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🚨 Headlines
💔 Football death: Alabama A&M linebacker Medrick Burnett tragically died on Friday, five weeks after he was injured in a head-to-head collision during a game, which caused brain bleeds and swelling. He was 20 years old.
🎾 Another positive test: Three months after men’s No. 1 Jannik Sinner tested positive for a banned substance (clostebol), women’s No. 2 Iga Świątek tested positive for a different banned substance (trimetazidine) and received a one-month ban.
🏈 Luck’s new gig: Andrew Luck is returning to his alma mater to become the general manager of the Stanford football program, where he’ll be involved in everything from recruiting and roster management to fundraising and alumni relations.
⚾️ MLB moves: The Mets have agreed to a two-year, $34 million deal with RHP Frankie Montas; the Dodgers signed NLCS MVP Tommy Edman to a five-year, $74 million extension.
⚽️ USA 0, England 0: The world’s two best women’s soccer teams played to a scoreless draw on Saturday in London. The match drew 78,346 fans, a record crowd for a women’s international friendly.
🏈 Rivalry Week: Where things stand
Are you not entertained?! The first Rivalry Week of the 12-team playoff era delivered an eight-overtime game in Athens, shocking upsets in Columbus and Syracuse, the return of the Lone Star Showdown, numerous flag-fueled fights, and so much more.
Scoreboard:
Elsewhere… Syracuse came back from 21-0 down to stun Miami and keep them out of the ACC title game; Notre Dame beat USC to lock up a home playoff game; Purdue and West Virginia fired their head coaches; Marshall clinched a spot in the Sun Belt title game with a walk-off 2-point conversion.
What’s next: The nine conference championship games are now set. Five of the nine winners will earn automatic berths into the 12-team College Football Playoff, and the four highest-ranked champions will get first-round byes.
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AAC: Tulane (9-3) at Army (10-1)
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ACC: SMU (11-1) vs. Clemson (9-3)
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Big 12: Arizona State (10-2) vs. Iowa State (10-2)
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Big Ten: Oregon (12-0) vs. Penn State (11-1)
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C-USA: Western Kentucky (8-4) at Jacksonville State (8-4)
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MAC: Miami-OH (8-4) vs. Ohio (9-3)
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MWC: Boise State (11-1) vs. UNLV (10-2)
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SEC: Georgia (9-3) vs. Texas (11-1)
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Sun Belt: Marshall (9-3) at Louisiana (10-2)
Playoff picture: The way we see it, eight teams are locks to make the playoff (Oregon, Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame, SMU, Indiana, Ohio State, Tennessee) and six teams are in with a win this weekend (Georgia, Clemson, Boise State or UNLV, Arizona State or Iowa State).
Parting thoughts:
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Two-man Heisman race: Colorado’s two-way star Travis Hunter saw his Heisman odds skyrocket (-10000 at BetMGM) after hauling in three TDs and one INT on Friday. But don’t count out Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty (+2500), who had a huge game of his own (226 yds, TD) and can add to his historic résumé in Friday’s MWC title game.
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Ryan Day’s murky future: Ohio State fans want Ryan Day fired after his fourth straight loss to Michigan, but here’s the awkward part: The Buckeyes are headed to the playoff and still have a real shot at a national title. Can Day rally the troops? Does he need to win it all to save his job? Heck, does he even want this job?
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Could a three-loss SEC team get in? If SMU beats Clemson, does the committee give a playoff spot to two-loss Miami or a three-loss SEC team (Alabama, South Carolina, Ole Miss)? For what it’s worth: The Tide were No. 11 in Sunday’s AP poll, ahead of the Gamecocks (No. 13), Canes (No. 14) and Rebels (No. 15).
🎙️ Listen now: Week 14 overreaction (College Football Enquirer)
🏈 NFL Week 13: By the numbers
The NFL’s Thanksgiving Weekend slate was not for the faint of heart: 12 of the 15 games played between Thursday and Sunday were decided by one score, including six decided by three points or fewer. Let’s recap the action.
$20 per hour
The Bills offered fans $20 per hour (plus food and hot beverages) to help shovel 2 feet of snow out of Highmark Stadium ahead of Sunday night’s game. Bills Mafia answered the call, “working through the night” to ready the field, and their team thanked them with a resounding 35-10 win over the 49ers, who may have lost Christian McCaffrey for the season. MVP favorite Josh Allen threw, ran for and caught a TD on a magical night in Buffalo.
21 straight seasons
With Sunday’s 44-38 win over the Bengals, the Steelers improved to 9-3 and clinched their 21st consecutive season with a .500 record or better, tying the Cowboys (1965-85) for the longest such streak in NFL history. Mike Tomlin has been the head coach for 18 of those seasons.
+54
Since 2000, there have been 23 teams with 11+ wins through Week 13. The 2024 Chiefs have by far the worst point differential (+54). They barely beat the lowly Raiders on Friday and have won their last three games by a combined seven points; but alas, the two-time defending champs are 11-1 and the only team that’s already clinched a playoff spot.
19 plays
The Colts kept their playoff hopes alive with a 19-play, 80-yard drive in the final minutes of their 25-24 victory over the Patriots. The game-winning march down the field included three fourth down conversions, and a gutsy decision by head coach Shane Steichen to go for two and the win.
41.3 million
Cowboys-Giants on Thanksgiving averaged 38.5 million viewers on Fox, making it the most-watched NFL game this season. Viewership peaked at 41.3 million around 6pm ET, which means roughly 12% of America spent priceless time with family — time they’ll never get back — watching Drew Lock vs. Cooper Rush. What a country.
14-32
The Bears fired head coach Matt Eberflus on Friday — the first time they’ve ever made an in-season coaching change — following a third consecutive mishandled last-minute loss.* Eberflus went 14-32 (.304) in Chicago, good for the third-worst winning percentage in franchise history. OC Thomas Brown will take over on an interim basis.
More NFL: Winners and losers | Fantasy notes
*Wild stat: 221 NFL head coaches have had at least 20 games decided by 7 points or fewer. Eberflus’ .227 winning percentage in those games (5-17) ranks dead last.
📸 Photo gallery
Liverpool, England — Liverpool beat Manchester City, 2-0, on Sunday to hand the four-time reigning champs their fourth straight league loss. The Reds now hold a nine-point lead atop the Premier League standings, with City 11 points back in fifth place.
Milwaukee — Giannis Antetokounmpo posted his first career 40-point triple-double* (42-12-11) in Saturday’s win over the Wizards to continue the Bucks’ scorching hot play. They’ve won six straight, and eight of nine, since starting the year 2-8.
Lusail City, Qatar — Max Verstappen, who’d already clinched his fourth straight F1 title, won Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix for his ninth victory of the year. With one race left, the focus shifts to the Constructors’ Championship (team with the most points) as McLaren leads Ferrari by just 21 points.
Killington, Vermont — Mikaela Shiffrin had a scary crash on Saturday on her home slopes in Vermont, wiping out in pursuit of her 100th World Cup win. She suffered a deep abdominal puncture wound but no bone or ligament damage. There’s no timeline for her return.
*The Greek Freak: With his stat sheet-stuffing performance on Saturday, Antetokounmpo tied Wilt Chamberlain in 30-point triple-doubles (21) and tied Michael Jordan in 35-point triple-doubles (8). We’re watching one of the all-time greats, folks.
⚽️ MLS Cup Final: Galaxy vs. Red Bulls
The MLS Cup Final is set, and like the World Series it will be a battle between New York (technically New Jersey) and Los Angeles after the Galaxy (1-0 over Seattle) and Red Bulls (1-0 over Orlando) won on Saturday.
The matchup: For the first time since 2014, the title game features two founding MLS clubs. The Galaxy and Red Bulls (then the NY/NJ MetroStars) both competed in the inaugural 1996 season, and they’ll meet on Saturday in Los Angeles to conclude the league’s 29th campaign.
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LA’s five championships and nine title game appearances are both the most in MLS history, though this is their first time back in the final since 2014.
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New York has reached the MLS Cup Final only once, and they’re one of just three active founding members without a championship (New England, Dallas).
How they got here: The Galaxy won 19 games to earn the 2-seed, while the Red Bulls snuck in as the 7-seed with more draws (14) than wins (11). They then proceeded to beat more teams in the postseason than they did in four-plus months, highlighting the randomness of these MLS playoffs.
Injury report: Galaxy star midfielder Riqui Puig will miss the MLS Cup Final after tearing his ACL during Saturday’s Western Conference final. The Barcelona product continued to play for over 30 minutes despite the injury, and provided the game-winning assist.
📆 Dec. 2, 1963: So long, “Big Bertha”
61 years ago today, the MLB rules committee banned the ridiculously-oversized mitt that Orioles manager Paul Richards had designed to help his catchers handle Hoyt Wilhelm’s famous knuckleball.*
In 1959, Wilhelm led the American League with a 2.19 ERA, but he was so proficient with the pitch that not even his own catchers could handle it; that year, the Orioles produced a major league record 49 passed balls, with 38 coming from pitches Wilhelm threw.
It was such a problem that Orioles catcher Clint Courtney — one of the first catchers in history to wear glasses — broke out a gargantuan mitt, specifically designed for Wilhelm’s pitches. The thinking was that if you used the biggest glove possible, no matter how badly Wilhelm’s knuckleball danced, you’d still be able to catch it.
The scheme seemed to work. Though it was the first time Courtney had ever caught Wilhelm, the two produced zero passed balls as Wilhelm pitched his first complete game of the season. The Orioles beat the Yankees 3-2.
So long, “Big Bertha”: The Wilhelm-inspired glove grew to a 45-inch circumference before MLB ruled that a catcher’s mitt must be “no more than 38 inches in circumference, nor more than 15.5 inches from top to bottom,” which remains the rule today.
*Top 5 knuckleball pitchers in MLB history: Phil Niekro (1964-87), Wilhelm (1952-72), Tim Wakefield (1992-2011), Charlie Hough (1970-94), R.A. Dickey (2001-17), per MLB.com.
📺 Watchlist: Battle of the Hudson
The Rangers host the Devils tonight (7pm ET, NHL) in their first head-to-head matchup of the season — and the 313th edition of the Hudson River rivalry.
Across the river: Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden (Rangers) is only 10 miles from Newark’s Prudential Center (Devils). So while tonight is an “away” game for New Jersey, they won’t be far from home.
More to watch:
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🏈 NFL: Browns at Broncos (8:15pm, ESPN) … Denver’s Bo Nix* has won NFL Rookie of the Week three consecutive times. Will he extend his streak to four?
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🏀 NBA: Lakers at Timberwolves (8pm, NBA) … Anthony Davis (28.6) ranks 6th in scoring; Anthony Edwards (27.7) ranks 8th.
*On a roll: Nix has thrown for 200+ yards and two TDs without an INT in three straight games, which is tied for the longest streak by a rookie since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger.
🏀 Final Four trivia
Lou Carnesecca, the Hall of Fame men’s basketball coach who led St. John’s to the 1985 Final Four and to a winning record in each of his 24 seasons at the helm, died Saturday. He was 99.
The 1985 Final Four is the only one in history to feature three teams from the same conference: St. John’s, Georgetown (runner-up) and Villanova (champion) all hailed from the Big East.
Question: Who was the fourth team in the 1985 Final Four?
Hint: They made the Final Four again in 2008. Both appearances have been vacated by the NCAA.
Answer at the bottom.
🍿 Baker’s Dozen: Top 13 plays of the weekend
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Trivia answer: Memphis State (now Memphis)
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