Long Overdue Kickoff Sports Chowdah Update- Buffalo Nickeled and Dimed in Pats Season Opener; BC Wide A-Wake vs Deacons; Sox Offense Explodes in the Bronx; IOC Big in Japan

From Thursday night's Bronco's blowout of the defending Super Bowl champion Ravens to Monday night's [technically Tuesday morning's- NANESB!] stunner in San Diego where the Texas bested the Chargers 31-28 as time expired, it's good to see that football is back at long last.

Donald Huepel- Reuters

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS- New coach, new QB, new receivers- but pretty much the same results for Buffalo on kickoff Sunday.

Although New England had to punt on their first possession of the game, they'd get the ball back when DT Tommy Kelly recovered a CJ Spiller fumble at the Buffalo 11 yard line and Brady would connect on 3rd and goal to give the Patriots an early 7-0 lead.

On their next possession, the Patriots started out with great field position thanks to a 15 yard penalty on Buffalo's punt coverage tacked onto a 16 yard return by Edelman, giving New England the ball at mid-field to start off with. However, the Patriot's drive would sputter once inside the Bill's 30 yard line and New England would have to settle for a 48-yard Gostkowski FG to put them up 10-0.

Buffalo's defense would get the Bills back in the game in the 2nd quarter when safety D'Norris Searcy recovered a fumble from Stevan Ridley inside the Bills 30 and returned it 74 yards for paydirt, making it a 10-7 game.

With less than 4 minutes to go before halftime, Pats DE Rob Ninkovich recovered a Marquise Grissom fumble on the Bill's own 35 yard line, giving Brady a short field to work with. On the first play of the drive, RB Shane Vereen went 21 yards before Brady once again connected with Edelman to make it a 17-7 game.

However, with 1:03 remaining in the half and the Patriots getting the ball back on their own 25, Bills CB Justin Rogers picked off Brady at the Pats 37 yard line, giving EJ Manuel a short field to work with. It took all of two plays for the Bills to hit paydirt, with Manuel hooking up with WR Robert Woods to make it a 17-14 game.

Buffalo would then take the lead on their opening possession of the second half, with CJ Spiller and Fred Jackson getting most of the work done on the ground after the Bills started out on their own 20. The drive was capped with an 18 yard TD pass from Manuel to WR Stevie Johnson to put Buffalo up 21-17 for their first lead of the day.

Although the Buffalo was able to keep Brady out of the end zone on their first possession of the 4th quarter, a 33 yard Gostkowski FG made it a one point game with Buffalo still on top 21-20.

After Buffalo went three and out on an offensive series where they just needed a few first downs and keep the clock moving, New England would get the ball back with just over four and a half minutes remaining. Brady would move the Pats down the field thanks mostly to short passes to Vereen and Danny Amendola that would drive New England down inside Buffalo's red zone with less than a minute remaining. With less than a minute to go in regulation, New England was content to just run down the clock before Gostkowski kicked a 33 yard FG to put the Patriots up with 5 seconds remaining in the game.

Nothing would come of Buffalo's next possession after the kickoff and the Patriots would go on to win by the final of 23-21. Tom Brady would go 29 of 52 with 288 yards, 2 TDs and an interception while Buffalo's EJ Manuel went 18 of 27 with 150 yards and two TDs. Julian Edelman was the recipient of both of Brady's TD passes and had 79 yards on the day.

The Patriots have a pretty quick turnaround this week with their next game on Thursday night against the Jets, which will be the New England home opener. The Pats may have to do it without Vereen and Amendola, though.

The Jets themselves are coming off a win decided by a FG in the waning seconds of the game against Tampa Bay. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:25 ET and the game will be televised on the NFL network.

Bill Kostroun- AP

RED SOX- Since Wednesday night, the Red Sox have scored a grand total of 57 runs- with 37 of those runs being scored against the Yankees.

Throughout late last week and the weekend, the Red Sox bats feasted on Yankees pitching including an improbable 5-run rally in the top of the 7th after trailing 8-3, followed by a 4-run top of the 8th to put them up 12-8 on Friday night. Although the Red Sox would end up losing Sunday afternoon's contest by a 4-3 final, the Red Sox would take three out of four from the Yankees over this weekend's four game series. The skid puts the Yankees three games behind Tampa Bay the final Wild Card berth in the AL. Baltimore and Cleveland also leapfrogged past the Yankees with the Yankees loss to the Orioles on Monday night.

Interestingly, since all but two of Boston's remaining games will be against AL East opponents, this means that the Yankees, Orioles or Rays will need an assist from the Red Sox if they want to clinch one of the remaining Wild Card berths [It's a tight race between the Rangers and A's in the AL West, so it's likely that the runner-up in that division will get the other Wild Card berth- NANESB!]. In other words, Rays, O's and yes...even Yankees fans...will likely be rooting for the Red Sox at some point between now and the end of the regular season.

Subtle imagery courtesy of Getty Images

As much as I love the Red Sox taking three out of four from the Yankees when the Bronx Bombers are in dire need of W's, this weekend series in the Bronx was almost an afterthought.

The big news in Red Sox nation isn't the fireworks display from the Red Sox bats last wee, but the return of Clay Buchholz to the mount for the first time since June. In August, Buchholz appeared in rehab starts for both the Single-A Lowell Spinners of the New York-Penn league and AAA Pawtucket Red Sox. In his most recent start, Buchholz was limited to around 75 pitches and gave up 4 hits and 2 earned runs while walking two and striking out five in 3⅔ innings against the Rochester Red Wings in the first round of the International League playoffs. The start with the Paw Sox was actually pushed back a day so that Buccholz could be with his wife when she gave birth to the couple's second daughter last week.

After his rehab start in Pawtucket, Buchholz travelled with the team to Yankee stadium and threw a bullpen session over the weekend- reportedly the final step prior to his returning to the lineup.

For Tuesday night, the Red Sox will travel to Tampa's Tropicana  Field to take on the Rays. Clay Buchholz [9-0; 1.71 ERA] will be tested against David Price [8-7; 3.51 ERA] on Tuesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 ET and the game will be televised on NESN as well as the MLB network in some markets.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS- Outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury is sidelined with a compression fracture right foot after undergoing an MRI and returning to Boston over the weekend. Both his agent and Red Sox manager John Farrell said it was likely that he could return by the end of the regular season.

Ellsbury has been batting .299 with 8 homers and 52 RBI. He also leads the majors in stolen bases this season with 52, only getting thrown out four times. The All-Star center fielder becomes a free agent at the end of the season as well.

OTHER MLB NEWS- The Pittsburgh Pirates have clinched their first winning season in 21 years after coming out on top in a pitcher's duel in the Lone Star state. Gerrit Cole bested Rangers starter Yu Darvish and threw 7 shutout innings against Texas while Pedro Alvarez brought ex-Rangers outfielder Marlon Byrd home for the game's only RBI.

Currently the Pirates are one game behind the St Louis Cardinals in the NL Central pennant race and one game ahead of the Cincinnati Reds in the Wild Card chase- although it appears likely that the two NL Wild Card berths will come from the NL Central.

PAWTUCKET RED SOX- With a little help from none other than Clay Buchholz, the Paw Sox managed to best the Rochester Red Wings in the first round of the International League playoffs. The defending International League champions will next take on the Durham Bulls at the Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, NC at 7:05 ET.

Michael Dwyer- AP

NCAA FOOTBALL- Only the second week into the regular season and the Boston College Eagles have already matched their win total from 2012. Not only that, the Eagles managed to match their conference win total on Friday night when they played their first ACC match of the season against Wake Forest.

BC got out the the early lead after Eagles DB Spencer Rositano recovered a Deacons fumble at the Wake Forest 30 yard line on Wake's opening possession of the game. Eagles QB Rettig then made a quick strike to WR Alex Amidon on a 26 yard catch and carry to hit paydirt and go up 7-0 just 40 seconds into the game.



Trailing 17-7 late in the second, Wake had a golden opportunity to get back in the game when a Nate Freese punt was blocked at the Eagles 28 yard line and recovered by Wake at the Eagles 3 yard line. Wake would try and punch it in with 50 seconds remaining, but would be denied on 4th and goal with only 10 seconds to go in the half.

The Eagles would pad their lead in the second half thanks to a TD pass from Rettig to WR Spiffy Evans and an Andre Williams rushing TD and go on to win by a 24-10 final.

The next couple of weeks look somewhat difficult for Boston College as they travel to the west coast to take on the USC Trojans before hosting the #10 Florida State Seminoles on Chestnut Hill on September 28th.

UMASS MINUTEMEN- While the Eagles improved to 2-0 on the season, an FCS school and one-time Minuteman rival bested UMass in Gillette Stadium over the weekend.

The Maine Black Bears trailed early, but would score 21 points to surge past UMass and win by a final of 24-14, giving them a 2-0 record for a share of first place in the Colonial conference- the Minutemen's former conference before jumping up to the FBC and MAC.

The Minutemen will travel to Manhattan, KS next week to take on Kansas State [interesting side note- Kansas State has already lost to defending FCS champion North Dakota State in their season opener- NANESB!]. However, Kansas State won last weekend's contest against Louisiana-Lafayette by a 48-27 final.

AP- Shizuo Kambayashi

OLYMPICS- The International Olympic Committee named the host city for the 2020 summer Olympiad with Tokyo garnering more votes than Istanbul. This would be the fourth time that Tokyo has hosted the Olympics and the fourth time overall that Japan has hosted the Olympics. Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Games and the mountainous cities of Sapporo and Nagano played host to the winter games- in 1972 and 1998, respectively.

Despite choosing venues such as Sochi, Russia or Rio de Janerio, Brazil, considered potentially risky by some, observers say the IOC opted to play it 'safe' with the Tokyo selection and go with a city that has already hosted the games once and should have little problems accommodating another summer Olympiad.

In 2011, the IOC announced that the mountainous South Korean municipality of Pyongchang would be hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Sports Chowdah Update- Red Sox Figure Out Max (Scherzer) Factor; Patriots Wrap Up Preseason, Cut Tebow; FCS Schools Come Up Big In College Football's Opening Weekend

Elise Amendola- AP

RED SOX- After another hard luck John Lackey loss on Labor Day [i.e. where he pitched reasonably well, but the Red Sox were shut out- NANESB!], the Red Sox had the even more formidable task of trying to figure out a way past Detroit's Max Scherzer for Tuesday night's game.

The difficulty of this endeavor was compounded when the Tigers got out to an early 1-0 lead thanks to a Jose Iglesias RBI double against his former team in the top of the second, although Brayan Peña made an ill-advised decision to try and come home and was thrown out by a relay that arrived at the dish 6 or 7 paces ahead of him.

Although Boston starter Jon Lester wasn't working as efficiently as Scherzer, he was still pretty effective- limiting Detroit to just the one run over seven innings of work. In the bottom of the fifth, Jonny Gomes hit a 1-out single followed by a Stephen Drew ground-rule double to deep right center [that actually took a run off the board for the Red Sox at the time- NANESB!]. David Ross then struck out swinging and it was up to Will Middlebrooks to bring the runners home with two away in the bottom of the 5th, which he did with a 2-RBI single to center field before Victorino struck out to end the inning.

Lester would end up striking out nine before leaving the game in the 7th inning and turning the game over to the bullpen. Workman, Breslow and Tazawa would hold the Tigers scoreless and Koji Uehara would get all three batters he faced in the 9th out [including striking out Peña and Iglesias to end the ballgame.

Wednesday night's series finale will feature Ryan Dempster [7-9; 4.75 ERA] going up against Rick Porcello [11-7; 4.44 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 ET and the game will be televised locally on NESN and nationally on ESPN.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS- Red Sox announcer and former second baseman Jerry Remy announced that he will not return to the broadcast booth for the remainder of the 2013 season. Remy has been absent since August 15th, the night his son Jared Remy allegedly murdered his girlfriend, Jennifer Martel.

The 34 year old son of the former Red Sox second baseman, a bodybuilder with a lengthy domestic violence rap sheet is accused of stabbing Martel to death on the patio of their home.

EVEN MORE RED SOX NEWS- Clay Buchholz threw 3⅓ innings for the Paw Sox at McCoy stadium over the weekend in what's supposed to be his second of three rehab starts. Buccholz allowed one earned run and struck out two after throwing 53 pitches against the Syracuse Chiefs on Aug 31st.

Assuming Buchholz makes his third rehab start with Pawtucket, it will most likely be on the road in the International League playoffs against the Rochester Red Wings starting this week.

PITTSBURGH PIRATES- The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired former Twins first baseman Justin Morneau via a waiver trade over the weekend. The Bucs will send outfielder Alex Presley to the Twin Cities in exchange for the 4-time all star.

Although Morneau had reportedly been battling concussion-like symptoms, he's been hitting .259 with 17 home runs and 74 RBI in 2013- 10 of those homers coming after the All Star break this season.

The Morneau trade comes just days after the Pirates acquired Marlon Byrd from the New York Mets. Byrd- who's also done time with the Red Sox, Nationals, Phillies, Rangers and Cubs- was batting .285 with 21 homers and 71 RBI for the Mets this season. Ironically, the Mets dealt Byrd on what was scheduled to be Marlon Byrd T-shirt night at Citi Field.

The Pirates currently lead a very tight NL Central pennant race by a game and a half while Cincinnati and St Louis are going head to head this week. The Pirates are in search of their first winning season and playoff berth in 21 years.

NCAA FOOTBALL- As it turned out, Wofford's road victory over UConn was just the beginning.

For opening weekend, more than a half dozen NCAA FCS [formerly division I-AA- NANESB!] teams left the home crowds in stunned silence as they would go on to beat their hosts.

Defending FCS champion North Dakota State opened up their season against the Kansas State Wildcats in Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, KS, defeating the defending Big 12 champions by a 24-21 final on Saturday.

Perhaps the biggest upset of the entire weekend was Eastern Washington's 49-46 win over #25 Oregon State at Corvallis- the first time a FCS/Division I-AA school beat a ranked FBS opponent since Appalachian State upended #5 Michigan by a 34-32 final in the Big House for the opening game of the 2007 season.

Other victories included McNeese State trouncing South Florida by a 53-21 final, Northern Iowa getting past Iowa State by a 28-20 final, the Eastern Illinois Panthers thumping the San Diego State Aztecs 40-19, Samford getting by Georgia State 31-21 and Southern Utah beating South Alabama 22-21 [although Georgia State and South Alabama are making their respective Sun Belt conference debuts and not that far removed from the FCS themselves- NANESB!].

With more than 30 FCS teams scheduled to take on FBS opponents this weekend- including #7 Texas A&M, #4 Clemson and #8 Louisville- we'll see if this opening weekend was an aberration or a sign of things to come.

TEXAS A&M- Heisman-trophy winning QB Johnny Manziel was suspended for the first half of Saturday's season opener against the Rice Owls. Manziel reportedly violated NCAA rules after reports circulated he was receiving monetary compensation for signing autographs. Instead, Manziel was found in breach of a minor NCAA bylaw and given a lighter suspension.

Hardly coming across as repentant or apologetic, Manziel instead spent the second half of Saturday's 52-31 win over the Owls by taunting players with money-counting or autograph signing gestures after completing big plays.

The Aggies will host FCS Sam Houston State this upcoming weekend

BOSTON COLLEGE- The Eagles are already halfway towards their 2012 win total after taking the home opener against Villanova on Saturday. Boston College trailed 14-7 in the first quarter, but would go on to score 17 unanswered points against the Villanova Wildcats [which some polls have as ranked 9th in the FCS- NANESB!] of the FCS Colonial Athletic Association in the second half. QB Chase Rettig tied the contest up on a 50 yard catch and carry to WR Alex Amidon for a TD on the opening drive of the 3rd quarter before RB Andre Williams gave Boston College their first lead of the day with a 26 yard TD run to make it 21-14 Boston College.

The Eagles would get some insurance with a Nate Freese 39 yard FG to make it 24-14 late in the 3rd, and that would be the final as the Eagles win in their season opener.

The Eagles will host their first ACC opponent of the season on Friday night when the 1-0 Wake Forest Demon Deacons head to Chestnut Hill. The game kicks off at 8:00 ET and will be televised on ESPN2.

UMASS- While there were a number of massive upsets in the works, UMass beating #23 Wisconsin wasn't one of them as the Badgers shut out the Minutemen by a 45-0 final. Even though UMass made the transition to FBS last season, Saturdays game still had the air of a hapless FCS/Division I-AA opponent being served up to a vastly superior opponent...which is kind of reflected in Saturday's final.

This weekend, the Minutemen will host former Colonial rival Maine in the UMass 'home' opener. The Black Bears are coming off a 23-6 win against Norfolk State to open their season.

NFL- Are you ready for some Football? Now that the games will actually count, I think I am.

The regular season kicks off Thursday night with the Broncos hosting defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore in Denver. The game will be televised on NBC and kickoff is scheduled for 8:30 ET.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS- The Patriots wrapped up their preseason with a 28-20 win over the New York Giants. Brady had the night off, so the QB duties were split between Mallet and Tebow. Mallet went 10-16 with 116 yards, a sack, a TD and an interception while Tebow went 6-11 with 91 yards, two TDs, four sacks and an interception.

However, Tebow was saving his best for last, with a 9 yard TD pass to WR Quentin Sims with 6 seconds remaining in the 4th quarter to give the Patriots a 28-20 lead.

As it turned out, this would be Tebow's final play as a Patriot, with the team cutting the former Broncos and Gators QB on Saturday. Coach Belichick was non-committal when asked about the possibility of the quarterback returning to the Patriots roster later on this season.

The Patriots will open the regular season on the road in Buffalo this Sunday with a 1:00 ET kickoff. The game will also be televised on CBS.

Monday Night Sports Chowdah for Dec 5th- March on the Penguins; Pats Barely Avoid Indy Trap; Colonial Football's Maine Event; Spartan/Badgers Redux

Jamie Sabau/Getty Images

NHL: The Bruins winning ways continue as the calendar flips over from November to December, with Boston beating the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Garden for Game 2 of the home and away series over the weekend.

The Bruins won by a 4-1 final with Tukka Rask turning aside 21 of the 22 shots he faced from the team that drafted him on Saturday night. Currently the Bruins are 4-0 against the Maple Leafs and won't be seeing them again until March 2012.

Saturday's win was a preamble to an important matchup on Monday night that would pit the Bruins against the top team in the Eastern Conference- the Pittsburgh Penguins. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were in the lineup for the Pens on Monday and had gone 5-1-1 since Crosby's return.

After a scoreless 1st period, Greg Campbell got the Bruins got on the board with a goal at about the 3 minute mark in the 2nd period, beating Marc Andre Fleury.

However, shortly after taking the 1-0 lead, the Bruins would find themselves having to kill a 5-on-3 penalty for 50 seconds- a power play that Pittsburgh ultimately was unable to cash in on.

Benoit Pouliot would then score for the Bruins to give them a 2-0 lead, but late in the second, the Pens would have another 2-man advantage as Pouliot went to the bin for goaltender interference and Rich Peverly would get two minutes for hooking. Once again, the Bruins were able to successfully kill both penalties, shutting out the Pens 2-0 and heading into the 3rd period with a power play on a Jordan Staal interference penalty.

The Pittsburgh penalty would lead to Boston's 3rd goal of the night, this time off the stick of Tyler Seguin. The Pens would end Thomas' shutout bid with about 11 minutes to go in the 3rd period, but Boston would go on to win by the 3-1 final. Tim Thomas stopped a season-high 45 of 46 shots, Thomas' 10th consecutive win between the pipes. The Bruins went 1 of 5 on the power play for the night as well.

Monday night's win pulls the Bruins to within one point of the Eastern Conference leaders- which at this time is still the Penguins.

From Pittsburgh, the Bruins will be heading to Manitoba for the first time December 1995 to take on the Winnipeg Jets. This will be Boston's first-ever visit to the MTS Centre. Currently, Winnipeg has an 11-11-4 record and is riding a 2 game win streak.

MLB: Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine's departure from ESPN created an opening on that network's Baseball Tonight program. Within days, that opening was filled by Valentine's Red Sox predecessor, Terry Francona.

ESPN announced on Monday that Francona would be joining the network as a baseball analyst for Baseball Tonight, Sunday Night Baseball as well as contributing to shows on the ESPN radio network and ESPN.com.

NCAA FOOTBALL: Well, the Army/Navy game notwithstanding, the regular season pretty much wrapped up this weekend with various championship games and a few belated 'rivalry' games.

Championship weekend kicked off with the inaugural PAC-12 championship game on Friday night, pitting #Oregon against UCLA. This one was pretty much all Oregon as the Ducks blew UCLA out of the water by a 49-31 final.

In a much closer but more overlooked contest on Friday night, Northern Illinois rallied late, scoring 23 unanswered points in the second half to win the Mid-America Conference Title Game by beating the Ohio Bobcats 23-20.

Things got off to a pretty turbulent start on Saturday, with Southern Mississippi upsetting #7 Houston in the Conference USA championship, upending the Cougars by a 49-28 final.

After trailing for most of the first half, the #1 LSU Tigers came back strong in the second half and ran roughshod over the #12 Georgia Bulldogs, winning that one by a 42-10 margin.

Over in the ACC title game, the Clemson were matched up against the #5 Virginia Tech Hokies after the Tigers lost three out of their last four contests (including a 37-13 drubbing by NC State and a 34-13 beating from in-state rival South Carolina). After a 10-10 tie at halftime, Clemson went on to score 28 unanswered points against the Hokies to runa away with the ACC Title.

The closest Championship contest on Saturday afternoon was no doubt the inaugural Big 10 Championship Game, which was pitted Wisconsin against Michigan State. This was a rematch of a regular season game that saw the Spartans win on an improbable Hail Mary from QB Kirk Cousins as time expired back in October.

Although the Badgers got out to an early 21-7 lead in the 1st at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, the Spartans came right back on two TD Passes from Cousins and another TD from RB LeVeon Bell to make it 29-21 Spartans at the half.

With the Spartans leading 39-34 in the 4th, the Badgers got to start from their own 36 after a good return. The Badgers started a 10-play drive, including converting on a 4th down and 6 to take the 42-39 lead (the 2 point conversion was good).

After a 3 and out by the Spartans, the Badgers would get the ball back with just under 3 minutes left and bleed away the clock, getting a pivotal first down on a Michigan State penalty. Badgers win the first-ever Big 10 football title game by a 42-39 final, avenging the earlier loss to Michigan State.

AP Photo

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: It wasn't Championship Saturday everywhere, though. There were still some regular season games to be played in the Big East, Mountain West, Big 12 and Western Athletic Conference.

UConn was playing for bowl eligibility while the Cincinnati Bearcats were positioning themselves for a share of the Big East title in the regular season finale on Saturday afternoon.

The Bearcats took advantage of some early UConn errors to get out to an early 14-0 lead thanks to fumbles and interceptions by Huskies QB Johnny McEntee. It would be a 28-6 halftime lead for the Bearcats at the half, with Uconn getting on the board thanks to two David Teggart FGs.

UConn would start to make a game of it in the 2nd half, ultimately closing the gap to 35-27 thanks to a pair of Teggart FGs in the 3rd and two TD passes from McEntee in the 4th, but Cincinnati would go on to win by the 35-27 final.

This leaves UConn with a 5-7 record meaning that just one year after going to the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona, UConn Football will be staying put for Bowl season. This also sets up a curious scenario where Cincinnati, West Virginia and Louisville are all co-titleholders in the Big East.

AP Photo

NCAA FOOTBALL- FCS: The FCS championship got underway in late November, and heading into the weekend, two New England schools from the Colonial conference were still very much in the hunt.

At first, the Maine Black Bears looked like they had a tall task of taking on the Appalachian State Mountaineers on the road in Boone, NC. However, after taking a 13-6 lead into the half, the Black Bears broke the game wide open in the second half, with RB Pushuan Brown's 31 yard TD run serving as the exclamation point in Maine's 34-12 win over Perennial FCS/Division I-aa favorite App State.

The victory eliminates the Mountaineers and sets up a showdown with the Georgia Southern Eagles in Statesboro, GA at 2 PM ET on Saturday. Georgia Southern had already beaten the Old Dominion Monarchs (another CAA team) to advance and face the winner of Maine/App State.

ELSEWHERE IN THE FCS: The Montana State Bobcats survived a late scare from the UNH Wildcats in Bozeman, MT on Saturday. Montana State's Darius Hones intercepted a pass from UNH's Mark Becker at the Bobcat 3 yard line. A shanked punt then gave the Wildcats the ball back with 17 seconds remaining in the 4th, Becker connected with WR Justin Mello to make it a 26-25 game with 7 seconds to go in regulation. However, instead of tying the game up on the point after, Mike MacArthur's kick clanged off the upright, allowing Montana State to squeak by.

This sets up a meeting between the Bobcats and Sam Houston State university in Huntsville, TX this weekend.

NFL: Altough they got out to an early 31-3 lead over Indianapolis, the Patriots ended up sneaking by the hard-luck Colts on Sunday. With no Manning in sight, Indy nevertheless managed to put up 21 unanswered points in the 2nd half, including two TD passes from current Colts QB Dan Orlovsky to WR Pierre Garcon. Still, New England managed to hang on for the 31-24 win.

Tom Brady went 29-38 with 289 yards and 2 TDs while Orlovsky went 30 for 37 with 353 yards, 2 TDs and an interception.

Boston Hearld Photo

An interesting side note to Sunday's game was that injured Colts QB Peyton Manning showed up at Gilette Stadium before the game and briefly chatted with rival QB Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick before talking with fans and some of the minutemen in period cosutmes along the sidelines.

“I signed a tons of autographs for Patriots fans before the game and they couldn’t had been nicer,” Manning said. “They were all wishing me a healthy recovery and missed seeing me out there and I really do appreciate that. I’ve been getting a lot of support from my Colts fans and people across the country. But when it comes from fans of probably your biggest rival, and I’m sure some of them have probably said stuff that wasn’t so nice over the years, I thought it was pretty classy.”

[I could've told you that, Peyton- but then again, I'm incredibly biased- NANESB!]

Of course, anybody in Foxbourough on Sunday could see for themselves that the Colts/Patriots rivalry had lost much of its luster without the Colts MVP quarterback.

The Patriots have one more NFC East opponent in the regular season- the 4-8 Washington Redskin, who they'll take on this Sunday at 1 PM ET on CBS.

Rivalry Sports Chowdah Update- The OTHER Jets Visit Boston For 1st Time in 16 Years; Eagles Lay an Egg Vs Pats

AP Photo

NHL: Almost 16 years to the day that they last played each other in the old Boston Garden, the Winnipeg Jets came into Boston on Saturday evening.

The Jets got out to a fairly quick 2-0 lead about halfway through the 1st period, with goals from Evander Kane and Dustin Byfuglien less than 40 seconds apart. With about 3 and a half minutes to go in the first, Zdeno Chara got the Bruins on the board with a power play goal and Boston entered the 1st intermission trailing 2-1.

The Bruins would then go on to tie the contest up at 2-2 thanks to a shorthanded goal from Chris Kelly at the 7:28 mark, then take the lead on another Kelly tally at the 16:26 mark- this one was even-handed.

With the Jets still trailing with less than 2 minutes to go in the 3rd, the decision was made to pull goalie Ondrej Pavelec for the extra attacker, but Brad Marchand made them pay for that decision by getting an empty-netter almost as soon as Pavelec hit the bench to make it a 4-2 Bruins win.

Winnipeg's Onrej Pavelec stopped 32 of 35 shots faced (the empty-netter doesn't count) while Tim Thomas stopped 40 of 42 shots that the Jets put on goal Saturday night. C Chris Kelly came into the Saturday night game with 7 goals on the season and now has 9. Boston went 1 for 5 on the power play while Winnipeg went 0 for 4, including giving up a shorthanded goal to Chris Kelly.

Unlike 1996, the Bruins will see the Jets more than once this season. Since Winnipeg is still technically in the Eastern conference, they face each other at least 3 other times this season, with the next matchup coming on the road at Winnipeg's MTS Centre in about a week.

In the meantime, the B's have a home-and-away series with the Maple Leafs coming up beginning on Wednesday in the Garden and continuing Saturday night on the road in Toronto.

OTHER NHL NEWS: The Carolina Hurricanes have fired head coach Paul Maurice and are expected to replace him with former All-Star Kirk Muller. The announcement was made on Monday after Carolina had lost 10 of its last 13 games in the last month.

The announcement comes barely 90 minutes after the Washington Capitals announced that they had fired head coach Bruce Boudreau, reportedly replacing him with former Caps player Dale Hunter.

Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

NFL: Even with starter Micheal Vick out with fractured ribs, the Eagles were able to get out to a quick 10-0 lead against New England on Sunday. However, New England would come back to get on the board thanks to a sustained drive where Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis punched it in from the Eagles 4 yard line to close the first quarter trailing 10-7.

From the 2nd quarter on, it was basically all New England. The Pats first possession of the 2nd quarter was highlighted by a 63 yard quick strike between Brady and WR Deion Branch, where Branch was brought down at the Eagles 1 yard line only to have the law offices of Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis once again punch it in for New England to take the 14-10 lead.

From there on out, the Pats basically ran away with it, with the Eagles giving up a 41 yard pass and running play to WR Wes Welker and getting a Gostkowski FG for their last possession of the 1st half to send them to the locker rooms at halfine with New England up 24-13.

In the second half, the Eagles faithful began making themselves scarce as Brady and Welker connected for another TD while Wide Reciever-turned-defensive-back Julian Edelman made a key tackle on Eagles QB Vince Young to keep him outside of the end zone. Tom Brady went 24-34 with 361 yards and 3 TDs and rushing for 28 yards (his highest total since 2006) while Vince Young went 26-48 with 400 yards, a TD and an interception. Green-Ellis would have 44 yards and 2 TDs on 14 carries on the day.

The Patriots win this one pretty handily by a 38-20 final (and it wasn't even that close), setting up a Sunday afternoon showdown with the winless Indianapolis Colts next week.

OTHER NFL NEWS: Detroit Lions Defensive Tackle Ndamukong Suh was ejected from Thursday afternoon's Thanksgiving game between the Packers and Lions after stomping on Packers Center Evan Dietrich Smith long after the play was blown dead. Suh initially refused to apologize, until the Lions released a statement the following day calling his conduct 'unacceptable'. Green Bay would go on to win by a 27-15 final on Thanksgiving.

On Monday, Suh reportedly requested a meeting with NFL Comissioner Roger Goddell. A fine and suspension are expected to be handed down by the League this week.

NCAA FOOTBALL: The Rutgers Scarlet Knights headed into Saturday's game against the UConn Huskies hoping for a share of the Big East and hoping for an invitation to a BCS Bowl game.

The Huskies, however, had other plans. Getting out to the early 14-0 lead, the Huskies never really let up, taking a 24-10 halftime lead and going on to win by a 40-22 final over Rutgers. The win keeps 5-6 UConn's bowl hopes alive heading into the regular season finale against the Cincinnati Bearcats on Saturday at noon eastern time. Should the Huskies go on to win, they will be the only bowl-eligible school from New England this year.

COLONIAL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION: Two New England schools from the Colonial Conference now find themselves in the FCS playoffs this month. On Saturday, the 8-3 Maine Black Bears will take on the Appalachian State Mountaineers while the UNH Wildcats will take on the Montana State Bobcats in Bozeman, MT.

ELSEWHERE IN THE CAA: UMass wrapped up what is likely their final home game in Amherst, Ma for the foreseeable future with an unceremonious loss to James Madison by a 34-17 final last weekend. Two days after the regular season finale, UMass atheltic director John McCutcheon fired head football coach Kevin Morris. The dismissal comes as UMass finished their final season in the Colonial conference with a 5-6 record.

The Minutemen are slated to appear in games against UConn, Michigan, Indiana and Venderbilt as well as conference opponents from the Mid America conference (no word on if any matches with Temple are in the mix) for the 2012 season.

OTHER NCAA FOOTBALL NEWS: The Ohio State Buckeyes announced the hiring of former Florida head coach Urban Meyer on Monday afternoon. The announcement comes just days after the 6-6 Buckeyes 34-40 loss to #17 Michigan to wrap up their regular season- one of the few 'rivalry' games from Saturday that was actually close.

MLB: Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun was announced as the National League MVP last week, beating out Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Braun had a batting average of .332 with 33 homers and 111 RBI's during the 2011 season. The Brewers also won the NL Central pennant while the Dodgers missed the postseason altogether, a factor that Braun himself felt influenced the outcome of the MVP voting.

Sports Chowdah Update- #20 Wolverines Survive Last Minute-man Threat; They Might Be Little Giants in Lansing; Jets Take Flight vs NE

MLB: After finishing off a sweep of the Mariners in Seattle, the Red Sox travelled back to Boston for a weekend homestand against the Toronto Blue Jays. After dropping the first two games of the weekend series, leave it to Jon Lester to stop the bleeding. The starter went 7 shutout innings giving up four hits and striking out four while getting run support from homers by Victor Martinez and JD Drew as well as an RBI single from call-up Yamacio Navarro. Scott Atcheson and Robert Coello closed out the game and preserved the shutout for Boston's 6-0 win on Sunday afternoon.

The homestand continues Monday against Baltimore, with Daisuke Matsuzaka (9-5; 4.82 ERA)getting the start against Brian Matusz (8-12; 4.68 ERA).

NCAA FOOTBALL: Holy crap! I managed to tune in late to the Notre Dame/Michigan State game. Normally you'd think overtime games would be exciting, but the end of regulation and the 1st Irish possession of overtime were almost coma-inducing. The first three downs on the Spartan's possession were actually kinda painful to watch, culminating in a loss of 8 yards after Michigan State QB Kirk Cousins was sacked to bring up what appeared for all the world to be a lengthy field goal attempt on 4th and 13 with an inexperienced kicker.

What happened next defies easy written description, but good thing there's some video embedded.

Apparently Michigan State designates their trick plays with movie titles, and what you just saw was a successful execution of 'Little Giants'. But there would be more- and not just the sour grapes from Irish fans whining about the game clock. Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio was hospitalized with a mild heart attack on Sunday morning. The 54 year old coach underwent surgery to put a stent in one of the blocked blood vessels leading to his heart. It appears that Dantonio will be fine, but he'll be out indefinitely as he's recovering.

AP Photo

MEANWHILE, IN ANN ARBOR: Boston College has the weekend off, but another Massachusetts college football team caught the nation's attention- at least until Dantonio's 'Little Giants' play. Like the Spartans/Fighting Irish game in Lansing, the action took place in the Great Lakes state when the FCS UMass Minutemen of the Colonial Athletic Association paid a visit to Michigan's Big House in Ann Arbor. The Minutemen were actually leading 17-7 for awhile in the 2nd quarter, although Michigan would take a 21-17 lead at the half. Michigan was actually starting to pull away late in the 3rd to make it a 35-17 game, but UMass came charging back in the 4th to make it 42-30 when the Minutemen held the Wolverines to a 3 and out with just over 5 minutes left in the 4th before successfully blocking the punt and recovering on the Michigan 25. Using the short field, UMass got the touchdown on a Kyle Havens pass to TE Andrew Krevis to make it a 37-42 game with just over two minutes left. But before anybody could say Appalachian State, Michigan was able to successfully bleed the clock after getting a first down on their ensuing possession. I know that talk about 'moral victories' is pretty hackneyed and cliched, but overall I'd say the Minutemen acquitted themselves quite well on Saturday. UMass QB Kyle Havens was 22 for 29 passing with 222 yards, two TDs passing, one rushing TD and and interception while Michigan's Denard Robinson was 10 of 14 with 241 yards passing, 104 yards rushing with an interception as well as two TDs through the air and one rushing TD. Pretty safe to say that the other Big 10 teams will be watching the film from this one pretty closely. Michigan is 3-0 having beaten UMass, Notre Dame and Uconn while UMass is off to a 2-1 start, good enough for the current lead in the Colonial Conference and a #15 ranking from the FCS Coaches Poll. MEANWHILE, IN THE BIG EAST: UConn- perhaps somewhat surprisingly- fell to the Mid America Conference's newest member, Temple, by a score of 30-16 on Saturday. UConn will host the Buffalo Bisons this upcoming Saturday at East Hartford NFL: Well, that sure sucked. After Generating almost zero offense in last week's Monday night game against Baltimore, the Jets offense seemed to hit their stride against the visiting Patriots at the new and reportedly improved Meadowlands Sunday afternoon. New England headed into the locker room at the half with a 14-10 lead and were shut out for the entire second half (that one-handed grab by Moss for the TD was awesome, but didn't garner any style points). The Jets were aided considerably by two Brady picks (OK- one of them was kinda flukey) and some costly penalties (39 yards against the Pats D on one Jets posession in the 4th) in their 28-14 win, the Jets first of the season.
Both New York and New England are at 1-1 while Miami beat Minnesota at the Metrodome today to get them off to a 2-0 start.

Not Quite Past Expiration Date Sports Chowdah Update- Pats 86 Ocho Cinco and Cincy; Lester Pitches Gem in Emerald City; End of Lowell Connector?

It's that most wonderful time of the year.

This is something I can say with little exaggeration or hyperbole as I've taken to referring to the phenomena as the 'glorious overlap' where fans had the enviable dilemma of which game they wanted to tune in for- baseball, NCAA football, NFL Football or (depending on how far some of the baseball teams advance in October) NHL hockey- when those games were being played concurrently. For me, this was a fairly recent phenomena that I was unfamiliar with until my discovery of XM Radio, DirecTV and internet streaming broadcasts.

Of course, as any New England sports fan worth their salt could tell you, we had the dilemma of trying to figure out which playoff caliber (if not championship caliber) team to watch in late September or early October more than one season over the past decade. It's a good problem to have- although I think that this year, the Red Sox may be taking the initiative in helping me whittle down my sports viewing choices in October. But until then, there's still some baseball to be played.

Otto Greule Jr./Getty Images

MLB: After dropping two out of three in Mogadishu by the Bay Oakland over the weekend, the Red Sox travelled north to Seattle to take on the Mariners. On Monday night, Jon Lester got the start against Doug Fister and got some run support in the top of the 2nd off the bats of rookies Daniel Nava and Lars Andersen (plus a run coming in on a Josh Reddick groundout) to make it a 3-0 game. The Mariners couldn't get a runner past 2nd base until the bottom of the 7th when Lester gave up a one out walk to Franklin Guttierez followed by a Jose Lopez single that put Guttierez at 3rd and a Casey Kotchman groundout to make it a 3-1 game before Lester got out of the inning.

More run support came in the top of the 8th when Marco Scutaro drew a leadoff walk and Ryan Kalish homered to right field to make it a 5-1 game. Daniel Bard would close things out in the 9th to make it a 5-1 final for Boston.

Lester allowed just 3 hits, 3 walks, one run while striking out 12 in eight innings of work. This gives Lester his 17th win of the season and became the fifth Red Sox pitcher to have back to back seasons where he reached the 200 strikeout mark, joining Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens, Cy Young and Smokey Joe Wood. Monday night's win was #17 on the season for Lester.

There was a Jed Lowrie sighting at SafeCo on Tuesday night as the shortstop went 2-4 with two homers and 3 RBI on the night in support of Daisuke Matsuzaka. Dice-K went 6 innings, giving up eight hits and five runs while walking four and striking out three. Reliever Rich Hill got the win by getting the only batter he faced Tuesday night- Casey Kotchman- to ground out. Big Papi managed to put the Sox away for good with a 3 run blast in the top of the 8th inning as the Sox managed to hang on for a 9-6 win.

For tomorrow's day game (Pacific Time) in the series finale, Clay Buchholz (15-7; 2.53 ERA) will go up against David Pauley (2-7; 4.39 ERA) at 6:40 PM Eastern, 3:40 Pacific.

OTHER SOX NEWS: Far more competent sports bloggers than myself are reporting that the Red Sox have already released their 2011 regular season schedule. Reportedly, the Sox will be hosting the Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres for interleague play while travelling to Houston, Philly and Pittsburgh.

Infielder Mike Lowell told the Boston Herald this week that he would be retiring at the end of this season.

"I'm retiring. I just don't want to make it a song and dance because I don't think that's necessary, but if someone needs something official, yeah, I'm going to retire. This is going to be my last year."

The veteran infielder arrived from the Florida Marlins in 2006, included with the Josh Beckett trade as part of a salary dump, but would go on to win MVP of the 2007 World Series. Lowell's playing time would diminish after undergoing hip and thumb surgeries and the arrival of Victor Martinez who could start as catcher, first base or DH.

[Thanks for all you did, Mike. You were a class act all the way and will be missed- NANESB!]

Jim Rogash/Getty Images

NFL: And as it turned out, I was ready for some football now that the games count.

And I wasn't the only one, as this action-packed photo of Wes Welker indicates. Welker looked like he hardly missed a beat after a season ending injury and knee surgery at the end of last season, scoring two TDs on 64 yards and 8 receptions.

Brady went 25 for 35 with 258 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions after getting a new contract and coming away unscathed from a car wreck a few days prior to the season opener. LB Gary Guyton ran an intercepted Carson Palmer pass back for 59 yards and a touchdown while WR Brandon Tate on special teams returned the opening kickoff of the 2nd half for another New England TD to make it 31-3 New England.

Cincinnati would chip away at the lead some, but all the TO's, Ocho Cincos and Pac Man's couldn't help them, as cornerbacks Devin McCourty and Darius Butler were able to stifle 'Batman' and Robin (i.e Ochocinco and Owens).

Patriots win by the final of 38-24 against Cincinnati, although it wasn't even that close. This upcoming weekend, the Pats will take on the Jets at East Rutherford, NJ.
Apparently if dropping the home opener to Baltimore on Monday Night Football wasn't bad enough, the Jets seem to be having a hard time handling sultry TV Azteca sports babe Ines Saenz.

OTHER PATS NEWS: The Lawrence Maroney era is now over. The Pats sent the RB to the Broncos in exchange for a 4th round draft pick in the 2011 draft.

NCAA FOOTBALL: There is no pre-season in college football, but you could make the case that starting off with back-to-back home games against Weber State and Kent State is the next best thing as the BC Eagles handled the Kent State Golden Flashes pretty easily with a 26-13 win on Saturday at Chestnut Hill.

Eagles QB David Shinskie went 18 for 27 with 214 yards and 2 TDs while Clyde Lee had 54 yards receiving and a touchdown. This brings the Eagles record to 2-0, although they have yet to face an ACC opponent. The BC Eagles have this Saturday off before opening up ACC play at Chestnut Hill against Virginia Tech.

Va Tech is coming off a 16-21 loss to James Madison of the FCS Colonial Athletic Association (remember them?) on Saturday.

Elsewhere in New England, UConn's home opener featured a pretty brutal and one-sided beatdown of the Texas Southern Tigers by a final of 62-3. The Huskies will travel to Philadelphia to take on the Temple Owls of the Mid America conference on Saturday.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAAF: Former USC Trojan and current New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush forfeited his 2005 Heisman trophy in an unprecedented move Tuesday. The running back said that the scandal involving him receiving improper benefits while at USC 'should not stain the dignity of this award'. This is the first time in the award's 75 year history that it was forfeited by a winner.

The University of Southern California Trojans are under NCAA sanctions for the 2005 scandal and ineligible to play in any bowl games for the next three seasons. The Heisman Trophy Trust is considering their next move now that the trophy's been returned.

The Western Athletic Conference has initiated a lawsuit with Fresno State and Nevada to remain in the conference trough the 2011-2012 academic season before heading to the Mountain West Conference. WAC Commissioner Karl Benson said that the conference had to be notified prior to July 1 of this year before any such move could be approved, otherwise they're obligated to remain in the conference for the next two years.

Weekend Sports Chowdah Recap- Dolphin Safe Pats; BC Frisco Bound; Huskies Mush Past USF; Bs Rake Leafs; End of An Era @ Northeastern

LACES OUT!! (AP)

Now if it had been the same score against the Saints last week, I wouldn't have been the least bit surprised. Instead, the lowly Dolphins rally past New England to win 22-21 on a Dan Carptenter Field Goal. Miami QB Chad Henne went 29-52 and had a career-best 335 yards with two TDs and an interception. The win brings Miami to a 6-6 record- tied with the NY Jets and one game behind the Patriots in the AFC East standings.



Tom Brady was 19-29 for 352 years with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Wes Welker had ten catches for 167 yards, but Randy Moss was help to only two catches on the day. The Pats also failed to score twice inside Miami's red zone. The Patriots will host Miami at Foxboro on Sunday while the Dolphins will travel to Jacksonville and the Jets travel to Tampa Bay.

(Stephen Dunn/Hartford Courant)

In a Big East game that was likely overshadowed by the simultaneously broadcast ACC and Big XII Championship Games, the UConn Huskies gave up another late lead in a close game, trailing 27-26 to the South Florida Bulls thanks to an 8-yeard BJ Daniels TD run with only 40 seconds left in regulation. UConn moved the ball 31 yards on six plays to set up a 42-yard field goal attempt for redshirt sophomore kicker Dave Teggart. After missing a FG attempt earlier in the game, Teggart's kick split the uprights in the middle of an ongoing snow squall as time expired, giving UConn the 29-27 win at E. Hartford CT Saturday night. Huskies QB Zach Frazer was 20-30 for 225 years and 2 touchdowns while RB Andre Dixon (pictured above) rushed for 50 yards and 2 TDs. The Huskies won their final 3 games of the regular season (versus Notre Dame, Syracuse and USF) to finish with a 7-5 record.

Upcoming Bowl Schedule:


(Bold indicates New England team


double asterisks** indicates BCS matchup)

New Mexico Bowl- Dec 19:
Fresno State vs Wyoming


St. Petersburg Bowl- Dec 19:
Rutgers vs USF


New Orleans Bowl- Dec 20:
Southern Miss vs Middle Tennessee


Las Vegas Bowl- Dec 22:
BYU vs Oregon State


Poinsettia Bowl- Dec 23:
Utah vs Cal


Hawaii Bowl- Dec 24:
SMU vs Nevada


Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl- Dec 26:
Marshall vs Ohio


Meineke Car Car Bowl- Dec 26:
North Carolina vs Pittsburgh


Emerald Bowl- Dec 26:
Boston College vs USC


Music City Bowl- Dec 27:
Clemson vs Kentucky


Independence Bowl- Dec 28:
Texas A&M vs Georgia


Eaglebank Bowl- Dec 29:
Temple vs UCLA or Army


Champs Sports Bowl- Dec 29:
Miami vs Wisconsin


Humanitarian Bowl- Dec 30:
Idaho vs Bowling Green


Holdiay Bowl- Dec 30:
Nebraska vs Arizona


Armed Forces Bowl- Dec 31:
Houston vs Air Force


Sun Bowl- Dec 31:
Oklahoma vs Stanford


Texas Bowl- Dec 31:
Navy vs Missouri


Insight Bowl- Dec 31:
Minnesota vs Iowa State


Chik-Fil-A Bowl- Dec 31:
Virginia Tech vs Tennessee


Outback Bowl- Jan 1:
Northwestern vs Auburn


Capital One Bowl- Jan 1:
Penn State vs LSU


Gator Bowl- Jan 1:
Florida State vs West Virginia


Rose Bowl- Jan 1:
Ohio State vs Oregon


Sugar Bowl- Jan 1:
Florida vs Cincinnati


International Bowl- Jan 2:
USF vs Northern Illiniois


Papajohns.com Bowl- Jan 2:
UConn vs South Carolina


Cotton Bowl- Jan 2:
Oklahoma State ve Ole Miss


Liberty Bowl- Jan 2:
East Carolina vs Arkansas


Alamo Bowl- Jan 2:
Michigan State vs Texas Tech


Fiesta Bowl- Jan 4th: **
Boise State vs TCU


Orange Bowl- Jan 5th:**
Iowa vs Georgia Tech


GMAC Bowl- Jan 6th:
Troy vs Central Michigan


BCS Championship Game- Jan 7th:**
Texas vs Alabama


After 74 season, Northeastern University announced an end to it's football program at the end of November.

Northeastern football did not fall victim to the recession or a fund-raising crunch, university officials said. Instead, school officials came to terms with the hard truth that the $3 million-plus annual program needed more help - millions more each year - than Northeastern wanted to give.

President Joseph E. Aoun and the board of trustees endorsed the move Friday after an extensive, two-year review of the athletic program by its director, Peter Roby.

The move by Northeastern could leave the Colonial Athletic Association short a team for the 2010 Football season.

In the NCAA Football Championship Subdivison (FCS- formerly Division 1AA), two of the teams from the Colonial Athletic Association were eliminated while two will play this weekend to advance to play in the FCS championship game in Chattanooga, TN.

With the CAA teams in bold print, the finals from Saturday's FCS quarterfinals are:

William & Mary 24- Southern Illinois 3

New Hampshire 7 -Villanova 46

Appalachian State 35- Richmond 31

The winner of William & Mary vs Villanova will take on the winner of the Appalachian State vs Montana game for the FCS title at Chattanooga's Finley Stadium on December 18th.

(Getty Images)

Marc Savard notched his third career hat trick Saturday night in a 7-2 pounding of Toronto as Phil Kessel made his first appearance in the Garden since being traded to the Maple Leafs this offseason. Aside from Savard's hat trick, the Bruins got goals from Marco Sturm in the 1st, Zdeno Chara in the 2nd and Mark Recchi and Johnny Boychuk in the 3rd. Tukka Rask was gunning for his second shutout of the season, but allowed goals from Niklas Hagman and Mikhail Grabovski late in the 3rd. Rask stopped 31 of 33 shots faced.

The Bruins will take on the Maple Leafs at the Garden again on Thursday night.

Sports Chowdah Recap Thanksgiving Weekend Version- Boondock Saints; Tiger Trap; Bowden Bowin' Out?; Shaq Steps Up Big Time, Naughty and Weiss

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

This was the game that everybody had been waiting for- one of those Monday Night games where even if you weren't a fan of either team, you were still looking forward to. The undefeated New Orleans Saints taking on the 7-3 New England Patriots at the Louisiana Superdome.

Now....the first quarter was pretty good. The Saints moved the ball pretty effectively on their first possession, but were held to a field goal that John Carney banked in off the upright once they got into the Pats red zone. The Pats moved the ball much more slowly and methodically, capitalizing on two 4th down attempts, including one inside the Saints red zone that Laurence Maroney took in for the Pats first TD.

From there on out, the Pats D might as well taken the rest of the night off and helped themselves to some po'boys and Jambalaya. In all fairness, there were at least 4 long passes by Saints QB Drew Brees that were absolutely flawless- no way they could've been defended against short of drawing a pass interference call- and two of them resulted in touchdowns if I'm remembering correctly. It was all Drew Brees and all ___________ { <--insert name of any number of Saints receivers} all the time. Except for Reggie Bush- he sat this one out.

Long story short, New Orleans cajun stomps all over New England 38-17 [and it wasn't even that close- NANESB!] and some of us are left to wonder if Teddy Bruschi or Rodney Harrison couldn't have stuck around for another year. New Orleans clearly was the better team and played accordingly. If there was any notion that their 11-0 record was some kind of fluke, that's dead and in a hole deeper than Deval Patrick's approval ratings.

No way to sugar-coat this one. The Pats were embarrassed and they get to chew on this for another few days. I'm not going to despair too much, though. One would be tempted to think that last night's game provided other teams a template or blueprint with witch to stymie the Pats. But missing in that line of speculation is the fact that most teams don't have Drew Brees calling signals.

(nolesports.com)

ELSEWHERE: After 34 seasons, 80 year old FSU head football coach Bobby Bowden announced that he's retiring effective whichever bowl game the Seminoles get invited to. The Seminoles lost to #1-ranked Florida 37-10 Saturday and finished the season with a 6-6 record.

Former Patriot's offensive coordinator Charlie Weiss has been fired as Notre Dame's head coach. Weiss finished with a 35-27 record over five seasons with the Fighting Irish. The Irish lost to Stanford 38-45 on Saturday and, like FSU, finished with a 6-6 record. Weiss' dismissal has already led to speculation regarding his replacement at South Bend and which NFL team might be interested in his services as an offensive coordinator.

The Boston College Eagles outlasted the Maryland Terrapins for the final regular-season game, winning by a score of 19-17. Montel Harris ran for 142 yards, Colin Larmond has 3 receptions for 105 yards- including the Eagles only TD- and Steve Aponavicius was 4 for 5 in field-goal attempts, missing his first of the season in the 3rd quarter, but scoring what would prove to be the winning 3 points with just under four minutes left in regulation. With the win, BC finishes the season at 8-4 and is bowl-eligible.


The Division I-AA Football (official name- NCAA-FCS) playoffs are underway, and as predicted earlier, the Colonial Athletic Association is very well represented and doing quite well. Out of 16 teams eligible, four teams from the conference were selected, and all four advance after the first round. In other words, 25% of the teams playing for the FCS Championship are from the CAA.

The finals from Saturday:

Elon 13-Richmond 16

Holy Cross 28- Villanova 38

Weber State 0- William & Mary 38

New Hampshire 49- McNeese State 13

Richmond will go on to face Appalachian State on Saturday, while New Hampshire and Villanova will play each other and William & Mary advances to face Southern Illinois.

Tiger Woods reportedly faces a $164 fine and reckless driving citation from the Florida highway Patrol after an accident just down the street from his Florida home. The golfer has backed out of the Chevron World Challenge in California this weekend, reportedly due to injuries suffered in the one-car accident.


Cleveland Cavaliers center Shaquille O'Neal announced late last week that he would pay for the funeral of 5-year old Shaniya Davis of Fayetteville, NC. Investigators say the child was kidnapped, raped and murdered after she was reported missing on Novmeber 10. Shaniya's mother will be charged with human trafficking, as police believe the 'mother' was prostituting the little girl. {If I can editorialize for a moment, I've always felt that Shaq was all about, well....Shaq. I still feel that way, but Shaq being all about Shaq and doing something very generous like this are not mutually exclusive. Way to step up, Mr. O'Neal- I don't have as much money at my disposal as you do, but if you want to go halfsies on the lethal injections for the monster who murdered little Shaniya and the so-called 'mother' who was pimping out her pre-pubescent daughter, feel free to contact me via this blog}.

The German Track and Field association this week decided to reinstate a 1936 high-jump record set in 1936 at Stuggart to 95-year old Gretel Bergmann, now known as Margaret Lambert of Queens, NY. The athlete had her record-tying 5ft 3in jump stricken from the record books by Nazi officials who learned of her Jewish background. Mrs Lambert was on the German Olympic team from 1934 to 1936 before fleeing the Nazis and arriving in America in 1937.

The Boston Bruins overcame yet-another 2 goal deficit against Ottawa on Saturday to win on the strength of 3 power-play goals and a Michael Ryder shootout goal. The Bruins were in an 0-2 hole at the first intermission on goals by Daniel Alfredsson and Milan Michalek, but came back with a goal from David Krejci (Mark Recchi and Dennis Wideman w/the assist) and Michael Ryder (Zdeno Chara and Mark Recchi with the assist). Dennis Wideman scored his power-play goal at the 9:19 mark of the third (David Kejci and Blake Wheeler credited with the assist), but Tim Thomas allowed a goal from Milan Michalek with 20 seconds left in regulation to get by after Ottawa pulled their goalie for the extra attacker. Ryder's goal was the only one scored by either team in the shootout and Tim Thomas stopped 19 of 22 shots faced during the game.

Boston remains a point behind the Buffalo Sabres in the Northeast Division:

Sabres- 32 points; 15-7-2 record overall

Bruins- 31 points; 13-8-5 record overall

Senators- 30 points; 13-8-4 record overall

Canadiens- 26 points; 12-13-2 record overall

Maple Leafs- 21 points; 7-12-7 record overall

This week, the Bruins will take on the Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow and Montreal on Friday. The Bruins also announced that they are close to reaching a 7-year extension with forward Marc Savard.

The Celtics routed the Charlotte Bobcats 108-90 tonight at Charlotte. Ray Allen seems to be doing just fine, scoring 27 points with 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Kendrick Perkins had 21 points and 12 rebounds and Kevin Garnett was 5 for 8 with 16 points and seven rebounds. The C's have won their last 5 games in a row and are currently atop the Atlantic Division. They face the Spurs at San Antonio Thursday night on TNT.

The Best College Football Conference You're Not Watching?

Image: Chris Bergin/thestarpress.com

While not nearly as dramatic as Appalachian State's victory over then-ranked #5 Michigan some two years ago, there seems to be something brewing in NCAA's Division 1-AA (currently referred to as the FCS or Football Championship Subdivision). It seems that right out of the gate, a few Division 1-AA teams notched up wins against Division 1/FBS opponents:


Week 1:

William & Mary 26- Virginia 14
Richmond 24- Duke 16

Week 2:

New Hampshire 23- Ball State 16

The common thread seems to be that Willian & Mary, Richmond and New Hampshire all hail from the Colonial Athletic Association (formerly the Atlantic 10 Conference). In fact, one of the aforementioned teams had a nationally televised game this weekend....well, as 'national' as one can get with Versus.

I know- these are unranked, mediocre opponents in the ACC or MAC that they went up against. But- at least until that Appalachian State/Michigan game- the standard operating procedure seemed to have been for the 1-AA team (no matter how good) to roll over and play dead to the Div. 1 team (no matter how mediocre). Or make it close, but still lose in the end. It's also worth noting that Maine, Hofstra, James Madison, Massachusetts, Northeastern and Rhode Island have already lost their Div. 1 matchups, although some games were closer than others.

Having said that, there aren't too many games left in the CAA where they're matched up against a Div. 1 opponent. In fact, it appears as though it's mostly intra-conference games for Richmond, William & Mary and New Hampshire. Looks like Delaware is matched up with Navy on November 14th, and that's about it before the top 16 teams in 1-AA play for the championship. With that in mind, I'm sure the CAA will be well represented.

UPDATE: Some dilligent research by yours truly has revealed that the Central Arkansas Bears of the Southland conference defeated the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers of the Div. 1 Sunbelt conference 28-7 in week 2 (although the Hilltoppers only recently made the transition from 1-AA to Div. 1 themselves). So while I overlooked that, my statement about the CAA stands.