Arch Manning has wheels! Plus, your NFL Sunday watch guide + Taylor Swift explanation

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CFB Saturday: Manning shines, Noles crashes

The most striking moment of yesterday’s college football: After Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, who was battling for the Heisman Trophy, left the overwhelming game against UTSA with an oblique abdominal muscle injury, backup Arch Manning scored five touchdowns, including this 67-yard run that showed off his famous uncles with far better running skills:

CAN’T TOUCH HIM 😮‍💨@ArchManning pic.twitter.com/65nR57qIR5

— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) 15 September 2024

We’ll wait to hear more about Ewers’ status, with nearly a month until Texas’ next big game against rival Oklahoma.

First, let’s talk about the state of Florida. Since 1977, Bobby Bowden’s second season in Tallahassee, the Noles have started only two seasons 0-3.

Coach in both seasons? Mike Norvell, now also in 2024. After yesterday’s 20-12 home loss to Memphis, FSU is only the second top-10 team since the 1980s to lose its first three games.

Worst of all, Norvell left Memphis for Florida State, and now the Tigers, with a 3-0 record, are the favorites to make the 12-team playoffs.

How did that happen? Last year, FSU achieved a 13-1 record, fueled by nine transfer players who were then drafted. The portal exists! But “the players that Norvell recruited from the high school ranks simply did not develop sufficiently,” Manny Navarro explained yesterday.
How bad will it get? It’s easy to imagine that FSU’s November game against Florida (1-2 after yesterday’s miserable loss to Texas A&M) will have no significance whatsoever for bowl season.

Elsewhere in CFB:

Last night, No. 1 Georgia suffered its biggest regular-season scare in over a year, defeating Kentucky 13-12. The Dawgs are off next week before visiting No. 4 Alabama.
Big winners: No. 14 Kansas State rocked No. 20 Arizona, No. 6 Missouri outlasted No. 24 Boston College, Bama righted the ship in Wisconsin, No. 16 LSU won a crazy game in South Carolina and No. 18 Notre Dame took his feelings out on Purdue.
The rivalry weekend isn’t until Thanksgiving, but we got a taste of it yesterday. State of Washington got some realignment revenge on Washington, but Oregon State got nothing like that against No. 9 Oregon. In the meantime, Pitt came back to beat West Virginia, and Deion Sanders University scored a regular football win over Colorado State.
Yesterday’s headline in retrospect: “Pertussis outbreak forces Portland State to cancel game against South Dakota.”

More information will be coming to your inbox shortly. ‘Til Saturday will be sure to let you know.

NFL Monitoring Guide: Find yourself a couch, buddy

It’s time to feed us more football data and find out who is better than who. Our list today (all times ET):

1pm
Buccaneers at Lions — We have a couple matchups like this today where a team (Tampa Bay) looked like a legit contender in Week 1, but we’re just not sure yet. Detroit has earned contender status for now after last season’s playoff run … which included a playoff win over the Bucs at home. TV: FOX

16:25
Bengals at Chiefs — Everyone is worried about Cincinnati, but no one is worried about Kansas City. These two entered the season as potential AFC playoff opponents. I’m watching Cincy closely here.. Is the September crisis back? TV: CBS

20:20
Bears at Texans — This is a full-fledged statement game, as CJ Stroud and the Texans can project themselves as legitimate Super Bowl contenders with an easy win. Caleb Williams, on the other hand, didn’t look so good last week and the Texans’ defense is better than Tennessee’s. The quarterback duel alone is worth watching. TV: NBC

news

McCaffrey out for a longer period
Christian McCaffrey lands on the injured list with calf soreness and Achilles tendinitis, meaning he will miss at least the next four games. After already missing Week 1, the two-time All-Pro will not be able to return until Oct. 10 against the Seattle Seahawks.

We asked fantasy ace Jake Ciely how panicked fantasy owners should be on a scale of 1 to 10. Here is his answer: “That’s at least an 8“First, there’s no guarantee McCaffrey will be 100 percent when he returns. Second, the 49ers have a bye in Week 9, which means they may be overcautious and hold CMC back until Week 10. Put those two factors together, and CMC may not be 100 percent until Week 11…or worse.” Phew.

Another record for Clark
If it seems like we’ve been writing about a new Caitlin Clark accomplishment every weekend lately, that’s probably true. The star rookie added to her record list again on Friday by recording the most assists in a single season (she already held the rookie record and the record for most assists in a single game). Ben Pickman has Clark’s full list of accolades here.

More news

The man accused of murdering the Blue Jackets star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew, who were involved in a drunk driving accident, will remain in jail while the case is heard in court, a judge ruled.
Tiger Woods underwent surgery for a pinched nerve in his lower back, his sixth back surgery and first since 2021.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts suggested there is a “slim” – but not zero – chance Shohei Ohtani could pitch in the postseason.
Lionel Messi On his return to MLS last night, he scored two goals for Inter Miami against Philadelphia Union in a 3-1 win.

Explanations: Why Taylor Swift is back on your timeline

Hello again to Hannah Vanbiber! Take it away:

Last week, everyone was mad at Taylor Swift. To quote Swift herself: We need to calm down.

So what’s going on? She was hardworking! A summary:

Their debut in the second season of the NFL attracted a lot of attention. She attended the NFL season opener to support her boyfriend Travis Kelce – which predictably annoyed some people. It was a game between the Chiefs and the Ravens that drew a record-breaking 28.9 million viewers, and what felt like 100 million more commented online.
The hug that goes around the world. The discourse surrounding Swift entered the political sphere, first when Donald Trump shared a fake AI-generated endorsement campaign for Swift, then when Brittany Mahomes liked a Trump post, then liked it again, then liked it again. Swift then attended the US Open final with Kelce, Patrick and Brittany Mahomes. Taylor and Brittany huggedto throw the Internet into a tailspin, perhaps to read too much into the matter, as the Internet tends to do.
The confirmation. Two days later, after the presidential debate, Swift posted a campaign to support Harris and Walz. The post generated over 400,000 visits to a linked voter registration website within 24 hours. On Instagram, it has over 10 million likes, one of them from WNBA star Caitlin Clark.
Win. Swift was back in the news the next day at the VMAs, winning the most awards of the night and thanking Kelce for his support. She set records and reminded us of her funny football boyfriend!

Findings:

Swift is more famous and popular than ever (among mento!). Her influence, which even Roger Goodell called the “Taylor Swift effect,” is undeniable and was further enhanced by her relationship with Kelce.
It might be time to touch the grass, as the kids say! Could it be that we are projecting our cultural fears and desires onto Swift – and that it is more about us than her? I’m going out now.

See and hear

📺 MLB: Dodgers at Braves
7:10 p.m. ET on ESPN
Yes, it has playoff implications, but I’m here to see if Shohei Ohtani breaks the 50-50 mark. It’s crazy to think he can do all that in his first year with the Dodgers.

📺 WNBA: Sun at Aces
6:00 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network
These teams have three games left in the season that could impact playoff positioning. I just want to see how each team plays before the postseason.

Kirk Irwin / Getty Images

Pulse Picks

Don Waddell leads the Blue Jackets through the unimaginable Johnny Gaudreau Tragedy and, as Pierre LeBrun wrote so beautifully on Friday, an unfortunate echo of Waddell’s past. Take your time with it.

Have you seen MLB Helmets Will there be advertising this postseason? Tyler Kepner says it’s a tasteless rip-off.

We really don’t talk enough about the Royal incredible transformation this year. The restructuring took place more quickly than you think.

The guy who was left out of the media circus surrounding Tom Brady: Greg Olsennow Fox’s second-highest analyst, who told Richard Deitsch how he’s dealing with the demotion he cherished. Olsen is also a hit right now.

The Pac-12 is back in case you missed it. Chris Vannini has a plan for how the reborn conference can complete its impressive rebuild.

Most clicked in the newsletter Friday: Our story about Caitlin Clark’s comments about voting in the upcoming presidential election. Read it here.

Most read on the website yesterday: Dianna Russini’s weekly column “What I’m Hearing,” in which she reveals a detail from Deshaun Watson’s contract that could prove important.

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(Top photo: Scott Wachter / USA Today)