By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor
(MIZ)—James Franklin and Henry Josey were leading the Missouri Tigers to a 12-2 campaign and Odelle Green-Beckham was starting to waste a possibly great football career the last time the Missouri Tigers started a year 4-0. That was a decade ago.
The Tigers were under pressure throughout the game Saturday but this team didn’t fold, seized control late and didn’t let it slip aay.
The Tigers 34-27 win over Memphis State has moved them into the national polls, 23rd. They’re 22nd in the Coaches Poll. It’s the first time since 2019 that Missouri has been in the top 25. That’s the year they started 5-1 but stumbled to a 6-6 season. (ZOU)
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On a day when the Miami Dolphins ran up 70 points on the Denver Broncos, the Kansas City Chiefs indicated they could have done the same thing with the Chicago Bears.
Before we get to the Chiefs, a note or two about Miami’s demolition of the Broncos.
It’s only the fourth 70-point game in NFL history. The first was the 1940 NFL championship game the Bears won over the Washington Redskins, 73-0. The Redskins scored 71 in 1966. And the Los Angeles Rams hit the 70 mark in 1950. Only the 1951 Rams had more yards (735) than the Dolphins (726). No other team has ever had five passing touchdowns and five rushing TDs. THE CHIEFS are the only other team with multiple players scoring four touchdowns in a game. Since 1950, only the 49ers in 2012 have had 300 yards passing and 300 yards rushing in a single came.
(CHIEFS)—The Chiefs beat the Bears 41=10, had 34 of those points at the half, and appeared unstoppable by the Bears. Patrick Mahomes twisted an ankle late in the first half and sat out most of the second half. His backup, former Missouri Tiger Blaine Gabbert, was unimpressive, throwing for only 40 yards and two interceptions.
Mahomes, even playing only part of the game, set an NFL Record for getting to 25,000 yards faster than any quarterback in NFL history. Matthew Stafford set the record with the Detroit Lions in 2015 at 90 games. Mahomes did it in 83 starts.
(ROYALS)—The phrase “hot streak” has not been linked to the Kansas City Royals much in the last couple of years. But they head into the last week of the regular season on one.
The Royals have won ten of their last eleven games and for the first time since 2019 they have racked up four straight series wins. Manager Matt Quartraro says the team has grown throughout the year. One sign is that eight of the ten wins have been decided by two runs or fewer.
“We’ve had a lot of close games this year that haven’t gone our way. And early on, we were using that as kind of a, ‘They’re learning. They’re learning to be in close games.’ And maybe this is the byproduct of that,”‘ Quintraro observed after Sunday’s 6-5 win against the Astros Sunday.
The Royals were 29-75 at the start of August. They have gone 24-27 since, not a pennant-winning pace by any means but enough to get Royals fans’ flowing a little faster in the off-season.
(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals’ underwhelming season is slouching toward its end. Their Sunday loss to San Diego ended a three-game winning streak. Those were the only wins in the most recent 10-game string.
The biggest question for the rest of the season is whether Adam Wainwright will ever be seen on the mound in a big league game again.
The Cardinals, once considered likely to win at least 90 back in the chilly days of Spring, have put themselves into position to LOSE that many. 68-88 heading into the last days of the regular season.
Motoring along—-
(NASCAR)—William Byron posted his sixth win this year and the 300th in the Cup Series for team oner Rick Hendrick at the Texas Speedway Sunday. He got past Denny Hamlin and pole-winner Bubba Wallace on the last restart, which was necessary because Kyle Larson crashed while racing Wallace for the lead with twenty laps to go. Larson’s car got loose as he and Wallace raced side-by-side. His sliding car narrowly missed the back end of Wallace’s car as it swung to the right and took him into the wall.
NASCAR’s next race in its championship playoff will be at Talladega.
(FORMULA 1)—After an off-week that ended his consecutive wins record run, Max Verstappen went pole to pole in the Japanese Grand Prix. It’s his 13th win this year. He appears to have an insurmountable points lead with six races left. His closest contender, Lando Norris with McLaren, was more than 19 seconds back.