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🚨 Headlines
⚾️ Gold Glove winners: 14 players won their first Gold Glove on Sunday, tied for the most in a single season since the award’s debut in 1957. See all the winners.
🏀 Still perfect: The Cavaliers are 7-0 for the second time in franchise history, and the Thunder are 6-0 for the first time ever. Every other NBA team has at least one loss.
🏁 Racing roundup: Ryan Blaney won at Martinsville to clinch a spot in NASCAR’s final four; Max Verstappen won in Brazil to all but clinch his fourth straight F1 title.
🏀 Coaching carousel: Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese will have new head coaches in Year 2. The Fever hired Stephanie White, who was fired by the Sun last week, and the Sky hired Aces assistant Tyler Marsh.
⚽️ NWSL Playoffs: Eight teams have advanced to the postseason, which begins on Friday. Orlando earned the top seed, followed by Washington, Gotham FC, Kansas City, North Carolina, Portland, Bay FC and Chicago.
🏈 The changing role of the AP poll
The one constant in college football over the last 88 years has been the AP poll, which debuted as a weekly ranking in 1936 and remains a staple to this day. But as the sport has evolved, the poll’s role — and perceived importance — has changed.
The AP poll era: For decades, AP poll voters determined college football’s national champion. At the end of the regular season, their No. 1 team was awarded the AP Trophy and widely recognized as the best program in the land (though other ranking systems didn’t always agree).
The BCS era: That all changed in 1998 with the advent of the Bowl Championship Series, which created an official national title game.
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The AP rankings still factored into the algorithm that determined the matchup, but a champion was ultimately crowned on the field — not in a poll.
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The AP’s year-end No. 1 was mostly a formality: Only once in 16 seasons did the AP Trophy recipient (USC in 2003) differ from the BCS champion (LSU).
The CFP era: The College Football Playoff (2014-present) has rendered the AP poll even less important, and not just when it comes to crowning a champion. Under the current system, the AP Top 25 becomes an afterthought midway through the season.
Think about it: From August through October, the AP poll drives much of the discussion and debate surrounding college football. But around November, we turn our collective attention to the CFP rankings — the first of which will be released tomorrow night.
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That’s not to say the AP rankings are irrelevant; the preseason poll still sets the stage, and the weekly Top 25 release helps contextualize the national landscape (Who’s in? Who’s out? Who’s up? Who’s down?).
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But after 10 weeks, the focus shifts from the ballots of AP voters to the opinions of a 13-member playoff committee. Even TV networks, which spend months using AP rankings to hype matchups, switch to CFP rankings once they become available.
All of this begs the question: What, exactly, is the role of the AP poll nowadays? Is it merely a measuring stick for the first 10 weeks of the season before retreating into the shadows, or does that undersell its importance? Do CFP committee members take their cues from AP voters, or is it the other way around?
My take…
I’ve come to view the AP rankings, which are voted on by 62 sportswriters and broadcasters in a completely transparent way, as a necessary counterbalance to the opacity of the CFP rankings, which are revealed each week after 13 members of the college football establishment (mostly athletic directors) deliberate behind closed doors.
Which system is better? That’s up for debate. What’s not is that they are inherently different offerings. Take last year, for example: While undefeated Florida State landed at No. 4 in the final AP poll of the regular season, the CFP rankings released that same day had them at No. 5, which kept the Seminoles out of the four-team playoff in favor of Alabama.
Many concluded that this controversial decision by the playoff committee was based on TV ratings (FSU’s star QB was injured; Alabama is Alabama), which reinforced the “establishment” narrative and made the AP poll, by comparison, look like the more genuine football ranking — one based on performance and uncorrupted by money.
The bottom line: Starting tomorrow, the CFP Top 25 will take precedence for the rest of the season. But the AP poll will still be there each week, offering a different perspective on college football’s hierarchy and, come December, who the top 12 teams should be.
📺 Sports on TV: What are you actually watching?
When you tune into a sports broadcast, how much actual sports are you watching? Probably far less than you realize.
The analysis: Riley Martin of “SportsBall” celebrated last week’s Sports Equinox by watching one game from each of the “Big Four” leagues and categorizing every second into three main categories: (1) Ball in play, (2) Ball not in play and (3) Commercial/Intermission. For basketball, he added “Free Throws” as a fourth category.
The results: The NHL broadcast featured the highest percentage of action (the puck was in play 39% of the time), and the NBA was a close second (the ball was in play 37% of the time) and would be first if you include free throws (46%). MLB was a distant third (16% in play, 56% not in play) and the NFL brought up the rear (9% in play, 66% not in play).
That’s right, football fans… When you watch an NFL game, the broadcast is almost entirely devoted to stoppage time (think: teams huddling up, replays) and commercials. During the game Riley watched (Ravens vs. Buccaneers on Oct. 21), the average play took 5.8 seconds and the time between plays was 37.8 seconds on average.
Here’s the full video breakdown for each sport, which I encourage you to watch. Riley is doing awesome work, and “SportsBall” has quickly become one of my favorite Instagram accounts. The newsletter is awesome, too.
🏈 NFL Sunday: Another great week for favorites
Is the NFL becoming too predictable? Favorites went 13-1 this week and have now won 78% of games (57-16) since the start of October.
Taking care of business: New Orleans was the only favorite that lost on Sunday, as the Saints suffered their seventh straight defeat in a 23-22 loss to the Panthers. The other favored teams — Baltimore, Buffalo, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Washington, Tennessee, Philadelphia, Arizona, Detroit, Minnesota and Los Angeles (both) — all came out on top.
Notable games:
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Bills 30, Dolphins 27: Tyler Bass’ 61-yard field goal with five seconds left lifted Buffalo to victory — and gave the Bills a commanding four-game lead atop the AFC East.
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Lions 24, Packers 14: Detroit reinforced its NFC North superiority behind hyper-efficient Jared Goff, who has completed 106 of 128 passes (83%) during their six-game win streak.
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Commanders 27, Giants 22: Washington won its third straight game to improve to 7-2 for the first time since 1996. They only have three turnovers through nine games, an NFL record.
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Rams 26, Seahawks 20 (OT): L.A. eked out a win to further crowd the NFC West: Just one game separates the first-place Cardinals (5-4) and last-place Seahawks (4-5).
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Ravens 41, Broncos 10: Lamar Jackson now has more career games with a perfect passer rating (four) than any other QB in NFL history. Not a bad day at the office.
Sunday recap: Winners and losers
📸 Photo gallery
New York — Dutchman Abdi Nageeye won the men’s race (2:07:39) at the 53rd New York City Marathon, ending a streak of 31 straight major men’s marathons won by Kenyans or Ethiopians. Kenya’s Sheila Chepkirui won the women’s race (2:24:35).
Del Mar, California — Sierra Leone had a reputation as a talented horse that never seemed to win. All that changed on Saturday when the 3-year-old colt won the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Mexico City — The Heat beat the Wizards in the NBA’s annual Mexico City Game, which took place on “Día de los Muertos” (“Day of the Dead”). Could North America’s largest city get an expansion team in the future? Sure sounds like it.
Singapore, Singapore — French swimmer Léon Marchand, the star of the Paris Olympics, set a new 200m IM world record on Friday at the World Aquatics World Cup. His time of 1:48:88 broke Ryan Lochte’s record (1:49:63) that had stood for 12 years.
📆 Nov. 4, 2007: AP runs wild
17 years ago today, Adrian Peterson rushed 30 times for an NFL-record 296 yards (and 3 TD) in the Vikings’ 35-17 win over the Chargers. Did I mention he was only a rookie?
By the numbers: Peterson had just 43 rushing yards at halftime. He put up 253 yards in the second half alone, which itself is a top-10 rushing performance in NFL history.
Most rushing yards in a game:
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Peterson, Vikings: 296 yards (Nov. 2007)
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Jamal Lewis, Ravens: 295 (Sep. 2003)
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Jerome Harrison, Browns: 286 (Dec. 2009)
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Corey Dillon, Bengals: 278 (Oct. 2000)
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Walter Payton, Bears: 275 (Nov. 1977)
What could have been… If Peterson hadn’t been pulled down by his collar on his second-to-last carry, he likely would have taken it 91 yards to the house and finished with ~350 yards and 4 TD.
More history: This game also featured a 109-yard kick-six by San Diego’s Antonio Cromartie, which is the longest play possible on a football field (and thus tied for the longest play in NFL history).
📺 Watchlist: And we’re off!
College basketball has arrived! 37 ranked teams are in action today (19 men, 18 women), headlined by a handful of must-see matchups across the country — and around the world.
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Men: No. 19 Texas vs. Ohio State in Las Vegas (10pm ET, TNT); No. 8 Baylor at No. 6 Gonzaga (11:30pm, ESPN2)
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Women: Michigan vs. No. 1 South Carolina in Las Vegas (7:30pm, TNT); No. 20 Ole Miss vs. No. 3 USC in Paris* (12pm, ESPN); No. 5 UCLA vs. No. 17 Louisville in Paris* (2:30pm, ESPN)
More to watch:
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🏈 NFL: Buccaneers at Chiefs (8:15pm, ABC/ESPN/ESPN2) … Kansas City looks to improve to 8-0 for the first time since 2013.
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🏀 NBA: Bucks at Cavaliers (7pm, NBA); 76ers at Suns (10:15pm, NBA) … Paul George (knee) is set to make his Philly debut.
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🏒 NHL: Devils at Oilers (8:30pm, NHL)
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🎾 Tennis: WTA Finals (7:30am, Tennis) … Season-ending championship in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, featuring the eight highest-ranked singles players and doubles teams.
*Across the pond: After a successful first edition last year (South Carolina vs. Notre Dame in the first-ever college basketball game in Paris), women’s college basketball returns to the French capital for a doubleheader to start the season.
⚾️ MLB trivia
No active MLB player has spent more seasons with one team than Clayton Kershaw, who declared himself a “Dodger for life” during their World Series parade and said he plans to return for his 18th season with the club.
Question: Which two MLB players spent the most seasons (23) with the same franchise?
Hint: They both played in cities that start with “B.”
Answer at the bottom.
🍿 Baker’s Dozen: Top 13 plays of the weekend
Trivia answer: Brooks Robinson (Orioles) and Carl Yastrzemski (Red Sox)
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