Here's everything you need to know about the last week in the world of sports, with notes, recaps and news.
College Football
Miami @ Louisville
In a game between two top-20 teams in ACC Play, Houston transfer QB D'eriq King proved to be the difference.
The senior play caller showed poise and took advantage of Louisville’s mistakes on defense. On one occasion, Louisville rushed three linebackers, leaving Miami RB Cam’Ron Harris wide open in the flat. One another play in the second half, King saw a mismatch on the left side, as receiver Brevin Jordan sped past a confused Louisville defender. That resulted in Jordan’s only touchdown catch of the day, though he had 120 receiving yards. On the day, King threw for 325 yards and two touchdowns.
Harris contributed in big ways on the round, racking up 134 rushing yards, with an average of 15 yards per carry.
Miami kicker Jose Borregales will be a key piece of the Canes’ success in 2020, as he showed promise on Saturday, going four-for-four on field goals attempts with a long of 57 yards.
Navy @ Tulane
With seconds left in a game between Navy and Tulane tied at 24, backup kicker Daniel Davies was sent out onto the field, with one opportunity.
If he made it, Navy would earn its first win of the season. Miss it, the Midshipmen were headed into overtime.
Davies knocked it through the uprights as time expired, giving Navy a dramatic 27-24 road victory. The 33 yard field goal was his first of the season, and it can be expected that in the process, Davies also won himself the starting job. Starter Bijan Nichols missed his only field goal attempt of the day.
The game winner was the final step in an improbable comeback, the biggest in school history. At the half, Tulane had limited Navy to 0-for-6 on passing attempts, and jumped out to a 24-0 victory. It seemed the game was well over, even with 30 minutes left to play.
But something about head coach Ken Niumatalolo’s halftime pep talk must have inspired his squad, who roared out of the gates to score 16 in the third quarter and 11 in the fourth, a 27-0 run in the second half.
A large part of that inspired comeback was the hard-nosed efforts of fullback Nelson Smith, who rushed for just 22 yards but scored two touchdowns.
Louisiana-Lafayette @ Georgia State
Louisiana-Lafyette followed up last week’s upset victory over Iowa State by grinding out a 34-31 overtime win on the road against Georgia State.
It says a lot about the Ragin’ Cajuns, considering this is a team that has won back-to-back contests on the road. While Louisiana-Lafayette did not move up in the AP Rankings, the Ragin' Cajuns remained at No. 19, and the only Sun Belt Conference team in the Top 25.
Louisiana QB Levi Lewis had another great passing day, throwing for 279 yards. While Lewis threw two interceptions, he also completed two touchdown passes, which proved to be the difference.
If there was a player of the game, it had to be Lousiana RB Elijah Mitchell, who averaged 10 yards per carry and scored two touchdowns, the biggest by far coming on a 12 yard run in overtime, which gave Louisiana the victory.
"We put it in our head it was going to come sooner or later," Mitchell said postgame according to the AP. "The time came. We made adjustments and stuff, and it started happening in the second half. The offensive line, they really stepped it up in the second half and we made it happen."
USF @ Notre Dame
Notre Dame solidified their place as one of 2020’s best programs, as the Fighting Irish took down South Florida(USF) in dominating fashion. The 52-0 rout kept Notre Dame as the No. 7 team in the AP Poll and moved them up to 2-0 on the season.
Notre Dame QB Ian Book managed the game like a pro, moving the ball around; eight different players caught a pass; and running back C’Bo Flemister rushed for 127 yards. The Fighting Irish boasted an impressive showing on defense, with linebacker Jack Kiser guiding the attack. Kiser totaled seven tackles, as USF was limited to just 12 compilations and an average of 3.2 yards per carry.
Tulsa @ Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State narrowly avoided a shocking upset as the No. 11 Cowboys defeated Tulsa 16-7 at home.
Even a rowdy crowd in Stillwater, and an offensive attack led by Heisman hopeful Chuba Hubbard could not keep Oklahoma State in it for the first three quarters as Golden Hurricane kept it low scoring, after a second quarter touchdown.
As the fourth quarter began, the upset alert was turned on, especially because Oklahoma State had true freshman quarterback Shane Illigworth in the game to replace starter Spencer Sanders, who was injured midway through the first quarter. However, Illingworth held his own and with the Cowboys down 7-3, fired a pass to wide receiver Tylan Wallance, who caught it in stride and reached the three yard line before getting tripped up. That quickly swung the momentum back to Oklahoma State and with a raucous environment inside Boone Pickens Stadium, Hubbard powered his way into the endzone, putting Oklahoma State in the lead. Two field goals would follow, allowing the Cowboys to reach 1-0 in perhaps the toughest way possible. No coach wants his team to endure a fight like that just seven days prior to the conference opener.
Next week, the Cowboys host West Virginia and it is unclear whether Sanders will be back in action or not. In addition, the Pokes dropped back to No. 15 in the country.
MLB
The postseason picture is beginning to be assembled, as three teams clinched spots in the playoffs this week. The Chicago White Sox, who have young talent in Luis Robert and Garrett Crochet, lead the AL Central and are once again in the playoffs. Also out of the AL Central is the Minnesota Twins. While the New York Yankees fell to the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, the Yankees still clinched a spot due to Seattle’s loss. Earlier in the week, the Los Angeles Dodgers became the first team to clinch, as they lead the NL West. The San Diego Padres, who have relied on the power hitting of Fernando Tatis Jr. are the second team out of the NL West to clinch a playoff berth. That marks the first time in 14 years that San Diego has been playing in October. The division title is still up for grabs, however, as six games remain in the regular season with San Diego and Los Angeles tied for the lead. The Oakland Athletics have also clinched, the only team out of the AL West to do so thus far. Finally, the Tampa Bay Rays look to win the AL East, but more importantly, are in the playoffs...On Friday, Angels’ slugger Albert Pujols swatted his 662nd career home run, topping Willie Mays for fifth all-time in that stat category...White Sox draft pick Crochet, who was drafted out of the University of Tennessee in June, made his first professional debut on Friday and surprised many by tossing a three up, three down frame in the sixth with two strikeouts. The first player to make his MLB debut the year he was drafted since 2014, Crochet threw six pitches over 100 mph in the inning, and reached a high of 101...Former Texas baseball player and longtime Detroit Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire abruptly announced his retirement from baseball on Saturday, with 10 games left in the regular season, citing health concerns.
NHL
Well, the Stanley Cup Finals were set with a most unusual matchup...a team from Florida battling a team out of Texas for the Stanley Cup. It is one of those things you begin to expect living in 2020.
All kidding aside, both the Tampa Bay Lightning and Dallas Stars separated themselves as the best in the league through the last several weeks of the playoffs.
The Lightning, who endured a challenging series against the New York Islanders in the conference finals. The Islanders would not back off, and while Tampa Bay took an early 2-0 lead in the series, New York competed down to the very last period, pushing game six into overtime, in which Tampa Bay would eventually win the series on a dramatic goal by Anthony Cirelli,.
The Dallas Stars dominated the Vegas Golden Knights in their conference final, winning the series 4-1. The fifth, and ultimately final game, also went into overtime, with Dallas earning the key victory at the beginning of the extra period, on a slapshot by Denis Gurianov.
While there were no fans to add to the excitement or the atmosphere, the emotion for each of these teams could be felt. Each had been to the Stanley Cup Finals just twice in franchise history.
In game one of the finals, Dallas went on a scoring tear behind the shooting of Jamie Oleksiak (1 goal, 2 shots on goal, 1 assist) to earn a 4-1 victory. In game two of the finals, Tampa Bay looked like a completely different team, finding the back of the net three times in the first period. That, along with some solid defense from goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevskiy, who had 27 saves, helped the Lightning earn the 3-2 win, and even the series at 1-1.
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