Coming into this postseason, no one was expecting the Atlanta Braves to make it this far. While they have proved they are talented enough to make it to the World Series, it has not been an easy feat. The team has had to navigate star outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. tearing his ACL in July, Marcell Ozuna’s domestic violence issues and ace Mike Soroka tearing his achilles back in June.

The Astros were one of the heavy favorites to make the World Series coming into the playoffs. They made it to the World Series after beating the Chicago White Sox in four games and the Boston Red Sox in six games.

Game one of the World Series was dominated early by the Braves as they scored three runs in the first two innings against starter Framber Valdez.

The Braves started the game off with a bang when designated hitter Jorge Soler hit a solo home run on the third pitch of the night. This was also the very first leadoff home run in game one of the World Series in history.

Later on in the inning, Ozzie Albies was able to get on base and then was able to steal second, which set up a double by third baseman Austin Riley to send Albies home.

In the third inning, the Braves got two more runs when mid-season acquisition Adam Duvall hit a homerun. The Braves ended the first three innings leading 5-0. They would ride this hot start to a 6-2 victory and take an early 1-0 series lead. 

Even after the Astros’ disappointing game one, they were able to flip the script on the Braves in game two, winning 7-2 thanks to five runs scored in the first two innings.

The Astros were led offensively by star second baseman Jose Altuve who went 2-5 batting, scoring on both hits.

After a sacrifice fly ball from Alex Bregman that Altuve scored on in the first, Kyle Tucker was able to score on a Jose Siri single in the second. Siri and Yori Gurriel were both able to score thanks to a fielding error by Eddie Rosario. Designated hitter Yordan Alvarez was able to score in the sixth on a Gurriel ground ball and Altuve scored in the seventh to put the game away.

Jose Urquidy had an excellent game pitching, giving up just two runs. Max Fried, the Braves starting pitcher, had a terrible second inning giving up four runs. He has struggled the entire postseason, giving up 17 runs in total. The bullpen kept the Astros to just two runs, but the damage was already done.

The Braves were not able to do much offensively as they were held to just two runs, both from catcher Travis d’Arnaud. He scored on a homerun in the second and was hit in on a single from Freddie Freeman in the fifth.

Unlike game one and two, game three was not a high scoring game at all, as the Braves controlled the game and won 2-0.

While the offense for both teams did not dominate like in the first two games, the Braves offense was able to do just enough to win game three. The Braves scored their first run in the third inning on a double from Riley that brought Rosario in. During the eighth inning, d’Arnaud was able to hit a solo homerun, ensuring the victory.

Ian Anderson had an excellent pitching performance throwing a no hitter over five innings pitched. In this game, he also became the first rookie pitcher to ever win a World Series game in Braves history. Afterwards, he was replaced and the bullpen kept up the pace, only giving up two hits the rest of the night.

Astros starter Luis Garcia had an okay night, only giving up the run in the third to Rosario. Reliever Kendall Graveman gave up the other run on a homerun in the eighth inning.

So far, this World Series has been exciting, with a lot of great performances. As of right now, I am favoring the Braves to win it if their bullpen can keep up what they have been doing. My biggest concern for them is losing starter Charlie Morton for an unknown amount of time due to injury, but if he comes back healthy, I think the Braves hold the advantage and will win their first World Series since 1995.

Most NFL MVP races have pretty clear favorites, but this season the MVP race is wide open with plenty of players who have a good chance of winning it.

Kyler Murray has led the Arizona Cardinals to an undefeated record so far. He has thrown 144 completions on 195 attempts for 1,741 passing yards, 14 touchdowns and only two interceptions. He has also added 544 rushing yards on 94 attempts for three touchdowns.

Matthew Stafford has seemingly had a career revival after being traded from Detroit this offseason. In his first season with the Los Angeles Rams, he has led the Rams to a 5-1 record while throwing 139 completions on 200 passes for 1,838 passing yards, 16 touchdowns and four interceptions.

Coming off of a compound fracture and dislocation to his right ankle, nobody knew what to expect from Dak Prescott coming into this season but he has not been slowed down by his injury at all. So far this season, he has thrown for 1,813 passing yards, 16 touchdowns and four interceptions while leading Dallas to a 6-1 record, with their only loss coming to the defending Superbowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

It seems the legend of Derrick Henry grows every week. This season, he has carried the ball 162 times for 783 passing yards and 10 touchdowns, while also contributing 16 catches and 138 receiving yards. As it stands right now, he’s on pace to break Eric Dickerson’s rushing yard record of 2,105 yards in a single season. He has led the Titans to a 4-2 record.

No matter how old Tom Brady is, he always seems to get better with age, and at age 44 he has still shown no sign of slowing down. So far this season, he has completed 183 passes on 267 attempts for 2,067 passing yards, 17 touchdowns and three interceptions. He has led the Buccaneers to a current 5-1 record. 

Every MVP race has a dark horse, and this year the dark horse that could possibly win is Justin Herbert, the quarterback of the Los Angeles Chargers. This year he has completed 161 completions on 246 attempts for 1,771 passing yards for 14 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. He has led the Chargers to a 4-2 record and has continued his very successful young career.

Looking back at other MVPs, the players who usually win the MVP are ones in the top teams, with the exception of Adrian Peterson back in 2012. Outside of that, almost everyone else is in the top three of their conference. 

If Derrick Henry is able to keep up this pace, he might be a lock for the MVP. However, if he falters at all, since the Titans don’t project as a top NFL team, the chances of him winning MVP are slimmer than the rest.

If Kyler Murray keeps up this pace there is a good chance he could win MVP, but considering that he fell off last year after a fantastic start, we’ll have to see if he can continue with this production.

The same can be said for Matthew Stafford and Dak Prescott as well, with the injury concerns that they’ve both had in the last couple years and Prescott’s head coach possibly holding the team back from reaching their full potential.

Brady could win his fourth MVP title and cement his legacy even more as one of the best ever. Hopefully he can stay healthy, which is not easy at an older age, as we saw with Brett Favre in 2010.

On Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021, the William & Mary Tribe football team faced off against the University of Maine. The Black Bears controlled most of the game and were able to hold off a late game comeback from the Tribe to win their second game of the year 27-16.

“I’d like to make it a little easier than that at the end there, but we really needed a win,” said head coach Nick Charlton after the game. “It really was a great week of practice. Sunday was a very difficult day for this program. We had some very serious conversations about this program and what we needed to do. And I think [the players] took that and ran with that.”

Coming into the game, the Tribe had the all time series lead in head to head matchups between the two schools by one win. UMaine would be looking to tie the series on Saturday. Before this game, the Tribe was on a four game win streak coming off of a 31-24 victory over the University of Albany. 

After being forced to punt on their first drive, UMaine responded when third-year defensive lineman Josh Lezin forced a fumble, which was recovered by fifth-year defensive back Fofie Bazzie. This would set up an 11 play 63-yard drive that would set up a 7-yard touchdown pass from second-year quarterback Derek Robertson to second-year running back Freddie Brock. 

After forcing the Tribe to punt the ball again, UMaine took it back down the field highlighted by a 16-yard keeper for Robertson and a 23-yard pass from Robertson to fifth-year receiver Andre Miller to set up a 21-yard field goal from fifth-year kicker Jonny Messina.

The next series for the Tribe ended in another turnover as first-year quarterback Darius Wilson’s pass went in and out of his receivers hands and was intercepted by first-year defensive back Kahzir Brown. Even though UMaine got the turnover, they were not able to do anything with it and were forced to punt the ball back to the Tribe.

On the next drive, UMaine forced the Tribe to punt again but the punt was muffed and the Tribe recovered the punt. The Tribe’s offense was able to move the ball all the way to the 33-yard line, where they fell short and UMaine got the ball back.

Right after that, UMaine was able to methodically move the ball downfield again. The drive took 16 plays and Brock scored his second touchdown on a 22-yards rush. The Tribe got the ball back but missed a field goal right before halftime with the Black Bears leading 17-0.

After halftime, the Tribe were forced to punt again, leading to an amazing touchdown catch from Robertson to fourth-year receiver Devin Young, who was held onto but somehow was able to catch the ball on the tip and get into the endzone.

After the score from Young, the Tribe started to get things going when Wilson scored on a quarterback keeper, shortly after Messina kicked a 42-yard field goal in the fourth quarter to give UMaine a commanding 27-8 lead. Wilson was able to cut the deficit to 11 for the Tribe when he found fourth-year receiver Zach Burdick wide open on the very next drive for a 76-yard bomb.

After forcing UMaine to punt again, the Tribe drove all the way down the field in ten minutes, but a bad decision by Wilson led to an easy interception by fourth-year linebacker Adrian Otero in the endzone.

“I was surprised they didn’t run the ball. They had two big runs just before that, I just did my job and the ball was just right there,” Otero said after the game. 

UMaine got the ball back and they were able to run out the clock, ending the game before the Tribe got another chance to score.

Robertson finished the game passing for 223 yards, two touchdowns and no turnovers. Brock had 15 carries for 88 yards and one touchdown, while also catching four passes for 26 yards and another touchdown. Young led the team in receiving with six catches for 81 yards and a touchdown.

Second-year linebacker Xavier Nurse led the defense with eight total tackles. UMaine’s defense did not record a single sack, which has been an issue for the defense for multiple weeks now. Otero and Brown both intercepted Wilson.

Wilson finished the day going 8-16 for 133 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Third-year running back Donavyn Lester led the team in rushing with 13 carries for 112 yards. Wilson also had six carries for 44 yards and a touchdown. Zack Burdick led the team with two receptions for 82 yards and notably made that 76-yard touchdown reception.

UMaine improved to 2-4 with this win and will travel next week to the University of Albany in New York.

In college football there are always certain teams at the top of the ladder. Teams like Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State seem to always be in the mix, but thanks to a lot of upsets, this season has been anything but predictable. 

There are two teams that have risen to the top of their conferences and surprisingly, have a very good chance of having a shot at the playoffs: Iowa and Cincinnati.

Coming into this season Iowa was ranked number 10 in the AP poll, but no one expected their recent level of success. With their victory against Penn State, Iowa has a very strong chance of at least making the Big Ten championship game.

Iowa’s offense has looked very solid this year. Quarterback Spencer Petras has been a very solid game manager who really showed how he fights back after a rough start against Penn State; he bounced back and led Iowa to victory. This season he has a 60% completion percentage, 1138 yards and nine touchdowns.

Iowa’s running game has been shaky this year but their starting running back Tyler Goodson has had a very solid season so far. He has been inconsistent, but good enough to put up respectable stats. He has 518 yards on 124 attempts and five touchdowns.

Their receiving game has had no real standouts, but like many years, Iowa’s tight end position has been a strength. This year it is Sam Laporta, who is having a solid season with 23 receptions for 271 yards and two touchdowns. 

The main reason Iowa has done as well as they have is because their defense has been great all season long. Led by potential Jim Thorpe winner Matt Hankins, Iowa’s defense has not given up more than 23 points in a single game all season. They have looked like one of the best defenses in the country this year.

In the front seven, Lukas Van Ness leads the team with four sacks. Linebacker Jack Campbell currently leads the team with 55 total tackles. Led by Hankins, the secondary has 14 interceptions, with four of them coming against seventh ranked Penn State.

Since the college football playoffs started back in 2014, there has always been a debate if a non-power five school can or should make it to the playoffs, but if any team could it would be Cincinnati after this season where they’ve successfully knocked off Notre Dame, who were ranked number nine in the country at the time. 

Cincinnati is led by star quarterback Desmond Ridder, who is continuing his successful career for the Bearcats by completing 65.5% of his passes for 1304 yards and 12 touchdowns. If the Bearcats are to make it to the playoffs, it’ll be because of Ridder, who has the potential to be a top quarterback prospect in next year’s draft.

Cincinnati’s run game has been very good this year as well. Their run game is led by Jerome Ford, who is in his second season with the Bearcats after transferring from Alabama. In five games this season, he has had 82 carries for 516 yards and eight touchdowns, although he has not contributed much in the receiving game.

The receivers for the Bearcats have not been outstanding, but they get the job done. Their leading receiver is Alec Pierce, who has 21 receptions for 387 yards and two touchdowns. Michael Young is also a contributing receiver with 15 receptions for 163 yards and one touchdown.

The Bearcats defense has been outstanding this year, only giving up over 20 points one time all year. Impressively, they held a very good Notre Dame offense to just 13 points. Deshawn Pace leads the team in tackles with 40, Darrian Beavers leads the team in sacks with three and Arquon Bush, Pace and Ahmad Gardner are tied with two interceptions each.

This college football season has been extremely unpredictable thanks to all the upsets, leaving the playoff race wide open. But considering both Iowa and Cincinnati have easy schedules to finish the season, they have very good odds of reaching the college football playoffs for the first time.

In last year’s shortened season, the women’s basketball team had a very successful season. They went 17-3 and finished in first place in their conference for the regular season, but fell short in the conference tournament, losing in the finals to Stony Brook.

This season marks head coach Amy Vachon’s fifth season with the women’s program. Her record as head coach stands at 77-39. She was named the America East Coach of the Year in both the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons.

Vachon is a former UMaine women’s basketball player herself, and she was an assistant coach for the school from 2011 to 2017 before becoming the interim head coach in the 2017-2018 season after head coach Richard Barron took a leave of absence due to an illness. After that season, she was promoted to full time head coach after Barron became the men’s head coach.

Coming into this season, the squad is losing some key seniors to graduation but none as big as Blanca Millán. Millán finished her very successful career at UMaine winning both the America East Player of the Year and America East Defensive Player of the Year for the second time. 

Along with the seniors the team lost, one of UMaine’s best players in Dor Saar transferred to Middle Tennessee for her final season in college basketball. Losing her production hurts, as during her three years at UMaine she was named to the America East All-Conference First Team in 2021, America East All-Conference Second Team in 2020 and the All-Rookie team in 2019. 

UMaine is returning with their second leading scorer last year in third-year guard Anne Simon. Last year she was named to the America East All-Conference First Team and won America East Player of the Week Honors on Feb. 23 after averaging 12.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists while shooting 45.4-percent from the floor, 32.9-percent from three-point range and 73.6-percent from the free throw line while starting 19 of 20 games. She’s coming into this season as one of the team’s best players and she should be in for a very good season.

UMaine also returns with their third leading scorer in fifth-year Maeve Carroll. In her previous season she was named to the America East Second Team after starting in 13 of 15 games while averaging 10.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists while also maintaining a 47.1% shooting percentage from the field. She should be in for a big year this upcoming season as the clear second best option offensively for the team.

The rest of the team we really haven’t seen play that much, since it’s a pretty young squad. A lot of the role players from last season are gone so we’ll see how the younger players do with more playing time.

Some new players to watch this year are Paula Gallego, a first-year guard who was very successful in Barcelona playing on teams against players who were two years older than her. Penelope Mathieau-Castillo is a first-year forward from Montreal, who was a two-time captain during her high school career and the MVP of her team in 2018-2019. Bailey Wilborn is a guard who is also a first-year. She is from Wichita, Kansas and was her league’s MVP in 2021. 

The first game of the season for the Black Bears is an away game on Nov. 9 against the University of Nebraska. With this team being as inexperienced as they are, expect big seasons from Simon and Carroll, and we’ll see how the young players perform this upcoming year.

Gustav Nyquist is one of the most talented hockey players that has attended the University of Maine. Nyquist played three seasons for the Black Bears and totaled 144 points in 113 games. On Sept. 17, he was inducted into the University of Maine Sports Hall of Fame. 

Nyquist was born on Sept. 1, 1989 in Halmstad, Sweden. He started his hockey career playing for his local youth team Limhamn Hockey. Later on, he joined the Malmö Redhawks, where he played on their teams for 16, 18 and 20-year-olds. Nyquist was drafted into the NHL by the Detroit Red Wings in the fourth round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft before attending UMaine. 

After graduating from high school, Nyquist enrolled at UMaine to play hockey. He quickly made an impact upon arriving, leading the team in scoring as a first-year student. He was named to the Hockey East All Rookie team, named Rookie of the Week on Nov. 3, 2008 and Rookie of the Month in December 2008.

By his second year at UMaine, Nyquist had become one of the best players in the entire country. He was named a first team All-American in 2010, and was included on the Hockey News first team, All-American First Team and Inside College Hockey All-America First Team. That season Nyquist finished as runner-up for the Hobey Baker award, which is awarded to the best collegiate hockey player in the country.

Before the 2010-2011 season, Nyquist was named an assistant captain of the hockey team. He was also named Hockey East player of the month. When the season ended, he finished No. 17 in points scored by a UMaine hockey player.

Nyquist was both a great hockey player and a great scholar. He was named a Maine Scholar-Athlete Rising Star his first year and was also named to the Hockey East Academic Honor Roll. Throughout his time at UMaine, he was also nominated for the Dean Smith award as one of the best scholar-athletes.

After three seasons at UMaine, Nyquist went pro and spent the next six seasons with the Detroit Red Wings and their AHL affiliate the Grand Rapid Griffins. During his time in the AHL he helped the Griffins win the 2013 Calder Cup. After being called up to the Red Wings, he had a team-leading 28 goals, along with 20 assists, in 57 games. He also had a six-game goal streak, the longest by a Red Wings player since 2010.

He was traded to the San Jose Sharks in 2019, and then in 2020 signed a four year contract worth $22 million with the Columbus Blue Jackets as a free agent. He would miss all of the 2020-2021 seasons due to a labral tear in his left shoulder, but he is set to have a big impact on the Columbus Blue Jackets this upcoming season as a second liner.

After making a lot of big moves in the offseason, the Patriots seem to be in the winning mindset now. Bringing in players such as Jonnu Smith, Hunter Henry, Nelson Agholor, Jalen Mills and fan favorite Kyle Van Noy should help them become a very competitive team. Right before the season, the Patriots made the surprising decision to cut veteran quarterback Cam Newton––last year’s starter––in favor of rookie Mac Jones.

Jones did not play much during his time at Alabama, where he was a backup to two current NFL quarterbacks, Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts. When he finally got his chance to shine in the starting role, Jones made up for it by being the best quarterback in the nation, ending up as the fourth place finisher for the Heisman trophy.

In his first two games of the season for the Patriots, Jones has looked very solid for a rookie. While he has not been very flashy, he has been the most consistent rookie quarterback and he has not thrown a single interception. He has been exactly what the Patriots needed, a game manager. While he may never be Tom Brady, he can get the job done and he can help lead the New England Patriots back to the playoffs.

The Patriots’ running backs so far this season have been average. Damien Harris has been a solid number one, but we have not seen much out of James White or Rhamondre Stevenson yet. So we will see how good the depth actually is if they are called on.

Currently, the wide receivers and tight ends on the team have not been producing much, as James White is the leading receiver. Former first round draft pick N’Keal Harry has been injured, but he did not look very good in preseason. The free agents the Patriots brought in also have not produced, but this could also be due to the adjustment period of working with a rookie quarterback.

The offensive line is definitely going to be a work in progress for the Patriots. With Trent Brown out for a period of time, we could see them struggle against good defences like the Buccaneers in a few weeks. 

The defense has continued their recent dominance by holding both the Dolphins and Jets to under 20 points in the first two weeks. Josh Uche leads the team in sacks with three while Ja’Whuan Bentley leads the team in tackles with 13. J.C. Jackson leads the team in interceptions with two. They will be tested in their next two games against the Saints and the Buccaneers, where Tom Brady will make his return to Gillette Stadium to face his former team.

Nick Folk so far has been one of the best kickers in the NFL this season. He has not missed a kick so far this year, and over the last few years he has had a career revival with the New England Patriots by becoming a very consistent kicker. Punter Jake Bailey has also played well.

So far this season, the Patriots have done admirably, but with talented opponents in the next few weeks, we will see just how good they really are.