Alabama dropped to No. 9 in The Associated Press college football poll, snapping the Crimson Tide’s record streak of 68 appearances in the top five. The top four teams in the AP Top 25 presented by Regions Bank were unchanged, with LSU at No. 1, followed by Ohio State, Clemson and Georgia. The Buckeyes gained on LSU after their blowout victory at Michigan, receiving 19 first-place votes. The Tigers had 40, down 10 from last week. Clemson received three first-place votes.
Baseball is already struggling to attract new fans — especially younger ones. So, what brilliant idea have the powers-that-be come up with to expand the popularity of the national pastime? Contraction, of course.
The Battle Mountain High School basketball and wrestling teams get their season going this weekend in Hawthorne and Boise, Idaho, respectively. The Longhorn wrestling team will be in Idaho for their annual trip to the Bucks Bags Invitational. Battle Mountain will be at home on Tuesday, Dec. 10, for a dual. The Longhorns will travel to Lovelock for the Mustang Invitational on Saturday, Dec. 14.
Freshman quarterback Kenyon Oblad hooked up with freshman receiver Steve Jenkins for a 19-yard touchdown in overtime and UNLV slipped past instate rival Nevada 33-30 on Saturday in the Battle for the Fremont Cannon. UNLV (4-8, 2-6 Mountain West Conference) jumped out to a 17-0 lead by the end of the first quarter on Daniel Gutierrez's 40-yard field goal, Charles Williams' 80-yard TD run and Oblad's 32-yard scoring strike to Mekhi Stevenson.
If this edition of 49ers-Ravens — filled with elite players, fourth-down gutsiness and top-notch defense on a rainy afternoon — was indeed a Super Bowl preview, everyone’s in for a treat in February. What Baltimore’s 20-17 victory over visiting San Francisco on Sunday showed was that Lamar Jackson is as good as it gets. In addition to being a, if not the, leading MVP candidate, he’s as fun to watch as anyone in the sport. It also highlighted that teams can still thrive by running, that San Francisco is loaded with playmakers on both side of the ball and that watching John Harbaugh and Kyle Shanahan match wits makes for good theater. And then there’s this: These clubs are both good and evenly matched. It took Justin Tucker’s 49-yard field goal on the final play to determine the outcome.
After a historic weekend that saw top-ranked Oregon and No. 2 Baylor lose on the same day, there are a few teams contending for No. 1 in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll. There’s no question the Ducks and Lady Bears are both really good despite losing Saturday. Oregon was the preseason favorite to win the NCAA championship with most of its squad back from last season’s Final Four run. The hype surrounding the Ducks reached new levels after they stunned the U.S. national team in an exhibition game. They still are title contenders, but they showed some vulnerability this weekend.
First-year University of Nevada head men’s basketball coach Steve Alford has inked five high school seniors to play for the Wolf Pack in 2020-21. Alem Huseinovic, DeAndre Henry, Tre Coleman, Daniel Foster and Je’Lani Clark have signed National Letters of Intent to play at Nevada. “This class fills a lot of future needs for our program,” Alford said. “As we build our culture each of these young men are exactly what we look for; interested in their education, unselfish approach to winning and a commitment to be better daily.” The 6-3, 180-pound Clark is from Oakland, Calif. and attends Archbishop Riordan High School. As a junior he averaged 15.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.4 assists and two steals. From the field he shot 51 percent and 35 percent from behind the arc last season.
Naveah Serna and Zayne Hall competed at the Nevada State Swimming Short Course Championships in Henderson during the weekend of Nov. 7-9. In the 100-yard individual medley, Serna improved her time by 1.28 seconds to finish ninth in a time of 1 minute, 44.13 seconds. In the 25-yard freestyle, she improved her time by 1.51 seconds and placed sixth with a time of 16.95. There was only a difference of 1.75 seconds between first and sixth place.
Nevada football true freshman placekicker Brandon Talton has been named a semifinalist for the Lou Groza Award. Talton is one of 20 semifinalists for the award, which is presented annually to the nation’s top placekicker. The Vacaville, Calif. native has garnered many accolades throughout the season, including a spot on The Athletic and ESPN’s midseason All-America teams and three Mountain West Special Teams Player of the Week awards.
Coming off a big 42-6 win over rival Pershing County to secure a home playoff game, the Battle Mountain High School football team hit a minor road block in the regular-season finale at Incline on Friday night. The Highlanders scored the first 17 points of the night and held on for a 45-28 win to hand the Longhorns their second league loss of the season. Despite the win, Incline fell short of the playoffs, tying with White Pine for the final playoff berth. The Bobcats beat the Highlanders to earn the final playoff berth.
The Battle Mountain NNA swim team has been taking part in meets all year and will head to the Nevada State Short Course championships this week in Henderson. State qualifiers include Nevaeh Serna in nine events and Zayne Hall in eight. Hall aged up in October, which meant he competed in the 11-12-year-old division all year but had to swim times of a 13-year old to qualify for state and the hard work paid off for him.
A venue and time change did not bother the Battle Mountain High School volleyball team, as the Lady Longhorns celebrated senior day with a four-set victory at Battle Mountain Junior High School. The match was moved to the junior high, due to no heat at the high school. Battle Mountain started sluggish, losing the first set 25-13, but rallied to win the final three sets 25-17, 25-16 and 25-22 to finish the year at 5-11 in the Northern 2A. North Tahoe began the match with the first four points, when Battle Mountain cut the deficit to 7-5 after an ace by Uliana Fagg and a kill by Addi Slaybaugh.
After starting practice in early August, the football playoffs for 3A schools in Nevada begins this weekend. In the Northern 3A, Lowry High School finished fourth in the Northern 3A at 5-3 and will host No. 5 seed Spring Creek on Friday at 7 p.m. The Buckaroos beat the Spartans 21-20 in Winnemucca in the regular season. As a reminder, the playoff game is an NIAA event and Century Club cards will not be honored. NIAA Courtesy Cards and NIAA Lifetime passes will be honored for the cardholder and one guest.
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare was a little lost as a visitor to T-Mobile Arena. While the rest of his Colorado Avalanche teammates knew their way around the visitors' locker room, Bellemare was a newcomer, even after spending the last two seasons with Vegas. But, everything looked familiar once Bellemare got onto the ice. Nadem Kadri and Matt Calvert each scored twice, Bellemare had a goal and two assists against his former team and the Avalanche beat the Golden Knights 6-1 on Friday.
With its postseason playoff chances gone, the next best thing for the Battle Mountain High School volleyball team is to ruin the chances of others that are trying to make the playoffs. The Lady Longhorns did that on Thursday night against rival Pershing County. Battle Mountain won the first two sets 25-20 and 25-22 and was cruising with an 11-5 lead in the third set. However, the Lady Mustangs scored 20 of the last 25 points to win 25-16 and send the match to a fourth set. Pershing County used that momentum to win the fourth set, only to see the Lady Longhorns rally in the fifth set to claim their third league win of the season.