Weekly Update November 11, 2024

Basketball – NBA: Odd scheduled. Cavs undefeated. 43 points highest scorer in losses x2. Injuries.

Basketball – NCAAM: Start of the season. UConn W killing it.

Football – NCAAF: 5 losses in top 25 including 2 in the Top 5.

Football – NFL: MNF goes to OT. TNF was a QB battle. 8 close games. Injuries.

Olympic Sports: NHK trophy (ISU GP) – JPN rocks it. USA vs CAN W Hockey series. AUS Breaker retiring.

Quick Headlines: Golf.. Tennis. NASCAR.

Basketball-NBA:

• This week was odd scheduling wise. Thursday only had 3 games on, Saturday had 4 and no games were played on Tuesday.
• We had a three way tie for the highest scorer of the week at 39 points (LeBron, Garland and Jackson Jr) until Sunday. When we had two players tie at 43 a piece. Giannis put up 43 in the Bucks LOSS to the Celtics 107-113 and Kyrie Irving put up 43 in Dallas’ loss to the Nuggets 122-120.
• The Cavaliers are still undefeated sitting at 11-0. Every other team has lost 1 and every team has won one. The Thunder lost on Wed to the Nuggets for their first loss.

• Following up on a story from last week, remember when Joel Embiid pushed that columnist? Well he was given a 3-game suspension.
• The Bucks won their game on Thursday against the Jazz to stop their 6-game losing streak. Giannis and Lillard combined for 65 points in that game.
• Anthony Edwards put up 37 points in their game on Friday over the Trail Blazers. They would win that game 127-102. Also on Friday, the Suns took advantage of the Mavs costly last second foul to put in 2 free throws with .8 to go in the game. PHX wins by 1.

•  Injuries:
  • Suns KD is out for 2 weeks with a calf strain
  • Grizzlies Morant is questionable with a hip injury
  • Pelicans Williamson is out indefinitely with a hamstring

Basketball – NCAA:

• #6 Gonzaga beat #8 Baylor 101-63. That’s is the biggest win over an AP top 10 team in school history.
• UCF stormed the court after beating #13 Texas A&M in game 1 of the season.
• The UConn Women scored 60 in the 1H of their game against Boston! That’s the most in a half in NCAAW since 2020.

Football-NCAAF:

• Week 11 Top 25 Upsets. 5 in the top 25 including 2 top 5 losses.
  • Ole Miss and HC Lane Kiffen finally get it done. They have been notorious for not being able to win the big games. Until Saturday with a huge win over 3 Georgia. Georgia started off as well as you could hope with a turnover into a TD. And Ole Miss’ QB Jackson Dart went out limping. But that would be UGA’s only TD of the game! Ugas offense just doesn’t have it compared to last year and beck only threw 1 INT this time in the 4Q. He did also fumble the ball to seal the win for the Rebels. Dart would return to the game after the backup QB played well. Ole Miss wins 28-10 and storms the field 16 sec early. This is the highest ranked team to lose at ole Miss at home. UGA’s first loss to another team oather than Alabama since 2020.

• • Georgia Tech upsets Miami again this year but this time Miami was #4 in the country. Miami had played many games close and they finally get caught and couldn’t pull one out. GT does a great job getting up for big games and this wasn’t any different. They outplayed Miami 28-23. This was GT’s 2^nd win over 9-0 or better in the AP poll era. QB Haynes King was banged up and didn’t know if he was going to play on Friday and then rushed for 100+ yards. Talk about willing it to happen!
• 
  • #15 LSU got their ass kicked by #11 Bama. The tigers wouldn’t get a TD until the final 11 seconds of the game when they were trailing 42-6. This ends the streak of wins at Death Valley (aka LSU) at night.
  • #17 Iowa state was undef for so long and now has dropped two straight. Kansas looked great to start in arrowhead stadium. RB Devin Neal would break the all time career KU rushing record in this game. KU lead 31-13 at half and while the 2H was closer the damage was done. Iowa state loses again. This time 45-36.
  • #18 Pitt would score 13 unanswered points to take the lead at halftime but that was kinda it for the panthers. They also take their second straight loss this one to UVA.

• Some scaries that shouldn’t have been:
  • #8 Indiana had what most people consider was their first big test this weekend. Even in a down year, playing Michigan is a big Big Ten game. It looked like Indiana was going to walk away with it easily but Michigan cameback a bit in the 2H. The Hoosiers handled business to win 20-15. First 10-0 season for Indiana in school history.
  • Utah put up 21 points in 2Q alone on BYU in the Holy War. #6 undefeated BYU looked to be in trouble. Utah would do nothing in the 2H with no drive lasting longer than 9 plays (most were 3). But BYU was still struggling. In what looked like the last play of the game, it was 4^th&10 from their own endzone and BYU’s QB gets sacked. However there was a defensive holding call to keep the drive alive. BYU nailed a 44 yard FG with 2 seconds left to keep their undefeated season alive.
  • #12 Boise State managed to escape Nevada by only 1 TD. RB Ashotn Jenty had a big 200+ yard night.
  • #20 Colorado got down early, having to dig their way out of a 13-0 hole in the 1Q against Texas Tech. they would manage it though and add on some style points to win 41-27.
  • The #24 Mizzou/Oklahoma game was ugly. The Sooners would get 3 straight FGs to lead 9-3 at half. Riveting. Mizzou did manage to geta TD in the 3^rd. and then the 4Q got a little crazy. The two teams would score 5 TDs in the final 9 min of the game and 4 in the final 4 minutes. Mizzou scored to lead by 6 (PAT fail) with 8:47 to go. Oklahoma then had a 75 yard drive to tie it up 16-16. Mizzou was driving when Oklahoma managed to get a scoop and score. Sooners lead 23-16 with 2 to go. Mizzou would only need 8 plays to go 75 yards and tie it back up. Oklahoma had the ball and just needed to get into FG range when QB Arnold drops the ball (again – 4 sooner turnovers) and give Mizzou a final 30 second scoop and score. Oklahoma plays LSU and Bama to end the season. If no wins are had, that will break a 25 year bowl streak.
• Shoutouts:
  • #1 Oregon’s QB Dillon Gabriel is now the all-time TD leader with a TD pass to a lineman in 3Q against Maryland. The Ducks would win easily 39-18.
  • #2 Ohio State shutout Purdue 45-0. Jeremiah Smith broke the Buckeye school record for most passing TDs by a freshman with his 9^th TD pass.
• Unranked quick highlights:
  • South Carolina beat Vanderbilt at home 28-7 in a battle for who is now going to be ranked.
  • TCU kicked some Cowpoke ass, winning 38-13 although it was 24-0 at half. That is OSU’s 7^th straight loss.
• Rankings:
  • Gameday is back in the SEC for Tennessee vs Georgia. Only ranked vs ranked matchups are in the SEC.

Football – NFL:

• Wrapping up week 9 MNF: The chiefs had a scare against the Bucs on MNF. The Bucs were leading 17-10 into 4Q. The Chiefs would make some adjustments and score back two TDs back to back to take the lead 24-17 with 4:17 to go. But Baker Mayfield led his team down the field to tie it up and send us to OT. You could tell Baker was pissed at the coin toss and he had good reason. The chiefs won the coin toss, elected to start with the ball and scored a TD – putting the game away and keeping the undefeated season alive.

• TNF: We only had 7 points per Q before the 4Q when things broke open. It was a good QB battle between Bengals Joe Burrow and Ravens Lamar Jackson. Baltimore would score 21 straight points to take the lead 28-21 with 5:50 to go. But then 1 70 yard pass play later, the Bengals would score to tie it up. The Ravens put together a 70 yard drive to take the lead back 35-28. The Bengals would score again with 38 seconds in the game but they would go for the win with a 2-point conversion and not get it. Ravens win by 1.

• There were 8 close games this weekend (week 10):
  • The Saints scored 17 points in the 2Q alone and that was basically enough to beat the Falcons in a big upset. This upset stopped their 7 game losing streak, looking good for their interim coach.
  • The 49ers and Bucs game was kinda boring and low scoring until the 4Q when 20 points were split. The 49ers missed 3 FGs but not the last one for 44 yards as time expired to take the win. In a nice moment, Piersol scored a TD for the Niners just 10 weeks after being shot.
  • The Commanders/Steelers game was close and back and forth. The Commanders got on a bit of a roll putting up 17 unanswered points but the Steelers were consistent putting up a TD in every Q to take the win. There was some drama with a controversial spot on 4^th down to continue a game winning drive for the Commanders but ruling on the field stood and game over.
  • The Vikings only scored FGs all game. So they lost right? Wrong! The Jags only managed 1 TD all game but the Viks controlled this game. The MN team only left the Jags have the ball for 17 minutes of the game! There were also 3 turnovers per team in this ugly ugly win for the Viks. T-2^nd lowest point win since 2000.

• • We started off a little slow in the Broncos/Chiefs game. No points in the 1Q. Then we went back and forth in the 2^nd. Broncos were leading going into haltime 14-10 and that was with a missed FG to finish the half. The Cheifs would only put up FGs in the 2H to take the lead 16-14. But the Broncos got in FG range – setting up a game winning 35 yard FG to hand the Chiefs their first loss of the season. But it gets blocked!! Chiefs escape.
  • In Munich, the Giants/Panthers went into OT. The Panthers scored the only points in the 1H, up 10-0. But the Giants had a big comeback scoring 17 to tie it up. The Giants would then fumble during their possession in OT which let the Panthers win off a FG.

• The not so close ones:
  • The Cardinals killed the Jets who would only score 2 FGs all game. Final score was 31-6 yikes!
  • The Pats beat the Bears 19-3 who have now lost 3 in a row after a promising start.
  • Similar score for the Eagles over the Cowboys. Phili would put on a show scoring 34 to Dallas’ 2 FGs in the 1H. Remember starting QB Dak Prescott is out. It was news that he will be having season ending surgery as well. Not a good season for Dallas who is now 3-6 and 0-4 at Home.

• SNF: The Texans went off early, going up 23-7 at halftime, including a TD caught by Mechie who went through treatment for Leukemia. Helps when Lions QB Jared Goff threw 5 interceptions during this game. Makes this next part hard to believe. The 2H started with a Texans INT to a Lions INT, Texans punt, Lions TD, Texans INT and another Lions INT. Like what?! But then the Lions were able to tie it back up. The Texans would then miss a 58 yard FG and the Lions win with a FG as time expired.

Olympic Sports:

• NHK Trophy was given out this weekend in JPN (basically a fancy name for the 4^th GP on the ISU circuit). Team USA got gold and silver in the ice dance followed by LIT. JPN Kagiyama Yuma crushed the competition in the men’s side winning with 300+ points and by 36 points over silver. JPN also claimed gold in the womens competition with Sakomoto Kaori. JPN actually swept the women’s podium with Alyssa Liu finishing jyst off in 4^th. A pair from GEO won the competition over JPN and USA.
• Team USA womens hockey dominated their neighbor to the north, aka CAN in the 5-game Rivalry Series on Wednesday. The US team put up 5 goals in the 1P to win 7-2. Game 2 was on Friday in SLC. CAN won in a shootout 5-4! Game 3 was Sunday in Boise ID. CAN would take the lead in the series, getting the better of the USA winning 4-1. Told you this series goes back and forth. 2 more games will be played in CAN in Feb.
• Viral breakdancer from AUS Rachel ‘Raygun’ Gunn will not be competing in breaking anymore.

Some quick highlights:

• Austin Eckroat won his 2^nd PGA Tour title of the year this weekend at the WWT championship. He would win by 1 stroke, despite finishing with a bogey on the final hole.
• For the 18^th straight year, Bernhard Langer wins a tournament on the PGA Tour Champions. This win was at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in PHX. He shot 65 for the final round to finish 3 straight rounds under his age of better (he’s 67).
• Coco Gauff wins the WTA Finals, making her the youngest player to win since 2000 and taking home the largest prize with $4.8MM. To win this tournament she had to beat #1 and #2 Sabalenka and Swiatek in the same tournament. She is the youngest player to do that since Sharapova in 2006.
• Joey Iagano won his 3^rd NASCAR Championship.

What to watch this week

Basketball – NBA:

• Tues 11/12
  • Knicks at 76ers @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Mavericks at Warriors @ 9pm on TNT
• Wed 11/13
  • Pelicans at Thunders @ 6:30pm on ESPN
  • Grizzlies at Lakers @ 9pm on ESPN
• Fri 11/15
  • Lakers at Spurs @ 6:30pm on ESPN
  • Grizzlies at Warriors @ 9pm on ESPN

NCAAM: (only ranked teams and on normal TV)

• Mon 11/11
  • McNesse at 2. Alabama @ 6pm on SEC
  • Yale at 14. Purdue @ 7pm on BTN
  • Central Michigan at 18. Marquette @ 8pm on FS1
  • Boston University at 22. UCLA @ 9pm on BTN
• Tues 11/12
  • Michigan St at 1. Kansas @ 5:30pm on ESPN
  • 7. Duke at 23. Kentucky @ 8pm on ESPN
• Wed 11/13
  • Le Moyne at 3. UConn @ 6pm on FS1
  • Houston Christian at 15. Creighton @ 8pm on FS1
• Fri 11/15
  • 21. Florida at Florida St @ 5pm on ACC
  • Monmouth at 25. Rutgers @ 5:30pm on BTN
  • 2. Alabama at 14. Purdue @ 6pm on Peacock
  • American at 9. UNC @ 7pm on ACC
  • 18. Marquette at Maryland @ 7pm on FS1
  • 10. Arizona at Wisconsin @ 8pm on Peacock
  • Ohio St at 13. Texas A&M @ 8pm on SEC
• Sat 11/16
  • Wofford at 7. Duke @ 11am on ACC
  • South Carolina at 17. Indiana @ 2pm on Peacock

NCAAW: (ranked vs ranked only)

• Fri 11/15
  • 2. UConn at 15. UNC @ 5pm on ESPN2
• Sat 11/16
  • 17. Louisville at 22. Kentucky @ 5pm on SEC+

Football – NCAAF:

• Tues 11/12
  • CFP Ranking Show @ 7:30pm on ESPN

Top 25
Week 12
Top 25 Games
Visitor	Home	Day	Time (CT)	TV	Line
17. Clemson	Pitt	Sat 11/16	11:00 AM	ESPN	Clem -10
25. Tulane	Navy	Sat 11/16	11:00 AM	ESPN2	Tul -6.5
24. Mizzou	23. South Carolina	Sat 11/16	3:15 PM	SEC	SC -12.5
6. Tennessee	11. Georgia	Sat 11/16	6:30 PM	ABC	UGA -9
Kansas	7. BYU	Sat 11/16	9:15 PM	ESPN	BYU -3.5
*GameDay indicated in bold*

Football – NFL:

• Mon 11/12
  • Dolphins at Rams @ 7:15pm on ESPN
• Thurs 11/14
  • Commanders at Eagles @ 7:15pm on Prime
• Sun 11/17
  • 8 games @ 12pm on CBS/FOX
    • CBS: Jags at Lions, Vikings at Titans, Raiders at Dolphins, Colts at Jets, Ravens at Steelers
    • FOX: Packers at Bears, Rams at Patriots, Browns at Saints
  • Falcons at Broncos – or – Seahawks at 49ers @ 3:05pm on FOX
  • Chiefs at Bills @ 3:25pm on CBS
  • Bengals at Chargers @ 7:20pm on NBC
• Mon 11/18
  • Texans at Cowboys @ 7:15pm on ESPN & ABC
• Byes: Giants, Cardinals, Bucs, Panthers

Golf:

• Mon 11/11
  • NCAA: SW Airlines Showcase @ 1:30pm on Golf Channel
• Tues 11/12
  • NCAA: SW Airlines Showcase @ 1:30pm on Golf Channel
• Wed 11/13
  • NCAA: SW Airlines Showcase @ 1:30pm on Golf Channel
• Thurs 11/14
  • Butterfield Bermuda Championship – Round 1 @ 12pm on Golf Channel
• Fri 11/15
  • Butterfield Bermuda Championship – Round 2 @ 12pm on Golf Channel
• Sat 11/16
  • Butterfield Bermuda Championship – Round 3 @ 10:30am on Golf Channel
• Sun 11/17
  • Butterfield Bermuda Championship – Final Round @ 10m on Golf Channel

Hockey:

• Tues 11/12
  • Devils at Panthers @ 6:30pm on hulu
• Wed 11/13
  • Red Wings at Penguins @ 6:30pm on TNT
  • Kings at Avalanche @ 9pm on TNT
• Thurs 11/14
  • Blues at Sabres @ 6:30pm on hulu

Soccer:

• Thurs 11/14
  • UEFA Nations League: GRE vs ENG @ 1:30pm on FS1
  • NCAAM: Wake Forest vs UVA @ 4:30pm on ACC
  • NCAAM: Clemson at Cal @ 7pm on ACC
  • CONCACAF Nations League: JAM vs USA @ 7pm on TNT
  • UEFA Nations League: FRA vs ISR @ 8:30pm on FS1
• Sat 11/16
  • UEFA Nations League: DEN vs ESP @ 4am on FS1
  • NWSL Semifinal: Washington Spirit vs Gotham FC @ 11am on CBS
• Sun 11/17
  • NWSL Semifinal: Orlando Pride vs KC Current @ 2pm on ABC
  • UEFA Nations League: ITA vs FRA @ 8:30pm on FS1