aba Page 39 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Steelers-Bucs epitomized why Todd Bowles’ ‘stop making a big deal’ comments were so dangerous
Todd Bowles has forgotten where he came from — and who he is. Hopefully, Sunday’s loss from Mike Tomin (and Brian Flores) helped him remember. ...

10 NBA preseason takeaways that provide insight into the regular season
The NBA will give everyone their first real look at the league’s rapidly transforming landscape and its latest rookie class when the regular season tips off on Tuesday, but the preseason is a window into what to expect from certain teams. Wins and losses are mostly meaningless, so don’t read into th...

Week 7 of college football was perfect
Coming into the weekend, we knew at least three unbeaten programs were guaranteed to end Saturday with a smudge on their immaculate records as six perfect top 13 teams were set to face off against each other. ...

The AP poll really needs to start taking strength of schedule into consideration more
The USC Trojans came into this season with very high expectations, and that’s saying a lot considering their a historic program whose fans expect nothing short of a Pac-12 title and a top-10 postseason finish every year. The additions of head coach Lincoln Riley and quarterback Caleb Williams had So...

Philadelphia Eagles’ easy schedule could ensure the road to Super Bowl runs through Philadelphia
The Philadelphia Eagles are tied for the ninth most difficult remaining strength of schedule in terms of combined winning percentage, with their remaining opponents a combined .533. That looks tough on paper, but when you read between the lines, it looks like Philly could run away with the top seed ...

Sam Presti, mixed bag
Sam Presti is lucky he’s in Oklahoma City. He would be held accountable for his screwups if he were in charge of a larger market franchise with a longer-tenured and demanding fanbase. But, before we tackle those, Presti has proven to be one of the best judges of talent and character. He has crushed ...

These are the top 10 remaining unbeaten college football teams
Six weeks through the College Football season, just 15 unbeaten teams remain....

College Football Marty McFly Rankings Week 6: Tennessee, L.A. football, and Texas are all back
Like a poorly thought-through movie-to-TV series, it appears the Marty McFly rankings are on life support. The actor I hired to play Michael J. Fox’s character is no Michael J. Fox, the de-aging for Christopher Lloyd is too expensive, and the DeLoreans keep breaking down. Never mind that these are t...

Ranking the 12 NFL head coaches hired straight from the Power 5 college ranks since 2000
Dear NFL GMs and owners, you may want to think twice about hiring a head coach straight outta the college ranks. While there have been success stories — Jimmy Johnson going from the U to Big D being the best example — that really hasn’t been the case in this millennium. Matt Rhule is the latest flop...

The NFL doesn’t have to make sense
It was a great showcase for all the NFL can be on Monday in Kansas City. Even if you put aside the defiant and ignorant Chiefs fans doing the chop on Indigenous People’s Day — a truly lovely touch — or Troy Aikman insulting any woman who might be watching the broadcast, it was also an example of how...

Tampa Bay Lightning’s Ian Cole accused of sexually abusing minor
Another banner day for hockey, as Tampa Bay’s Ian Cole was accused of grooming a minor and sexual assault by an anonymous person on Twitter. The Lightning have suspended Cole pending their own investigation and one conducted by the NHL....

It’s the Falcons’ fault that they lost, but it’s hard to win when playing against the refs and Bucs
Going into the fourth quarter down 21-0 is not the best strategy....

Two takeaways from college football on Saturday
There wasn’t much surprising about the results from Saturday. Oklahoma continued its free fall, getting shut out by Texas, 49-0. Even though Jimbo Fisher gave Nick Saban a game in Bryce Young’s absence, the Crimson Tide pulled through. None of the top 10 lost despite Oklahoma State playing with its ...

Alabama’s gridiron clash with Texas A&M becomes a dud
It was dubbed the most anticipated college football game of the season. The narrative of a College Football Playoff-ready Texas A&M invading Tuscaloosa to truly see how strong its armor was against the impenetrable fortress of Bryant-Denny Stadium. Alabama held up its end of the bargain. The Crimson...

There’s a reason Mike Leach’s quarterbacks have never cost him his job
The next time a pundit says “Missing on such-and-such QB cost coach X his job” will be my next visit to the psych ward. You know why Spencer Rattler didn’t cost Lincoln Riley his job, and Paul Chryst couldn’t survive Graham Mertz? One looks at a chalkboard as a place to draw plays, and the other see...

Jim Harbaugh and Jimbo Fisher are kindred spirits
Jim Harbaugh and Jimbo Fisher are two identical strangers on similar paths. Both were top-notch quarterback gurus who haven’t been able to find a consistent spark behind center. This season, Texas A&M is on its second quarterback while Harbaugh has been deploying a platoon system featuring J.J. McCa...

The Dallas Cowboys are frauds
Sports has a short menu: Wins and losses....

Don’t write off the Bucs and Chiefs just yet, unless you desire to make poor predictions
Wow, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs are really good NFL teams. What a surprise that well-run organizations can overcome injuries and a hard salary cap to make an entertaining Sunday Night Football game....

College Football Week 5: A veritable smorgasbord of appetizing games
There’s no more hiding for college football teams. The tune-ups are over, and now conference foes are getting thrown together like peanut butter and jelly. Don’t like that? How about Bell pepper, meet onion? Cereal, meet milk. Alabama, meet Arkansas. NC State, meet Clemson. Oklahoma State, meet a po...

These are the top 10 unbeaten college football teams through Week 5
A quarter of the way through the college football season, you start to get a sense of which teams are for real, and which teams are not....