Good Morning! Here’s what happened in the world of sports on Wednesday, December 18.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Two games to recap this morning–

• James Madison won the Boca Raton Bowl, taking down Western Kentucky 27-17. Backup quarterback Billy Atkins stepped up for the winning side, throwing for 181 yards a key fourth quarter touchdown. This is JMU’s first-ever bowl victory.

• UNLV beat Cal 24-13 in the Art of Sport LA Bowl. Cal was playing without their staring quarterback, who entered the transfer portal earlier this month. Still, this was a competitive game all the way to the end. The key play for UNLV? Watch this tricky fake punt. It’ll guarantee you smile to start your day:

NHL

You want some hockey scores? We got two of ‘em, coming right up:

• The Utah Hockey Club won a wild one against Vancouver. Mikhail Sergachev scored the winning goal in overtime with just 12 seconds remaining.

• Continuing the theme of late-game heroics, the Anaheim Ducks beat the Winnipeg Jets on this Troy Terry goal with 26 seconds left.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

University of Wisconsin-Green Bay made headlines this summer when they hired outspoken college basketball media personality Doug Gottlieb as their head coach. Splitting time between his radio show and his duties as the leader of the basketball program, things hadn’t gone very well so far this season for the 2-10 Green Bay squad. You can imagine what happened, then, after Gottlieb said this about Wednesday’s opponent Michigan Tech: “I don’t like the idea of Nobody U coming in here… What do we learn playing a game where we win by 20?” As I said, you can guess what happened next– Michigan Tech beat Green Bay 72-70.

Moving on, the game of the day in college basketball was played between (14) Oklahoma and (24) Michigan. The Wolverines led for most of this one, thanks to another great performance by their two big men, Vladislov Goldin (26 points, 10 rebounds) and Danny Wolf (15 points, 10 rebounds). But the Sooners hung around long enough to stay in the game. Oklahoma found themselves with the ball trailing 86-83 and less than 20 seconds remaining. That’s when Jeremiah Fears made the play of the day:

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

Two pieces of news from the MLB offseason. First, the New York Mets signed Griffin Canning to join their starting rotation. Second, we have a very troublesome storm brewing in St. Louis. Star third baseman Nolan Arenado has reportedly invoked his no-trade clause on a deal that would have sent him to Houston. That’s not to say Houston is out of the running– apparently Arenado prefers to wait on a decision until later in the offseason. Look, this is mostly speculation on the beginning of a potential trade saga. But the longer any trade rumors and intrigue goes on, the uglier the situation might get.

This season is not going according to plan for the New York Rangers. In an attempt to retool on the fly, they’ve traded 2019 second overall pick Kaapo Kakko to the Seattle Kraken. When I asked about the trade, one Rangers fan offered this sentiment, “Real bummer he just never really fit in. Wish they would’ve gotten a bigger return for him too, not great.”

The Ivy League announced they will participate in the FCS division for their football playoffs next year. Until this decision, football was the only sport in which the conference did not compete for national championships.

And last but most certainly not least, Wake Forest has hired Jake Dickert as their new football coach. Dickert has been the coach at Washington State the last few seasons, leading the Cougars to multiple bowl games and compiling a 23-20 record. The hiring is a super exciting move by Wake to bring in an up-and-coming coach with Power Four experience. Best of luck to Dickert’s Demon Deacs!

TODAY’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

NBA:

• Thunder @ Magic, 7 PM on TNT

• Knicks @ Timberwolves, 9:30 PM on TNT

R+L CARRIERS NEW ORLEANS BOWL: Georgia Southern vs Sam Houston, 7 PM on ESPN2

NFL: Broncos @ Chargers, 8:15 PM on Amazon Prime

"Forget about the curveball Ricky, give him the heater!" -Major League Manger Lou Brown