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Good morning! Take a knee. You’ve earned it. 

Silly Saturday: Creative Canes manufacture a loss

The No. 17 Miami Hurricanes were leading three-loss Georgia Tech, controlling the ball with 33 seconds to go. The Yellow Jackets had no timeouts left, which meant the Canes could’ve kneeled and clinched the victory. The fact that we’re talking about this indicates they didn’t.

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Confusing the entire stadium, Miami ran the ball up the middle and — yep — fumbled. Strange choice, immediately punished.

While attempting to run out the clock, No. 17 Miami fumbled, then gave up a 44-yard TD to Georgia Tech as time expired.

Miami could have taken a knee on 3rd and 4th down.

Instead, the Yellowjackets upset the Hurricanes 23-20.

🎥 @Nate_Tice pic.twitter.com/ecHkNuexY6

— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) October 8, 2023

But all wasn’t yet lost. Simply prevent the Jackets, who’d thrown for 75 yards all day to that point, from … okay, you guessed it. In the final half-minute, Miami gave up 76 passing yards, capped by this easy-button 44-yarder. 23-20, Tech.

As called by @AndyDemetra on Georgia Tech radio (fixed): pic.twitter.com/ow2nBvv6LV

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) October 8, 2023

Thanks to one of the least probable collapses imaginable, the U’s comeback season detoured into comic-relief territory. Miami should be 5-0 this morning. They aren’t. Asked about the sequence, Canes coach Mario Cristobal said, “We should’ve taken a knee.” Tend to agree!

(It gets even worse: In 2018, Cristobal’s Oregon Ducks lost to Stanford in very similar fashion, fumbling instead of kneeling away as much of the clock as possible.)

Elsewhere:

NFL Watch Guide: Get a coffee, football’s on

The best thing about international games is a literal full Sunday of football. The slate plus some notes here:

9:30 a.m. ET

Bills (3-1) “at” Jaguars (2-2): The morning begins across the pond in London for these two. I’m not used to the London game being this important. The Bills are steamrolling everyone while the Jaguars have been competent but inconsistent. I hope the English see some tailgating tables smashed. TV: NFL Network

1 p.m. ET
Texans (2-2) at Falcons (2-2): Both of these teams are unexpectedly 2-2, and maybe the best story in the league right now — outside of a certain celebrity couple — is the dizzying ascent of Houston’s C.J. Stroud, who isn’t just playing like a good rookie, but a top-10 overall quarterback. He gets to play against Bijan Robinson, everyone’s favorite rookie. Click. TV: FOX

4:25 p.m. ET

Jets (1-3) at Broncos (1-3): Well at least we still have some simmering tension between current Denver head coach Sean Payton and former Denver head coach Nathaniel Hackett — now the Jets offensive coordinator — who traded some harsh barbs before the season. But nothing else is as we expected here. Instead of Aaron Rodgers facing a resurgent Broncos team, we have two teams fighting for their lives five weeks in. Still fun. TV: CBS

8:20 p.m. ET

Cowboys (3-1) at 49ers (4-0): We are going to have some capital-T Takes after this one. Prepare yourselves for a week of Cowboy fraud allegations or Dallas Super Bowl guarantees. We know the Niners by now — Dallas is a different story, especially after a confusing last two weeks. TV: NBC

News to Know

MLB Division Series Day
We had four MLB playoff games yesterday to kick off the divisional round, with three providing surprising results. First up, the Rangers pulled ahead of the Orioles, and didn’t blow a late lead. Surprising! The Phillies shut out the Braves in Atlanta, a stunning result. Clayton Kershaw’s nightmare performance has the Dodgers in a hole against the Diamondbacks. Yordan Alvarez carried Houston past Minnesota, in one bit of Day 1 chalk. The A.L. teams play again today.

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All series sit at 1-0. More on these games below.

Messi returns
Stay for the puns, we said. Yes, Lionel Messi was back last night, but it wasn’t enough for Miami, who was eliminated from MLS playoff contention as the club dropped a 1-0 final to FC Cincinnati.

Fitzgerald sues
Former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald has filed a lawsuit against his longtime employer and alma mater, asking for a staggering $130 million in damages after his firing in July. That’s more than twice the amount left on his contract. Catch up on the full drama here.

More news

Insider Info: James Harden and the Sixers’ awkward peace

It’s not often you can call your boss a liar, extremely publicly, and still show up to work without reprisal. And yet that’s what James Harden is doing, for now. It’s sorta Seinfeld meets NBA.

Harden is the last NBA offseason drama left, and he sits at a distinct precipice … a 34-year-old superstar approaching the end of his prime, trying to force his way out of his third straight NBA stop.

Sam Amick, who spent time at Sixers camp last week and has done indispensable reporting on Harden since, joined us for a Sunday Pulse conversation about the whole brouhaha:

You were around this team for a few days last week. How would you describe the atmosphere once Harden showed up?

Sam: In a word: Relieved. This standoff has been so contentious, and so personal, that Sixers executives, coaches and players had no idea what to expect from James. So to see him show up, to take part in practices (albeit in a limited capacity) and to generally be in good spirits was a welcome surprise. I was told he was engaged with the coaching staff, asking questions about specific plays and acting as if he had plans of actually competing with this crew now led by first-year Sixers coach Nick Nurse. His stance remains unchanged, and it’s clear that he’s keeping his distance from Morey in a very deliberate kind of way, but James is choosing — for now — to play along while the Sixers try to get closer to a trade with the Clippers.

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What is the perception of Harden in league circles right now?

Sam: It’s not great. There’s just no way around that. When you push your way out of three organizations in less than four years, and do it in the kind of way that dominates the headlines like this every time, your reputation is going to take a major hit. So while he showed last season that he’s still an elite player, the baggage, so to speak, has been stacked up so high that his market around the league isn’t remotely reflective of the state of his game. The tough part for Harden is that you can unpack the details of each of his departures on the micro level and find very legitimate reasons for him wanting to be relocated (the Rockets were falling apart; the Nets were derailed by Kyrie Irving’s choice not to get the vaccine, etc.). But any way you analyze it, the macro is a bad look.

How many games do you think Harden plays for the Sixers this year? 

Sam: It’s impossible to answer that without tapping the phone of Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank, who is in the process of trying to secure enough draft capital to satisfy Morey’s demands. While Shams and I reported this week about Harden’s hopefulness that they were getting closer to a deal, there is serious skepticism on the Sixers side that the Clippers will be able to meet their negotiating mark anytime soon. If this drags out, the focus then turns to the question of whether he’ll play (along) or let his dissatisfaction be known (again) by picking some other path.

The season starts in two weeks. If Harden remains in Philadelphia, this team has a legit shot to challenge Milwaukee and Boston for Eastern Conference supremacy. But that feels impossible at this point. For now.

Pulse Picks

Jayson Stark has all the Weird & Wild of Day 1 of this playoff round. Just for starters, that Atlanta team got shut out zero times all year and just took a bagel at home. Wacky.

You do not want to set your fantasy lineup until you read the 13 nuggets you need to know this Sunday morning. Hurry! Got any Patrick Mahomes trade offers? It happens.

Christian Pulisic at AC Milan is turning into something of a love affair. The American international just keeps scoring big goals.

So, how about those Sooners? Chris Vannini writes that Oklahoma is officially back, with last year’s Red River meltdown officially in the rearview.

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I love it when a killer projection model faces off with the writers. (See what we did there?) In this case, we have Dom Luszczyszyn’s NHL projections for the 2023-24 season cranked up. Good read.

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(Photo: Lauren Sopourn/Getty Images)

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