Friday’s 6-pack:
College basketball teams with the best eFG% defense in country:
40.0%— Tennessee
41.0%— Houston
41.2%— Duke
41.4%— Illinois
42.2%— George Mason
42.2%— Cincinnati
Quote of the Day
“Great football game. Let’s talk about Cam Dicker and the free kick. It’s my favorite rule in football. I have been trying to get one in every game. When Cameron Dicker made it, it got the momentum back. This was our chance. This was our moment [to try it].”
Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, talking about the 57-yard FG on a free kick
Friday’s quiz
What city is the Liberty Bowl football game played in every year?
Thursday’s quiz
Patrick Mahomes, Jared Goff are the two starting QB’s in the NFL who have fathers that played major league baseball.
Wednesday’s quiz
Washington Redskins drafted Kirk Cousins in the 4th round of the 2012 NFL Draft.
*******************************************************
—
Chargers 34,
Broncos 27
Broncos’ first three drives: 28 plays, 212 yards, 21 points.
Denver led 21-13 at halftime.
Broncos last seven drives: 37 plays, 124 yards, 3 points.
Broncos are 1-5 in games decided by 7 or fewer points.
Denver’s team total: over 10-4-1
QB Herbert threw for 284 yards and two TD’s.
Chargers are 6-0 scoring 24+ points, 3-6 scoring 23 or fewer points.
Over is 5-0 in their last five home games.
Chargers are 5-1 ATS this season as home favorites.
Bolts are 8-4 ATS in last 12 AFC West home games.
Chargers got a 57-yard field goal at the end of the first half on a free kick after a fair catch by the punt returner; the last time that happened in the NFL was 1976.
— Sam Houston 31, Georgia Southern 26
Sam Houston scored on a pick-6 2:58 into the game.
Georgia Southern ran for 181 yards, outgained Bearkats 393-267.
Problem is, Sam Houston was +4 in turnovers (5-1)
Bearkats win their first-ever I-A bowl game.
Sam Houston still has 10 guys who were on 2021 team that won the 2021 national title at the I-AA level.
— When the Detroit Lions play in Chicago Sunday, it’ll be their second outdoor game this year, on freakin’ December 22. Very unusual.
Lions won their first outdoor game 24-14 at Green Bay in Week 9, but they were outgained 411-261. Detroit scored 34-42 points in their last two games, but those were both at home.
— Cardinals’ 3B Nolan Arenado vetoed a trade to Houston; at this point, the best St Louis can probably get for Arenado is most likely a mid-level prospect and for the other team to take on some of his salary (he will make $59M the next two years).
Does this mean Alex Bregman is leaving the Astros? Boston is rumored to be interested in him, as well as the Tigers.
— Sacramento A’s signed 33-year old IF Gio Urshela Thursday; he hit .250 last year, with nine homers, 52 RBI in a season split between Detroit/Atlanta.
— 31-year old Max Kepler signed a one-year, $10M deal with the Phillies; he’s played for the Twins the last 10 years, and was hampered by injuries LY, playing in only 105 games. Kepler is expected to play left field for Philadelphia.
— Washington Nationals signed P Mike Soroka for one year, $9M; Soroka was 17-8, 3.32 in 43 starts for Atlanta from 2018-23, but was 0-10, 4.74 in 25 games (nine starts) for a dreadful White Sox team last year. He is expected to be a starter again for Washington.
—
Famous birthdays, December 20th:
Dick Wolf, 78 (executive producer,
Law and Order)
Cecil Cooper, 75
Jenny Agutter, 72
Trent Tucker, 65
Tom Newberry, 62
Rich Gannon, 59
David DeJesus, 45
James Shields, 43
Jonah Hill, 41
Calvin Ridley, 30
Bryce Perkins, 28
De’Aaron Fox, 27
Friday would’ve been John Hillerman’s 92nd birthday.
— Cal-Irvine 92, Belmont 84
Anteaters were down 13 with 12:20 left to play.
Irvine scored 40 points in the last 10:00 of the game.
Anteaters were 24-26 on foul line, Belmont 5-8; game was at Belmont.
It is December 20; Irvine already has four true road wins. Impressive.
— How much does Patrick Mahomes’ status effect the pointspread?
When it was thought he was sitting Saturday’s game out, Houston was favored by 2.5 points.
Now that Mahomes is going to play, Kansas City is favored by 3.5 points.
— Duke QB Maalik Murphy bolted to Oregon State, which probably means the Beavers gave him a lot more $$$$ than Duke was. On the surface, bolting from the ACC to the Mountain West isn’t a brilliant move. Duke is 9-3 this year; Murphy threw 26 TD’s, 12 INTs before he bolted.
Washington State QB John Mateer is bolting to Oklahoma, where he will reunite with his old offensive coordinator, Ben Arbuckle, and quarterbacks coach John Kuceyesk from Wazzu.
Coogs are 8-4 this year, losing their last three games; Mateer threw 29 TD’s, 7 INT’s. It is safe to assume that Oklahoma gave him a boatload of $$$, too.
— NBA franchises that are worth the most $$$$:
Golden State $9.14B
NY Knicks $8.3B
LA Lakers $8.07B
Brooklyn $5.7B
LA Clippers $5.68B
— Steph Curry is getting paid $55,761,216 this season: he is expected to make another $90M or so off the floor, in endorsements. Same thing for Lebron James, who the Lakers are paying $48,728,845 this year (plus another $2M or so to his son).
Basketball is big business, but if the TV ratings keep tanking, will be interesting to see where the salary cap winds up the next few years.
— JJ Redick gave up the TV booth this year to coach Lebron and the Lakers, who are 15-12 as we speak, the #7-seed in the West. Redick had never coached before; they fired last year’s coach Darvin Ham even after the Lakers won the in-season tournament, which is probably an indictment of that event.
Would seem that coaching a big-market team with two big stars wouldn’t be an entry-level position, but this year, it is.
— Random stat: Los Angeles Chargers have lost their last 11 games that were decided by 3 or fewer points; the longest losing streak ever in that category is 13 (Buffalo, from 2001-06).
— Looks like Georgia Bulldogs QB Carson Beck is exploring surgery options on his injured throwing elbow; he isn’t expected to play in Georgia’s playoff games. Sophomore Gunner Stockton is expected to take his place- he was 12-16 for 71 yards in the SEC title game against Texas, which the Dawgs won 22-19 in overtime.
