Interstate Battle Coming off an extremely successful road trip, the New York Rangers might not be so eager to return home given the fact they have to face the New York Islanders. The Rangers look to avoid their third straight loss to the Islanders this season when the teams meet Monday at Madison Square Garden.
Author: Anthony Rome
Trap Game in Buffalo? All this attention hasn’t been nearly enough to overwhelm the New England Patriots. The Patriots, the NFL’s final remaining unbeaten team and perhaps its biggest draw for positive as well as negative reasons, look to improve to 10-0 when they face the Buffalo Bills in a game moved to Sunday night’s prime-time TV slot.
Rams Back on Track? After a promising start, the San Francisco 49ers have plummeted to the second-worst record in the NFC. Only St. Louis has been worse, but even the Rams have shown signs of improvement lately. Coming off their first victory of the season, the Rams look to send the 49ers to their eighth straight defeat when the NFC West rivals meet in San Francisco on Sunday.
Shocker! First, Oklahoma lost its quarterback. The Sooners’ offense left with Sam Bradford and now their national title hopes are gone, too. Graham Harrell and Texas Tech knocked OU out of the national championship chase Saturday night with a 34-27 victory.
Smell The Roses Jim Tressel and Lloyd Carr tried their best to take themselves out of the story. In the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry, which has been as much about Woody and Bo as blocking and tackling, the coaches are always center stage. Tressel became the first Ohio State coach to beat Michigan six times in seven years, and the seventh-ranked Buckeyes’ 14-3 victory Saturday over their archrival gave them consecutive outright Big Ten titles for the first time in a half-century.
LA After Three Straight The Los Angeles Lakers proved Friday that they can win even when Kobe Bryant is having an off night. Bryant will try to bounce back and lead the Lakers to their first three-game winning streak of the season when they host the Chicago Bulls on Sunday.
Looking to Keep Building For a team that lost its first six games of the season, the Golden State Warriors have reason to be optimistic. They’ll have Stephen Jackson in the lineup for the first time on Sunday when they look to build on their first victory by visiting the Toronto Raptors in the opener of a five-game road trip.
Wrong Way Every team goes through slumps during an 82-game regular season. The Detroit Red Wings, though, have been immune to them more than most teams. The Red Wings hope to avoid losing four straight games in regulation for the first time in nearly nine years when they face the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday night at Nationwide Arena.
Injury Concerns For Titans As important as it may be for the Tennessee Titans to have a healthy backfield to support Vince Young, their biggest injury issue may be on the other side of the ball. Though having LenDale White and Chris Brown available to face one of the league’s worst run defenses could be key, the Titans getting Albert Haynesworth back on the field might be more critical for their matchup with the Denver Broncos on Monday night.
ACC on The Line Boston College has lost its national championship hopes, and now Clemson would relish spoiling its new rival’s shot at the ACC title. A trip to the conference championship game is at stake Saturday when the 18th-ranked Eagles visit Death Valley to face the No. 15 Tigers in a matchup of teams that have been going in opposite directions.