Weekly Update – Week of November 22, 2021 – Happy Thanksgiving!

Basketball:

• King James got suspended for a game after hitting Pistons C Isiah Stewart in the face on Sunday. Stewart has been suspended for 2 for escalating the altercation as he tried multiple times to get to LeBron and was held back by teammates. The Lakers roared back in that game scoring 37 points in the 4^th to win 121-116.
• NCAAM season. Leading off the week was the upset of #10 Illinois lost by 1 point to unranked Marquette 66-67. Only to be topped the next day by #4 Michigan lost twice this week. Once by 2 to Seton Hall and again to unranked Arizona 80-62. #12 Oregon got routed by BYU 81-49. #6 Purdue had a good week beating 2 ranked teams, #18 UNC 93-84 and #5 Villanova 80-74. #18UNC had a rough week after losing to Purdue then #17 Tennessee 89-72. There were 2 other losses in the Top 25 this week.

Football-NCAAF:

• There were only 4 loses in the Top 25 but 3 of those were in the top 10. #3 Oregon got their asses kicked by #23 Utah. The Utes were leading 28-0 at half after a punt failed to go out of bounds and they ran it back for a TD as time expired. Final score was 7-38. Even I was surprised at the dominance of #4 Ohio St over #7 Michigan St as the Buckeyes won 56-7 and QB CJ Stroud threw his way into the Heisman favorite. The line was no match just like the pass defense of the Spartans was no match for the Ohio St receiver core. Clemson is trying to make a case for being ranked again after beating #10 Wake Forest. #2 Alabama struggled to put the game away but managed a W against the #21 Razorbacks. Florida and Texas continue their downward spiral losing again this week. Texas is unlikely to go bowling now and Florida looks to have no spirit to continue the season.
  • Loses: #3 Oregon, #7 Michigan St, #10 Wake Forest, #21 Arkansas

• VTech has fired their HC Justin Fuente after 6 seasons with the Hokies. His overall record was 43-31. D-line coach JC Price will be the interim HC. Fuente will still be paid the $10MM he is owed in his contract, seems a little hasty since if they waited til 12/15, that price tag would’ve dropped to $7.5MM. To me, this probably means they have their eye on someone…

• Florida has also decided to join the coaching carousel after firing HC Dan Mullen. Florida lost to Mizzou this weekend in OT and are 5-6 on the season. However this is a drastic change after they were in the SEC title game last year and put up a great fight against Alabama during the 3^rd game of the season. The team since has struggled however letting Samford (an FCS team) put up 52 points, the most points ever against Florida let alone by a FCS team. The Gators have one more game to be potentially bowl eligible against their in-state rivals, the Florida St Seminoles. But they will have to do it without their coach.

• Thanksgiving week (or week 13) sees a lot of action spread over many days. #12 Ole Miss at #25 Mississippi St will play on Thanksgiving. Bedlam will make for a fun Saturday night game as both Oklahoma schools are in the top 10. College GameDay is back-to-back weeks in the Big 10 for the Michigan vs Ohio St game in Columbus. #4 vs #6 with major CFP repercussions.
  • Upset watch: Ole Miss, Iowa, NC St, Michigan St, Oklahoma,

Football-NFL:

• Week 11 recap: The Pats continue to roll shutting out the Falcons 25-0. The Texans shocked the Titans to get their second win of the season 22-13. 6 games were decided by a TD or less. The Lions lost by 3 to the Browns so they’re still winless. The Ravens and Vikings also managed to squeak wins out by a FG. The hype on Cam Newton didn’t help the Panthers beat Washington this week losing 27-21. The Cowboys got embarrassed by the Chiefs losing 9-19 but it looked worse and the Dallas team had 0 TDs. The Cardinals are now the only team in the league with 9 wins led by Colt McCoy but Murray should be back soon.
• Bucs WR Antonio Brown reportedly tried to buy a fake vaccination card saying he received the J&J vaccine. It is unclear if he got the shot at a later date but in the hindsight of the Rodgers debacle, I’m sure the NFL will be checking into this.

Golf:

• Talor Gooch had a big weekend to win his first PGA Tour tournament ever at the RSM Classic in Sea Island, GA. It took a low score to do it too, shooting -22 after a -4 cut on Friday. Gooch shot all 4 rounds in the 60s bookending his performance with a couple of 64s. Gooch won by 3 strokes.

• The Match is back on the day after Thanksgiving. Who you got? Brooks Koepka or Bryson DeChambeau?

Olympic Sports:

• Curling Olympic trials were this weekend and we will see a very familiar face in USA gear in Beijing. 5x Olympian and defending Olympic champion John Shuster won 5-4 with his team to take the best-of-three finals. 3 of the team members from Pyeongchang will return but a new member, Tyler George will join the 4 man squad.
• 2x US figure skating champion, Alysa Liu, is switching coaches with only 3 months to go to Beijing. Liu is the favorite to make the US team and will now be training at the OTC instead of Oakland, CA. You might remember she is the phenom from the US who was too young to compete in international competitions for the last Olympic games.
• USA President Joe Biden has said that the USA is considering a ‘diplomatic’ boycott of the Beijing 2022 games. To clarify, this would mean that foreign dignitaries would not be going to the game but athletes would still be allowed to go.
• In WC news
  • Skiing: Petra Vlhova beat Mikaela Shiffrin for the 2^nd time in 2 days in the WC slalom event. Shiffrin lost by 0.47 seconds.
  • Luge: Team USA silver in the relay after GER and RUS had problems competing runs.

Soccer:

• The USA MNT ended the JAM game in a draw but still sit in 2nd in the CANCACAF FIFA World Cup qualifying behind CAN and ahead of MEX. The top 3 qualify for the World Cup and the 4^th place team will qualify for the intercontinental playoff.

Tennis:

• Chinese tennis star, Peng Shuai, goes missing after accusing Chinese official of sexual assault. There was a suspicious email that was said to be from her but authorities are worried that it was a screen shot. She has not been seen in public and has not been on the social media site since the post was taken down.

What to watch this week

Basketball-NBA:

• Tues 11/23
  • Lakers at Knicks @ 6:30pm on TNT (w/o LeBron)
  • Nuggets at Trail Blazers @ 9pm on TNT
• Wed 11/24
  • Nets at Celtics @ 6:30pm on ESPN
  • 76ers at Warriors @ 9pm on ESPN

Basketball – NCAAM: Only Top 25 on TV are listed

• Mon 11/22
  • Cal at 23. Florida @ 7:30pm on FS1
  • Citadel at 5. Duke @ 8pm on ACC
  • Arkansas at Kansas St @ 8pm on ESPN
  • Gonzaga at Central Michigan @ 10pm on ESPNU
• Tues 11/23
  • Gonzaga at 2. UCLA @ 9pm on ESPN
• Wed 11/24
  • UConn at 19. Auburn @ 1:30pm on ESPN
  • Tarleton at 20. Michigan @ 6pm on BTN
  • Xavier at Iowa St @ 6pm on ESPNU
  • Baylor at Arizona St @ 6:30pm on ESPN2
  • CBU at 8. Texas @ 7:30pm on LHN
  • Memphis at Vtech @ 8:30pm on ESPN2
• Thurs 11/25
  • USC at Saint Joseph’s @ 8:30pm on ESPN2
• Fri 11/26
  • Florida at 10. Kentucky @ 6pm on SEC
  • Duke at 1. Gonzaga @ 9:30pm on ESPN
• Sun 11/28
  • Bethune-Cookman at 21. Seton Hall @ 11am on FS1
  • Troy at 23. Florida @ 11am on SEC
  • Penn at 13. Arkansas @ 3pm on SEC
  • Villanova at La Salle @ 5pm on ESPN2

Football- NCAAF:

Tues 11/23 – CFP Rankings Show @ 7pm on ESPN

Top 25
Week 13
Top 25 Games
Visitor	Home	Day	Time (CT)	TV	Line
Ole Miss	Mississippi St	Thurs 11/25	6:30 PM	ESPN
UNC	NC St	Fri 11/26	6:00 PM	ESPN
Ohio St	Michigan	Sat 11/27	11:00 AM	FOX
Penn st	Michigan St	Sat 11/27	2:30 PM	ABC
Oklahoma	Oklahoma St	Sat 11/27	6:30 PM	ABC
*GameDay indicated in bold*

Football-NFL:

• Mon 11/22
  • Giants at Buccaneers @ 7:15pm on ESPN
• Thurs 11/25
  • Bears at Lions @ 11:30am on FOX
  • Raiders at Cowboys @ 3:30pm on CBS
  • Bills at Saints @ 7:20pm on NBC
• Sun 11/28
  • 7 games on @ 12pm depending on location on CBS/FOX
    • FOX:
      • Bucs at Colts
      • Panthers at Dolphins
      • Eagles at Giants
    • CBS:
      • Steelers at Bengals
      • Titans at Patriots
      • Falcons at Jaguars
      • Jets at Texans
  • Chargers at Broncos @ 3:05pm on CBS
  • Rams at Packers – or – Vikings at 49ers @ 3:25pm on FOX
  • Browns at Ravens @ 7:20pm on NBC
• Mon 11/29
  • Seahawks at Washington @ 7:15pm on ESPN

Golf:

• Fri 11/26 – The Match between Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau @ 3pm on TNT

Hockey:

• Wed 11/24
  • Maple Leafs at Kings @ 9pm on TNT
• Fri 11/26
  • Rangers at Bruins @ 12pm on ABC

Olympic Sports:

• Sat 11/27
  • Biathlon: W 15km Individual @ 9pm on NBCSN
• Sun 11/28
  • Skiing: W Slalom 2nd leg @ 4:30pm on NBCSN
  • Luge: FIL World Cup @ 6pm on NBCSN
  • Biathlon: W 7.5km Sprint & M 10km Sprint @ 8pm on NBCSN

Soccer:

• Sat 11/27
  • Premier League: Arsenal vs Newcastle @ 6:30am on NBCSN
  • Premier League: Norwich City vs Wolverhampton Wanderers @ 9am on NBCSN
• Sun 11/28
  • USL: Tampa Bay Rowdies vs Orange County SC @ 7:30pm on ESPN