Aug 16, 2019; Atlanta, GA, USA; Detailed view of Los Angeles Dodgers hat and glove in the dugout against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning at SunTrust Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
The Los Angeles Dodgers will be one arm poorer heading into their NLCS series against the New York Mets.
Speaking with reporters on Saturday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts revealed that reliever Alex Vesia is “highly unlikely” to be on the team’s roster for the NLCS. Roberts added that Vesia is dealing with an intercostal injury, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.
Indeed, Vesia was forced to exit Friday’s NLDS-clinching win over the San Diego Padres due to injury. Vesia entered in the seventh to get the final out of the inning and tried to come back out for the eighth but felt something during warmups and had to leave the game at that point.
The Dodgers should have enough bullpen arms to survive a Vesia absence in the NLCS. But that one still hurts since the lefty Vesia is their best option in relief against left-handed hitters. Vesia posted a 1.76 ERA with 11.8 K/9 during the regular season and held lefties to a .144 batting average.
Anthony Banda may be the Dodgers’ go-to lefty choice from here in what is a very righty-heavy bullpen. At this point, this may be a war of attrition for the Dodgers since another impact reliever landed on IL a couple weeks ago too.
Oregon wide receiver Traeshon Holden was ejected from his team’s game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on Saturday night for spitting on an opponent.
Oregon had the ball down 14-12 early in the second quarter against Ohio State. The Ducks had a 1st-and-goal from the Buckeyes’ 10 and ran the ball for a yard. Ohio State cornerback Davison Igbinosun shoved Holden out of the field of play around the goal line. Holden didn’t like it and turned and spat at Igbinosun. Igbinosun was surprised over what had happened and raised his arms in the air.
Holden was called for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and was ejected. The penalty also moved Oregon back 15 yards, and they settled for a field goal on the possession.
Holden was still upset and could be seen throwing some equipment after his ejection.
The senior receiver had 1 catch for 32 yards prior to his ejection.
Oregon holder Luke Dunne nearly ended up on the ultimate college football blooper reel Saturday during his team’s marquee matchup against Ohio State.
No. 3 Oregon trailed No. 2 Ohio State 7-0 midway through the first quarter at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore.
The Ducks’ defense forced a Buckeyes fumble just 28 yards out of the latter’s own end zone. With terrific field position, Oregon running back Jordan James scored a touchdown two plays later.
Oregon’s path to its first TD wasn’t complicated. The team’s PAT attempt, however, was a different story. Dunne caught the snap but dropped it the moment he made contact.
Instead of just going down and accepting his mistake, Dunne lofted the ball toward the end zone for a desperation two-point try. Ohio State safety Lathan Ransom intercepted it and almost had a clear lane to take it to the house.
The Ducks were lucky that tight end Kenyon Sadiq was able to slow down Ransom just enough. Had that not happened, they would have given up two points in a botched extra point attempt.
Oregon’s holder-kicker tandem may have been rattled by the mistake. The Ducks attempted a 44-yard field goal on their very next drive that kicker Atticus Sappington sent wide right.
In a marquee game between top-three squads, every single point counts. Oregon’s special teams unit clearly cost the home squad more than a few of them.
Nov 12, 2022; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; A view of an Oklahoma Sooners helmet during the first quarter against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports
The Oklahoma Sooners were embarrassed by rival Texas on Saturday, but the defeat might have been a little more embarrassing for one Oklahoma player in particular.
Sooners linebacker Danny Stutsman showed up for Saturday’s game wearing a gold “horns down” necklace on a chain. The rather ostentatious look did attract plenty of attention ahead of the first SEC game between the two teams.
There is nothing wrong with a show of confidence, but you have to back it up, and the Sooners did not do that. They got on the board with a first quarter field goal, but after that, Texas blew them out with 34 unanswered points, including 21 in the second quarter alone.
Stutsman even came under some criticism personally for one second quarter play in which Texas fumbled into the end zone. Stutsman was the Oklahoma player closest to the loose ball, but wide receiver Silas Bolden was quicker to the ball and recovered the fumble in the end zone before Stutsman could get on it.
Realistically, Bolden unquestionably has Stutsman beaten in the speed department, but the wide receiver looked like he wanted it more. It was still a pretty rough look on a bad day for Oklahoma.
Stutsman has a long history of riling up Texas fans. Last year, he showed off what appeared to be a “Horns Down” tattoo on his leg, though it was never made clear if it was real or temporary. He also unveiled an NIL shirt designed to taunt Texas after the Sooners beat them last season. Needless to say, Texas fans loved getting revenge on a player who had eagerly positioned himself as one of their biggest antagonists.
The “Horns Down” gesture is very popular and regularly used to taunt Texas, and the school has not taken kindly to it in the past. They got their revenge pretty comprehensively on Saturday.
Mississippi State safety Brylan Lanier made one of the more bizarre business decisions of the college football season when he got burned for a touchdown by the Georgia Bulldogs in Saturday’s game.
Early in the third quarter, Georgia’s Carson Beck linked up with wide receiver Arian Smith for a 42-yard touchdown catch. The score could have been prevented, or at least delayed, by Lanier, who was beaten in coverage but was able to close on Smith early enough to tackle the receiver about five yards short of the end zone.
There was just one problem: Lanier did not do that. He wrapped Smith up for the tackle, then simply let go, allowing the Georgia receiver to score.
It was not clear what happened for Lanier to give up on the play. It did not appear to be a question of effort. One possibility is that he lost track of where he was on the field and thought that Smith was already in the end zone. It might also be possible that he thought Smith had not made the catch, though it is tough to imagine where Lanier would have gotten the idea. Regardless, instead of first and goal from about the 5-yard line, Georgia got six points out of the play.
We have seen some players give up on plays prematurely this season, but that did not appear to be the case here. Lanier simply lost track of what was going on for some reason. You can’t make those kinds of mistakes when trying to upset a team of Georgia’s caliber.
Jan 5, 2018; Atlanta, GA, USA; A view of the Alabama Crimson Tide logo is seen at the Marriott Marquis. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hagy-USA TODAY Sports
Alabama won a nail-biter against South Carolina on Saturday, and former Crimson Tide star Mark Ingram has seen enough.
Bama pulled things out for a 27-25 win over the Gamecocks at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala. on Saturday. They had allowed a Gamecocks TD with 43 seconds left to make it a 2-point game, and then South Carolina also recovered an onside kick to make it even closer, though Alabama’s defense was able to intercept a pass as time expired.
Bama was able to win the game, but it was too close for comfort for Tide fans, especially after last weekend’s loss to Vanderbilt. Ingram certainly thought so.
“Bro we need a miracle every week it shouldn’t be this way,” Ingram wrote on X during the game.
After the Tide pulled out the victory, Ingram expressed his concern.
“Great W but I’m not encouraged,” Ingram wrote.
Ingram played for Alabama from 2008-2010. The team went 36-5 in his three seasons, including a 14-0 season in 2009 when they won the national championship. That’s the standard Ingram is used to, which explains why he is concerned with the way the Tide have looked their last two games.
Alabama coach Nick Saban looks on. Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Nick Saban thinks college football needs to do something to eliminate fake injuries, even if that means a new rule against it.
Saban on Saturday addressed the issue of teams faking injuries in order to slow down games or buy time. The former Alabama coach suggested that all of it comes from the sideline, and that it negatively impacts the integrity of the entire sport.
“This is the integrity of the game. And there’s no player that flops in a game that doesn’t get a signal from the coach to do it, to slow the game down,” Saban said. “There’s a history to all this, because in the old days, you used to have to get up and run off the field if you got injured. I broke my leg and I’d have to run off the field. Fastball came along, so everybody said, if you get injured, stay down, because we can’t substitute fast enough. Now people are taking advantage of this rule.
“Until there’s some penalty for doing it, and I know it’s a very sensitive subject for an official to make a determination about, is a player injured or not, but there should be a flop rule. If a guy actually gets up, runs down, then right before the play starts, he flops, maybe it should be a charged timeout for that team, because it’s pretty obvious, some of these situations where guys are flopping and they’re not injured.”
Fake injuries have become a pretty big point of contention this season. One school has been accused of it so much, they issued a statement addressing it prior to this weekend’s games.
Saban is right that it is an extremely touchy subject to determine if an injury is legitimate or not. He is correct, however, that some of them are really blatant. It certainly seems reasonable to think something could be done about those instances.
North Carolina wide receiver Tylee Craft died on Saturday at the age of 23 following a battle with lung cancer.
Tar Heels head coach Mack Brown announced the news after UNC’s 41-34 loss at home to Georgia Tech and disclosed that Craft had died earlier in the day.
The Tar Heels sent out a tribute to the late Craft.
“Tylee meant so much to so many and affected us in ways we’ll always be thankful for. He was 1-of-1 and, while he won’t be with us in body, he’ll be watching over us with his endearing smile and endless positivity,” North Carolina wrote in a statement.
“On behalf of his family and our program, we sincerely thank everyone who supported Tylee during his battle with cancer. It means more than you know.”
Craft appeared in 11 games from 2020-2021 for the Tar Heels. The former 4-star wide receiver recruit did not play thereafter because he was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer, which he battled over the last two and a half years.
North Carolina had designated Saturday’s game as a Cancer Awareness Game and had players and coaches wear shirts dedicated to Craft.
Teammate JJ Jones also wore Craft’s jersey to honor his friend.
Tar Heels players were not made aware of Craft’s death until after the game.
Craft was a football, basketball and track star at Sumter High School in South Carolina.
Carolina Panthers tight end Tommy Tremble suffered a concussion during Week 5 against the Chicago Bears on a play that he will now be paying for.
The NFL announced Saturday that Tremble was fined $17,083 for a play that led to both him and Bears safety Jaquan Brisker suffering concussions. Tremble suffered the injury after lowering his helmet trying to get a first down, which led to the collision and injuries.
Tremble actually seemed to briefly knock himself unconscious as a result of the play. He left the game and obviously did not return.
As brutal as this is, the NFL was left with no real choice but to hand down this fine. Tremble was the one who lowered his helmet and initiated the contact. The league is trying very hard to get that sort of thing out of the game, as it is dangerous for players on both sides of the ball, as evidenced by this incident.
Oct 11, 2022; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts (30) reacts during game one of the NLDS for the 2022 MLB Playoffs against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers defeated the Padres 5-3. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts admitted he was playing some mind games during the National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres.
Roberts confessed after his team won Game 5 of the NLDS on Friday that his critical comments about Manny Machado following Game 2 were intentional, and meant to deflect pressure away from his players. The Dodgers manager praised Machado and essentially said he’d publicly overreacted on purpose to make that incident the primary talking point instead of the play of his team.
“It was. It was,” Roberts said when asked if his reaction was calculated, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. “As a manager, you never want to make it about you. But I just felt in that situation, if we could take it off our guys a little bit … Manny and I have a really good relationship. I would take him any day. But I don’t think that diversion was a bad thing for our guys. And they responded by having my back.”
Following a 10-2 Padres win in Game 2, Roberts went out of his way to accuse Machado of intentionally throwing a baseball at him during the game, calling the incident “unsettling” and “disrespectful.” Video later emerged that seemed to indicate the incident was nowhere near as dangerous as Roberts made it out to be. Roberts, it seems, knew as much all along.
Machado’s actions were definitely the major talking point heading into Game 3, so from that standpoint, Roberts’ gambit worked. The Dodgers still lost that game, however, and the conversation had largely died out prior to a do-or-die Game 4. Despite the pressure, the Dodgers went on to win that game in a blowout before stifling the Padres at Dodger Stadium in Game 5.
