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11/11/2024

Remembering Bobby Allison...College Football Review

Add-on posted early Tuesday a.m.

NFL

What an awful Sunday for New York area football fans.  You had the crushing Giants defeat to the Panthers in overtime in Munich, Germany, in the morning.  Then us fans that watch both just because they are always the big story in these parts, waited a few hours before the Jets took on the Cardinals in Glendale, AZ, and my team was a total no show, the 6-4 Cardinals, one of the surprises in the NFL this season, totally humiliated Aaron Rodgers and Co., 31-6.

The Jets were atrocious. Rodgers was just 22/35, 151, 0-0, 72.4, with his longest pass play all of 15 yards, while on defense, the team had a ton of missed tackles, including an egregious one by the supposed All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner when the score was 14-6 and the game still in doubt.

As NJ.com’s (Star-Ledger) Andy Vazquez put it, after quarterback Kyler Murray threw a short pass over the middle to tight end Trey McBride on a third-and-7 near midfield, McBride catching it two yards past the line of scrimmage where he was immediately met by Gardner, who had covered the pass perfectly.  It should have been fourth-and-5 from the Jets 45, and a Cardinals punt.

“Instead it became a moment that defined why this team got run out of State Farm Stadium...and why they’re 3-7 and almost certainly headed for a 14th straight season of missing the playoffs.

“Gardner wrapped both arms around McBride at the hips and tried to torque the 6-4, 246-pound tight end to the ground.  McBride used his momentum to spin the 6-3, 200-pound Gardner like a teen discarding a backpack.”

Yup, that’s our New York Jets.

For his part, Murray was 22/24, 266, 1-0, 126.7, plus two touchdowns on the ground.  He is playing superb football.

--In other late games, the Eagles (7-2) rolled over the Cowboys (3-6) at Jerry World, Dallas’ first full game without Dak Prescott, and the replacements, Cooper Rush and Trey Lance, were a combined 17 of 29 for a whopping 66 yards, the longest pass play just ten yards!  Eegads.

For Philly, Jalen Hurts threw two touchdown passes and ran for two.

I watched the Lions (8-1) at the Texans (6-4), that is until halftime, Houston up 23-7 at the intermission, C.J. Stroud outstanding at QB, throwing for 164 yards and a touchdown, Cris Collinsworth in the booth marveling at Stroud’s accuracy.

And then in the second half, it was all Detroit, Stroud throwing for just 68 yards, two interceptions in the third quarter, and the Lions staged a huge comeback, winning 26-23 on two late Jake Bates field goals, the first from 58 yards to tie it with 5:00 to play, and then the second, a 52-yarder as time expired.

Lions quarterback Jared Goff, who had been on a historic six-game run, tried to give it away, throwing five interceptions, 15/30, 240, 2-5, 59.7 overall.

Quarterbacks who throw five interceptions have a 3-58 record over the last 30 years.

But it was the first time a team threw five interceptions, trailed by 15+ points and still won since 1970!

As for Bates, last season he was with the Michigan Panthers in the UFL, but a scout saw him kick a 62-yarder, the Lions gave him a contract and he was to compete with incumbent kicker Michael Badgley in training camp.  Badgley then got hurt, the job was Bates’, and he’s 14 of 14.

--Kansas City is 9-0, and if it’s possible to be 9-0 and look rather underwhelming most of the time, that’s the 2024 edition of the Chiefs.

But you make your own breaks and K.C. eked out Sunday’s 16-14 win after Leo Chenal blocked Will Lutz’s 35-yard field goal attempt as time expired.

But next week, K.C. travels to Buffalo.

--Miami (3-6) kept its faint playoff hopes alive with a 23-15 win over the Rams (4-5) last night in Inglewood, CA.  Miami got an efficient game from Tua at QB, and the Rams couldn’t punch it in from inside the red zone, settling for five field goals.

--Back to the Giants, head coach Brian Daboll strongly intimated that Daniel Jones will be benched during this bye week, the job turned over to either second-stringer Drew Lock or third-stringer Tommy Cutlets, aka Tommy DeVito.  I hope for the fans’ sake it’s Tommy Cutlets.

College Football

--We note the loss of two former coaches, John Robinson and Gerry Faust.

Robinson, who died at the age of 89, had great success at USC, 1976-82, with his teams finishing No. 2 in the final AP poll three times, 1976 (when they lost out to Pitt and Tony Dorsett), 1978 and ’79.

After coaching the LA Rams from 1983-91, where he led them to two NFC championship games, 75-68 overall, he then returned to USC where he coached from 1993 until 1997, not meeting with the same success as in his first tenure.

Nonetheless, Robinson was 104-35-4 in his two stints at USC and earned five Pac-10 titles.

Faust, who also died at the age of 89, was not successful as a head coach at Notre Dame after a legendary stint at Cincinnati’s Archbishop Moeller High School.

Faust’s five seasons, 1981-85, came between the Dan Devine and Lou Holtz eras, those two each winning a national championship, but Faust was just 30-26-1 during his Irish tenure.

College Basketball

--It’s way too early for the AP Poll to mean much, but the one released Monday after schools had played two games had the following Top Ten....

1. Kansas
2. Alabama
3. UConn
4. Gonzaga
5. Auburn...after the big win at Houston
6. Duke
7. Iowa State
8. Houston
9. Arizona
10. North Carolina

22. St. John’s
24. Rutgers

Wake Forest is 28th if you carried out the votes.

NBA

--The Knicks (4-5) suffered a loss Sunday night on the road at Indiana (5-5), 132-121, despite Jalen Brunson’s 33 points and 10 assists, Karl Anthony-Towns’ 32, and OG Anunoby’s 25.

But defense has been an issue early in the season (along with Mikal Bridges’ abysmal shooting from three), and New York gave up 40 points in the fourth quarter.  The Knicks also shot 7 of 25 from beyond the arc, while the Pacers were 21 of 46.  Time to panic, given the huge expectations for this New York ballclub?  Not yet.  But if they are just 10-10 after the first 20, that’s not going to bode well.

--Cleveland is now 12-0 after a 119-113 win over the Bulls (4-7) in Chicago last night.

--On the injury front across the league, Chet Holmgren is out for at least 8-10 weeks with a hip fracture, which is awful news for his future.

Kevin Durant suffered a calf strain and will miss at least two weeks.

Zion Williamson is out indefinitely with a hamstring strain, yet another significant injury for both the Pelicans and Zion, who’s never been able to stay on the court, though he did play 70 games last season.

And Ja Morant is week-to-week after a hip subluxation (a partial dislocation).

Golf Balls

--Austin Eckroat won his second PGA Tour title Sunday at the World Wide Technology Championships in Los Cabos.

Eckroat finished a stroke ahead of Justin Lower and Carson Young.

Joe Highsmith, in finishing solo fifth, moved from 126 to 112 on the points list and virtually assured his Tour status for 2025, as we can assume he’ll now end the year in the top 125.

But Ryan McCormick fell to T24 and only moved from 163 to 159 on the points list, so with two tournaments to go, he must do something special.

--At the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship this weekend, 39-year-old DP World Tour journeyman Paul Waring picked a good time for his second career win in 332 starts, finishing two shots ahead of Tyrell Hatton, and three clear of Thorbjorn Oleson, Rory, and Englishman Matt Wallace.

Waring was the 229th-ranked player heading into the week, but now, in moving to fifth on the DP World Tour season-long Race to Dubai points list, he is virtually assured of finishing in the top 10 after next week’s season finale and thus would be eligible to play the PGA Tour in 2025, as well as the DP World Tour.

--And then we have 67-year-old Bernhard Langer, who on Sunday won the Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Phoenix Country Club.

It is the 18th consecutive year he has won at least one tournament on the senior circuit, win No. 47 on the Champions Tour overall.  Stunning.  And he did it by draining a 35-foot birdie putt on No. 18.

And this from a guy who suffered a torn Achilles in February!

Steven Alker, who finished second, won the season-long Charles Schwab Cup for a second time.

--Eamon Lynch of Golfweek had the following to say regarding Rory McIlroy’s comments on Donald Trump’s re-election and the fate of the PGA Tour-LIV negotiations.

“The first Wednesday of November during leap years is a perilous time for public commentary as U.S. presidential election results are debated in a manner just as partisan as the campaign that preceded it.  This one is no different. Depending on whom you ask, one political party peddled faux populism and racism while displaying an astonishing appetite for conspiracy theories, while the other is woefully incapacitated by its indulgence of identity ideologues, Hamas groupies and gender jihadists.  Which is to say there was already plenty to pick over without wondering if the election of Donald Trump would help professional golfers get paid more.

“During a Wednesday press conference at a tournament in Abu Dhabi, Rory McIlroy was asked about progress in talks between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.  ‘Given today’s news with what has happened in America, I think that clears the way a little bit. So we’ll see,’ he offered, before adding that it would be ‘a huge moment’ if the Department of Justice under Trump was more amenable to green-lighting a deal than Biden’s DOJ might have been.

“In our hyper-polarized moment, even comments that are both bland and obvious can be construed as endorsing the election outcome, something McIlroy didn’t actually do.  But those three words – ‘clears the way’ – earned a pointedly sour reception.  McIlroy gave the impression of welcoming the prospect of Trump interfering with a regulatory process to benefit a coddled group of golfers who’ve already alienated legions of fans weary of their entitlement and greed.”

Well, I quoted Rory at length in Sunday’s Bar Chat, without editorializing myself, including his comment “Trump has a great relationship with Saudi Arabia,” and Eamon Lynch weighed in on that, as well as Rory’s conclusion, “But I think as the president of the United States again, he’s probably got bigger things to focus on than golf.”

“ ‘A great relationship’ is one way to describe a $2 billion Saudi donation to a hedge fund run by Trump’s son-in-law, but at least McIlroy’s last observation is beyond debate. Executives on both sides of this negotiation will know what impact, if any, the election will have.  And if either has slow-played things to see if the review process is less aggressive under a Trump administration, they now have a date on which they’ll find out. But those are questions Jay Monahan gets paid handsomely to answer, not McIlroy.

“Instead, what McIlroy inadvertently did was reinforce a widespread perception of myopic entitlement among Tour players.  Millions of people woke this morning with leaden uncertainty about things that actually matter – economic stability, support in times of war, global alliances, civil rights, basic healthcare, immigration status. That environment is sufficiently fraught without a golfer idly speculating on whether the election might be a treat for those impatient to get their hands on some Saudi riyal.”

NASCAR

After I posted Sunday I watched the ending of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at Phoenix Raceway and Joey Logano took the tile, his third, adding to championships in 2018 and 2022.  The 34-year-old thus became the 10th driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to win three or more championships.

Logano held off his Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney, who was aiming to win his second consecutive Cup title.  The victory was Logano’s fourth of the season and 36th of his Cup Series career, as he basically clinched his spot in the NASCAR Hall of Fame at a future date.

The championship was the third in a row for Team Penske.

Speaking of which, it’s always great to see Roger Penske in the pits after a win.  There are only a handful of sports figures who those of us of a certain age have had in their lives the entire time.  I mean there is Jack Nicklaus, 84, but he hasn’t played competitively in ages.  There’s no one in football, baseball, basketball or hockey still active in the sport in their 80s that I know of, though the recently deceased Jerry West, who died at the age of 86, fit the bill.  Dusty Baker, 75, did, until he retired, though he is ‘special executive assistant’ to the Giants...someone whose playing career began in my youth, and then was a longtime manager and baseball executive.

But there is Roger Penske, still running the show after racing Indy Cars and everything else before forming his terrific company, Penske Corporation, and Team Penske.

The guy is 87 and still incredibly active! Good lord.  God love him.

Meanwhile, most championships in NASCAR Cup Series history:

7 championships: Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Jimmie Johnson

4 championships: Jeff Gordon

3 championships: Lee Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Tony Stewart, Joey Logano

MLB

--As free agency heats up, a lot of talk is not just about the Juan Soto Sweepstakes, but now we have 23-year-old Japanese pitching phenom Roki Sasaki, as his Chiba Lotte Marines announced he will be able to sign with an MLB club this winter.

“I will do my best to climb up from a minor-league contract and become the best player in the world,” Sasaki said in a statement, “so I have no regrets about my one and only baseball career and can live up to the expectations of everyone who has supported me so far.”

Major-league evaluators have scouted Sasaki since he was a teen, possessing a triple-digit fastball, a vanishing splitter and an incredible nickname: the Monster of the Reiwa Era.

In 2022, Sasaki threw a 19-strikout perfect game for Chiba Lotte in which he registered 13 consecutive strikeouts.  In his next start, he tossed eight perfect innings with 14 strikeouts before being pulled.

Sasaki then starred in the 2023 Baseball World Classic.

MLB officials say he’s not a finished product, but he has a 2.10 ERA over four seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan.  He did have some injuries this season and lowered velocity that raised doubts.

Here’s the thing, because Sasaki wants to come to the States and prove himself before he’s 25, he can come relatively cheap, as opposed to if he wanted until age 25. That’s just the way it works with the MLB-Japan arrangement.  Shohei Ohtani was 23 when he signed with the Angels for $2.3 million.  Sasaki would likely be in the $5.1 million to $7.6 million range, with team control for a number of years.  He wouldn’t be a free agent until the 2030-31 offseason, when he’ll be newly 29.

As for potential suitors, the Dodgers and Padres would be frontrunners, San Diego with his friend Yu Darvish on the roster.  And then it’s the usual suspects...Mets, Yankees, Phillies, Red Sox, maybe the Giants....

Next Bar Chat, Sunday p.m.

-----

[Posted early Sunday p.m., prior to late NFL action and other events.]

Note: StocksandNews has significant ongoing costs, and your support is greatly appreciated.  Please click on the gofundme link or send a check to PO Box 990, New Providence, NJ 07974.

Brief Add-on up top by noon, Tues.

NFL Quiz: Kind of shockingly, only five players in NFL/AFL history have scored five touchdowns, rushing, in a game, one of them the lone player with six.  Only one is a Hall of Famer, and he had five.  I’ll give you the initials on the other three with five...C.G., C.P., J.S. Come up with the one with six, and the HOFer.  Answer below.

College Football Review

Comments written prior to release of new AP Poll....

They released the first College Football Playoff Rankings on Tuesday night and there was virtually no change between the AP and CFP, with the CFP putting Ohio State second and Georgia third, while the AP had it Georgia, then Ohio State.  Otherwise, the entire top 12 (those that would get into the playoffs today) is the same.

So I’m going to use the CFP rankings in my writeups.

And we will have an immediate reshuffling of both the AP and CFP today, and Tuesday, as we had some big upsets.

First off, in the Top Ten....

No. 1 Oregon (10-0) was far from dominating in its 39-18 win over Maryland (4-5) in Eugene, Dillon Gabriel, very much a Heisman favorite with three touchdown passes.

2 Ohio State (8-1) whipped hapless Purdue (1-8) 45-0, the Buckeyes 37.5-point favorites (though the over/under was 55).  Quarterback Will Howard threw for three touchdowns. 

And then 3 Georgia (7-2) was manhandled by 16 Ole Miss (8-2) 28-10 in Oxford, as the Rebels outgained the Bulldogs 397-245, Caden Davis with five field goals.

So Ole Miss is back in the playoff conversation.  Huge win for Lane Kiffin.  And if you’re a Georgia fan, QB Carson Beck has thrown 12 interceptions vs. just six all of last season.  The Georgia offense just isn’t great.

Meanwhile, 4 Miami suffered its first loss, now 9-1, 28-23 to Georgia Tech (6-4), a massive win for coach Brent Key. 

Hurricanes QB Cam Ward saw his strong Heisman hopes probably go up in flames, even as statistically he was solid, 25/39, 348, 3-0.  It’s his late fumble that proved costly.

For Georgia Tech, they opted to run the ball to keep it out of the hands of Ward and his receivers and the game plan worked...271 yards rushing, quarterback Haynes King with 93, and only six passes.

Miami now must ensure it gets in the ACC title game to be assured of a playoff spot, and that’s not a certainty unless they win the game.

5 Texas (8-1) rolled over Florida (4-5), 49-17, as Quinn Ewers threw five touchdown passes.

6 Penn State (8-1) beat Washington (5-5) 35-6, as the Nittany Lions outgained the Huskies 486-193.

7 Tennessee (8-1) lost quarterback Nico Iamaleava to an upper-body injury in a 33-14 win over Mississippi State (2-8), but coach Josh Heupel said he’ll be ready for a critical game against Georgia next week.

8 Indiana will continue to move up in the rankings following a 20-15 win at home over Michigan (5-5), the Hoosiers 10-0 for the first time ever.  Former Wake Forest receiver Ke’Shawn Williams had a big game, six receptions for 70 yards, and a critical late 22-yard punt return.

The Indiana defense was key in this one in the end, holding the Wolverines to just 206 yards, even as IU only gained 246 itself, just 18 in the second half.

9 BYU (9-0) eked out a 22-21 win over archrival Utah (4-5) as the Cougars needed a Will Ferrin 44-yard field goal with 0:03 remaining to stay in the playoff hunt. The Utes complained bitterly about the officiating after.

10 Notre Dame (8-1) is looking playoff bound, 52-3 over stunningly bad Florida State (1-9).

Moving on....

11 Alabama (7-2) stayed in the hunt with a much-needed 42-13 win at 15 LSU (6-3), Jalen Milroe the story in this one.  The quarterback had 185 yards rushing on just 12 carries, four touchdowns, including a 72-yard scamper that will have NFL scouts drooling.

12 Boise State (8-1) got another big game from Heisman favorite (at least he should be) Ashton Jeanty, 34 carries, 209 yards and three touchdowns as the Broncos defeated Nevada (3-8), in a contest that was admittedly closer than it should have been...but a win is a win, especially at this point in the season.

17 Iowa State (7-2) suffered its second straight defeat as their dream season goes up in flames, 45-36 to Kansas (3-6).

18 Pitt (7-2), like Iowa State, stumbled a second straight week as their ACC title hopes are probably over, 24-19 to Virginia (5-4) at home, losing quarterback Eli Holstein to an injury in the process. 

20 Colorado (7-2) is in contention for the Big 12 title game following a 41-27 win at Texas Tech (6-4).  Shedeur Sanders threw three touchdown passes, Travis Hunter with nine receptions for 99 yards and a score.

23 Clemson (7-2) is very much still in contention for the ACC championhsip, 24-14 over Virginia Tech (5-5).

25 Army (9-0) welcomed back quarterback Bryson Daily and he carried it 36 times for 153 yards and two touchdowns in a hard-fought 14-3 win at North Texas (5-4).

Vanderbilt was ranked 24th in the AP, but unranked in the CFP, and Vandy’s dream season is falling apart, now 6-4 following a 28-7 loss at home to solid South Carolina (6-3).

One game of local note...Rutgers got a much-needed 26-19 win at home against Minnesota (6-4), the Scarlet Knights 5-4, after ending a 4-game losing streak.

Friday night, Wake Forest fell to 1-5 at home, 4-5 overall, 46-36 to longtime rival (cough, cough) Cal (5-4).

The Deacs trailed 26-14 at the half, the Golden Bears mauling Wake 350-130 in total yards.

But Wake had a decent go of it in the second half and had the ball, down 39-36, with two minutes to go when Hank Bachmeier threw a costly interception, one of three on the night, and Cal prevailed.

Fernando Mendoza was 40/56, 385, 2-1, plus 51 yards and a touchdown on the ground for the Golden Bears.

A rather devastating loss for the Deacs, who after two road wins were suddenly back in contention for a bowl game.  Not now, with Miami left on the schedule, as well as North Carolina and Duke. 

--Conference standings...all about getting into the title game for each....

ACC

SMU 5-0
Clemson 6-1
Miami 5-1
Louisville 4-2...the Cardinals could play a big role as they lost to Miami, but beat Clemson

Big 12

BYU 6-0
Colorado 5-1
4 teams at 4-2

Big Ten

Indiana 7-0
Oregon 7-0
Ohio State 5-1
Penn State 5-1

SEC

Tennessee 5-1
Texas A&M 5-1
Texas 4-1
Georgia 5-2
Ole Miss 4-2
Alabama 4-2

--And the new AP Poll!

1. Oregon 10-0 (62)
2. Ohio State 8-1
3. Texas 8-1
4. Penn State 8-1
5. Indiana 10-0
6. Tennessee 8-1
7. BYU 9-0
8. Notre Dame 8-1
9. Alabama 7-2
10. Ole Miss 8-2...up 6
11. Georgia 7-2...down 9!
12. Miami (FL) 9-1...down 8
13. Boise State 8-1
14. SMU 8-1
15. Texas A&M 7-2
16. Army 9-0
17. Clemson 7-2
18. Colorado 7-2
19. Washington State 8-1
20. Kansas State 7-2
21. LSU 6-3
22. Louisville 6-3
23. South Carolina 6-3
24. Missouri 7-2
25. Tulane 8-2

Bye-bye Iowa State and Pitt.

NFL

--Going back to Thursday night, the Ravens (7-3) defeated the Bengals (4-6) in Baltimore, 35-34, in an exciting affair. 

Joe Burrow for the Bengals was terrific at quarterback, 34/56, 428, 4-0, 108.3, as he hooked up with Ja’Marr Chase for 11 receptions, 264 yards, and three touchdowns.

Lamar Jackson was equally good, 25/33, 290, 4-0, 141.4, Derrick Henry chipping in with 68 yards on 16 carries and a score.

But after Cincy had a 21-7 lead late into the third quarter, the Ravens reeled off 21 straight points, the two teams traded touchdowns in the final two minutes, and after Burrow and Chase hooked up a third time to make it 35-34, the Bengals opted to go for two points and were stopped with 0:38 to play.

Cincinnati has a favorable schedule the rest of the way and could still make the playoff field.

A concern for Baltimore fans is that while they have an elite offense, the vaunted defense has given up a ton of points, including 72 to the Bengals in two games, Baltimore having taken their first matchup 41-38.

Ja’Marr Chase had 457 yards receiving in the two games against the Ravens, an NFL record for one player against another team.

--Sunday morning in Munich, Germany, a great spot, the 2-7 Giants took on the 2-7 Panthers in a contest that was bound to “grow the sport” immensely...or maybe not.

Actually, to be fair, the fans were certainly into it, and that’s a good thing, but until the last few minutes, it seemed like neither team wanted to win it, befitting squads with a combined 4-14 mark.

For New York, Daniel Jones was his usual frustrating self, throwing two interceptions and missing more than a few scoring opportunities, while for Carolina, running back Chuba Hubbard, he of the new 4-year contract extension this week, rewarded the faith of management (and the owner, Mr. Tepper) with 148 yards on 25 carries and a TD in regulation, though he did lose a fumble.

Jones, down 17-14, engineered a 55-yard drive on 12 plays, getting the Giants into range for veteran kicker Graham Gano and he nailed a 42-yarder to send the game into overtime.

But then, with the Giants getting possession first, running back Tyrone Tracy fumbled on the first play, Carolina recovered at the New York 23, ran a few plays, setting up kicker Eddy Pineiro for a 36-yarder to win it...right down the middle.

Don’t look now, but Carolina has won two games in a row!

As for the Giants, wow...their fans are crushed...again.

--Denver (5-5) was up 14-3 midway through the second on Kansas City, but the Chiefs stiffened on ‘D’ and got just enough offense to prevail 16-14 and stay undefeated at 9-0.

--Buffalo is 8-2 after a 30-20 win at Indianapolis (4-6), the quarterbacks hardly distinguishing themselves...Josh Allen throwing two interceptions for the Bills, Joe Flacco three for the Colts, including a pick-six.

--San Francisco (5-4) beat Tampa Bay (4-6) on the road on a Jake Moody 44-yard field goal as time expired, after a Bucs’ FG at 0:41 tied it.

--Minnesota (7-2) defeated Jacksonville (2-8) on four field goals, 12-7.

--I wasn’t going to comment on New England (3-7) and their game against the Bears (4-5), except in the Pats’ 19-3 win, the defense sacked Caleb Williams nine times and held Chicago to 142 yards of offense.  Oh, the sports airwaves in the Windy City will be on fire tomorrow.

--New Orleans (3-7) upset Atlanta (6-4) 20-17 under interim head coach Darren Rizzi.

--With the Jets (3-6) taking on the Cardinals (5-4) in Arizona late today, Donald Trump’s election victory is newsworthy for Jets fans, who wonder if owner Woody Johnson will be asked again to be Ambassador to the United Kingdom as he was during Trump’s first term, leaving the Jets for 3 ½ years while he was in London.

But if Trump should tab Woody, he likely wouldn’t return to London until after overseeing the Jets’ coaching hire in January, as well as the decision on whether to retain general manager Joe Douglas.

Separately, the Jets traded receiver Mike Williams to the Steelers for a fifth-round pick.

--So speaking of Mike Williams, Pittsburgh (7-2) had a big contest against Washington (7-3) on the road, and I did watch the fourth quarter of this one and what a debut for Mr. Williams, snagging the winning touchdown on a 32-yard pass play from Russell Wilson with 2:22, the Steelers then winning it 28-27.

Wilson had three touchdown passes, and Jayden Daniels did zippo for the Commanders..

--Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott was placed on the IR with a partial avulsion (tear from the bone) of his hamstring.  Multiple reports said it will take at least 6-8 weeks for him to recover.

The Cowboys (3-5) were hosting the Eagles (6-2) in a late game today, Jerry Jones and the fans clearly depressed, season over, already.

College Basketball

--Going back to Wednesday, Columbia beat Villanova 90-80, a terrific win for the Lions, who were 17.5-point underdogs at Nova.

--Friday night we had our first big heavyweight battle of the young season, No. 1 Kansas hosting 9 North Carolina (1-1) at Allen Fieldhouse, and the Jayhawks jumped out to a 49-29, only to trail 87-83 with 3:30 to play.  But Kansas (2-0) stiffened on ‘D’, got some clutch buckets and prevailed 92-89.

--Saturday, 11 Auburn squared off against 4 Houston in a game with sudden intrigue because the Auburn plane to Texas on Friday night had to be diverted due to fighting amongst the Auburn players!  The plane went back to Auburn and then a new plane took the team to their final destination.

And how did Auburn handle the internal turmoil?  They beat the Cougars 74-69.  Coach Bruce Pearl did not address the fight when he met with the press.  The fight was apparently between two players, not more than that as initial reports had it.

--Sunday afternoon, Demon Deacon fans eagerly awaited Michigan in Greensboro for a big early test for Wake Forest...and, boy, did the Deacs come through in the clutch, 72-70, hitting 5 of 6 free throws when it mattered most and holding on.

Wake was down 11 points multiple times in the first half, cut it to four at the intermission, and then it was back-and-forth the entire second half.  A terrific early season game.  Wake once again did not shoot well from behind the arc, 6 of 20, but they started 1 of 11.

This was a resume builder for sure. Michigan, under first-year coach Dusty May, has a lot of talent and you’d think is NCAA tourney bound, like Wake fans hope we finally are.

[I can’t help but add, watching the entire game, we won despite the often infuriating play of Cam Hildreth...who does so many things well, otherwise, but often tries to do way too much, witness his five turnovers, most totally needless.]

NBA

--Knicks fans have been frustrated, but we are working in some new pieces into the lineup and it takes time.  And, heck, after beating the strangely bad Milwaukee Bucks (2-7) Friday night at the Garden, 116-94 behind Karl-Anthony Towns’ 32 points and 11 rebounds (27 points in the first half), New York is 4-4.

What had us fans in a bad mood prior was that we lost consecutive games on the road to Houston and Atlanta which we could have won, but both nights, Jalen Brunson failed to close and the Knicks allowed their opponents to go on 11-2 and 16-6 runs to close it out themselves.

Towns has been playing great.  Brunson is just off to a highly mediocre start.

--The Cavaliers are off to a franchise-best 10-0 start, 136-117 over the Warriors (7-2) Friday night in Cleveland.

Make that 11-0, Saturday, with a 105-100 win over the Nets, as former Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson admitted “there was a little extra at stake” in facing a team for the first time since the Nets fired him in 2020.

--Earlier in the week, Sixers All-Star Joel Embiid was suspended three games without pay for shoving a member of the media, the league announced Tuesday.  Embiid was upset that columnist Marcus Hayes had written a column referencing his late brother, Arthur, and his son, also named Arthur.

“Mutual respect is paramount to the relationship between players and media in the NBA,” NBA executive vice president Joe Dumars said.  “While we understand Joel was offended by the personal nature of the original version of the reporter’s column, interactions must remain professional on both sides and can never turn physical.”

--Through games Saturday, of the 15 teams in the Eastern Conference, only two were over .500.  Eleven of 15 in the West are.  Yup, it’s early, but you see where the power is.

MLB

--The Yankees, no surprise, exercised their option to bring back manager Aaron Boone, an extension no doubt worked out shortly.

But it’s all about the Juan Soto Sweepstakes, and Mets owner Steve Cohen will meet with Soto  and agent Scott Boras in Southern California next week, Cohen clearly prepared to be top bidder.  Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner, upon learning Cohen was quickly headed out west announced he was doing the same.

--Shohei Ohtani had surgery the other day to repair a torn labrum he suffered during the World Series when he partially dislocated his left shoulder, the team announced.  The Dodgers said he should be ready for spring training next year, including getting back on the mound.

Golf Balls

--Tommy Fleetwood picked up his seventh DP World Tour win, first since 2022, with a one-stroke victory over Rory McIlroy and Thriston Lawrence at the Dubai Invitational.

Fleetwood needed a dramatic birdie-birdie finish to seal the deal.

--Meanwhile, there have been reports about a deal being agreed to between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and with the presidential election, Rory McIlroy believes the civil war in men’s professional golf could be near its end.

McIlroy, who denied knowing anything about the reports, was asked about Donald Trump’s comments recently from a podcast that he could strike a deal between the two sides in 15 minutes and that all of the best players need to be together.

“He might be able to.  He’s got Elon Musk, who I think is the smartest man in the world, beside him. We might be able to do something if we can get Musk involved, too,” McIlroy stated.

“I think from the outside looking in, it’s probably a little less complicated than it actually is.  But obviously Trump has a great relationship with Saudi Arabia. He’s got a great relationship with golf.  He’s a lover of golf. So, maybe.  Who knows?  But I think as the President of the United States again, he’s probably got bigger things to focus on than golf.”

Rory did note PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan was in Saudi Arabia last week meeting with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan.

--At this week’s Fall Season event, one of the PGA Tour’s final three on the season, the World Wide Technology Championship at Los Cabos, Mexico, we had a three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard...Justin Lower, recent winner Nico Echavarria, and Carson Young all at -16.

Local Ryan McCormick was T9 at -12, desperately needing a top five finish to get within striking distance of the top 125 heading into the last two tournaments.  Max Greyserman, born in next-door Short Hills, NJ, is just one shot back.

NASCAR

--There was a ton of controversy heading into today’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship finale in Phoenix. 

On Tuesday, NASCAR fined Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain $100,000 each and docked them 50 driver points for violating member conduct policies in last Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway.

NASCAR ruled the three took actions that were detrimental to stock car racing along with race manipulation.

The crew chiefs and their respective spotters were to miss the finale as well.

This happens as NASCAR is facing a lawsuit from some of the teams, including Michael Jordan’s, for how the revenue is divvied up.

[The race is in the early stages as I go to post and will be watching now and reporting on it in the Add-on.]

--Bobby Allison died.  Founder of racing’s “Alabama Gang” and a NASCAR Hall of Famer, Allison died at home in Mooresville, North Carolina. He was 86 and had been in declining health for years.

Allison was moved to fourth on NASCAR’s Cup Series victory list last month when chairman Jim France recognized him as the winner of the Meyers Brothers Memorial at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem in 1971. The sanctioning body updated its record books to reflect the decision, giving Allison 85 wins and moving him out of a tie with Darrell Waltrip.

Allison thus trails only Richard Petty (200), David Pearson (105) and Jeff Gordon (93) in Cup wins.

“Bobby was the ultimate fan’s driver,” Allison’s family said in a statement.  “He thoroughly enjoyed spending time with his fans and would stop to sign autographs and have conversations with them everywhere he went.  He was a dedicated family man and friend, and a devout Catholic.”

[The “Alabama Gang” was a group of drivers from Hueytown, Alabama – Allison part of a talented racing family, including his sons, Davey and Clifford, as well as his brother, Donnie.]

For many, Bobby Allison is best remembered for helping put NASCAR on the map with his infamous fight with Cale Yarborough in the closing laps of the 1979 Daytona 500, which was being televised live in its entirety for the first time, drawing a large audience amidst a snowstorm in the northeast that helped attract more eyeballs.

On the final lap of the race, Yarborough and Donnie Allison crashed while racing for the lead.  Richard Petty won the race instead, and Yarborough began arguing with Donnie.  Bobby stopped his car on the infield grass near the accident scene and promptly attacked Yarborough.

Or, as Bobby’s version faithfully went for decades afterward, “Cale went to beating on my fist with his nose.”

In 1987, Bobby Allison was involved in one of the worst wrecks in NASCAR history. While racing at Talladega, Allison’s tire blew and sent his car airborne.  He hit the fence with a tremendous force, tearing out a section and nearly going into the grandstands.

Startlingly, Allison didn’t miss a race despite the crash, but it prompted NASCAR to place restrictor plates on the cars at both Talladega and Daytona.

The next season, Allison won the Daytona 500 for a third time, son Davey in second.  The two celebrated together in Victory Lane.

But four months later, Allison blew a tire early in a race at Pocono and was T-boned by another driver. The accident nearly killed him and left him with severe head trauma, along with broken bones.  It also robbed him of his memories of everything that had happened in the months prior.

Then in 1992, Allison’s youngest son, Clifford, was killed in a crash while practicing for a Busch Series race at Michigan, and less than a year later, Davey Allison was killed while trying to land his helicopter at Talladega.

Just like that, both of Allison’s sons were gone.

“I don’t know that it will ever ease up, that it will be easier any day, less painful,” Bobby said in 2011.  “It’s what happened. It’s our duty to go on.”

NHL

--Washington’s Alex Ovechkin is at 861 career goals, eight this season, including six in a recent five-game stretch, and is only 34 from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record of 894.  Remarkable.

Well, make that only 32 away from breaking The Great One’s mark, as Ovechkin had two more goals in an 8-1 Capitals win over St. Louis Saturday night.  He now has eight goals in his last seven games.

--Last night, the Rangers got a solid road win last night in Detroit, 4-0, Jonathan Quick with his 61st career shutout. This came after an embarrassing 6-1 loss at home to Buffalo, many saying it was a needed wakeup call for the Blue Shirts, who despite a solid start weren’t playing with a lot of intensity.  Call answered Saturday, at least for one night.

Premier League

On Saturday, Brighton beat Manchester City, City manager Pep Guardiola and team suffering a fourth consecutive defeat (all competitions) for the first time as City boss.  And it’s the first time since 2006 that City has lost four in a row.

Liverpool stayed on top, and increased its lead over City to five points with a 2-0 win over slumping Aston Villa.

Sunday, 3rd-place Nottingham Forest did not distinguish itself at home, falling to Newcastle 3-1, while Ipswich picked up its first Premier League win in 22 years, at the expense of my Tottenham boys, 2-1, eliciting more than a few boos from the home crowd.  Ugh.

In the biggie, Chelsea and Arsenal played to a 1-1 draw.

Standings after 11 of 38....ties settled by goal differential

1. Liverpool 28 points
2. Man City 23
3. Chelsea 19
4. Arsenal 19...Champions League line
5. Nottingham Forest 19
6. Brighton 19

Stuff

--NCAA Men’s Soccer Rankings...heading into the start of conference tournament play this week....

1. Ohio State
2. Duke
3. San Diego (not SDSU)
4. Denver
5. Dayton
6. Indiana...rather outstanding fall sports season for IU
7. Clemson
8. Marshall
9. Pitt
10. West Virginia

It's a rare off year for Wake Forest, which as I write is not Top 25 and in danger of getting left out of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in something like 14 years, if I recall correctly.

--I was reading a story in the Wall Street Journal by Jason Gay on Fordham’s men’s water polo team, which heading into the weekend was 25-0, tied for second in the country with Stanford and USC, behind only No. 1 UCLA.  Frankly, I didn’t know Fordham was so good. 

And I actually watched Fordham win a tripleheader Saturday, able to do so on the PC, beating Bucknell, Mercyhurst, and Mt. St. Mary’s by a combined 71-19.  So now 28-0.

You always think water polo is a California thing, collegiately.  But Fordham is getting European players, like Olympic-type athletes, who think being in New York City is ‘cooler’ than being in Southern Cal, as Jason Gay put it.

Well, I passed the story on to my good friend, and neighbor, Michael C., who went to Fordham in the Digger Phelps years and was intimately involved with the basketball team then, and he said that P.J. Carlesimo, who played under Phelps at Fordham, was on the water polo team, and that P.J. was also the place kicker on the football team, and was catcher on the baseball team...aside from playing hoops.

Now that’s a jock.  And so a Bar Chat “Saaa-luute!” to one P.J. Carlesimo, who as you all know ended up being a helluva coach at Seton Hall and then had some success in the NBA.

Meanwhile, also on Saturday, the Fordham hoops team had an exciting, buzzer-beating victory over Seton Hall, 57-56, UNLV transfer Jackie Johnson III scoring the game-winner on a floater.

Top 3 songs for the week 11/12/83:  #1 “All Night Long (All Night)” (Lionel Richie)  #2 “Islands In The Stream” (Kenny Rogers with Dolly Parton)  #3 “Uptown Girl” (Billy Joel)...and...#4 “Say Say Say” (Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson)  #5 “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” (Bonnie Tyler)  #6 “One Thing Leads To Another” (The Fixx)  #7 “Cum On Feel The Noize” (Quiet Riot)  #8 “Delirious” (Prince)  #9 “Making Love Out Of Nothing At All” (Air Supply)  #10 “Suddenly Last Summer” (The Motels...C-...)

NFL Quiz Answer: Five with five or more touchdowns, rushing, in a game.

Jim Brown, CLE, 1959
Cookie Gilchrist, BUF, 1963
James Stewart, JAX, 1997
Clinton Portis, DEN, 2003
Alvin Kamara, NOR, 2020...the only one with six.

Honor our Veterans on Monday.

Brief Add-on up top by noon, Tuesday.



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Bar Chat

11/11/2024

Remembering Bobby Allison...College Football Review

Add-on posted early Tuesday a.m.

NFL

What an awful Sunday for New York area football fans.  You had the crushing Giants defeat to the Panthers in overtime in Munich, Germany, in the morning.  Then us fans that watch both just because they are always the big story in these parts, waited a few hours before the Jets took on the Cardinals in Glendale, AZ, and my team was a total no show, the 6-4 Cardinals, one of the surprises in the NFL this season, totally humiliated Aaron Rodgers and Co., 31-6.

The Jets were atrocious. Rodgers was just 22/35, 151, 0-0, 72.4, with his longest pass play all of 15 yards, while on defense, the team had a ton of missed tackles, including an egregious one by the supposed All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner when the score was 14-6 and the game still in doubt.

As NJ.com’s (Star-Ledger) Andy Vazquez put it, after quarterback Kyler Murray threw a short pass over the middle to tight end Trey McBride on a third-and-7 near midfield, McBride catching it two yards past the line of scrimmage where he was immediately met by Gardner, who had covered the pass perfectly.  It should have been fourth-and-5 from the Jets 45, and a Cardinals punt.

“Instead it became a moment that defined why this team got run out of State Farm Stadium...and why they’re 3-7 and almost certainly headed for a 14th straight season of missing the playoffs.

“Gardner wrapped both arms around McBride at the hips and tried to torque the 6-4, 246-pound tight end to the ground.  McBride used his momentum to spin the 6-3, 200-pound Gardner like a teen discarding a backpack.”

Yup, that’s our New York Jets.

For his part, Murray was 22/24, 266, 1-0, 126.7, plus two touchdowns on the ground.  He is playing superb football.

--In other late games, the Eagles (7-2) rolled over the Cowboys (3-6) at Jerry World, Dallas’ first full game without Dak Prescott, and the replacements, Cooper Rush and Trey Lance, were a combined 17 of 29 for a whopping 66 yards, the longest pass play just ten yards!  Eegads.

For Philly, Jalen Hurts threw two touchdown passes and ran for two.

I watched the Lions (8-1) at the Texans (6-4), that is until halftime, Houston up 23-7 at the intermission, C.J. Stroud outstanding at QB, throwing for 164 yards and a touchdown, Cris Collinsworth in the booth marveling at Stroud’s accuracy.

And then in the second half, it was all Detroit, Stroud throwing for just 68 yards, two interceptions in the third quarter, and the Lions staged a huge comeback, winning 26-23 on two late Jake Bates field goals, the first from 58 yards to tie it with 5:00 to play, and then the second, a 52-yarder as time expired.

Lions quarterback Jared Goff, who had been on a historic six-game run, tried to give it away, throwing five interceptions, 15/30, 240, 2-5, 59.7 overall.

Quarterbacks who throw five interceptions have a 3-58 record over the last 30 years.

But it was the first time a team threw five interceptions, trailed by 15+ points and still won since 1970!

As for Bates, last season he was with the Michigan Panthers in the UFL, but a scout saw him kick a 62-yarder, the Lions gave him a contract and he was to compete with incumbent kicker Michael Badgley in training camp.  Badgley then got hurt, the job was Bates’, and he’s 14 of 14.

--Kansas City is 9-0, and if it’s possible to be 9-0 and look rather underwhelming most of the time, that’s the 2024 edition of the Chiefs.

But you make your own breaks and K.C. eked out Sunday’s 16-14 win after Leo Chenal blocked Will Lutz’s 35-yard field goal attempt as time expired.

But next week, K.C. travels to Buffalo.

--Miami (3-6) kept its faint playoff hopes alive with a 23-15 win over the Rams (4-5) last night in Inglewood, CA.  Miami got an efficient game from Tua at QB, and the Rams couldn’t punch it in from inside the red zone, settling for five field goals.

--Back to the Giants, head coach Brian Daboll strongly intimated that Daniel Jones will be benched during this bye week, the job turned over to either second-stringer Drew Lock or third-stringer Tommy Cutlets, aka Tommy DeVito.  I hope for the fans’ sake it’s Tommy Cutlets.

College Football

--We note the loss of two former coaches, John Robinson and Gerry Faust.

Robinson, who died at the age of 89, had great success at USC, 1976-82, with his teams finishing No. 2 in the final AP poll three times, 1976 (when they lost out to Pitt and Tony Dorsett), 1978 and ’79.

After coaching the LA Rams from 1983-91, where he led them to two NFC championship games, 75-68 overall, he then returned to USC where he coached from 1993 until 1997, not meeting with the same success as in his first tenure.

Nonetheless, Robinson was 104-35-4 in his two stints at USC and earned five Pac-10 titles.

Faust, who also died at the age of 89, was not successful as a head coach at Notre Dame after a legendary stint at Cincinnati’s Archbishop Moeller High School.

Faust’s five seasons, 1981-85, came between the Dan Devine and Lou Holtz eras, those two each winning a national championship, but Faust was just 30-26-1 during his Irish tenure.

College Basketball

--It’s way too early for the AP Poll to mean much, but the one released Monday after schools had played two games had the following Top Ten....

1. Kansas
2. Alabama
3. UConn
4. Gonzaga
5. Auburn...after the big win at Houston
6. Duke
7. Iowa State
8. Houston
9. Arizona
10. North Carolina

22. St. John’s
24. Rutgers

Wake Forest is 28th if you carried out the votes.

NBA

--The Knicks (4-5) suffered a loss Sunday night on the road at Indiana (5-5), 132-121, despite Jalen Brunson’s 33 points and 10 assists, Karl Anthony-Towns’ 32, and OG Anunoby’s 25.

But defense has been an issue early in the season (along with Mikal Bridges’ abysmal shooting from three), and New York gave up 40 points in the fourth quarter.  The Knicks also shot 7 of 25 from beyond the arc, while the Pacers were 21 of 46.  Time to panic, given the huge expectations for this New York ballclub?  Not yet.  But if they are just 10-10 after the first 20, that’s not going to bode well.

--Cleveland is now 12-0 after a 119-113 win over the Bulls (4-7) in Chicago last night.

--On the injury front across the league, Chet Holmgren is out for at least 8-10 weeks with a hip fracture, which is awful news for his future.

Kevin Durant suffered a calf strain and will miss at least two weeks.

Zion Williamson is out indefinitely with a hamstring strain, yet another significant injury for both the Pelicans and Zion, who’s never been able to stay on the court, though he did play 70 games last season.

And Ja Morant is week-to-week after a hip subluxation (a partial dislocation).

Golf Balls

--Austin Eckroat won his second PGA Tour title Sunday at the World Wide Technology Championships in Los Cabos.

Eckroat finished a stroke ahead of Justin Lower and Carson Young.

Joe Highsmith, in finishing solo fifth, moved from 126 to 112 on the points list and virtually assured his Tour status for 2025, as we can assume he’ll now end the year in the top 125.

But Ryan McCormick fell to T24 and only moved from 163 to 159 on the points list, so with two tournaments to go, he must do something special.

--At the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship this weekend, 39-year-old DP World Tour journeyman Paul Waring picked a good time for his second career win in 332 starts, finishing two shots ahead of Tyrell Hatton, and three clear of Thorbjorn Oleson, Rory, and Englishman Matt Wallace.

Waring was the 229th-ranked player heading into the week, but now, in moving to fifth on the DP World Tour season-long Race to Dubai points list, he is virtually assured of finishing in the top 10 after next week’s season finale and thus would be eligible to play the PGA Tour in 2025, as well as the DP World Tour.

--And then we have 67-year-old Bernhard Langer, who on Sunday won the Charles Schwab Cup Championship at Phoenix Country Club.

It is the 18th consecutive year he has won at least one tournament on the senior circuit, win No. 47 on the Champions Tour overall.  Stunning.  And he did it by draining a 35-foot birdie putt on No. 18.

And this from a guy who suffered a torn Achilles in February!

Steven Alker, who finished second, won the season-long Charles Schwab Cup for a second time.

--Eamon Lynch of Golfweek had the following to say regarding Rory McIlroy’s comments on Donald Trump’s re-election and the fate of the PGA Tour-LIV negotiations.

“The first Wednesday of November during leap years is a perilous time for public commentary as U.S. presidential election results are debated in a manner just as partisan as the campaign that preceded it.  This one is no different. Depending on whom you ask, one political party peddled faux populism and racism while displaying an astonishing appetite for conspiracy theories, while the other is woefully incapacitated by its indulgence of identity ideologues, Hamas groupies and gender jihadists.  Which is to say there was already plenty to pick over without wondering if the election of Donald Trump would help professional golfers get paid more.

“During a Wednesday press conference at a tournament in Abu Dhabi, Rory McIlroy was asked about progress in talks between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.  ‘Given today’s news with what has happened in America, I think that clears the way a little bit. So we’ll see,’ he offered, before adding that it would be ‘a huge moment’ if the Department of Justice under Trump was more amenable to green-lighting a deal than Biden’s DOJ might have been.

“In our hyper-polarized moment, even comments that are both bland and obvious can be construed as endorsing the election outcome, something McIlroy didn’t actually do.  But those three words – ‘clears the way’ – earned a pointedly sour reception.  McIlroy gave the impression of welcoming the prospect of Trump interfering with a regulatory process to benefit a coddled group of golfers who’ve already alienated legions of fans weary of their entitlement and greed.”

Well, I quoted Rory at length in Sunday’s Bar Chat, without editorializing myself, including his comment “Trump has a great relationship with Saudi Arabia,” and Eamon Lynch weighed in on that, as well as Rory’s conclusion, “But I think as the president of the United States again, he’s probably got bigger things to focus on than golf.”

“ ‘A great relationship’ is one way to describe a $2 billion Saudi donation to a hedge fund run by Trump’s son-in-law, but at least McIlroy’s last observation is beyond debate. Executives on both sides of this negotiation will know what impact, if any, the election will have.  And if either has slow-played things to see if the review process is less aggressive under a Trump administration, they now have a date on which they’ll find out. But those are questions Jay Monahan gets paid handsomely to answer, not McIlroy.

“Instead, what McIlroy inadvertently did was reinforce a widespread perception of myopic entitlement among Tour players.  Millions of people woke this morning with leaden uncertainty about things that actually matter – economic stability, support in times of war, global alliances, civil rights, basic healthcare, immigration status. That environment is sufficiently fraught without a golfer idly speculating on whether the election might be a treat for those impatient to get their hands on some Saudi riyal.”

NASCAR

After I posted Sunday I watched the ending of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship race at Phoenix Raceway and Joey Logano took the tile, his third, adding to championships in 2018 and 2022.  The 34-year-old thus became the 10th driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to win three or more championships.

Logano held off his Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney, who was aiming to win his second consecutive Cup title.  The victory was Logano’s fourth of the season and 36th of his Cup Series career, as he basically clinched his spot in the NASCAR Hall of Fame at a future date.

The championship was the third in a row for Team Penske.

Speaking of which, it’s always great to see Roger Penske in the pits after a win.  There are only a handful of sports figures who those of us of a certain age have had in their lives the entire time.  I mean there is Jack Nicklaus, 84, but he hasn’t played competitively in ages.  There’s no one in football, baseball, basketball or hockey still active in the sport in their 80s that I know of, though the recently deceased Jerry West, who died at the age of 86, fit the bill.  Dusty Baker, 75, did, until he retired, though he is ‘special executive assistant’ to the Giants...someone whose playing career began in my youth, and then was a longtime manager and baseball executive.

But there is Roger Penske, still running the show after racing Indy Cars and everything else before forming his terrific company, Penske Corporation, and Team Penske.

The guy is 87 and still incredibly active! Good lord.  God love him.

Meanwhile, most championships in NASCAR Cup Series history:

7 championships: Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Jimmie Johnson

4 championships: Jeff Gordon

3 championships: Lee Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, Darrell Waltrip, Tony Stewart, Joey Logano

MLB

--As free agency heats up, a lot of talk is not just about the Juan Soto Sweepstakes, but now we have 23-year-old Japanese pitching phenom Roki Sasaki, as his Chiba Lotte Marines announced he will be able to sign with an MLB club this winter.

“I will do my best to climb up from a minor-league contract and become the best player in the world,” Sasaki said in a statement, “so I have no regrets about my one and only baseball career and can live up to the expectations of everyone who has supported me so far.”

Major-league evaluators have scouted Sasaki since he was a teen, possessing a triple-digit fastball, a vanishing splitter and an incredible nickname: the Monster of the Reiwa Era.

In 2022, Sasaki threw a 19-strikout perfect game for Chiba Lotte in which he registered 13 consecutive strikeouts.  In his next start, he tossed eight perfect innings with 14 strikeouts before being pulled.

Sasaki then starred in the 2023 Baseball World Classic.

MLB officials say he’s not a finished product, but he has a 2.10 ERA over four seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball, the top baseball league in Japan.  He did have some injuries this season and lowered velocity that raised doubts.

Here’s the thing, because Sasaki wants to come to the States and prove himself before he’s 25, he can come relatively cheap, as opposed to if he wanted until age 25. That’s just the way it works with the MLB-Japan arrangement.  Shohei Ohtani was 23 when he signed with the Angels for $2.3 million.  Sasaki would likely be in the $5.1 million to $7.6 million range, with team control for a number of years.  He wouldn’t be a free agent until the 2030-31 offseason, when he’ll be newly 29.

As for potential suitors, the Dodgers and Padres would be frontrunners, San Diego with his friend Yu Darvish on the roster.  And then it’s the usual suspects...Mets, Yankees, Phillies, Red Sox, maybe the Giants....

Next Bar Chat, Sunday p.m.

-----

[Posted early Sunday p.m., prior to late NFL action and other events.]

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Brief Add-on up top by noon, Tues.

NFL Quiz: Kind of shockingly, only five players in NFL/AFL history have scored five touchdowns, rushing, in a game, one of them the lone player with six.  Only one is a Hall of Famer, and he had five.  I’ll give you the initials on the other three with five...C.G., C.P., J.S. Come up with the one with six, and the HOFer.  Answer below.

College Football Review

Comments written prior to release of new AP Poll....

They released the first College Football Playoff Rankings on Tuesday night and there was virtually no change between the AP and CFP, with the CFP putting Ohio State second and Georgia third, while the AP had it Georgia, then Ohio State.  Otherwise, the entire top 12 (those that would get into the playoffs today) is the same.

So I’m going to use the CFP rankings in my writeups.

And we will have an immediate reshuffling of both the AP and CFP today, and Tuesday, as we had some big upsets.

First off, in the Top Ten....

No. 1 Oregon (10-0) was far from dominating in its 39-18 win over Maryland (4-5) in Eugene, Dillon Gabriel, very much a Heisman favorite with three touchdown passes.

2 Ohio State (8-1) whipped hapless Purdue (1-8) 45-0, the Buckeyes 37.5-point favorites (though the over/under was 55).  Quarterback Will Howard threw for three touchdowns. 

And then 3 Georgia (7-2) was manhandled by 16 Ole Miss (8-2) 28-10 in Oxford, as the Rebels outgained the Bulldogs 397-245, Caden Davis with five field goals.

So Ole Miss is back in the playoff conversation.  Huge win for Lane Kiffin.  And if you’re a Georgia fan, QB Carson Beck has thrown 12 interceptions vs. just six all of last season.  The Georgia offense just isn’t great.

Meanwhile, 4 Miami suffered its first loss, now 9-1, 28-23 to Georgia Tech (6-4), a massive win for coach Brent Key. 

Hurricanes QB Cam Ward saw his strong Heisman hopes probably go up in flames, even as statistically he was solid, 25/39, 348, 3-0.  It’s his late fumble that proved costly.

For Georgia Tech, they opted to run the ball to keep it out of the hands of Ward and his receivers and the game plan worked...271 yards rushing, quarterback Haynes King with 93, and only six passes.

Miami now must ensure it gets in the ACC title game to be assured of a playoff spot, and that’s not a certainty unless they win the game.

5 Texas (8-1) rolled over Florida (4-5), 49-17, as Quinn Ewers threw five touchdown passes.

6 Penn State (8-1) beat Washington (5-5) 35-6, as the Nittany Lions outgained the Huskies 486-193.

7 Tennessee (8-1) lost quarterback Nico Iamaleava to an upper-body injury in a 33-14 win over Mississippi State (2-8), but coach Josh Heupel said he’ll be ready for a critical game against Georgia next week.

8 Indiana will continue to move up in the rankings following a 20-15 win at home over Michigan (5-5), the Hoosiers 10-0 for the first time ever.  Former Wake Forest receiver Ke’Shawn Williams had a big game, six receptions for 70 yards, and a critical late 22-yard punt return.

The Indiana defense was key in this one in the end, holding the Wolverines to just 206 yards, even as IU only gained 246 itself, just 18 in the second half.

9 BYU (9-0) eked out a 22-21 win over archrival Utah (4-5) as the Cougars needed a Will Ferrin 44-yard field goal with 0:03 remaining to stay in the playoff hunt. The Utes complained bitterly about the officiating after.

10 Notre Dame (8-1) is looking playoff bound, 52-3 over stunningly bad Florida State (1-9).

Moving on....

11 Alabama (7-2) stayed in the hunt with a much-needed 42-13 win at 15 LSU (6-3), Jalen Milroe the story in this one.  The quarterback had 185 yards rushing on just 12 carries, four touchdowns, including a 72-yard scamper that will have NFL scouts drooling.

12 Boise State (8-1) got another big game from Heisman favorite (at least he should be) Ashton Jeanty, 34 carries, 209 yards and three touchdowns as the Broncos defeated Nevada (3-8), in a contest that was admittedly closer than it should have been...but a win is a win, especially at this point in the season.

17 Iowa State (7-2) suffered its second straight defeat as their dream season goes up in flames, 45-36 to Kansas (3-6).

18 Pitt (7-2), like Iowa State, stumbled a second straight week as their ACC title hopes are probably over, 24-19 to Virginia (5-4) at home, losing quarterback Eli Holstein to an injury in the process. 

20 Colorado (7-2) is in contention for the Big 12 title game following a 41-27 win at Texas Tech (6-4).  Shedeur Sanders threw three touchdown passes, Travis Hunter with nine receptions for 99 yards and a score.

23 Clemson (7-2) is very much still in contention for the ACC championhsip, 24-14 over Virginia Tech (5-5).

25 Army (9-0) welcomed back quarterback Bryson Daily and he carried it 36 times for 153 yards and two touchdowns in a hard-fought 14-3 win at North Texas (5-4).

Vanderbilt was ranked 24th in the AP, but unranked in the CFP, and Vandy’s dream season is falling apart, now 6-4 following a 28-7 loss at home to solid South Carolina (6-3).

One game of local note...Rutgers got a much-needed 26-19 win at home against Minnesota (6-4), the Scarlet Knights 5-4, after ending a 4-game losing streak.

Friday night, Wake Forest fell to 1-5 at home, 4-5 overall, 46-36 to longtime rival (cough, cough) Cal (5-4).

The Deacs trailed 26-14 at the half, the Golden Bears mauling Wake 350-130 in total yards.

But Wake had a decent go of it in the second half and had the ball, down 39-36, with two minutes to go when Hank Bachmeier threw a costly interception, one of three on the night, and Cal prevailed.

Fernando Mendoza was 40/56, 385, 2-1, plus 51 yards and a touchdown on the ground for the Golden Bears.

A rather devastating loss for the Deacs, who after two road wins were suddenly back in contention for a bowl game.  Not now, with Miami left on the schedule, as well as North Carolina and Duke. 

--Conference standings...all about getting into the title game for each....

ACC

SMU 5-0
Clemson 6-1
Miami 5-1
Louisville 4-2...the Cardinals could play a big role as they lost to Miami, but beat Clemson

Big 12

BYU 6-0
Colorado 5-1
4 teams at 4-2

Big Ten

Indiana 7-0
Oregon 7-0
Ohio State 5-1
Penn State 5-1

SEC

Tennessee 5-1
Texas A&M 5-1
Texas 4-1
Georgia 5-2
Ole Miss 4-2
Alabama 4-2

--And the new AP Poll!

1. Oregon 10-0 (62)
2. Ohio State 8-1
3. Texas 8-1
4. Penn State 8-1
5. Indiana 10-0
6. Tennessee 8-1
7. BYU 9-0
8. Notre Dame 8-1
9. Alabama 7-2
10. Ole Miss 8-2...up 6
11. Georgia 7-2...down 9!
12. Miami (FL) 9-1...down 8
13. Boise State 8-1
14. SMU 8-1
15. Texas A&M 7-2
16. Army 9-0
17. Clemson 7-2
18. Colorado 7-2
19. Washington State 8-1
20. Kansas State 7-2
21. LSU 6-3
22. Louisville 6-3
23. South Carolina 6-3
24. Missouri 7-2
25. Tulane 8-2

Bye-bye Iowa State and Pitt.

NFL

--Going back to Thursday night, the Ravens (7-3) defeated the Bengals (4-6) in Baltimore, 35-34, in an exciting affair. 

Joe Burrow for the Bengals was terrific at quarterback, 34/56, 428, 4-0, 108.3, as he hooked up with Ja’Marr Chase for 11 receptions, 264 yards, and three touchdowns.

Lamar Jackson was equally good, 25/33, 290, 4-0, 141.4, Derrick Henry chipping in with 68 yards on 16 carries and a score.

But after Cincy had a 21-7 lead late into the third quarter, the Ravens reeled off 21 straight points, the two teams traded touchdowns in the final two minutes, and after Burrow and Chase hooked up a third time to make it 35-34, the Bengals opted to go for two points and were stopped with 0:38 to play.

Cincinnati has a favorable schedule the rest of the way and could still make the playoff field.

A concern for Baltimore fans is that while they have an elite offense, the vaunted defense has given up a ton of points, including 72 to the Bengals in two games, Baltimore having taken their first matchup 41-38.

Ja’Marr Chase had 457 yards receiving in the two games against the Ravens, an NFL record for one player against another team.

--Sunday morning in Munich, Germany, a great spot, the 2-7 Giants took on the 2-7 Panthers in a contest that was bound to “grow the sport” immensely...or maybe not.

Actually, to be fair, the fans were certainly into it, and that’s a good thing, but until the last few minutes, it seemed like neither team wanted to win it, befitting squads with a combined 4-14 mark.

For New York, Daniel Jones was his usual frustrating self, throwing two interceptions and missing more than a few scoring opportunities, while for Carolina, running back Chuba Hubbard, he of the new 4-year contract extension this week, rewarded the faith of management (and the owner, Mr. Tepper) with 148 yards on 25 carries and a TD in regulation, though he did lose a fumble.

Jones, down 17-14, engineered a 55-yard drive on 12 plays, getting the Giants into range for veteran kicker Graham Gano and he nailed a 42-yarder to send the game into overtime.

But then, with the Giants getting possession first, running back Tyrone Tracy fumbled on the first play, Carolina recovered at the New York 23, ran a few plays, setting up kicker Eddy Pineiro for a 36-yarder to win it...right down the middle.

Don’t look now, but Carolina has won two games in a row!

As for the Giants, wow...their fans are crushed...again.

--Denver (5-5) was up 14-3 midway through the second on Kansas City, but the Chiefs stiffened on ‘D’ and got just enough offense to prevail 16-14 and stay undefeated at 9-0.

--Buffalo is 8-2 after a 30-20 win at Indianapolis (4-6), the quarterbacks hardly distinguishing themselves...Josh Allen throwing two interceptions for the Bills, Joe Flacco three for the Colts, including a pick-six.

--San Francisco (5-4) beat Tampa Bay (4-6) on the road on a Jake Moody 44-yard field goal as time expired, after a Bucs’ FG at 0:41 tied it.

--Minnesota (7-2) defeated Jacksonville (2-8) on four field goals, 12-7.

--I wasn’t going to comment on New England (3-7) and their game against the Bears (4-5), except in the Pats’ 19-3 win, the defense sacked Caleb Williams nine times and held Chicago to 142 yards of offense.  Oh, the sports airwaves in the Windy City will be on fire tomorrow.

--New Orleans (3-7) upset Atlanta (6-4) 20-17 under interim head coach Darren Rizzi.

--With the Jets (3-6) taking on the Cardinals (5-4) in Arizona late today, Donald Trump’s election victory is newsworthy for Jets fans, who wonder if owner Woody Johnson will be asked again to be Ambassador to the United Kingdom as he was during Trump’s first term, leaving the Jets for 3 ½ years while he was in London.

But if Trump should tab Woody, he likely wouldn’t return to London until after overseeing the Jets’ coaching hire in January, as well as the decision on whether to retain general manager Joe Douglas.

Separately, the Jets traded receiver Mike Williams to the Steelers for a fifth-round pick.

--So speaking of Mike Williams, Pittsburgh (7-2) had a big contest against Washington (7-3) on the road, and I did watch the fourth quarter of this one and what a debut for Mr. Williams, snagging the winning touchdown on a 32-yard pass play from Russell Wilson with 2:22, the Steelers then winning it 28-27.

Wilson had three touchdown passes, and Jayden Daniels did zippo for the Commanders..

--Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott was placed on the IR with a partial avulsion (tear from the bone) of his hamstring.  Multiple reports said it will take at least 6-8 weeks for him to recover.

The Cowboys (3-5) were hosting the Eagles (6-2) in a late game today, Jerry Jones and the fans clearly depressed, season over, already.

College Basketball

--Going back to Wednesday, Columbia beat Villanova 90-80, a terrific win for the Lions, who were 17.5-point underdogs at Nova.

--Friday night we had our first big heavyweight battle of the young season, No. 1 Kansas hosting 9 North Carolina (1-1) at Allen Fieldhouse, and the Jayhawks jumped out to a 49-29, only to trail 87-83 with 3:30 to play.  But Kansas (2-0) stiffened on ‘D’, got some clutch buckets and prevailed 92-89.

--Saturday, 11 Auburn squared off against 4 Houston in a game with sudden intrigue because the Auburn plane to Texas on Friday night had to be diverted due to fighting amongst the Auburn players!  The plane went back to Auburn and then a new plane took the team to their final destination.

And how did Auburn handle the internal turmoil?  They beat the Cougars 74-69.  Coach Bruce Pearl did not address the fight when he met with the press.  The fight was apparently between two players, not more than that as initial reports had it.

--Sunday afternoon, Demon Deacon fans eagerly awaited Michigan in Greensboro for a big early test for Wake Forest...and, boy, did the Deacs come through in the clutch, 72-70, hitting 5 of 6 free throws when it mattered most and holding on.

Wake was down 11 points multiple times in the first half, cut it to four at the intermission, and then it was back-and-forth the entire second half.  A terrific early season game.  Wake once again did not shoot well from behind the arc, 6 of 20, but they started 1 of 11.

This was a resume builder for sure. Michigan, under first-year coach Dusty May, has a lot of talent and you’d think is NCAA tourney bound, like Wake fans hope we finally are.

[I can’t help but add, watching the entire game, we won despite the often infuriating play of Cam Hildreth...who does so many things well, otherwise, but often tries to do way too much, witness his five turnovers, most totally needless.]

NBA

--Knicks fans have been frustrated, but we are working in some new pieces into the lineup and it takes time.  And, heck, after beating the strangely bad Milwaukee Bucks (2-7) Friday night at the Garden, 116-94 behind Karl-Anthony Towns’ 32 points and 11 rebounds (27 points in the first half), New York is 4-4.

What had us fans in a bad mood prior was that we lost consecutive games on the road to Houston and Atlanta which we could have won, but both nights, Jalen Brunson failed to close and the Knicks allowed their opponents to go on 11-2 and 16-6 runs to close it out themselves.

Towns has been playing great.  Brunson is just off to a highly mediocre start.

--The Cavaliers are off to a franchise-best 10-0 start, 136-117 over the Warriors (7-2) Friday night in Cleveland.

Make that 11-0, Saturday, with a 105-100 win over the Nets, as former Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson admitted “there was a little extra at stake” in facing a team for the first time since the Nets fired him in 2020.

--Earlier in the week, Sixers All-Star Joel Embiid was suspended three games without pay for shoving a member of the media, the league announced Tuesday.  Embiid was upset that columnist Marcus Hayes had written a column referencing his late brother, Arthur, and his son, also named Arthur.

“Mutual respect is paramount to the relationship between players and media in the NBA,” NBA executive vice president Joe Dumars said.  “While we understand Joel was offended by the personal nature of the original version of the reporter’s column, interactions must remain professional on both sides and can never turn physical.”

--Through games Saturday, of the 15 teams in the Eastern Conference, only two were over .500.  Eleven of 15 in the West are.  Yup, it’s early, but you see where the power is.

MLB

--The Yankees, no surprise, exercised their option to bring back manager Aaron Boone, an extension no doubt worked out shortly.

But it’s all about the Juan Soto Sweepstakes, and Mets owner Steve Cohen will meet with Soto  and agent Scott Boras in Southern California next week, Cohen clearly prepared to be top bidder.  Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner, upon learning Cohen was quickly headed out west announced he was doing the same.

--Shohei Ohtani had surgery the other day to repair a torn labrum he suffered during the World Series when he partially dislocated his left shoulder, the team announced.  The Dodgers said he should be ready for spring training next year, including getting back on the mound.

Golf Balls

--Tommy Fleetwood picked up his seventh DP World Tour win, first since 2022, with a one-stroke victory over Rory McIlroy and Thriston Lawrence at the Dubai Invitational.

Fleetwood needed a dramatic birdie-birdie finish to seal the deal.

--Meanwhile, there have been reports about a deal being agreed to between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, and with the presidential election, Rory McIlroy believes the civil war in men’s professional golf could be near its end.

McIlroy, who denied knowing anything about the reports, was asked about Donald Trump’s comments recently from a podcast that he could strike a deal between the two sides in 15 minutes and that all of the best players need to be together.

“He might be able to.  He’s got Elon Musk, who I think is the smartest man in the world, beside him. We might be able to do something if we can get Musk involved, too,” McIlroy stated.

“I think from the outside looking in, it’s probably a little less complicated than it actually is.  But obviously Trump has a great relationship with Saudi Arabia. He’s got a great relationship with golf.  He’s a lover of golf. So, maybe.  Who knows?  But I think as the President of the United States again, he’s probably got bigger things to focus on than golf.”

Rory did note PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan was in Saudi Arabia last week meeting with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan.

--At this week’s Fall Season event, one of the PGA Tour’s final three on the season, the World Wide Technology Championship at Los Cabos, Mexico, we had a three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard...Justin Lower, recent winner Nico Echavarria, and Carson Young all at -16.

Local Ryan McCormick was T9 at -12, desperately needing a top five finish to get within striking distance of the top 125 heading into the last two tournaments.  Max Greyserman, born in next-door Short Hills, NJ, is just one shot back.

NASCAR

--There was a ton of controversy heading into today’s NASCAR Cup Series Championship finale in Phoenix. 

On Tuesday, NASCAR fined Bubba Wallace, Austin Dillon and Ross Chastain $100,000 each and docked them 50 driver points for violating member conduct policies in last Sunday’s race at Martinsville Speedway.

NASCAR ruled the three took actions that were detrimental to stock car racing along with race manipulation.

The crew chiefs and their respective spotters were to miss the finale as well.

This happens as NASCAR is facing a lawsuit from some of the teams, including Michael Jordan’s, for how the revenue is divvied up.

[The race is in the early stages as I go to post and will be watching now and reporting on it in the Add-on.]

--Bobby Allison died.  Founder of racing’s “Alabama Gang” and a NASCAR Hall of Famer, Allison died at home in Mooresville, North Carolina. He was 86 and had been in declining health for years.

Allison was moved to fourth on NASCAR’s Cup Series victory list last month when chairman Jim France recognized him as the winner of the Meyers Brothers Memorial at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem in 1971. The sanctioning body updated its record books to reflect the decision, giving Allison 85 wins and moving him out of a tie with Darrell Waltrip.

Allison thus trails only Richard Petty (200), David Pearson (105) and Jeff Gordon (93) in Cup wins.

“Bobby was the ultimate fan’s driver,” Allison’s family said in a statement.  “He thoroughly enjoyed spending time with his fans and would stop to sign autographs and have conversations with them everywhere he went.  He was a dedicated family man and friend, and a devout Catholic.”

[The “Alabama Gang” was a group of drivers from Hueytown, Alabama – Allison part of a talented racing family, including his sons, Davey and Clifford, as well as his brother, Donnie.]

For many, Bobby Allison is best remembered for helping put NASCAR on the map with his infamous fight with Cale Yarborough in the closing laps of the 1979 Daytona 500, which was being televised live in its entirety for the first time, drawing a large audience amidst a snowstorm in the northeast that helped attract more eyeballs.

On the final lap of the race, Yarborough and Donnie Allison crashed while racing for the lead.  Richard Petty won the race instead, and Yarborough began arguing with Donnie.  Bobby stopped his car on the infield grass near the accident scene and promptly attacked Yarborough.

Or, as Bobby’s version faithfully went for decades afterward, “Cale went to beating on my fist with his nose.”

In 1987, Bobby Allison was involved in one of the worst wrecks in NASCAR history. While racing at Talladega, Allison’s tire blew and sent his car airborne.  He hit the fence with a tremendous force, tearing out a section and nearly going into the grandstands.

Startlingly, Allison didn’t miss a race despite the crash, but it prompted NASCAR to place restrictor plates on the cars at both Talladega and Daytona.

The next season, Allison won the Daytona 500 for a third time, son Davey in second.  The two celebrated together in Victory Lane.

But four months later, Allison blew a tire early in a race at Pocono and was T-boned by another driver. The accident nearly killed him and left him with severe head trauma, along with broken bones.  It also robbed him of his memories of everything that had happened in the months prior.

Then in 1992, Allison’s youngest son, Clifford, was killed in a crash while practicing for a Busch Series race at Michigan, and less than a year later, Davey Allison was killed while trying to land his helicopter at Talladega.

Just like that, both of Allison’s sons were gone.

“I don’t know that it will ever ease up, that it will be easier any day, less painful,” Bobby said in 2011.  “It’s what happened. It’s our duty to go on.”

NHL

--Washington’s Alex Ovechkin is at 861 career goals, eight this season, including six in a recent five-game stretch, and is only 34 from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s record of 894.  Remarkable.

Well, make that only 32 away from breaking The Great One’s mark, as Ovechkin had two more goals in an 8-1 Capitals win over St. Louis Saturday night.  He now has eight goals in his last seven games.

--Last night, the Rangers got a solid road win last night in Detroit, 4-0, Jonathan Quick with his 61st career shutout. This came after an embarrassing 6-1 loss at home to Buffalo, many saying it was a needed wakeup call for the Blue Shirts, who despite a solid start weren’t playing with a lot of intensity.  Call answered Saturday, at least for one night.

Premier League

On Saturday, Brighton beat Manchester City, City manager Pep Guardiola and team suffering a fourth consecutive defeat (all competitions) for the first time as City boss.  And it’s the first time since 2006 that City has lost four in a row.

Liverpool stayed on top, and increased its lead over City to five points with a 2-0 win over slumping Aston Villa.

Sunday, 3rd-place Nottingham Forest did not distinguish itself at home, falling to Newcastle 3-1, while Ipswich picked up its first Premier League win in 22 years, at the expense of my Tottenham boys, 2-1, eliciting more than a few boos from the home crowd.  Ugh.

In the biggie, Chelsea and Arsenal played to a 1-1 draw.

Standings after 11 of 38....ties settled by goal differential

1. Liverpool 28 points
2. Man City 23
3. Chelsea 19
4. Arsenal 19...Champions League line
5. Nottingham Forest 19
6. Brighton 19

Stuff

--NCAA Men’s Soccer Rankings...heading into the start of conference tournament play this week....

1. Ohio State
2. Duke
3. San Diego (not SDSU)
4. Denver
5. Dayton
6. Indiana...rather outstanding fall sports season for IU
7. Clemson
8. Marshall
9. Pitt
10. West Virginia

It's a rare off year for Wake Forest, which as I write is not Top 25 and in danger of getting left out of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in something like 14 years, if I recall correctly.

--I was reading a story in the Wall Street Journal by Jason Gay on Fordham’s men’s water polo team, which heading into the weekend was 25-0, tied for second in the country with Stanford and USC, behind only No. 1 UCLA.  Frankly, I didn’t know Fordham was so good. 

And I actually watched Fordham win a tripleheader Saturday, able to do so on the PC, beating Bucknell, Mercyhurst, and Mt. St. Mary’s by a combined 71-19.  So now 28-0.

You always think water polo is a California thing, collegiately.  But Fordham is getting European players, like Olympic-type athletes, who think being in New York City is ‘cooler’ than being in Southern Cal, as Jason Gay put it.

Well, I passed the story on to my good friend, and neighbor, Michael C., who went to Fordham in the Digger Phelps years and was intimately involved with the basketball team then, and he said that P.J. Carlesimo, who played under Phelps at Fordham, was on the water polo team, and that P.J. was also the place kicker on the football team, and was catcher on the baseball team...aside from playing hoops.

Now that’s a jock.  And so a Bar Chat “Saaa-luute!” to one P.J. Carlesimo, who as you all know ended up being a helluva coach at Seton Hall and then had some success in the NBA.

Meanwhile, also on Saturday, the Fordham hoops team had an exciting, buzzer-beating victory over Seton Hall, 57-56, UNLV transfer Jackie Johnson III scoring the game-winner on a floater.

Top 3 songs for the week 11/12/83:  #1 “All Night Long (All Night)” (Lionel Richie)  #2 “Islands In The Stream” (Kenny Rogers with Dolly Parton)  #3 “Uptown Girl” (Billy Joel)...and...#4 “Say Say Say” (Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson)  #5 “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” (Bonnie Tyler)  #6 “One Thing Leads To Another” (The Fixx)  #7 “Cum On Feel The Noize” (Quiet Riot)  #8 “Delirious” (Prince)  #9 “Making Love Out Of Nothing At All” (Air Supply)  #10 “Suddenly Last Summer” (The Motels...C-...)

NFL Quiz Answer: Five with five or more touchdowns, rushing, in a game.

Jim Brown, CLE, 1959
Cookie Gilchrist, BUF, 1963
James Stewart, JAX, 1997
Clinton Portis, DEN, 2003
Alvin Kamara, NOR, 2020...the only one with six.

Honor our Veterans on Monday.

Brief Add-on up top by noon, Tuesday.