By Bob Priddy, Missourinet Contributing Editor
(CHIEFS)—A Chiefs dynasty was kicked to the curb Sunday evening in Denver when the Bronco’s Wil Lutz drilled a 34-yard field goal on the last play of the game. Denver 22, Kansas City 19. It’s the eighth straight win for Denver and runs their record to 9-2. The Chiefs are 5-5, their first time they’ve lost five games in the regular season since 2017.
Each team scored only one touchdown. Denver had five field goal. Kansas City four.
Bo Nix and Wil Lutz showed off their clutch genes again, and the Broncos are now firmly in control of the AFC West — a division the Chiefs have won nine straight times — after a 22-19 win over Kansas City. It’s Denver’s eighth consecutive win.
Kansas City had taken a 19-16 lead halfway through the quarter but Lutz hit a field goal from 54 yards to tie it and then the 34-yarder to win.
Denver QB Bo Nix outplayed Chiefs QB Patrick Mahome, especially in the final drive. He converted a 3rd and 15 with a 20 yard completion, completed another pass on 3rd and 5 for another first down and hit Troy Franklin for 32 yards to set up the winning field goal
Denver is 7-2 in one-score games this year and lead the NFL in that category. The Chiefs are winless in five one-score games after going 12-0 last year in that category.
The Chiefs are now third in the AFC West behind Denver (9-2) and the Chargers (7-4.) They are 9th in the playoff standings, two games on the outside. They’re one game behind the Jaguars and do not have them on the schedule for a second game this year.
One bright spot for the Chiefs: Mahomes and Travis Kelce combined for a touchdown that gave the Chiefs their only lead for the day in the fourth quarter. Kelce now has 84 TDs, one more than Priest Holmes had in his career.
(THICKER)—The Los Angeles Rams activated former Tiger Harrison Mevis from the practice squad for the second weekend in a row for their game against the Seattle Seahawks and he was perfect again—three for three on points after touchdowns. He’s now 9 for 9.
(MIZZFB)—Missouri’s Ahmad Hardy ran over, around, and through Mississippi State in the Tigers 49-27 win that has returned the Tigers to the top 25 in the ratings. Theyu’re 23rd in the AP poll. Coaches have them 21st. They’ll get another stiff test next weekend against Oklahoma, ranked 8th in both polls.
Hardy’s 300 yards gives him 1,346 for the season, fifth on the all-time list but with a chance to break Cody Schrader’s record of 1,627.
Speaking of Schrader, where is he? Still in the NFL, now on the Jacksonville Jaguars roster but not good enough to get in any games. He was considered healthy inactive for last week’s game against the Chargers. The Jags resigned him October 8. He’s about fourth on the running back depth chart, important enough to be on the regular roster rather than the practice squad but buried in the sideline crowd and inactivated for weekend games.
(SECPOTW)—Two Tigers have made the SEC Player of the Week list after the 49-27 win over Mississippi State. But they have to share their honors with players from other teams.
Ahmad Hardy’s 300-yards on 25 carries and three touchdowns earned him co-offensive POTW with Ole Miss running back Kewon Lacy. It was a game of superlatives for Hardy:
The seventh 300-yard game in all of the SEC history, the second-best in Tiger history, less than twenty yards behind Devin West’s 318 in 1995. Forty-six of his yards came after contact. He forced eight missed tackles. Ten of his runs on third-down plays became first down. He had five gains of 20 or more yards including touchdowns of 72 and 43 yards. His third TD was a run of “only” ten yards. He now has seven 100-yard rushing games this year.
Lacy had a career-best 224 yards and three touchdowns in a 34-24 win over Florida. He also set a new team record with his 19th touchdown of the year.
Cornerback Toriano Pride Jr., had an interception that turned into a touchdown and a picked up fumbled field goal placement that he almost took back for a score. He shares this week’s award with Oklahoma Cornerback Eli Bowen whose 87-yard touchdown return of an intercepted pass.
(BEAUBACK.)—Pribula ready to return? CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz reports Beau Pribula might be back for Oklahoma. If so, it’s a quick return for a guy whose season was thought to be endangered just three weeks ago with a non-fracture dislocated ankle. The report characterizes it as “early optimism.”
Pribula was on the field before the game throwing some light passes, sanding on both feet with leverage enough to throw the ball.
True Freshman Matt Zollars is still listed as the starter early in the preparation week. Pribula’s mobility gave Missouri an important dimension while he was playing. Zollars has not shown that kind of mobility in either of the games he has started in Pribula’s place; Ahmad Hardy pretty well eliminated that as an issue.
(MIZBB)—Mizzou’s basketball squad made Prairie View its latest tune-up victim last night, 91-73, the second game the Tigers have gotten to 90 or better. Six players were in double figures with Jacob Crews hanging up 20 points in 24 minutes on 7-of-10 shooting, including four of five from outside.
Missouri is 5-0 going into its next game—against South Dakota on Thursday night at the Mizzou arena. The Tigers have three straight wins of 15 points or more.
(MIZRECRUITS)—Looks as if the hits are going to keep on coming for Missouri basketball. Recruiting season has wrapped up and Missouri has the nation’s #1 class for 2026 that includes three of the nation’s top 100 prospects—Jason Crowe Jr., the number five recruit in the country, toni Bryant, who was 14th, and Aidan Chronister, who comes in at 83. Coach Dennis Gates says, “His work ethic is unmatched, his discipline is unmatched and his performance on the court is unmatched…On the court, J2 is as smooth as a player as there is. He is extremely crafty with a high basketball IQ that allows him to score in any situation.”
Bryant is a 6-9 power forward from North Tampa Christian High School in Florida. He’s considered the fourth-best player at his position who hit two-thirds of his field goal attempts (43% from three land), and had an average double-double last year—21 points and almost 12 rebounds. Gates compares his skills to those of Kobe Brown and Mark Mitchell and says he’s a “top shot blocker and can rebound the ball with the best of them.”
Chronister is a small forward at 6-6 and 175 pounds from Rogers Arkansas. Gates had his eyes on Chronister early on and thinks he is “a seamless fit” to the Tiger system with “elite shooting skills.” (ZOU)
(MOSTATE)—The Missouri football team is not the only 7-3 top-drawer team in the state. The Missouri State Bears bounced back from a bad third quarter to dominated the fourth quarter against UTEP and come away with a 38-24 victory, their sixth straight win. The Bears are now 5-1 in Conference USA and next meet Kenesaw State, which has the same record.
Quarterback Jason Clark’s school-record 30 completions Saturday (in 39 attempts) to ten receivers earned recognition as the conference’s Offensive Player of the Week. His passing was good for 330 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. It was his tenth 300-yard game and his 19th game with more than 200 yards, tying a school record.
It’s Clark’s second POTW this year.
(BEARCATS)—The football Bearcats of Northwest Missouri State has made the NCAA Division II playoffs for the 27th time. They’re an at-large team and will play their first round game at Searcy, Arkansas next weekend against undefeated Hardin University’s Bisons.
Harding is 11-0. Northwest Missouri is 9-2 and is the MIAA champion for the 32nd time. Harding hopes to make the Bearcats their 22nd straight home-field victim. Northwest Missouri has won all four of the games they’ve played against each other.
The 27 playoff appearances is an NCAA record for Division II. Their 53 playoff victories also is a DII record. Their playoff record is 53-20. Their six national championships are a Division II record. They have won repeat championships twice, 1998-99 and 2015-16.
Some wheel thoughts—.
(NASCAR)—NASCAR is expected to make some changes in the off=season in how it crowns its 2926 Cup champion. The twelve-driver playoff system has been attacked on various fronts and one of the biggest criticisms is that it does not guarantee the best driver during the entire season gets the big prize.
Another part of the NASCAR racing system that draws mixed reviews is stage racing. Although it was added to encourage more racing throughout each event, particularly through the long mid-race laps that seemed to lack excitement, there are those who never have been fans of the system.
Back when Columbia’s Carl Edwards was one of the top drivers on the circuit, he was not a fan of stage racing.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Wiidmmf9dZk
His criticism is similar to other comments by competitors comparing racing to other sports. For instance, suppose a baseball game were divided into nine segments, each segment beginning scoreless, with only the ninth segment determining the winner of the game based on the number of runs scored in that inning or overtime innings although teams could score points for innings won. Suppose your team won the first inning 5-1, lost the third inning 0-2, the fifth inning 2-3 and the ninth inning 0-1. Instead of your team winning the game 7-6, it would lose because the other team got a run in the ninth and it would finish with one point in the standings while the other team emerged with three plus a bonus point for winning.
Theoretically, at the end of the season, a team with a mediocre win-loss record could become the champion because it won more innings.
And that’s a problem for NASCAR. A driver who would not even be in the top five, or in the top ten in total points for the year might finish no higher than 13th in the final standings because he made the playoffs but did not win one of the three races in the first playoff round.
But one widely-recognized part of racing is “the show.” Are they putting on a good show? Is there a reason for the entire season to be entertaining if a driver has enough points to clinch the championship with three races to go?
Should the NCAA championship be given to the only undefeated team left after the regular season or should there be a 69-team tournament that gives a team with a losing record a chance to play for a national championship? The big tournament is the answer, in no small part being the ability to get more television money by playing more games.
Let’s face it, one reason we love sports is because there are underdogs. And sometimes underdogs pull upsets