Opponents have reached the 49ers' red zone five times and scored one touchdown
Two days after the 35-13 win over Miami, the two game books describe a defense that is hard to finish against and easy to move against. Opponents have gained 5.1 yards a play in both games and reached the San Francisco 20 five times for one touchdown. Miami spent 19:17 on its first three possessions and got six points, twice reaching goal to go and twice kicking. San Francisco's first four sacks of the season came either inside its own red zone or with a lead of 15 or more, and Nick Bosa is credited with none of them, and with no quarterback hit either, on 40 of 59 defensive snaps. PFF's charting of the same game puts him ahead of every other 49er in total pressures.
Michigan owes the Big Ten a status for Andrew Sprague before it has a diagnosis
The minor league season ends in five days without a title
Week 2 takeaways: five touchdowns before San Francisco's first punt
The 49ers won by 22 and came out of it needing a receiver and a lineman
The Latest
San Jose lost 6-2, and both of its goals came from men with no NHL games
San Jose's scorers had no NHL games behind them. The lineup gap, five-on-five volume and shot distances put the 6-2 loss at Anaheim in proportion.
Remove Rafael Devers and the Giants are still 25th against left-handed pitching
Rafael Devers posted a .573 OPS against left-handed pitching and a 1.027 OPS against right-handed pitching in 2026, a gap of 454 points and the largest of any qualified left-handed hitter in the major leagues. Remove his 220 plate appearances against left-handers from San Francisco's team totals and the Giants improve from .669 to .684, which moves them from 28th to 25th of thirty and leaves them 22 points below the league median of .706. The 40-man roster holds 18 position players, nine right-handed and nine left-handed, and no switch-hitter; four of the thirty clubs are in that position. Willy Adames, the club's primary right-handed bat, hit worse against left-handed pitching than against right-handed pitching. The best right-handed answer in the system is 22-year-old Lorenzo Meola, who is at Single-A San Jose. One take filed.
Seven of the thirteen men who started for the Giants cannot pitch this week
Thirteen pitchers started a game for San Francisco in 2026. Seven of them are unavailable for the final homestand: Tyler Mahle was traded to Atlanta on August 2 and Robbie Ray to San Diego on August 3, while Trevor McDonald, JT Brubaker, Carson Whisenhunt, Adrian Houser and Logan Webb are all on the injured list. Those seven made 105 of the club's 156 starts, or 67.3 percent. Measured the same way on the same morning, with all thirty clubs carrying 28-man active rosters, that is the highest figure in the major leagues; the league median is 27.2 percent and Toronto is second at 50.0. The six starters still standing are Landen Roupp (29 starts), Blade Tidwell (8), Matt Wilkinson (5), Anthony Molina (4), Cesar Perdomo (3) and Yunior Marte (2), for six games in seven days. Wilkinson threw five scoreless innings at Dodger Stadium on Sunday with a career-high six strikeouts in a 3-1 loss. Tidwell starts against Minnesota tonight. One take filed.
Vogel gets the Warriors defense, and its shot blockers played 1,425 minutes
Golden State blocked 346 shots in 2025-26, 4.2 a game, 26th in the league, and pulled down 31.0 defensive rebounds a game, 25th. It also finished second in steals and sixth in turnovers forced. Three men who are still under contract blocked shots at better than 1.5 per 36 minutes last season: Charles Bassey at 2.52 on 100 minutes, Al Horford at 1.89, Kristaps Porzingis at 1.62. They played 1,425 of the team's 19,805 minutes, 7.2 percent, across 65 games. The next rate on the list is Draymond Green's 0.81. Quinten Post and Trayce Jackson-Davis, third and eighth on the team in blocks, are gone, and with the other departures go 75 of the 346 blocks and 578 of the 2,540 defensive rebounds. The three players added since are a rookie forward, a power forward and a guard. Frank Vogel was announced as associate head coach on September 17 and Steve Kerr says he is turning the defense over to him. Vogel's twelve seasons as a head coach produced three defenses that finished first in the league and two that finished third. Camp opens in Hawaii on September 29. Two takes filed.
UTEP forced one Michigan punt all day, and it came in the first quarter
Michigan beat UTEP 52-17, and the drive chart says the offense was never actually stalled. UTEP's defense forced one punt, on fourth-and-2 from Michigan's own 33 with 4:52 left in the first quarter, and never forced another. Of the ten possessions Michigan was trying to score on, seven produced points, and the three that did not were that punt and two Michigan fumbles. The six touchdown drives covered 68, 75, 52, 46, 62 and 51 yards, an average of 59, and three of Michigan's 11 possessions began in UTEP territory. On the other side, UTEP had five straight possessions from 1:31 of the second quarter to the end of the third: 14 plays from scrimmage for minus 5 yards, four three-and-out punts and a pick-six. Five first downs in that span gained 1 yard and five second downs lost 15, which left UTEP needing 6, 11, 11, 20 and 21 yards on its five third downs. Michigan's 13 third downs averaged 4.3 yards to go and UTEP's 12 averaged 10.2. Michigan's three opponents have now had 11 possessions each, 33 in all, and have scored three touchdowns.
San Francisco won by 20 without a sack. Miami gave up five.
San Francisco hosts Miami at 1:25 p.m. Pacific on FOX in its home opener. The 49ers beat the Rams 27-7 in Melbourne without a sack, taking eight quarterback hits instead, four of them by Osa Odighizuwa. Miami lost 27-13 at Las Vegas behind Malik Willis, who was sacked five times. Eddy Piñeiro is questionable with an illness that cost him all three practices, and the club auditioned two kickers Saturday and signed neither. Ten men to watch, and the reason the first one is the kicker.
Only two clubs in hockey ran two power-play point men, and San Jose was one
San Jose plays its first exhibition game at Anaheim on Sunday at 1 p.m. Pacific, the first of four inside seven days before the October 1 opener against Florida. Measured against the NHL's own time-on-ice database for all 32 clubs in 2025-26, 17 clubs gave more power-play time to a left-shot defenseman than to any right shot, and 11 gave no right-shot defenseman even 100 minutes. Those 11 averaged a 22.00 percent power play against a 21.10 percent league mean. San Jose and Florida were the only clubs to give two defensemen 150 minutes or more. The Sharks blue line brings 307:51 of NHL power-play time to camp and 202:55 of it belongs to Orlov.
49ers
All 49ers →
Opponents have reached the 49ers' red zone five times and scored one touchdown
Two days after the 35-13 win over Miami, the two game books describe a defense that is hard to finish against and easy to move against. Opponents have gained 5.1 yards a play in both games and reached the San Francisco 20 five times for one touchdown. Miami spent 19:17 on its first three possessions and got six points, twice reaching goal to go and twice kicking. San Francisco's first four sacks of the season came either inside its own red zone or with a lead of 15 or more, and Nick Bosa is credited with none of them, and with no quarterback hit either, on 40 of 59 defensive snaps. PFF's charting of the same game puts him ahead of every other 49er in total pressures.
Week 2 takeaways: five touchdowns before San Francisco's first punt
San Francisco is 2-0 after a 35-13 win over Miami in the home opener. The 49ers scored touchdowns on their first five drives and did not punt until 10:38 of the fourth quarter. Purdy was 20 of 22 for 287 yards and two touchdowns with a 149.1 rating and no sack taken. The defense recorded four sacks after none in Week 1, from Marques Sigle, Keion White, Romello Height and a Warner-Stout split, none from Bosa. Miami had first and goal twice and came away with six points. Eddy Piñeiro, the kicker the week was spent on, attempted no field goal.
The 49ers won by 22 and came out of it needing a receiver and a lineman
Shanahan's Monday conference call produced four injury verdicts. Robinson and Thompson Jr. both have high-ankle sprains at three to six weeks, Robinson most likely to injured reserve. Height broke his hand and has surgery Tuesday, with an outside chance of playing at Arizona. Mike Evans has a hip that will be managed through the week. The receiver room is down to five men on the active roster with three on injured reserve, and the defensive line has now lost three players in two games. Shanahan, asked on Sunday about Leonard Floyd, said the club has already made calls.
Sharks
All Sharks →San Jose lost 6-2, and both of its goals came from men with no NHL games
San Jose's scorers had no NHL games behind them. The lineup gap, five-on-five volume and shot distances put the 6-2 loss at Anaheim in proportion.
Only two clubs in hockey ran two power-play point men, and San Jose was one
San Jose plays its first exhibition game at Anaheim on Sunday at 1 p.m. Pacific, the first of four inside seven days before the October 1 opener against Florida. Measured against the NHL's own time-on-ice database for all 32 clubs in 2025-26, 17 clubs gave more power-play time to a left-shot defenseman than to any right shot, and 11 gave no right-shot defenseman even 100 minutes. Those 11 averaged a 22.00 percent power play against a 21.10 percent league mean. San Jose and Florida were the only clubs to give two defensemen 150 minutes or more. The Sharks blue line brings 307:51 of NHL power-play time to camp and 202:55 of it belongs to Orlov.
Will Smith's old linemate got eight years on the last day they existed
The collective bargaining agreement that took effect on September 16 cuts the maximum contract term from eight years to seven with a player's own club, and from seven to six with anybody else. Washington signed Ryan Leonard, Will Smith's linemate from the national development program and from Boston College, to eight years and $84 million on the final night the term was legal, and signed Justin Sourdif to eight the same day. Ottawa gave Drake Batherson eight and $86 million. Smith is going into the last season of a three-year entry-level deal at $950,000 and is unsigned. His unrestricted free agency arrives in 2031, so an eight-year extension beginning in 2027-28 would have bought four summers past it and a seven-year extension buys three. The year San Jose lost on Tuesday is the one in which Smith turns 30. Mike Grier said on Thursday that talks are in a good spot and that there are no plans to talk next week. One take filed, on when Smith signs.
Giants
All Giants →The minor league season ends in five days without a title
The minor league season ends in five days without a title, Bo Davidson and Marcelo Mayer arrive in San Francisco, Jackson Flora starts a Double-A playoff game, and Bryce Eldridge's rookie year ends on a concussion.
Remove Rafael Devers and the Giants are still 25th against left-handed pitching
Rafael Devers posted a .573 OPS against left-handed pitching and a 1.027 OPS against right-handed pitching in 2026, a gap of 454 points and the largest of any qualified left-handed hitter in the major leagues. Remove his 220 plate appearances against left-handers from San Francisco's team totals and the Giants improve from .669 to .684, which moves them from 28th to 25th of thirty and leaves them 22 points below the league median of .706. The 40-man roster holds 18 position players, nine right-handed and nine left-handed, and no switch-hitter; four of the thirty clubs are in that position. Willy Adames, the club's primary right-handed bat, hit worse against left-handed pitching than against right-handed pitching. The best right-handed answer in the system is 22-year-old Lorenzo Meola, who is at Single-A San Jose. One take filed.
Seven of the thirteen men who started for the Giants cannot pitch this week
Thirteen pitchers started a game for San Francisco in 2026. Seven of them are unavailable for the final homestand: Tyler Mahle was traded to Atlanta on August 2 and Robbie Ray to San Diego on August 3, while Trevor McDonald, JT Brubaker, Carson Whisenhunt, Adrian Houser and Logan Webb are all on the injured list. Those seven made 105 of the club's 156 starts, or 67.3 percent. Measured the same way on the same morning, with all thirty clubs carrying 28-man active rosters, that is the highest figure in the major leagues; the league median is 27.2 percent and Toronto is second at 50.0. The six starters still standing are Landen Roupp (29 starts), Blade Tidwell (8), Matt Wilkinson (5), Anthony Molina (4), Cesar Perdomo (3) and Yunior Marte (2), for six games in seven days. Wilkinson threw five scoreless innings at Dodger Stadium on Sunday with a career-high six strikeouts in a 3-1 loss. Tidwell starts against Minnesota tonight. One take filed.
Warriors
All Warriors →Vogel gets the Warriors defense, and its shot blockers played 1,425 minutes
Golden State blocked 346 shots in 2025-26, 4.2 a game, 26th in the league, and pulled down 31.0 defensive rebounds a game, 25th. It also finished second in steals and sixth in turnovers forced. Three men who are still under contract blocked shots at better than 1.5 per 36 minutes last season: Charles Bassey at 2.52 on 100 minutes, Al Horford at 1.89, Kristaps Porzingis at 1.62. They played 1,425 of the team's 19,805 minutes, 7.2 percent, across 65 games. The next rate on the list is Draymond Green's 0.81. Quinten Post and Trayce Jackson-Davis, third and eighth on the team in blocks, are gone, and with the other departures go 75 of the 346 blocks and 578 of the 2,540 defensive rebounds. The three players added since are a rookie forward, a power forward and a guard. Frank Vogel was announced as associate head coach on September 17 and Steve Kerr says he is turning the defense over to him. Vogel's twelve seasons as a head coach produced three defenses that finished first in the league and two that finished third. Camp opens in Hawaii on September 29. Two takes filed.
Golden State signs them quietly and waives them in public
Golden State waived Chance McMillian and Deivon Smith on September 16, Jacksen Moni on September 18 and Elias Ralph on September 19, all four recorded on the NBA's public transaction log. None of the six training camp contracts the club signed across the same four days appears on that log at all; the last Golden State signing it carries is Brandon Williams on August 26. McMillian and Smith were signed and waived on the same Wednesday, reported by Hoops Rumors and by Brady Klopfer at Golden State of Mind. Moni was signed on a Thursday and waived on a Friday. Ralph was waived to make room for Obi Agbim, per Hoops Rumors' reading of the league log. The mechanism is the Exhibit 10, a non-guaranteed camp deal carrying a bonus of up to about $91,000, by Hoops Rumors' accounting, if a waived player then spends at least 60 days with Santa Cruz. Training camp opens at BYU-Hawaii on September 29 and media day is September 28. One take filed, on whether the cutting is finished.
The Warriors Are Counting On The Three Men Who Played The Most Minutes On A 37-45 Team
Steve Kerr told the Tom Tolbert Show on Friday that Golden State tried to get younger this offseason and could not, that nothing offered to the club made sense to him, and that depth is now the answer. He said the back end of the roster, including the two-way players, has to hold the fort until Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody return in the second half. Golden State's published schedule lists 80 regular-season games with dates, and 47 of them fall before February. The men Kerr named already carried the largest share of last season's minutes: Brandin Podziemski led the team at 2,333, and Gui Santos and Will Richard were fourth and fifth. Stephen Curry was sixth and Butler eighth. That arrangement produced 37 wins and 45 losses. Butler turns 37 on September 14 and is listed OUT. Two takes filed, on minutes and on Richard's starts.
NCAA Hoops
All NCAA Hoops →
The NCAA Lost On Friday And Filed For Nashville On Saturday
One day after Judge Charlotte N. Sweeney certified a nationwide class and enjoined the NCAA in Denver, the association filed a motion with the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation asking that eight eligibility cases across five districts be centralized before Chief Judge William L. Campbell Jr. in the Middle District of Tennessee. The Panel scheduled argument for September 24 in Chicago. The brief describes the Colorado class as putative and says no decision has issued, which had stopped being true the day before it was filed.
Dan Hurley Counted 80. The NCAA Told A Court It Might Be Tens Of Thousands.
In its August 10 emergency motion to the Tenth Circuit, the NCAA argued that class members returning for a fifth season will displace younger athletes, and put the available Division I roster spots at 4,808 in women's sports and 988 in men's. The same 24-page brief describes the class as tens of thousands on one page and as thousands on another. Dan Hurley, making the identical argument at UConn on August 7, counted 80. Twice a federal judge has gone looking for evidence attached to the displacement claim and reported finding none.
The Fifth Year Only Moves You If You Were Already In The Portal In April
A nationwide class of athletes who ran out of eligibility in the spring is now eligible for a fifth season by order of a federal court in Denver. Whether any of them can join a school other than the one they just left is a separate question, raised in an emergency motion to enforce filed August 4, fully briefed on August 10, and undecided as of August 15. Seth Trimble reached Louisville because he had entered the transfer portal in the spring, before any of this existed.
Michigan FB
All Michigan FB →Michigan owes the Big Ten a status for Andrew Sprague before it has a diagnosis
Andrew Sprague, Michigan's junior right tackle, told Kyle Whittingham late on the Friday before the UTEP game that he could not play, and missed the 52-17 win. At his Monday morning press conference Whittingham said there was no update and that the staff hoped to know more later that day. On the Monday night radio show he said Sprague's return could be anywhere from this week to several weeks and that the medical staff did not yet have an exact diagnosis. The Big Ten's expanded availability rule, announced August 28, requires Michigan to file a status for him by 8 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, three days before the Iowa game. The midweek vocabulary has five entries and the game-day vocabulary has three, and the published table has no column for what is wrong with anybody. In the rule's first week, across 39 players listed by the four teams in the two September 19 conference games, 11 of the 21 who were not listed Out on Wednesday were Out by kickoff. Two takes filed.
UTEP forced one Michigan punt all day, and it came in the first quarter
Michigan beat UTEP 52-17, and the drive chart says the offense was never actually stalled. UTEP's defense forced one punt, on fourth-and-2 from Michigan's own 33 with 4:52 left in the first quarter, and never forced another. Of the ten possessions Michigan was trying to score on, seven produced points, and the three that did not were that punt and two Michigan fumbles. The six touchdown drives covered 68, 75, 52, 46, 62 and 51 yards, an average of 59, and three of Michigan's 11 possessions began in UTEP territory. On the other side, UTEP had five straight possessions from 1:31 of the second quarter to the end of the third: 14 plays from scrimmage for minus 5 yards, four three-and-out punts and a pick-six. Five first downs in that span gained 1 yard and five second downs lost 15, which left UTEP needing 6, 11, 11, 20 and 21 yards on its five third downs. Michigan's 13 third downs averaged 4.3 yards to go and UTEP's 12 averaged 10.2. Michigan's three opponents have now had 11 possessions each, 33 in all, and have scored three touchdowns.
UTEP led Michigan by a touchdown, then gained 28 yards the rest of the way
Michigan beat UTEP 52-17 at Michigan Stadium in front of 110,668 people to finish nonconference play 3-0. The Wolverines trailed 7-0 and then 14-7 and did not lead until Trey Butkowski's 49-yard field goal with five seconds left in the first half. After UTEP's second touchdown, Michigan outgained the Miners 308-28 and outscored them 45-3, per Michigan's own postgame notes. Michigan scored 28 points in the third quarter after scoring none in the third quarter of its first two games. Bryce Underwood carried six times after carrying 18 against Oklahoma, and completed 19 of 25 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns. Michigan punted once, made 27 first downs and converted 9 of 13 third downs. Both UTEP touchdowns came directly off Michigan fumbles. Jordan Marshall left in the third quarter, and Andrew Sprague and Zeke Berry did not play at all.
Michigan BB
All Michigan BB →
Michigan's roster is full at fifteen, and the two guards it wants are outside it
Michigan's official 2026-27 roster listed fifteen players on Saturday morning. The cumulative statistics sheet from the European tour lists the same fifteen. Kenny Noland, the Columbia transfer Michigan signed on August 19, is on neither, and neither is Roddy Gayle Jr., who has held a temporary restraining order since September 2. The Niagara County docket carried no decision on Gayle's injunction motion as of Saturday morning, two days after the hearing was scheduled.
Roddy Gayle's reply brief was due Monday and the docket ends on September 11
Roddy Gayle Jr.'s reply brief in support of his preliminary injunction motion was due September 14. As of Thursday morning the Niagara County Supreme Court docket, Index No. E192685/2026, runs to 43 documents and contains no reply of any kind; the last filing by either side is an acknowledgement of service entered September 11. Justice Frank A. Sedita III was scheduled to hear the motion Thursday at 2 p.m. Eastern. Separately, Michigan's published 2026-27 roster still lists fifteen players, which is the men's basketball roster limit under NCAA Bylaw 17.2, and the adopted rule says a school at the limit may not add anyone once its roster is submitted. The one published door is an exception for a player injured before the submission date, and Michigan has a player in that position.
Michigan's Big Ten schedule looks even, until you read the last three weeks
Michigan's 20-game Big Ten schedule, released September 16, runs from December 9 at Rutgers to March 7 at Ohio State: ten home games, ten road games. The three opponents Michigan plays twice are Minnesota, Michigan State and Ohio State, and in all three pairs the home game comes first and the road game falls between February 16 and March 7. Four of the last six conference games are away from Ann Arbor. Last season Michigan went 10-0 in Big Ten road games and lost once at home.
USMNT
All USMNT →
Banks chose Germany. The U.S. lost a center back who plays every minute.
Noahkai Banks, the 19-year-old Augsburg center back born in Honolulu and raised in Bavaria, accepted a call-up to Germany's under-21 team on Friday, September 18, and will file the one-time change of association that closes his United States eligibility for good. He played for the U.S. at the 2023 under-17 World Cup and at under-19 and under-20 level, sat in the senior camp in September 2025 without playing, said in February that the first U.S. invite made his choice clear, said on March 1 that he was very torn, declined the March camp, and was left out of the World Cup squad. He has started all four of Augsburg's Bundesliga matches this season and played every minute of the first three. The U.S. roster for the four fall friendlies carries Chris Richards, Miles Robinson and Auston Trusty at center back, and Tim Ream, 38, who started the World Cup round-of-16 defeat, is not on it.
The minutes explain why Pulisic is out, but not why Weah is
The first United States squad since the World Cup leaves out Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Folarin Balogun, and Pochettino gave a reason for each of the three at his announcement on September 17. Measured against the September 14 pool snapshot, the club minutes back him up at the bottom of the ledger: eleven of the 25 covered players left out are under half their club's available league minutes, against one of the thirteen called. They do not back him up at the top. Six of those 25 are at 90 percent or more, including Timothy Weah, who has started all four of Marseille's league matches and started at Besiktas in the Europa League on the day the roster was named. The squad's average age is 22 years and nine months, more than four years younger than the World Cup roster, which is the selector the minutes actually reveal.
USWNT
All USWNT →
Naomi Girma is available again, and has not played a league minute this season
Naomi Girma was an unused substitute in Chelsea's 2-0 win over Birmingham City at Stamford Bridge on September 19, two days after head coach Sonia Bompastor said she was available for selection again following a small injury. The other two players Bompastor named available, Nathalie Bjorn and Melvine Malard, both got on the field. Girma has played no minutes in Chelsea's three Women's Super League matches this season and has started two matches since April, both legs of a Champions League qualifier against Real Sociedad. Her last United States appearance was against Japan on April 17, 155 days ago, and the United States played Brazil twice in June without her. Spain visit Audi Field on October 10 and Subaru Park on October 13.
The Wait Behind Catarina Macario Is Now Longer Than The Wait Ahead Of Her
San Diego Wave FC announced on September 14 that Catarina Macario has been placed on the NWSL Season-Ending Injury list as she continues rehabilitation for an ongoing knee issue, with no timeline given. She signed from Chelsea on March 27 on a deal through 2030 and has not appeared in any of the twenty-four matches San Diego has played since, nor will she appear in the six that remain. Her last competitive match for club or country was on December 1, 2025, which is two hundred and eighty-eight days ago. The 2027 World Cup opens in two hundred and eighty-two.