Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
No Notre Dame players on this list.
We are heading into the end of November. What does this mean as far as college basketball? Not much because no conference games have been played yet, so we only are left to imagine how well the current statistical leaders will play against that competition. Until then, here are those leaders as we get close to December:
Wisconsin officially announces future game vs. Pittsburgh in Ireland
Wisconsin football officially announced a future game in Dublin, Ireland earlier today. That will be a contest against Pittsburgh in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic to open the 2027 season.
So Badgers fans who’ve seen Nebraska vs Northwestern in Ireland in recent years and longed to make the trip, the date is now officially on the books.
In a way, it will be the Paul Chryst Cup. Chryst was the head coach at Pittsburgh for three seasons before coming back to Wisconsin and beginning his successful tenure. Chryst is now an offensive analyst at Texas after being fired at Wisconsin last season, so who knows where he’ll be in 2027. But he remains the only big connection between these two programs.
We’re headed to 𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃 in 2027 for the Aer Lingus College Football Classic vs. Pitt ☘️🇮🇪
🔗 | https://t.co/VMB8hWhLMj pic.twitter.com/o7t1ZeeRZi
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) November 21, 2023
Wisconsin’s 2027 schedule will include this game against Pittsburgh, plus home conference game against Iowa, Nebraska, Northwestern, Penn State and UCLA, and road games against Michigan State, Illinois, Minnesota and USC.
One Notre Dame player leads two categories.
We continue to see more of who will make the ACC special this season. Even if these particular players aren’t all at the top of the statistical leaderboards at the end of the season, they still will be worth watching throughout the season. Here’s who’s most worth watching in the conference leading into Thanksgiving week:
No Notre Dame players this week.
We continue to see more of who will make the ACC special this season. Even if these particular players aren’t all at the top of the statistical leaderboards at the end of the season, they still will be worth watching throughout the season. Here’s who’s most worth watching in the conference leading into Thanksgiving week:
Blatantly obvious targeting hits like this need to be condemned.
Targeting has been a key point of contention in college football because of what is perceived to be inconsistency in calling it. It’s almost as if there’s a grey area of nuance sometimes. There is nothing inconsistent or grey about what Boston College’s Khari Johnson did on Thursday night against Pittsburgh.
As Pittsburgh’s Malcolm Epps leaped for a jump ball downfield, Johnson launched himself with a shoulder straight up into the air. Even if his intent was purely to make a play on the ball, there was undoubtedly a better approach to doing so, rather than exploding with a shoulder right into Epps’ helmet. Fortunately, Epps was OK, while Johnson was rightfully ejected for the unnecessary violence. There’s no place in the game for it.
Even watching it on replay for the 17th time, I still can’t believe Johnson made this decision and play. It is legitimately THAT bad.
We might be seeing this hit from Khari Johnson's years to come, defining textbook targeting. pic.twitter.com/OayFb83ZWl
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) November 17, 2023
These are the kinds of sequences college football is trying to eliminate when it institutes targeting. A defensive back like Johnson should be able to do their job without aimlessly launching themselves into the air without any care or hesitation. In this instance, we didn’t see that kind of thought process.
Arkansas welcomes Pittsburgh, Notre Dame and Memphis to Razorback Field for the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend.
Arkansas will not rematch Ohio State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament after all.
The winner of the Notre Dame-Memphis match, which will also take place on Arkansas’ pitch, will face the Pittsburgh-Arkansas winner in the round of 16 on Sunday at 6 p.m.
Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+.
Arkansas is still likely going to be without All-American Anna Podojil, who didn’t play against Grambling this past Friday and her status remains uncertain.
Freshman forward Bella Field stepped up when called upon against Grambling, tallying a hat trick.
The Razorbacks are 10-0 in NCAA Tournament matches at Razorback Field, and have won 32 matches in a row on their home confines.
A couple of Irish names are on here.
College basketball season is back, and fans couldn’t be more excited. What that initially means is high statistics across the board. Even if you know these numbers won’t hold up, they still are thrilling to look at. Here are the players who posses those numbers:
Quite a few names lead in free throws.
College basketball season is back, and fans couldn’t be more excited. What that initially means is high statistics across the board. Even if you know these numbers won’t hold up, they still are thrilling to look at. Here are the players who posses those numbers:
What do you think happens?
What once was seen as a game with College Football Playoff implications has been relegated to an early kickoff time. For some, that means lessened interest in Notre Dame visiting Clemson. But the fact that the Irish mostly have had the upper hand on the Tigers over the past few years still makes this matchup intriguing. They really can assert their dominance in the series with a win here.
Let’s see if any experts out there think the Irish’s recent success against the Tigers will continue:
Big loss for the Irish.
Notre Dame will be without its top receiver for the rest of the season. [autotag]Marcus Freeman[/autotag] confirmed Monday that tight end [autotag]Mitchell Evans[/autotag] tore his ACL in Saturday’s win over Pittsburgh.
Evans, who was in his junior season, currently is the Irish’s top receiver with 422 yards on 29 receptions. He is averaging 14.6 yards a receptions and has scored one touchdown, which came in the loss to Louisville.
This obviously is a tough blow to an Irish offense that has been starting to find its groove again after going through a tough stretch. [autotag]Gerad Parker[/autotag] now will have to dig further into the depth chart.
[autotag]Holden Staes[/autotag] has scored the second-most touchdowns for the Irish this season at four, but this also will open up more opportunities from [autotag]Eli Raridon[/autotag] and [autotag]Cooper Flanagan[/autotag]. Still, they probably wish it was happening under better circumstances.
Hopefully, we’ll see Evans in an Irish uniform again before too long. Until then, here’s to a speedy recovery.
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