Good morning, team SQ! Check out this impressive 87 yard touchdown run from quarterback Marcus Mariota who helped his Tennessee Titans squad defeat the Jacksonville Jaguars 42-39 on Sunday afternoon.
QUIPS FOR THIS WEEK
NFL
Last night in Sunday Night Football, the Pittsburgh Steelers scored a 45-10 win against the Indianapolis Colts. A few of the Sunday afternoon games were also noteworthy. The New York Giants damaged their playoff hopes after losing to the New York Jets in OT 23-20, the Seattle Seahawks continued their uphill climb with a win over the Minnesota Vikings 38-7, the San Francisco 49ers upset the Chicago Bears 26-20 in OT and the New England Patriots lost 28-35 to the Philadelphia Eagles. Oh and in all things NFC South, the Carolina Panthers beat the New Orleans Saints 41-38 to reach 12-0, and Cam Newton had a career-high five touchdown passes.
Monday Night Football features NFC East rivals — the Dallas Cowboys v. the Washington Redskins at 8:30pm on NBC.
The NFL also announced this week that this year’s Super Bowl half-time performer will be Coldplay, who just released a new album last week.
College Football
This weekend was all about the conference championships in college football. #1 Clemson beat #10 North Carolina in a controversial-esque ending to win the ACC 45-37, #2 Alabama took down #18 Florida 29-15 in the SEC Championship game, #5 Michigan State fought back to defeat #4 Iowa 16-13 to win the Big 10, and #7 Stanford pretty much crushed USC 41-22 to win the Pac-12.
So what does this mean? It means that bowl season is now set, including the New Years Six and National Championship tournament. Upcoming games of note include:
- College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Orange Bowl features #4 Oklahoma v. #1 Clemson — December 31st at 4pm on ESPN
- College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Cotton Bowl Classic features #3 Michigan State v. #2 Alabama — December 31st at 8pm on ESPN
- Fiesta Bowl features Notre Dame v. Ohio State — January 1st at 1pm on ESPN
- Rose Bowl Game features Stanford v. Iowa — January 1st at 5pm on ESPN
- College Football Playoff National Championship — January 11th at 8:30pm on ESPN
The entire schedule can be found here.
NBA
The questions on everyone’s (or NBA fans’) minds: How long can the Golden State Warriors stay undefeated, and how many games will they win overall this season? After some close games and some heroics from Stephen Curry and Co., the answer remains TBD at 22-0 after a Sunday night win over the Brooklyn Nets, 114-98, and a long season to go… Regardless, go check out Steph (even in practice). How fun would it be if the Dubs could stay undefeated until Christmas when they face the Cleveland Cavaliers?
Speaking of the Cavs, injury woes continue to dominate this season. LeBron James recently sat out in a loss to the Miami Heat on Saturday after playing in a OT loss on Friday to the New Orleans Pelicans. Here’s to hoping to good health in 2016!
In other news, the Indiana Pacers’ Paul George is looking better than ever these days. He netted 48 points in a loss to the Utah Jazz in OT on Saturday. The Indiana Pacers can look forward to a big game to the Golden State Warriors this week.
College Basketball
It’s still early, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some good games to enjoy. In a rematch to last year’s embarrassment, UCLA defeated #1 Kentucky 87-77 on Thursday eve, #2 Maryland beat #9 North Carolina 89-81 and #4 Kansas topped a tough Harvard team 75-69 on Saturday.
Also of note, Ben Simmons had 43 points (the most by an LSU player since Shaq scored 43 points against Northern Arizona), as his LSU team beat North Florida 119-108 on Wednesday. Oh, and he’s got a fan in LeBron James.
This week, tune into more games before the season briefly slows down with exams coming up!
Soccer
This Saturday in Premier League soccer, Stoke City took home a 2-0 win against Manchester City. This was Man City’s fourth away game without a win, and with that, City has been overtaken by both Leicester and Arsenal at the top of the table. Arsenal beat Sunderland 1-0, and Swansea City fell 0-3 to Leicester City. Also on Saturday, the Manchester United/West Ham United match ended in a goalless draw, West Bromwich Albion finished with a 1-1 draw against Tottenham Hotspur, and Chelsea (who we thought was turning a corner in this season’s performance) lost 0-1 to AFC Bournemouth. On Sunday, Liverpool showed that they were still a work in progress with a 0-2 loss to Newcastle United.
On Saturday in La Liga, Valencia scored with only a few minutes left in the match to tie Barcelona 1-1. Barca’s league lead over second place Atletico Madrid is now only a two point lead.
Yesterday afternoon, we watched Columbus Crew SC host the Portland Timbers for the 2015 MLS Cup. The Timbers took home their first MLS Cup title after five years in the league with Sunday’s 2-1 win.
NHL
On Friday and Saturday, we witnessed several upsets in the NHL. The league #1, the Dallas Stars, lost 1-2 to the Edmonton Oilers in OT on Friday. On Saturday, Mark Scheifele scored with 19 seconds left in OT to lift the #19 Winnipeg Jets to a 2-1 win over the league #3 Washington Capitals, the #9 Ottawa Senators won 3-2 against the #5 New York Islanders with help from the NHL’s leader in assists this season, Erik Karlsson, and the #28 Carolina Hurricanes broke their 3-game losing streak when they beat the #2 Montreal Canadiens 3-2. Although the Canadiens would go on to lose the game, check out Mike Condon’s awesome (and totally blind) save when Carolina’s Eric Staal tried to put the puck in the net behind his left shoulder. On Sunday, last year’s Stanley Cup winners, the Chicago Blackhawks, played Winnipeg and won, 3-1. The Blackhawks’ right wing Patrick Kane broke the franchise record for consecutive games with a point or more with this victory. The #4 New York Rangers also beat Ottawa on Sunday night, 4-1.
In other hockey news, the Vancouver Canucks’ Brandon Prust will be fined $5,000 by the NHL Department of Player Safety for spearing Boston Bruins’ player Brad Marchand during Saturday’s game. The Canucks and the Bruins have had a heated rivalry since the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.
Other
A South African appeals court overturned an earlier verdict to find Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius guilty of murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, in February 2013. He will return to court to be re-sentenced.
After signing David Price for a seven year $217 million contract, the Boston Red Sox introduced him to the media at Fenway Park on Friday. Baseball is coming y’all.
Get well, Megan Rapinoe. The US Soccer star suffered a torn ACL on Friday during a training session with the national team in Hawaii, leading to questions of whether she can recover in time for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
JUST FOR FUN
2015 Sportsman of the Year
Would you choose American Pharoah or Carli Lloyd?
STORIES FOR INSIGHTS, COOL FACTOR + DEBATE
Those who can’t play, teach
But can players coach, too?
Barry Bonds was hired as a hitting coach for the Miami Marlins
American Boy
Why don’t we have any domestic soccer greats?
We’re finally trying to develop local talent, but it’s going to take time
On Tour
Major League Baseball is headed to Cuba
This is their first visit since the Orioles played a 1999 exhibition game against the Cubans
The SportsQuip 