[ad_1]
This is the digital version of The Pulse. If you want it earlier, start every morning with The Pulse delivered to your inbox. Sign up here.
Good morning! The poll results are in.
While You Were Sleeping: College hoops titans fall
A day after college football bid us adieu, men’s college basketball did its best to snatch the spotlight. Quickly:
- Unranked Nebraska trounced No. 1 Purdue, 88-72, giving equal 3-2 conference records to the two programs of wildly differing pedigrees. Fred Hoiberg has a rare 13-3 team in Lincoln, and Nebraska has its first win over a top-ranked team since 1982. We even got a court-storming.
- No. 2 Houston, the country’s last unbeaten, fell to unranked Iowa State in a close game. The Cyclones won 57-53 despite shooting just 3-of-15 from 3-point range. Impressive.
The college hoops season has been fun, and we still have almost two months until tourney time. The women’s side has been wild, too. Also, speaking of titans falling:
NFL Coaching Carousel: An unexpected firing
Mike Vrabel is out in Tennessee after six seasons, which sent a minor shockwave throughout the league despite two straight disappointing seasons for the Titans. A few layers here:
- Based on pure results, it’s an understandable move. Vrabel went 41-24 in his first four seasons, earned the No. 1 seed in the AFC in 2021 (which won him Coach of the Year honors) and made the AFC championship game in 2019. Since, he’s 13-21. The team looked lifeless for much of this season.
- There’s more to this, though, as Joe Rexrode smartly wrote today. Just two months ago, when the team was 3-7, Titans leadership wanted to keep Vrabel. Then the Titans finished 3-4, including an impressive win over the 9-8 Jaguars on Sunday. And now things are bad?
- The roster gave Vrabel little help. The front office went through its own upheaval in the last two years, which allowed talent to stagnate. He wasn’t perfect, but he wasn’t set up for the most success, either.
Vrabel will receive immediate interest for head coaching jobs elsewhere. Before yesterday’s news, our Randy Mueller even suggested the Patriots should try to trade for Vrabel, an eight-year New England linebacker. Now they could hire him without a trade.
Dianna Russini and Robert Mays had a great discussion on the Black Monday fallout here.
And we’re still waiting on Bill Belichick’s resolution in New England, by the way. Keep the coaching carousel live blog handy.
Two Stats: All hail the Tush Push
A little fun brain melt for your Wednesday:
- In a special edition of Weird and Wild today, Jayson Stark — gasp — wrote about some absurd football facts with Jake Ciely. The full file is worth a read, but this one knocked me for a loop: This season will be just the third time in the last 50 years that both the Browns and Lions are in the playoffs — and the two franchises have never won a playoff game in the same season. They’ve been in the NFL together for 74 seasons.
- Jacob Robinson has a handy breakdown of the NFL’s statistical leaders this year, with a fun aside: Raheem Mostert led the NFL in rushing touchdowns (fantasy owners know), but tying for second place with 15 apiece are quarterbacks Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts. Tush push, baby.
News to Know
Rodgers continues the schtick
Aaron Rodgers refused to apologize yesterday for insinuating last week on “The Pat McAfee Show” that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel was connected to the Jeffrey Epstein case. Instead, Rodgers said he never accused Kimmel of pedophilia at all, despite this direct quote from the original interview: “There’s a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel, that are really hoping (the Epstein list) doesn’t come out.” No matter how you feel about Rodgers, it’s hard to believe he’s paid to do this on ESPN airwaves.
Franco could be barred
Rays star Wander Franco may not be allowed into the United States while he faces charges of sexual abuse of a minor in the Dominican Republic, according to two immigration attorneys. Moreover, it would likely take a “full exoneration” for Franco to gain reentry into the U.S. It’s possible he’s done playing baseball here. Yesterday, Ken Rosenthal wrote a quality explainer of the entire situation.
Cubs closing in on pitcher
Japanese hurler Shota Imanaga is a physical away from being a Chicago Cub, sources confirmed to The Athletic, though no formal agreement is in place just yet. Imanaga, 30, was one of the best pitchers in Nippon Professional Baseball over the last eight years, but had his free agency overshadowed by Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Still, Imanaga ranked 12th on our MLB free agent Big Board.
More news
Feedback Loop: The Saints are bad, I guess
Your reaction in yesterday’s poll was overwhelming: Pulse readers think the Saints were out of line for Sunday’s scandalous late score. Two thoughts on the matter:
- In the most literal sense, I agree with this. Whether the Saints were scoring or not, their formation should’ve made clear their intent. That matter is settled.
- I do think the reaction to this should spark another conversation: Why do Saints players seem so disconnected from head coach Dennis Allen? After the game, Allen disavowed the play, but Jameis Winston’s audible received near-unanimous support from the locker room. And Allen is apparently getting another year as head coach. Hm.
Full disclosure: I live in New Orleans and have the painful pleasure of rooting for the Saints each Sunday. The reaction from fans here aligns with the players. The Saints-Falcons rivalry is intense. Fans like to see the other team humiliated. Just ask former Atlanta lineman Osi Umenyiora, who ended up defending the Saints’ move.
As always, thank you for voting. And maybe keep an eye on Allen’s job status next season.
Watch This Game
NHL: Golden Knights at Avalanche
10 p.m. ET on TNT
The defending champs are on a 3-7 skid, while Colorado is 7-2-1 in its last 10 and Nathan McKinnon has assumed frontrunner status for the Hart Trophy.
NBA: Nuggets at Jazz
10 p.m. ET on ESPN
After a horrid start to the season, Utah is thriving, 8-2 in its last 10 games, and defending champ Denver is still elite. This should be fun. Games like this could help determine Utah’s strategy at the trade deadline, too.
Pulse Picks
Blingy? Binky? Football pacifiers? You may have noticed NFL players expressing themselves via mouthguard, a topic which sparks a shocking fervor throughout the league. It’s also a big business. Don’t miss this story today.
Nick Baumgardner has a new NFL mock draft out today, with the Bears pulling off another big trade for the No. 1 overall pick. More on this tomorrow.
We have plenty more from Michigan’s big night Monday. Max Olson has some great perspective on how Jim Harbaugh’s way ultimately worked — by proving there’s more than one path to the top of college football.
What’s the next move for Harbaugh, anyway? Austin Meek looks back at Harbaugh’s Michigan tenure until now and focuses on what could lie ahead, even if the coach doesn’t want to engage on it yet.
From the other side, I thought Chris Vannini’s story on Michael Penix Jr. was great. The title game was one of the Washington QB’s worst nights, but he went out on his own terms anyway.
Rachel Balkovec made history as the first woman to manage in MLB-affiliated baseball. Now, she has a bigger job: leading the Marlins’ player development department.
The Super Bowl is less than a month away, which means the halftime show also looms. Jason Jones takes a stab at Usher’s possible setlist and what hijinks we can expect.
Sign up for our other newsletters:
The Bounce 🏀 | The Windup ⚾ | Full Time ⚽ | Prime Tire 🏁 | Until Saturday 🏈
(Photo: Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)
[ad_2]
Source link
