Yahoo Sports AM: October Madness

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🚨 Headlines

🏀 Father and son: Bronny James celebrated his 20th birthday on Sunday by sharing the court with his dad for the first time in the Lakers’ preseason game against the Suns.

⚽️ Still unbeaten: The Orlando Pride beat the Washington Spirit, 2-0, on Sunday to clinch their first NWSL Shield (best record). The Pride (17-6-0) are now three games away from the first unbeaten season in league history.

🏁 Photo finish, historic crash: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. beat Brad Keselowski in an overtime photo finish at Talladega after the biggest crash in NASCAR history (28 drivers involved) wiped out nearly everyone at the front of the field with less than five laps left.

👊 Pereira’s reign continues: Alex Pereira defeated Khalil Rountree Jr. by fourth-round TKO to defend his light heavyweight crown for the third time in 175 days, a new UFC record.

🏒 Swayman extended: The Bruins signed goalie Jeremy Swayman to an eight-year, $66 million extension, ending their contract standoff two days before the season-opener.

🏈 October Madness

College football descended into chaos on Saturday, with four top-11 teams losing to unranked opponents on the same day for the first time since 2007.

Close call… No. 8 Miami looked destined to become the fifth victim of the day, but the ‘Canes completed a 25-point comeback to beat unranked Cal.

The year of the transfer QB: Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia (NMSU), Arkansas’ Taylen Green (Boise State), Washington’s Will Rogers (Mississippi State), Minnesota’s Max Brosmer (New Hampshire) and Miami’s Cam Ward (Washington State) were all at different schools last season.

Poll shakeup: Texas returns to No. 1 ahead of their clash with fellow SEC newcomer No. 18 Oklahoma, and Ohio State and Oregon will be No. 2 and No. 3 entering Saturday’s blockbuster.

Notes:

• Not dead yet: The reality of the 12-team playoff is that a bad loss is no longer a death sentence. Some fans might prefer the days when Saturday would have doomed the likes of Alabama and Tennessee, but the idea that a season can continue on feels like a positive.

• The new normal: Los Angeles residents woke up on Saturday in a Big Ten town (USC at Minnesota? UCLA at Penn State?) and an ACC state, with “College Gameday” in Berkeley for Cal-Miami. What a time to be alive.

• Heisman watch: Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty is the new favorite (+225 at BetMGM) after rushing 13 times for 186 yards and 3 TD (in one half!) against Utah State. His stats through five games: 95 carries, 1,031 yards (10.9 yards per carry!), 16 TD.

Who’s still perfect? Just 12 unbeaten FBS teams remain. That includes Army and Navy (5-0 for the first time since the 1940s), No. 11 Iowa State (5-0 for the first time since 1980), No. 18 Indiana (6-0 for the first time since 1967) and No. 22 Pitt (5-0 for the first time since 1991).

⚾️ A ballgame for the ages

Are you not entertained?! Bryce Harper ignited the offense and Nick Castellanos hit a walk-off single to lift the Phillies past the Mets, 7-6, in one of the best baseball games you’ll ever see.

Back-and-forth: The Mets led 2-0 in the third and 3-0 in the sixth before the Phillies tied it. New York retook the lead in the seventh (4-3), Philly jumped in front in the eighth (6-4), then the Mets tied it in the top of the ninth (6-6) before Castellanos called game.

“I said it to the guys, I said, ‘Rocky would be proud.’ Never-die mentality, man. Just a great game.”

— Harper, ever the Philadelphian

Sports, man… Castellanos ran over to his son, Liam, to celebrate his game-winning hit. “When I’m old and no one cares about me as a baseball player anymore, we’re going to be home and be able to remember and look back at that,” he said postgame.

Where it stands: Sunday’s dizzying Game 2 came on the heels of the Mets’ come-from-behind victory on Saturday that saw them score six runs in the final two frames to win 6-2. The series is now tied and heads to New York tomorrow.

The Cardiac Mets: Entering this year, no team had ever played three straight playoff games in which the team that led entering the eighth inning went on to lose. The Mets have now played four straight such games.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles… The Dodgers beat the Padres, 7-5, on Saturday behind Shohei Ohtani’s three-run blast (and bat flip), but San Diego responded in a big way on Sunday with six homers (tying the MLB postseason record) and a 10-2 victory.

ALDS:

• Yankees-Royals: New York beat Kansas City, 6-5, on Saturday in the first-ever MLB playoff to feature five lead changes.

• Guardians-Tigers: Cleveland scored five runs before recording an out on Saturday en route to a 7-0 win over Detroit.

🔥 Things got heated: Dodgers fans throw stuff at Padres outfielder

🏀 Liberty advance, Sun stay alive

The Liberty got their revenge, eliminating the Aces on Sunday to clinch a spot in their second straight WNBA Finals a year after Las Vegas won the title at their expense.

• New York’s 76-62 win was powered by Sabrina Ionescu (22 points, 7 rebounds, 5 threes) and Breanna Stewart (19 points, 14 rebounds, 5 assists), who combined for 158 points in their 3-1 series victory.

• The Aces’ quest for a three-peat is officially over, leaving the Houston Comets as the only team in league history to win three consecutive championships (four straight from 1997-2000).

Meanwhile, in Connecticut… Alyssa Thomas (18 points, 8 rebounds, 11 assists) and the Sun beat Napheesa Collier (29 points, 13 rebounds) and the Lynx, 92-82, to force a winner-take-all Game 5 tomorrow night.

🗽 Good read: Stewart embodies Liberty’s emotional center

🏈 NFL Sunday: Jackson tops Burrow in epic duel

Well, that was fun. The Ravens beat the Bengals, 41-38 (OT), on Sunday in a truly epic duel. Lamar Jackson (348 pass yards, 4 TD; 55 rush yards) improved to 9-1 against the Bengals and 5-1 against Joe Burrow, who was stellar in defeat (392 yards, career-high 5 TD).

Elsewhere…

• Trouble in SF: The Cardinals erased a 13-point second-half deficit to stun the 49ers on the road. San Francisco, a preseason title favorite, is now 2-3 with their only wins coming against the Jets and Patriots.

• Daniels stands alone: The Commanders routed the Browns behind another strong start from rookie Jayden Daniels, who became the first player in NFL history with 1,000+ passing yards and 250+ rushing yards through five career games.

• Kings of England: The Vikings picked off Aaron Rodgers three times and beat the Jets, 23-17, to improve to 4-0 in London (wins in 2023, 2017, 2022, 2024) and 5-0 on the season.

• Dallas wins nightcap: Dak Prescott hit Jalen Tolbert for the go-ahead touchdown with 20 seconds left as the Cowboys beat the Steelers, 20-17, on “Sunday Night Football.”

• Winless no more: Trevor Lawrence got his first win in 315 days, and the Jags got their first win of the season in a 37-34 victory over Joe Flacco (he’s still got it!) and the Colts.

More scores:

• Texans 23, Bills 20

• Giants 29, Seahawks 20

• Packers 24, Rams 19

• Bears 36, Panthers 10

• Broncos 34, Raiders 18

• Dolphins 15, Patriots 10

🙌 Walk-off kick: Fairbairn’s 59-yarder wins it for Houston

📆 Oct. 7, 1916: 222-0

108 years ago today, Georgia Tech beat Cumberland College, 222-0, in perhaps the most lopsided outcome in sports history.

“Beatdown” isn’t the word. Neither are “rout” or “clobbering.” The word to describe what Georgia Tech’s football team did to Cumberland does not exist, because we’ve never had to invent it, because nothing like it has happened before or since.

— Jon Bois, SB Nation

The juggernaut: Georgia Tech was a national powerhouse in the midst of a 33-game unbeaten streak. They were also coached by John Heisman — yes, that Heisman — who was one of the game’s great offensive minds.

Meanwhile, at Cumberland: The small Tennessee school had shut down its football program that spring. But this game was already scheduled and Heisman threatened to charge them $3,000 if they forfeited, so they threw a team together from scratch.

Utter domination: Georgia Tech scored 32 touchdowns in 55 minutes, good for one every minute and 43 seconds. The second half was shortened by five minutes after the score at halftime was 126-0.

• Cumberland didn’t have a single first down, committed 15 turnovers and totaled -33 yards on offense.

• As legendary sportswriter Grantland Rice wrote, “Cumberland’s greatest individual play of the game occurred when fullback Allen circled right for a six-yard loss.”

Revenge game: Heisman, who was also Georgia Tech’s baseball coach, decided to run up the score in part to take revenge for a baseball game from one year earlier, when Cumberland fielded a team of minor league ringers and embarrassed Tech in a 22-0 win.

📺 Watchlist: Can KC stay perfect?

The injury-riddled Chiefs put their undefeated season to the test tonight (8:15pm ET, ESPN) at home against the 2-2 Saints.

New WR1: With Rashee Rice (knee) on the IR and Travis Kelce off to a slow start, rookie speed demon* Xavier Worthy could emerge as Patrick Mahomes’ new favorite target. The Chiefs are also reportedly looking to trade for WR help, as they’ve done in each of the last two seasons.

More to watch:

• ⚾️ ALDS: Tigers (0-1) at Guardians (4pm, TBS); Royals (0-1) at Yankees (7:30pm, TBS)

• 🏀 NBA Preseason: Magic at Pelicans (1:30pm, NBA); Thunder at Spurs (8pm, NBA)

*Fastest-ever: Worthy ran the fastest 40-yard dash ever recorded at the NFL combine (4.21 seconds) this past spring.

🏈 ACC trivia

Dabo Swinney won his 174th ACC game on Saturday, making him the winningest coach in the history of the conference.

Question: Who did he surpass?

Answer at the bottom.

🍿 Baker’s Dozen: Top 13 plays of the weekend

1. ⚾️ Profar robs Betts

2. 🏈 The perfect punt

3. 🏈 Alec Pierce!

4. 🏈 Lamar magic

5. ⚽️ Cheeky back heel

6. 🏒 Ridiculous save

7. 🏈 Love to Reed

8. ⛳️ Albatross!

9. 🎾 What a shot by Novak

10. 🏀 A+ assist

11. 🏒 Filthy penalty shot

12. 🏈 Tank is a tank

13. ⚽️ Captain America!

Watch all 13.

Trivia answer: Bobby Bowden (Florida State)

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