(CHIEFS)—-The Chiefs handled the New York Jets and ended their 1-2 doldrums since their off-week with a 35-12 win over the young New York Jets. The Chiefs put the game away in the second half as Patrick Mahomes came back from the first-half elbow injury and Kenneth Walker added another 100-yard game to his year.
Kansas City’s defense held the Jets to just four field goals in the 35-12 win. Mahomes wound up with 247 yard passing. Walker added 143 on the ground. The defense came to life with five sacks of Jets QB Geno Smith.
Travis Kelce caught four passes for 72 yards and scored his third career touchdown. By the end of the game, he had caught 9,365 yards of passes thrown by Mahomes. That broke a record for most yards by a quarterback-receiver combination. The Chargers’ Phillip Rivers connected with Antonio Gates for 9,352 to set the previous record.
Mahomes’ elbow appeared to bend awkwardly when he was tackled for a loss and he left the field holding his arm. But he got some medical help on the sideline, threw a few practice passes and pronounced himself fit to play and went back in. Monday, he was listed as day-to-day by Coach Reid.
The Chiefs expect a stiffer test next weekend against Atlanta.
(MIZTEX)—-Missouri’s loss to Texas has knocked it out of the top 25 in both polls with an even tougher opponent coming next week.
The game was tied at 20 going into the third quarter. Texas scored with five minutes left and Missouri was driving for the tie when quarterback Austin Simmons hit his favorite target near the first=down markers only to have Cayden Lee take a big hit and the ball pop out to be claimed by Texas’ Graceson Littleton. Littleton ran the ball back to the six yard line and Texas quickly scored in the closing minute to make the score 34-20.
The officiating crew left Columbia with few friends after a game that left Coach Eli Drinkwitz holding in his feelings lest he be fined for unloading on them. “If I say what I want to say, I’m going to get fined until I don’t have any retirement, and I’m not going to do that because I’m not going to blame the officials. That’d be disrespectful to Coach (Steve) Sarkisian and his team.”
But the athletic department wants the conference to review the officiating in the game. Mizzou officials and fans are particularly irked by a third down ruling that a seemingly incomplete pass by Texas quarterback Arch Manning actually was a fumble recovered by Texas. The ruling let Texas retain control of the ball and a few plays later get a touchdown.
Drinkwitz protested strongly on the field. Fans booed. SEC broadcasters in their booth at Memorial Stadium were critical of the ruling and conference announcers Aaron Murray and Matt Schumacker, who were going the Saturday night game between Oklahoma and Florida questioned it.
That did not set well with Commissioner Greg Sankey who told Paul Feinburg on his show, “I am highly disappointed in announcers and their criticism, and they’re wrong. Some of the worst officials in America are those in the announce booth. We have officiating experts who I turned on a game on Saturday, who was just flat wrong. And what that creates is this narrative that we’ve done something wrong, and that is unacceptable to me, and we have to address that. We’re going to be wrong. We’ve made announcements where we own it. We’re going to have debates about judgment calls. But somebody on a Saturday night who’s announcing a game between Oklahoma and Florida, going back to something that happened at noon that he’s never called and asked a question about, and being critical is unacceptable in my mind.”
The Columbia Daily Tribune reported the only major conference that does not allow airing of audio and live video from its replay booth is the SEC which also does not allow a reporter to question officials about controversial decisions.
Veatch told the conference, “This experience has reinforced my belief that our lack of transparency in the replay booth, particularly when other conferences have taken steps to provide it, allows for an environment of speculation and mistrust. Together with President Choi, we will be strong advocates for that change within the SEC this offseason.”
Sankey says there are logistical issues connected to letting viewers hearing and seeing the replay booth discussions. But he noted the NFL doesn’t allow viewers to sit in on the replay discussions.
He said the conference would “figure out’ how to do it correctly.
Missouri is now 6-3 with a tough row to hoe ahead—number 2 Georgia next week and number six Kentucky and a finale against Oklahoma. The Tigers are assured of at least a minor bowl game and might still salvage a later December game with an upset of one of the ranked teams and a win against Oklahoma. Oklahoma beat Florida Saturday to get to 5-4.
Tiger quarterback Austin Simmons has announced he’ll be back in Columbia next year, unless he’s not. His new contract with Missouri lets him enter the NFL draft if he chooses to do so.
Through the Texas game, he’s 175/283 for 2,204 yards, 18 touchdowns and only two interceptions. The Tiger offensive line has allowed nine sacks of Simmons through nine games.
(MIZILL)—Missouri has an important hole to fill in its 2027 and 2028 season created by the cancellation of games by the University of Illinois. The Tigers now have to find a new power conference opponent but Athletic Director Laird Veatch says, “We are exploring all available options.”
Illinois and Missouri still have games scheduled against each other in 2029 and2035, which will be Mizzou home games. They’re scheduled to play at a neutral site in 2-33 and in Urbana in ’34.
llinois, which last played Missouri a football game in 2010, reportedly prefers games against Notre Dame in those years. The SEC rules say teams have to play nine conference games and at least one opponent from one of the power conferences each year.
(MIZBB)—After whipping Cleveland State in the season opener by sixty points, the Tigers basketball team learned it has some distance to do before it’s ready for prime time. The St. Louis University Billikens whipped them 90-84. It was the first time the two teams had met in 25 years.
The Bills kept the Tigers at bay with a barrage of three-pointers, going 14/25 in the game and holding a five point lead, or more, most of the game. Missouri was only 8 for 24 from deep but what did them in was the inability to score in close. Missouri missed 16 of their 27 layup shots.
(MIZSIUE)—The Tigers flourished against a far more inferior team last night, beating Southern Illinois-Edwardsville 96-58. Jason Crow Jr.’s 34 points set a scoring record for freshmen.
(CARDINALS)—Baseball will announce its Louisville Silver Slugger Awards a week from today. The Silver Slugger Award is an annual acknowledgment handed out to the top offensive players at each position in baseball. The award began in 1980 recognizing the top hitters at their positions.
Alec Burlison is in the running for a second National League silver bat, this time as a first baseman. He made it the first time as a utility player, the first time the award has been given in that category. This year he’s nominated as a first baseman. He let the majors with 116 runs batted in, hit 26 home runs (a career high). His competition is Milwaukee’s Jake Bauers, The Giants’ Rafael Devers, and Matt Olson of the Braves. Burleson had the best batting average and highest RBI total of the four, was second in OBP and tied for third in homers. No other first baseman had a better slugging percentage in road games—.534.
(AZSTARST)—Two Cardinals made it to the Arizona Fall League All Star Game although Tai Pete was the only one to play. Reliever Tekoah also was on the squad after a solid bounce-back season from Tommy John surgery. He pitched 9.2 innings and struck out 13 and gave up no runs.
Pete finished the game 0 for two with a strikeout. But he drew a walk and stole a base. For the season he hit .328 in 16 games and tied for the league lead in triples and steals. He finished second in the home run derby with fifteen.
Roby, returning from Tommy John surgery, had allowed zero runs in three starts, with 13
Three Royals players made the game. Zion Rose led off for his squad, walked but got picked off and struck out a couple of times. Angeibel Gomez hit .293 in the regular season but fanned both times up in the All-Star Game. Pitcher Justin Lamkin threw seven pitches, six of them strikes, in a 1-2-3 inning.
(CARDSCOACH) —The Cardinals hope Joel McKeithan can produce better hitters next year than Brant Brown did this year and in 2025. McKeithan had been the assistant hitting coach for the White Sox.
The White Sox made the playoffs this year and McKeithan’s work with the younger players is considered one of the reasons they did. The Cardinals, on the other hand, saw several of their younger players call off from their 2025 numbers.
The Cardinals also have former players John Jay and Daniel Descalso on their staff. Both reportedly are being considered for the open manager’s job with the Houston Astros.
If there is baseball next year, spring training will begin on Friday, February 19 for all thirty teams.
One last round on the track—
(NASCAR)—It’s over for NASCAR this year. Ryan Blaney won the last race of 2026 and Kyle Larson won his third championship, becoming the seventh driver to win that many and the eleventh to win at least three. (Richard Petty, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnardt had seven each and Jeff Gordon had four).
Larson had an average season until the ten-race runoff for the championship. He started it with a win at World Wide Technology Raceway near St. Louis and added two more wins and a pair of runner-ups. He went into the final race in Miami with a comfortable cushion. His 12th place finish at the end gave him a lead of 49 points over Christopher Bell.
Blaney found his way to first place with two laps to go, getting past six-time winner Tyler Reddick with two laps left. Reddick held onto second. It’s Blaney’s fourth win this year. Six-time winner Tyler Reddick was second in the race. Denny Hamlin, who won the regular 26-race season came in third in the final standings after finish sixth in the race.
It was a mediocre year at best for rookies. Connor Zilisch, who dominated NASCAR’s second-tier series last year, finished 19th in the race and 33rd in the overall standings and was named the Cup Series Rookie of the Year.
(photo credits: Simmons—Mizzou; Larsons– Chris Graythen/ Getty Images/NASCAR)