Basketball – NBA: This week’s games.
Football – NCAA: Bowl update. Michigan hire.
Football – NFL: This week’s games heading into the final week of the regular season.
Quick Highlights: NCAAM – no losses! Golf. Skiing.
Basketball-NBA:
- The Pelicans got an upset of the Mavericks on Monday, with a 40 point 4Q to come back to win. They would win by 6. The Mavs would also drop a game on sat to the Kings to give them their 8th win as well. Not a good week for Dallas losing to bad teams.
- 12 teams on Tuesday scored over 125 points. Kawahi Leonard would put up 41 points on Tuesday to lead the Clippers to their 8th win of the season, not only that but beating the Rockets by 20 to do it! they would get their 9th on Friday over the Trail Blazers and 10th over the Pistons ina weird one on Sunday. The Pistons are 24-8! Seems to be a good week for the Clippers.
- We all got a gift on Christmas with the Timberwolves/Nuggets game going into OT. The Nuggets let MN back in with a strong 4Q. AEdwards had 44 points to his name but the Joker got the last laugh. He was responsible for 56 points and his team would win by 4.
- The Wizards got their 6th win of the season, crushing the Raptors 138-117. They would get their 7th on Sunday over the Grizzlies. The Pistons lost their 7th game of the season to make them 11-5 while playing away. They lost this one to the Jazz by 2.
- The Spurs scored 40 points in the 1Q but would go on to lose to the Jazz by 13. This was a wild result after they just beat OKC for the third time (and 2nd in just 11 days) on Christmas!
- The Raptors took the Warriors to OT but then went on a run to win 141-127. I had to check to make sure I read OT right because of that score difference.
Football – NCAAF:
- Bowl games: Cal was leading Hawaii in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl 21-13 in the 4Q but then Hawaii came back from a 21 point deficit to win their home bowl game. The Golden Gophers needed OT to beat the Lobos in the Rate Bowl. But NM would only manage a FG where Minnesota got the TD. UTSA went off scoring 57 points to crush FIU in the First Responder Bowl. That’s the most points of a bowl game so far. But the New Mexico bowl had the most points so far combined with #25 UNT vs San Diego St who both scored 45+. UNT would win by one by 2! Oh how the mighty have fallen. If I told you Clemson and Penn St played each other you might’ve thought it was a playoff game before this season. Actually it was n the Pinstripe Bowl. Penn St would score 16 points in the 4Q to beat Clemson who went 7-6 for the year. LSU would start the Kinger Texas Bowl with a kickoff return and UH fans had to have been like ‘oh shiz’. LSU would score on their next possession as well but after that UH started to pick things up and take the lead going into the locker room. We would end up tied 3xs in this game including at the start of the 4Q. The Cougs would put up a FG, force a 3& out then score a TD to take the 10 point lead and while LSU would go 63 yards in 1:07 to go back to within a FG, UH would run the clock out and get the narrow win.
- The only loss in the Top 25 was #22 GT who played #12 BYU in the Pop-Tarts Bowl. By far the best bowl game btw. GT was leading 21-10 going into the 4Q. But GT would have a bad 2H in general. their drives were fumble, missed FG, 3&out, 3&out, INT to end the game. BYU would get 2 TDs in the 4th to win by 4.
- Michigan has announced that they are hiring the former Utah HC Kyle Whittingham.
Football – NFL:
- MNF: the 49ers and Brock Purdy went to work on MNF. He threw for a career high of 5 TDs and they scored double-digit points in every Q. They would crush the Colts 48-27. The Colts have now lost the last 5 games (6 after they lost to the Jags the next week as well) and are out of playoffs.
- Thurs/Christmas games:
- The Cowboys scored 17 points in the 3Q to beat the Commanders by a TD.
- The Lions wouldn’t manage to score a TD in the 2H to lose to the Vikings and known themselves out of playoff contention 23-10.
- The Broncos only managed 2 FGs in the 1H while the Chiefs put up a TD. However the script flipped in the 2H, the Broncos would score a TD in each Q and the Chiefs would only manage 2 FGs. Broncos win by 7.
- There were 2 games on Saturday as well.
- The Texans got off to a hot start, leading the Chargers 14-3 at halftime. They would hold on to win barely 20-16. The Ravens would get on a scoring frenzy, putting up 41. Needless to say they beat the Packers 41-24.
- There were only 4 close games on Sunday. The Bills would need a Tush Push in the final 8 seconds of the game on 4th & goal from the 1 to score what could be game tying TD. However the Bills would go for the 2-point conversion and the win but QB Allen would miss his WR and lose by 1. The Browns scored 10 points in the 1Q and that was all that was needed to upset the Steelers 13-6! The Bucs had no run game, like 53 yards the entire game. Good thing Baker Mayfield could make up for some of it with 300+ passing. However the Bucs also had 3 turnovers and a missed FG. Dolphins would get this win by 3. Best game of the weekend though had to be the Bears vs 49ers. If I told CHI fans that they would start with a pick six and not punt a single time outside the 1Q to end up with 38 points, they would take it and think they won. But alas it was not to be. We were tied 4xs in this one and it was all TDs til the 4Q. The Pick 6 on the first play of the game would be their only lead until a FG with 5:22 to go. But in a game like this one, where scoring was plentiful, that felt ominous. And it was. The 49ers would go 75 yards in 7 plays to score the go ahead TD leaving CHI with 2:15 to go, down 4. They would get a couple of 3rd (or 4th) and longs and go down the field. They would end up with a 1st & goal from the 2with 4 seconds to go but they wouldn’t get it so 49ers hold on to win!
- Some not so close games: the Pats ran away with their game, scoring 42 points to beat the Jets who only managed to score 10. Speaking of only having 10 points, that’s what the Raiders ended up with but got beaten by 34 by the Giants. Oh and the Panthers only scored 10 to the seahawks 27, 24 of which were in the 2H. The Bengals had a productive 2 and 3rd Qs to beat the Cardinals 37-14. The Saints won a closer game 34-26 over the Titans. That is their 4th win in a row, which is saying a lot for a 6-10 team.
Quick Highlights:
- NCAAM: No ranked losses this week! None.
- Golf: Brooks Koepka is leaving the LIV golf tour with 1 year left on his contract with them. He will be replaced as Smash GC captain by Talor Gooch. Koepka has cited family reasons and wanting to be closer to home. Should he want to return to the PGA Tour, he will need to reapply.
- Skiing: Mikaela Shiffrin was back on top after Christmas with her 6th straight win in a WC slalom. This one was a surprise as she was 4th after run 1. This was her narrowest win by just .09.
What to watch this week
Basketball-NBA:
- Mon 12/29
- Cavaliers at Spurs @ 7pm on NBC
- Mavericks at Trail Blazers @ 9:30pm on NBC
- Tues 12/30
- 76ers at Grizzlies @ 7pm on NBC
- Pistons at Lakers @ 9:30pm on NBC
- Fri 1/2
- Nuggets at Cavaliers @ 6:30pm on Prime
- Thunder at Warriors @ 9pm on Prime
Basketball-NCAA:
- Mon 12/29
- Cornell at 9. Michigan St @ 6pm on FS1
- Dartmouth vs 22. Florida @ 6pm on SEC
- Tues 12/30
- Florida St at 12. UNC @ 6pm on ESPN2
- SC St at 19. Tennessee @ 7pm on SeC
- New Hampshire at 13. Nebraska @ 8pm on BTN
- 16. Louisville at Cal @ 8pm on ACC
- Wed 12/31
- 21. UVA at Vtech @ 1pm on ACC
- Georgia Tech at 6. Duke @ 3pm on ACC
- 4. UConn at Xavier @ 4pm on Peacock
- Fri 1/2
- 24. USC at 2. Michigan @ 6pm on Peacock
- 16. Louisville at Stanford @ 7pm on ACC
- West Virginia at 3. Iowa St @ 8pm on ESPN2
- 9. Michigan St at 13. Nebraska @ 8pm on Peacock
- Sat 1/3
- 21. UVA at NC St @ 10am on ESPN2
- Kentucky at 14. Alabama @ 11am on ESPN
- OSU at 15. Texas Tech @ 12pm on ESPN2
- Auburn at 23. Georgia @ 12pm on SEC
- 10. BYU at K St @ 12:30pm on CBS
- 8. Houston at Cinci @ 1pm on FOX
- 11. Vanderbilt at South Carolina @ 1pm on ESPNU
- 17. Kansas at UCF @ 1pm on Peacock
- 12. UNC at SMU @ 1:15pm on CW
- 19. Tennessee at 18. Arkansas @ 2pm on ESPN2
- 6. Duke ay Florida St @ 2:45pm on CBS
- 1. Arizona at Utah @ 3pm on Peacock
- UCLA at 25. Iowa @ 5pm on Peacock
- 20. Illinois at Penn St @ 6pm on BTN
- 5. Purdue at Wisconsin @ 7pm on FOX
- 22. Florida at Mizzou @ 7:30pm on SEC
- Sun 1/4
- Marquette at 4. UConn @ 1pm on NBC
Football – NCAAF:
Football – NFL:
- Mon 12/29
- Rams at Falcons @ 7:15pm on ESPN
- Sat 1/3
- Panthers at Bucs @ 3:30pm on ABC & ESPN
- Seahawks at 49ers @ 7pm on ABC & ESPN
- Sun 1/4
- 6 games @ 12pm on CBS/FOX
- CBS:
- Browns at Bengals
- Packers at Vikings
- Colts at Texans
- FOX:
- Saints at Falcons
- Cowboys at Giants
- Titans at Jags
- CBS:
- 7 games @ 3:25pm on CBS/FOX
- CBS:
- Jets at Bills
- Chargers at Broncos
- Chiefs at Raiders
- Commanders at Eagles
- FOX:
- Lions at Bears
- Cardinals at Rams
- Dolphins at Pats
- CBS:
- Ravens at Steelers @ 7:20pm on NBC
- 6 games @ 12pm on CBS/FOX
Golf:
- none
Hockey:
- Fri 1/2
- Winter Classic: Rangers vs Panthers @ 7pm on TNT
- Sat 1/3
- Penguins at Red Wings @ 11am on ABC
Olympic Sports:
- None
Soccer:
- None
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