Starting Five
1. A Mighty Wind… We’ve got your Cloud Atlas right here, chief. Hurricane Sandy bears down on New Jersey and New York City, where the subways and buses will stop running Sunday night at 7 p.m. New Jersey spawned rocker Bruce Springsteen, who wrote a song called “Sandy”, which now may transform the Jersey shore into a city of ruins. Our only advice: Do not board a fishing boat with George Clooney and Marky Mark no matter what type of haul they promise you (but if you do, damnit, HEAD FOR THE FLEMISH CAP!)
“Sandy! You’re a deadly force of nature.” “What’s it to you, stud?”
2. A Mighty wiND: No. 5 Notre Dame barrels into Norman, Oklahoma, a 10.5-point underdog and physically dominates the No. 8 Sooners, 30-13. The game was closer than the final score — it was tied 13-13 midway through the 4th quarter — but the Irish prevailed thanks to a 50-yard pass from Everett Golson to Chris Brown, a true freshman making his first career reception, and the standard superb play of senior linebacker Heisman candidate Manti Te’o, who now has five interceptions after having zero in his first three seasons.
Preying Manti
3. A hurricane slams the East Coast, while the Thunder shake up the NBA’s Western Conference. Oklahoma City sends Sixth Man of the Beard James Harden and three minor players to Houston in exchange for Kevin Martin, rookie Jeremy Lamb and two future first-round draft picks. OKC lost a lot of people’s favorite player, but did more than OK in the process. ESPN writers react.
4. The SEC East is not for the squeamish. South Carolina tailback Marcus Lattimore, No. 1 on Mel Kiper’s big board of RBs, suffers as horrific a knee injury as you’ll ever see in the Gamecocks’ win versus Tennessee. Best wishes to Lattimore on his recovery. It’s far too soon to know what his NFL future holds. Only an hour or so later in another hard-hitting game involving a pair of SEC East squads — The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party — Florida wideout Solomon Patton suffers a broken arm on a hard but clean tackle by Georgia safety Shawn Williams. Florida is one of three previous unbeatens — Oregon State and Rutgers — to lose yesterday.
The SEC East had casualties on Saturday
5. The Detroit Tigers, who held the Yankees scoreless in 36 of 39 innings while sweeping them 4-0 in the ALCS, have now been held scoreless themselves in 25 of 27 innings in the World Series. The San Francisco Giants hold a 3-0 lead heading into tonight’s possible series-ending contest at Comerica Park. The Yankees scored a total of six runs in their four-game bust. The Tigers have have accumulated three in three games versus the Giants.
Reserves
Fifty, Free: Pepperdine swimmer Phyllis Reffo, who at 50 years young is the oldest full-time college student we know of, not to mention the oldest ever to compete as a Division I athlete, swam three events at this weekend’s Malibu Invitational: 50 free, 50 fly and 200 breast. Reffo is a single mother of two teenage daughters who is majoring in biological sciences. Aptly, her Twitter bio reads “Two arms, two legs, two kids, too busy.” We profiled her for The Daily a year ago.
Reffo did not place in the 3 events she swam, but she is making waves as an NCAA swimmer at the age of 50
USC loses 39-36 at Arizona despite Marqise Lee’s sublime output of 16 receptions for 345 yards. Lee, who may very well fit the definition of “nation’s most outstanding player”, had TD grabs of 44 and 49 yards plus a 57-yard catch. Matt Barkley’s Hail Mary pass as time expired ricocheted off Lee’s facemask and dribbled off his left hand. We doubt Lee will win the Heisman — he at least deserves an invite –but Lane Kiffin deserves an Anti-Coach of the Year award. How can USC, which leads the nation in penalties, be so average this season after being so spectacular at the end of last season? A BCS bowl may only come now if USC beats Oregon twice in the next six weeks. Good luck.
Colt McCoy’s little brother and Jordan Shipley’s li’l bro, Case and Jaxon, hooked up on a fourth-down conversion late in Texas’ game at Kansas to save Mack Brown’s job the Longhorns from an embarrassing defeat in Lawrence. The Jayhawks had lost 16 straight conference games and were one play away from ending that streak when McCoy, who replaced starter David Ash late in the second half, found Shipley for 18 yards on a fourth-and-long. Texas scored the game-winning TD with 0:12 left.
Stating his case: Is McCoy the Longhorn starter now?
We liked the headline “What’s next for Hurricane Sandy?” It’s a solid question. After this week, what will she DO to remain popular? We predict a prescription drug overdose, a stint on DWTS or a role in “Cloud Atlas 2: You Can’t Be Cirrus!”
Ohio State moves to 8-0 as the Buckeyes run away from Penn State in the Ineligi-Bowl. Urban Meyer is the Hurricane Sandy of Rust Belt football.
Georgia’s promotional ad, which airs during its games (almost all schools have 30-second spots during their games), is scored by a tune from Athens rockers REM. Pretty neat, though B-52’s are wondering how come they didn’t use “Rock Lobster.”