Sports
College Football’s Biggest Week 4 Disappointments: Oklahoma’s SEC Debut, the State of North Carolina
Oklahoma waited 38 months between its announced departure from the Big 12 Conference and its debut in the SEC. The culmination of more than three years of eager anticipation resulted in a sluggish 25-15 loss at home, one that was uglier than the final score suggests.
The Sooners kicked off their SEC membership under ideal conditions: a top 10-ranked opponent coming into Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, the return of a prodigal son as the visiting head coach, and a prime-time television kickoff.
However, Oklahoma managed only 222 total yards—just 36 on the ground—and went the game’s first 51:45 without a touchdown. Meanwhile, Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel, who quarterbacked Oklahoma to its last national championship, watched as his Vols built a 19-3 halftime lead.
Under Heupel, Tennessee has been known for its explosive offense, and they showed flashes of that in Norman, particularly with Nico Iamaleava’s 66-yard touchdown pass to Dont’e Thornton Jr., which ignited a run of 19 unanswered points.
But it was Tennessee’s swarming, physical defense that stole the spotlight. This was perhaps an appropriate welcome to the SEC, given the conference’s reputation for defensive toughness.
With the setting and Heupel on the sideline, Tennessee evoked memories of Oklahoma’s 2000 Bowl Championship Series title team. That it was the Sooners’ inability to move the ball against a team coached by a former OU assistant, fired from his offensive coordinator post in 2014, only compounds the disappointment of an underwhelming SEC debut.
Tennessee’s emphatic win wasn’t disappointing for everyone in the state of Oklahoma, though. Heupel’s mother, Cindy, who drove from Aberdeen, South Dakota, to Norman for Sooners games during the Vols coach’s playing days, died in May.
“She was looking forward to this game. She’s got a lot of friends across the state who knew she was looking forward to it,” Heupel said in his postgame press conference. “It was unique for this to be a road game for me but a home game for a lot of my family.”
Carolina Blues
If Hubert Davis’ North Carolina Tar Heels basketball team faced fellow 2024 NCAA Tournament qualifier James Madison, it’s likely the UNC hoopers would hold JMU to fewer points than the 70 Mack Brown’s gridiron Tar Heels allowed on Saturday.
“Embarrassing day. Shocking day,” Brown said in his postgame press conference. “You shouldn’t be at North Carolina and lose to a Group of Five team, period.”
It wasn’t just that the Tar Heels lost, especially to a program fresh off a Top 25 season. North Carolina allowed 611 yards, effectively launching a Heisman Trophy campaign for JMU quarterback Alonza Barnett III.
Barnett passed for 388 yards and five touchdowns while rushing for another 99 yards and two more scores. Not since Dalton Knecht dropped 37 points at the Dean Dome last basketball season had a visitor made such an offensive impression on Chapel Hill.
North Carolina’s anemic defensive showing, combined with NC State’s dismal outing at Clemson, made North Carolina college football the epicenter of disappointment in Week 4.
While the Wolfpack’s rout at Death Valley wasn’t surprising—NC State came into the game as a 17-point underdog—the 59-35 final score was one touchdown and an extra point more than that spread.
Saturday marked a low point in what has been an all-around disappointing start to NC State’s season. The Pack opened the year ranked in the Top 25, looking poised to break into the upper echelon of the ACC after several solid seasons under Dave Doeren.
Instead, NC State has backslid. A 41-point loss to Tennessee in Week 2 paled in comparison to Saturday’s debacle. Had Dabo Swinney not called off the dogs with Clemson ahead 52-7 in the third quarter, the final score could have been even worse.
Things deteriorated to the point where ESPN color commentator Greg McElroy lamented that the Pack’s “terrible” tackling was “unrecognizable” compared to past Doeren-coached teams.
Sports
Knicks and Nuggets Blow Big Leads: What Went Wrong in Game 2?
Roughly 5,000 feet of elevation separate Denver and New York City.
Still, gravity works the same regardless of where one stands. Just ask the NBA teams in both towns.
“You get too high, and you get, I don’t want to say cocky, but feeling yourself,” Nuggets guard Tim Hardaway Jr. said.
That sensation went south on either side of the country Monday night.
After squandering sizable leads that would have cemented commanding 2-0 advantages in their respective first-round playoff series, the Nuggets and Knicks now find themselves bracing for a fight.
Should their opponents ultimately have their number, Denver and New York will look back with disdain on 19 and 14. Those were the Game 2 cushions the teams coughed up as the No. 3 seeds in the Eastern and Western Conference.
“It’s a game we should’ve won,” Knicks guard Josh Hart said. “In the playoffs, we can’t give away games.”
Be that as it may, the Knicks did just that against the Atlanta Hawks. They controlled the outcome for much of the night and took a 12-point edge into the fourth quarter after leading by as many as 14.
Then New York shot 5-for-22 from the floor in the final 12 minutes compared to 10-for-15 for Atlanta. Fighting through vulgar chants from the Madison Square Garden faithful, Hawks star CJ McCullom scored six straight points down the stretch during one key sequence on the way to a game-high 32.
“In that fourth quarter, you could tell [the Hawks] were playing with a level of desperation,” Knicks coach Mike Brown said. “There were four 50-50 balls, and they got three of the four. We always use that stat to gauge the level of aggression in a game. In that fourth quarter, their aggression stepped up.”
New York’s melted at the same time. How many late possessions saw the Knicks pass or hold the ball around the perimeter before settling for subpar looks from 3-point range? The Knicks went 3-for-11 from deep as part of their flop.
Denver led the Minnesota Timberwolves by 19 points early in the second quarter before crumbling. The Nuggets still were ahead by three points to start the fourth quarter but a combined 2-for-12 shooting effort from pillars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray in the final 12 minutes took a toll.
“I feel like we had the game in hand, and then we just didn’t make our shots,” Murray said.
As with the Knicks and Hawks, the reversal of fortunes stemmed both from the hosts’ miscues and an outstanding effort from a visiting player, as Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards had 30 points.
“Great leadership, positive,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “He recognized he needed to get into attack mode and get downhill a little bit more. He did that.”
The Knicks and Nuggets no doubt sensed the need to amp up their own urgency as things started slipping away Monday.
That neither could act upon it didn’t signal the end for either New York or Denver, of course. But now there’s unnecessary added weight for the climb back to the top.
Sports
Pistons seek return to identity vs. Magic after Game 1 shocker
Apr 19, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Pistons forward Tobias Harris (12) is defended by Orlando Magic guard Desmond Bane (3) in the second half during the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Little Caesars Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images After an exceptional regular season, this wasn’t the start to the NBA playoffs that the Detroit Pistons envisioned.
Reeling from a stunning Game 1 loss in which only two players reached double figures, the Eastern Conference’s top seed heads into Game 2 Wednesday against the visiting Orlando Magic facing early pressure to reset the best-of-seven series.
The eighth-seeded Magic controlled the opener from the start, never trailing and leaning on a balanced offensive attack. Paolo Banchero led the way with 23 points while Franz Wagner scored 11 of his 19 in the fourth quarter to help close out the 112-101 win.
For Detroit, the issue wasn’t just the loss — it was how it happened. The Pistons never established their defensive identity and struggled to find consistent offense beyond star guard Cade Cunningham, two areas that will be central entering Game 2.
“It starts, always, with us defensively,” said Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff. “When you go back and watch the film of that (game), we weren’t ourselves defensively. The telling tale is typically when we play them, they go to the free-throw line a ton.
“… We went 38 (times) but they went 19. So that means we weren’t playing our brand of basketball, being physical, being handsy, being aggressive. That kind of sets the tone for us.”
Offensively, the Pistons leaned on Cunningham, who scored 39 points, but got little other support — scoring their fewest points in nearly three months, since a loss to the Phoenix Suns on Jan. 29. Detroit will need more help from All-Star center Jalen Duren, who was held to just eight points and seven rebounds in Game 1.
“They came out ready from the jump,” Duren said. “We didn’t really meet their intensity. They’ve been playing with their backs against the walls the last few weeks, so they were already kind of already rolling. I think we just got to do a better job meeting that intensity.”
Duren said the Pistons remain confident despite the loss, which extended their home playoff losing streak to 11 games, the longest in NBA history.
“We know the type of team we are,” Duren said. “We feel like we’re the better team. We know that we’ve just got to make adjustments and come out smarter, come out playing harder.”
Orlando coach Jamahl Mosley said he has talked to his team about not becoming too overconfident coming off Sunday’s win.
“It’s one game at a time,” Mosley said of his message to the team. “It’s the reality that, yeah, you did get the Game 1 win, but now you have to go and figure out how to get a Game 2 (win). There’s going to be, obviously, the positive talk about what you’ve done, and thinking there’s reasons to celebrate, but at the end of the day, it’s one game, and that’s the most important piece that we’ve talked about: just taking it one game at a time.”
Banchero said the team has received the message, and he believes the key for the Magic is to play defense like they did in the opener.
“I thought we were on a string, just communicating, talking out coverages,” Banchero said. “I think it’s just going to continue to take that, being aggressive, being the aggressors on defense and just not trying to give them much. Obviously they’re going to make shots, but just not trying to give them any free looks.”
–Field Level Media
Sports
Lynx star Napheesa Collier (ankle) targets June for on-court work
Mar 2, 2026; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Unrivaled Co-founder Napheesa Collier at Barclay’s Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images The Minnesota Lynx said Tuesday that star forward Napheesa Collier’s rehab from left ankle surgery is “progressing as expected,” and she could resume on-court activities in early June.
The team plans to release updates on Collier’s progress when available.
The timeline means Collier will miss, at minimum, the first month of the WNBA season, which begins May 10 for the Lynx.
Collier underwent surgery on her ankle on March 24 after sustaining a severe injury during the 2025 playoffs. Per reports at the time, she sustained a Grade 2 tear of three ligaments in the ankle and a muscle in her left shin on a collision during Game 3 of the playoff semifinal series vs. Phoenix.
Collier, 29, averaged a career-high 22.9 points and shot 40.3% from 3-point range to go with 7.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.5 blocks per game last year. The back-to-back WNBA Most Valuable Player runner-up, Collier is a five-time All-Star and earned MVP honors in the 2024 Commissioner’s Cup final and the 2025 All-Star Game.
–Field Level Media
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