Good Morning! Today is Monday, December 2nd. A whole lot has happened over the past week in the world of sports…

Instead of taking you back through five days of the news cycle, today’s issue will look a little different… although we’ll still begin with a traditional NFL recap (and one extremely special college football game), because that’s fresh in our memory.

NFL

If you were traveling yesterday, you may have missed some great games. Here are the highlights from this past week of NFL action:

• We start with Thanksgiving and Black Friday, where the story was end-of-game clock management. The Kansas City Chiefs escaped with another one-possession win on Friday after the Raiders drove the entire field and committed a very strange penalty that ended in a fumble. It makes more sense to watch it. But that pales in comparison to Thursday’s lesson on what not to do, courtesy of the Chicago Bears. Chicago roared all the way back against the Detroit Lions, only to fail to even attempt a game-tying field goal. It was no shocker that Bears head coach Matt Eberflus was fired the following morning.

• Now to Sunday, where the Steelers and Bengals played the highest-scoring game of the year so far. Russell Wilson threw for 414 yards and three touchdowns, leading Pittsburgh to a 44-38 victory over Cincinnati.

• Four games came down to the wire: Anthony Richardson and the Colts converted a two-point conversion with 30 seconds left to beat the Patriots 25-24, the Seahawks used a 92-yard interception return to help fuel a 26-21 comeback win over the Jets, and the Minnesota Vikings scored a touchdown with just over a minute remaining to beat the Arizona Cardinals 23-22.

• Surprisingly, the fourth game involved the Carolina Panthers. Bryce Young has shown remarkable improvement since his early-season benching. Despite his best efforts, Carolina fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 26-23 in overtime. Still, a lot of positives to take away from this one for Panthers fans. Also a shoutout to Bucs running back Bucky Irving, who ran for 152 yards.

• The biggest game of the day was in Baltimore, where Saquan Barkley and the Eagles came to town in a potential Super Bowl preview. It was Barkley’s team who controlled this one, as the Philly defense stumped Lamar Jackson and the Ravens. The Eagles won 24-19, confirming their position as one of the best teams in the league. The biggest question mark for Baltimore– veteran kicker Justin Tucker missed two field goals and an extra point.

• And finally, the San Francisco 49ers left sunny California for the bitter cold and snowy fields of Buffalo. After losing 35-10, I think they’ll be happy to head home. Josh Allen showed his True Grit in this one, leading the Bills on Pitch Perfect drives and throwing passes with Hawkeye precision. The MVP candidate may have also pulled off the coolest play of the year– take a look at this:

GEORGIA-GEORGIA TECH

19.5 point underdog Michigan upset Ohio State (and then got in a big fight), South Carolina took down Clemson, Syracuse came back from 21-0 to shock Miami, and Texas stomped Texas A&M. But no highlights from rivalry weekend can match the eight-overtime spectacular that was Georgia vs Georgia Tech:

• The visiting Yellow Jackets led 17-0 at halftime, and it looked like the Bulldogs were on the ropes. When Tech QB Haynes King ran in a touchdown and made the score 27-13 with just over five minutes left in regulation, the upset felt inevitable. But Georgia scored, forced a turnover, and then scored again, tying the game at 27 with a minute to go.

• Little did we know that this would be the second game ever to reach eight overtimes. The announcers ran out of words, the teams ran out of plays… nothing I say here will do it justice. Eventually, after a back-and-forth that lasted past midnight, Georgia running back Nate Frazier punched in the deciding two-point score to win the ballgame 44-42.

• Georgia had already clinched their spot in this week’s SEC championship game. By escaping their in-state rival, it’s likely the Bulldogs have confirmed their spot in the 12-team playoff, too.

DECEMBER RESET

Did you eat too much turkey? Are you feeling the effects of jet lag? Maybe you’ve been watching a lot of Christmas movies. No matter the reason, it’s easy to have fallen behind on the action in the world of sports. So, The Remix proudly presents a December Reset: here are the top teams and key storylines from each league as we enter the final month of 2024:

MEN’S NCAA BASKETBALL

Feast Week 2024 sure lived up to the hype. Seemingly unbeatable Gonzaga dropped their first game of the year, UConn lost three games in a row, and practically everyone went to overtime. It’s still early in the college basketball season– I will not engage in bracketology until at least the beginning of the NFL playoffs– but we’re starting to get an understanding of each team’s floor and ceiling. Let’s use this space to highlight the 17 remaining division one teams who are undefeated– while these may not all be the best teams in the country, it paints a good picture:

Haven’t been tested yet: Columbia (Ivy League), DePaul (Big East), Rhode Island (A-10), Loyola-Chicago (A-10), UC Irvine (Big West)

Remember these two in March: Utah State (Mountain West) and Drake (Missouri Valley)

The SEC: Oklahoma, Kentucky, Auburn, and Florida

The SEC is the deepest conference in college basketball. Kentucky has rebuilt on the fly in their first year under Mark Pope, Auburn is ranked number one in the country according to KenPom (a leading evaluator), Florida looks dangerous, and Oklahoma has surprised everyone with some truly impressive wins.

The Big 10: Wisconsin and Oregon

Not the two you expected to be here! Oregon is averaging over 80 points and almost eight steals per game. Translation: the Ducks are legit. Meanwhile, the Badgers may be the surprise story of the season. Transfer John Tonje is leading a new-look, high-flying Wisconsin team that’s outscoring opponents and playing a brand of basketball built for the modern game.

The Big 12: Kansas and Cincinnati

The preseason number one Jayhawks are going to be tough to beat all season. Cincinnati doesn’t have the most impressive resume yet, but they’ve also won each game this season by at least 13 points.

WOMEN’S NCAA BASKETBALL

Once again, it’s early in the season and other contenders may yet emerge. But it appears a group of seven teams have separated themselves from the rest of the country. Here they are (in no particular order):

• UCLA

• UConn

• Notre Dame

• South Carolina

• Texas

• USC

• LSU

Next up: Duke and Oklahoma

Keep an eye on: TCU and Kentucky

NBA

Chances are, if the NBA team you’re thinking of plays in the West, they’re having a good season. And if they’re in the East… well, not so much. Unless, of course, you’re thinking of Donovan Mitchell and the Cleveland Cavaliers. They might not be undefeated anymore, but the Cavs are 18-3 and boast the best record in the country after an impressive victory last night over the second-place Boston Celtics. Three other storylines to know from the Association:

• Nikola Jokic remains the best player on the planet: He’s averaging a triple-double, and has an outside shot at becoming the first player ever to win the Triple Crown. Yet the Nuggets are 10-8, because the team relies so much on their superstar.

• Giannis is also pretty incredible: You may remember the Bucks started the season 2-8. Well, they’ve now won six in a row and sit fifth in the East at 10-9. The Greek Freak has three triple-doubles in his last six games, and leads the NBA with 32.9 points per game.

• Houston has lift-off: The young Rockets have emerged from a crowded Western Conference playoff picture and trail the OKC Thunder by just half a game. An impressive start, can they keep up the pace all season?

NHL

For the NHL, we’ve got a top-five list and a player spotlight. First up, the Remix’s top five teams (records listed in parentheses). To view the current NHL standings and learn why I placed the teams in this order, you can click here:

1. Minnesota Wild (16-4-4)

2. Winnipeg Jets (18-7-0)

3. Carolina Panthers (16-7-1)

4. Washington Capitals (17-6-1)

5. Vegas Golden Knights (15-7-3)

Second, you need to know about Kirill Kaprizov:

The Minnesota Wild forward leads the league in points, and is the catalyst for a team that sits at the top of the standings. At this point in the year, the MVP is his award to lose:

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

This December Reset is pretty straightforward: we’ll get the official CFP rankings tomorrow, and that should tell us everything we need to know heading into conference championship weekend. For the record, here’s how I see the playoff picture:

Remember, the top four conference champions get a first-round bye, and the fifth-best conference champ gets into the tournament no matter what. Again, the Remix will have more on college football later in the week.

SOCCER

And last but not least, three notes from the world of soccer:

• Liverpool is running away with the Premier League. They beat Manchester City 2-0 yesterday, knocking the defending champions into fifth place and extending their lead over second-place Arsenal to nine points.

• The MLS Cup will be played this Saturday between the LA Galaxy and New York Red Bulls. Most of the momentum the league had built this season was lost after Lionel Messi and Inter Miami were upset in the first round of the playoffs.

• To close out this lengthy section, a quick moment for college soccer! First, all four teams in the women’s NCAA soccer final four come from the ACC. On the men’s side, you have to see this incredible game-winning goal scored yesterday by Wake Forest freshman Dylan Borso:

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Two baseball moves to know about from last week: the Los Angeles Dodgers agreed to a five-year contract extension with super-utility man and NLCS MVP Tommy Edman. And the Mets have made their first addition of what will likely be a busy offseason, signing starting pitcher Frankie Montas to a two-year deal.

Andrew Luck is back in football! The former Pro Bowl quarterback is going back to his alma mater as the new general manager of the Stanford football program.

TODAY’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

NBA: Lakers @ Timberwolves, 8 PM on NBA TV

NHL: Devils @ Rangers, 7 PM on NHL Network

NFL: Browns @ Broncos, 8:15 PM on ESPN

Thank you to everyone who shared such nice words over the past week while the Remix was on vacation. It means so, so much to hear that you appreciate this project. The best way to show your support and keep the Remix arriving in your inbox each morning is to send the link to friends! Go ahead, send it to someone right now!

Have a wonderful Monday!