 LY)
made NCAA Tournament last four years, going 3-4.
under Smart, they’re 61-27 in Big East games.
forced turnovers 21.7% of time LY (#18)
were #3 in country in turnover margin LY.
were #279 in rebounding margin LY.
lost top three scorers from LY, get PG Jones back (was hurt LY)

Famous birthdays, October 8th:
Chevy Chase, 82
Sigourney Weaver, 76
Enos Cabell, 76
Mike Morgan, 66

Tony Eason, 66
Emily Procter, 57
Matt Damon, 55
Monty Williams, 54

Olmedo Saenz, 55
Nick Allen, 27
Hunter Goodman, 26
Isaiah Collier, 21

— Providence (12-20, 6-14)
missed NCAA’s the last two years.
best player was hurt LY, then bolted to St John’s.
Friars lost 10 of their last 11 games LY.
were #346 LY in forcing turnovers.
added three transfers to bolster their backcourt.
shot 35.6% on arc LY (#76); 45.5% of their shots were 3’s (#50)

— Seton Hall (7-25, 2-18 LY)
LY, had #356 eFG% offense.
LY, had #335 eFG% defense.
forced turnovers 22.2% of time LY (#8)
their NIL budget is $1.5M, about 1/3 of most Big East teams.
haven’t made NCAA’s since 2022.
senior F Fisher played last 3 years at: Texas Tech, DePaul, Pacific

— St John’s (31-5, 18-2 LY)
made NCAA’s LY for first time since 2019
have 11 games this year at Madison Square Garden; high expectations.
were #317 in bench minutes LY.
Shot 30.1% on arc last year (#340)
added 6 transfers this year, 4 of them guards.
big guy Ejiofor scored 14.7 ppg LY, grabbed 8.1 rebounds/game.

— Villanova (21-15, 11-9 LY)
were 31-29 in Big East in 3 years under Neptune (0-0 in NCAA’s).
Kevin Willard is new coach; he’s made NCAA’s 7 of last 9 years.
Villanova’s subs played #358 minutes LY.
Willard added 11 transfers; they’re deeper, will play faster.
Last 4 years, Devin Askew has played for Cal, Texas, Kentucky, Long Beach State

— Xavier (22-12, 13-7 LY)
made NCAA’s twice in last seven years.
Richard Pitino is new coach (27-11 conference games last 2 years)
Pitino’s Lobos were in top 25 in tempo all four years he was there.
Pitino added 10 transfers TY; six of them scored double figures LY.
Those six transfers come from smaller programs:
Belmont, Boise State, Evansville, Montana, North Dakota, Valparaiso

Jaguars 31, Chiefs 28
Chiefs led 14-0 midway thru the second quarter.
Jaguars drove 60 yards, scored winning TD with 0:23 left.
LB Lloyd had 99-yard pick-6 to put Jaguars ahead 21-14.
Jaguars have 14 takeaways, are +8 in turnovers.

Jaguars in first half: 31 plays, 156 yards, 7 points.
Jaguars in second half: 24 plays, 175 yards, 17 points.
Chiefs had won 23 games in row when they led by 14+ points.
Chiefs are 15-24 ATS in last 39 games coming off a win.

— Dodgers 4, Phillies 3
Snell-Luzardo were in 0-0 pitchers’ duel after six innings.
Will Smith had a 2-run single in LA’s 4-run 7th inning.
All-time, Phillies are 0-8 in playoff series when they lost the opener.
Series head west with Dodgers leading, 2-0

— Brewers 7, Cubs 3
Both teams hit 3-run homers in first inning.
Milwaukee used 8 pitchers; Misiorowski was only one to get 6+ outs.
Cubs only had one hit after the second inning.
Series heads to Wrigley with Milwaukee leading, 2-0

— College football conference trends (in conference games):
American
Home teams 4-9 ATS
Favorites 9-4 ATS

ACC
Road teams 12-8 ATS

Big 18
Underdogs 12-7 ATS

Big X
Favorites 12-7 ATS

Conference USA
Home teams 5-2 ATS

Mid-American
Home teams 7-3 ATS

Mountain West
Home teams 3-4 ATS

SEC
Home underdogs 4-0 ATS
Home teams 11-5 ATS

Sun Belt
Home teams 9-1 ATS

— NFL divisional trends:
AFC East
Home teams 1-4 ATS divisional games
4-6 ATS non-divisional games

AFC North
4-11 ATS non-divisional games

AFC South
8-5 ATS non-divisional games

AFC West
6-7 ATS non-divisional games

NFC East
8-6 ATS non-divisional games

NFC North
7-5 ATS non-divisional games

NFC South
Non-divisional road underdogs 5-3 ATS

NFC West
Home teams 0-4 ATS divisional games
7-5 ATS non-divisional games

— This is only the 4th time ever that every NFL team has a loss by Week 5.

Famous birthdays, October 7th:
José Cardenal, 82
Judy Landers, 67
Dylan Bakler, 66
Priest Holmes, 52
Omar Miller, 47

Evan Longoria, 40
Chase Daniel, 39
Mookie Betts, 33
Jesus Sanchez, 28
Tutu Atwell, 26

— NBA season starts in a couple weeks; NBA uses their preseason to market their game all over the world. Just this month, they’ll have games in:

Adu Dhabi
Australia
China
Puerto Rico
Vancouver, Canada

In regular season, they’ll have NBA games in England, Germany, Mexico City.

— White Sox IF Colson Montgomery hit 21 home runs this year in 71 games, the most home runs EVER by a player who didn’t hit a home run before the All-Star break.

— St Louis Cardinals are probably going to make big changes this winter:
2024: 83-79…….2,869,783 fans at home games (35,872/game)
2025: 78-84…….2,250,007 fans at home games (27,777/game)

Cardinals missed the playoffs the last three years; last time they missed the playoffs 4+ years in a row was 1988-95.

— Texas Rangers hired Skip Schumaker as their new manager; he went 84-78 managing the Marlins in 2023, then went 62-100 last year and he surprisingly resigned.

— Saturday night, Fresno State held off Nevada 20-17 in the Mountain West; Fresno held the ball for the last 8:42 of the game to preserve their win. 15 plays, 68 yards, no punts.

— Sunday in England, Dillon Gabriel was 41st quarterback to start for the Cleveland Browns, since 1999.

— Time flies; the NHL season starts tonight, with three games scheduled. 

Titans 22, Cardinals 21
Arizona led 21-6 with 13:00 left; RB Demercado appeared to run for a 72-yard TD to salt the game away, but he dropped the ball just before he crossed the goal line; it became a touchback.

Arizona’s first four drives: 22 plays, 173 yards, 21 points.
Arizona rest of game: 42 plays, 185 yards, no points.
Cardinals lost their last three games by total of five points.

Rookie QB Ward threw for 265 yards in his first NFL win.
Titans’ last three drives: 25 plays, 205 yards, TD-INT-FG
WR Ridley caught five passes for 131 yards.
Tennessee also scored a TD when Arizona picked off a Ward pass with 5:00 left, but the guy fumbled and the Titans recovered it in the end zone for a TD. 

Broncos 21, Eagles 17
Eagles led 17-3 after the third quarter.
Broncos in first 3 quarters: 45 plays, 171 yards, 3 points.
Denver in 4th quarter: 27 plays, 190 yards, 18 points.
Down 17-10, Denver scored a TD with 7:36 left; they went for 2 points and the lead, and made it, talking the lead for good. 

Eagles’ last five drives: 20 plays, 54 yards, no points.
Eagles are 4-1, but they’ve been outgained in all five games.
Philly converted 2-11 third down plays, Broncos 5-16.
Philly is 7-10-1 ATS in last 18 games as a home favorite.

Buccaneers 38, Seahawks 35
Buccaneers kicked a 39-yard FG at the gun for a walk-off win.
Tampa Bay is 3-0 on road, with wins by 1-3-3 points.
Tampa Bay is 13-2 ATS last 15 games as a road underdog.
Mayfield threw for 379 yards, two TD’s.

Both teams averaged 10+ yards/pass attempt.
Seahawks’ first 3 drives: 15 plays, 95 yards, no points.
Seahawks’ last six drives: 30 plays, 311 yards, 35 points, one INT
Seattle is 7-13-1 ATS in last 21 games as a home favorite.

Panthers 27, Dolphins 24
Carolina drove 78 yards, scored game-winning TD with 1:59 left.
RB Dowdle ran ball 23 times for 206 yards and a TD.
Panthers outgained Miami, 418-248.
Carolina won both its home games, scoring 30-27 points.

Miami led 17-0 with 5:00 left in first half.
Dolphins ran the ball 14 times for only 19 yards.
Dolphins are 0-3 on road, giving up 30.3 ppg.
Under McDaniel, Miami is 9-13-1 ATS in games with spread of 3 or less points.

Vikings 21, Browns 17
Vikings drove 80 yards in 10 plays, scored game-winning TD with 0:25 left.
Under O’Connell, Vikings are 28-10 SU in games decided by 8 or fewer points.
Under O’Connell, Vikings are 20-13-3 ATS as a favorite.
Vikings are first team in ’25 to gain more than 277 yards vs Cleveland.

Rookie QB Gabriel threw for 190 yards, 2 TD’s in his first NFL start.
Rookie RB Judkins ran for 110 yards on 23 carries.
Minnesota converted 3-9 on third down, Cleveland 3-15.
In their 1-4 start, Browns have scored 16-17-13-10-17 points.

Patriots 23, Bills 20
New England led 6-3 at halftime.
Patriots kicked a 52-yard FG with 0:15 left for the win.
Patriots scored 33-42-23 points in wins, 13-14 in losses.
New England is 2-0 on road (33-27 @ Miami/23-20 here)

Bills outgained NE 363-338, but had 3 turnovers (minus-2)
Buffalo in first half: 27 plays, 125 yards, 3 points.
Buffalo in 2nd half: 36 plays, 263 yards, 17 points.
Patriots are 2-5 SU/5-2 ATS in last seven visits to Buffalo.

Famous birthdays, October 6th:
Tony Dungy, 70
Alfredo Griffin, 68
Elisabeth Shue, 62
Rubén Sierra, 60

Jeremy Sisto, 51
Freddy Garcia, 49
Jake Bauers, 30
Bryson Stott, 28

Herb Jones, 27
Trevor Lawrence, 26
Kyle Pitts, 25
Jonathan Kuminga, 23

— Blue Jays 13, New York 7
Toronto led 11-0 in the fourth inning.
Daulton Varsho was 4-for-5, scoring 4 runs, with 4 RBI
Toronto leads series 2-0; Game 3 is Tuesday in New York.

— Mariners 3, Tigers 2
Julio Rodriguez won the game with an 8th inning double.
Skubal pitched 7 innings, but Tigers got only three hits.
Series is tied, 1-1; Game 3 is Tuesday in Detroit. 

Texans 44, Ravens 10
Texans’ first five drives: 36 plays, 266 yards, 31 points.
QB Stroud threw for 244 yards, four TD’s.
Houston outgained the Ravens, 417-207.
Texans won last two games 26-0/44-10, after an 0-3 start. 

QB Jackson didn’t play; Baltimore trailed 24-3 at halftime.
Baltimore’s first six drives: 28 plays, 112 yards, 7 points.
Ravens gave up 41-38-37-44 points in their four losses.
Ravens are giving up 409.4 yards/game.

Saints 26, Giants 14
Giants led 14-3 New Orleans early in the second quarter.
Rattler threw an 87-yard TD pass to Shaheed.
Howden returned a fumble 86 yards for TD on first play of 4th quarter.
Saints converted 7-15 on third down, Giants 3-10

Giants’ first two drives: 16 plays, 129 yards, 14 points.
Giants rest of game: 53 plays, 207 yards, no points.
Giants are 5-9-1 ATS in last 15 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.
Giants committed 5 turnovers, had 8 penalties for 95 yards.

Cowboys 37, Jets 22
Cowboys in first half: 32 plays, 298 yards, 23 points.
Dallas led 23-3 at halftime.
Since 2021, Cowboys are 12-6 ATS as a road favorite.
Dallas scored 40-40-37 in wins/tie, 20-14 in losses. 

Jets are 10-17 ATS in last 27 games as a home underdog.
Jets are 6-19-1 ATS last 26 games vs NFC teams.
Jets are 8-16-1 ATS in last 25 games coming off a loss.
Jets are 8-17-1 ATS last 26 games with spread of 3 or fewer points.

Colts 40, Raiders 6
Indy went 3/out on their first five drive.
Colts’ next six drives: 47 plays, 295 yards, six TD’s.
Colts are 3-0 at home, scoring 33-29-40 points.
Under Steichen, Indy is 7-2 ATS as a home favorite.

Raiders drove 80 yards, kicked FG on their first drive.
Raiders’ next six drives: 26 plays, 121 yards, no points.
Las Vegas lost last four games, giving up 20-41-25-40 points.
Raiders are 20-26-1 ATS in last 47 games coming off a loss.

Commanders 27, Chargers 10
Washington’s first two drives: 8 plays, 30 yards, no points.
Washington’s next four drives: 27 plays, 177 yards, 20 points.
QB Daniels is 16-7 as an NFL starter.
Commanders are 7-3 ATS last 10 games with a spread of 3 or fewer points.

Chargers’ first two drives: 18 plays, 119 yards, 10 points.
Chargers rest of game: 47 plays, 221 yards, no points.
QB Herbert has been sacked 16 times in Chargers’ first five games.
Chargers’ WR Keenan Allen caught his 1,000th career pass.

Lions 37, Bengals 24
Lions led 14-3 at halftime.
Detroit’s first two drives in 2nd half: 12 plays, 108 yards, 14 points.
Lions won last three games, scoring 52-38-34-37 points.
Detroit is +7 in turnovers in its last four games.

Bengals lost last three games, by a combined 113-37.
Lions are 12-2 ATS last 14 games as a road favorite.
Detroit is 16-7 ATS in last 23 games vs AFC teams
Detroit is 25-11 ATS last 36 games coming off a win.

— UCLA 42, Penn State 37
Bruins, with an interim head coach, were 24.5-point underdogs.
UCLA led this game 27-7 at halftime.
Nico Iamaleava threw for 166 yards, 2 TD’s, ran for 128 yards, 3 TD’s.

— Miami 28, Florida State 22
Carson Beck threw for 240 yards, four TD’s
Hurricanes led 28-3 after three quarters, hung on for the win.
Miami was +3 in turnovers; they had 12 penalties for 98 yards.

— Florida 29, Texas 21
Florida gets its first I-A win in four tries.
Gators had scored total of 33 points in their three losses.
Texas is 0-2 on road, losing this game, also 14-7 at Ohio State.

— Alabama 30, Vanderbilt 14
Game was tied 14-14 at halftime.
Crimson Tide outgained Vandy, 486-333.
Alabama threw for 340 yards (11.0 Yards/attempt)

— UNLV 31, Wyoming 17
October 4th, and it snowed in Laramie, Wyoming.
5-0 Rebels led this game 24-3 at halftime.
UNLV ran for 153 yards, was +2 in turnovers.

— Upsets of the Day:
UCLA (+24.5) 42, Penn State 37
Ball State (+14.5) 20, Ohio U 14
Arkansas State (+13.5) 31, Texas State 30
Akron (+8.5) 28, Central Michigan 22

Virginia (+7.5) 30, Louisville 27 OT
Florida (+6.5) 29, Texas 21
Wake Forest (+6.5) 30, Virginia Tech 23
Temple (+6.5) 27, Tex-San Antonio 21

— Brewers 9, Cubs 3
Milwaukee scored six runs in the first inning.
Jackson Chourio had 3 RBI, but aggravated his leg injury.
Freddy Peralta got 17 outs, allowed two runs.

— Blue Jays 10, New York 1
Alejandro Kirk hit two home runs.
Leading 2-1, Blue Jays scored four runs in 7th, four more in 8th.
This was Toronto’s first win in a playoff game since 2016

— Dodgers 5, Phillies 3
Teoscar Hernandez hit a 3-run homer in the 7th inning.
Phillies led 3-0 after five innings.
Tyler Glasnow got 5 outs, in his first relief stint in seven years.

— Tigers 3, Mariners 2 (11)
Zack McKinstry had the game-winning single in the 11th inning.
Detroit used 8 pitchers; they were 2-8 with RISP.
McKinstry’s hit was Detroit’s only hit after the fifth inning. 

— Famous birthdays, October 5th:
Trace Armstrong, 60
Jeff Lebo, 59
Rex Chapman, 58

Grant Hill, 53
Kate Winslet, 50
Jesse Palmer, 47

Travis Kelce, 36
Zack Littell, 30
Michael Hoecht, 28

— Virginia 30, Louisville 27 OT
Virginia led 24-14 after three quarters.
Louisville forced OT, kicked 50-yard FG with 1:08 left.
4-1 Louisville outgained the 5-1 Cavaliers, 383-237

— Clemson 38, North Carolina 10
Clemson’s first four drives: 16 plays, 253 yards, 28 points.
Tigers passed for 399 yards (10.2 yards/attempt)
North Carolina is 1-3 vs I-A teams, giving up 34-48-38 points in losses.

— Washington 24, Maryland 20
Maryland led this game 20-0 in the third quarter.
Washington’s last five drives: 45 plays, 298 yards, 24 points.
Maryland’s last four drives: 19 plays, 52 yards, no points.

— Appalachian State 27, Oregon State 23
App State led 17-0 in first quarter; they were +3 in turnovers.
Beavers outgained App State, 456-354.
Oregon State QB Murphy threw for 358 yards, 2 TD’s, 2 INTs

— Texas Tech 35, Houston 11
Tech QB Morton threw for 345 yards and a TD.
5-0 Red Raiders led 25-11 at halftime.
Tech outgained Houston, 552-267. 

How NFL teams do on first drive of a half:
(All teams 4 games/8 halves, except SF/Rams (5/10))

NFC East
Dallas:
outscored 34-7 on first drive of a half
outgained 197-88 on first drive of games

Giants:
10-10 on first drive of each half
last three weeks, Giants gained 190 yards on first drive of game.

Eagles:
outscored opponents 27-14 on first drive of a half
scored TD on first drive in 3 of 4 games. 

Commanders:
outscored 16-10 on first drive of a half
first drives of a game: 17 plays, 43 yards

NFC North
Bears:
outscored opponents 28-10 on first drive of a half
have four takeaways in first drive of a half (+4)
first drive of half: 4 TD’s, 4 three/outs.

Lions:
outscored 35-27 on first drive of a half
Allowed a TD on first drive in all four games
39 plays, 325 yards, four TD’s

Packers:
outscored opponents 24-3 on first drive of a half
opponents’ first drive of game: 17 plays, 38 yards, no points

Vikings:
outscored opponents 17-13 on first drive of a half
opponents on 1st drive, last 4 halves: 12 plays, 8 yards, 4 punts

NFC South
Falcons
outscored opponents 23-10 on first drive of a half
first drive of game: 28 plays, 197 yards, 13 points.

Panthers
outscored opponents 24-20 on first drive of a half
Last two games, had TD drives of 61-76 yards on their 1st drive.

Saints
outscored 27-14 on first drive of a half
Last 2 games, gave up 3 TD’s and FG on first drive of the half. 

Buccaneers
outscored 24-13 on first drive of a half
opponents on 1st drive of half: 28 plays, 253 yards, 24 points

NFC West
Cardinals
outscored opponents 16-10 on first drive of a half
opponents on 1st drive of game: 15 plays, 42 yards, no points

Rams
outscored opponents 27-20 on first drive of a half
in their two losses, opponent scored a TD on their first drive.

49ers
outscored opponents 17-0 on first drive of a game
Last 2 games, 49ers averaged 64.3 yards/1st drive of a half

Seahawks
outscored opponents 27-10 on first drive of a half
last three games, have 3 TD’s, 2 FG’s on first drive of half.

Famous birthdays, October 4th:
Susan Sarandon, 79
Tony LaRussa, 81
John Wathan, 76
Truck Robinson, 74

AC Green, 62
Mark McLemore, 61
Liev Schreiber, 58
Kurt Thomas, 53

Tony Gwynn Jr, 43
Derrick Rose, 37
Dakota Johnson, 36
Oneil Cruz, 27

AFC East
Bills
outscored opponents 52-24 on first drive of a half
1st drives of a half: 70 plays, 560 yards, 7 TD’s, FG

Dolphins
outscored 34-20 on first drive of a half
opponents average 74.3 yards/opening drive of game.

Patriots
outscored 31-14 on first drive of a half
opponents on 1st drive of game: 24 plays, 201 yards, 21 points. 

Jets
outscored 33-13 on first drive of a half
Opponents on 1st drive of half: 3 TD’s, 4 field goals

AFC North
Ravens
outscored 38-37 on first drive of a half
last two games, started game with TD drives of 80-70 yards

Bengals
outscored 28-17 on first drive of a half
allowed TD on first drive in three of four games

Browns
outscored opponents 14-10 on first drive of a half
Last 3 games: 13 plays, 19 plays on first drive of 3rd quarter

Steelers
17-17 on first drive of each half
first drive of 2nd half: 15 plays, 30 yards, no points

AFC South
Texans
outscored 17-10 on first drive of a half
first drive of 2nd half: 23 plays, 58 yards, no points

Colts
outscored 24-22 on first drive of a half
1st drive of half: one TD, 5 FG’s, 2 turnovers

Jaguars
outscored 20-13 on first drive of a half
Opponents on 1st drive of 3rd quarter: 27 plays, 245 yards, 14 points

AFC West
Broncos
outscored opponents 14-10 on first drive of a half
opponents on 1st drive of half: 66 plays, 341 yards, 7 FG’s

Chiefs
outscored opponents 27-20 on first drive of a half
1st drive of 3rd quarter: 32 plays, 224 yards, 21 points

Raiders
17-17 on first drive of each half
last 3 games, threw three INT’s on first drive of a half. 

Chargers
outscored 24-19 on first drive of a half
opponents on 1st drive of 3rd quarter: 41 plays, 228 yards, 17 points

— Tigers 6, Guardians 3
Dillon Dingler hit the go-ahead homer in the 6th inning.
Tigers broke game open, scoring four runs in 7th inning.
Detroit-Seattle will meet in the ALDS.

— Cubs 3, Padres 1
Taillon allowed two baserunners in four scoreless IP (60 PT)
San Diego was 0-8 with runners in scoring position.
Cubs play Milwaukee in the NLDS.

— Bronx 4, Red Sox 0
Rookie Schlittler struck out 12 in eight scoreless IP.
Bronx scored all four of its runs in the fourth inning.
New York-Toronto will meet in the ALDS.

— 49ers 26, Rams 23 OT
SF stopped the Rams on 4th-and-1 to end the game.
Rams forced OT, kicking a 48-yard FG with 0:02 left
Rams also fumbled on the 49ers’ 1-yard line with 1:02 left.
49ers’ five games have all been decided by 5 or fewer points.

SF WR Bourne caught 10 passes for 142 yards.
49ers’ first two drives: 25 plays, 163 yards, 14 points.
49ers won six of last eight visits to Los Angeles.
Underdogs are 5-0-1 ATS in last six series games.

— New Mexico State 37, Sam Houston State 10
New Mexico State led 13-10 after the third quarter.
Aggies threw ball for 255 yards (9.4 yards/attempt)
Aggies were 9-13 on third down, Sam Houston 3-11

— Knicks 99, 76ers 84
Exhibition game was played in Abu Dhabi.
Knicks outscored Philly 28-18 in second quarter.
Knicks played 19 different players, 76ers played 13 guys.

— Movie of the Day: All the President’s Men (1976)- Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Richard Nixon’s resignation.

Tremendous cast: Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Warden, Hal Holbrook, Jason Robards, Martin Balsam, Ned Beatty, Meredith Baxter.

—Famous birthdays, October 3rd:
Dave Winfield, 74
Greg Foster, 57
Janel Moloney, 56

Anquan Boldin, 45
Courtney Lee, 40
Mike Gesicki, 30

CJ Abrams, 25
CJ Stroud, 24
Abdul Carter, 22

Seven baseball players who could be free agents this winter:
— Pete Alonso 1B- Has $24M option with the Mets for next year, but can probably make way more than that, even though he is 31. Last five years, he’s hit 195 homers, played in 158 games a year. Durable and productive; Mets will probably re-sign him.

— Luis Arraez 1B/2B- Won three of last four batting titles, slumped to .292 this year. Does not have a lot of power, not real fast, average fielder, but he gets a lot of hits.

— Bo Bichette SS- Hit .311 this year with an .840 OPS. Led the league in hits in 2021/2022; he had an injury-plagued season last year. Had 94 RBI this season.

— Alex Bregman 3B- Can opt out of the last two years of his contract, which would pay $80M; had an .821 OPS this year, his best since 2019. It is assumed that he will opt out.

— Kyle Schwarber OF/DH- Is 33 years old, but he hit 56 homers, had 132 RBI this year, has 187 homers the last four seasons. Philly is an excellent hitters’ park; should he stay there?

— Kyle Tucker OF- Hit 134 homers the last five years, has career OPS of .865. Hurt his hand in July and struggled in second half of season.

— Framber Valdez, P- Is 32 years old; over last four years, is 57-35 in 121 starts. He’s pitched in the playoffs five of the last six years. 

— ESPN had a good day Wednesday; three of the four Wild Card series are tied 1-1, so we have three winner-take-all games Thursday. Winner-take-all games get good ratings. 

Here is the schedule:
3:00 Tigers @ Cleveland
5:00 Padres @ Chicago
8:00 Red Sox @ New York

This is the first time since 1981 there are three winner-take-all games on the same day.

— Guardians 6, Tigers 1
Cleveland scored five runs in the bottom of the 8th.
Rocchio, Naylor homered in that 8th inning.
Flaherty vs Cecconi is Thursday’s matchup.

— Padres 3, Cubs 0
San Diego bullpen got 16 outs, allowed one baserunner.
Machado hit a 2-run homer in the fifth inning.
Darvish vs Taillon is Thursday’s matchup.

— New York 4, Red Sox 3
Austin Wells had game-winning hit, in the 8th inning.
Trevor Story knocked in all three Boston runs.
Early vs Schlittler is Thursday’s matchup.

— Dodgers 8, Reds 4
Mookie Betts went 4-for-5, with three RBI
Spots 7-9 in Dodger batting order went 7-12 with five runs scored.
Dodgers move on to play the Phillies in the next round.

— Monday in New York City, Mets’ president of baseball operations David Stearns hosted a press conference the day after the Mets’ season ended without the Mets making the playoffs, even though their payroll was $340,085,003.

What went wrong? Mets were 45-25 on June 13th, then went 38-54 the rest of the season.

Lot of tough questions at the news conference, Stearns kept his cool, it is all part of the job, but it had to be a rough couple of hours for him.

Juan Soto, Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso earned a combined $125,975,000 this year, that’s $126M for three guys, but three really good guys, money well spent. Some of the other high-paid players didn’t do so well. 

$22,009,731- Sean Manaea
$20,250,000- Brandon Nimmo
$19,500,000- Starling Marte
$17,000,000- Frankie Montas
$7,500,000- Jesse Winker

These are the guys that Stearns has to answer for; the Marlins had a payroll of $69,510,827 and they went 79-83, only four games behind the Mets.

By way of comparison, Stearns’ old team, the Milwaukee Brewers had the #23 payroll this year, $115,136,217, and they got a first round bye in the playoffs.

— Famous birthdays, October 2nd:
Lorraine Bracco, 71
Dave Beard, 66
Mark Rypien, 63
Kelly Ripa, 55

Aaron McKie, 53
Tyson Chandler, 43
Joe Ingels, 38
Lance McCullers Jr, 32

— Brian Snitker won’t be back as manager of the Atlanta Braves next year; he went 835-691 in 10 years managing the Braves, winning the 2021 World Series, but Snitker is going to be 70 in a couple weeks, and the Braves went 76-86 this year, their first losing season since 2017.

— Colorado Rockies went 43-119 this year; they fired GM Bill Schmidt this week, largely because their team really sucks- the last three years, they’ve lost 323 games. Colorado had winning years as recently as 2017-2018, but that seems like a long time ago.

— Red Sox P Garrett Crochet threw 100+ pitches in 16 games this season, the most of any major league pitcher this year.

— Movie of the Day: Hustle (2022)- A basketball scout discovers a great ballplayer in Spain, and sees the prospect as his chance to move up from scouting to being an assistant coach.

Adam Sandler is the scout, Queen Latifah is his wife, Robert Duvall has a cameo as the owner of the 76ers, and a lot of NBA players appear in the movie.

If you like basketball, you’ll like this movie. It is really good.

— Cleveland Browns will start rookie QB Dillon Gabriel Sunday when they play the Vikings in London; Browns scored only 14 ppg in their 1-3 start.

Gabriel will become the 41st different quarterback the Browns have started since returning to the NFL in 1999, the most in the league during that time.

— Last 25 years, 2018 Houston Texans are the only team that started a season 0-3 and made the playoffs that year.

— Pitches thrown by the starting pitchers the last couple days:

Tigers- Skubal 107, Mize 62
Guardians- Williams 88, Bibee 87

Red Sox- Crochet 117, Bello 28
Bronx- Fried 102, Rodon 91

Padres- Pivetta 85, Cease 69
Cubs- Boyd 58, Imanaga 67 (opener Kittredge threw 20)

Reds- Greene 65, Littell 52
Dodgers- Snell 91, Yamamoto 113