Stanley Cup champs school Jackets
Tua Tagovailoa will be the odds-on favorite to win the Heisman Trophy next season after the Alabama quarterback had to settle for second to Oklahoma’s Kyler Murray on Saturday night.
Murray is heading for professional baseball next year and Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins, the other Heisman finalist on Saturday night, could very well enter the NFL draft. Assuming Haskins does go pro, along with a few other high-profile quarterbacks such as Oregon’s Justin Herbert and Michigan’s Shea Patterson, who else can challenge Tagovailoa?
Note: UCF quarterback McKenzie Milton would have made this list if not for a severe leg injury that makes his return to the field uncertain.
Trevor Lawrence, QB, Clemson: The strong-armed passer became the Tigers’ starter four games into his freshman season and has been one of the best quarterbacks in the country since. Lawrence enters the College Football Playoff with 2,606 yards passing, 24 touchdown passes and only four inter- ceptions. Clemson leaned on the running game and tail- back Travis Etienne (1,463 yards rushing, 22 TDs) at times this season to take the pressure off Lawrence. Eti- enne is back next season, too, but expect the Tigers to let Lawrence loose.
Jake Fromm, QB, Georgia: Fromm got overlooked this season, but the sopho- more threw 27 touchdowns and was third behind Tagovailoa and Murray in efficiency rating at 175.81. He’ll be a third-year starter for a preseason top-five team in 2019 — if he can hold off Justin Fields, the five-star freshman who served as his backup this season. And Georgia’s offense could flow through running back D’Andre Swift no matter who plays quar- terback.
Jalen Hurts, QB, team TBD: Tagovailoa’s backup at Alabama is almost certain to transfer in the offseason after having graduated. That means he can play immedi- ately next season. He’ll be college football’s most prized free agent, a former Southeastern Conference player of the year. Where he lands will help determine his Heisman hopes. Let’s speculate: Oregon is coached by former Ala- bama assistant Mario Crisot- bal and the Ducks could be looking for a quarterback if Herbert departs. Or how about Hurts at Oklahoma, trying to become the third straight Oklahoma quarterback to win the Heisman?
Jonathan Taylor, RB, Wisconsin: With a bowl game still to play, Taylor has rushed for 3,966 yards through his sophomore season, an NCAA record previously held by Wisconsin Heisman winner Ron Dayne. The Badgers disappointed in 2018, starting in the top five and going 7-5. That killed Taylor’s Heisman hopes. The Heisman has become a quarterback’s award, but if the Badgers bounce back in 2019, Taylor can make a run.
J.T. Daniels, QB, USC: Daniels flashed five-star talent as a freshman starter for the Trojans, who stumbled to a 5-7 season. He will have a new offensive coor- dinator next year in former Texas Tech coach Kliff Kings- bury, who has a history of developing highly produc- tive quarterbacks — including 2012 Heisman winner Johnny Manziel at Texas A&M.
Sam Ehlinger, QB, Texas: The sophomore has a little Tim Tebow in his game, pass- ing for 3,127 yards and 25 touchdowns and rushing for 541 and 13. If the Longhorns take another step forward and can overtake the Sooners in the Big 12, it would likely mean Ehlinger has stepped up, too. He could be losing two NFL-quality receivers in juniors Collin Johnson and Lil’Jordan Humphrey.
Extra point: Six more candidates: Adrian Martinez, QB, Nebraska; AJ Dillion, RB, Boston College; Jacob Eason, QB, Washington; D’Eriq King, QB, Houston; Rondale Moore, WR, Purdue; Brock Purdy, QB, Iowa State.
Heisman winner apologizes for tweets
Kyler Murray apologized for anti-gay tweets posted to his Twitter account several years ago. The Oklahoma QB tweeted: “I apologize for the tweets that have come to light tonight from when I was 14 and 15. I used a poor choice of word that doesn’t reflect who I am or what I believe. I did not intend to single out any individual or group.”
The tweets have since been deleted from the account of the 21-year-old Murray, who won college football’s most prestigious individual award Saturday.
The rookie scored a decisive win over the five-time All-Star in the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 116-101 victory over the Washington Wizards on Saturday night.
Collin Sexton, the Cavaliers’ first-year point guard, matched a season high with 29 points, while John Wall was held to a career-low one point in an easy victory.
Wall came into the game averaging21.3 points, but his only point came on a free throw early in the third quarter with Cleveland holding a 74-48 lead. He missed all five shots but had six assists.
Wall, who was taken out late in the third quarter, didn’t need to analyze the statistics.
“I didn’t have to look at it,” he said. “I already knew it without looking at it. First game of my life. One free throw. No field goals.”
Wall said he’s been dealing with a bone spur in his left heel and received treatment in the locker room following the game.
“I couldn’t move,” he said. “Couldn’t run. Probably shouldn’t have played. That’s my fault . ... I’ve had it for a while.”
Sexton matched up against Wall for the second time. Wall scored eight points Nov. 14 — his career low before Satur- day — while Sexton had 24.
“He didn’t have it going tonight, but I know he’s going
After losing COLUMBUS — multiple-goal leads in three straight games, the Blue Jackets got a clinic in how to protect them from the defending Stanley Cup champions.
The Washington Capitals built an early three-goal lead and then turned it into a 4-0 victory Saturday at Nationwide Arena, the first of a season-high, six-game home- stand for the Blue Jackets (16-11-2).
Instead of racing out to an early lead, the Blue Jackets were outplayed, outshot and outscored by the Capitals (179-3), who evened the season series at one win apiece.
“This team knows how to win,” captain Nick Foli- gno said of the Capitals, who’ve won nine of their past 11 games and lead the to get back on track by the next game, for sure,” Sexton said.
Sexton was 13 of 23 from the field and his six assists included an alley-oop pass to Larry Nance Jr. for a onehanded dunk that brought the crowd to its feet late in
TUESDAY’S GAME
Canucks at Blue Jackets, 7 p.m., FS Ohio Metropolitan Division by three points over the Jack- ets. “They taught us that. Look what they did. They didn’t allow us anything.”
Brett Connolly, Dmitrij Jaskin and Alex Ovechkin all scored in the first period for Washington, which outshot the Blue Jackets 13-8 in that period and forced a goalten- ding switch to start the sec- ond. Joonas Korpisalomade 14 saves in relief of Sergei Bobrovsky, who played the entire first period.
Bobrovsky has allowed 11 goals on 39 shots in his past two home starts, including eight on 26 shots Tuesday in a 9-6 loss to the Calgary the game.
“That was nice,” Sexton said. “I saw him cut from the corner and I just had to pick it up with my hand and toss it to him.”
Wall returned after missing Washington’s victory Wednesday night o ver Flames. A number of those goals were the result of odd bounces, deflections and defensive miscues, and this game was no different.
“I was not going to have Bob eat more goals, the way we were playing in front of him,” a frustrated coach John Tortorella said.
Connolly made it 1-0 just 1:42 into the game, scoring off a 2-on-1 rush that started with a blocked shot in the Capitals’ zone. Jaskin made it 2-0 at 10:19, after the puck bounced off him into the net, and Ovechkin pushed it to 3-0 with 18.8 seconds left — tapping home a pass from Michal Kempny while unchecked to extend his point streak to 11 games.
“That third one really (ticked) me off,” Foligno said. “We’re (down) 2-0, you might come back. You get 3-0, it just can’t happen. That’s the stuff that teams don’t do.”
Cam Atkinson’s careerhigh point streak ended at 12, one shy of tying the franchise record, as the Jackets struggled to get much going. Travis Boyd scored Washington’s fourth goal in the third, after it controlled play most of the first 40 minutes.
Columbus had a couple offensive flurries, but didn’t score thanks to missed shots and goalie Braden Holtby— who made 28 saves for his second shutout of the season.
Columbus, which went 0 for 4 on power plays, won its previous game 4-3 in overtime Thursday at the Philadelphia Flyers — winning despite blowing a 3-1 lead in the third period. It was the third straight game the Jackets had lost a lead of at least two goals, dropping the first two. great