sports news update

It’s been an exhausting fall everywhere, but nobody has had more drama than the Big Ten. Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football (“How To Correctly Spot A Football” handbook sold separately in the Pac-12, specifically to the crew that tried to ruin the Oregon–Oregon State game): THIRD QUARTER: BIG TEN ON THE BRINK It’s been an exhausting fall everywhere, but nobody has had more drama than the Big Ten. The season was called off. Then the revolution was on. Then the season was restored and restarted at a late date. Now the Big Ten season is in complete crisis mode in the final stages. There could be a conference championship game that matches up neither of the highest-ranked teams, and the league may be in a lobbying situation to get its best team into the College Football Playoff. A quick look at the quandaries the conference faces: Would a 6–0 Ohio State (21) season be enough to make the playoff? Especially if it doesn’t include an appearance in th...

Bogut was named to the All-NBA third team in 2010, five years before he won his first championship with the Warriors. Former No. 1 pick and NBA champion Andrew Bogut announced his retirement on his podcast on Monday. Bogut was selected out of Utah with the No. 1 pick in the 2005 NBA Draft. He played for five teams across 14 seasons, most recently playing 11 games for the Warriors in 2018-19.  The Australian center never made an All-Star team in his NBA career, though he retires with an impressive career resume. Bogut earned All-NBA third-team honors in 2009-10, and he was an All-Defense honoree in 2014-15. He appeared in three Finals, winning the championship with Golden State in 2015. Bogut was the fifth international player to be selected No. 1 overall. Fellow Australian Ben Simmons was drafted with the top pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. 

SI senior writer Pat Forde shares his thoughts on the strange and historical weekend for Vanderbilt footbal It was a newsworthy weekend for the Vanderbilt football program. First, Sarah Fuller became the first woman to play in a Power 5 game as she was the kicker for the game. Then, head coach Derek Mason was relieved of his duties after the team fell to 0-8. Sports Illustrated host Robin Lundberg asked SI senior writer Pat Forde for his takeaway from the news.

On Saturday, Fuller became the first woman to suit up in an SEC football game and to appear in any Power 5 game. Vanderbilt kicker Sarah Fuller was named the SEC special teams co-player of the week on Monday. Fuller made history as the first woman to suit up in an SEC football game and to appear in any Power 5 game.  The 21-year-old kicked off for Vanderbilt to open the second half against Missouri, her lone appearance in the Commodores' 41-0 defeat to the Missouri Tigers. When asked whether Fuller will kick in the Commodores' next game against Georgia, Derek Mason, who was fired Sunday as Vanderbilt's head coach, said, "That’s really of her choosing. If she wants to kicks and she’s available we’d love to have her." Fuller appeared in Vanderbilt's football contest less than a week after winning an SEC championship as the goalkeeper on the Commodores' women's soccer team. Fuller joined the likes of New Mexico's Katie Hnida and Kent State...

Penix exited the Hoosiers' 27–11 win over Maryland in the third quarter with a leg injury. Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is expected to miss the rest of the season due to the lower leg injury he suffered on Saturday , reports The Athletic's Bruce Feldman . Penix exited the Hoosiers' 27–11 win over Maryland late in the third quarter and did not return to the game. He sustained the injury when running for 21 yards to the Terrapins' three-yard line. The sophomore stayed on the ground and was visibly in pain before he was helped off the field and headed to the locker room. Redshirt sophomore Jack Tuttle finished the game in Penix's absence, going 5-for-5 for 31 yards. After the game, coach Tom Allen could not provide any specifics on Penix's injury.  "Don't really know right now, we'll do some more tests to figure it out," Allen said. "But yeah, it's a lower-leg injury." On Saturday, Penix went 6-of-19 for 84 yards and ...

Two-time NBA MVP Stephen Curry is launching his own sneaker division with Under Armour. Three-time NBA champion Stephen Curry discusses his latest venture launching his own brand with Under Armour. Curry joined SI NBA editor Jarrel Harris on big news and his goals moving forward. 

Stephen Curry is launching his own brand underneath Under Armour. Stephen Curry has come a long way since releasing his first signature sneaker with Under Armour in 2015. The Warriors superstar is following in the footsteps of Michael Jordan and will launch his own sneaker division: the Curry Brand. The new line will give Curry the chance to build his own roster, have his own logo and create apparel, footwear and accessories across multiple categories including basketball and golf, with continued expansion in future seasons, such as running and women’s. Curry spoke to Sports Illustrated about launching his own brand and why the time was right. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Why was it important to launch the Curry Brand right now? I know there is a lot going on in our world and our society, in the sports world and elsewhere, but this is something we have been thinking about for a very long time. Trying to put the pieces together to see where we as a br...

A week off might have been good for No. 2 Notre Dame, but the Fighting Irish must return to action ready for more challenges. "There are still some things out there for us that we need to get better," coach Brian Kelly said. "Get ready for this stretch drive because it's going to be a tough one. A lot work left for this football team." A matchup with No. 25 North Carolina comes next for Notre Dame on Friday at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C. "We definitely understand this is a big opportunity for our team and it's a tremendous challenge against a team like Notre Dame," North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell said. "We know the impact a win like this can have on a program. It's definitely a game we want to win and we're going to put in all the work." With three games remaining, Notre Dame (8-0, 7-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) still has work to do to qualify for the ACC championship game. Clemson and Miami, both with one loss, ...

Fuller, a member of the 2020 SEC champion women's soccer team, kicked off to open the second half. Just last Sunday, Sarah Fuller was suiting up with the rest of the Vanderbilt women's soccer team for the SEC championship, which the Commodores claimed after beating Arkansas, 3-1. Six days later, Fuller made history as the first woman to suit up for a SEC football game and to log a snap in any Power 5 (SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12) game. The 21-year-old kicked off for Vanderbilt, who is currently down 24–0, to open the second half against Missouri, becoming the first woman to play in a Power 5 football game.  Two other women have also played in Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) contests, according to Vanderbilt Athletics. First came Katie Hnida, who kicked two extra points for the University of New Mexico against Texas State in 2003. Then April Goss kicked an extra point for Kent State during their 2015 game against Delaware State. Hnida was the first woman to sui...

With the NBA starting its new season outside of a bubble, the league sent each team the latest health and safety protocols. As the NBA prepares to begin another season, the league started its daily coronavirus testing in preparation for training camps to begin next week. Each league team received a 134-page Health and Safety Protocol Guide on Saturday for the 2020-21 season, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reports . With the NBA starting the new season outside of a bubble, the health and safety protocols require that if someone tests positive for COVID-19, there are two paths to returning. The person either has to go at least 10 days since the initial positive test or symptom onset, or they have to receive two negative PCR test results at least 24 hours apart, ESPN's Tim Bontemps reports . Any player who tests positive will not be allowed to exercise for a minimum of 10 days. The player must then be monitored in isolated individual workouts for two more. If a player is asymptomat...

Led by Jermar Jefferson's 226 rushing yards, the Beavers upset the Ducks with a late fourth-down conversion The annual matchup might not have an official name anymore, but Friday night delivered another instant classic in a rivalry that's produced plenty of drama. Oregon State stunned No. 15 Oregon, 41-38, with a go-ahead touchdown in the game's final minute on fourth down from inside the 1-yard line. The Beavers were led by running back Jermar Jefferson, who finished with 226 yards on 29 carries and two touchdowns, setting a new record for single-game rushing yards in series history. Oregon State's game-winning drive was capped by a one-yard touchdown run by backup quarterback Chance Nolan, who came in after starter Tristan Gebbia injured his left leg on the previous play. It was Nolan's first career collegiate snap. The win was Oregon State's first in the series since 2016. The Beavers had lost 11 of the previous 12 games against Oregon dating back to 20...

Notre Dame displayed a hard-nosed style of football on Saturday night against North Carolina's high-flying offense that you don't often see anymore. CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — College football has eras just like the Earth itself. You know this place was once all covered in ice. The Ice Age, they called it. The dinosaurs roamed the globe during the Jurassic Age. The Pleistocene Age came about some 300,000 years ago, when modern humans began to evolve in Africa. But enough history, let’s get back to college football. It’s why you’re here and it’s why I’m here too. College football once had an era without passing and face guards. We’ll call it the Bloodied Age, because most players never left a game without blood somewhere—gushing from their arm, stained on their pants, matted in their hair. The sport then shifted heavily toward a specific ground-and-pound scheme: the Option Age. And don’t forget the days of the I-formation Age (one of my favorites). For the last decade or so, colle...

Cleveland acquired a 2027 second round pick and shooting guard Rayjon Tucker from the Utah Jazz in exchange for cash considerations. CLEVELAND (AP) — The Cavaliers are loading up for the future. Cleveland acquired another second-round pick Friday — this one in 2027 — from the Utah Jazz, who also sent the Cavs shooting guard Rayjon Tucker in exchange for cash considerations. It’s the third second-round selection added by the Cavs this offseason. They previously picked up second-round picks from Milwaukee (2025) and the Los Angeles Lakers (2026) in separate deals. The 23-year-old Tucker played in 20 games for Utah as a rookie last season. He averaged 3.1 points in 8.1 minutes. It’s possible the Cavs could waive the 6-foot-5 Tucker before Nov. 29, when his contract becomes fully guaranteed. But Tucker has shown potential and the Cavs may want to keep him around as they continue to rebuild.

Vanderbilt soccer goalkeeper Sarah Fuller is set to make history as the first woman in the SEC to suit up for a football game. Vanderbilt's Sarah Fuller is set to make history on Saturday in more ways than one, and it all started with a simple phone call from soccer associate head coach Ken Masuhr. His first question was whether she had ever kicked a football before, and Fuller said she had. The next question, depending on her answer, set her up to make SEC and Power 5 history. “Would you want to be a kicker on the football team?” Masuhr said . “Would you be able to stay here this weekend and be a kicker for the football team?” Fuller, who is apart of the 2020 SEC Championship soccer team, was reportedly on the football field an hour later meeting the team and joining the other specialists. The senior goalkeeper will be the first woman ever to suit up for a SEC and Power 5 football game when Vanderbilt (0–7) plays at Missouri (3–3) on Saturday. Because of COVID-19 pr...

"The priority of the Yankees, New Era Pinstripe Bowl, Big Ten and ACC is the safety of players, coaches and staff." The 2020 Pinstripe Bowl has been canceled "out of an abundance of caution" amid the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers announced on Friday. "Due to the recent increase in coronavirus cases, which has led to the imposition of various travel restrictions and the cancellation of many college football games, including those in the Big Ten and ACC Conferences, we have made the decision out of an abundance of caution and in conjunction with both conferences to cancel the 2020 New Era Pinstripe Bowl. The priority of the Yankees, New Era Pinstripe Bowl, Big Ten and ACC is the safety of players, coaches and staff, and this decision is consistent with that approach," the Pinstripe Bowl said in a statement. The bowl game has been played annually at Yankee Stadium since its inception in 2010. The game previously was held between Big 12 and Big East teams...

Kentucky at Florida and Pittsburgh at Clemson matchups highlight SI Gambling analyst Roy Larking's NCAA football betting card for Saturday. College Football Week 13 Betting Preview Two heavy home favorites are part of the NCAA Week 13 Thanksgiving weekend football feast. Kentucky visits No. 6 Florida as +25.5 point underdogs while No 3. Clemson hosts Pittsburgh as -23.5 point favorites. With betting odds from the DraftKings Sportsbook - here is a breakdown and picks for those two matchups that are scheduled for Saturday. Are you looking for PREMIUM picks for this week's college football slate? SI PRO subscribers receive real-time betting alerts whenever information comes in. Become an SI PRO member and start "Beating the Books" today! The Vegas Whispers sharp information continues to dominate the sportsbooks with a 187-126-2 overall record.  The information received from Frankie Taddeo, Sports Illustrated’s Gambling Vegas Insider, is currently 19-17 ATS on NCA...

Sports Illustrated host Robin Lundberg, SI's Ben Pickman, and "The Fantasy Exec" Corey Parson gave their choices for Most Valuable Player for next season, which tips off before Christmas. Incredibly, the NBA season is only one month away as the league will have a quick turnaround from the still recently completed bubble playoffs. So, it is time for some way too early MVP predictions for the award winner in 2021. Sports Illustrated host Robin Lundberg, SI's Ben Pickman, and "The Fantasy Exec" Corey Parson gave their choices for Most Valuable Player for next season, which tips off before Christmas.

Saturday's matchup was canceled as USC does not have the minimum number of scholarship players to compete. USC's matchup against Colorado on Saturday has been canceled, the Pac-12 announced on Thursday.  The contest was canceled due to numerous positive tests within the Trojans' program, per the Pac-12.  Saturday's game will not be rescheduled. "Not contesting this game is very disappointing to our student-athletes and our fans," the Pac-12 said in a statement. "While all of us want to see our football student-athletes on the field competing, our number one priority must continue to be the health and safety of all those connected to Pac-12 football programs."  USC announced its first positive test in the football program on Tuesday. The Trojans previously played Utah on Nov. 21, three days before the Utes' matchup with Arizona State was canceled due to COVID-19. The Trojans currently lead the Pac-12 at 3–0. Their next game is slated...

COVID-19 has been the most difficult opponent on Utah's schedule. After another shift this week, the Utes will head to Seattle and play Saturday against an unbeaten Washington team. Itinerary changes have been constant for Utah. The Utes' first two games -- against Arizona and UCLA -- were canceled due to virus spread in the program. It was learned Tuesday that Arizona State would need to call off this week's game with Utah scheduled at Tempe, Ariz., because of lingering COVID-19 issues with the Sun Devils. The Pac-12 announced the Utah-Washington matchup shortly after the Utes' game with ASU was canceled. The Huskies became available when their Apple Cup rivalry game this weekend with Washington State was canceled because of COVID-19 striking the Cougars' program. Utah is coming off a season-opening 33-17 loss at home to No. 20 USC last week. Washington (2-0) will play its third game at home after beating Oregon State 27-21 on Nov. 14 and Arizona 44-27 last w...

Whether one team can maintain its grip on the good feeling it garnered from a final-play victory or the other can respond from a humbling loss to its arch rival makes up the backdrop when Texas Tech visits No. 21 Oklahoma State at Stillwater, Okla., on Saturday. The Red Raiders (3-5, 2-5 Big 12) edged Baylor on Jonathan Garibay's 25-yard field goal as time expired last week, capping a fourth-quarter rally to lift them to a 24-23 triumph. By contrast, the Cowboys (5-2, 4-2) unraveled in the second half of a 41-13 loss to hard-charging Oklahoma. While that loss didn't squash OSU's conference championship hopes, it dashed any chance of staying in the conversation for a spot in the College Football Playoff. "We've got to get rid of that and we got to look ourselves in the mirror and make corrections and see where we made mistakes, see where we got outcoached," Cowboys' coach Mike Gundy said. "When things happened that weren't good, we got frazzled...

The Southern California Trojans spent the first two weeks of the season pulling out improbable wins, then cruised to a comparatively easy victory in their third game. Now No. 19 USC (3-0, 3-0 Pac-12) faces maybe its toughest matchup when it hosts the Colorado Buffaloes on Saturday afternoon. But there remains a possibility of the game being postponed due to COVID-19 issues. The Trojans had a player test positive following last week's win at Utah in what was the first positive test for USC this season. The football program released a statement on Tuesday saying it was informed of the positive test Monday night and that the player was symptomatic and had been quarantined. The unnamed player had tested negative four times in a 36-hour span before traveling to Utah with the team, and tested negative on game day. USC closed its practice facilities and conducted all team business virtually while awaiting results from another round of testing on Tuesday afternoon, multiple outlets rep...

The last four Virginia head coaches each recorded one win against Florida State. Bronco Mendenhall has an opportunity to do what predecessors George Welsh, Al Groh and Mike London never did as his Cavaliers (4-4, 3-4 ACC) look for their second straight win against the Seminoles (2-6, 1-6) on Saturday night in Tallahassee, Fla. Virginia, which won last year's meeting 31-24 in Charlottesville, is back to .500 thanks to a three-game winning streak against North Carolina, Louisville and last Saturday against FCS opponent Abilene Christian. Florida State is stuck in a three-game losing streak that likely would have reached four if last Saturday's game against Clemson had not been postponed due to COVID-19 concerns. FSU's last win was on Oct. 17. Still, the Seminoles are 15-4 all-time against the Cavaliers. Virginia's other wins in the series happened in 1995, 2005 and 2011, with only the last happening at Doak Campbell Stadium. The matchup to watch Saturday is UVA'...

Georgia Tech will try to extend its streak of success in home games played at night when the Yellow Jackets host Duke on Saturday at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta. Georgia Tech (2-5, 2-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) has won four straight night games at home, including a 46-27 victory over Louisville on Oct. 9. The Yellow Jackets have won seven consecutive Saturday night home games, a streak that dates back to 2011. But Duke (2-6, 1-6) has won the last three meetings in the series, including 41-23 last year in Durham, NC. The Blue Devils trail the all-time series 51-35-1, but have won five of the last six. It has been a while since either team was on the field. Duke last played on Nov. 7 and dropped a 56-24 decision to rival North Carolina. The Blue Devils trailed 28-0 to start the game and 42-10 at halftime. Georgia Tech hasn't played since Oct. 31, a 31-13 loss to Notre Dame. The Yellow Jackets had games against Pittsburgh and Miami (Fla.) postponed and rescheduled because of C...

Fielding a team that looks vastly different because of injuries, TCU head coach Gary Patterson knows not to take an opponent lightly. In fact, Patterson doesn't want anyone in his program to even consider the ease with which the Horned Frogs (3-4, 3-4 Big 12) are expected to beat winless Kansas (0-7, 0-6) on Saturday at Lawrence, Kan. "We've only won three ballgames, so no one is going to get overlooked," Patterson said. "Right now, we're just worried about us, not Kansas." No fewer than 20 TCU players have been lost for the season because of injuries, Patterson said, off a squad that includes just nine scholarship seniors. Those setbacks have only compounded the health issues created by COVID-19 and any players who have had to be scratched because of illnesses. A two-week layoff since a 24-6 loss at West Virginia did not exactly brighten Patterson's outlook. "You are what you are at this point," said Patterson, who stands 175-74 ente...

Cross-divisional Big Ten Conference foes Rutgers and Purdue meet Saturday at Ross-Ade Stadium, both coming off heartbreaking losses. Purdue (2-2, 2-2 Big Ten) lost in controversial fashion at divisional counterpart Minnesota last week, 34-31. Quarterback Jack Plummer found tight end Payne Durham for what appeared to be a go-ahead touchdown with 52 seconds left, but an offensive pass interference call negated the play. Boilermakers coach Jeff Brohm's vocal objection to the call and subsequent, private interactions with conference officials in the days since still linger. Purdue seeks to avoid letting the disappointment bleed into another week against visiting Rutgers. "It's over with and we moved on," Brohm said in his Tuesday press conference. The Boilermakers have another hurdle to overcome as well. Purdue announced Tuesday that sophomore defensive end George Karlaftis has tested positive for COVID-19 and has been placed in quarantine. The former five-star recru...

No. 14 Oklahoma and West Virginia have never played much defense against each other. In the eight meetings since the Mountaineers joined the Big 12 Conference in 2012, the teams have combined to score an average of 78 points per game. The Sooners -- winners each time -- have scored at least 44 points seven times, while the Mountaineers have scored at least 49 twice. The offenses are still explosive entering Saturday's meeting at West Virginia, but this time the defenses are also formidable. The Mountaineers (5-3, 4-3 Big 12) lead the conference in scoring defense at 17.8 points per game and are 13th nationally. "There's just not a ton of weaknesses," Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said. "You don't look at the film and say, 'Well, they're really good at this or really bad at that.' There's not really anything they're bad at ... Every part of them is challenging." The Sooners (6-2, 5-2 Big 12) are second in the league in yards allo...

No. 13 Georgia faces a steep climb to make the College Football Playoff, but it may have found an upper-echelon quarterback as it heads into Saturday's Southeastern Conference game against South Carolina in Columbia, S.C. In his Georgia debut, highly touted JT Daniels passed for 401 yards and four touchdowns in last weekend's 31-24 win over Mississippi State to pump some life into the passing game. Daniels, a sophomore transfer from Southern California, is finally healthy after tearing an ACL and sustaining meniscus damage in the Trojans' 2019 season opener. He transferred to Georgia in late May and appears ready to live up to his billing as a top-notch thrower. Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart is careful when it comes to discussing Daniels' potential. "I don't know that you know that right now," Smart told reporters. "You see him make good throws. I think his mobility is not going to do anything but hopefully improve. His decision-making -- the people...

Top-25 clashes between Alabama-Auburn, Iowa State-Texas and Notre Dame-UNC lead the week in college football. A downsized, semi-Rivalry Week in college football kicks off on Friday, when Texas hosts Iowa State in a top-25 Big 12 clash. That same day, No. 2 Notre Dame will travel to Chapel Hill looking to keep rolling against Sam Howell and No. 19 North Carolina , and on Saturday, the Iron Bowl takes center stage when No. 1 Alabama hosts No. 22 Auburn in Tuscaloosa— without Nick Saban  on the sideline. After this week's release of the season's first College Football Playoff rankings , top teams have a better idea of where they stand in the committee's eyes. It adds an extra layer of importance to a game like LSU vs. Texas A&M, where the Aggies—who checked in at No. 5 in the CFP rankings—know they're currently next in line should anyone in the top four slip up. Who has the edge in 11 of this weekend's key games? SI's picks are below. Standings to Date...

He opened a second medical clinic in Charlotte to help those without healthcare, and pledged to donate $100M over the next decade toward fighting racial injustice. The documentary miniseries  The Last Dance showcased Michael Jordan's legendary career with Chicago Bulls, and ended up being one of the most popular television events of 2020, resulting in a large profit. Now, in the spirit of the holiday season, the Charlotte Hornets owner is donating a portion of the proceeds to help those in need.  Feeding America, a nonprofit organization of over 200 food banks that feeds more than 46 million people, thanked Jordan on Wednesday for his $2 million donation.  In a statement attached to the organization's tweet, Jordan reflected on the hardships many people faced during this difficult year given the social unrest and global coronavirus pandemic.   "In these challenging times and in a year of unimaginable difficulty due to COVID-19, it's more important than ev...

The game was originally scheduled for Nov. 7 but was postponed because of COVID-19 issues within the Air Force program. The game between Army and Air Force—which was originally scheduled for Nov. 7 but postponed due to positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing protocols within the Air Force program—is back on. The Mountain West announced the game would be played on Dec. 19 in a statement released Wednesday . Air Force has had two other games canceled so far: a Nov. 14 matchup at Wyoming and a Thanksgiving Day meeting against Colorado State, one of several games to be called off this weekend . The Colorado State game was declared a no contest and will not be made up. Army, meanwhile, had its Sept. 19 home game against BYU postponed, and it has not yet been rescheduled. The Black Knights are 7-2 on the season, while Air Force is 2-2. Army and Air Force compete each year alongside Navy for the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy, awarded annually to winner of the series between the se...