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🤕 Five things to know Friday
- Gold rush. The 49ers may be down a significant number of key players, but they managed to outlast the Rams on Thursday night, picking up a 26-23 win in overtime. After San Francisco doinked in a field goal, the Rams decided to play for the win on the ensuing possession, going for it — and being stuffed — on 4th-and-1 from the San Francisco 11 rather than kicking a chip-shot field goal for the tie. The Rams made several late blunders, Mac Jones authors another improbable win, and we have our overreactions.
- The WNBA Finals get underway on Friday night. Game 1 will be between the Mercury and Aces. We ranked the 10 starters for the teams ahead of the game, and no surprise, A’ja Wilson is sitting in the No. 1 spot. It’s not all sunshine and roses for the WNBA, however, as the battle over a new collective bargaining agreement continues, and Fever superstar Caitlin Clark said that Lynx star Napheesa Collier made “a lot of very valid points” in a recent rant about “the worst leadership in the world.” Back on the court, we have our predictions for how the Finals will play out.
- Lamar Jackson missed practice again. As he continues to recover from a hamstring injury suffered in the Ravens’ Week 4 loss to the Chiefs, Jackson’s status for the Week 5 game against the Texans remains up in the air. Baltimore, currently 1-3, is struggling to get on track and back to the Super Bowl contenders they were seen as entering the season.
- A Super Bowl in London? NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says the league is focused on holding the biggest game of the year in markets that host NFL teams, leaving it unlikely that London’s push to host will come to fruition in the near future.
- Another big Saturday of college football action is on the way. And CBS Sports has all the angles covered, from Heisman odds and lookaheads, to trap games in the College Football Playoff race, to Week 6 predictions, we have you covered.
⚾ Do not miss this: Tigers, Cubs, Yankees win Wild Card Series to advance
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Thursday started with the Tigers taking down the Guardians 6-3 in Cleveland. The victory effectively erased Detroit’s epic late-season collapse that allowed Cleveland to storm back from as much as 15 ½ games back during the regular season to win the AL Central. With their win, the Tigers advance to the ALDS to face the Mariners.
Next up, the Cubs were able to take down the Padres 3-1 at home, winning their first playoff series since the 2017 NLDS. The Cubs now move along to the NLDS to face the top-seeded Brewers in a clash of NL Central rivals. The Padres had the tying run in scoring position in the ninth, but were unable to cash in on the opportunity as Andrew Kittredge got Freddy Fermín to fly out to end the game.
In the nightcap, the Yankees were able to shut out the Red Sox 4-0 behind a brilliant performance from rookie starting pitcher Cam Schlittler. Schlittler became the first pitcher in MLB postseason history to record 12 strikeouts while not allowing a walks or runs over eight innings in completely shutting down Boston’s hitters. The Yankees will play the Blue Jays in the ALDS.
The Blue Jays enter that series with the advantage of starting whichever pitcher they want, and the Yankees have gone through three starters already, but the CBS Sports prediction for the series is calling for the Yankees to win in five games.
🏀 Do college basketball coaches trust their competitors to follow new recruiting rules?
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With a House settlement that established new rules to rein in NIL spending, CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish and Matt Norlander recently polled roughly 100 college basketball coaches on a variety of subjects, including how the settlement will be handled by their competitors.
Shockingly, 89% of the coaches polled said that they did not trust the competition to recruit within the rules. As one coach replied, “We are in the SOUTH region of the United States. There are no rules, only getting wins. Let’s be real.”
While the other 11% of coaches had a little more faith in the rules, it’s an eye-opening look at the expectations as the landscape of college athletics continues to change.
- Parrish: “The answers here illustrate something I’ve been writing and talking about since before the House Settlement even became a reality — that a salary cap in college basketball, particularly a salary cap in college basketball that will differ for different programs even in the same conferences, was never going to work as currently constructed. Think about it: When the salary cap was effectively zero for decades and decades and decades, cheating was rampant in recruiting with ambitious coaches trying to create advantages and beat-down coaches just fighting to keep up.”
👊 A championship doubleheader goes down at UFC 320 on Saturday
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UFC 320 takes place Saturday night in Las Vegas. The card is stacked with big fights, including a main event clash between light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev and former champ Alex Pereira. Ankalaev beat Pereira at UFC 313 to capture the title. Pereira recently told CBS Sports’ Brian Campbell that he was “about 40%” in the first fight.
Ankalaev responded to Pereira’s claims, telling me, “If he’s going to talk about being 40% there or 40% ready, I can say I was only 20%. Everybody knows when the last fight was. It was the holy month of Ramadan, so I wasn’t able to prepare the way I needed to prepare either. So, I don’t think he should even mention the 40% because everybody knows that I had a much harder camp than he did and a harder time preparing.”
We have plenty more to get you ready for Saturday’s big event, including bantamweight champ Merab Dvalishvili speaking to his aspirations of becoming the G.O.A.T. ahead of his co-main event title defense, as well as our choices for the best bets to make on all five main card fights.
👍👎The best (and not-so-best) of the rest
- How do Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby compare to their peers? With NHL season starting Tuesday, we’ve got a ranking of the top 75 players in the league.
- We are just about a month out from the NFL trade deadline, and we’ve broken down the players most likely to be traded, as well as what teams will be buyers and sellers.
- After being injured on a kick return in Monday night’s loss to the Dolphins, the Jets placed running back Braelon Allen on injured reserve while signing veteran back Khalil Herbert.
- With the Warriors set to become the first team in NBA history to start four players age 35 or above on opening night, 39-year-old Al Horford may be the key to making the whole thing work.
- Legendary manager Jurgen Klopp spoke to CBS Sports about life after being a manager. Klopp said, “I miss nothing, I enjoy what I’m doing,” now that he does not hold “1,000% responsibility” for what happens on the pitch. Klopp also said he survived just fine without watching a single World Cup match.
- Heading into the second start of his NFL career, Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart admitted that he has a chip on his shoulder heading into the game against the Saints, a team that passed up an opportunity to take Dart in the NFL Draft.
- The CBS Sports’ NFL experts gave their predictions for predictions for the biggest and most interesting games in Week 5.
- In his breakthrough game in his first NFL season, Raiders rookie running back Ashton Jeanty returned to the “Michael Myers stance” he took pre-snap during his time with Boise State.
- Patriots quarterback Drake Maye has a chance to tie Tom Brady in the record books when the team travels to play the Bills on Sunday night. That same night, wideout Stefon Diggs will be making his return to Buffalo, which he said will be “a hell of an atmosphere.”
- European Ryder Cup team members Matt Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton had some strong words for PGA of America president Don Lea after verbal abuse suffered by European players at the event.
- Former Yankees scout Dick Groch, the man who pushed New York to draft Derek Jeter, died at 84.
- As plans continue for the UFC to hold an event on the White House lawn to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, CEO Dana White said the promotion will have to pay $700,000 to fix the South Lawn.
- Fear not, Saints fans, your team has agreed to a 10-year extension to remain in New Orleans.
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📺 What we’re watching this weekend
Friday
⚽ Sassuolo at Hellas Verona, 2:45 p.m. on Paramount+
⚽ Fulham at AFC Bournemouth, 3 p.m. on USA Network
🏒 Preseason: Sabres at Penguins, 7 p.m. on NHL Network
🏀 WNBA Finals — Game 1: Mercury at Aces, 8 p.m. on ESPN
🏈 West Virginia at BYU, 10:30 p.m. on ESPN
Saturday
⚽ Torino at Lazio, 9 a.m. on Paramount+
⚽ Tottenham at Leeds, 7:30 a.m. on USA Network
⚽ West Ham at Arsenal, 10 a.m. on Peacock
🏈 Kentucky at Georgia, 12 p.m. on ABC
🏈 Iowa State at Cincinnati, 12 p.m. on ESPN2
🏈 Wisconsin at Michigan, 12 p.m. on Fox
🏈 Illinois at Purdue, 12 p.m. on Big Ten Network
⚽ Liverpool at Chelsea, 12:30 p.m. on NBC
⚾ NLDS — Game 1: Cubs at Brewers, 2:08 p.m. on TBS
🏈 Penn State at UCLA, 3:30 p.m. on CBS
🏈 Texas at Florida, 3:30 p.m. on ESPN
🏈 Vanderbilt at Alabama, 3:30 p.m. on ABC
🏈 Boise State at Notre Dame, 3:30 p.m. on NBC
🏈 Virginia at Louisville, 3:30 p.m. on ESPN2
🏈 Kent State at Oklahoma, 4 p.m. on SEC Network
⚾ ALDS — Game 1: Yankees at Blue Jays, 4:08 p.m. on Fox
⚾ NLDS — Game 1: Dodgers at Phillies, 6:38 p.m. on TBS
🏈 Texas Tech at Houston, 7 p.m. on ESPN
🏈 Minnesota at Ohio State, 7:30 p.m. on NBC
🏈 Miami at Florida State, 7:30 p.m. on ABC
🏈 Mississippi State at Texas A&M, 7:30 p.m. on SEC Network
⚾ ALDS — Game 1: Tigers at Mariners, 8:38 p.m. on FS1
Sunday
🏈 Vikings at Browns, 9:30 a.m. on NFL Network
🏈 Raiders at Colts, 1 p.m. on Fox
🏈 Giants at Saints, 1 p.m. on CBS
🏈 Cowboys at Jets, 1 p.m. on FOX
🏈 Broncos at Eagles, 1 p.m. on CBS
🏈 Dolphins at Panthers, 1 p.m. on Fox
🏈 Texans at Ravens, 1 p.m. on CBS
🏀 WNBA Finals — Game 2: Mercury at Aces, 3 p.m. on ABC
🏈 Titans at Cardinals, 4:05 p.m. on CBS
🏈 Buccaneers at Seahawks, 4:05 p.m. on CBS
⚾ ALDS — Game 2: Yankees at Blue Jays, 4:08 p.m. on FS1
🏈 Lions at Bengals, 4:25 p.m. on Fox
🏈 Commanders at Chargers, 4:25 p.m. on Fox
⚾ ALDS — Game 2: Tigers at Mariners, 8:03 p.m. on FS1
🏈 Patriots at Bills, 8:20 p.m. on NBC