🏈 Chargers Make History vs. Broncos, the CFB Playoff Preview and More!

Happy Friday, Blitzers!

Today we embark on the first ever weekend of the 12-team CFB Playoff. We finally get to see who truly is the best of the best in college football (sorry Ole Miss, Alabama, Miami fans). Sit back, relax, and enjoy the spectacle. Oh yeah, we have high impact NFL games to talk about as well! Christmas may not be until Wednesday, but I feel a whole lot of holiday cheer right now.

WTF Stat: LeBron James passes another major milestone:

🏈  The Chargers outscored the Broncos 21-6 in the 2nd half and picked up a crucial victory over their division rival. Not to mention the bit of history they made! Cameron Dicker the Kicker buried a 57-yard free kick field goal at the halftime buzzer. It was the first free kick field goal since 1976. There’s some abstract rule where if a player calls for a fair catch, the team can opt for an untimed free kick. Jim Harbaugh does his homework folks!

• Chargers Takeaways: LA was looking like a team running out of gas after a heartbreaking loss to KC and a blowout loss to Tampa. This win should put the wind back in their sails as they make the final push to the playoffs. It’s pretty impressive what the Chargers have been able to accomplish in year 1 of the Harbaugh regime. They lost their three best skill players, been dealing with injuries all season, and still find themselves at 9-6 with the Patriots and Raiders left on the schedule.

• Broncos Takeaways: Speaking of exceeding expectations, the Broncos are playing with house money. No one expected them to be 9-6 at this junction. Having said that, they let this one get away from them in the 2nd half. And while they are 9-6…they only have one win against a team with a current winning record (Bucs). Unlike the Chargers, Denver has to beat the Bengals and Chiefs in the final two weeks to lock up a playoff spot.

🏈 Kansas City QB Patrick Mahomes was cleared to play in Saturday’s game against the Texans. Mahomes left last week’s game with an ankle injury.

• 🔥Take: Not shocking, the Chiefs desperately need to lock up the first round bye and they still have some work to do in that regard. Instead of giving Patty the week off and starting Wentz, it looks like Andy Reid will roll the dice and put his franchise QB in harms way against Houston.

🏈 The Saints are having another nightmare season and the hits just keep on coming. RB Alvin Kamara will likely miss the remainder of the regular season with a groin injury.

College Football Playoff Opening Round

Friday

#10 Indiana (11-2) at #7 Notre Dame (11-1) - Fri. 8:00 PM (ABC/ESPN)

What’s At Stake: I mean, it’s only appropriate that the first 12-team CFB Playoff game takes place at one of the cathedrals of college football, right? South Bend, Indiana. Touchdown Jesus! And it’s a battle between two teams from the same state. We love some intrigue! Once we get over the pageantry of the pregame, the actual game will be played. Indiana shocked everyone throughout the season as they proceeded to steamroll over nearly everyone they played. Notre Dame stumbled mightily, losing to Northern Illinois at home early in the season, but haven’t missed a beat since. What’s most interesting about both of these teams…they haven’t really played let alone beat anyone that good. IU got stomped by Ohio State in its only appearance against a highly ranked opponent. ND had a cupcake schedule. The Irish use a stingy defense to put its offense into advantageous positions. The Hoosiers are extremely disciplined and Kurtis Rourke takes care of the football. Hoosiers get it done.

The Pick: Hoosiers +7

Other Bowl Games:

Ohio vs. Jacksonville State - 12:00 PM (ESPN)

Tulane vs. Florida - 3:30 (ESPN)

Saturday

#11 SMU (11-2) at #6 Penn State (11-2) - Sat. 12:00 PM (TNT)

What’s At Stake: This may not be the best game of the day, but it is the most interesting to me. There has been a lot trash talk surrounding the ACC (looks in mirror), but SMU has an opportunity to prove that they are indeed for real. On the flip side, James Franklin’s job may be on the line in this game, the dude cannot win a big game. PSU is 5-12 in the last five years against the Top 25. Add in the fact that I think Drew Allar is one of the most overrated players in the country and we get another upset…or at least a closer game than anticipated.

The Pick: SMU +8.5

#12 Clemson (10-3) at #5 Texas (11-2) - Sat. 4:00 PM (TNT)

What’s At Stake: If you don’t like looking at the color orange, avert thy eyes! Here we have another “prove it” game for the ACC. Clemson won a thriller over SMU to sneak into the playoff and get greeted by Texas, which, looking at the weather for some of these northern games…they should be grateful for. Add to that the fact that the Longhorns may be paper tigers after losing both games to the only top 15 team they played and there may be another upset brewing. Oh wait, silly me, Clemson played two SEC teams and lost to both. They’ll lose again.

The Pick: Longhorns -12

#9 Tennessee (10-2) at #8 Ohio State (10-2) - Sat. 8:00 PM (ABC/ESPN)

What’s At Stake: Ohio State has had almost a month to stew over losing at home to rival Michigan costing them a Big Ten title game berth. Now, some stews when you leave them turn into chef’s kiss masterpieces. Other stews burn and you throw them out. If the Buckeyes realize that they have the better team and play like it, they’ll win this game by 20. Tennessee is just not that good. No one talked about them not making the playoff, but they may be the biggest fraud of the 12. Outside of beating Alabama, they lost to Arkansas, should have lost to Florida at home, and they’re next best win is…Vanderbilt? Ohio State does have a nasty habit of getting in their own way, but Ryan Day will have the Buckeyes playing like their lives depend on it…his livelihood certainly does.

The Pick: Buckeyes -7.5

NFL Week 14 Preview

Houston (9-5) at Kansas City (13-1) - Sat. 1:00 PM (NBC)

The View: First of all, so dumb that the NFL is playing on Saturday with the first round of the CFB Playoffs on. So dumb. Anywhooser, here we have two teams who have already clinched division titles. Now it’s all about seeding. I saw a fun fact today, the Chiefs are one of four teams this season to not score 30 points. Isn’t that weird? 13-1, the best QB of the generation and for whatever reason, they have not scored over 30 points. I think that streak continues in this game, but they find a way to beat the Texans at home.

The Pick: Chiefs -3.5

Pittsburgh (10-4) at Baltimore (9-5) - Sat. 4:30 PM (FOX)

The View: So, so dumb. Let’s put a game with division championship implications right in the middle of Clemson vs. Texas. The first game between Baltimore and Pittsburgh was a classic AFC North defensive slobberknocker. It came down to the kickers, Chris Boswell went a perfect 6/6, the aging Justin Tucker missed two key FGs and cost the Ravens the game. The Steelers are running low on weapons and are really missing George Pickens. They couldn’t keep up with the Eagles last week and they won’t be able to this week in a Lamar revenge game.

The Pick: Ravens -6.5

Philadelphia (12-2) at Washington (9-5) - 4:25 PM (FOX)

The View: Huge game for both teams when it comes to the playoffs. The Eagles technically haven’t wrapped up the division yet, a win will clinch that. I really do like the Commanders story this year. How can you not root for Jayden Daniels? However, I think the season is starting to wear on the upstart Commanders. They’re still in a good spot to make the playoffs, but they’ll have to take care of that against Atlanta and Dallas. The Eagles are playing great football and after a down week against Pittsburgh, look for Saquon to feast.

The Pick: Eagles -3.5

Minnesota (12-2) at Seattle (8-6) - Sunday 4:05 PM (FOX)

The View: Seattle is in a dogfight in the NFC West and they need to keep pace with the surging Rams. Unfortunately, they are very banged up. Geno Smith hurt his knee last week, he’s expected to play, but how effective will he be? Star running back Ken Walker III has been nursing a calf injury and isn’t expected to play. Minnesota forces you to throw the ball with a great run defense and if Geno isn’t on his A-game, this game could get ugly.

The Pick: Vikings -3.5

San Francisco (6-8) at Miami (6-8) - Sunday 4:25 PM (CBS)

The View: Two teams, two disastrous seasons…so far. The Niners and Dolphins have avenues to make the playoffs. The Dolphins have a better avenue thanks to the middle of the AFC being low-key trash. San Francisco is down to their 4th string running back, I’m pretty sure Deebo has given up and other than beating the Bears (lol) they’ve looked hopeless. The Dolphins have four of six and I think they have more to play for…but then again…Tyreek is cryptically tweeting. Oh star wideouts and their passive aggressive social media personas.

The Pick: Dolphins -1

Full NFL Schedule click here

NBA Top Games

Thunder 105, Magic 99: SGA poured in 35 points and the Thunder hung on to beat the Magic improving to 21-5 on the season.

Bulls 117, Celtics 108: The Bulls got red hot in the 4th quarter outscoring Boston 35-22 to shock the C’s in the Garden.

Grizzlies 144, Warriors 93: Memphis made a franchise record 27 3-pointers and blew out the Warriors by 51, which is the largest margin of victory so far this season. Oh, and they did it with Ja Morant only scoring 9 points.

Knicks 133, Timberwolves 107: Karl-Anthony Towns woke up feeling dangerous in his former hometown going for 32 points and 20 rebounds.

See full NBA scoreboard NBA here and standings here.

NHL Top Games

Lightning 3, Blues 1: Andrei Vasilevskiy saved 31/32 shots propelling the Lightning to a 3-1 victory over St. Louis.

Blue Jackets 4, Devils 2: Columbus took care of New Jersey behind a great performance from goalie Elvis Merzlinkins (40 saves). Sean Monahan had a hand in three of the four goals (2 goals, 1 assist).

Oilers 3, Boston 2 (OT): Edmonton scored three unanswered goals after going down 2-0 including Mattias Ekholm’s OT winner.

See full scoreboard here and standings here.

On this day in 1940, baseball great Connie Mack purchased the Athletics for a whopping $42,000.

Yesterday’s Trivia Time Answer

Who is the fastest player to reach 10,000 yards receiving in he NFL?

B) Julio Jones - Jones achieved the feat in just 104 games beating Calvin Johnson’s record of 115.

Check back on Monday for today’s trivia answer and more info!