FOOTBALL

In the NFL, it was Monday Night Football between the Tennessee Titans and the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Tennessee has been an up-and-down team this year.  Some weeks they show up, and pulverize teams, and some weeks they completely implode and easily lose.  The Jaguars are an enigma in the same way — they can fool you into thinking they’re a team on the rise, and then remind you that they’re one of the bottom dwellers of the league.  Well, last night, both teams proved which identity they wanted.

The game started out on a high-note for the Titans with a 23-yard strike from Vince Young to Kenny Britt for a touchdown.  Then, the Titans lost Vince Young to a sprained knee and replaced him with the aging veteran Kerry Collins.  But Collins got in on the action too, hitting Bo Scaife for a touchdown.  A couple Rob Bironas field goals put the Titans up 20-0 and they never looked back.  Jacksonville on the other hand just couldn’t get their offense going whatsoever.  Even their star running back Maurice Jones-Drew only had 57 yards on the night.  The Titans defense showed up, and they will be ready for any offense in subsequent weeks.  This Titans team may be for real.  The Jaguars… not so much.  Tennessee 30, Jacksonville 3.

In college football, after Nebraska fell to Texas this past weekend, and pretty much saw their hopes of a National Championship disappear, Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini is second-guessing an important decision.  Pelini pulled Heisman candidate QB Taylor Martinez in the 3rd quarter in favor of back-up Zac Lee.  Pelini said that he regrets the decision because Nebraska’s woes went beyond the QB position.  Their offensive line was outplayed and their defense didn’t show up.  Pelini was hoping for a spark off the bench, but it never came and he may have rattled his star QB in the process.  We’ll see how Nebraska recovers from this tough loss.

BASEBALL

The American League Championship Series went back to New York, a deadly place to be playing in October.  The series was tied 1-1, and, fortunately, the Rangers had Cliff Lee to throw on the mound.  Lee is definitely one of the top 3 pitchers in the league, and is near perfect in post-season play.  Batters just can’t hit off this guy, but could the super offense of the Yankees?  The answer:  NO.  Lee was dominate yet again, throwing 8 innings, striking out 13 guys, and allowing just 2 hits.  It was a marvelous performance.  Then, in the 9th inning, up by only 2 runs, the Rangers crushed the Yankees by putting up an incredible 6 more runs.  So, in the bottom of the ninth, instead of just being down 2, the Yanks were down 8.  And that’s how it would stay.  Texas 8, NY Yankees 0.