FOOTBALL

In college football, the Alabama Crimson Tide haven’t lost a game since August of 2009.  They won the National Championship last year, and hoped to repeat this year.  However, on Saturday, the Gamecocks of South Carolina got in their way.  From the get go, South Carolina was firing balls everywhere, and got a tremendous game from their star freshman running-back Marcus Lattimore.  Lattimore finished the game with 93 yards and two touchdowns, and South Carolina’s quarterback Stephen Garcia played a near perfect ball game finishing with 201 yards and 3 touchdowns.  And with this effort, South Carolina knocked off the number one team in the nation.  With the loss, Ohio State moves to #1 in the rankings.  The new team to beat.  South Carolina 35, Alabama 21.

And in the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs hoped to continue being the only undefeated team in the league.  However, in order to do this, they would need to beat Peyton Manning and the Colts IN INDIANAPOLIS!!  Not exactly the easiest thing to pull off.  The Chiefs defense was able to stop a typically explosive Colts offense.  They held Manning to only 244 yards and no passing touchdowns.  That’s remarkable.  However, the Chiefs’ offense just couldn’t get anything going, and only put up three field goals.  That simply wasn’t enough to completely hold off the colts, as a late touchdown by back-up running back Mike Hart gave the Colts the little edge they needed for the win.  And with that, there are no more undefeated teams in the league.  Indianapolis 19, Kansas City 9.

Elsewhere in the NFL, the New Orleans Saints have been pretty lackluster as the defending Super Bowl champions.  However, they hoped to turn it around against an Arizona Cardinals team starting an undrafted rookie at quarterback as a last resort.  Except, that rookie, Max Hall, turned out to be half decent.  Hall wasn’t remarkable by any means (he didn’t throw any touchdowns), but he was able to keep the Arizona offense marching down the field for field goals.  Plus, the New Orleans Saints made some heinous errors that the Cardinals capitalized on to nab the victory.  Now the Cardinals at least have a serviceable QB, and the Saints need to seriously go back to the drawing board.  This is NOT the amazing team we saw win it all last year.  Arizona 30, New Orleans 20.

BASEBALL

The Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees did what many expected — sweep their respective series.  The Phillies’ Cole Hamels took the mound for Game 3 against the Cincinnati Reds.  He pitched the whole game, didn’t give up any runs, and pitched a masterful performance.  The Reds simply couldn’t do anything against him, and quickly found themselves ousted from the post-season.  Now the Phillies await the winner of the Giants/Braves series.  Over in New York, the Yankees continued their dominance over Minnesota in post-season play.  They absolutely annihilated the Twins in Game 3 and await the winner of the Rangers/Rays series.  The League Championship Series will definitely be a thrill to watch.  Philadelphia 2, Cincinnati 0.  NY Yankees 6, Minnesota 1.