60 Comments

Smoke

Expand full comment

ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE

Expand full comment

UConn has gone 3-0 against teams that have owls as their mascots. 48-14 over FAU, 29-20 over Temple, and 17-10 over Rice. UConn does not play Kennesaw State this season

Expand full comment

UTSA blows a 35-7 lead at half, loses 46-45 to Tulsa

https://www.espn.com/college-football/playbyplay/_/gameId/401645355

Expand full comment

J. Michael Sturdivant has as many receiving TDs as Fernando Mendoza (1)

Expand full comment

You love to see it.

Expand full comment

Javian Thomas (59) is averaging nearly the same amount of yards per game as UCLA (64), which is remarkable since the former hasn't been a starter until lately

Expand full comment

Oklahoma is dead last in the FBS in sacks surrendered (39), having surrendered 10 vs. Ole Miss.

Expand full comment

Cal, which used to be second to last in the country in giving up sacks, gave up zero sacks to Oregon State. Oregon State is dead last in the FBS in sacks/game. Xavier Carlton got another half sack (7.0) and has more sacks than the entire Beavers team (5.0).

Expand full comment

Furd drops to 2-6 with a home loss to Wake Forest. Enjoying the schadenfreude.

Expand full comment

Judging by that picture and knowing that capacity is around 50,500, it seems likely that the reported attendance is *tickets sold* as opposed to actual tickets used.

Troy Taylor must be reliving the bad ol' days of Cal football under Kapp and the early days of Snyder.

Expand full comment

[Ex-PAC] Arizona loses to WVU 31-26, Colorado beats Cinci 34-23, #1 Oregon beats #20 Illinois 38-9, USC beats Rutgers 42-20, #13 Indiana beats UW 31-17, Wazzu beats SDSU 29-26

Expand full comment

[ACC] #19 Pitt beats Syracuse 41-13, L'ville beats BC 31-27, #6 Miami beats FSU 36-14, Duke loses to #22 SMU 28-27 as their 2-point conversion in OT fails, VaTech beats GaTech 21-6, UNC smokes UVA 41-14, Wake Forest beats Stanfurd 27-24 as Ashton Daniels gives up a pick with 28 seconds to go at the Wake 36.

Expand full comment

On the two-point conversion attempt Duke’s receiver was held by the SMU defender in the end zone, keeping him from extending to the ball. Should have resulted in a penalty, half the distance for a retry.

Expand full comment

SMU committed six turnovers to Duke's zero.

Expand full comment

Last play of regulation: Duke only need to kick a 30 yarder to win

https://twitter.com/NoleBhoy/status/1850381501071798351

Expand full comment

Box jumps coming in handy!

Expand full comment

I guess the rules have changed. I would have thought it is illegal to vault an offensive lineman.

Expand full comment

I think the rule is that you cant use another player to propel yourself upward (a teammate's back for example). I guess it's fine to leap clean over them.

Expand full comment

Correct.

Expand full comment

PRO

Expand full comment

Over the last 5 games, the Lions have more touchdowns (24) than incomplete passes (20)

vs Tennessee: 7 TDs, 4 incompletions

vs Minnesota: 4 TDs, 3 incompletions

vs Dalls: 5 TDs, 8 incompletions

vs Seattle 6 TDs, 0 incompletions

vs Arizona 2 TDs, 5 incompletions

Expand full comment

Darrell Taylor completely fooled on this quick-shovel, leading to him celebrating what he thought was a sack but was actually a super late hit

https://twitter.com/SportsSturm/status/1705267245268729906

Expand full comment

also yesterday somewhere about halfway thru, Goff was something like 6 of 8 for 28 yds. they were up 35-14 or so mostly on more return yds than yds from scrimmage.

Goff finished 12/15 and 85 yds, 3 TDs for the game. pretty impressive given that they scored 52 points.

Expand full comment

I saw the Lions scored 52 points and was so excited to check my fantasy update, only to be disappointed that Goff gave me only 13 points, and St Brown just a couple of points.

Expand full comment

49ers strong Q3 enough to beat the Cowboys 30-24. Kittle too much for Dallas to handle

https://www.espn.com/nfl/boxscore/_/gameId/401671795

Expand full comment

...and yet the 49ers allowed Dallas back into the game. Indeed, the 49ers scored a FG in the 3 possessions before taking over from Dallas on downs. 2 of those 3 49ers possessions were 3 and outs.

Expand full comment

Looks like Justin Wilcox took over for Kyle while he stepped out for a smoke.

Expand full comment

You give Wilcox too much credit, and Shanahan not enough blame. Shanahan's offense tends to turtle when it has a big lead.

Expand full comment

Though the difference is that the Niners can usually run the ball pretty well (when they're healthy).

Expand full comment

That’s how you blow a double-digit, 4Q lead in the Super Bowl on three separate occasions….

Expand full comment

Precisely my point.

Expand full comment

the best part of NFL stuff this weekend

Tampa Bay wore uniforms from the team's Creamsicle jersey era and honored the 1979 Bucs, who won the franchise's first division title.

Expand full comment

the Commanders has some yelllow/black uniforms that looked more like the Steelers. it was a little confusing.

Expand full comment

Warriors lose to Clips 112-104. Steph sprains ankle

https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401704667

Expand full comment

home woes continue. the W's used to have such an amazing home court advantage.

Expand full comment

New statue unveiled by Miami Heat. Congratulations Laurence Fishburne/Kelsey Grammar/Ken Watanabe

https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/28/sport/dwyane-wade-miami-heat-statue-nba-spt-intl/index.html

Expand full comment

Looks like Sean Payton's culture still lingers in Nawlins

https://twitter.com/SamMonsonNFL/status/1850647859516912034

Expand full comment

Jets sucked more than the Pats, lose 25-22

https://www.espn.com/nfl/matchup/_/gameId/401671618

Expand full comment

Bears and Commanders have a rock fight for 3.7 quarters. Then Chicago's offense woke up. And then it got a bit wild.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/recap/_/gameId/401671599

Expand full comment

Sorry, but the jury is still very much out on Caleb Williams as an NFL QB.

He has never been good at operating within the framework of an offense. That worked at USC against college atheletes in 45-41 games, but there is only so much you can do when every single play becomes an off-script frazzled dash. There’s no 3-step or 5-step drop for him or a quick throw where he gets the ball out, which is how Deshaun Watson made his name. Unsurprisingly, both are struggling. At the NFL level, you have to hit the easy plays that the D gives you, and he’s not doing that.

Expand full comment

I went out for awhile and was pleased to see the Commanders behind when I got home. I went to the kitchen to make dinner. While it was cooking, I turned the TV back on with two seconds left and saw the last play. I’m not a Commanders fan so was quite disappointed.

Expand full comment

we saw it as it happened. was nuts. HAG was here too.

Expand full comment

that was nuts. apparently the Chicago DB was taunting the crowd before the play. he apologized ..

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/42043231/tyrique-stevenson-taunts-commanders-fans-seconds-bears-lose-hail-mary-td

Expand full comment

Glad it wasn’t Hicks (#22) who was doing the taunting. Elijah was among the several Chicago DB’s who leaped but failed to knock the ball down, though. I feel bad for him.

Expand full comment

He should have kept taunting and the Bears would have won the game. Instead he went back to play defense and tipped the ball to Washington WR.

Expand full comment

Good point.

Expand full comment

CAL

Expand full comment

This is wrong. The below link is a post from the Cal Band director, Matt Sadowski. He is the ONLY paid member of the Band. Literally everyone else involved is a volunteer (including the students). We have complained about the sound system in Memorial on this blog, but this is not the way to fix it.

https://x.com/MattSadowskiUCB/status/1850296436031910160

Expand full comment

I get your point: there should be better avenues of discussion. But this has been a point of friction for years and I'd bet money that there have been numerous attempts to discuss this very issue without any action from Cal Athletics.

At some point, you have to stop beating your head against a wall and attempt to enlist others to make your point. That's what I see Sadowski doing here.

This points up a problem I have with Cal Athletics - they continue to make decisions that drive away folks who have been season ticket holders for decades. The way in which Cal Band's involvement over the last 15 years has been diminished is a detriment to the Cal football experience. The Marching Band has played increasingly less in that time. Marching bands are supposed to be an integral part of the college football experience. Cal Athletics has decided that the Band should mostly be seen and not heard.

This contributed to my decision to drop my season tickets after the 2015 season. I will never buy more than a ticket for the Big Game because they have decided to devalue the college experience in favor of an NFL Lite model. It isn't my jam, and it isn't why I was attracted to college football or even Cal football specifically to begin with.

Expand full comment

It's one way to get attention or make Cal Athletics officially explain their reasoning to the fans. I'm sure he tried to discuss it internally and Cal Athletics decided to ignore his and fans' complaints

Expand full comment

Go Bears!!!

Expand full comment

OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY

Expand full comment

WaPo has reportedly lost 8% of its subscriber base after Bezos blocked the paper's endorsement of Harris

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/28/nx-s1-5168416/washington-post-bezos-endorsement-president-cancellations-resignations

Expand full comment

That is as it should be.

The actions of Soon-Shiong and Bezos are simply more evidence that massive wealth degrades one's personal empathy for others.

Expand full comment

DBD AV CLUB

Expand full comment

Finished Slow Horses S4.

Fantastic.

Expand full comment