Armadillo Sports

— Indiana 27, Miami 21
Hoosiers win their first-ever national title.
Before this year, Indiana hadn’t won a bowl game since 1991.
Indiana blocked punt for a TD to go ahead 17-7.

— What does it say about Miami’s program that the national title game was on their home field, but Indiana had more fans there?

— ESPN had a great Film Room broadcast of this game, with four former coaches analyzing the game as they watched it. Learned a lot; it was an excellent listen.

Gene Chizik
Dave Clawson
Mike Gundy
Steve Addazio

— Indiana, Miami are both Adidas schools, which clinched Adidas having their first national champ in college football since Tennessee in 1998.

— Coaches come from all kinds of backgrounds:

Indiana coach Curt Cignetti didn’t become a head coach until he was 50; he is 146-37 as a head coach, 27-2 in two years at Indiana. He spent seven years as the QB coach at Rice, Temple, not exactly football factories. Now he’s a national champ.

Rams’ coach Sean McVay was an NFL head coach at age 30; he turns 40 on Saturday, is already 102-62 with the Rams. His grandfather was head coach of the Giants and later an executive with the 49ers. At one time, Sean McVay was an assistant coach for the Florida Tuskers in the UFL.

— I’m watching Rams-Bears Sunday and I’m wondering,”Who is Jared Goff rooting for?”

He played for McVay with the Rams for four years, then played for four years in Detroit with Ben Johnson as his offensive coordinator— he had great success playing for both guys. Maybe he didn’t watch, maybe he didn’t care, but would be fun to know.

By the way, makes me feel old that Goff has already been in the NFCL for 10 years.

— Caleb Williams is a lot better than I thought he was going to be, but maybe Ben Johnson is just a great offensive coach.

Next summer, some NFL analysts are going to predict the Bears are going to regress, because teams that win a lot of close games don’t always do that the next year. Minnesota Vikings have won a ton of last close games under Kevin O’Connell, but with QB injuries this year, Minnesota missed the playoffs, even though they were 5-3 in one-score games.

Such a fine line between winning and losing in the NFL. 

— Miami Dolphins hired former Boston College coach Jeff Hafley as their new coach, he was the defensive coordinator for Green Bay the last two years. Hafley was 22-26 in four years at BC, 12-22 in ACC games.

— Famous birthdays, January 20th:
Ron Harper, 62
Ozzie Guillen, 62
Terry Kirby, 56
Eddie Kennison, 53
David Eckstein, 51

Jason Richardson, 45
Nick Foles, 37
DeVante Parker, 33
Tyler Herro, 26
JJ McCarthy, 23

— I’m wondering if Gonzaga will still be a powerhouse when they leave the WCC after this year; they’re moving to the re-tooled Pac-12, which will mostly be like the current Mountain West, but it is going to be tougher than the current WCC.

In the 80’s/early 90’s, UNLV was a national power under Jerry Tarkanian, playing in the Big West Conference; when the NCAA forced Tarkanian out in 1992, Rebels played four more years in the Big West, before moving on to the Mountain West.

UNLV has slid into mediocrity; they haven’t made the NCAA Tournament since 2013, and they have had some good coaches: Lon Kruger, TJ Otzelberger, Charlie Spoonhour. 

— Saint Louis, Miami OH are both in the top 25, which is unusual; first time Miami has been in the top 25 since 1999.

— Marquette 105, Providence 104 OT
Marquette led 54-44 at halftime.
6-0 freshman James scored 38 points, had 8 assists.
Golden Eagles shot 62% inside the arc, only 19-30 on foul line.
Providence is 2-6 in last eight games; three of those losses were in OT.

— Towson 59, Drexel 58
Drexel led by 17 in first half, by 6 with 2:34 left.
Towson was 15-21 on foul line, Dragons 1-4
Towson out-rebounded Drexel, 42-29

— Harvard 64, Penn 63
Harvard shot 60% inside the arc.
6-5 senior Roberts scored 27 for Penn, had no assists.
Quakers were 13-17 on foul line, Harvard was 4-8.

— Quinnipiac 98, Manhattan 92 OT
Manhattan led by 15 with 12:59 left in the game.
6-2 senior Jones scored 30 points, had five assists.
Fifth lost in last six games for the Jaspers.

— Bracketology; seeds 1-4 according to ESPN:
1- Arizona, Michigan, UConn, Duke
2- Gonzaga, Nebraska, Purdue, Iowa State
3- Vanderbilt, Houston, BYU, Illinois
4- Alabama, Texas Tech, Florida, Michigan

— Rams 20, Bears 17 OT
Rams drove 54 yards, Mevis kicked 42-yard walk-off FG in OT.
Bears scored a TD with 0:18 left to force overtime.
Rams are 9-0 when they allow less than 26 points.
Rams advance to the NFC title game in Seattle next week.

Bears converted 9-19 on third down, LA 5-16, on a cold night
Chicago ran ball for 160 yards, but were minus-3 in turnovers.
In two playoff games, Bears converted only 5-12 fourth down plays.
Rams’ two TD drives were 91-85 yards, lasted 6:33/6:02.

— Patriots 28, Texans 16
Houston turned ball over on 4 of their first 8 drives.
Patriots scored on a pick-6 to take a 14-10 lead. 
In their history, Texans are 0-7 in this round of the playoffs.
Patriots move on to AFC title game in Denver next week.

Texans ran ball 22 times for only 48 yards.
Houston scored only one TD; that was on a short 27-yard drive.
QB Maye threw for 179 yards, 3 TD’s on a snowy/sleet day.
Texans completed only 20 of 47 passes, with four INTs. 

— Atlanta Falcons hired former Browns coach Kevin Stefanski as their new coach, the first hire for new Falcons boss Matt Ryan. Stefanski was 46-58 in six years in Cleveland, 1-2 in playoff games.

— Famous birthdays, January 19th:
Dolly Parton, 80
Terry Hanratty, 78
Jon Matlack, 76
Katy Segal, 72
Steve DeBerg, 72

Paul McCrane, 65
Chris Sabo, 64
Michael Adams, 63
Luc Longley, 57
Phil Nevin, 55

— Was laughing the other day when the Dodgers signed Kyle Tucker for four years at $60M a year; hearing New York fans complain how the Dodgers are ruining baseball by spending too much $$$ and I’m like, “Hey, I root for the A’s. Welcome to my world for the last 50 years”

That said, $60M/year for Tucker seems comically excessive; he isn’t Aaron Judge or Juan Soto but he is really good. At first, I thought it said $240 for six years; $40M/year seemed OK, but then I realized he’ll be making $60M/year. Yikes.

— Atlanta Braves made a $46M profit last year, which makes you wonder how high these teams are willing to go to sign stars. $46M is one superstar player or two really good ones. I’m not a big finance guy; this time next year, we’ll probably be hearing a lot more about the finances of major league teams, when the lockout is looming.

— Minnesota Twins signed C Victor Caratini for two years, $14M; with the new appeal system for ball/strike challenges, not sure if good pitch framers are as valuable as they have been, but the Twins think Caratini is. He’s had an OPS of .711+ the last three years.

— When actor Charlie Sheen was a kid, apparently he was really good at baseball; U of Kansas offered him a baseball scholarship, but then he got tossed out of high school for not going to this classes, so college was out of the question.

— Been watching a lot of fantasy baseball mock drafts on the Interweb, watched one the other day where Mike Trout was a 19th round pick. Jeez, how quickly they forget.

— Movie of the Day: Major League (1989)- Woman inherits the Cleveland Indians from her dead husband; she wants to move the team to Miami, so she puts together a roster that is really bad, so fans in Cleveland won’t come to see them play.

Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Wesley Snipes, Corbin Bernsen are some of the players; former Dodger catcher Steve Yeager is Cleveland’s third base coach. James Gammon is the manager of the team; Rene Russo is also in this, but the late Bob Uecker steals the show as the announcer of the team.

Very funny movie, but moving a baseball team to Miami turned out to be a very bad idea.

— In college basketball, Florida Gators won consecutive national titles in 2007, 2008; since then, only one defending national champ made it to the Elite 8 in the NCAAs the next year, and that was UConn won their consecutive titles in 2023, 2024.

Florida is the defending champ this year; they’re 13-5 right now, 4-1 in the SEC, experience team #65. We’ll see how it goes for them.

— Florida Atlantic 79, Temple 73
Fast-paced game (79 possessions), was fun to watch.
Both teams are the Owls, by the way.
Brickfest for a high-scoring game; teams shot 9-41 on the arc.
FAU won its last four games, scoring 82.3 ppg.

— Wichita State 86, South Florida 85 OT
USF led by 13 early in the second half.
Both teams shot under 40% inside the arc.
Teams combined to shoot 24-51 (47.1%) outside the arc.

— Houston 103, Arizona State 73
Cougars led 56-29 at halftime.
Arizona State has lost six of its last seven games.
Houston has won 11 games in a row (only loss 76-73 to Tennessee)

— San Francisco 85, Washington State 80
Wazzu led by 7 with 6:06 left in the game.
USF was 15-18 on foul line, Wazzu 2-3.
Coogs lost last three games (Zags, St Mary’s, USF)
Dons made 12-22 shots on the arc.

— North Texas 71, Tulane 63
North Texas out-rebounded Tulane, 47-30.
Green Wave shot only 31.3% from the floor.
North Texas is 11-7; they have the #325 eFG% in the country. 

— Broncos 33, Bills 30 OT
Denver advances to AFC title game next week, at home.
Denver QB Bo Nix broke his ankle, is out for the year.
Backup Jarrett Stidham (1-3 as an NFL starter) is Denver’s new QB.
Stidham will be first QB in the last 60 years to start a conference championship game, without having thrown a pass up to that point in that season.

Denver scored 10 points in last 0:22 of first half to take 20-10 halftime lead.
Buffalo kicked a 50-yard FG with 0:05 left in regulation to force OT.
Broncos drove 75 yards before they kicked the game-winning FG.
Josh Allen is having a great career, but he is now 0-7 in overtime games.

— Seahawks 41, 49ers 6
Seahawks ran opening kickoff back 95 yards for a TD.
Seattle’s first seven drives: 48 plays, 271 yards, 34 points.
San Francisco lost fumbles on their first two drives.
Seattle will host the NFC title game next Sunday.

Seahawks won 11 of their last 12 home playoff games.
49ers were 2-5 ATS as an underdog this year.
49ers had won their previous four visits to Seattle.
Seahawks went over their team total in 12 of last 17 games.

— California 84, North Carolina 78
Cal led this game 54-37 at halftime.
Golden Bears shot 14-26 on arc; Justin Pippen scored 19 points.
Tar Heels are 0-3 in ACC road games, giving up 97-95-84 points.
Justin Pippen is the son of Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen

— Purdue 69, USC 64
USC led this game 22-8 midway thru the first half.
Trojans shot 61% inside the arc, only 3-20 outside arc.
Purdue has won nine in a row, is now 17-1 this year (lost to Iowa State)

— Kentucky 80, Tennessee 78
Tennessee led by 17 late in the first half.
2nd game in row Kentucky won after trailing by 15+ points.
Kentucky won seven of its last nine games, after a 5-4 start.

— College Basketball Upsets of the Day:
Georgia Tech (+17) 78, NC State 74
Northern Illinois (+8.5) 70, UMass 68
Cleveland State (+8.5) 80, Youngstown State 78
Wofford (+7.5) 74, Furman 70
Kennesaw State (+7.5) 81, Western Kentucky 65
SIU-Edwardsville (+7.5) 68, SE Missouri State 55

— Miami OH 105, Buffalo 102, OT
Miami improves to 19-0, one of three unbeaten teams in country.
RedHawks shot 67.6% inside arc, scored 1.26 ppp.
6-5 senior Suder scored 37 points, had no assists; his job is to shoot the ball.

— Clemson 69, Miami 59
Tigers are 6-0 in ACC, are quietest 16-3 team in the country.
Clemson is #30 experience team that has played schedule #40 so far.
Tigers have the #20 eFG% defense in the country.

— Santa Clara 62, Saint Mary’s 54
Huge win for Santa Clara’s chances of getting an at-large bid in March.
Broncos are 7-1 in WCC, with only loss by 12 at Gonzaga.
Brickfest; teams combined to shoot 7-36 on the arc.

— Florida 98, Vanderbilt 94
Florida shot 62.2% inside arc, scored 1.35 ppp.
Gators out-rebounded Vandy, 40-26.
Florida has won eight of last nine games, after a 5-4 start.

— Famous birthdays, January 18th:
Myron Pottios, 88
Scott McGregor, 72
Kevin Costner, 71
Larry Smith, 68

Bob Hansen, 65
Brady Anderson, 62
Jesse L Martin, 57
Julius Peppers, 46

Michael Pineda, 37
Leonard Fournette, 31
Tee Higgins, 27
Braden Fiske, 26

— Alabama 83, Oklahoma 81
Sooners led 44-33 at halftime.
Alabama shot 57.6% inside arc, only 15-26 on foul line.
Alabama is 13-5; up to this point, they’ve played toughest schedule in country.

— Texas Tech 84, BYU 71
BYU led 61-52 with 8:40 left in the game.
Tech used only three subs, for a total of 10:00.
Red Raiders are shooting 37.8% on arc this year (#24 in country)

— St John’s 86, Villanova 79
Red Storm shot 58.1% inside arc; they opened 2nd half with a 20-4 run.
Johnnies won their last four games, scoring 88 ppg.
Villanova slips to 14-4; they’ve played #24 schedule in country.

— San Diego State 83, New Mexico 79
Aztecs won their 7th game in row, lead Mountain West by a game.
San Diego State outscored Lobos 6-0 over final 1:11 for the win.
Just 2nd loss in last 12 games for New Mexico; they’ve played schedule #90.

— Grand Canyon 84, Utah State 74
Loss snaps Utah State’s 8-game winning streak.
Antelopes shot 60.6% inside arc, scored 1.28 ppp.
6-2 junior Williams scored 20 points in 27:00 off bench for Grand Canyon. 

There are seven NFL head coaches who have led more than one franchise to a Super Bowl; was surprised to learn that no coach has ever won a Super Bowl with two franchises.

— Don Shula (347-173-6 as NFL coach)
lost Super Bowl III with the Colts
was 2-3 in Super Bowls with Miami, winning Super Bowls VII and VIII

His grandson Chris is defensive coordinator for the Rams. 

— Dick Vermeil (126-114)
Won Super Bowl XXXIV with the Rams
Lost Super Bowl XiX with Philadelphia
He was 6-5 in playoff games, was 15-5-3 as a college coach

— Andy Reid (307-174-1)
Is 3-3 in Super Bowls, 28-17 in playoff games.
Lost Super Bowl XXXIX with the Eagles
Is 3-2 in Super Bowls with Chiefs, 18-8 in playoff games.

— Bill Parcells (191-141-1)
Won two Super Bowls with the Giants (XXI and XXV)
Lost Super Bowl XXXI with New England.
He was 11-8 in playoff games.

— Mike Holmgren (174-122)
Won Super Bowl XXXI with Green Bay
Lost Super Bowl XV with Seattle
Was 1-2 in Super Bowl, 13-11 in playoff games.

— John Fox (141-130)
Won Super Bowl XLVIII with the Broncos
Lost Super Bowl XXXVIII with Carolina
He was 8-7 in playoff games.

— Dan Reeves (201-174-2)
Got to three Super Bowls in four years with Denver, went 0-3
Lost Super Bowl XXXIII with the Falcons, against Denver.
Was 11-9 in playoff games. 

— Famous birthdays, January 17th:
Preston Pearson, 81
Pete LaCock, 74
Chili Davis, 66

Jim Carrey, 64
Dwyane Wade, 44
Tyler Zeller, 36

Trevor Bauer, 35
Nickell Robey-Coleman, 34
Kyle Tucker, 29

— Dodgers gave OF Kyle Tucker a four-year, $240M contract, $60M/year, which seems a bit excessive. Tucker has 147 career home runs, a career OPS of .865, but he played most of his career in a hitter-friendly ballpark in Houston.

— Mets responded to that by signing IF Bo Bichette for three years, $126M. He hit .311 last year, has a career OPS of .806. Bichette figures to play third base, after being a shortstop up until now, kind of what Alex Rodriguez did when he moved to the Bronx.

— Phillies re-signed C JP Realmuto for three years, $45M; he will be 35 in March, has a career OPS of .774.

— In college/minor league sports, QB Darian Mensah is in the transfer portal, again. After making $8M the last two years at Duke, he figures to land with the Miami Hurricanes. Mensah started his college career at Tulane. Duke went 18-9 in Mensah’s two years as QB.

— Word of the Day: Chiseler- A person who cheats/tricks people; a grifter.

— Providence 93, Creighton 88
Friars shot 56.8% inside the arc.
Creighton led 46-45 at halftime.
Just second win in seven Big East games for Providence

— Kansas 80, Baylor 62
Kansas shot 58.7% inside arc, had only four turnovers.
Jayhawks won last two games, by 21-18 points.
Baylor slips to 11-6, 1-4 in conference games.

— DePaul 80, Marquette 75
Marquette led 44-36 at halftime.
6-7 senior Gunn had 31 points for DePaul.
DePaul won last three home games, is 3-4 in Big East play.
Last time DePaul finished .500+ in conference play? 2007.

— Kent State 87, Toledo 84
Toledo led 41-35 at halftime.
Kent State was 26-36 on foul line, Rockets 20-29.
Kent State is 5-1 in MAC, game behind unbeaten Miami.

— Ball State 76, Ohio U 71
Cardinals never trailed, improved to 1-5 in the MAC.
Ball State was 25-31 on foul line, Bobcats 15-19.
Ohio U shot 57.9% inside arc, 4-16 outside arc.

— Dayton 78, Loyola Chi 51
Flyers led this game 31-30 at halftime.
Dayton is 5-0 in A-14, forcing turnovers 25% of time.
Loyola is 5-14 this year, after going 48-22 the last two years. 

— Dodgers have apparently signed free agent OF Kyle Tucker, who has hit 134 home runs the last five years. He was hampered by a hand injury last year, batting .218 in July, .244 in August after hitting .280 with 17 homers before the All-Star break.

— When I was a kid, one of my favorite TV shows was The Rockford Files, starring the great actor James Garner. It was about a private detective who lived in a trailer on a beach outside Los Angeles. He drove a gold Pontiac Firebird, the show is still on TV, I think on Peacock, but it ran from 1974-80, my high school/college years.

NBC is re-booting the series, but James Garner as Rockford is going to be a tough act to follow, harder than Tom Selleck as Magnum PI, and that hasn’t gone well. Curious to see who they cast as Rockford.

— ACC is adding a conference game to each team’s schedule next year, so teams have to pare down their non-conference schedules. Virginia Tech is paying James Madison $800,000 not to play them next fall.

— The minimum salary in major league baseball this season: $780,000.

— Back in the day, when Al Davis owned the Oakland Raiders, he would interview some coaches he had no intention of hiring; he just wanted to pick their brain.

This week, Raiders interviewed 30-year old Davis Webb, who is the passing game coordinator for the Raiders’ division rival Denver Broncos. Hmmm……

— Famous birthdays, January 16th
Dave Stapleton, 72
Gerald Henderson, 70
Steve Balboni, 69
Mark Collins, 62

Jack McDowell, 60
Don MacLean, 56
Joe Horn, 54
Jack Cust, 47

Albert Pujols, 46
Joe Flacco, 41
Mark Trumbo, 40
Brendan Donovan, 29

— Rules changes for the college basketball transfer portal; players will not be able to enter the portal until the day after the NCAA Tournament, and the portal will be open for only 15 days.

This is a drastic switch (and improvement) from 2024, when the portal was open for 45 days and the process began the day after Selection Sunday.

— North Carolina’s basketball roster is earning a total of $14M this season; they’re 14-3 so far, 2-2 in the ACC, giving up 97-95 points in road losses to SMU, Stanford.

— Gonzaga F Braden Huff is out 4-8 weeks with a left knee injury; massive loss for the Zags. Huff is averaging 17.8 points and 5.6 rebounds/game.

— Virginia Tech is 2-3 in ACC games, with losses by 1-1-3 points; their last six games were all decided by 3 or fewer points. This season, Hokies are 4-0 in overtime games.

— Movie of the Day: Let It Ride (1989)- A cab driver gets a hot tip on a race horse and wins big, but he can’t stop gambling. If you enjoy going to the racetrack, chances are you’ll like this movie.

Richard Dreyfuss is the cab driver, Terri Garr is his wife, Jennifer Tilly is one of the patron’s in the track’s clubhouse, David Johanssen is another cab driver, Robbie Coltrane is great as the teller who takes the gambler’s bets.

Funny movie. 

— South Alabama 91, Arkansas State 87, OT
Ark State led by 4 with 0:50 left in regulation.
Jaguars were 21-30 on foul line, Ark State 12-15.
Ark State shot 13-44 on the arc, 18-28 inside the arc.

— Southern Utah 106, Tarleton State 105 OT
Thunderbirds snap a seven-game losing streak.
Southern Utah shot 58% inside arc, 31-42 on the foul line.
6-3 junior Dior Johnson scored 40 points for Tarleton; he didn’t start.

— IU Indy 96, Robert Morris 93, OT
Robert Morris led by 10 with 10:04 left in the game.
IU Indy was 26-35 on the foul line, Robert Morris 21-27.
Jaguars end nine-game losing skid vs D-I teams.
IU Indy is playing fastest-paced games in the country.

— Georgia Southern 87, Old Dominion 84
Monarchs led 48-39 at halftime.
Georgia Southern shot 10-23 on arc, scored 1.22 ppp.
Eagles were 19-28 on foul line, ODU was 10-15

— Cal-Davis 74, Cal-Fullerton 69
Cal-Davis had 20 turnovers, but shot 61.3% inside arc.
Cal-Davis out-rebounded the Titans, 43-32
Cal-Fullerton has #337 eFG% defense in the country. 

— Three years ago, 10 NFL teams changed coaches after the season; eight of those ten coaches have already been fired.

— Red Sox signed P Ranger Suarez to a five-year, $130M contract; last two years, Suarez was 24-16 in 53 starts for the Phillies. He pitched for Philadelphia for eight years.

— Tuesday, Cardinals continued their house cleaning, dealing 3B Nolan Arenado to Arizona for a minor leaguer; not only that, but St Louis is paying $31M of the $42M Arenado is owed over the next two years. 

Arenado will be 35 in April; his OPS the last two years: .719, .666.

— College/minor league sports are off the rails; few days ago, Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola transferred to Oregon. Wednesday, Ducks’ QB Dante Moore announced he’s coming back to school next year, instead of going to the NFL.

Wednesday night, Raiola’s name went back into the transfer portal.

Oy.

— Alabama QB Ty Simpson is going into the NFL Draft; he had NIL offers:
$4M- Ole Miss, Tennessee
$6.5M- Miami…….he turned those offers down.

Jimmy Garoppolo is the Rams’ backup QB; he made $3M this year.

— NBA has games from Europe this week; Thursday, Grizzlies-Magic are playing in Berlin, Sunday, they’re playing in London.

— Wednesday in beautiful upstate New York, it was rainy and in the low 40’s; I go to the grocery store, and as I’m leaving, a 50-ish guy is walking in, wearing a sweatshirt and shorts. I had a parka on over a sweatshirt, and I wasn’t warm. Wearing shorts outside in January in upstate New York is almost never a good idea.

— Famous birthdays, January 15th
Karen Carlson, 81
Andrea Martin, 79
Bobby Grich, 77
Ernie DiGregorio, 75

Randy White, 73
Ricky Sobers, 73
Marty Lyons, 69
Delino DeShields, 57

Eddie Cahill, 48
Drew Brees, 47
Matt Holliday, 46
Mitch Garver, 35

— Kentucky 75, LSU 74
LSU led by 18 early in second half.
Kentucky hit mid-range jumper at the buzzer for a walk-off win.
LSU slips to 0-4 in SEC after a 12-1 pre-conference mark.

— Texas 80, Vanderbilt 64
First loss in 17 games this year for Vandy.
Longhorns shot 58.8% inside the arc.
Texas out-rebounded the Commodores, 42-24.

— Stanford 95, North Carolina 90
6-2 frosh Okorie scored 36 points, dished out nine assists.
Stanford shot 16-28 on the arc, scored 1.30 ppp.
UNC lost first two ACC road games, giving up 97-95 points. 

— SMU 77, Virginia Tech 76
Kid on SMU hit a half-court shot at the buzzer for the win.
Hokies led by 8 with 11:11 left in the game.
Boogie Miller was 11-16 on foul line; Tech’s whole team was 11-18.

— Louisiana Tech 59, Middle Tennessee 58
Blue Raiders led 34-14 late in the first half.
Bulldogs outscored MTSU 38-18 in second half.
Tech won despite shooting 1-12 on the arc.
MTSU was only 9-18 on the foul line.

— Arizona 89, Arizona State 82
Arizona was 21-26 on foul line, ASU was 7-11
Wildcats shot 58.3% inside arc, scored 1.26 ppp
Arizona out-rebounded the Sun Devils, 39-28

— Ole Miss 97, Georgia 95 OT
Georgia led by 4 with 0:48 left in regulation.
Ole Miss scored on an offensive rebound with 0:01 left for the win.
AJ Storr scored 27 points for Ole Miss; he didn’t start. 

“Welcome to the most competitive business in the world.”
Bill O’Brien

Fine line between winning and losing in the NFL, and when teams stop winning, heads will roll, whether it is justified or not.

— Mike Tomlin coached the Steelers for 19 years; he went 201-126-2, 8-12 in playoff games. He won the Super Bowl in his second year in Pittsburgh, 17 years ago. He lost the Super Bowl two years after that. Tomlin never had a losing season (he was 8-8 three times) but he also lost his last seven playoff games, and is now out as head coach of the Steelers.

Steelers are first NFL team ever to lose five playoff games in a row by 10+ points.

— Much like John Harbaugh, who got dumped by the Ravens last week; Harbaugh coached the Ravens for 18 years, went 193-124, 13-11 in playoff games, winning the 2012 Super Bowl. Not sure what happened this season; Ravens made the playoffs six of the last eight years, but now Harbaugh is highly-sought after by other teams.

— Los Angeles Chargers fired their offensive coordinator and offensive line coach after they lost 16-3 at New England Sunday night.

— Philadelphia Eagles demoted their offensive coordinator after they lost 23-19 to the 49ers Sunday; they didn’t fire him, he can stay on the staff in a lesser role, but they’ll have a new guy as offensive coordinator next year.

— Denver Broncos are only the third #1-seed since 1970 to be an underdog in this round of the playoffs:

1971 Vikings were +1 against Dallas
2017 Eagles were +2.5 against the Falcons

— Last six years, #1-seeds went 4-8 ATS in the divisional round of the playoffs.

— Weird stat of the Day: Rams coach Sean McVay is 9-5 in playoff games; those 14 games have been against 14 different teams, and this week it’ll be 15 games against 15 different teams, when the Rams visit Chicago Sunday night.

— Famous birthdays, January 14th
Faye Dunaway, 85
Swen Nater, 76
Wayne Gross, 74
Terry Forster, 74
James Todd Smith, 58 (LL Cool J)

Jason Bateman, 57
Byron Leftwich, 46
Mike Pelfrey, 42
Aaron Brooks, 41
Stephen Piscotty, 35

— Movie of the Day: Absence of Malice (1981)- A Miami prosecutor leaks info to a naive, but well-meaning newspaper reporter that a liquor wholesaler is suspected in the murder of the local longshoreman union president, the wholesaler’s life begins to unravel.

Paul Newman is the wholesaler, Sally Field is the reporter, Wilford Brimley has a small but important role, as does Melinda Dillon.

Very good movie; anything that Paul Newman was in is worth watching, obviously, plus Sally Field was very good in this, too. 

— Tennessee 87, Texas A&M 82, 2OTs
Aggies led by 11 points in the first half.
A&M shot 13-43 on the arc, 11-23 inside the arc.
Vols were 31-42 on foul line, A&M was 21-32

— Kansas 84, Iowa State 63
Cyclones’ first loss of the year, after a 16-0 start.
Kansas shot 12-24 on arc; they led 44-23 at halftime.
Jayhawks are 12-5 against the #2 schedule in country.

— Villanova 88, Providence 82
Villanova led 46-34 at halftime.
Providence shot 74.2% inside the arc; they’re 1-5 in Big East.
Villanova is 5-1 in Big East, tied for 2nd with St John’s behind UConn.

— UConn 69, Seton Hall 64
UConn led 35-22 at halftime.
Brickfest: teams combined to shoot 4-33 on the arc.
Huskies have won 13 in a row; they lost by 4 to Arizona in November.

— Creighton 86, Georgetown 83 OT
Georgetown scored at end of regulation; after LONG review, hoop was waved off.
Hoyas led by 7 with 1:56 left in regulation.
Georgetown scored 1.29 ppp and lost; that doesn’t happen much.

— UNLV 89, Boise State 85 OT
Gibbs-Lawhorn scored 33 points, had six assists.
Rebels are 2-5 in games decided by 9 or fewer points.
Boise State lost last four games, two of them in overtime.

— Wisconsin 78, Minnesota 75
Both teams hit a 3-pointer in last 0:05; Badgers hit buzzer beater.
Minnesota led by 11 early in second half.
Wisconsin made 14 of 33 shots behind the arc.

— Virginia 79, Louisville 70
Cavaliers never trailed; they shot 14-34 on the arc.
Virginia has won four in a row, 10 of last 11 games.
Louisville star Mikel Brown missed his 7th consecutive game. 

— Texans 30, Steelers 6
Houston gets their first-ever road playoff win.
Texans led 7-6 after the third quarter.
Houston scored two defensive TD’s in 4th quarter.

Houston outgained the Steelers, 408-175.
Texans were 10-15 on third down, Pittsburgh 2-14
Steelers lost their 7th consecutive playoff game.

— This weekend’s NFL schedule:
Saturday:
Bills @ Denver
49ers @ Seattle

Sunday:
Texans @ New England
Rams @ Chicago

College basketball conference trends:
(thru Monday’s games)

— SEC
Home favorites 16-14 ATS
Home underdogs 10-6 ATS

Home team 3-0 ATS in Florida games
Home team 3-0 ATS in Oklahoma games
Home team 3-0 ATS in Tennessee games
Road team 3-0 ATS in LSU games
Favorites 3-0 ATS in Ole Miss games

— Big 18
Home favorites 16-14 ATS
Home underdogs 10-6 ATS

Maryland 0-5 SU/1-4 ATS
Michigan 4-1 SU/2-3 ATS
Underdogs 4-1 ATS in Minnesota games.
Nebraska 5-0 SU/4-1 ATS

Northwestern 0-5 SU/1-4 ATS
Oregon 1-4 SU/ATS
Penn State 0-5 SU/4-1 ATS
Home team 5-0 ATS in UCLA games.

— Big X
Home favorites 8-6 ATS
Home underdogs 5-5 ATS

Arizona 3-0 SU/ATS
Baylor 0-3 SU/ATS
Colorado 2-1 SU/3-0 ATS
Kansas 1-2 SU/0-3 ATS (lost both road games)
Kansas State 0-3 SU/ATS

— ACC
Home favorites 5-16 ATS
Home underdogs 5-6 ATS

Clemson 4-0 SU/ATS
Duke 4-0 SU/1-3 ATS
North Carolina 1-2 SU/0-3 ATS
Virginia won last three games, by 15-24-15 points.
Underdogs 4-0 ATS in Virginia Tech’s games.

— Big East
Home favorites 4-17 ATS
Home underdogs 3-6 ATS (road teams 23-7 ATS)

Butler 1-4 SU/ATS
Road team 5-1 ATS in Creighton games.
DePaul 2-4 SU/5-1 ATS
Georgetown 1-4 SU/ATS

Road team 5-0 ATS in St John’s games.
Road team 5-0 ATS in Seton Hall games.
Underdog 5-0 ATS in Villanova games.

— Famous birthdays, January 13th
Bob Forsch, 76
Russell Erxleben, 69
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 65
Kevin Mitchell, 64

Patrick Dempsey, 60
Curtis Conway, 55
James Posey, 49
Emmanuel Forbes, 25

— Mountain West
Home favorites 8-8 ATS
Home underdogs 3-6 ATS

Fresno State 1-4 SU/3-2 ATS
Favorites 5-0 ATS in New Mexico games.
Road team 4-0 ATS in Grand Canyon games.

Road team 4-1 ATS in San Jose State games.
Road team 4-1 ATS in San Diego State games.
Underdogs 4-1 ATS in Nevada games.
Home team 4-0 ATS in UNLV games.

— West Coast
Home favorites 12-10 ATS
Home underdogs 7-5 ATS

Gonzaga 5-0 SU/2-3 ATS
Saint Mary’s 5-0 SU/3-2 ATS
LMU 4-2 ATS (home side 5-1 ATS)
Oregon State 2-4 ATS (home side 5-1 ATS), 0-3 AU

Pacific 3-3 SU/1-5 ATS
Pepperdine 0-6 SU/2-4 ATS (0-3 HU)
Portland covered four of last five games.
San Diego 2-4 SU/5-1 ATS

— Atlantic 14
Home favorites 4-12 ATS
Home underdogs 5-5 ATS

Road team 4-0 ATS in Davidson games.
Road team 4-0 ATS in Fordham games.
Road team 4-0 ATS in Richmond games.

George Mason 4-0 SU/3-1 ATS
Favorites 4-0 ATS in George Washington games.
Underdogs 3-0 ATS in St Bonaventure games.

— Missouri Valley
Home underdogs 7-7 ATS
Home favorites 10-11 ATS

Murray State 7-0 SU/5-2 ATS
Belmont 5-2 SU/2-5 ATS
Drake 2-4 SU/1-5 ATS
Evansville 1-6 SU/4-3 ATS

— American
Home underdogs 7-3 ATS
Home favorites 5-8 ATS

Underdogs 4-0 ATS in UAB’s games
Memphis 2-1 SU/0-3 ATS
North Texas 3-1 ATS
Rice 3-1 ATS
Tex-San Antonio 0-4 SU/ATS
Tulane 3-0 ATS
Underdogs 3-0 ATS in Wichita State’s games

— Big West
Home favorites 8-13 ATS
Home underdogs 7-2 ATS (underdogs 20-10 ATS)

Underdogs 4-1 ATS in Cal-Davis games
Hawai’i 4-1 SU/1-4 ATS (0-3 home favorite)
Long Beach State 2-3 SU/5-0 ATS

Home team 5-1 ATS in Northridge games.
Underdogs 5-1 ATS in Cal Poly games
Riverside 1-4 SU/4-1 ATS
Cal-Santa Barbara 2-3 SU/1-4 ATS

— MAAC
Home favorites 15-9-1 ATS
Home underdogs 9-12 ATS (favorites 27-18-1 ATS)

Merrimack 6-0 SU/5-1 ATS
Home team 4-1 ATS in Canisius games.
Home team 4-1 ATS in Siena games.

Home team 5-0-1 ATS in Marist games.
Fairfield 2-4 SU/1-5 ATS
Niagara 1-4 SU/ATS

Rider 0-5 SU/3-2 ATS
Underdogs 5-1 ATS in Sacred Heart games.
St Peter’s 4-1 SU/ATS

— Bills 27, Jaguars 24
Buffalo drove 66 yards, scored game-winning TD with 1:04 left.
Jaguars had taken 24-20 lead on a TD with 4:03 left.
Bills get their first road playoff win since 1992.
Buffalo is 13-0 this year when they score 23+ points.

QB Allen threw for 273 yards and a TD.
Allen also ran ball 11 times for 33 yards, two TD’s.
Jaguars WR Washington caught 7 passes for 107 yards and a TD.
Buffalo will play the #1-seed Broncos in Denver next weekend.

— 49ers 23, Eagles 19
49ers drove 66 yards, scored game-winning TD with 2:54 left.
49ers grabbed 17-16 lead on a trick play; WR Jennings threw 29-yard TD pass.
Last 7 times they were in playoffs, 49ers won their first game.
49ers visit division rival Seattle next weekend.

WR Robinson caught six passes for 111 yards and a TD.
San Francisco was 6-11 on third down, Eagles 5-16.
Eagles were 4-7 this year when they scored less than 21 points.
Last nine years, underdog is 8-1 SU/9-0 ATS in #3-6 seed NFC game.

— Patriots 16, Chargers 3
New England gets its first playoff win since 2018.
QB Maye threw for 268 yards and a TD.
Patriots are 9-3 ATS as a favorite this year.
Opponents’ team total: under 14-2 last 16 games

New England outgained Chargers 381-207; Bolts were 1-10 on 3rd down.
Patriots ran ball 29 times for 146 yards (5.0 yards/carry)
Last six years, #2-seeds are 11-1 SU/9-3 ATS vs #2-seeds in this round.
New England hosts Texans-Steelers winner next weekend. 

— Chicago Cubs signed 3B Alex Bregman for five years, $175M; he got a no-trade clause, and $70M of the money is deferred. Bregman hit 18 homers, had 62 RBI in 114 games for Boston; he had his best OPS since 2019, but Wrigley Field isn’t as good a hitters’ park as Fenway, so we’ll have to wait and see what 2026 brings.

— Detroit Tigers/P Tarik Skubal are going to arbitration; unless the two sides agree before the arbitrator decides, one side will win, one will lose. 

Tigers are offering Skubal $19M; Skubal is asking for $32M, a huge difference. Arbitration hearings start January 26th. Skubal has won the Cy Young award the last two years, going 31-10 in 62 starts, with 469 strikeouts in 387.1 IP.

Skubal can be a free agent next winter; if he wins the arbitration and gets paid $32M this year, will Detroit trade him before he hits the open market?

Famous birthdays, January 12th:
Bob Dishy, 92
Drew Pearson, 75
Campy Russell, 74

Dominique Wilkins, 66
Oliver Platt, 66
Cade McNown, 49

— UCF 73, Cincinnati 72
Golden Knights shot 63.2% inside arc; they’re 13-2.
UCF is #27 experience team, #345 in continuity- they start three seniors.
Cincinnati lost six of last eight games; they’re 0-3 in the Big X.

— Florida Atlantic 89, Memphis 78
Owls shot 65.9% inside arc, improved to 11-6, 3-1 in AAC.
FAU out-rebounded Memphis, 46-29.
Memphis is #347 in continuity; they’re 1-7 vs top 100 teams.

— Illinois 75, Iowa 69
Illinois led by 18 midway thru first half.
Illinois shot 62.1% inside the arc.
Illinois is 13-3 vs schedule #18; all three losses are to top 20 teams.

— Green Bay 80, Northern Kentucky 78
Doug Gottlieb’s Green Bay team has won 6 of 7, is 5-2 in Horizon League.
Green Bay led by 19 with 13:43 left, hung on for dear life.
Green Bay shot 10-19 on the arc, scored 1.33 ppp.

— Washington 81, Ohio State 74
Buckeyes led by 7 early in the second half.
Washington shot 57.9% inside the arc.
Ohio State split its last 10 games, after a 6-0 start.

Why are Ohio State, Washington in the same freakin’ league??? It makes zero sense.

— Hawai’i 67, Cal-Irvine 66
Hawai’i hit a 10-foot jumper at the buzzer for a dramatic win late Saturday night.
Irvine is 5-1 in the Big West, Hawaii is 4-1.
Rainbows have the #2 eFG% defense in the country. 

— USC 70, Minnesota 69 OT
Eric Musselman coaches USC; his father Bill Musselman was a really good coach at Minnesota a long time ago (1971-75), before his NBA days.

USC led 53-40 with 9:48 left in regulation; the game went to overtime.
Gophers only played seven guys; two of them played the whole 45:00
Chad Baker-Mazara scored 29 points, had 8 assists for USC.

— Nebraska is 16-0, its best start ever, under coach Fred Hoiberg; their point guard is Sam Hoiberg, the coach’s son, who is spending some of his free time preparing for his next job- he’s doing color commentary on some Nebraska’s women’s basketball games.

— Former NFL QB Matt Ryan is the Atlanta Falcons’ new president of football; he will lead the searches for both the open head coach and GM jobs and will have oversight of who gets hired.

Ryan had been working as an NFL analyst for CBS; he played 15 years in the NFL, going 128-115-1 as a starter. 

— Rams 34, Panthers 31
Future Hall of Fame QB Stafford threw 19-yard TD pass with 0:38 left for the win
Rams led 14-0 early, after TD drives of 45-48 yards.
Stafford threw for 304 yards, three TD’s.
WR Nacua caught 10 passes for 111 yards and a TD.

Carolina converted 27-40 4th down plays this year, but they were 0-3 this game. 
Panthers led 31-27 after a 30-yard TD drive set up by a blocked punt.
WR Coker caught nine passes for 134 yards and a TD.
Rams outgained Carolina 411-333, but were only 3-13 on third down.

This was Rams’ 50th playoff game in the Super Bowl era; they’re 25-25.

— Bears 31, Packers 27
Green Bay led 21-6 after the third quarter.
Chicago’s first six drives: 50 plays, 245 yards, 6 points.
Chicago’s last four drives: 30 plays, 210 yards, 25 points.
This was Chicago’s first playoff win since 2011.

Packers’ first three drives: 27 plays, 204 yards, 21 points.
Packers’ last eight drives: 45 plays, 177 yards, 6 points.
Green Bay missed PAT, a 44-yard FG, lost a fumble in last 6:36.
Green Bay ends season losing its last five games, giving up 28.8 ppg

— Nebraska 83, Indiana 77
Hoosiers led by 16 with 16:54 left in the game.
Nebraska shot 14-34 on the arc, shot 57.7% inside arc.
Cornhuskers are 16-0, 5-0 in conference games.

— Wisconsin 91, Michigan 88
Badgers shot 15-33 on the arc, hand Michigan their first loss.
Wolverines led by 14 midway thru first half.
Wisconsin is 11-5, 3-2 in Big 18; they’ve played schedule #24.

— Texas 92, Alabama 88
Texas shot 10-24 on the arc, scored 1.29 ppp
Longhorns out-rebounded Alabama, 48-38
Crimson Tide is 11-5; they allowed 87+ points in all five losses. 

— College basketball Upsets of the Day
Wisconsin (+19) 91, Michigan 88
Texas (+12.5) 92, Alabama 88
Ill-Chicgo (+11.5) 63, Illinois State 59 OT
Central Michigan (+9.5) 87, Kent State 85
Dartmouth (+8.5) 102, Cornell 91
Princeton (+8.5) 76, Yale 60
Evansville (+7.5) 72, Indiana State 69

— Belmont 78, Drake 76
Drake led 50-25 early in the second half.
Belmont is 15-3, 5-2 in conference games.
Belmont has the best eFG% in the country (60.5%)

— NC-Wilmington 75, Stony Brook 71
Stony Brook led by 24 early in the second half.
UNCW shot 12-25 on the arc, only 7-15 on foul line.
UNCW is 16-2, has won its first five CAA games.

— Idaho 92, Montana State 89
Bobcats led by 21 late in the first half.
Vandals outscored Montana State 62-41 in the second half.
Idaho shot 13-29 on the arc, scored 1.35 ppp.

— James Madison 70, Old Dominion 69
ODU led by 19 in first half, by 9 with 1:59 left in the game.
6-7 junior McBride scored 29 points in 29:00 for JMU.
10th loss in last 12 games for Old Dominion.

— Famous birthdays, January 11th
George Mira, 84
Lloyd McClendon, 67
Ali Haji-Sheikh, 65
Chris Jent, 56
Rey Ordóñez, 55

Marc Blucas, 54
Amanda Peet, 54
Damien Wilkins, 46
JP Crawford, 31
Elly De La Cruz, 24

If today is your 15th birthday, you were born on 1/11/11 (January 11, 2011)

— Auburn 95, Arkansas 73
Auburn shot 63.2% inside arc, scored 1.33 ppp
Just third win in last seven games for Auburn.
Only second loss in last seven games for Arkansas.

— George Mason 86, VCU 80
George Mason shot 68.3% inside the arc.
George Mason has won seven in a row, is 16-1, 4-0 in A-14.
VCU is 1-6 against top 100 teams.

— Texas A&M 83, Oklahoma 76
Aggies shot 55.2% inside arc, improve to 13-3, 3-0 in SEC
Texas A&M scored 82.8 ppg in its three SEC wins.
Oklahoma out-rebounded A&M, 43-32.

— Florida 91, Tennessee 67
Gators shot 64.7% inside arc, led 41-28 at halftime.
6-10 junior Chinyelu had 17 points, 16 rebounds for Florida.
Tennessee is 4-5 in its last five games, after a 7-0 start.

— West Virginia 86, Kansas 75
Mountaineers outscored Kansas 47-32 in second half.
Jayhawks are in bottom 20 in country at forcing turnovers.
Kansas is only 6-5 against top 100 teams; they’re 1-3 in true road tilts. 

— Indiana 56, Oregon 22
Indiana scored on a pick-6 on the first play of the game.
Hoosiers were +3 in turnovers, ran ball 40 times for 185 yards.
Indiana’s first six TD’s were scored by six different players.
Hoosiers move on to play Miami, in Miami for the national title.

— Concession prices for this game in Atlanta were pretty good:
$5 beer
$5 cheeseburger
$3 slice of pizza
$2 hot dog
$2 popcorn

— Last time there was a bowl game with a pick-6 on the very first play was the 2013 Sugar Bowl, when Louisville scored against Florida, and went on to win, 33-23.

— Miami has banked $20M from its run to the national title game; they don’t have to split it with their ACC rivals. Miami also collects $3M in travel expenses for the title game, even though the game is on their home field. Go figure

— Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss applied for a 6th year of eligibility from the NCAA, but that application was denied, which will make some NFL team very happy in April.

— SEC teams went 4-10 in bowl games this year, but two of those games were SEC vs SEC, so SEC teams were 2-8 in bowls, against non-SEC teams. This was third year in a row the national title game didn’t have an SEC team playing in it.

— March 21, 2022, this trade was made:
Cleveland Browns got:
QB Deshaun Watson
5th round draft pick

Houston Texans got:
three 1st round picks
3rd round draft pick
5th round pick

Since then…….
Cleveland is 26-42, 0-1 in playoffs
Houston is 35-32-1, 2-2 in playoffs

— Famous birthdays, January 10th
Richard Dotson, 67
Janet Jones, 65
Glenn Robinson, 53

Jake Delhomme, 51
Deshaun Foster, 46
Ryon Healy, 34

— Last year, Eagles’ RB Saquon Barkley had 1,763 rushing yards, just in the SECOND HALF of games. This year, Barkley has only has 508 rushing yards in second half of games.

— Miami Dolphins hired Jon-Eric Sullivan as their new general manager; he had been working for Green Bay, as VP of Player Personnel.

— Las Vegas Raiders are now paying five guys who used to coach for them, a total of $50M:

$16M- Pete Carroll
$10M- Jon Gruden
$10M- Josh McDaniels
$8M- Antonio Pierce
$6M- Chip Kelly

— Oklahoma Sooners hired former Cowboys’ star Jason Witten as their tight ends coach; since 2021, he has been the head coach at Dallas’ Liberty Christian School, where his son plays.

— Fairfield 68, Rider 62
Stags led 34-22 at halftime.
Brickfest: teams combined to shoot 12-42 on the arc.
Rider is 1-13, 0-5 in MAAC games.

— Miami OH 87, Toledo 73
Redhawks shot 12-31, improved to 17-0 this season (vs schedule #349)
Miami led 56-36 at halftime.
First loss for Toledo in four MAC games.

— Playoff teams’ records against playoff teams this year:
6-2- Seattle
5-3- Jacksonville
4-2- Denver

4-4- Rams, Houston, San Francisco
3-3- Buffalo, Philadelphia, LA Chargers
2-2- New England

2-4- Green Bay
2-5- Carolina
1-5- Pittsburgh

— 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)