Friday’s 6-pack:
All-time leaders in rushing touchdowns:
164— Emmitt Smith
145— LaDainian Tomlinson
123— Marcus Allen
120— Adrian Peterson
110— Walter Payton
106— Jim Brown
Quote of the Day
“I think everyone should go to college and get a degree, and then spend six months as a bartender and six months as a cab driver. Then they would really be educated.”
Al McGuire
Friday’s quiz
Where did Texas football coach Steve Sarkisian play his college football?
Hint: he was a quarterback
Thursday’s quiz
Carolina Panthers are only NFL team that hasn’t covered a spread (0-5-1) this season.
Wednesday’s quiz
Chris Paul has been in the NBA for 18 years; he played his college basketball at Wake Forest.
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Bills 24,
Buccaneers 18
Bills in first half: 33 plays, 234 yards, 17 points.
Bills in 2nd half: 35 plays, 184 yards, 7 points.
Bills allowed 10-3-20-9-18 points in wins, 22-25-29 in losses.
Allen was 31-40/324 passing, with two TD’s.
Buccaneers lost four of their last five games.
Tampa is 3-0 ATS as road dog this year (6-13-3 from 2017-22)
Tampa scored 20-27-26 points in wins, 11-6-13-18 in losses.
Bucs’ opponents’ team total: under 6-0-1
Tampa Bay threw a Hail Mary 55 yards to the end zone on the last play; had Bucs’ WR Chris Godwin looked up a little quicker, ball would’ve hit him in the hands.
— Steelers/Cardinals are only NFL teams that have been outgained in every game this season; the 4-2 Steelers have been outgained by 110 yards/game, the 1-6 Cardinals by 48.4 yards/game.
— Odd scheduling by the NFL; six teams had last week off, so only 13 games were played, while this week, all 32 teams are playing, then next week, four teams have the week off.
— Sounds like Tennessee Titans are going to start rookie QB Will Levis against Atlanta Sunday, but will also use backup Malik Willis at times. Starting QB Ryan Tannehill (ankle) like won’t play in the game, which sets Levis up to make his first NFL start.
— Minnesota Vikings have thrown 16 TD passes this season; they haven’t run for a TD yet.
— Air Force football team is 7-0 this season; they’re ranked in the top 20 in the country for the first time since 2002.
— Movie of the Day: Punchline (1988)— A medical school dropout and a housewife/mom try to make it as stand-up comedians. They become friends and help each other out at a Manhattan comedy club.
Tom Hanks, Sally Field, John Goodman; hard to go wrong with those stars.
— Tough stretch for Philadelphia sports teams; they’ve lost seven Game 7’s in a row, with 76ers losing last four Game 7’s, Flyers losing last two and now the Phillies losing Game 7 of the NLCS.
— This year’s Diamondbacks are second team ever (1987 Twins) to make it to the World Series, even though they had a negative run differential (-15) during the regular season. Twins had a minus-20 run differential in ’87.
— Only twice in MLB history has the road team won all seven games in a best-of-7 series; the 2019 Nationals won the World Series, the 2023 Rangers won the ALCS— both of them beat the Astros in those series.
— Odds to win the World Series: Rangers -170, Diamondbacks +150
— Arizona Diamondbacks made the World Series with a payroll of $116.5M, 21st in MLB.
By way of contrast, in the near future, two guys on the Milwaukee Bucks, Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo, will be earning a total of $122.1M/year. Two guys.
— Dodgers’ 1B Freddie Freeman has missed only 11 games the last six years, while knocking in 557 runs, scoring 626 runs in 859 games. A Hall of Famer, for sure.
— Jacksonville State 41, FIU 16
Gamecocks are 7-2, in their first year of I-A football.
Jacksonville State ran ball 55 times for 265 yards.
FIU had nine penalties for 92 yards; JSU had one penalty, for 15 yards.
— Texas-El Paso 37, Sam Houston State 34
0-8 Bearkats led 27-13 with 2:00 left in third quarter.
UTEP kicked 32-yard FG with 0:03 left for the win.
Miners ran ball 40 times for 222 yards.
— Virginia Tech 38, Syracuse 10
Hokies led 30-3 at halftime.
Rushing yards: Tech 318, Syracuse 0
3rd down conversions: Tech 8-16, Syracuse 0-9
— Georgia Southern 44, Georgia State 21
Eagles threw for 334 yards (9.3 yards/attempt)
Georgia State ran ball 40 times for 290 yards.
Both teams are 6-2.