College FB Roundup; Ex-Stanfords Shine; Brady's Businesses

What a day of football!

Saturday demonstrated once again why we all love college football, with a number of incredible plays and fantastic finishes. 

Some of the highlights:

• No. 2 Indiana came from behind in the last 36 seconds to beat Penn State 27-24 on one of the best catches you'll ever see. Omar Cooper Jr. leaped high to pull down Fernando Mendoza's pass at the back of the end zone (above) and somehow managed to touch his toe in bounds. Not sure I've ever seen a greater catch.

• No. 6 Oregon proved it could play physical football in miserable conditions, beating Iowa in a driving rain on a last-second field goal, 18-16. The Ducks rushed for 261 yards against the Big Ten's No. 1 rushing defense and held the Hawkeyes to 101 yards on 43 carries.

• No. 9 Texas Tech proved it was for real, crushing previously unbeaten BYU 29-7.

  
  

• No. 3 Texas A&M proved it was for real, crushing No. 15 Missouri 38-17.

  
  

• Vanderbilt kept its playoff hopes alive by outlasting Auburn, 45-38, in overtime.

  
  

• Wisconsin entered Saturday's game against Washington with a 2-6 record, having scored seven points in its three previous games. But the Badgers ended their 10-game Big Ten losing streak with a 13-10 upset win over the No. 23 Huskies, despite passing for just 48 yards. Punter Sean West was the Badgers' leading passer, gaining 24 yards on a fake punt.

  
  

• UConn upset Duke 37-34, improving its record to 7-3. I mention this because few people have noticed what former UCLA coach Jim Mora has accomplished with the Huskies. They had won just four games in three seasons and gone 10-50 over five years when Mora took over in 2022.  He led them to a 9-4 record and a victory over North Carolina in last year's Fenway Bowl and will be bowl-bound again this season.

  
  

  We had Mora in our Foster Farms Bowl game in San Francisco in 2015 when he was at UCLA. During bowl week he and I had a few battles, along with some positive, emotional moments. 

  
  

  He's a crazy man, for sure, but an outstanding coach. Kind of reminiscent of Jim Harbaugh. All those teams looking for a head coach, including Stanford, should give him a look.

  
  

• Cal reversed its trend of losing close ones, upsetting No. 14 Louisville 29-26 in overtime. Freshman QB Jaron-Kaewe Sagopolutele hit Jacob De Jesus with a 3-yard TD pass to win it. Lousville had kicked a field goal to take the lead 26-23, but on fourth down, Cal coach Justin Wilcox opted to go for the win, Cal's first over a top 25 team after 14 straight losses The winning catch was a Cal record-tying 16th of the game for De Jesus, a 5-7 transfer from UNLV.

  
  

• Stanford found a way to lose to North Carolina, 20-15 after holding the Tar Heels to 47 yards in the first half and dominating much of the game.

  
  

  Elijah Brown took over as starting quarterback for Stanford and showed some flashes of excellent play, completing 27 of 39 for 284 yards and a touchdown. But he threw a costly interception and was sacked nine times. Many of the sacks weren't Brown's fault, as the offensive line was pummeled all day, but he frequently held the ball too long and was strip-sacked inside of his own 10 yard line, leading to a Tar Heel field goal.

  
  

  Coach Frank Reich made some puzzling calls, inserting seldom-used running back Champ Hampton to carry the ball on a crucial third and four. Hampton was stuffed for no gain. It was his only carry of the game.

  
  

  When the Cardinal, trailing 20-3, scored a TD to close it to 20-9, Reich inexplicably decided to go for two on the PAT and failed. He was forced to go for two again when Stanford closed to 20-15, failed again, leaving the Cardinal five points behind. If Reich had kicked two PATs, Stanford would've been down 20-17, and at the end of the game, would've only needed a field goal to tie when it got the ball back with a minute remaining.

  
  

Transfers Shine: Speaking of Stanford, a trio of former Cardinal players are starring for other schools. QB Ashton Daniels, who was paid over $! million to transfer to Auburn to back up another incoming player, Oklahoma transfer Jackson Arnold, is now starting for the Tigers. Yesterday against Vanderbilt, he was borderline amazing. Daniels completed 31 of 44 for 352 and 2 TDs, with no ints, and rushed for 89 yards and 2 more scores. Total offense of 441 yards and 4 TDs.

Edge rusher David Bailey, who reportedly was paid over $2M to transfer to Texas Tech, has been a big part of the Red Raiders 9-1 start this season and leads the nation with 11.5 sacks. In Saturday's game, Bailey was pressuring BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier (the third stellar Stanford transfer) all day. He may earn All-America honors this season and is reportedly viewed as a first round NFL draft pick.

Bachmeier, a true freshman whose BYU Cougars were undefeated prior to Saturday, had an off day for him against Texas Tech, completing 23 of 38 for 188, one TD and one INT and only rushed for 12 yards. But like Stanford's Brown, he was running for his life much of the day.

Mills Leads Comeback: Another ex-Stanford player, quarterback Davis Mills, had a sensational game yesterday for the Houston Texans in their 36-29 win over Jacksonville.

With the Jaguars leading 29-10, Mills led the Texans to 20 straight fourth-quarter points, scoring the go-ahead touchdown himself on a 14-yard scramble with 31 seconds left. For the game, Mills completed 27 of 45 passes for 292 yards and 2 TDs, along with his game-winning score on the ground.

Davis played only 14 games in three years during his injury-plagued Stanford career, but showed enough promise for the Texans to draft him in the third round of the 2021 draft. He started most of '21 and '22 but has primarily served as a backup to CJ Stroud the last few years.

What's going on with Tom Brady? Getting paid $375 million over 10 years to be a mediocre announcer isn't enough for Brady, who always seems to be investing in or promoting new companies and sports ventures.

We've written previously about the conflicts of interest stemming from his minority ownership of the Las Vegas Raiders. Fox Sports would have us believe that Brady could be objective in broadcasting a Raiders' game. And the NFL would have us believe that Brady doesn't share with the Raiders any information gained about their opponents while preparing for broadcasts. 

But Brady has been very busy elsewhere.

Consider some of his recent endeavors (as summarized by Awful Announcing):

• Cloned his dog

• Fronted a Saudi Arabian flag football tournament.  

• Bought an EPL soccer club and made a documentary about it.

• Bought an NFT (nom-fungible token) from the Bored Ape Yacht Club and lost a bundle.

• Started his own NFT platform, Autograph, that sells NFTs featuring celebrities.

• Agreed to be roasted on a Netflix special. 

• Bought a stake in a cricket club and a Major League Pickleball team.

• Became a "strategic advisor" for Delta Airlines.

• Co-founded an entertainment and marketing studio. 

• Merged his nutrition and apparel brands with training company Nobull.

• Invested in Catena Labs, a crypto-adjacent startup.

• Founded an electric boat racing team. 

  
  

Sounds like the boy has too much time and money on his hands.

Truth Social: President Trump surprised us during his interview on yesterday's Commanders-Lions game broadcast when he admitted he hadn't scored a touchdown as a high school tight end at the NY Military Academy.

"At least you realize I never tell a lie," he joked.

There's a first time for everything, I guess.