Kansas somehow failed to scoop up this fumble, and lost to UNLV because of it. College football is wonderful when it’s good. It’s also great when it’s terrible. Kansas and UNLV were closer to the latter than the former when they met on Friday in Week 3, but the end product was still one of the more entertaining games of the short season. UNLV beat Kansas, 23-20, for a come-from-behind victory. The Rebels scored a chaotic touchdown at the halftime buzzer to cut into what was an 11-point Kansas lead, and then shut down the Jayhawks offense in the second half (limiting them to only one field goal) as they forged ahead for the win. The wildest play of the game happened in the fourth quarter. With UNLV trailing by four points, QB Matthew Sluka took off up the middle on a scramble and immediately fumbled when he was hit from behind by a Jayhawks defender. Kansas tried to dive on the ball and accidentally booted it forward ... right to another Kansas player, who somehow botched the scoop. Kansas then had six players around the football trying to dive on it, but still couldn’t corral it. The ball bounced back to UNLV, and they finally secured the possession. Watch the play here: pic.twitter.com/ZFo0dm1CAY— wow that was crazy (@CowardlyDoggo) September 14, 2024 HOW did Kansas not come away with that football? Almost every player on the field in a black jersey had a chance to secure the ball, but none of them could do it. This play actually helped decide the game. After recovering the fumble, UNLV drove down the field and scored the go-ahead-touchdown. They wouldn’t trail the rest of the game. Kansas was a two touchdown favorite entering the night. This loss is going to sting. UNLV improves to 3-0. Kansas falls to 1-2. It feels amazing to have football back in our lives, even (especially?) when it leads to sequences that should be soundtracked by ‘Yackety Sax.’

Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images At the Azerbaijan Grand Prix the Red Bull boss was among those backing the proposed rookie race Ahead of the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix, several team principals spoke out in favor of a proposed rookie sprint race at the end of the season, giving young drivers a chance to showcase their talent at the end of a long year. Now, a few more team bosses are going on the record in favor of such an event. At Friday’s FIA Press Conference ahead of this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix three more team principals came out in favor of the idea, including Red Bull boss Christian Horner. Asked about the proposed event by longtime F1 journalist Adam Cooper, Horner and others gave their backing to the proposal. “Yeah, it’s something that I tabled at the last couple of Formula 1 Commissions because I think it’s great for the young drivers,” began Horner. “And I think that the problem with some of the rookie tests is they all get used for testing. You never know, are they running on 50 kilos, 70 kilos, 30 kilos of fuel? What engine mode are they going? You don’t really know. You don’t know how the opposition are doing. “So I think this is a non-championship race for the junior drivers. I think it’s a fantastic opportunity and I think that it comes at the end of a busy season, but opposed to just running around burning fuel and tires and only the teams that are running those drivers knowing whether they’re doing a good job or not to give potentially ten drivers or ten rookies the opportunity of jumping in the current cars and having the equivalent of a Sprint race, I think is fantastic,” continued Horner. “And I think it’ll be a really popular event.” Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu — who is overseeing young Oliver Bearman’s drive in place of Kevin Magnussen this weekend as he serves a one-race penalty ban — also gave his support to the idea. “Yeah, I think it’s great,” said Komatsu. “You know, the post-season test, if we don’t do things like that, you are just doing the tire test. So I think it adds value to the day and makes it more exciting and another opportunity to put young drivers in the car. These days, it’s such a rare opportunity for young drivers to get in the current Formula 1 car. So I think it’s really an interesting move.” Sauber Team Representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi joined in the chorus. “I fully agree with Ayao. It’s important to give the rookies more opportunities, to show them. We know how much it’s difficult to get into Formula 1, so I think that FP1 sessions are not sufficient to showcase what you can do. and there are a lot of risks linked to proper performance in FP1 also for the team,” said Alunni Bravi. “This is a really nice opportunity.” Next season will see several new drivers joining the grid: Bearman at Haas, Jack Doohan at Alpine, and Andrea Kimi Antonelli at Mercedes. There is also potential for a fourth rookie to join the grid, as Gabriel Bortoleto has emerged as a strong contender for the seat at Sauber alongside Nico Hülkenberg. Then there is the idea of Liam Lawson sliding into a seat at Visa Cash App RB F1 Team, as they have not yet announced who will be driving alongside Yuki Tsunoda next season. But this proposed rookie race might help open the door for some new faces in the years to come.

Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images The Aces previously made history by becoming the first WNBA team to sell out all regular season games. There’s been a lot of talk about the growth of the WNBA this season, and much of it has been attributed to a rookie class headlined by Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. But, it’s been a team without a top 2024 draft pick that just made history for selling out season tickets in consecutive years: the Las Vegas Aces. The Aces announced on Thursday they completely sold out their 2025 season ticket memberships, becoming the first team in WNBA history to do so in back-to-back seasons. It’s not the first time that the Aces fanbase had made history; they became the first team in league to sell out all of their regular season home games in a single season back in June. - - !The Las Vegas Aces have sold out of season ticket memberships for the 2025 season, making them the first team in @WNBA history to sell out season ticket allotments in back-to-back seasons.Join the waitlist … pic.twitter.com/CoANvDTG0i— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) September 13, 2024 Las Vegas has an obvious advantage when it comes to these type of ticket sale records given that they play in a smaller arena than some other WNBA teams. Michelob ULTRA Arena can seat 12,000, while arenas that also house NBA teams — like Barclay’s Center, Crypto.com, and Gainbridge Fieldhouse — can seat up to 20,000, making sell-outs more difficult. Still, Las Vegas boasted the league’s third-best attendance this season — averaging 11,381 attendees per night, below the Indiana Fever (17,009) and New York Liberty (12,646). Along with the rest of the league, season ticket prices will increase next season in Las Vegas. The average ticket price will increase from $30.78 this year to $43.95 for next season. The biggest jump will be for the most expensive seats — courtside tickets will increase from $500 to $600 per game, per the Las Vegas Review Journal. The team announced that 92% of season ticket holders for the 2024 season renewed their membership, with the remaining 8% being to individuals on the waiting list. The sell-out is reflective of an undeniable popularity boom across the WNBA, as well as of the Ace’s unique success. Las Vegas has won the previous two WNBA championships, and the while the team has struggled at points this season, they still sit at fourth overall in the standings, and have six Olympians on the roster. They also benefit from the fact they are headlined by A’ja Wilson, who has been the most dominant player in the league this season. Wilson praised the league’s growth in an interview with SB Nation last week. “People are putting their money where their mouth is and investing in us,” Wilson said. “I think that’s the beautiful thing about it. It’s just the real people, the real investors, the real people that want to see us grow — they’re putting their money where their mouth is.”

David Gonzales-Imagn Images San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan ruled Christian McCaffrey out for Week 2 San Francisco 49ers fans waiting to see Christian McCaffrey make his 2024 season debut are going to wait at least another week. Perhaps even longer. After missing San Francisco’s opening game of the 2024 campaign, a 32-19 win over the visiting New York Jets, the running back has been officially declared out by head coach Kyle Shanahan. McCaffrey has been dealing with a calf injury, as well as Achilles tendonitis, during the early part of this season. In addition, Shanahan did not rule out a move to Injured Reserve for McCaffrey: The #49ers are now considering placing Christian McCaffrey on injured reserve, which would sideline him this week plus three more games, Shanahan said. https://t.co/sqa8g2nHbW— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) September 13, 2024 Shanahan said that IR is now something the 49ers are considering. The 49ers had their toughest practice of the week Thursday and McCaffrey was dealing with pain afterward, he said. https://t.co/i3d3YjGWG1— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) September 13, 2024 The 49ers are headed to Minnesota this weekend to take on Sam Darnold and the Vikings. Minnesota began their season with a 28-6 thrashing of the New York Giants. In McCaffrey’s absence last week, Jordan Mason received the bulk of the work in San Francisco’s offensive backfield. The third-year running back, who went undrafted back in 2022 out of Georgia Tech, gained 147 yards on 28 carries and scored a touchdown for the 49ers. Expect Mason to again receive the bulk of work in the running game this weekend for the 49ers.

Photo by Clive Rose - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images Haas enjoyed a great start to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, including a solid effort from Oliver Bearman Oliver Bearman has participated in Formula 1 weekends before. He has driven in FP1 sessions as part of his reserve duties, including most recently at the Hungarian Grand Prix. He stepped in for an ailing Carlos Sainz Jr. at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, driving in PF3 before participating in both qualifying and the race itself, where he finished. But thanks to Kevin Magnussen’s one-race penalty ban, this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix is his first full F1 weekend, as he is driving for Haas this weekend in place of Magnussen. After Friday’s two practice sessions, Bearman has a clear goal in mind for the rest of the weekend. Pride. That effort is off to a great start, as Bearman placed 11th in FP1 and 10th in FP2. “It was nice to do a full Friday, building step-by-step without having to rush anything. I was quite happy with how the day went and how the day finished-up, and I was confident in the car which is important on a track like this,” said Bearman in the team’s post-session report. “Tomorrow, my goal is to be proud of my performance; that’s going to be done by improving and finishing at a level I know I’m capable of, and having a clean performance.” On the other side of the garage, Nico Hülkenberg was also strong for Haas Friday, finishing in P12 in FP1 and P8 in FP2. “The day hasn’t been bad, not perfect either, but it is a practice day. It was a day spent getting to grips with this very interesting, intense circuit again. It was super dusty; this morning grip conditions were very poor so there was huge track evolution throughout the day, and staying on top of the circuit evolution was key today,” said Hülkenberg. “I didn’t have the cleanest run on the low-fuel softs which is okay, we just need to learn from it, understand our package and understand the tires. It’s been a positive day and a good base that we can compete from this weekend.” Haas Team Principal Ayao Komatsu called it a “good” day for the team while praising the young driver. “Today has been a really good day. We started FP1 reasonably strong but we had a few tweaks to make, which we did. We accounted for big track evolution, which is normal for here, so the feedback on the engineering side was very good,” said Komatsu. “In terms of both low- and high-fuel performance, we didn’t maximize everything, but some good lessons learned and a clear direction of what we need to achieve so it was a decent Friday. Ollie has done a fantastic job again in both sessions, his learning rate is fast so I’m very pleased.”