Volume 26:42
Brewers & Rays to October
Yesterday, both the Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays punched their tickets to the postseason. Milwaukee has the best record in the MLB at 92-56. The Brewers took down the Cincinnati Reds 20-0 to make their playoff berth official. Garrett Mitchell hit a grand slam and Jackson Chourio had four hits. Meanwhile, the Rays clinched the playoffs in walk-off fashion. Rays superstar Junior Caminero hit a walk-off two-run homerun, his 40th of the season. Tampa last made the postseason was 2023. The Athletics, Los Angeles Angels, San Francisco Giants, and Colorado Rockies are eliminated from playoff contention.
MLB Divisional and Wild Card Races
The AL has a playoff race featuring many teams. The Tampa Bay Rays are in, and the New York Yankees, as well as the Boston Red Sox aren’t far behind. New York is still in the chase with Tampa for the division title in the AL East. The Houston Astros are three games ahead of the Texas Rangers in the AL West. The division title is likely the only path to the postseason for Texas. Meanwhile, the last playoff spot belongs to the Cleveland Guardians, who are tied with the Astros. Cleveland is 0.5 games behind the AL Central leading Chicago White Sox. The Astros and Guardians are only two games ahead of the defending AL Champion Toronto Blue Jays.
Over in the NL, the Milwaukee Brewers are into the playoffs, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are just days away from clinching their own playoff berth. The NL East leading Atlanta Braves are also safely in playoff position. The Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs both have strong grips on playoff spots. The San Diego Padres lead the Arizona Diamondbacks by 0.5 games for the final playoff spot. The Padres and Diamondbacks meet each other for the final series of the season, one that may very well be for that final playoff spot.
College Football Week 1 Recap
Week 1 of the College Football season has finished. Here’s what happened:
The Indiana Hoosiers started their title defense with a 52-16 win over the North Texas Mean Green. Up north, the Penn State Nittany Lions, Syracuse Orange, and UConn Huskies got easy wins. The Big 12’s Cincinnati Bearcats, Texas Tech Red Raiders, BYU Cougars, West Virginia Mountaineers, Iowa State Cyclones, Kansas State Wildcats, Arizona Wildcats, and Arizona State Sun Devils all got wins. Four ranked teams, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Ole Miss Rebels, Washington Huskies, and SMU Mustangs all won. The Louisville Cardinals lost to Ole Miss, but didn’t drop out of the rankings. ACC squads, the Virginia Tech Hokies, Duke Blue Devils, Pittsburgh Panthers, Miami Hurricanes all secured wins. The Ohio State Buckeyes, Georgia Bulldogs, Texas Longhorns, Texas A&M Aggies, Alabama Crimson Tide, Tennessee Volunteers, Iowa Hawkeyes, and Houston Cougars won. The Nebraska Cornhuskers, South Carolina Gamecocks, Auburn Tigers, Vanderbilt Commodores, Florida Gators, Maryland Terrapins, Northwestern Wildcats, and UCLA Bruins won. However, the California Golden Bears, Oklahoma State Cowboys, and Baylor Bears lost.
A few games took the spotlight. The 12th ranked LSU Tigers destroyed the Clemson Tigers after starting the game hours late, due to weather. LSU, who was in the midst of a controversy about bringing NFL players back to college to play, started out allowing a Clemson field goal. They tied the game with a field goal of their own. LSU pushed the ball across the goal line four times before the first half ended. They then scored three more touchdowns (failing the two point conversion on one of them) to go up 51-3. Clemson scored a garbage time touchdown, but it didn’t matter. LSU won 51-10.
The 5th ranked Oregon Ducks played the Boise State Broncos. The Broncos jumped out to a 17-7 lead. The Ducks fought their way back to a 24-17 lead. Boise State played their way to a 24-24 tie, and then a 27-27 tie. Oregon retook their lead, this time at 34-27. The squads traded punts, then Boise State got their final chance. After, an incompletion started the drive, the Broncos got a first down on an 18-yard pass. After three straight incompletions, the Broncos were down to their final down, a fourth and ten. Maddux Madsen threw deep to Darren Morris. The pass was broken up by Na’eem Offord to seal the win for the Ducks.
However, the main story of the night was controversy… a controversy involving the Michigan Wolverines. Michigan went into their Saturday night game against the Western Michigan Broncos as 27.5 point favorites. The Wolverines started with a touchdown to go up 7-0. However, they struggled for the remainder of the game. Western Michigan scored 12 unanswered points on four field goals, and held Michigan defensively throughout the game. Michigan was down to the final seconds of the game, as Bryce Underwood’s hail mary sailed out of the back of the end zone with triple-zeros on the clock. The game was over, Western Michigan had done it, they had upset the Wolverines! However, that apparently wasn’t the end of the game. The officials reviewed the play and decided that the ball made contact with a Western Michigan defender with one second left on the clock. The TV broadcast on NBC showed clearly that the ball hadn’t touched a player with one second left, the time expired while the ball was still in the air. The Wolverines got another chance, and this time Underwood found JJ Buchanan in the end zone, to avoid a shocking defeat. Controversy followed as the Big 10 officials issued a statement, as did NBC. The MAC was originally satisfied with the explanation and accepted the result of the game. However, earlier this week, the MAC changed their tune and appealed to the NCAA, asking that the result of the game be overturned. The result ended up not being overturned, but the controversy will likely impact Michigan down the stretch with rankings, and possible postseason seeding.
The CT has a College Football top 25 each week, here it is:
Texas Longhorns
Ohio State Buckeyes
Indiana Hoosiers
Georgia Bulldogs
Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Oregon Ducks
LSU Tigers
Miami Hurricanes
Oklahoma Sooners
Texas A&M Aggies
Ole Miss Rebels
USC Trojans
BYU Cougars
Texas Tech Red Raiders
Alabama Crimson Tide
SMU Mustangs
Penn State Nittany Lions
Utah Utes
Washington Huskies
Iowa Hawkeyes
Tennessee Volunteers
Louisville Cardinals
Missouri Tigers
Virginia Cavaliers
Memphis Tigers
Dropped out: 14 Michigan Wolverines, 25 Houston Cougars
New to the rankings: 24 Virginia Cavaliers, 25 Memphis Tigers
NFL Update
Week 1 of the NFL season is here. 2 games have happened, and 14 more are on the way.
The Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 13-10
Patriots led 10-0 before allowing 13 unanswered points
Seattle sealed the game with a Josh Jobe interception in the end zone
Seattle QB Sam Darnold got injured five plays into the game, will miss Week 2 versus the Arizona Cardinals
Pats WR AJ Brown got injured, and will miss at least four weeks
Pats QB Drake Maye threw three interceptions
Seattle WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba had 122 receiving yards and one touchdown
The San Francisco 49ers beat the Los Angeles Rams 27-7
This game was played in Melbourne, Australia
Rams WR Puka Nacua had 74 receiving yards
Rams DT Myles Garrett had no tackles
49ers QB Brock Purdy threw for 205 yards and three touchdowns
The Pittsburgh Steelers host the Atlanta Falcons
The Indianapolis Colts host the Baltimore Ravens
The Houston Texans host the Buffalo Bills
The Carolina Panthers host the Chicago Bears
The Jacksonville Jaguars host the Cleveland Browns
The Detroit Lions host the New Orleans Saints
The Tennessee Titans host the New York Jets
The Cincinnati Bengals host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Los Angeles Chargers host the Atlanta Cardinals
The Minnesota Vikings host the Green Bay Packers
The Las Vegas Raiders host the Miami Dolphins
The Philadelphia Eagles host the Washington Commanders
The New York Giants host the Dallas Cowboys
The Kansas City Chiefs host the Denver Broncos
College Football Week 2 Preview & Predictions
Week 2 of the College Football season is here. The #3 Indiana Hoosiers continue their title defense against the Howard Bison. The #17 Penn State Nittany Lions, #4 Georgia Bulldogs, #5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, #19 Washington Huskies, #7 LSU Tigers, #14 Texas Tech Red Raiders, #11 Ole Miss Rebels, and #12 USC Trojans all play G5 teams today. The Thursday and Friday games saw the Miami Hurricanes, Missouri Tigers, Louisville Cardinals, and Virginia Cavaliers get wins.
Now here are the big games today:
#20 Iowa Hawkeyes versus Iowa State Cyclones
Cy Hawk game
Iowa leads series 46-25
Iowa State beat Iowa 16-13 last season
Prediction: Iowa 33-20 over Iowa State
#25 Memphis Tigers versus Boise State Broncos
Boise State lost to Oregon Week 1
Memphis is 2-0, with a win over UNLV
Prediction: Boise State 27-24 over Memphis
#15 BYU Cougars versus Arizona Wildcats
Both teams are 1-0
BYU is currently the CT’s highest ranked Big 12 team
Prediction: BYU 28-20 over Arizona
#9 Oklahoma Sooners versus Michigan State Wolverines
Oklahoma is 5.5 point favorites
Oklahoma beat Michigan 24-13 last year
Prediction: Oklahoma 31-17 over Michigan
#10 Texas A&M versus Arizona State Sun Devils
Texas A&M started 11-0 last season
Arizona State won the Big 12 two seasons ago
Prediction: Texas A&M 34-31 over Arizona State
Texas is 1.5 point favorites
Ohio State beat Texas 14-7 last season
QBs Arch Manning and Julian Sayin are both Heisman contenders
Prediction: Texas 21-18 over Ohio State
