Coming Up this Month: September
Baseball: This week’s games.
Football – NCAAF: Lee Coros’s last pick. Week 1. 5 Losses in the Top 25. Other headlines.
Tennis: US Open updates.
Quick Headlines: Golf. F1. NFL. NBA. WNBA.
Coming Up this Month: September
NFL season begins 9/4-2/8, T&F Worlds 9/13-21, Skateboarding Worlds 9/19-28, Ryder Cup 9/26-28
Baseball – MLB:
- This week’s games:
- Blue Jays P Max Scherzer got his 3rd straight W while the Blue Jay bats went off in the 1st inning to give them the 10-4 win over the Twins. The Mets crushed the NL East leading Phillies by 10 runs on Monday.
- Giants P Justin Verlander finally wins his first home game since joining the SF team with 5-2 victory over the Cubs. The Braves were down by 1 run headed into the 9th inning and then went OFF – scoring 9 runs in the 9th to beat the Marlins 11-2.
- Speaking of 9-run innings, the Yankees put one up in the 3rd inning of their game on Wed to destroy the Nationals 11-2. The Braves crushed the Marlins 12-1, the Giants manhandled the Cubs 12-3 and the Royals kicked the crap out of the White Sox 12-1. And while all of those scores are impressive, nothing beats the Rangers who put up 20 runs on the Angels who only managed 3!
- Let’s keep going with the high scores, Kyle Schwarber was 0-20 in the last 6 games before Thursday. Then he went off! He had 4 HRs in that single game and even got the opportunity to be the first to get 5 ever. He was up to bat against the Braves SS but he fell just short with a pop up fly. Phillies win 19-4! The Mets made 3 errors in their game against the Marlins and that was too many for the team to overcome. Miami wins 7-4.
- The Mets made up for it the next night though tallying up 19 runs to beat the marlins only by 10. Normally a score of 9 runs would be enough to win but not this week apparently. The Giants bats were hot too, beating the Orioles 15-8 on Friday.
- The Orioles paid SF back the next night though with a score of 11-1. The Yankees needed to go to the 11th inning to beat the White Sox who are still below 50 wins on the season. They would win by 2 though. That was their 7th straight win and they were looking to end the week with a nice little streak going. But the White Sox had other plans, CHI would win Sunday’s game 3-2. The Giants got revenge on the Orioles (man this has been back and forth with huge run #s) with a win of 13-2 on Sunday. Baltimore had 10 hits but only managed to bring in 2 runs.
Football:
- It was the end of en era with Lee Corso officially retiring from College Gameday. And he went out in style. His final pick was the Ohio St Buckeyes and they won (spoilers). Not only did his final pick win but all the teams he played for or coached for won. They sent him out in style.
- Some fun facts about Corso’s time on CGD: He was 100% in 1996 (only 4 picks though) and again in 1999 (with 11). His worst seasons were 2002 when he went 4-9 and again in 2015 when he went 6-12. His normal was high 60s/low to mid-70%s.
- Ohio St was his most picked school with 46 times going 32-14 (that includes this weekend). He picked against Oklahoma and Georgia the most with 22xs and he has a losing record against the Sooners going 6-16 when he chose against them. UGA he faired better with 13-9. He was perfect when picking 3 schools: ND St, VT (3 and 4xs) but USC is the most impressive going 17-0 when he picked them. Vtech also showed up again as Corso had the best record when picking against them going 8-0 as well. He had the Hokies nailed. Texas A&M and Washington were also 7-0 and 6-0.
- His overall record was 287-144 losses since 1996, choosing 69 different teams.
- Week 1 was awesome:
- The gameday game of the week and a rematch from the CFP semifinal last year was a defensive showdown. The Buckeye defense was dominant, keeping the Longhorns to 1 TD and making a goal line stand with a fresh set of downs on the 9 yard line. Texas’ 1H wasn’t great. of their 5 possession, 3 were 3&outs. It came down to the final 4:10 when TX got the ball down 0-14. But that’s when Arch lived up to his name and the horns went 60 yards in 4 plays to score their first TD, the D then held up their end of the bargain and held Ohio St to a 3& out. Texas would only make it to about the 50 and would be short on 4th down. So even though the last time these two teams met, 26 guys went to the NFL, we get the same result: Ohio St wins the game. Texas is the first #1 team to lose their season opener since Miami in 1990.
- Well the real death valley has been settled and it is in Baton Rouge. Despite #4 Clemson scoring 10 in the 1H and holding #9 LSU without a TD through the 1H, they wouldn’t score again in the 2H. The LSU Tigers would put up 2 TDs including 1 in the final 6 minutes to win by 7. This is Bryan Kelly’s first season opener in 5 games.
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- The Catholics vs Convicts rivalry was re-born on Sunday night which if you don’t know is #6 Notre Dame vs #10 Miami. We looked like we were going to be tied going into the locker room at 7 a piece when MIA scored with 12 seconds to go in the 1H to go up 14-7. The Canes came out and piled on, going up 21-7. But the 4Q got crazy with a combined 23 points. even with an INT in the 4Q which led to a MIA FG, ND tied it up in the final 4 min. then a 47 yard FG puts MIA back on top 27-24 with 1:04 to go. But as ND went to try to get a game winning drive going, ND’s QB gets sacked twice! And they couldn’t get the next play off before time expired and the convicts win!
- A huge shocker on this one! Unranked Florida St upset #8 Alabama 31-17. The Tide could not get their run game going with only 87 yards the entire game. FSU’s QB, Castellanos, had 78 yards himself. On the other side, Ty Simpson (Bama’s QB) threw for 254 yards but again hard to win a game all through the air. FSU scored on every possession they had in the 1H (except the final short one). You thought Bama might make a comeback when they scored with 11 minutes left to make it 24-17 but FSU would answer right back to put the game away. This ends Bama’s 23 season opener wins (dating back to 2001).
- #25 Boise St drew first blood with a TD in the 1Q but that was IT all game! South Florida came back to score 34 unanswered points to shock the Broncos, who also have 3 turnovers which doesn’t help. Not off to a great start for the most favored Group of 5 team to make the CFP.
- Other storylines in the Top 25:
- #2 Penn St kept Nevada TD-less until the final 25 seconds of the game but still win big 46-11.
- #15 Florida shutout Long Island 55-0.
- #17 K St had themselves a scary game, scoring the go ahead TD with just 42 seconds left to win by 3 over North Dakota.
- Decimations: #21 Ole Miss crushed GA St 63-7. 22 Iowa St rolled South Dakota 55-7. #23 Texas Tech put up 47 points in the 1H to beat Arkansas-Pine Bluff 67-7.
- #24 Tennessee looked like they were going to roll on Syracuse with 31 in the 1H but the Cuse managed to put up 26 by the end of the game. Final score here though was still Vols win 45-26.
- GT overcame 3 turnovers in 8 minutes to still beat Colorado 27-20.
Tennis:
- The US Open is in full swing and set to finish this weekend.
- On the men’s side: #14 USA Taylor Paul was upset by #23 UZB Bublik in the 3rd In that match, the men alternated sets with 3 of them going into tie breakers before Bublik would win. #5 GBR Draper retired and didn’t even play in his 2nd round match. So #10 ITA Musetti will face an unranked player. #3 GER Zverev was upset by #25 CAN Auger-Aliassime only winnin the first set then losing in 4. POL Majchrzak medically retired in his 3rd round match after a hard fought uspet of #9 RUS Khachanov in round 2. Khachanov took the first 2 sets but Majchrzak came back to win the final 3. 2 of the match’s sets went to tie breakers. Unranked GER Struff beat #11 DEN Rune in a hard fought 5-set match then next beat #17 USA Tiafoe in straight sets. Now he will now play #7 Djokovic. Sad news for the Americans once again with #6 Blake Shelton medically retiring with a shoulder injury in the 3rd round. He is out now.
- On the Women’s side: Venus was knocked out in the first round. CZE Vondrousova knocked off #7 ITA Paolini in straight sets. CZE Krejcikova upset #10 USA Navarro – quite a roll for the CZEs. She will now play USA Taylor Townsend after she beat #5 RUS Andreeva in straight sets to make it to the 4th In the 4th round, we are going to get a great matchup of #23 JPN Naomi Osaka and USA #3 Coco Gauff! Its going to be a good one. only 5 unranked players are left on the women’s side.
Quick Highlights:
- Golf: Ryder Cup has been named. Will be played at Bethpage Black.
- US: Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay, Bryson DeChambeau, Harris English, Ben Griffin, Russell Henly, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, JJ Spaun, Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas and Cameran Young
- Captain: Keegan Bradley
- Europe: Ludvig Aberg, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Rasmus Hojgaard, Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry, Robert MacIntyre, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Justin Rose, Sepp Straka
- Captain: Luke Donald
- US: Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay, Bryson DeChambeau, Harris English, Ben Griffin, Russell Henly, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, JJ Spaun, Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas and Cameran Young
- NFL: Dallas Cowboys traded Micah Parsons to the Packers for $188MM for 4 years and is now the highest paid non-QB in the league. In return, Dallas got a DT and 2 future picks.
- NBA: Giannis’ brother is now back on the Bucks for a year so the bros are back together to play this next season.
- WNBA: CHI Sky are retiring Candace Parker’s #3.
What to watch this week
Baseball – MLB:
- Tues 9/2
- Yankees at Astros @ 7:10pm on TBS
- Fried vs Valdez
- Yankees at Astros @ 7:10pm on TBS
- Fri 9/5
- Nationals at Cubs @ 1:20pm on Apple TV+
- Brewers at Pirates @ 5:40pm on Apple TV+
- Sat 9/6
- 3 games @ 6:15pm on FOX
- Astros at Rangers
- Twins at Royals
- Giants at Cardinals
- 3 games @ 6:15pm on FOX
Football – NCAAF:
| Top 25 | |||||
| Week 2 | |||||
| Top 25 Games | |||||
| Visitor | Home | Day | Time (CT) | TV | Line |
| Baylor | 16. SMU | Sat 9/6 | 11:00 AM | CW | SMU -3.5 |
| Iowa | 22. Iowa St | Sat 9/6 | 11:00 AM | FOX | ISU -2.5 |
| Oklahoma St | 7. Oregon | Sat 9/6 | 2:30 PM | CBS | Ore -28.5 |
| 21. Ole Miss | Kentucky | Sat 9/6 | 2:30 PM | ABC | Ole -9.5 |
| 14. Michigan | 18. Oklahoma | Sat 9/6 | 6:30 PM | ABC | OU -2.5 |
| *GameDay indicated in bold* | |||||
Football – NFL:
- Thurs 9/4
- Cowboys at Eagles @ 7:20pm on NBC
- Fri 9/5
- Chiefs at Chargers @ 7pm on YouTube
- Sun 9/7
- 8 games on FOX/CBS
- CBS:
- Dolphins at Colts
- Raiders at Patriots
- Cardinals at Saints
- Steelers at Jets
- FOX:
- Bucs at Falcons
- Bengals at Browns
- Giants at Commanders
- Panthers at Jags
- CBS:
- Titans at Broncos – or – 49ers at Seahawks @ 3:05pm on FOX (biggest line is DEN -7.5
- Lions at Packers – or – Texans at Rams @ 3:35pm on CBS
- Ravens at Bills @ 7:20pm on NBC
- 8 games on FOX/CBS
- Mon 9/8
- Vikings at Bears @ 7:15pm on ABC and ESPN
Motor Sports:
- Sat 9/6
- MotoGP: Catalunya Sprint Race @ 7:55am on FS1
- Sun 9/7
- F1: Pirelli ITA GP @ 8am on ESPN2
Olympic Sports:
- Sat 9/6
- Rugby: Women’s World Cup: USA vs Samoa @ 12pm on CBS
Soccer:
- Thurs 9/4
- UEFA World Cup Qualifying: BUL vs ESP @ 6pm on FS1
- UEFA World Cup Qualifying: SLO vs GER @ 8pm on FS1
- Fri 9/5
- UEFA World Cup Qualifying: UKR vs FRA @ 6:30pm on FS1
- Sun 9/7
- UEFA World Cup Qualifying: GEO vs BUL @ 7:55am on FS1
- UEFA World Cup Qualifying: LIT vs NED @ 10:50am on FS1
- UEFA World Cup Qualifying: GER vs N Ire @ 1:30pm on FS1
- UEFA World Cup Qualifying: ENG vs AND @ 4pm on FS1
- UEFA World Cup Qualifying: ARM vs POR @ 6pm on FS1
Tennis:
- Mon 9/1
- US Open – Round of 16
- @ 10am on ESPN
- @ 6pm on ESPN2
- US Open – Round of 16
- Tues 9/2
- US Open – Quarterfinals
- @ 10:30am on ESPN
- @ 6pm on ESPN
- US Open – Quarterfinals
- Wed 9/3
- US Open – Quarterfinals
- @ 10:30am on ESPN
- @ 6pm on ESPN
- US Open – Quarterfinals
- Thurs 9/4
- US Open – Women’s Semifinals @ 6pm on ESPN
- Fri 9/5
- US Open – Women’s Doubles Final @ 11am on ESPN2
- US Open – Men’s Semifinals @ 6pm on ESPN
- Sat 9/6
- US Open – Women’s Final @ 3pm on ESPN
- Sun 9/7
- US Open – Men’s Final @ 1pm on ESPN and ABC
