Arch Manning has wheels! Plus, your NFL Sunday watch guide + Taylor Swift explainer

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CFB Saturday: Manning shines, and Noles crater

The most eye-catching moment from yesterday in college football: After Heisman-contending Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers left the blowout against UTSA with an oblique injury, backup Arch Manning accounted for five touchdowns, including this 67-yard run that demonstrated wheels far superior to those of his famous uncles:

We’ll wait to learn more about Ewers’ status. Almost a month until Texas’ next big game, the one against rival Oklahoma.

For now, let’s talk about Florida State. Since 1977, Bobby Bowden’s second season in Tallahassee, the Noles have started only two seasons 0-3.

Coaching both of those seasons? Mike Norvell, now including 2024. After losing 20-12 at home yesterday to Memphis, FSU is just the second preseason top-10 team since the 1980s to lose its first three games.

Insult to injury: Memphis was the team Norvell left for Florida State, and now the 3-0 Tigers are favored for a 12-team playoff autobid.

  • How’d this happen? Last year, FSU went 13-1, powered by nine transfers who then got drafted. The portal giveth! But “there simply hasn’t been enough development of the players Norvell has recruited from the high school ranks,” explained Manny Navarro yesterday.
  • How bad will this get? It’s easy to imagine FSU’s November game against Florida (1-2 after yesterday’s miserable loss to Texas A&M) lacking any bowl-season stakes whatsoever.

Elsewhere in CFB:

  • Last night, No. 1 Georgia got its biggest regular-season scare in over a year, escaping Kentucky 13-12. The Dawgs are off next week, then visiting No. 4 Alabama.
  • Big winners: No. 14 Kansas State rocked No. 20 Arizona, No. 6 Missouri outlasted No. 24 Boston College, Bama righted the ship at Wisconsin, No. 16 LSU won a wacky one at South Carolina and No. 18 Notre Dame took out feelings on Purdue.
  • Rivalry weekend isn’t until Thanksgiving, but we got a taste yesterday. Washington State got some realignment revenge on Washington, but Oregon State got nothing of the sort against No. 9 Oregon. Meanwhile, Pitt came back to beat West Virginia, and Deion Sanders University notched a normal football victory over Colorado State.
  • Yesterday’s throwback headline: “Whooping cough outbreak forces Portland State to cancel game vs. South Dakota.” 

For much more, be sure Until Saturday will hit your inbox shortly.

NFL Watch Guide: Find a couch, buddy

Time to feed more football data into our brains and figure out who’s better than whom. Our slate today (all times ET):

1 p.m.
Buccaneers at Lions — We have a few matchups like this today, where one team (Tampa Bay) looked like a bona fide contender in Week 1, but we just aren’t sure yet. Detroit earns contender status for now after last season’s playoff run … which included a playoff win over the Bucs at home. TV: FOX

4:25 p.m.
Bengals at Chiefs — Everyone’s worried about Cincinnati and no one is worried about Kansas City. These two entered the season as probable AFC playoff opponents. I’m watching Cincy closely here. Is the September crisis here again? TV: CBS

8:20 p.m.
Bears at Texans — This is a full-fledged Statement Game, as C.J. Stroud and the Texans can announce themselves as real Super Bowl hopefuls with an easy win here. Meanwhile, Caleb Williams did not look great last week, and the Texans’ defense is better than Tennessee’s. The QB matchup is worth the watch alone. TV: NBC

News to Know

McCaffrey to miss extended time
Christian McCaffrey is headed to IR with calf tightness and Achilles tendinitis, meaning he’ll miss at least the next four games. After already missing Week 1, the soonest the two-time All-Pro can return is Oct. 10 against the Seattle Seahawks.

We pinged fantasy ace Jake Ciely to ask how panicked fantasy owners should be, on a scale of 1-10. Here’s what he said: “This is at least an 8. First, McCaffrey is no guarantee to be 100 percent when he returns. Second, the 49ers have a Week 9 bye, which means they might be overly cautious and hold out CMC until Week 10. Add those two together, and you might not get 100 percent CMC until Week 11 … or worse.” Oof.

Another record for Clark
If it feels like we’ve written something about a new Caitlin Clark feat every weekend recently, well, we probably have. The star rookie added to her tally of records again on Friday, logging the most assists in a single season (she already had the rookie record and record for most in a single game). Ben Pickman has Clark’s full list of accolades here.

More news

  • The man accused of killing Blue Jackets star Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew, in a drunken driving crash will remain in jail while the case plays out in court, a judge ruled.
  • Tiger Woods underwent surgery for nerve impingement in his lower back, his sixth back surgery and first since 2021.
  • Dodgers manager Dave Roberts indicated there is a “slim” — but non-zero — chance Shohei Ohtani could pitch in the postseason.
  • Lionel Messi scored twice for Inter Miami against the Philadelphia Union last night in his return to MLS action, a 3-1 win.

Explainers: Why Taylor Swift is on your timeline again

Hello again to Hannah Vanbiber! Take it away:

Everyone was mad about Taylor Swift last week. To quote Swift herself: We need to calm down.

So, what’s going on? She’s been busy! A recap:

  • Her NFL season 2 premiere drew loads of attention. She attended the NFL season opener to support her boyfriend, Travis Kelce — this irked some people, predictably. It was a Chiefs–Ravens game that drew a record 28.9 million viewers, and what felt like 100 million more weighing in online about it.
  • The hug heard ‘round the world. The discourse around Swift lurched into the political sphere, first when Donald Trump shared a fake AI-generated Swift endorsement, then when Brittany Mahomes liked, then unliked, a Trump post and doubled down about it.Swift then attended the U.S. Open final with Kelce, as well as Patrick and Brittany Mahomes. Taylor and Brittany hugged, sending the internet into a tailspin, reading perhaps too deeply into it, as the internet does.
  • The endorsement. Two days later, after the presidential debate, Swift posted a Harris-Walz endorsement. The post drove over 400,000 visits to a linked voter registration website in 24 hours.It has over 10 million likes on Instagram, one by WNBA star Caitlin Clark.
  • Winning. Swift was back in the news the next day at the VMAs, winning the most awards of the night and thanking Kelce for his support. Setting records and reminding us about her fun football boyfriend!

Takeaways: 

  1. Swift is more famous and popular than ever (among men, too!). Her impact, which even Roger Goodell called the “Taylor Swift effect,” is undeniable, and has been amplified in her relationship with Kelce.
  2. It might be time to touch grass, as the kids say! Could it be that we’re projecting our cultural anxieties and desires onto Swift — and that it’s more about us than her? I’m heading outside right now.

Watch and Listen

📺 MLB: Dodgers at Braves
7:10 p.m. ET on ESPN
Yes, there are playoff implications, but I’m here to see if Shohei Ohtani breaks the 50-50 mark. It’s wild to think he’s doing all this in his first year with the Dodgers.

📺 WNBA: Sun at Aces
6 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network
These teams have three games left in the season that could impact playoff seeding. I just want to see how each team is playing heading into the postseason, anyway.


Kirk Irwin / Getty Images

Pulse Picks

Don Waddell is leading the Blue Jackets through the unimaginable Johnny Gaudreau tragedy and, as Pierre LeBrun beautifully wrote Friday, it’s an unfortunate echo from Waddell’s past. Make time for this.

Did you see MLB helmets will be getting ads this postseason? Tyler Kepner says it’s a tasteless cash grab.

We really don’t talk enough about the Royals’ incredible transformation this year. The reshuffle was more last-minute than you think.

The guy left out in the Tom Brady media circus: Greg Olsen, now Fox’s No. 2 analyst, who opened up to Richard Deitsch about how he’s handling the demotion he knew was coming. Olsen is killing it right now, too.

The Pac-12 is back, in case you missed it. Chris Vannini has a roadmap of how the reborn conference can finish off its impressive rebuild.

Most-clicked in the newsletter Friday: Our story on Caitlin Clark’s comments about voting in the upcoming presidential election. Read it here.

Most-read on the website yesterday: Dianna Russini’s weekly “What I’m Hearing” column, where she shares a detail from Deshaun Watson’s contract that could prove important.

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(Top photo: Scott Wachter / USA Today)





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About The Author

Avatar of Miranda Washington
Miranda Washington is the newest member of our news writing team, and she's already making waves. In addition to being a writer, Miranda also has a passion for photography and art. She loves to travel and experience new places, both near and far, whether through her camera lens or in person.

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