Volume 26:4

Super Bowl Preview

The Super Bowl matchup is set. The Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots will battle for the Lombardi Trophy. 

The New England Patriots beat the Denver Broncos 10-7 in a snowy defensive AFC Championship Game. The teams each went three and out to start the game. On the Broncos second drive, Denver was ready to go. On 3rd and 10 with a chance for another three and out, Broncos QB Jarrett Stidham, who was filling in for an injured Bo Nix, threw a 52-yard pass to Marvin Mims, setting Denver up in good position. Just two plays later, Denver cashed in with a six yard pass to Courtland Sutton, putting Denver up 7-0. The first quarter finished with another three punts, two for New England and one for Denver. After Denver turned it over on downs and New England punted, the Patriots decided the game needed some chaos. They forced a fumble and recovered it deep in Denver territory. A pair of plays after the turnover, Drake Maye dashed in for a six yard TD run to tie the game. The teams each traded punts and missed field goals to end the half. New England started the second half with the first made field goal of the game and took a 10-7 lead. After a Denver punt, New England missed another field goal. They had two punts each setting up for a wild finish. The Broncos had a chance to tie the game on a field goal, but Leonard Taylor III, who New England activated from the practice squad the day before, got a few fingers on the ball, helping to deflect it and keeping it from going through the uprights. After a New England punt, Denver had one more chance. But with just over two minutes left, Christian Gonzalez picked off Jarrett Stidham. Drake Maye clinched the game with a seven yard third down run.

The Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams battled in a shootout with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. The Seahawks struck first with a Kenneth Walker III touchdown after a Rams three and out. After three traded field goals, the score was 10-6 Seattle. Seattle punted, setting up the Rams to take their first lead of the game. They did just that with a 12-play, 87-yard drive, capping it with a Matthew Stafford to Kyren Williams TD pass. The teams traded quick punts before Seattle got the ball back. Sam Darnold found Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a TD and the Seahawks retook the lead into halftime. The Seahawks had to punt after a failed first drive of the second half. But the Rams punt returner muffed the catch, letting Seattle recover the ball at the Rams 17. On the first play of the drive, Sam Darnold found Jake Bobo for a 17-yard TD that put the Seahawks up by 11 points. Davante Adams and Cooper Kupp traded touchdowns to make the score 31-20. Kupp, a former Ram, caught what ended up being the game winning TD. After Puka Nacua caught a 34-yard TD pass, the fourth quarter hit. The Seahawks had two punts with the Rams turned the ball over on downs in between those stalled drives. Los Angeles had one more chance. On the third play of the drive, Matthew Stafford found Puka Nacua deep. But Nacua couldn’t get out of bounds without being tackled, the Rams had no timeouts, and they couldn’t get back to the line of scrimmage before time ran out. The Seahawks are heading back to the Super Bowl.

The Seahawks and Patriots met just over a decade ago in Super Bowl 49. In that game, rookie cornerback Malcom Butler famously intercepted Russell Wilson on the goal line with seconds left to give New England the win. This year, it is Super Bowl 60. The Seahawks are 4.5 point favorites to win the Lombardi Trophy this year. Both QBs Sam Darnold and Drake Maye threw for over 4,000 yards in the regular season. Jaxon Smith-Njigba was the NFL’s leading receiver with 1,793 yards. This should be a very exciting matchup.

Shutout Sabres

There was a very exciting game in the NHL this past week. The Buffalo Sabres dominated the New York Islanders 5-0. Alex Lyon, the Sabres goalie, made 26 saves in the game to get the shutout. After a quiet first period the game got exciting. 33 seconds into the second period the scoring started. Jason Zucker scored the first goal of the game. Tage Thompson scored with 13 seconds left in the second period to extend the lead to 2-0 at the second intermission. Jason Zucker extended the Sabres lead to 3-0 just 25 seconds into the third period. Rasmus Dahlin scored the fourth goal for the Sabres and Alex Tuch scored the fifth. The game ended with the Sabres getting their ninth straight win.

Battle of the NBA Rookies

The 2025 draft was exciting. But so was this game. First overall pick Cooper Flagg and fourth pick Kon Knueppel battled in a hard fought game. These two rookies played together in college at Duke. These teams were led by their first round rookies in this very competitive game. Flagg scored 49 points for the Dallas Mavericks. But Knueppel’s Charlotte Hornets were able to keep it tight. They were tied 113-113 late in the game. Lamelo Ball made a three pointer and Cooper Flagg responded with a layup to make it 116-115. Moussa Diabate got a dunk to put the Hornets up by three. Max Christie made a three point shot to tie the game at 118-118. Brandon Miller and Cooper Flagg traded threes to keep the score even. The final points of the game were two Kon Knueppel free throws after a foul by Cooper Flagg. Flagg played great other than that late foul. The first overall pick finished with 49 points and 10 rebounds. Knueppel also had a great game, getting 34 points with eight three pointers as part of his scoring. These two rookies played a hard fought game and will surely play another when they meet next.

Big Chaos

In Men’s College Basketball, the Big 10 is getting very chaotic. The preseason number one team in the country, Purdue is on a three-game losing streak. Nebraska’s undefeated season and 24-game win streak (dating back to last season) came to an end. The Michigan State Spartans are trying to make noise nationally. Illinois is on a ten-game win streak and ranked in the top ten in the nation. The Michigan Wolverines have taken control of the conference with only one loss. So what games caused this chaos?

Purdue was riding high at 17-1 and 7-0 in the conference. But it all came crashing down when UCLA gave Purdue their second defeat by ending the game on an 8-0 run to win 69-67. Purdue then gave up 46 points to Keaton Wagler and got upset by the ranked Illinois Fighting Illini. The third loss may have been the most painful. It was versus in-state rival Indiana. Indiana led for almost the entire game after pulling away in the first half.

Nebraska was 20-0 entering their hardest matchup of the season– away at top 5 Michigan. The Huskers handled the test well, leading almost the entire game. But they collapsed late, letting Michigan back into the game. Nebraska’s perfect season was over after a 75-72 Michigan win.

Michigan State has three losses this season to Duke, Nebraska, and rivals Michigan. The three top 10 teams are not a bad bunch to lose to. However, Michigan was the most recent game for these Spartans. Michigan State never had a chance as Michigan won 83-71. The Spartans can rebound though with all their goals ahead of them.

Illinois is red hot as they have rattled off 10 straight wins. Like MSU, their three losses are to all ranked teams. But unlike the Spartans, none of those losses were recent. Alabama, UConn, and Nebraska all beat Illinois early in the season. But the Fighting Illini have fought back. After the loss to Nebraska, they got four straight dominant wins versus Missouri, Southern, Penn State, and Rutgers. They pulled out a six-point victory on the road at a ranked Iowa team to extend their win streak to five games. They beat Northwestern, Minnesota, and Maryland to stretch their win streak to eight games. They then downed Purdue and Washington back-to-back to get to ten straight wins. But it is a very bumpy path to 11. Their next matchup is tomorrow on the road at Nebraska. This will be a tough battle. And after that, they face Northwestern then go on the road to Michigan State. The Fighting Illini also have to host Michigan late in the season.

Michigan is playing some great basketball with wins by 30 versus Auburn, 40 versus Gonzaga, 30 versus USC, three versus Nebraska, and 12 versus Michigan State. At the time of these matchups, those five opponents were all ranked. Michigan only has one loss and that is a three point loss to Wisconsin. The Wolverines are ready to make noise. But it will not be easy. They still have to travel to Purdue and Illinois. They also host Duke and Michigan State later in the season. Maybe they will play great. Maybe they won’t. Only time will tell.