I'm aware that I'm long overdue for a Sports Chowdah update, but right now about all I have time for is a quick rundown of the upcoming NCAA Bowl games starting Saturday.
Saturday, Dec 20th
R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl
Nevada vs. UL Lafayette
11:00 a.m. ET ESPN
Gildan New Mexico Bowl
Utah State vs. UTEP
2:20 p.m. ET ESPN
Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl
#22 Utah vs. Colorado State
3:30 p.m. ET ABC
Famous Idaho Potato Bowl
Western Michigan vs. Air Force
5:45 p.m. ET ESPN
Raycom Media Camellia Bowl
South Alabama vs. Bowling Green
9:15 p.m. ET ESPN
Monday, Dec 22nd
Miami Beach Bowl
BYU vs. Memphis
2:00 p.m. ET ESPN
Tuesday, Dec 23rd
Boca Raton Bowl
Marshall vs. Northern Illinois
6:00 p.m. ET ESPN
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl
Navy vs. San Diego State
9:30 p.m. ET ESPN
Wednesday, Dec 24th
Popeyes Bahamas Bowl
Central Michigan vs. Western Kentucky
12:00 p.m. ET ESPN
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl
Fresno State vs. Rice
8:00 p.m. ET ESPN
Friday, Dec 26th
Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl
Illinois vs. Louisiana Tech
1:00 p.m. ET ESPN
Quick Lane Bowl
Rutgers vs. North Carolina
4:30 p.m. ET ESPN
Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl
NC State vs. UCF
8:00 p.m. ET ESPN
Saturday, Dec 27th
Military Bowl
Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech
1:00 p.m. ET ESPN
Hyundai Sun Bowl
#15 Arizona State vs. Duke
2:00 p.m. ET CBS
Duck Commander Independence Bowl
Miami, FL vs. South Carolina
3:30 p.m. ET ABC
New Era Pinstripe Bowl
Boston College vs. Penn State
4:30 p.m. ET ESPN
National University Holiday Bowl
Nebraska vs. #24 USC
8:00 p.m. ET ESPN
Monday, Dec 29th
AutoZone Liberty Bowl
Texas A&M vs. West Virginia
2:00 p.m. ET ESPN
Russell Athletic Bowl
#17 (17) Clemson vs. Oklahoma
5:30 p.m. ET ESPN
AdvoCare Texas Bowl
Arkansas vs. Texas
9:00 p.m. ET ESPN
Tuesday, Dec 30th
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl
Notre Dame vs. #23 LSU
3:00 p.m. ET ESPN
Belk Bowl
#13 Georgia vs. #21 Louisville
6:30 p.m. ET ESPN
Foster Farms Bowl
Maryland vs. Stanford
10:00 p.m. ET ESPN
Wednesday, Dec 31st
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
#9 Ole Miss vs. #6 TCU
12:30 p.m. ET ESPN
Vizio Fiesta Bowl
#20 Boise State vs. #10 Arizona
4:00 p.m. ET ESPN
Capital One Orange Bowl
#7 Mississippi State vs. #12 Georgia Tech
8:00 p.m. ET ESPN
Thursday, Jan 1st
Outback Bowl
#19 Auburn vs. #18 Wisconsin
12:00 p.m. ET EPSN2
Goodyear Cotton Bowl
#8 Michigan State vs. #5 Baylor
12:30 p.m. ET ESPN
Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl
#25 Minnesota vs. #16 Missouri
1:00 p.m. ET ABC
Rose Bowl**
#2 Oregon vs. #3 Florida State
4:30 p.m. ET ESPN
Allstate Sugar Bowl**
#1 Alabama vs. #4 Ohio State
8:30 p.m. ET ESPN
Friday, Jan 2nd
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl
Houston vs. Pittsburgh
12:00 p.m. ET ESPN
TaxSlayer Bowl
Iowa vs. Tennessee
3:20 p.m. ET ESPN
Valero Alamo Bowl
#11 Kansas State vs #14 UCLA
6:45 p.m. ET ESPN
TicketCity Cactus Bowl
Washington vs. Oklahoma State
10:15 p.m. ET ESPN
Saturday, Jan 3rd
Birmingham Bowl
East Carolina vs. Florida
12:00 ET ESPN
Sunday, Jan 4th
GoDaddy Bowl
Toledo vs. Arkansas State
Monday, Jan 12th
College Football Championship Game
Semifinal [Rose Bowl] Winner vs. Semifinal {sugar Bowl] Winner
**denotes national championship semifinal under new NCAA Football playoff format
8:30 p.m. ET ESPN
Showing posts with label NCAA Football. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NCAA Football. Show all posts
Friday, December 19, 2014
Friday, September 19, 2014
Long Overdue Sports Chowdah Update- Trojan Horseplay, Boston College Upends #9 USC at Chestnut Hill; Feeling Minnesota- Patriots Thump Vikings; Pirate Booty- Pittsburgh Sweeps Red Sox As Rusney Castillo Makes Boston Debut.
Last weekend's game was 'Red Bandana night', which honored former BC Lacrosse player Welles Crowther who was killed in the September 11th attacks while rescuing others at the South Tower of the World Trade Center.
The heavily favored Trojans got out to a quick 10-0 lead in the first before Boston College got on the board with a 4 yard catch and carry TD run from RB Tyler Rouse to open up the 2nd quarter- however, Launceford would miss the PAT and it was a 10-6 game. USC quickly responded with a TD catch and run from Cody Kessler to Javorious Allen to give the Trojans a 17-6 advantage.
On the next possession, though, BC would put together a 75 yard drive that took all of 3:48 before Jon Hillman hit paydirt on a 3 yard TD run. After a couple of three and outs for each side, BC got the ball back with 1:48 at their own 46 when Sherman Alston ran 54 yards to give Boston College their first lead of the day, putting them up 20-17 before halftime.
For the second half, BC's defense really clamped down on the USC offense [Kessler was sacked five times on the night- NANESB!] and Jon Hilliman would make it a 10 point BC lead, punching it in with 7:35 to go in the third to make it 27-17. With under nine minutes to go in the game, Joey Launceford kicked a chip shot FG to make it a 30-17 contest.
But USC wasn't done yet- with 4:57 left in the game, Cody Kessler connected with Nelson Agholor for a 10 yard TD pass to make it a one score game as the clock ticked down. However, a minute later the Eagles jumped out to a 37-24 lead thanks to a 66 yard TD run by Tyler Murphy. However, the Trojans weren't done yet and after getting the ball back, Kessler connected with Darrius Rogers for a 14 yard TD run to cut Boston College's lead to 37-31. After closing to within 6 and with less than two minutes to go, USC went for the onside kick which was immediately recovered by the Eagles.
QB Tyler Murphy had a better night rushing the ball than passing it, rushing for 191 yards and a TD on 13 carries while ging 5 of 13 through the air for 54 yards.
Boston College's homestand continues this weekend with the Eagles hosting the University of Maine Black Bears. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 ET and the game will be streamed on ESPN3.
NFL- After a lackluster season opener in Miami in which the New England Patriots were outmaneuvered in the second half and lost by a 33-20, New England took their show on the road to Minnesota to take on the Vikings at TCF Bank stadium on Sunday.
With former Patriots backup Matt Cassel under center, the Vikings got out to an early 7-0 lead before New England answered with 30 unanswered points. Stevan Ridley managed to tie the game up with a TD rush from the Vikings 1 yard line before Gostkowski put the Patriots up 10-7 with a 48 yard FG with 30 seconds to go in the first. In the second quarter, Brady found Julain Edelman for a 14 yard TD pass to make it a 17-7 game. With time running out in the first half, Cassel managed to get the Vikings close enough to try a 48 yard FG attempt with 9 seconds left, but that was blocked by DE Chandler Jones who immediately returned it 58 yards for a TD to put the Patriots up 24-7 at the half.
The only scoring in the second half would come from two Gotskowski FGs and the Patriots would go on to thump Minnesota by a 30-7 final for their first win of the 2014 regular season. Tom Brady would go 14-21 with 149 yards and a TD while Cassel went 19-36 with 202 yards, a TD, four interceptions and 6 sacks. Stevan Ridley led the Patriots ground attack with 25 rushes for 101 yards and a TD.
This Sunday will be the Patriot's home opener when they host the Oakland Raiders. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 and the game will be televised on CBS.
OTHER VIKINGS NEWS- The Patriots didn't have to face RB Adrian Peterson on Sunday. Peterson is facing felony child abuse charges in Texas after punishing one of his kids by hitting him with a tree branch. The boy's mother took him to a doctor where he described some of the marks as open wounds.
Although he was cleared to play in this weekend's game at New Orleans, the front office quickly did an about face and exepted him from team activities.
BATLIMORE RAVENS- In another high-profile domestic abuse incident, was cut by the Baltimore Ravens after video from his February 2014 arrest in Atlantic City on assault charges surfaced. Earlier surveillance video from an Atlantic City hotel and casino had shown Rice dragging his unconscious fiancée- Janay Palmer- out of the elevator by her hair, but TMZ was able to obtain video from inside the elevator that showed him knocking Palmer unconscious. Initially Rice was suspended for the first few games of the 2014 season before being indefinitely suspended and outright cut by the NFL.
BOSTON RED SOX- Perhaps the most noteworthy event [at least from Boston's presepctive- NANESB] from this week's sweep of the Red Sox by the Pittsburgh Pirates is the MLB debut of Cuban outfielder Rusney Castillo on Wednesday night, who went 1-4 in Boston's 9-1 loss to Pittsburgh. After the 3-game sweep the Pirates are just 2 and a half games behind St Louis in the NL Central and three and a half games ahead of Milwaukee for the second and final NL Wild Card berth. The Buck-os will host a pretty important series this weekend as the Brewers come to town to try and close the gap as time is running out on the regular season.
OTHER MLB NEWS- With just under two weeks to go, three teams have already clinched their respective divisions. The Nationals clinched the NL East with a 3-0 shutout over Atlanta while Baltimore clinched the AL East pennant with an 8-2 win over Toronto- both of these wins coming on Tuesday night.
The following night, the Angels shut out the Seattle Mariners by a 5-0 final- that alone wasn't enough for them to win the pennant, but players and savvy fans stuck around to watch the rest of the Rangers vs A's game on the stadium's jumbotron. The A's were nursing a 1-0 lead heading into the top of the 9th, but the Rangers scored 6 unanswered runs to go on an win by a 6-1 final. The loss gives the Angels the win and right now the best Oakland can do is hope for one of the remaining Wild Card spots [the Royals are a game ahead in the Wild Card chase while the Mariners are only a game behind the Athletics- NANESB!].
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Qucikie Sports Chowdah Update- BC Kicks Off Season With Bay State Battle; Johnny Gone Lately- Post Manziel Aggies Run Roughshod Over Gamecocks;
NCAA FOOTBALL- And just like that, the college football season is upon us [Yay!- NANESB!].
Thursday night marked the beginning of the first season in which the champions of college football will be decided by a playoff format instead of polls and sportswriters.
This also marked Texas A&M's first game since quarterback Johnny Manziel was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft earlier this year. Texas A&M started off the season ranked #21 and faced #9 South Carolina on the road in Columbia, SC on Thursday night.
Coming into the season opener, the Gamecocks could boast 18 consecutive home wins- the longest active streak on Division 1 Football. Aggies fans worried about A&M football post Johnny Manziel had to like what they saw from sophomore QB Kenny Hill, who had Texas A&M up over the Gamecocks 31-14 at halftime. In the second half, South Carolina had no answers for Hill who would go on to throw for 511 yards and complete 44 of 60 pass attempts and three TDs as the Aggies blew South Carolina out of the water by a 52-28 final. According to the USC press guide- which keeps records as far back as 1962- the previous record for passing yards allowed by the Gamecocks was 485 prior to Thursday night.
ACC- The 2014 Boston College Eagles football season got underway on Saturday with an all-Massachusetts melee, travelling to Gillette stadium to take on the UMass Minutemen.
After a scoreless first quarter, BC took a 6-0 lead on field goals from Alex Howell and Joey Launceford. After halftime, the Eagles managed to pad their lead thanks to a running TD from RB Myles Willis followed by a rushing TD from QB Tyler Murphy to make it a 20-0 game before UMass got on the board with 2:28 to go in the 3rd with a TD pass from QB Blake Frohnapfel to Tajae Sharpe.
However, in the 4th, the Eagles would put the game out of reach with a 43 yard TD completion from Murphy to WR Josh Bordner to open up the quarter and Launceford capped the BC scoring with a 21 yard FG to make it a 30-7 final.
Although Saturday's game took place about 40 miles from Chestnut Hill, the home opener for the Eagles will take place on Friday, September 5th when they host the Pitt Panthers.
ELSEWHERE IN THE ACC- Defending national champions Florida State travelled to Texas on Saturday night to take on Oklahoma State. The Seminoles were ranked #1 heading into Saturday night's game and were able to get by a very game Cowboys [currently unranked- NANESB!] by a 37-31 final. 2013 Heisman trophy winning QB Jameis Winston went 25 for 40 with 370 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE- The Brigham Young Cougars managed to spoil the UConn Huskies home opener and debut of new head coach Bob Diaco on Friday. Thanks to four TD passes from BYU QB Taysom Hill, the Cougars cruised to an early lead and led UConn 28-7 at the half. BYU would go on to win by a 35-19 final at East Hartford.
UConn's homestand at E. Hartford will continue for the next two weeks as they host Stony Brook and Boise State [in that order- NANESB]. Both games are scheduled for a 12:00 PM ET kickoff.
BIG 12- Defending Big 12 Champions Baylor kicked off the 2014 and debut of their new stadium in Waco, TX in style with a convincing win over Southern Methodist University on Sunday night. With former president George W Bush and Heisman winner and Washington Redskins QB Robert Griffin III in attendance, the #10 ranked Baylor Bears routed the SMU Mustangs at newly-completed McClane Stadium by a 45-0 final. Bears starting QB Bryce Petty went 13-23 with 161 yards and 2 TDs before leaving Sunday night's game at halftime and being replaced by Seth Russell who also went 13-23 with 124 yards, a TD and an interception.
NFL- Just a quick reminder that the NFL season gets underway on Thursday, September 4th. The defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks will host the Green Bay Packers with kickoff scheduled for 8:30 PM ET on Thursday night- the game will be televised on NBC.
The Patriots will open up the 2014 season on the road in Miami on Sunday- that game is scheduled to kick off a 1:00 ET and will be broadcast on CBS.
PATRIOTS- The New England Patriots sent backup QB Ryan Mallet to the Houston Texans in exchange for a conditional 7th round draft pick in the 2016 NFL draft. Earlier in the week, new England traded G Logan Mankins to Tampa Bay in return for TE Tim Wright and a 4th round draft pick in the 2015 NFL draft.
BOSTON RED SOX- After the shock of trading Lester [and most of the starting rotation from the 2013 World Series team- NANESB!] away wore off, the Sox had a pretty decent road trip to the Midwest and West Coast where they took two out of three from the Angels and swept the Cincinnati Reds during a brief two-game series at the Great American ballpark.
However, the disastrous homestand that took place once the Sox returned to Fenway was enough to make even the most die-hard and optimistic Sox fan write off the 2014 season as auditioning for the 2015 season. The series began with a split of the 4-game series with the Houston Astros before going 0-7 against the Angels and Mariners.
Boston bounced back somewhat on the road in the AL East, with the Sox taking two out of three from the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre before heading to Tampa Bay. The Red Sox won the Friday night series opener before being shut out in Saturday night's game by a 7-0.
On Sunday, Boston bounced back nicely by shutting out the Rays by a 3-0 final thanks to a complete game 3-hit shutout by Clay Buchholz. Clay struck out six batters and walked none while getting run support in the form of RBI singles from Christian Vazquez, Mookie Betts and Big Papi throughout the game.
After Boston took two out of three from the Rays over the weekend, Tampa is hoping to salvage a split on Labor Day. To that end, they'll send Drew Smyly [9-10; 3.31 ERA] to the mound to face off against Rubby de LaRosa [4-5; 3.81 ERA]. First pitch for this Labor Day game is scheduled for 1:05 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.
OTHER RED SOX NEWS- Boston 2B Dustin Pedroia may be missing at least a week after suffering from 'concussion-like symptoms' after a collision with Logan Forsyth during Saturday's 7-0 loss. With the rosters expanding on September 1, the Red Sox may not even have to put Pedroia on the DL although if it is a concussion, he will probably miss at least a week's playing time.
EVEN MORE RED SOX NEWS- The Red Sox and Cuban outfielder Rusney Castillo have agreed to terms on a 7 year, $72.5 million contract last week. The sought-after Cuban defector became eligible after obtaining his US P-1A work visa and arrived at the team's Ft Meyers facility last Wednesday to begin workouts.
Although the regular season for the Red Sox minor-league affiliates is nearly over, Castillo may end up seeing time in the playoffs for the Ft Meyers Red Sox in the Gulf Coast League or the Portland Sea Dogs of the AA Eastern League or Pawtucket Red Sox of the AAA International League.
Thursday night marked the beginning of the first season in which the champions of college football will be decided by a playoff format instead of polls and sportswriters.
This also marked Texas A&M's first game since quarterback Johnny Manziel was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft earlier this year. Texas A&M started off the season ranked #21 and faced #9 South Carolina on the road in Columbia, SC on Thursday night.
Coming into the season opener, the Gamecocks could boast 18 consecutive home wins- the longest active streak on Division 1 Football. Aggies fans worried about A&M football post Johnny Manziel had to like what they saw from sophomore QB Kenny Hill, who had Texas A&M up over the Gamecocks 31-14 at halftime. In the second half, South Carolina had no answers for Hill who would go on to throw for 511 yards and complete 44 of 60 pass attempts and three TDs as the Aggies blew South Carolina out of the water by a 52-28 final. According to the USC press guide- which keeps records as far back as 1962- the previous record for passing yards allowed by the Gamecocks was 485 prior to Thursday night.
ACC- The 2014 Boston College Eagles football season got underway on Saturday with an all-Massachusetts melee, travelling to Gillette stadium to take on the UMass Minutemen.
After a scoreless first quarter, BC took a 6-0 lead on field goals from Alex Howell and Joey Launceford. After halftime, the Eagles managed to pad their lead thanks to a running TD from RB Myles Willis followed by a rushing TD from QB Tyler Murphy to make it a 20-0 game before UMass got on the board with 2:28 to go in the 3rd with a TD pass from QB Blake Frohnapfel to Tajae Sharpe.
However, in the 4th, the Eagles would put the game out of reach with a 43 yard TD completion from Murphy to WR Josh Bordner to open up the quarter and Launceford capped the BC scoring with a 21 yard FG to make it a 30-7 final.
Although Saturday's game took place about 40 miles from Chestnut Hill, the home opener for the Eagles will take place on Friday, September 5th when they host the Pitt Panthers.
ELSEWHERE IN THE ACC- Defending national champions Florida State travelled to Texas on Saturday night to take on Oklahoma State. The Seminoles were ranked #1 heading into Saturday night's game and were able to get by a very game Cowboys [currently unranked- NANESB!] by a 37-31 final. 2013 Heisman trophy winning QB Jameis Winston went 25 for 40 with 370 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.
AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE- The Brigham Young Cougars managed to spoil the UConn Huskies home opener and debut of new head coach Bob Diaco on Friday. Thanks to four TD passes from BYU QB Taysom Hill, the Cougars cruised to an early lead and led UConn 28-7 at the half. BYU would go on to win by a 35-19 final at East Hartford.
UConn's homestand at E. Hartford will continue for the next two weeks as they host Stony Brook and Boise State [in that order- NANESB]. Both games are scheduled for a 12:00 PM ET kickoff.
BIG 12- Defending Big 12 Champions Baylor kicked off the 2014 and debut of their new stadium in Waco, TX in style with a convincing win over Southern Methodist University on Sunday night. With former president George W Bush and Heisman winner and Washington Redskins QB Robert Griffin III in attendance, the #10 ranked Baylor Bears routed the SMU Mustangs at newly-completed McClane Stadium by a 45-0 final. Bears starting QB Bryce Petty went 13-23 with 161 yards and 2 TDs before leaving Sunday night's game at halftime and being replaced by Seth Russell who also went 13-23 with 124 yards, a TD and an interception.
NFL- Just a quick reminder that the NFL season gets underway on Thursday, September 4th. The defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks will host the Green Bay Packers with kickoff scheduled for 8:30 PM ET on Thursday night- the game will be televised on NBC.
The Patriots will open up the 2014 season on the road in Miami on Sunday- that game is scheduled to kick off a 1:00 ET and will be broadcast on CBS.
PATRIOTS- The New England Patriots sent backup QB Ryan Mallet to the Houston Texans in exchange for a conditional 7th round draft pick in the 2016 NFL draft. Earlier in the week, new England traded G Logan Mankins to Tampa Bay in return for TE Tim Wright and a 4th round draft pick in the 2015 NFL draft.
BOSTON RED SOX- After the shock of trading Lester [and most of the starting rotation from the 2013 World Series team- NANESB!] away wore off, the Sox had a pretty decent road trip to the Midwest and West Coast where they took two out of three from the Angels and swept the Cincinnati Reds during a brief two-game series at the Great American ballpark.
However, the disastrous homestand that took place once the Sox returned to Fenway was enough to make even the most die-hard and optimistic Sox fan write off the 2014 season as auditioning for the 2015 season. The series began with a split of the 4-game series with the Houston Astros before going 0-7 against the Angels and Mariners.
Boston bounced back somewhat on the road in the AL East, with the Sox taking two out of three from the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre before heading to Tampa Bay. The Red Sox won the Friday night series opener before being shut out in Saturday night's game by a 7-0.
On Sunday, Boston bounced back nicely by shutting out the Rays by a 3-0 final thanks to a complete game 3-hit shutout by Clay Buchholz. Clay struck out six batters and walked none while getting run support in the form of RBI singles from Christian Vazquez, Mookie Betts and Big Papi throughout the game.
After Boston took two out of three from the Rays over the weekend, Tampa is hoping to salvage a split on Labor Day. To that end, they'll send Drew Smyly [9-10; 3.31 ERA] to the mound to face off against Rubby de LaRosa [4-5; 3.81 ERA]. First pitch for this Labor Day game is scheduled for 1:05 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.
OTHER RED SOX NEWS- Boston 2B Dustin Pedroia may be missing at least a week after suffering from 'concussion-like symptoms' after a collision with Logan Forsyth during Saturday's 7-0 loss. With the rosters expanding on September 1, the Red Sox may not even have to put Pedroia on the DL although if it is a concussion, he will probably miss at least a week's playing time.
EVEN MORE RED SOX NEWS- The Red Sox and Cuban outfielder Rusney Castillo have agreed to terms on a 7 year, $72.5 million contract last week. The sought-after Cuban defector became eligible after obtaining his US P-1A work visa and arrived at the team's Ft Meyers facility last Wednesday to begin workouts.
Although the regular season for the Red Sox minor-league affiliates is nearly over, Castillo may end up seeing time in the playoffs for the Ft Meyers Red Sox in the Gulf Coast League or the Portland Sea Dogs of the AA Eastern League or Pawtucket Red Sox of the AAA International League.
Friday, March 28, 2014
Quickie Sports Chowdah Update- Bruins Shut Out Hawks After Win Streak Snapped; Bills Owner Ralph Wilson Passes Away; NLRB Rules Northwestern Football Players Can Unionize
Three captains: Toews, Chara and HOFer Johnny Bucyk post before the game. #CHIvsBOS pic.twitter.com/i0waap6S1d
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) March 28, 2014On Thursday night, Boston would host the defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks- the first time the Hawks had visited the Garden since their Series-clinching Game 6 at the end of the 2013 season.
Patrice Bergeron got the Bruins on the board with 8:10 to go to open up the scoring on a very crisp and free-flowing game. After a scoreless second period, the Bruins managed to score two goals less at 13 seconds apart from Carl Soderberg and Patrice Bergeron to give the Bruins a 3-0 lead early in the 3rd. That seemed to change the tempo of the game and the Bruins would go on to win by a 3-0 final. Tukka Rask turned aside all 28 shots he faced while Cory Crawford stopped 20 of 23 shots.
Part of the reason the game seemed so brisk and open was that there were only three penalties throughout Thursday night's game- the Blackhhawks went 0 for 2 while the Bruins went 0 for 1.
The Bruins hit the road once again this weekend for back to back games. On Saturday afternoon, they'll return to Washington DC's Verizon Center to take on the Capitals. Puck is scheduled to drop at 12:30 PM and the game will be televised on NESN. On Sunday, the Bruins will travel up to Philadelphia for a 12:30 game that will be nationally televised on NBC.
NFL- Ralph Wilson, the sole owner of the Buffalo Bills, has passed away at age 95 in his Grosse Pointe Shores, MI home. Wilson, who grew up in Detroit and attended the University of Michigan law school before enlisting in the US Navy in WWII. After the end of the war, Wilson took over his family's successful insurance and invested in manufacturing and mining throughout Michigan and was a minority stakeholder in the Detroit Lions.
In 1959, Wilson reportedly got wind of the oilman Lamar Hunt's plans to establish the American Football League to compete with the NFL and wanted in. The Buffalo Bills officially became an AFL team in October 1959 and have remained in Buffalo ever since. Wilson reportedly even lent money to the Patriots and Raiders in the early years of the AFL, ensuring that the none of the organizations in the AFL folded between its 1959 inception and the 1969 merger with the NFL.
Wilson was also something of a pioneer- as early as 1972, he begrudgingly allowed the naming rights to the Orchard Park, NY stadium the Bills called home to be leased to Buffalo-based Rich Foods. When the agreement lapsed in 1998, the stadium was simply referred to as Ralph Wilson Stadium
Although considered a 'small market' team, the Bills had their heyday in the 1990s when they won four straight AFC titles- only to lose four straight Super Bowls. The team's poor performance in recent years coupled with Wilson's ailing health and playing one 'home' game a season in Toronto's Rogers Centre starting in 2008 led to speculation that the team was preparing to move north of the border and become Canada's first NFL franchise. In 2009, Wilson was elected to the pro-football Hall of Fame as one of the founding members of the AFL, although he was notably absent from an October 2009 ceremony during halftime between the Bills and Browns where he was to receive his Hall of Fame ring.
However, even though Wilson left no clear heir apparent, Wilson made arrangements to extend the team's lease on Ralph Wilson stadium through at least 2019.
ELSEWHERE IN THE AFC EAST- The New York Jets and free-agent QB Michael Vick have agreed to a 1-year $5 million contract. Vick and last season's starter Geno Smith are expected to compete for the starting spot after the Jets cut former 1st round draft pick Mark Sanchez. Vick had finished the 2013 campaign for Philly on the bench with 7 TDs, 3 INTS and 1,215 yards in 7 games. Interestingly, shortly after the Jets announced the signing of Michael Vick, the Eagles announced that they had signed Mark Sanchez to a 1-year, $4 million contract.
One of the top draft picks of the NFL's 2001 draft, Vick spent the first five years of his NFL career with the Atlanta Falcons until his name came up in a narcotics and dogfighting investigation in Virginia. In 2007, Vick pleaded guilty to charges of operating an illegal dogfighting operation on his property and spent 23 months in a federal penitentiary. In 2009, the Philadelphia Eagles gambled and signed a recently-released Vick who would go on to lead the Eagles to the playoffs as well as leading the NFC in a number of offensive categories.
NCAA FOOTBALL- In a decision that will likely send shockwaves throughout NCAA Football, the Chicago office of the National Labor Relations Board ruled that football players for Northwestern University can unionize. District director Pete Sung Ohr ruled that because of the time commitment required and on-field performance being tied to some of the scholarships the university awarded.
The ruling contradicts a number of case laws in which courts have established that student-athletes are not considered employees in the eyes of the law. However, the scope of the NLRB's ruling is somewhat limited, applying to only 17 of the more than 100 universities they compete against. Not only does this week's NLRB ruling seem to establish a different set of rules for private colleges with a football program than public ones, many of the arguments made in favor of unionization directly contradict the rationale behind why scholarships aren't taxed, ESPN's Darren Rovell points out. Assuming the NLRB's decision does in fact survive an appeal, this means that the tax implications alone could make unionization unfeasible.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Wild Card Weekend (and then some) Sports Chowdah Update- 'Nole and Void, Late FSU Drive Caps BCS Title Game; Wild Wild NFL Wild Card Weekend Sets Up Some Familiar Opponents
Without a doubt, the football gods have certainly been smiling down on both the NFL and NCAA over the last couple of weeks. When I wasn't travelling for the holidays, I was doing my best to watch some of these instant classics.
The title game pitted SEC's Auburn Tigers- no stranger to unlikely late-game heroics- against ACC Champion Florida State and Heisman winning freshman QB Jameis Winston. The Seminoles got on the board first with a 35 yard FG from Roberto Aguayo five minutes into the first quarter before Auburn responded with a drive that was capped by a 12 yard TD pass from QB Nick Marshall to RB Tre Mason with three and a half minutes to go in the first, making it 7-3.
The Tigers would score two more TDs in the second quarter to give Auburn a 21-3 lead before the Seminoles found the end zone for the first time thanks to a 3 yard rushing TD from 'Noles RB Devonta Freeman to make it 21-10 Auburn with less than two minutes in the half.
The 3rd quarter was pretty uneventful, with the 'Noles chipping away at the Auburn lead thanks to another Aguayo FG, making it 13-21 Auburn. This merely set the stage for a wild 4th quarter as Jameis Winston connected with Chad Abram on the 'Noles opening drive to put Florida State within one. Nursing a 21-20 lead and with the momentum starting to swing FSU's way, the Tigers had to settle for a chip shot FG from Cody Parkey after getting as far as the Seminoles 6 yard line with just over 5 minutes remaining, expanding the Auburn lead to 24-20.
That Auburn lead quickly went by the wayside on the ensuing kickoff when Levonte Whitfield went the distance- returning the kickoff 100 yards to give the Seminoles their first lead since the first quarter, 27-24.
Starting out on their own 25 with four and a half minutes to go, the Tigers were able to march down the field to FSU's 37 before Tre Mason was able to break free for a 37 yard TD run on 2nd and 15.
The good news for Auburn was that they were back out on top 31-27. The bad news was that there was still a minute and nineteen seconds to go for Winston and FSU to take the lead. After getting the ball back on their own 20, Jameis Winston connected with WR Rashad Greene for 49 yards, giving FSU the ball on the Tigers 23 with 1:05 left. A pass interference call on Auburn gave FSU the ball at the Tigers own 2 yard line. With 21 seconds to go, Winston connected to WR Kelvin Benjamin to put FSU back on top by 34-31.
There would be no last second heroics for Auburn as FSU's kickoff was returned to the Tigers 17 as Auburn lateraled the ball with before the game ended. Florida State breaks the SEC's winning streak in the FBS by going on to win by a 34-31 final. The last time a non-SEC team won the FBS title game was the Texas Longhorns in 2006.
This also marked the last game of the current BCS format before it goes to a playoff format in which the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl act as a semifinal in which the winners will advance to a BCS title game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX.
ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL- Here are the finals from the other bowl games:
Gildan New Mexico Bowl-
Washington State 45 Colorado State 48
Las Vegas Bowl-
Fresno State 20 USC 45
Idaho Potato Bowl-
San Diego State 49 Buffalo 24
R+L Carrier New Orleans Bowl-
Tulane 21 LA-Lafayette 24
Beef O'Brady's Bowl-
Ohio 20 East Carolina 37
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl-
Boise St 23 Oregon St 38
Little Caesar's Bowl-
Pitt 30 Bowling Green 27
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl-
Utah State 21 Northern Illinois 14
Military Bowl-
Marshall 31 Maryland 20
Texas Bowl-
Syracuse 21 Minnesota 17
Fight Hunger Bowl-
BYU 16 Washington 31
New Era Pinstripe Bowl-
Rutgers 16 Notre Dame 29
Belk Bowl-
Cincinnati 17 North Carolina 39
Russell Athletic Bowl-
Miami (FL) 9 Louisville 36
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl-
Michigan 14 Kansas State 31
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl-
Middle Tennessee 6 Navy 24
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl-
Mississippi 25 Georgia Tech 17
Valero Alamo Bowl-
Oregon 30 Texas 7
National University Holiday Bowl-
Arizona State 23 Texas Tech 37
Advocare V-100 Bowl-
Arizona 42 Boston College 19
Hyundai Sun Bowl-
Virginia Tech 12 UCLA 42
Auto Zone Liberty Bowl
Rice 7 Mississippi State 44
Chick Fil A Bowl-
Duke 48 Texas A&M 52
Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl-
Nebraska 24 Georgia 19
Heart of Dallas Bowl-
UNLV 14 North Texas 36
Capital One Bowl-
Wisconsin 24 South Carolina 34
Outback Bowl-
Iowa 14 LSU 21
Rose Bowl-
Stanford 20 Michigan State 24
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl-
Central Florida 52 Baylor 42
Allstate Sugar Bowl-
Oklahoma 45 Alabama 31
AT&T Cotton Bowl-
Oklahoma State 31 Missouri 41
FedEx Orange Bowl-
Clemson 40 Ohio State 35
BBVA Compass Bowl-
Houston 24 Vanderbilt 41
GoDaddy.com Bowl
Ball State 20 Arkansas State 23
PENN STATE- Former Nittany Lions head football coach Bill O'Brien announced that he would be leaving Penn State to fill the head coaching vacancy with the Houston Texans. O'Brien, Penn State's first new head coach since 1966, took over from the late Joe Paterno amid allegations his successor and Penn State officials attempted to cover up sexual abuse committed by former offensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky between the late 1990s and 2009.
Under O'Brien, the Nittany Lions went 14-10- including 8-8 against Big Ten opponents- over the last two seasons. O'Brien fills the head coaching vacancy left in Houston when the Texans fired Gary Kubiak in December. After winning their first two games of the 2013 season, the Texans would go on to lose 14 consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Penn State officials are reportedly set to announce Vanderbilt's James Franklin as their new football head coach over the weekend.
The Patriots came into week 17 after a satisfying 41-7 win over the defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens, essentially knocking Baltimore from playoff contention before wrapping up the regular season with a home game against the Buffalo Bills. With New England clinching a playoff berth by winning the AFC East, all that was left to play for on Dec 29th was a first round bye.
New England would go on to beat Buffalo by a 34-20 final in a rainy Gillette Stadium to secure a first round bye (along with Denver) in the playoffs. They had to wait for the outcome of the games for the Wild Card weekend to see who their opponent would end up be- they get a somewhat familiar for in the Indianapolis Colts, but this is the first time the two teams have met in the postseason since Peyton Manning's departure from Indy.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL- I cannot stress how much week 17 in the NFL exceeded expectations. The day started with the Ravens, Steelers, Dolphins, Chargers, Bears, Cowboys, Packers, Eagles and Cardinals with an outside shot at making the playoffs. By the end of the first round of games the Ravens and Dolphins were eliminated while Pittsburgh took care of Cleveland but still needed things to break Kansas City's way in the afternoon game to punch their ticket into the postseason.
In the NFC, a couple of long-standing division rivalries essentially became de-facto conference championship games- Green Bay bested the Chicago Bears in a surprisingly high-scoring game at Soldier Field to clinch the NFC North title while Philly bested the Cowboys by a 24-22 final in Dallas to be the lone NFC East representative in the postseason in the last primetime game of the regular season on Sunday night.
Meanwhile, it was an all AFC West Week 17 out west as the Broncos ran roughshod over the hapless Oakland Raiders and the San Diego Chargers dodged a bullet when the Chief's Ryan Succop missed a 41 yard FG attempt with the game tied at 24-24 with 8 seconds to go in regulation. The Chargers would end up punching their own ticket into the postseason and eliminating the Steelers when Nick Novak nailed a 36 yard FG with five and a half minutes remaining in overtime.
Wild Card weekend got underway with the Colts matched up against the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday. The Colts fell into a seemingly insurmountable 31-10 hole at halftime and an early turnover quickly made it 38-10 Chiefs in the early part of the second half. However, after giving KC the short field and capitalizing on the turnover with 13:39 to go in the 3rd, the Colts would keep the Chiefs out of the end zone and came roaring back to win by a 45-44 final.
Meanwhile, the Saints racked up a road win over the Phillies at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday night, going on to win by a final of 26-24.
Interestingly, the only contest of Wild Card weekend that wasn't close was the Bengals hosting the Chargers on Sunday afternoon. Cincinnati went into the locker rooms at halftime with a 10-7 lead but San Diego would go on to score twenty unanswered points to make it a 27-10 win and set up a rematch with division rival Denver on Sunday.
Wild Card weekend wrapped up with the 49ers travelling to Lambeau Field to face the Packers. San Francisco seemed undaunted by the cold temperatures and frozen tundra, going on to beat Green Bay by a 23-20 final.
This weekend's matchups are set- on Saturday, the Seahawks are coming off of their bye week to host the New Orleans Saints. That game kicks off at 4:35 PM ET, 1:35 PT and will be televised on FOX. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, the Patriots will host the Colts after their first round bye. This prime time matchup is scheduled to kick off at 8:15 PM and will be televised on CBS.
On Sunday, the Panthers will host the 49ers at Bank of America stadium at 1:05 PM ET and can be seen on FOX while the Divisional weekend wraps up with the Broncos hosting the San Diego Chargers in the Mile High city with kickoff at 4:40 ET and can be viewed on CBS.
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS- The Indianapolis Colts announced this week that they have signed former Patriots receiver Deion Branch. Branch, who was named MVP of Super Bowl XXXIX has also logged time with the Seattle Seahawks and had worked out with the Colts in the previous month.
Chris Carlson- AP PhotoNCAA FOOTBALL- This was supposed to be the final year of the BCS format, and if you're a fan of the game you couldn't have asked for a much better finish than the BCS Championship game from Pasadena's Rose Bowl on Monday night.
The title game pitted SEC's Auburn Tigers- no stranger to unlikely late-game heroics- against ACC Champion Florida State and Heisman winning freshman QB Jameis Winston. The Seminoles got on the board first with a 35 yard FG from Roberto Aguayo five minutes into the first quarter before Auburn responded with a drive that was capped by a 12 yard TD pass from QB Nick Marshall to RB Tre Mason with three and a half minutes to go in the first, making it 7-3.
The Tigers would score two more TDs in the second quarter to give Auburn a 21-3 lead before the Seminoles found the end zone for the first time thanks to a 3 yard rushing TD from 'Noles RB Devonta Freeman to make it 21-10 Auburn with less than two minutes in the half.
The 3rd quarter was pretty uneventful, with the 'Noles chipping away at the Auburn lead thanks to another Aguayo FG, making it 13-21 Auburn. This merely set the stage for a wild 4th quarter as Jameis Winston connected with Chad Abram on the 'Noles opening drive to put Florida State within one. Nursing a 21-20 lead and with the momentum starting to swing FSU's way, the Tigers had to settle for a chip shot FG from Cody Parkey after getting as far as the Seminoles 6 yard line with just over 5 minutes remaining, expanding the Auburn lead to 24-20.
That Auburn lead quickly went by the wayside on the ensuing kickoff when Levonte Whitfield went the distance- returning the kickoff 100 yards to give the Seminoles their first lead since the first quarter, 27-24.
Starting out on their own 25 with four and a half minutes to go, the Tigers were able to march down the field to FSU's 37 before Tre Mason was able to break free for a 37 yard TD run on 2nd and 15.
The good news for Auburn was that they were back out on top 31-27. The bad news was that there was still a minute and nineteen seconds to go for Winston and FSU to take the lead. After getting the ball back on their own 20, Jameis Winston connected with WR Rashad Greene for 49 yards, giving FSU the ball on the Tigers 23 with 1:05 left. A pass interference call on Auburn gave FSU the ball at the Tigers own 2 yard line. With 21 seconds to go, Winston connected to WR Kelvin Benjamin to put FSU back on top by 34-31.
There would be no last second heroics for Auburn as FSU's kickoff was returned to the Tigers 17 as Auburn lateraled the ball with before the game ended. Florida State breaks the SEC's winning streak in the FBS by going on to win by a 34-31 final. The last time a non-SEC team won the FBS title game was the Texas Longhorns in 2006.
This also marked the last game of the current BCS format before it goes to a playoff format in which the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl act as a semifinal in which the winners will advance to a BCS title game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX.
ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL- Here are the finals from the other bowl games:
Gildan New Mexico Bowl-
Washington State 45 Colorado State 48
Las Vegas Bowl-
Fresno State 20 USC 45
Idaho Potato Bowl-
San Diego State 49 Buffalo 24
R+L Carrier New Orleans Bowl-
Tulane 21 LA-Lafayette 24
Beef O'Brady's Bowl-
Ohio 20 East Carolina 37
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl-
Boise St 23 Oregon St 38
Little Caesar's Bowl-
Pitt 30 Bowling Green 27
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl-
Utah State 21 Northern Illinois 14
Military Bowl-
Marshall 31 Maryland 20
Texas Bowl-
Syracuse 21 Minnesota 17
Fight Hunger Bowl-
BYU 16 Washington 31
New Era Pinstripe Bowl-
Rutgers 16 Notre Dame 29
Belk Bowl-
Cincinnati 17 North Carolina 39
Russell Athletic Bowl-
Miami (FL) 9 Louisville 36
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl-
Michigan 14 Kansas State 31
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl-
Middle Tennessee 6 Navy 24
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl-
Mississippi 25 Georgia Tech 17
Valero Alamo Bowl-
Oregon 30 Texas 7
National University Holiday Bowl-
Arizona State 23 Texas Tech 37
Advocare V-100 Bowl-
Arizona 42 Boston College 19
Hyundai Sun Bowl-
Virginia Tech 12 UCLA 42
Auto Zone Liberty Bowl
Rice 7 Mississippi State 44
Chick Fil A Bowl-
Duke 48 Texas A&M 52
Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl-
Nebraska 24 Georgia 19
Heart of Dallas Bowl-
UNLV 14 North Texas 36
Capital One Bowl-
Wisconsin 24 South Carolina 34
Outback Bowl-
Iowa 14 LSU 21
Rose Bowl-
Stanford 20 Michigan State 24
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl-
Central Florida 52 Baylor 42
Allstate Sugar Bowl-
Oklahoma 45 Alabama 31
AT&T Cotton Bowl-
Oklahoma State 31 Missouri 41
FedEx Orange Bowl-
Clemson 40 Ohio State 35
BBVA Compass Bowl-
Houston 24 Vanderbilt 41
GoDaddy.com Bowl
Ball State 20 Arkansas State 23
PENN STATE- Former Nittany Lions head football coach Bill O'Brien announced that he would be leaving Penn State to fill the head coaching vacancy with the Houston Texans. O'Brien, Penn State's first new head coach since 1966, took over from the late Joe Paterno amid allegations his successor and Penn State officials attempted to cover up sexual abuse committed by former offensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky between the late 1990s and 2009.
Under O'Brien, the Nittany Lions went 14-10- including 8-8 against Big Ten opponents- over the last two seasons. O'Brien fills the head coaching vacancy left in Houston when the Texans fired Gary Kubiak in December. After winning their first two games of the 2013 season, the Texans would go on to lose 14 consecutive games.
Meanwhile, Penn State officials are reportedly set to announce Vanderbilt's James Franklin as their new football head coach over the weekend.
Elise Amendola- APNEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS- As far as both week 17 and the first round of the playoffs went, the NFL couldn't have asked for much more than what took place.
The Patriots came into week 17 after a satisfying 41-7 win over the defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens, essentially knocking Baltimore from playoff contention before wrapping up the regular season with a home game against the Buffalo Bills. With New England clinching a playoff berth by winning the AFC East, all that was left to play for on Dec 29th was a first round bye.
New England would go on to beat Buffalo by a 34-20 final in a rainy Gillette Stadium to secure a first round bye (along with Denver) in the playoffs. They had to wait for the outcome of the games for the Wild Card weekend to see who their opponent would end up be- they get a somewhat familiar for in the Indianapolis Colts, but this is the first time the two teams have met in the postseason since Peyton Manning's departure from Indy.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL- I cannot stress how much week 17 in the NFL exceeded expectations. The day started with the Ravens, Steelers, Dolphins, Chargers, Bears, Cowboys, Packers, Eagles and Cardinals with an outside shot at making the playoffs. By the end of the first round of games the Ravens and Dolphins were eliminated while Pittsburgh took care of Cleveland but still needed things to break Kansas City's way in the afternoon game to punch their ticket into the postseason.
In the NFC, a couple of long-standing division rivalries essentially became de-facto conference championship games- Green Bay bested the Chicago Bears in a surprisingly high-scoring game at Soldier Field to clinch the NFC North title while Philly bested the Cowboys by a 24-22 final in Dallas to be the lone NFC East representative in the postseason in the last primetime game of the regular season on Sunday night.
Meanwhile, it was an all AFC West Week 17 out west as the Broncos ran roughshod over the hapless Oakland Raiders and the San Diego Chargers dodged a bullet when the Chief's Ryan Succop missed a 41 yard FG attempt with the game tied at 24-24 with 8 seconds to go in regulation. The Chargers would end up punching their own ticket into the postseason and eliminating the Steelers when Nick Novak nailed a 36 yard FG with five and a half minutes remaining in overtime.
Wild Card weekend got underway with the Colts matched up against the Kansas City Chiefs on Saturday. The Colts fell into a seemingly insurmountable 31-10 hole at halftime and an early turnover quickly made it 38-10 Chiefs in the early part of the second half. However, after giving KC the short field and capitalizing on the turnover with 13:39 to go in the 3rd, the Colts would keep the Chiefs out of the end zone and came roaring back to win by a 45-44 final.
Meanwhile, the Saints racked up a road win over the Phillies at Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday night, going on to win by a final of 26-24.
Interestingly, the only contest of Wild Card weekend that wasn't close was the Bengals hosting the Chargers on Sunday afternoon. Cincinnati went into the locker rooms at halftime with a 10-7 lead but San Diego would go on to score twenty unanswered points to make it a 27-10 win and set up a rematch with division rival Denver on Sunday.
Wild Card weekend wrapped up with the 49ers travelling to Lambeau Field to face the Packers. San Francisco seemed undaunted by the cold temperatures and frozen tundra, going on to beat Green Bay by a 23-20 final.
This weekend's matchups are set- on Saturday, the Seahawks are coming off of their bye week to host the New Orleans Saints. That game kicks off at 4:35 PM ET, 1:35 PT and will be televised on FOX. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, the Patriots will host the Colts after their first round bye. This prime time matchup is scheduled to kick off at 8:15 PM and will be televised on CBS.
On Sunday, the Panthers will host the 49ers at Bank of America stadium at 1:05 PM ET and can be seen on FOX while the Divisional weekend wraps up with the Broncos hosting the San Diego Chargers in the Mile High city with kickoff at 4:40 ET and can be viewed on CBS.
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS- The Indianapolis Colts announced this week that they have signed former Patriots receiver Deion Branch. Branch, who was named MVP of Super Bowl XXXIX has also logged time with the Seattle Seahawks and had worked out with the Colts in the previous month.
Friday, December 20, 2013
Big Heaping Bowls of Sports Chowdah Update- Quickie Rundown on This Season's Bowl Games
There's some other big news concerning NCAA Football that I haven't gotten around to yet, but I figured I might as well go ahead and post the complete schedule for the upcoming Bowl games on the eve of the first batch of games:
SAT, DEC 21ST:
Gildan New Mexico Bowl-
Washington State vs Colorado State 2:00 ET [ESPN]
Las Vegas Bowl-
(20) Fresno State vs (25) USC 3:30 ET [ABC]
Idaho Potato Bowl-
San Diego State vs Buffalo 5:30 ET [ESPN]
R+L Carrier New Orleans Bowl-
Tulane vs LA-Lafayette 9:00 ET [ESPN]
MON, DEC 23RD:
Beef O'Brady's Bowl-
Ohio vs East Carolina 2:00 ET [ESPN]
TUE, DEC 24TH:
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl-
Boise St vs Oregon St 8:00 ET [ESPN]
THURS, DEC 26TH:
Little Caesar's Bowl-
Pitt vs Bowling Green 6:00 ET [ESPN]
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl-
Utah State vs (23) Northern Illinois 9:30 ET [ESPN]
FRI, DEC 27TH:
Military Bowl-
Marshall vs Maryland 2:30 ET [ESPN]
Texas Bowl-
Syracuse vs Minnesota 6:00 ET [ESPN]
Fight Hunger Bowl-
BYU vs Washington 9:30 ET [ESPN]
SAT, DEC 28TH:
New Era Pinstripe Bowl-
Rutgers vs Notre Dame 12:00 ET [ESPN]
Belk Bowl-
Cincinnati vs North Carolina 3:20 ET [ESPN]
Russell Athletic Bowl-
Miami (FL) vs (18) Louisville 6:45 ET [ESPN]
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl-
Michigan vs Kansas State 10:15 ET [ESPN]
MON, DEC 30TH:
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl-
Middle Tennessee vs Navy 11:45 AM ET [ESPN]
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl-
Mississippi vs Georgia Tech 3:15 ET [ESPN]
Valero Alamo Bowl-
(10) Oregon vs Texas 6:45 ET [ESPN]
National University Holiday Bowl-
(14) Arizona State vs Texas Tech 10:15 ET [ESPN]
TUE, DEC 31ST:
AdvoCare V-100 Bowl-
Arizona vs Boston College 12:30 ET [ESPN]
Hyundai Sun Bowl-
Virginia Tech vs (17) UCLA 2:00 ET [CBS]
Auto Zone Liberty Bowl-
Rice vs Mississippi St 4:00 ET [ESPN]
Chick-Fil-A Bowl-
(24) Duke vs (21) Texas A&M 8:00 ET [ESPN]
WED, JAN 1ST:
Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl -
Nebraska vs (22) Georgia 12:00 ET [ESPN2]
Heart of Dallas Bowl-
UNLV vs North Texas 12:00 ET [ESPNU]
Capital One Bowl-
(19) Wisconsin vs (9) South Carolina 1:00 ET [ABC]
Outback Bowl-
Iowa vs (16) LSU 1:00 ET [ESPN]
Rose Bowl-
(5) Stanford vs (4) Michigan State 5:00 ET [ESPN]
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl-
(15) UCF vs (6) Baylor 8:30 ET [ESPN]
THURS, JAN 2ND:
Allstate Sugar Bowl-
(11) Oklahoma vs (3) Alabama- 8:30 ET [ESPN]
FRI, JAN 3RD:
AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic-
(13) Oklahoma State vs (8) Mizzou 7:30 ET [FOX]
Discover Orange Bowl-
(12) Clemson vs (7) Ohio St 8:00 ET [ESPN]
SAT, JAN 4TH:
BBVA Compass Bowl-
Vanderbilt vs Houston 1:00 ET [ESPN]
SUN, JAN 5TH:
GoDaddy.com Bowl-
Arkansas State vs Ball State 9:00 ET [ESPN]
MON, JAN 6TH:
BCS Championship Game-
(2) Auburn vs (1) Florida State 8:30 ET [ESPN]
SAT, DEC 21ST:
Gildan New Mexico Bowl-
Washington State vs Colorado State 2:00 ET [ESPN]
Las Vegas Bowl-
(20) Fresno State vs (25) USC 3:30 ET [ABC]
Idaho Potato Bowl-
San Diego State vs Buffalo 5:30 ET [ESPN]
R+L Carrier New Orleans Bowl-
Tulane vs LA-Lafayette 9:00 ET [ESPN]
MON, DEC 23RD:
Beef O'Brady's Bowl-
Ohio vs East Carolina 2:00 ET [ESPN]
TUE, DEC 24TH:
Sheraton Hawaii Bowl-
Boise St vs Oregon St 8:00 ET [ESPN]
THURS, DEC 26TH:
Little Caesar's Bowl-
Pitt vs Bowling Green 6:00 ET [ESPN]
San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl-
Utah State vs (23) Northern Illinois 9:30 ET [ESPN]
FRI, DEC 27TH:
Military Bowl-
Marshall vs Maryland 2:30 ET [ESPN]
Texas Bowl-
Syracuse vs Minnesota 6:00 ET [ESPN]
Fight Hunger Bowl-
BYU vs Washington 9:30 ET [ESPN]
SAT, DEC 28TH:
New Era Pinstripe Bowl-
Rutgers vs Notre Dame 12:00 ET [ESPN]
Belk Bowl-
Cincinnati vs North Carolina 3:20 ET [ESPN]
Russell Athletic Bowl-
Miami (FL) vs (18) Louisville 6:45 ET [ESPN]
Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl-
Michigan vs Kansas State 10:15 ET [ESPN]
MON, DEC 30TH:
Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl-
Middle Tennessee vs Navy 11:45 AM ET [ESPN]
Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl-
Mississippi vs Georgia Tech 3:15 ET [ESPN]
Valero Alamo Bowl-
(10) Oregon vs Texas 6:45 ET [ESPN]
National University Holiday Bowl-
(14) Arizona State vs Texas Tech 10:15 ET [ESPN]
TUE, DEC 31ST:
AdvoCare V-100 Bowl-
Arizona vs Boston College 12:30 ET [ESPN]
Hyundai Sun Bowl-
Virginia Tech vs (17) UCLA 2:00 ET [CBS]
Auto Zone Liberty Bowl-
Rice vs Mississippi St 4:00 ET [ESPN]
Chick-Fil-A Bowl-
(24) Duke vs (21) Texas A&M 8:00 ET [ESPN]
WED, JAN 1ST:
Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl -
Nebraska vs (22) Georgia 12:00 ET [ESPN2]
Heart of Dallas Bowl-
UNLV vs North Texas 12:00 ET [ESPNU]
Capital One Bowl-
(19) Wisconsin vs (9) South Carolina 1:00 ET [ABC]
Outback Bowl-
Iowa vs (16) LSU 1:00 ET [ESPN]
Rose Bowl-
(5) Stanford vs (4) Michigan State 5:00 ET [ESPN]
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl-
(15) UCF vs (6) Baylor 8:30 ET [ESPN]
THURS, JAN 2ND:
Allstate Sugar Bowl-
(11) Oklahoma vs (3) Alabama- 8:30 ET [ESPN]
FRI, JAN 3RD:
AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic-
(13) Oklahoma State vs (8) Mizzou 7:30 ET [FOX]
Discover Orange Bowl-
(12) Clemson vs (7) Ohio St 8:00 ET [ESPN]
SAT, JAN 4TH:
BBVA Compass Bowl-
Vanderbilt vs Houston 1:00 ET [ESPN]
SUN, JAN 5TH:
GoDaddy.com Bowl-
Arkansas State vs Ball State 9:00 ET [ESPN]
MON, JAN 6TH:
BCS Championship Game-
(2) Auburn vs (1) Florida State 8:30 ET [ESPN]
Friday, December 6, 2013
Sports Chowdah Update- Rolled Tide, Auburn Stuns #1 Bama As Time Expires; Patriots Stage Texas-Sized Rally in 2nd half Against Struggling Houston;
Todd Van Emst PhotoNCAA FOOTBALL- War damn Eagle indeed.
Wow- I know I'm several days behind on this unless you've been hidden away in a Tibetan monastery for the last several weeks, but allow me to set the table anyway.
Coming into Saturday's game, the annual Auburn-Alabama Iron Bowl had implications beyond an in-house SEC rivalry. The undefeated Crimson Tide came in ranked #1 while a resurgent Auburn was ranked #4- which had all the ingredients of a compelling contest and lots of buzz about the BCS title game implications.
Fast forward to the 4th quarter- with just under a minute to go, the Auburn Tigers managed to tie the contest up at 28-28 thanks to a pass from QB Nick Marshall to receiver Sammie Coates. On their next possession, Alabama managed to get as far as the Tigers 38 yard line with just 1 second left on the clock. In an attempt to avoid OT [which they successfully managed, just not in the way the Tide envisioned- NANESB!, Alabama sent kicker Adam Griffith onto the field to try and boot a 57 yard FG. Realistically, the worst that could happen would be that Griffith would miss and the game would head to overtime.....or so Alabama head coach Nick Saban though.
Griffith's FG came up short, but Auburn CB Chris Davis was in the end zone and cleanly fielded the missed FG attempt. Words defy what happened next- so let's try some video:
It has to chafe Alabama fans knowing that if just one Tide player could've tackled Davis or nudged him out of bounds at any point during his 109-yard return, the outcome of Saturday's Iron Bowl- not to mention the SEC title game and most likely the FBS Chapmionship- could've been dramatically different.
While not exactly a stunning upset on the scale of Appalachian State-Michigan circa 2007, Auburn moves up to #3 in both the AP and USA Today rankings while Alabama slips down to #4. The Tigers win also sets up an SEC title game with......the Tigers. Auburn will take on the #5 ranked Missouri Tigers at the Georgia Dome for the 2013 SEC Championship. Missouri and Auburn both come in sporting identical 11-1 records- all the more impressive considering both teams had a lackluster 2012 season and that this is only Missouri's second season playing SEC football after jumping ship from the Big 12 after the 2011 season.
ACC FOOTBALL- A state attorney for Florida announced on Thursday that they will not be pressing charges against Florida State Seminoles QB and Heisman candidate Jameis Winston. A female FSU student accused Winston of sexually assaulting her in an off-campus apartment in Tallahassee, FL in December 2012. State prosecutors reportedly determined there was insufficient evidence against Winston to press charges.
The decision clears the way for Winston to travel with the team to Charlotte, NC to take on the #20-ranked Duke Blue Devils in the ACC title game on Saturday night. The last time the two teams played head to head was in Tallahassee during the 2012 season- the Seminoles thumped the Blue Devils by a 48-7 final. Should #1 Florida State beat Duke [and let me say how odd it is to be talking about Duke and title games outside the context of basketball- NANESB!], that pretty much punches FSU's ticket to the BCS Championship game. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:00 PM ET and the game will be televised on ABC.
ELSEWHERE IN THE ACC- Boston College wrapped up their regular season with a loss in the Carrier Dome to they Syracuse Orangemen- the first matchup between the former Big East rivals since Syracuse moved to that Atlantic Coast Conference. The Eagles had a 31-27 lead in the 4th quarter before Syracuse drove the ball 75 yards in just under 2 minutes for the go ahead TD to make it 34-31 Syracuse with 17 seconds left in the ballgame.
Syracuse would go on to win by a final of 34-31 and are now eligible for a bowl game in their first year of playing ACC football. As a matter of fact- in addition to Boston College, Florida State, Duke and Syracuse- seven other teams in the ACC are now bowl-eligible. It would actually be shorter to mention the list of teams NOT going to any kind of bowl [at least based on their record- NANESB!]: North Carolina State, Wake Forest and Virginia.
BIG TEN- Were it not for the wild finish in the Iron Bowl, perhaps The Game between Michigan and undefeated Ohio State would've been first and foremost in college football-centric headlines
With archrival Michigan sporting a lackluster 7-5 record, Saturday's game against undefeated Ohio State was pretty close. After Ohio State took a 42-35 lead with just over 3 minutes remaining in the Big House, the Wolverines capped a drive of just under 2 minutes with a short TD pass from QB Devin Gardner to TE Devin Funchess to make it a one point game. However, instead of opting for a game tying point after kick, the Wolverines opted to go for the potential go-ahead 2 point conversion. But the 2 point conversion failed and Ohio State managed to survive the late Michigan threat, escaping with a 42-41 win and briefly facing all sorts of questions about their worthiness as a BCS team before the Iron Bowl later that day.
ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL- Alabama wasn't the only undefeated team to fall over the Thanksgiving weekend. The last remaining obstacle for Fresno State out in the Mountain West and a possible BCS Bowl berth was the San Jose State Spartans on Black Friday. In a game that saw San Jose State score a late TD in the first half to cut the Bulldogs lead to 42-41....yes- you read that right. Both teams had combined for more than 80 points before the first half had concluded. However, in the second half San Jose State took the lead for good and would go on to win by the final of 62-52. So not only is Fresno State's perfect record now blemished [it should involve an asterisk, however, since their September 14th game against Colorado was cancelled due to flooding in the Boulder area- NANESB!] but so is any shot at going to a BCS Bowl game.
The Bulldogs will still face the Utah State Aggies on Saturday in the Mountain West championship game, which Fresno State will host. Kickoff is scheduled for 10:00 ET and the Aggies sport an 8-4 record heading into Saturday's contest.
Richard Wolowicz- GettyNHL- Surprisingly, despite being two months into the season the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens had yet to meet this season heading into Thursday night's game at the Bell Centre.
Gregory Campbell got the B's on the board early to bring Boston out to an early 1-0 lead, but play was stopped after the Habs' Max Pacioretty checked Johnny Boychuk into the end boards and Boychuck was unable to get back onto his feet and had trouble breathing, prompting the medical staff to examine him before he was wheeled out of the arena.
The Habs would then score two unanswered goals in the second period, including one by Pacioretty to make it a 2-1 game- Montreal would go on to win by a 2-1 final after a scoreless 3rd period. Boychuk underwent examination at a Montreal hospital but was reportedly back with the team after the game and cleared to travel with the team back to Boston.
No word on whether or not Boychuk is cleared to play in Saturday night's home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
David J. Phillip- APNFL- Once again, the New England Patriots found themselves down at halftime by a significant margin and once again they were able to rally.
Granted many observers said they shouldn't have trailed the struggling Houston Texans by a 17-7 margin to begin with but in the 3rd quarter, New England scored back to back TDs to take a 21-17 lead before the Texans re-took the lead when QB Case Keenum scrambled for a 5 yard TD run to go up 24-21.
New England re-took the lead early in the 4th quarter thanks to a 7 yard TD run from LeGarrette Blount. On the next drive, Houston RB Ben Tate got his 3rd TD of the year to put the Texans back on top 31-28. However, the game would come down to not one, but two Gostkowski FG's from the 53 yard line- including what would turn out to be the game winner with 3:12 remaining.
The Patriots go on to win by a 34-31 final at Reliant stadium while the struggling Texans lose their 10th in a row. For this upcoming weekend, the Patriots will host the Cleveland Browns- the franchise that Bill Belichick got his start with in the NFL.
MLB- The Jacoby Ellsbury era in Boston has come to an end as the free-agent outfielder agreed to a 7 year, $153 million contract with the New York Yankees. The massive signing of the former Boston outfielder seemingly triggered a wave of departures of free agents from the Bronx- outfielder Curtis Granderson agreed to a 4 year, $60 million deal while free agent 2B Robinson Cano signed on to a $240 million 10 year contract with the Seattle Mariners.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Turkey Day Sports Chowdah Update- Patriots Buck Broncos in Historic Comeback; NHL Agrees to Massive Broadcast Deal with Rogers
Wow- very seldom does a marquee NFL game live up to the pre-game hype. Sunday night's Bronco's-Patriots matchup did exactly that, although you couldn't tell from the first half.
To start off with, literally everything was going Denver's way in the first half at Foxborough. With just under 10 minutes to go in the first quarter, Stevan Ridley fumbled the ball which was promptly recovered by Broncos LB Von Miller and run back 60 yards for a TD to give Denver the early lead.
On New England's next possession, Brady was sacked and lost the ball on the Patriots own 28 yard line. Denver recovered and was able to punch it in from the Patriot's 10 yard line thanks to two carries by RB Knowshon Moreno to give the Broncos a startlingly quick 14-0 lead.
With Ridley benched, LeGarrette Blount came in at RB and on the 3rd play of New England's drive, fumbled the ball at mid-field. The Broncos recovered [starting to sense a pattern?- NANESB!] and Denver was once again in New England's red zone thanks to carries by Knowshown Moreno and Montee Ball. They got as close as the Patriot's 6 yard line before the Patriots defense came up with a huge sack of Peyton Manning, costing the Broncos 10 yards and forcing them to settle for a FG to make it a 17-0 game.
Denver added to their lead in the second quarter- although this was on a 70 yard TD drive engineered by Manning that started on the Broncos own 30- not capitalizing on a Patriots turnover (surprisingly). The drive was capped by a 10 yard TD pass from Manning to TE Jacob Tamme to but the Broncos out to a seemingly insurmountable 24-0 lead.
So- did you turn off the TV by this point? Either because you were a disgusted Patriots fan or were expecting a much better ballgame despite not being emotionally invested in either team? I gotta confess: I did- although I did end up tuning in for the 3rd quarter.
Brady broke Denver's shutout bid right out of the gate with a quick strike in the 3rd quarter. The Patriots started out from their own 20 to open up the second half and Brady moved the ball by passing to Kenbrell Thompkins, Rob Gronkowski and Shane Vereen before the Patriots got on the board with a 5 yard TD pass to WR Julian Edelman. This made it a 24-7 ballgame and the Patriots were down by a mere three TDs.
On the Broncos first possession of the second half, Denver got the ball as far as midfield before Montee Ball fumbled and Pats LB Brandon Spike recovered, giving New England the ball back on the Denver 32. With the short field, Brady got inside the Broncos red zone thanks to completions to Gronkowski and Vereen before RB Brandon Bolden was able to punch it in on a 1 yard TD run to make it a 10 point game with the better part of one and a half quarters of football to play. Those Patriots fans optimistic enough to be talking about a comeback at halftime were suddenly starting to look downright prophetic.
The 3rd quarter wrapped up the way it began- with a quick scoring drive from the New England offense. Thanks to an 11 yard return from Edelman (who had fumbled earlier in the game), the Patriots started out on their own 35 yard line. The drive began with a completion from Brady to WR Kenbrell Thompkins for 14 yards to put the ball at mid-field before Brady connected with Edelman for a 43 yard pass to put the ball on the Denver 8. With 19 seconds to go in the 3rd, the Patriots made it a three point game thanks to an 8 yard TD pass from Brady to Gronkowski to make it 21-24.
Starting out from their own 22, the Broncos were able to run exactly one play in their first possession of the 4th quarter before Peyton Manning was picked off by rookie cornerback Logan Ryan. Starting from the Denver 30, New England required just two passes from Tom Brady- a 15 yard completion to Gronkowski and a 14 yard TD pass to Julian Edelman to give New England a 28-24 edge, their first lead of the night and seemingly impossible scenario during halftime.
The Patriots were able to add to their lead thanks to a lengthy drive that started out from their own 47 that took just under 5 minutes- although the Broncos defense stiffened and forced the Patriots to settle for a 31 yard Gostkowski FG to make it 31-24.
However, the Broncos weren't done yet. After getting the ball back on their own 25, Peyton Manning led a drive down to the New England red zone where they were able to tie up the ballgame thanks to a 7 yard Demariyus Thomas TD catch to know up the game at 31-31 with 3:06 remaining in the 4th.
Both the Patriots and Broncos weren't able to able to do much of anything in the remainder of regulation, forcing OT. Interestingly, the Patriots won the coin toss but Belichick elected to give the Broncos the ball to start out the OT.
Just like the end of regulation, both teams weren't able to do much of anything with Denver getting the ball into New England territory before a 10 yard penalty forced them to punt. The Broncos were then able to pin the Patriots back inside their own 20 on the ensuing punt, and New England was able to get as far as their own 37 before they had to punt on 4th and 4.
This went on for awhile, and it appeared as though the NFL would have its second tie game of the day [earlier in the day, the Vikings and Packers played to a 26-26 tie at Lambeau Field- NANESB!] but when the Patriots punted with 3:01 left in OT. Former Patriots WR Wes Welker was set to field the ball inside the 20, but the ball made contact with Denver WR Tony Carter, making it a live ball that Pats Safety Nate Ebner recovered at the Denver 13 yard line. After two runs up the middle, it was decided to go for the chip-shot FG on 3rd and 10 with 2:00 left in OT. Gostkowski's kick was good from 31 yards to give New England the 34-31 OT win.
Tom Brady went 34-50 with 344 yards and 3 TD passes while getting sacked 3 times. Peyton Manning went 19-36 with 150 yards, 2 TDs, 2 sacks and an interception. Wes Welker had a total of 31 yards and was a conspicuous non-factor in his return to New England while Knowshon Moreno had 224 rushing yards and 1 TD for the Broncos. For the Patriots, Julian Edelman had 110 receiving yards on 11 catches with 2 TD receptions.
The comeback from 24-0 is the biggest in the history of the New England Patriots and the ratings were the highest for a November football game in 17 years and the highest rated contest since NBC began the Sunday Night Football telecast in 2006.
For this upcoming Sunday, New England will travel to the Lone Star State to take on the Houston Texans on Sunday afternoon with a kickoff scheduled for 1:00 ET. The rematch of the 2012 Divisional playoffs will be televised on CBS.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL- Since it's Thanksgiving, this means that both the Cowboys and Lions will be playing [Not each other, tho- apparently the universe will collapse upon itself if Dallas and Detroit ever play each other on Thanksgiving- NANESB!].
The Detroit Lions will host NFC north rival Green bay at Ford Field- that game is scheduled for a 12:30 ET kickoff and is scheduled to be televised on FOX.
Later on in the day, the Dallas Cowboy will take on the Oakland Raiders at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. The contest is set for a 4:25 ET kickoff and will be televised on CBS.
To wrap things up, the Baltimore Ravens will host the Pittsburgh Steelers for an AFC North matchup on a game that will be televised on NBC with a kickoff scheduled for 8:30 ET.
NHL- HUGE news out of Canada heading into the Thanksgiving break [ours, not theirs- NANESB!]. The National Hockey League and Rogers Communications [NYSE- RCI: TSX- RCI-A & RCI-B] have agreed to a 12 year, C$5.3 billion deal to broadcast NHL games in Canada, blindsiding competitors such as TSN and the state run Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
This isn't just Rogers getting a bigger slice of the pie- this is basically Rogers buying up the Marie Callendar's chain while TSN and the CBC were waiting for their waitress to bring them a slice of the pie and then telling TSN and the CBC that they've secured the rights to any pies sold for the next 12 years.
Under the deal, the CBC will retain their iconic Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts, but only after Rogers has already selected their first pick for that night's matchup on their networks.
The deal with Rogers- Canada's largest wireless and cable provider- also includes rights to the Stanley Cup playoffs and the Stanley Cup finals. Although no official announcement has been made, it's widely believed that Rogers will re-sell some rights to Bell Canada [NYSE- BCE]- Bell and Rogers are joint majority owners of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Curiously, ADRs of Rogers traded on the New York Stock Exchange were down slightly after the announcement.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- Wow...that was pretty embarrassing.
The Boston Bruins headed into the Thanksgiving weekend on the wrong end of an absolute beatdown at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings as the Bruins lost by a 6-1 final on Wednesday night at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena. Jarome Iginla accounted for the lone Bruins goal (which came late) while the Red Wings got tallies from Justin Abdelkader, Tomas Tatar, Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall, Drew Miller and Gustav Nyquist.
The loss ends a 5-game streak where the Bruins managed to get at least one point and had won eight of their last 10 games.
The Bruins will return back to the TD Garden for a Friday afternoon for another Original 6 matchup when they host the New York Rangers. Puck is scheduled to drop at 1:00 ET and the game will be televised on NBC.
NCAA FOOTBALL- Big upset last weekend in the top 25 standings as the only undefeated team in the Big 12 was felled by a conference opponent late in the regular season- and it wasn't even close.
In Stillwater, OK, the Oklahoma State Cowboys managed to put up 49 points on the #3 ranked Baylor Bears on Saturday night, going on to win by a final of 49-17. At halftime, the Bears were trailing by a score of 14-3, but Oklahoma State came out in the second half to score three unanswered TDs in the 3rd quarter and won this one going away. Baylor slips to #9 in the AP standings while OSU vaults past them into #7.
So out of all the Top 25 teams, this leaves Alabama, Florida State, Northern Illinois and Fresno State as the remaining undefeated teams as they head into 'rivalry week' and their respective conference championships.
Perhaps the most compelling Rivalry Week matchup will be Saturday's Iron Bowl between #1 Alabama and a resurgent Auburn program, who comes into this weekend ranked #4. Kickoff from Auburn is scheduled for 3:30 ET and the game will be televised on CBS and can be heard on XM Channels 86 and 91.
Other Rivalry week matchups featuring undefeated teams from the BCS Top 25 include #16 Fresno State on the road against San Jose State on Friday- kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 PM ET on Friday afternoon and the game will be televised on CBS Sports network.
#2 Florida State, meanwhile, will travel to Gainesville, FL to take on the struggling Florida Gators, who are coming off a 26-20 stunning home loss to FCS Georgia Southern. To round out the BCS undefeteds, #14 Northern Illinois thumped the Western Michigan Mustangs by a 33-14 final on Tuesday night and will await the winner of Friday's Buffalo-Bowling Green State game for the MAC title game on December 6th.
To round out the BCS undefeateds on Rivalry Week, #3 Ohio State travels to the Big House in Ann Arbor, MI for The Game- that kicks off at 12:00 PM ET and will be televised on ABC and XM Channel 91.
While it doesn't involve an undefeated BCS title contender, another rivalry game of potential interest will pit #6 Clemson against #10 South Carolina, which kicks off at 7:00 ET and will be televised on ESPN.
BOSTON COLLEGE- No record-setting afternoon for RB Andre Williams, but the senior RB had a productive afternoon nonetheless on Saturday with 2 TD runs and 263 yards total against Maryland in the Eagles' 29-26 win over the Terps.
The final game of the regular season also happens to rekindle the old Big East-era rivalry with Syracuse as the Eagles will travel to the Carrier Dome to take on the Big Orange for the first time in three years and for the first time with Syracuse as a member of the ACC. This will be the Eagle's first trip to the Carrier Dome in 9 years and Syracuse needs a win to be bowl eligible while Boston College is looking to run the table and win their fifth straight game.
Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 ET and the game on XM channel 191 and will be streamed on ESPN3.
Steven Senne- APNFL- I'm not gonna lie to you. Part of the reason it took me so long to do a sports update is because Sunday night's game at Gillette left me at a loss for words (the good kind!). Sure preparations for Thanksgiving was part of it, but it's hard to summarize Sunday night's primetime Broncos-Patriots game in mere words, but here's my attempt-
To start off with, literally everything was going Denver's way in the first half at Foxborough. With just under 10 minutes to go in the first quarter, Stevan Ridley fumbled the ball which was promptly recovered by Broncos LB Von Miller and run back 60 yards for a TD to give Denver the early lead.
On New England's next possession, Brady was sacked and lost the ball on the Patriots own 28 yard line. Denver recovered and was able to punch it in from the Patriot's 10 yard line thanks to two carries by RB Knowshon Moreno to give the Broncos a startlingly quick 14-0 lead.
With Ridley benched, LeGarrette Blount came in at RB and on the 3rd play of New England's drive, fumbled the ball at mid-field. The Broncos recovered [starting to sense a pattern?- NANESB!] and Denver was once again in New England's red zone thanks to carries by Knowshown Moreno and Montee Ball. They got as close as the Patriot's 6 yard line before the Patriots defense came up with a huge sack of Peyton Manning, costing the Broncos 10 yards and forcing them to settle for a FG to make it a 17-0 game.
Denver added to their lead in the second quarter- although this was on a 70 yard TD drive engineered by Manning that started on the Broncos own 30- not capitalizing on a Patriots turnover (surprisingly). The drive was capped by a 10 yard TD pass from Manning to TE Jacob Tamme to but the Broncos out to a seemingly insurmountable 24-0 lead.
So- did you turn off the TV by this point? Either because you were a disgusted Patriots fan or were expecting a much better ballgame despite not being emotionally invested in either team? I gotta confess: I did- although I did end up tuning in for the 3rd quarter.
Brady broke Denver's shutout bid right out of the gate with a quick strike in the 3rd quarter. The Patriots started out from their own 20 to open up the second half and Brady moved the ball by passing to Kenbrell Thompkins, Rob Gronkowski and Shane Vereen before the Patriots got on the board with a 5 yard TD pass to WR Julian Edelman. This made it a 24-7 ballgame and the Patriots were down by a mere three TDs.
On the Broncos first possession of the second half, Denver got the ball as far as midfield before Montee Ball fumbled and Pats LB Brandon Spike recovered, giving New England the ball back on the Denver 32. With the short field, Brady got inside the Broncos red zone thanks to completions to Gronkowski and Vereen before RB Brandon Bolden was able to punch it in on a 1 yard TD run to make it a 10 point game with the better part of one and a half quarters of football to play. Those Patriots fans optimistic enough to be talking about a comeback at halftime were suddenly starting to look downright prophetic.
The 3rd quarter wrapped up the way it began- with a quick scoring drive from the New England offense. Thanks to an 11 yard return from Edelman (who had fumbled earlier in the game), the Patriots started out on their own 35 yard line. The drive began with a completion from Brady to WR Kenbrell Thompkins for 14 yards to put the ball at mid-field before Brady connected with Edelman for a 43 yard pass to put the ball on the Denver 8. With 19 seconds to go in the 3rd, the Patriots made it a three point game thanks to an 8 yard TD pass from Brady to Gronkowski to make it 21-24.
Starting out from their own 22, the Broncos were able to run exactly one play in their first possession of the 4th quarter before Peyton Manning was picked off by rookie cornerback Logan Ryan. Starting from the Denver 30, New England required just two passes from Tom Brady- a 15 yard completion to Gronkowski and a 14 yard TD pass to Julian Edelman to give New England a 28-24 edge, their first lead of the night and seemingly impossible scenario during halftime.
The Patriots were able to add to their lead thanks to a lengthy drive that started out from their own 47 that took just under 5 minutes- although the Broncos defense stiffened and forced the Patriots to settle for a 31 yard Gostkowski FG to make it 31-24.
However, the Broncos weren't done yet. After getting the ball back on their own 25, Peyton Manning led a drive down to the New England red zone where they were able to tie up the ballgame thanks to a 7 yard Demariyus Thomas TD catch to know up the game at 31-31 with 3:06 remaining in the 4th.
Both the Patriots and Broncos weren't able to able to do much of anything in the remainder of regulation, forcing OT. Interestingly, the Patriots won the coin toss but Belichick elected to give the Broncos the ball to start out the OT.
Just like the end of regulation, both teams weren't able to do much of anything with Denver getting the ball into New England territory before a 10 yard penalty forced them to punt. The Broncos were then able to pin the Patriots back inside their own 20 on the ensuing punt, and New England was able to get as far as their own 37 before they had to punt on 4th and 4.
This went on for awhile, and it appeared as though the NFL would have its second tie game of the day [earlier in the day, the Vikings and Packers played to a 26-26 tie at Lambeau Field- NANESB!] but when the Patriots punted with 3:01 left in OT. Former Patriots WR Wes Welker was set to field the ball inside the 20, but the ball made contact with Denver WR Tony Carter, making it a live ball that Pats Safety Nate Ebner recovered at the Denver 13 yard line. After two runs up the middle, it was decided to go for the chip-shot FG on 3rd and 10 with 2:00 left in OT. Gostkowski's kick was good from 31 yards to give New England the 34-31 OT win.
Tom Brady went 34-50 with 344 yards and 3 TD passes while getting sacked 3 times. Peyton Manning went 19-36 with 150 yards, 2 TDs, 2 sacks and an interception. Wes Welker had a total of 31 yards and was a conspicuous non-factor in his return to New England while Knowshon Moreno had 224 rushing yards and 1 TD for the Broncos. For the Patriots, Julian Edelman had 110 receiving yards on 11 catches with 2 TD receptions.
The comeback from 24-0 is the biggest in the history of the New England Patriots and the ratings were the highest for a November football game in 17 years and the highest rated contest since NBC began the Sunday Night Football telecast in 2006.
For this upcoming Sunday, New England will travel to the Lone Star State to take on the Houston Texans on Sunday afternoon with a kickoff scheduled for 1:00 ET. The rematch of the 2012 Divisional playoffs will be televised on CBS.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL- Since it's Thanksgiving, this means that both the Cowboys and Lions will be playing [Not each other, tho- apparently the universe will collapse upon itself if Dallas and Detroit ever play each other on Thanksgiving- NANESB!].
The Detroit Lions will host NFC north rival Green bay at Ford Field- that game is scheduled for a 12:30 ET kickoff and is scheduled to be televised on FOX.
Later on in the day, the Dallas Cowboy will take on the Oakland Raiders at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX. The contest is set for a 4:25 ET kickoff and will be televised on CBS.
To wrap things up, the Baltimore Ravens will host the Pittsburgh Steelers for an AFC North matchup on a game that will be televised on NBC with a kickoff scheduled for 8:30 ET.
NHL- HUGE news out of Canada heading into the Thanksgiving break [ours, not theirs- NANESB!]. The National Hockey League and Rogers Communications [NYSE- RCI: TSX- RCI-A & RCI-B] have agreed to a 12 year, C$5.3 billion deal to broadcast NHL games in Canada, blindsiding competitors such as TSN and the state run Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
This isn't just Rogers getting a bigger slice of the pie- this is basically Rogers buying up the Marie Callendar's chain while TSN and the CBC were waiting for their waitress to bring them a slice of the pie and then telling TSN and the CBC that they've secured the rights to any pies sold for the next 12 years.
Under the deal, the CBC will retain their iconic Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts, but only after Rogers has already selected their first pick for that night's matchup on their networks.
The deal with Rogers- Canada's largest wireless and cable provider- also includes rights to the Stanley Cup playoffs and the Stanley Cup finals. Although no official announcement has been made, it's widely believed that Rogers will re-sell some rights to Bell Canada [NYSE- BCE]- Bell and Rogers are joint majority owners of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Curiously, ADRs of Rogers traded on the New York Stock Exchange were down slightly after the announcement.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- Wow...that was pretty embarrassing.
The Boston Bruins headed into the Thanksgiving weekend on the wrong end of an absolute beatdown at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings as the Bruins lost by a 6-1 final on Wednesday night at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena. Jarome Iginla accounted for the lone Bruins goal (which came late) while the Red Wings got tallies from Justin Abdelkader, Tomas Tatar, Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall, Drew Miller and Gustav Nyquist.
The loss ends a 5-game streak where the Bruins managed to get at least one point and had won eight of their last 10 games.
The Bruins will return back to the TD Garden for a Friday afternoon for another Original 6 matchup when they host the New York Rangers. Puck is scheduled to drop at 1:00 ET and the game will be televised on NBC.
NCAA FOOTBALL- Big upset last weekend in the top 25 standings as the only undefeated team in the Big 12 was felled by a conference opponent late in the regular season- and it wasn't even close.
In Stillwater, OK, the Oklahoma State Cowboys managed to put up 49 points on the #3 ranked Baylor Bears on Saturday night, going on to win by a final of 49-17. At halftime, the Bears were trailing by a score of 14-3, but Oklahoma State came out in the second half to score three unanswered TDs in the 3rd quarter and won this one going away. Baylor slips to #9 in the AP standings while OSU vaults past them into #7.
So out of all the Top 25 teams, this leaves Alabama, Florida State, Northern Illinois and Fresno State as the remaining undefeated teams as they head into 'rivalry week' and their respective conference championships.
Perhaps the most compelling Rivalry Week matchup will be Saturday's Iron Bowl between #1 Alabama and a resurgent Auburn program, who comes into this weekend ranked #4. Kickoff from Auburn is scheduled for 3:30 ET and the game will be televised on CBS and can be heard on XM Channels 86 and 91.
Other Rivalry week matchups featuring undefeated teams from the BCS Top 25 include #16 Fresno State on the road against San Jose State on Friday- kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 PM ET on Friday afternoon and the game will be televised on CBS Sports network.
#2 Florida State, meanwhile, will travel to Gainesville, FL to take on the struggling Florida Gators, who are coming off a 26-20 stunning home loss to FCS Georgia Southern. To round out the BCS undefeteds, #14 Northern Illinois thumped the Western Michigan Mustangs by a 33-14 final on Tuesday night and will await the winner of Friday's Buffalo-Bowling Green State game for the MAC title game on December 6th.
To round out the BCS undefeateds on Rivalry Week, #3 Ohio State travels to the Big House in Ann Arbor, MI for The Game- that kicks off at 12:00 PM ET and will be televised on ABC and XM Channel 91.
While it doesn't involve an undefeated BCS title contender, another rivalry game of potential interest will pit #6 Clemson against #10 South Carolina, which kicks off at 7:00 ET and will be televised on ESPN.
BOSTON COLLEGE- No record-setting afternoon for RB Andre Williams, but the senior RB had a productive afternoon nonetheless on Saturday with 2 TD runs and 263 yards total against Maryland in the Eagles' 29-26 win over the Terps.
The final game of the regular season also happens to rekindle the old Big East-era rivalry with Syracuse as the Eagles will travel to the Carrier Dome to take on the Big Orange for the first time in three years and for the first time with Syracuse as a member of the ACC. This will be the Eagle's first trip to the Carrier Dome in 9 years and Syracuse needs a win to be bowl eligible while Boston College is looking to run the table and win their fifth straight game.
Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 ET and the game on XM channel 191 and will be streamed on ESPN3.
Friday, November 22, 2013
Long Overdue Sports Chowdah Update, Tarheel Edition- Patriots Fall to Panthers on Disputed Call; Boston College Routs Wolfpack At Chestnut Hill
Bob Leverone- APNEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS- New England's only Monday night game of the 2013 season ended on a contentious note in the 4th quarter as the Patriots ended up losing on what turned out to be the final play of the game.
With Carolina re-taking the lead with less than a minute to go on a 25 yard TD pass from Cam Newton to WR Ted Ginn Jr, New England started out on their own 20 with 59 seconds left. The Patriots managed to move the ball down as far as the Panthers 18 yard line thanks to a 23 yard completion to Gronkowski on 4th and 10 and a Carolina penalty. As time expired, Carolina safety Robert Lester picked off Brady in the end zone and the game was seemingly over before a flag was thrown. Initially it appeared as though the Patriots would get one untimed down since the game couldn't end on a defensive penalty, but after the officials conferred the flag was picked up and it was announced that the game was over.
Tom Brady went 29-40 with 296 yards with 1 TD and an interception while Carolina QB Cam Newton went 19-28 with 209 passing yards, 61 rushing yards and 3 TDs on Monday. Both teams now sport identical 7-3 records, with Carolina in 2nd place behind New Orleans.
Carolina goes on to win by the final of 24-20 on the disputed call (then non-call) on New England's only Monday night game. However, there's more prime-time football on the horizon for New England as they will host the 9-1 Denver Broncos at Foxborough on Sunday night. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:30 PM ET and the game will be televised on NBC.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL- Speaking of the Denver Broncos, this will be their second consecutive Sunday Night Football matchup. Last week featured a matchup against Kansas City where the Broncos handed the Chiefs their first loss of the season, winning at Mile High by a 27-17 final [no word on whether or not the remaining '72 Dolphins were still up to pop the cork- NANESB!]. Although both teams now sport an identical 9-1 record, the Broncos hold the advantage in the AFC West thanks to the tie-breaker going to the team with the best intradivisional record [Denver's only loss so far came from outside the AFC West when they played against the Indianapolis Colts- NANESB!].
There are several storylines heading into Sunday's game, particularly with Wes Welker returning to Gillette stadium as a Bronco for the first time and the buzz and anticipation that goes into any Peyton Manning/Tom Brady matchup.
Michael Dwyer- APBOSTON COLLEGE- The Boston College Eagles had their final home game of the 2013 season at Chestnut Hill on Saturday and finished it on a high note.
For starters, RB Andre Williams single-game rushing record set during week 11 against New Mexico State lasted exactly one week when he rushed for 336 yards against the North Carolina State Wolfpack- including three TDs.
The Eagles jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first thanks to a Nate Freese FG and Williams' first TD on the day before the Wolfpack got on the board with a Rashard Smith TD reception to close within three points early in the second before BC freshman Myles Willis rushed 19 yards for a touchdown to put BC up 17-7 at the half.
The Eagles would go on to romp in the second half, including Andre Williams TD runs of 65 and 34 yards respectively as the Eagles would go on to steamroll the Wolfpack by a 38-21. The win gives the Eagles a 6-4 record, including a 3-3 record within the ACC. The two remaining games for Boston College are on the road against Maryland on Saturday and Syracuse on Nov 30th at the Carrier Dome.
Kickoff for Saturday's game against the Terrapins is scheduled for 3:30 PM ET- the game will be streamed on ESPN3 and can be heard on XM satellite radio on channel 190.
Friday, November 15, 2013
No Jackets Required Sports Chowdah Update- Boston College Cruises in Las Cruces; Check Your Jackets- Bruins Need OT to Get Past Columbus
NCAA FOOTBALL- Saturday's matchup between the Boston College Eagles and New Mexico State Aggies was a little unusual on a couple of different levels. For starters, unless it's Notre Dame or one of the Military academies, it's a quite unusual for Boston College to be playing an out of conference game this late in the season.
Also, like the Military academies or Notre Dame, Saturday's opponent was independent- along with the University of Idaho Vandals, the NMSU Aggies football program was abruptly 'orphaned' when the Western Athletic Conference pulled out of football altogether at the end of the 2012 season. This left both Idaho and NMSU without a conference as other WAC members such as Nevada, Fresno State, Hawaii, Utah State and San Jose State had jumped ship to the Mountain West conference and Louisiana Tech to Conference USA in recent years.
The fact that Saturday's game in Las Cruces, NM was officiated by a Sun Belt Conference officiating crew seemed to provide an indicator of the NMSU Aggies eventual new home. Coming into the Veteran's Day weekend game, the Aggies had won exactly one game- a 34-29 over FCS Abilene Christian on Octbober 26th while the Eagles were still giddy from their win over Virginia Tech at Chestnut Hill the week before.
That giddiness and overconfidence led to some sloppy early on in the game, however. After the Boston College defense forged the Aggies to go three and out on their first possession, the Eagle's David Dudeck fumbles the Aggie's punt, giving NMSU the ball at the Eagles' 29. After holding the Aggies on 3rd and 7, NMSU got on the board first with a 43 yard FG to make it 3-0.
Starting on their own 25, the Eagles would manage to tie the score up on their next possession when Nate Freese split the uprights from 51 yards. Boston College would then take the a 6-3 lead on their next possession when Freese connected on a 39 yarder.
The Eagles got their first TD of the day when QB Chase Rettig connected with TE Mike Naples for a 69 yard catch and run late in the first to make it 13-3.
However, the Aggies began chipping away at the Boston College lead with their first possession of the 2nd quarter, which was capped by a 14 yard TD pass from QB Andrew McDonald to WR Austin Franklin to make it a 3 point game at 13-10.
With under 4 minutes to go in the first half, Boston College took a 10 point lead on a 6 yard TD pass from Rettig to WR Harrison Jackson, but a game NMSU offense was able to move the ball 75 yards down the field in less than three minutes and hit paydirt with 30 seconds left in the half thanks to a 6 yard Xavier Hall TD run to once again make it a 3 point lead.
The second half started out looking as though it would be all Boston College with Chase Rettig connecting with WR Alex Amidon for a 30 yard TD pass to make it a 27-17 game. But the Eagles defense would have a hard time bottling up RB Xavier Hall as he ran for 42 yards before the Aggies once again closed to within 3 points thanks to another McDonald TD pass- this time to WR Jerrell Brown.
In the early going of the 4th quarter, Boston College managed to stop the NMSU in the Eagles' 12 yard line and limit the Aggies drive to a game-tying FG. The tie didn't long as Myles Willis returned the Aggies punt 98 yards to give Boston College the lead back, making it a 34-27 contest.
However, NMSU would manage to knot the game back up less than 2 minutes thanks to a 48 yard TD pass from McDonald to Franklin. With 5:33 left in the game, the Aggies special teams managed to pin the Eagles inside their own 3 yard line before the field got a little bit shorter thanks to a 5 yard penalty against NMSU and then an 80 yard TD run from RB Andre Williams to give Boston College the lead for good.
For good measure, Eagles LB Steven Daniels would pick off McDonald at mid-field and once again, Andre Williams would run for the TD to put Boston College up by a 48-34.
Although it was too close to comfort for awhile, Boston College goes on to win by a 48-34 final. This is Boston College's first road win since November 25th, 2011 when the Eagles beat Miami 24-17. Chase Rettig went 17 for 25 with 230 yards and 3 TD passes while Andre Williams had 30 carries for 295 yards- a BC record- as well as two late, pivotal touchdowns in the 4th quarter to put the Eagles up for good.
The remainder of the Eagles schedule has them playing against ACC teams, hosting the NC State Wolfpack at Chestnut Hill on Saturday Nov 16th. The season wraps up on Nov 30th at Syracuse's Carrier Dome against the Orangemen- who joined the ACC this season after jumping ship from the Big East last season.
NFL- No Patriots last week, but they'll come out of the bye week for their only Monday night game of the season- a road game against the 6-3 Carolina Panthers slated to kick off at 8:40 ET on ESPN.
NHL- Although it took overtime on Thursday night, the Bruins kept a 4-game winning streak going thanks to an unassisted Milan Lucic tally in OT against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Both teams were shut out on the power play with Boston going 0-1 and Columbus going 0-4. Tukka Rask had the night off and former Coyotes netminder Chad Johnson was between the pipes for the B's, stopping 32 of 34 shots faced while Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 28 of the 31 shots he faced.
The Bruins will look to continue their winning streak against the Ottawa Senators on Friday night from the Scotiabank Centre.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Wings N Things Sports Chowdah Update- Red Sox Jump Out to 2-0 ALDS Lead; Bruins Motor Past Red Wings; Eagles Come Out On Top of Joust With Black Knights
My my...the Red Sox, Bruins and Boston College all winning on the same day? Say- Did I mention already how much I LOVE this time of year?
Game 2 didn't get off the quite the promising start as Game 1, and Lackey was clearly struggling early on. The Red Sox gave him some run support early by getting an RBI sac-fly from Pedroia and solo homer from David Ortiz to make it a 2-0 Boston lead. Tampa Bay cut the lead in half in the top of the 2nd thanks to an RBI sacrifice fly from Delmon Young.
The Red Sox added to their lead in the bottom of the 3rd after David Ross led off the inning with a double before coming home thanks to an Ellsbury double. The speedy outfielder then advanced to third on a Victorino single. Pedoira then hit what looked like a sure double play ball to short, but Victorino took out Rays 2B Ben Zorbist with a clean slide- breaking up the double play and allowing Ellsbury to come home and make it 4-1. However, Rays starter David Price would get the double-play he was after when Big Papi came to the plate and did exactly that. The Red Sox added another run in the bottom of the 4th with a 2-out RBI triple from Stephen Drew.
In the top of the 5th, former Red Sox and Dodgers first baseman James Loney belted a 2-RBI double to deep center field to cut the Red Sox lead to 5-3. Pedroia would then get an RBI double to make it a 6-3 Boston lead. After watching Boston jump all over Tampa Bay for 12 unanswered runs, the crowd at Fenway was getting a little nervous when the Rays once again cut into Boston's lead with a Yuniel Escobar RBI single that chased Lackey from the mound.
David Price would stay in a bit longer but get yanked in the bottom of the 8th after giving up a solo homer to David Ortiz to make it 7-4 Boston. Price apparently objected to Papi standing at home plate and admiring the trajectory of his solo shot- this would actually be Big Papi's first multi-homer playoff game of his career.
The Red Sox bullpen (Bresolow, Tazawa and Uehara) held the Rays scoreless for 3⅔ innings, and although Lackey struggled for a bit, he stayed in the game long enough to get the win. Boston takes a 2-0 series lead in the ALDS as the series heads to Tampa Bay on Monday. Game 3's scheduled starters are Clay Buchholz [12-1; 1.74 ERA] will go up against Tampa Bay's Alex Cobb [11-3; 2.76 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 6:07 ET and the game will be televised on TBS.
ELSEWHERE IN MLB- Game 2 of the ALDS between Detroit and Oakland was an absolute pitching gem. Justin Verlander threw seven complete innings, allowing four hits and striking out eleven, but he didn't factor into the decision. Oakland starter Sonny Gray went eight complete innings, striking out nine. A's closer Grant Balfour got credit for the win after pitching a 1-2-3 top of the 9th before Oakland catcher Stephen Vogt drove in the winning run- the game's only run- with nobody out in the bottom of the 9th. This evens the series at 1-1 before the ALDS moves back to Detroit.
As a matter of fact, both series in the NLDS are knotted up at a game apiece. Game 3 of both the Dodgers-Braves series and Cardinals-Pirates series will get underway on Sunday from Los Angeles and Pittsburgh, respectively.
Torey Krug got the Bruins on the board early with a power play goal about midway through the first period before the Red Wings tied things up at 1-1 thanks to a Henrik Zettiberg tally.
Boston would take a 2-1 lead not even forty seconds into the second thanks to a Brad Marchand goal. Jordan Caron would add to the Boston lead at the 7:58 mark of the second and the scoring in the 3rd consisted of a Zdeno Chara had a power play goalto give Boston a 4-1 win. Tukka Rask turned aside 36 of the 37 shots he faced and the Bruins were 2 for 4 on the power play in their first Original 6 matchup of the season.
The Bruins next game won't be until Thursday night when they host the Colorado Avalanche. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.
NCAA FOOTBALL- It was the game the Obama Administration didn't want played.
The Boston College Eagles have managed to surpass their win total from last season in a game that the federal government had threatened to shut down earlier this week- and on homecoming, no less.
Eagles RB Andrew Williams stood out with a 263 yard, 5 TD afternoon, tying a school record in Saturday's 48-27 win over the Army Black Knights. Williams came into Saturday afternoon's game leading the ACC in rushing at 515 yards and will tack Saturday afternoon's impressive numbers onto this season's totals.
The Eagles will have their work cut out for the next week when they head down to the Palmetto State to take on #3 Clemson in a nationally televised game. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 ET and that game will be broadcast on ABC or ESPN 2, depending on where you're located.
Charles Krupa- APBOSTON RED SOX- In Friday's game one of the ALDS, the Red Sox went from being no-hit through the first three innings to scoring 12 unanswered runs to take the first game of the series by a 12-2 final and give Jon Lester his first postseason win 2008- also Game 1 of the ALDS.
Game 2 didn't get off the quite the promising start as Game 1, and Lackey was clearly struggling early on. The Red Sox gave him some run support early by getting an RBI sac-fly from Pedroia and solo homer from David Ortiz to make it a 2-0 Boston lead. Tampa Bay cut the lead in half in the top of the 2nd thanks to an RBI sacrifice fly from Delmon Young.
The Red Sox added to their lead in the bottom of the 3rd after David Ross led off the inning with a double before coming home thanks to an Ellsbury double. The speedy outfielder then advanced to third on a Victorino single. Pedoira then hit what looked like a sure double play ball to short, but Victorino took out Rays 2B Ben Zorbist with a clean slide- breaking up the double play and allowing Ellsbury to come home and make it 4-1. However, Rays starter David Price would get the double-play he was after when Big Papi came to the plate and did exactly that. The Red Sox added another run in the bottom of the 4th with a 2-out RBI triple from Stephen Drew.
In the top of the 5th, former Red Sox and Dodgers first baseman James Loney belted a 2-RBI double to deep center field to cut the Red Sox lead to 5-3. Pedroia would then get an RBI double to make it a 6-3 Boston lead. After watching Boston jump all over Tampa Bay for 12 unanswered runs, the crowd at Fenway was getting a little nervous when the Rays once again cut into Boston's lead with a Yuniel Escobar RBI single that chased Lackey from the mound.
David Price would stay in a bit longer but get yanked in the bottom of the 8th after giving up a solo homer to David Ortiz to make it 7-4 Boston. Price apparently objected to Papi standing at home plate and admiring the trajectory of his solo shot- this would actually be Big Papi's first multi-homer playoff game of his career.
The Red Sox bullpen (Bresolow, Tazawa and Uehara) held the Rays scoreless for 3⅔ innings, and although Lackey struggled for a bit, he stayed in the game long enough to get the win. Boston takes a 2-0 series lead in the ALDS as the series heads to Tampa Bay on Monday. Game 3's scheduled starters are Clay Buchholz [12-1; 1.74 ERA] will go up against Tampa Bay's Alex Cobb [11-3; 2.76 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 6:07 ET and the game will be televised on TBS.
ELSEWHERE IN MLB- Game 2 of the ALDS between Detroit and Oakland was an absolute pitching gem. Justin Verlander threw seven complete innings, allowing four hits and striking out eleven, but he didn't factor into the decision. Oakland starter Sonny Gray went eight complete innings, striking out nine. A's closer Grant Balfour got credit for the win after pitching a 1-2-3 top of the 9th before Oakland catcher Stephen Vogt drove in the winning run- the game's only run- with nobody out in the bottom of the 9th. This evens the series at 1-1 before the ALDS moves back to Detroit.
As a matter of fact, both series in the NLDS are knotted up at a game apiece. Game 3 of both the Dodgers-Braves series and Cardinals-Pirates series will get underway on Sunday from Los Angeles and Pittsburgh, respectively.
Joe Camporeale- USA Today SportsNHL- As the Red Sox and Rays were getting underway, the Bruins and Red Wings were going head to head for the second game of the season at TD Garden on Saturday.
Torey Krug got the Bruins on the board early with a power play goal about midway through the first period before the Red Wings tied things up at 1-1 thanks to a Henrik Zettiberg tally.
Boston would take a 2-1 lead not even forty seconds into the second thanks to a Brad Marchand goal. Jordan Caron would add to the Boston lead at the 7:58 mark of the second and the scoring in the 3rd consisted of a Zdeno Chara had a power play goalto give Boston a 4-1 win. Tukka Rask turned aside 36 of the 37 shots he faced and the Bruins were 2 for 4 on the power play in their first Original 6 matchup of the season.
The Bruins next game won't be until Thursday night when they host the Colorado Avalanche. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.
NCAA FOOTBALL- It was the game the Obama Administration didn't want played.
The Boston College Eagles have managed to surpass their win total from last season in a game that the federal government had threatened to shut down earlier this week- and on homecoming, no less.
Eagles RB Andrew Williams stood out with a 263 yard, 5 TD afternoon, tying a school record in Saturday's 48-27 win over the Army Black Knights. Williams came into Saturday afternoon's game leading the ACC in rushing at 515 yards and will tack Saturday afternoon's impressive numbers onto this season's totals.
The Eagles will have their work cut out for the next week when they head down to the Palmetto State to take on #3 Clemson in a nationally televised game. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 ET and that game will be broadcast on ABC or ESPN 2, depending on where you're located.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Political Football Sports Chowdah Update- Army, Navy And Air Force Football To Continue Despite Government Shutdown; Bruins Get It Done Shorthanded; Red Sox Await Rays in All AL East ALDS
NCAA FOOTBALL-Pretty busy night for a Thursday, but more on that in a bit.
After some speculation that they wouldn't even take place this weekend, both the Air Force vs Navy and Army vs Boston College games are set to kick off at their scheduled times.
Despite the majority of costs being paid in advance by private booster clubs, reports were circulating that this weekend's football games involving the US Service Academies in West Point, Annapolis and Colorado Springs would be cancelled or postponed due to this week's government shutdown.
However, in what some critics are calling 'Shutdown Theater' [in which the government cuts the most visible and public services as opposed to the most redundant or non-essential- NANESB!] the Pentagon announced that the decision for each academy to play would be subject to review beforehand. The fact that the Air Force vs Navy game was sold out this weekend and the Army Black Knights would likely have to pay a fine for breach of contract undercut most arguments that shutting down the football teams is the most economically prudent thing to do.
The Naval Academy announced that all varsity sports aside from football were cancelled through Sunday as well.
BOSTON COLLEGE- Well, the Eagles managed to bookend their bye week with two relatively difficult games and went 0-2, although given what a train wreck the USC program has become I'm a little disappointed they didn't perform better against the Trojans.
Last weekend, the Eagles actually had a first-half lead against the 8th-ranked Florida State Seminoles, but the defense was clearly outmatched and the 'Noles would go on to win by a 48-34 final on Chestnut Hill.
This weekend's upcoming game at Chestnut Hill has garnered all sorts of attention from the non-sports world, and it has nothing to do with the fact that its Boston College's homecoming.
The BC Eagles will play host to the Army Black Knights, who are sporting a 2-3 record and are [almost literally- NANESB!] being used as a political football due to this week's ongoing government shutdown.
Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 ET and according to BC Athletics, the game will be streamed for free over ESPN3.
ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL- After a bye week, the UMass Minutemen are looking for their first win of the season. The Minutemen will head to Bowling Green, OH to take on the 4-1 Bowling Green Falcons on Saturday at 3:30 ET.
The UConn Huskies, after coming up short against the #15 Michigan Wolverines, lost to Buffalo by a 42-12 final last weekend and will host South Florida on October 12th.
BIG 12- The Texas Longhorns rallied late in Ames, IA and held on to win by a 31-30 final as DE Jackson Jeffcoat picked off Iowa State QB Sam B Richardson with 31 seconds left in the 4th quarter.
PAC 12- Although Utah got out to a 14-7 lead in the first quarter of their Thursday night game against #12 UCLA, the Bruins came roaring back late and would go on to win by a 34-27 final. The win give the Bruins a record or 4-0 while the Utes are now 3-2.
ELSEWHERE IN THE PAC 12- The USC Trojans fired head coach Lane Kiffin after the team's 62-41 loss to Arizona state last Saturday. Despite an above .500 record, the loss was reportedly the final straw for some who wanted Kiffin gone. There reportedly has been some interest in interviewing former Jacksonville Jaguars head coach and current Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio to fill the vacancy left by Kiffin's dismissal. However, Del Rio has said he's not interested in the position.
Not only did the 2013-2014 season get off to a good start, the Bruins managed to make history by becoming the first NHL team to score their first goal of the season on a penalty shot.
Chris Kelly got the Bruins on the board with a penalty shot at the 8:21 mark that beat Tampa Bay goalie Anders Lindback- it also counts as a shorthanded goal since the Lightning had 31 seconds remaining on the power play as well.
Valtteri Filppula got the Lightning on the board with a goal around the 10 minute mark of the second period, but with a minute to go in the second, Milan Lucic put the Bruins back on top. The Bruins then extended their lead with a shorthand tally from Patrice Bergeron just after four minutes into the 3rd period.
Boston goes on to win their home opener by a 3-1 final. The homestand continues through the weekend when the Bruins will host the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on NESN and the NHL Network.
OTHER BRUINS NEWS- The Bruins celebrated opening night on the Causeway by announcing a 4-year contract extension with defenseman Dennis Seidenberg. The extension is said to be worth about $16 million over the next four years.
BOSTON RED SOX- It's been a very busy week in the MLB postseason, yet the Red Sox haven't played a single game all week. Instead, Boston was awaiting the winner of the American League Wild Card tiebreaker game followed by the one game play-in. As it turns out, Boston will face the Tampa Bay Rays after the Rays beat the Texas Rangers by a 5-2 final on Monday and shut out the Cleveland Indians by a 5-0 final on Wednesday- both of those wins coming on the road.
With the ALDS matchup set, game one will take place on Friday afternoon at Fenway with Jon Lester [15-8; 3.75 ERA] getting the start in Game one against Tampa Bay's Matt Moore [17-4; 3.29 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 ET and the game will be televised on TBS.
ELSEWHERE IN MLB- The Pittsburgh Pirates won their first playoff game since 1992 as Francisco Liriano pitched 7 complete innings and allowed just four hits in the Pirates 6-2 win over Cincinnati in the National League Wild Card play-in game on Tuesday night.
The win means the Pirates advance to play another NL Central team, the division champion St Louis Cardinals. St Louis took game one of the series by a 9-1 final on Thursday night with Game 2 set for Friday afternoon. Game two of the NLDS gets underway from Busch Stadium at 1:00 ET with the Bucs Gerrit Cole [10-7; 3.22 ERA] will get the start against the Cards Lance Lynn [15-10; 3.97 ERA] and the game will be televised on the MLB network.
In the other NLDS matchup, the Dodger jumped out to a 1-0 series lead against the Atlanta Braves thanks to Clayton Kershaw's 7 innings of 3-hit baseball while striking out 12 Atlanta batters. Former Red Sox and Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez broke the game open with a 2-run homer in the top of the 3rd and the Dodgers would go on to win by a 6-1 final. Game two is scheduled for Friday at 6:07 ET and will feature LA's Zach Gerinke [15-4; 2.63 ERA] going up against Mike Minor [13-9; 3.21 ERA]. Game 2 will also be televised on the MLB network.
The last series to get underway will be the Tigers and A's from Oakland on Friday night. Game one will feature Detroit's Max Scherzer [21-3; 2.90 ERA] and Oakland's Bartolo Colon [18-6; 2.65 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 9:37 PM Eastern time (6:37 Pacific) and the game will be televised on TBS.
After some speculation that they wouldn't even take place this weekend, both the Air Force vs Navy and Army vs Boston College games are set to kick off at their scheduled times.
Despite the majority of costs being paid in advance by private booster clubs, reports were circulating that this weekend's football games involving the US Service Academies in West Point, Annapolis and Colorado Springs would be cancelled or postponed due to this week's government shutdown.
However, in what some critics are calling 'Shutdown Theater' [in which the government cuts the most visible and public services as opposed to the most redundant or non-essential- NANESB!] the Pentagon announced that the decision for each academy to play would be subject to review beforehand. The fact that the Air Force vs Navy game was sold out this weekend and the Army Black Knights would likely have to pay a fine for breach of contract undercut most arguments that shutting down the football teams is the most economically prudent thing to do.
The Naval Academy announced that all varsity sports aside from football were cancelled through Sunday as well.
BOSTON COLLEGE- Well, the Eagles managed to bookend their bye week with two relatively difficult games and went 0-2, although given what a train wreck the USC program has become I'm a little disappointed they didn't perform better against the Trojans.
Last weekend, the Eagles actually had a first-half lead against the 8th-ranked Florida State Seminoles, but the defense was clearly outmatched and the 'Noles would go on to win by a 48-34 final on Chestnut Hill.
This weekend's upcoming game at Chestnut Hill has garnered all sorts of attention from the non-sports world, and it has nothing to do with the fact that its Boston College's homecoming.
The BC Eagles will play host to the Army Black Knights, who are sporting a 2-3 record and are [almost literally- NANESB!] being used as a political football due to this week's ongoing government shutdown.
Here is the ESPN3 link to watch Saturday's Army-BC homecoming game http://t.co/b0wosLcU0b #ARMYvsBC pic.twitter.com/TWc0XkbSO8
— BC Football News (@BCFootballNews) October 3, 2013
Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 ET and according to BC Athletics, the game will be streamed for free over ESPN3.
ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL- After a bye week, the UMass Minutemen are looking for their first win of the season. The Minutemen will head to Bowling Green, OH to take on the 4-1 Bowling Green Falcons on Saturday at 3:30 ET.
The UConn Huskies, after coming up short against the #15 Michigan Wolverines, lost to Buffalo by a 42-12 final last weekend and will host South Florida on October 12th.
BIG 12- The Texas Longhorns rallied late in Ames, IA and held on to win by a 31-30 final as DE Jackson Jeffcoat picked off Iowa State QB Sam B Richardson with 31 seconds left in the 4th quarter.
PAC 12- Although Utah got out to a 14-7 lead in the first quarter of their Thursday night game against #12 UCLA, the Bruins came roaring back late and would go on to win by a 34-27 final. The win give the Bruins a record or 4-0 while the Utes are now 3-2.
ELSEWHERE IN THE PAC 12- The USC Trojans fired head coach Lane Kiffin after the team's 62-41 loss to Arizona state last Saturday. Despite an above .500 record, the loss was reportedly the final straw for some who wanted Kiffin gone. There reportedly has been some interest in interviewing former Jacksonville Jaguars head coach and current Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio to fill the vacancy left by Kiffin's dismissal. However, Del Rio has said he's not interested in the position.
AP- Michael DwyerNHL- And just like that, the puck has dropped on the Bruins season.
Not only did the 2013-2014 season get off to a good start, the Bruins managed to make history by becoming the first NHL team to score their first goal of the season on a penalty shot.
Chris Kelly got the Bruins on the board with a penalty shot at the 8:21 mark that beat Tampa Bay goalie Anders Lindback- it also counts as a shorthanded goal since the Lightning had 31 seconds remaining on the power play as well.
Valtteri Filppula got the Lightning on the board with a goal around the 10 minute mark of the second period, but with a minute to go in the second, Milan Lucic put the Bruins back on top. The Bruins then extended their lead with a shorthand tally from Patrice Bergeron just after four minutes into the 3rd period.
Boston goes on to win their home opener by a 3-1 final. The homestand continues through the weekend when the Bruins will host the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on NESN and the NHL Network.
OTHER BRUINS NEWS- The Bruins celebrated opening night on the Causeway by announcing a 4-year contract extension with defenseman Dennis Seidenberg. The extension is said to be worth about $16 million over the next four years.
BOSTON RED SOX- It's been a very busy week in the MLB postseason, yet the Red Sox haven't played a single game all week. Instead, Boston was awaiting the winner of the American League Wild Card tiebreaker game followed by the one game play-in. As it turns out, Boston will face the Tampa Bay Rays after the Rays beat the Texas Rangers by a 5-2 final on Monday and shut out the Cleveland Indians by a 5-0 final on Wednesday- both of those wins coming on the road.
With the ALDS matchup set, game one will take place on Friday afternoon at Fenway with Jon Lester [15-8; 3.75 ERA] getting the start in Game one against Tampa Bay's Matt Moore [17-4; 3.29 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 3:00 ET and the game will be televised on TBS.
ELSEWHERE IN MLB- The Pittsburgh Pirates won their first playoff game since 1992 as Francisco Liriano pitched 7 complete innings and allowed just four hits in the Pirates 6-2 win over Cincinnati in the National League Wild Card play-in game on Tuesday night.
The win means the Pirates advance to play another NL Central team, the division champion St Louis Cardinals. St Louis took game one of the series by a 9-1 final on Thursday night with Game 2 set for Friday afternoon. Game two of the NLDS gets underway from Busch Stadium at 1:00 ET with the Bucs Gerrit Cole [10-7; 3.22 ERA] will get the start against the Cards Lance Lynn [15-10; 3.97 ERA] and the game will be televised on the MLB network.
In the other NLDS matchup, the Dodger jumped out to a 1-0 series lead against the Atlanta Braves thanks to Clayton Kershaw's 7 innings of 3-hit baseball while striking out 12 Atlanta batters. Former Red Sox and Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez broke the game open with a 2-run homer in the top of the 3rd and the Dodgers would go on to win by a 6-1 final. Game two is scheduled for Friday at 6:07 ET and will feature LA's Zach Gerinke [15-4; 2.63 ERA] going up against Mike Minor [13-9; 3.21 ERA]. Game 2 will also be televised on the MLB network.
The last series to get underway will be the Tigers and A's from Oakland on Friday night. Game one will feature Detroit's Max Scherzer [21-3; 2.90 ERA] and Oakland's Bartolo Colon [18-6; 2.65 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 9:37 PM Eastern time (6:37 Pacific) and the game will be televised on TBS.
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