By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor
(CHIEFS)—The Kansas City Chiefs have started the season 2-0 against stiff opposition, thanks to an opponent’s toe being out of bounds at the end of the game and then thanks to the foot of kicker Harrison Butker, who nailed a 51-yard field goal as the clock ran down to 0:00.
This one was another close call for Kansas City, a team once known for its high-scoring offense. The Chiefs have yet to hit 30 points this year and have done it only once in their last twelve regular-season games, and not at all in their last ten. Two years ago, the Chiefs had eight games of 30 or more and three in which they got 40 or more. They’ve hit forty only once in their last 25 games.
The Chiefs announced yesterday that their featured running back, Isiah Pacheco, suffered a fractured fibula, the small bone in the leg, and will be out for at least six weeks. With Clyde Edwards Hillaire on the non-football injured list to deal with PTSD, the Chiefs have Samaje Perine and Carson Steele as the only running backs on the 53-man roster. Perine was signed after being cut by Denver after spending nine seasons bouncing around in Washington, Cincinnati, and Miami. Steele is a rookie. Both have seen limited action this year.
Reports indicate the Chiefs are bringing former running back Kareem Hunt in for a look-see. He was with the Chiefs in 2017 and 2018, led the league in rushing as a rookie in ’07 and was second in the ROTY voting. He was cut after eleven games of the 2018 season after a video showed him knocking down a woman and kicking her. He’s been with the Browns for most of the last five seasons but has never come close to his performance with the Chiefs.
Next week, the Chiefs play a Sunday night game against the Falcons in Atlanta. The Falcons opened the season with an 18-10 loss to the Steelers. Last night they were on the road against the Eagles.
(MIZ)—Missouri came back to beat Boston College Saturday, then the nation’s 24th ranked team, moving them up from 10th to 9th in the ESPN Power rankings. Mizzou was down 14-3 before reeling off 24 unanswered points and being far enough ahead that fans didn’t have to worry about a loss as BC headed for its final touchdown with little time left.
Missouri went into the game ranked 6th in the AP poll but dropped a slot as Tennessee hammered Kent State 62-0 while the Tigers at times struggled against a ranked opponent (that is no longer ranked this week).
Tennessee also vaulted past Missouri in the coaches poll where the Tigers are 8th, tied with Penn State. Missouri is 3-0. Penn State is 2-0.
Quarterback Brady Cook moved into fourth place on the all-time Tiger passing yards list with a 21 for 30 day and 264 yards. He moves past Jeff Handy and James Franklin.
Next up is Vanderbilt, led by quarterback Diego Pavia, who has completed 65% of his passes for four touchdowns and 543 yards. He also has run for 195 yards on 54 carries. His top receiver is Eli Stowers with a dozen catches for 163 yards and a touchdown.
Missouri is 12th in the country in offensive yards. Vanderbilt is 77th. Defensively, Missouri is 8th in defensive yards. Vanderbilt is 57th.
(THE REGIONALS)—From time to time we’ll check up on our eight regional universities.
The Southeast Missouri State Red Hawks are 2-1 after beating the University of Tennessee-Martin 45-42 in double overtime Saturday. Paxton DeLaurent threw for a school-record six touchdowns, his fifth one for the tie (after the extra point) with 39 seconds on the clock.
Missouri University of Science and Technology is 1-2 after pounding winless Lincoln of California 45-6.
Truman State and University of Indianapolis had back-to back 96-yard kickoff returns in Saturday’s UINDY 41-34 win that dropped the Bulldogs to 0-2.
Northwest Missouri Bearcats beat 25th ranked Fort Hays state 32-20 Saturday to up their record to 1-2. Next up is Missouri Southern.
Missouri Southern dropped to 0-3 with a loss to Missouri Western 35-27.
Missouri Western is 2-1 after the win against Southern. Western scored on three of its first four possessions and got a 105-yard kickoff return from Javerious McGuinn at the end of the third quarter and then had to hang on for the victory.
Missouri State dropped beat Lindenwood 28-14 to go to 1-2 after season-opening losses to Ball State and Montana.
Lincoln University is 0-2 after a 34-19 loss to McKendree.
University of Central Missouri and Central Oklahoma lost a wild game that began with a scoreless first quarter, then saw 42 points scored in the second quarter, 27 in the third and 28 in the fourth. Central Oklahoma prevailed 57-40 in a game with more than 1200 yards of offense.
(ROYALS)—The Kansas City Royals have guaranteed they’ll have their first winning season since their 2015 World Championship year. Saturday’s win over the Pirates was their 82nd of the year. At 82-68, with eleven games left, they could lock up their playoff spot this week. Their magic number is eight.
Michael Wacha picked up his 13th win on Saturday to run his season to 13-7. He’s 38-13 in his last three seasons for the Red Sox, Padres, and the Royals, the best three years of his career. He’s expected to become a free agent after this year.
They started the week four games out of first place in their division but just five games behind the Yankees for the best record in the American League.
(CARDINALS)—-The Pirates swept a weekend series with the Cardinals and in the process eliminated any change they had of making the playoffs. The Cardinals start the week at 74-75 as they play out the string on a season that saw them struggle to get to .500 and fail to stay above break even very long. They peaked in July when they climbed six games above break even, at 48-42 on July 8th.
The monthly records show the slog through 2024:
March and April 14-16
May 13-12
June 16-12
July 13-12
August 12-16
September (through Sunday) 6-7
Remember Matt Adams, a slugger who had his moments but never became the “Big” to match his nickname, “Big City?” He wants to retire as a Redbird, so he’s being signed to a one-day contract on Wednesday. He’s been playing minor league ball the last four seasons after the Braves dropped him at the end of 2020. The Cardinals drafted him 2009 and he played his first game for them in 2012. He helped the Cardinals win the 2013 National League Pennant. He had seven years with St. Louis and also played for the Braves, Rockies, and the Nationals—where he won a World Series ring in 2019. He and his family live in St. Louis. He finished with a .258 batting average, 118 homers and 297 RBIs in 856 games, mostly as a first baseman.
Motoring on:
(INDYCAR)—And suddenly, the IndyCar season is gone and a championship chase that had gone to the last race vanished in the opening laps. Colton Herta won the fiercely-contested race that saw 237 passes for position.
Alex Palou became the 13th driver in series history to win three championships, all in the space of four years. Will Power, who hoped to win HIS third series championship, saw those hopes vanish 13 laps into the 206-lap race when his lap belt came loose. He finished eight laps down, 24th, the last car still running at the end of the race.
He’s the second-youngest driver to win three series championships, at 27 years, five months, and fourteen days. He’s a little more than three months older than Sam Hornish, who won his third title in 2006, a year before he left IndyCar to race in NASCAR.
The last three-time champion was Dario Franchitti, who won three in a row 2009-2011 to go with another one in 2007. They have accounted for six of the 16 championships won for team owner Chip Ganassi. Only team Penske has more series titles—17. Franchitti, who also won the Indianapolis 500 three times, retired in 2013 after being seriously injured in a crash. He remains with Ganassi as a driver coach and advisor.
Herta got past Pato O’Ward four laps from the end and pulled away to a 1.8-second win, his first on an oval.. IndyCar returned to the oval for the first time since 2008 because construction in downtown Nashville made the street circuit used in recent years unavailable.
Herta’s victory enabled him to jump to second in season points standings, 31 below Palou. He called his finish “awesome,” and said, “hoping to do a little better next year.”
IndyCar won’t race again until March 2 when the 2025 season begins with the traditional street race in St. Petersburg, Florida.
(NASCAR)—Sundays’ race at Watkins Glen was a general disaster for the 16 drivers still in contention for the NASCAR championship, leaving six drivers to scramble for two positions in the next round.
Chris Buescher, winless during the 26-race regular season, survived the chaos of the race that saw only two of the sixteen playoff drivers finish in the top ten. He passed Shane VanGisbergen, a road-racing champion from Australia, on the last lap and won by almost a second. Playoff driver Chase Briscoe was the highest-finishing playoff driver, finishing fifth. Austin Cindric was tenth.
Buescher barely missed the playoffs when Brisco, winless until the 26th race, pulled off a victory that automatically put him in the playoffs but left Buescher a few points short of the field of sixteen.
Twelve of the sixteen playoff drivers suffered mishaps of various degrees of seriousness during the race. Several contenders didn’t make it through the first lap including points leader Ryan Blaney, whose day ended in a tangle that also included other playoff drivers, Christopher Bell, Brad Keselowski (a part owner of Buescher’s car), and Denny Hamlin.
Hamlin was involved in a second wreck that also included Bell, regular season champion Tyler Reddick, Chase Elliott and William Byron.
Both drivers were able to drive away from the scariest-looking crash of the afternoon late in the race when Byron (24) crashed into Brad Keselowski with Byron’s car staying on the track only because of an extra layer at the top of the steel barrier.
(FORMULA 1)—Oscar Piastri picked up his second career Grand Prix victory on the Baku street circuit in Azerbaijan. Piastri, who started second, battled pole-sitter Charles Leclerc throughout the race and held him off for the last 31 laps of the 51-lap race. Defending Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen finished seventh but still leads McLaren’s Lando Norris by 59 points and Leclerc by 78. Piastri’s win has moved him to fourth in the standings.
(Photo credits: Cook, Missouri Athletics; Wacha, MLB; Palou, Bob Priddy; Herta, Rick Gevers; Crash; NBC Sports screenshot)
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Truman State University is a statewide university. Legislature changed the mission in 1985.
You are correct, Tom. I well recall the discussion in the Senate about the name and the mission change with Senator Caskey’s wife, Kay, pressuring him to support the bill because she was a proud graduate of then Northeast Missouri State. As I recall, the school allowed graduates of NE Mo State Teachers College or NE Missouri State University to turn in their diplomas to get new ones with the new name. Never heard how many did that.
Missouri appears to have three statewide schools. Although the University of Missouri in Columbia claims an elevated status over campuses in Kansas City, St. Louis, and Rolla, it is corporately known as the University of Missouri SYSTEM. The former University of Missouri-Rolla (formerly the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy before becoming one of tour campuses in the system) has joined Truman in changing its name to represent its image of being THE statewide engineering school and is mow MUST, Missouri University of Science and Technology, a name that might confuse some people who think it must be tied to Missouri State University, whose change from Southwest Missouri State caused what we once referred to as UMC, University of Missouri-Columbia a great deal of anguish that produced a rather undignified opposition to Missouri State’s ambitions. The folks in Columbia like to refer to UMC as THE RESEARCH UNIVERSITY of the state.
We’re a long way from State Normal Schools 1-5 of which Truman was number 1.
When next we review the non-UMC football fortunes, I shall not refer to them as “Regionals.” I do not wish to break them down into Superior/Inferior schools in terms of enrollment for I do now wish to insinuate any of our institutions of higher education are inferior. If it would not be objectionable, I would like to call them in the future, “smaller schools.”
Thanks for maintaining an interest in Missouri although you are far from your home state.