I'm hoping the nickname game is strong for this one.

Duke starting QB Walker Eget hopping off field against Illinois, seems unable to put any pressure on his right leg. 

Reportedly (per game announcers), Eget tore his ACL last year and still played at San Jose State.

Duke up by four on the road midway thru 4th quarter.

EDIT: Eget returned but seemed to be favoring his leg. Definitely did not look 100%, fwiw.

A YouTuber who claims to have seen every college stadium in the country attended Stanford v. Miami and Cal v. UCLA last weekend.

I thought his opinions were fair:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnVVz40snOo

There are no surprises there, but it's interesting to hear the thoughts of an outsider.

If you don't feel like watching the whole thing, his conclusions are exactly what you'd expect: Stanford is physically a great place to watch a game but the lack of fans kills the energy.  While the atmosphere is better at Cal, a brobdingnagian game for them felt like just a regular gameday at schools with better fanbases.

EDIT: He also feels that Cal has the most potential among the California schools to have a great college gameday experience, with a nod to Fresno State. His theory is that you need to be a public school with an on-campus stadium.

Stanford currently #87 on the ESPN Power Index:  2026 College Football Power Index - ESPN, dead last among ACC teams despite the fact that six of them don't have a win yet. Miami is currently top-ranked in the ACC according to ESPN, no doubt due to their mighty win over powerhouse Stanford. And their 77-7 win over Florida A&M.

Quote:Seeking to accommodate more students and shifting academic needs, Stanford University is preparing to add nearly 2 million square feet of academic space, 2,500 student beds and about 500 units of housing for faculty and staff over the next two decades, according to a permit application that the university submitted to the county Wednesday.

The ambitious proposal is Stanford’s first foray into adopting a new growth plan since 2019, when its last attempt to update its General Use Permit collapsed after three years of public hearings. At that time, members of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors and community stakeholders demanded that the university provide more affordable housing and stronger transportation measures to mitigate the impacts of its academic growth.

https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2026...ygcKQ78Slg

more details here

https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2026/0...3U0X_y4BTw

Quote:Student Housing & Access: Up to 2,500 new student beds to continue meeting student housing needs and facilitate a gradual increase in undergraduate access to Stanford.

if they do add 2,500 student beds and if half of them went to undergrads that would increase the undergrad class size by ~300 people.  Last fall the class of '29 enrolled 1,866 people so that would be ~15% increase.

Regarding the 1,866

Quote:In all, Stanford enrolled 196 more first-year and transfer students compared to last year

https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2025/1...sfer-class

FIBA's World Cup for WBB is happening in Berlin.  Maybe there's another new world order happening in Germany.

I didn't see it but Spain lost to Mali on Saturday, 82-73.

I recorded the US-Italy game during Sunday's WVB match and watched it today.
Italy WBB had not been on the world stage in 33 years (1993).
The US of course has all the WNBA stars and is coached by Kara Lawson, and a 31 game winning streak.
Back in March, the US blew out Italy 93-59.  On Friday, the US blew out China 94-61
A blowout was expected again.

Apparently, Italy read a different script.  Down big early (8-19 at the end of Q1), they gained the momentum in Q2, took the lead in the 3rd and again in the 4th.

Italy had the lead at 6:00, 5:00, 4:00 left in the game, and sank a bucket that would have given them the lead again at 3:03, but the officials called a charge.  Italy, with the ball and down 3 with seconds on the clock, had a player on the 3pt line get poked in the eye as she dribbled.  She gats a pass off but is given the ball again and tries a 3-pointer despite the eye.  No basket.  

So the US team sneaks out with an ugly 55-52 win.
   [Note: If you go to the FIBA site and want to turn off the ad stuff, you'll have to step through turning off 16 opt-outs and ignore 5 others.  You'll be asked about it for each FIBA page.]
Clark was 0 for 6 in 18:30 (no previous 0-fers for her in NCAA or WNBA).  Stewart was 1 for 9 in 27:16.  The US was 1 for 12 from 3pt.
Iriafen was the only US player not to play.
How did the US win?  They were given 10 more FTA, making 8 more, in a game decided by 3.

I don't know FIBA's rules. Besides the late poke in the eye, in Q3(?) there had been an obvious charge by a US player ramming her shoulder into a stationary guard out by half court that was called a defensive foul.  In Q2(?), there was an inbounds play where the ball obviously was off the foot of a US player (and immediately out of bounds) on an Italy throw-in, where the ball was then awarded to the US.  (That must be some rule that doesn't exist in the NCAA.  The announcers were homers so they didn't cover stuff like that.)

I was quite impressed with Italy.  They scrambled on defense disrupting the US offense and shots, good block-outs and hustled to get loose balls, and had (IMO) very quick moves to get shots off.  Rebounds were essentially even despite the US looking much taller.  

Unfortunately, Italy lost to China by 20 today.
Today, the US did blow out Chechnia by 41 as expected.

Wednesday will be the one year anniversary of the hiring of John Donahoe. How do you feel about his performance?

My own take: 

- Bradford Freeman gave $50 million to football shortly after Donahoe arrived, including support for institutional NIL and five additional scholarships.  Stanford added or expanded relationships with Carvana, Robinhood, Waymo, Ramp, Zillow, Zoom and others; Fortinet signed another multi-year deal just last week.  Donahoe brought in Tyler Jones as Deputy AD/COO to oversee revenue, marketing, branding, fan experience, digital strategy and operations, and Larissa Fontaine to oversee Olympic sports/student-athlete success. Stanford finished No. 2 nationally in the 2025–26 Directors' Cup, behind Texas, and extended its streak of winning an NCAA team championship to 50 consecutive years. Stanford won five national team championships in 2025–26, including NCAA titles in men's gymnastics and women's golf. That's impressive, although obviously Donahoe cannot reasonably take credit for programs built years before he arrived. Men's basketball went 20–13, giving Kyle Smith consecutive 20-win seasons. Women's basketball improved to 21–14 but missed the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. Stanford improved from three wins to 4–8 in 2025, reclaimed the Axe by beating Cal 31–10, and had its first winning home record since 2018. This year Stanford opened 1–1 — beating Hawaii 37–27, then getting hammered 45–6 by No. 7 Miami on September 4.

Mr. Donahoe's take:  John Donahoe - Stanford Cardinal - Official Athletics Website

It's hard to see whether he has raised more than Muir.

You can select more than one option. I would put Donahoe's performance after a year between an A and a B...though closer to a B. Call it a B+.

OK, here’s the situation:

Western Michigan up 12-7 on Michigan; Michigan tries for a Hail Mary that goes out the end zone as time seemingly expires.  “After further review” the refs add one second back to the clock, Michigan tries again, scores a touchdown and wins 13-12.

https://x.com/awfulannouncing/status/209...86880?s=61

Honestly, I find it pretty indefensible, but perhaps I’m missing something in the rules.

BC

Watching at home, recovering from a recent surgery or two. Hopefully a decent showing tonight. Hope there are some people wearing red in the stadium. . . .

This topic came up in a Women's Tennis thread here ("Alexis Blokhina is on the roster, and making her return to collegiate tennis after a brief stint as a pro"),
but I'm creating a different thread to not drift that thread any further.

The thread contained a reference to this news item regarding a pro FB player wanting to sign with LSU
SEC joins Big Ten in banning pros from returning to college, includes basketball players

Quote:The Southeastern Conference passed a rule Tuesday banning players who have been drafted by NFL, NBA or WNBA teams or listed on rosters in those leagues, joining the Big Ten in taking a strong stand against this month’s unexpected surge of pro players trying to return to college.

But Kim Mulkey must have read the fine print.  No WNBA pros?  Ok, get them from other pro leagues.  She signed a Russian pro basketball player (6'5").  

That signing has resulted in fallout, resulting in 6'5" Ukranian Kate Koval leaving the team.
When I looked up Kate Koval, I found this from 3 years ago

Quote:Koval’s rising number of offer letters includes top programs like LSU, Notre Dame, Duke and Stanford, and she still has more official recruiting visits lined up.