Sports
No. 4 Clemson Tigers Turns it on Late to Upend Georgia Tech in Season Opener
It’s not how you start. It’s how you finish.
While it remains to be seen how that will apply to fourth-ranked Clemson’s hopes of returning to the College Football Playoff in 2022, it worked well in their season opener. The Tigers used a stifling defense that held their opponent to 237 total yards and a late-starting offense that put up 27 second-half points to earn a 41-10 victory over Georgia Tech at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Monday night.
The Tigers, who blocked two punts in the game, won their first game of the season for the eighth consecutive year under Dabo Swinney and picked up their eighth consecutive victory over the Yellow Jackets to start the year 1-0 overall and in the ACC.
Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, under immense pressure to improve from a rough 2021, threw one touchdown and ran in another. He went 19-of-31 passing for 209 yards with no interceptions and rushed for 28 yards on 13 carries. Running back Will Shipley scored twice via the ground, but the Tigers only mustered 3.2 yards per carry.
Backup QB Cade Klubnik got the first snaps of his Clemson career on the Tigers’ final possession with the game well in hand, and the freshman led a 10-play, 66-yard scoring drive that ended with Klubnik’s 3-yard touchdown pass to Will Taylor.
Both teams got off to a slow start offensively. GT quarterback Jeff Sims threw a pass picked off by Andrew Mukuba on the first play from scrimmage. Uiagalelei turned the ball over on a fumble in Yellow Jacket territory.
Finally, Clemson jumped out to a 14-0 lead after a blocked punt led to a second-quarter touchdown run by Will Shipley on their fifth drive followed by a 6-yard TD pass from Uiagalelei to Beaux Collins.
Georgia Tech got a field goal before halftime to cut into the lead and then the Jackets scored on a 13-yard TD pass from Sims to EJ Jenkins to get within 14-10 with 9:47 left in the third quarter.
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Clemson answered, though, with a field goal from B.T. Potter to go up 17-10. Then the next drive was sustained by the Tigers when Uiagalelei flipped the ball to Shipley while he was getting tackled on third down. Shipley ran for the first down, and Uiagalelei later scored on a 9-yard run to put Clemson up 24-10 after three quarters.
Freshman Wade Woodaz blocked the second punt of the night for the Tigers, who scored on another Shipley touchdown run to put the game away.
Player of the game: KJ Henry affected the line of scrimmage as much or more as any player on the field Monday night. The Clemson defensive end had seven tackles, 2.5 tackles for a loss, one sack and one forced fumble. He harassed Sims all night in the backfield and looked like a guy who’s poised for a big season in his final year.
Key play: Carson Donnelly blocked a punt in the second quarter. It was picked up by Spector and returned to the 5-yard line. It led to a 1-yard touchdown run by Shipley on fourth-and-goal with 9:53 to play in the second quarter.
Freshman Impact: Antonio Williams caught four passes for 37 yards in his first career game. Williams, who didn’t arrive on campus until the summer, impressed his coaches in fall camp and earned playing time in Week 1. He’ll likely get a more expanded role as the season goes along.
Stat of the game: Clemson’s defense held Georgia Tech to 2-of-15 on third downs.
Coach’s decision: Georgia Tech’s Geoff Collins made an interesting decision to not call timeout and stop the clock late in the second quarter with Clemson facing a fourth-and-3. There was a targeting review, and Collins could’ve given his team a chance to get the ball back with about 30 seconds left. Instead, he opted for a 10-second runoff. Swinney then let the clock run down and punted. Time expired. Collins said he thought if he called a timeout that Clemson would go for it on fourth down. Ultimately, Swinney decided to let Collins off the hook and get to the locker room.
Next Up: Clemson opens up its home portion of the schedule with a quick turnaround game against Furman at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Paladins come to Memorial Stadium 1-0 on the season. The Tigers are 36-0 against FCS teams.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A jury in U.S. District Court ordered the NFL to pay nearly $4.8 billion in damages Thursday after ruling that the league violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service.
The jury awarded $4.7 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million in damages to the commercial class. Since damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could end up being liable for $14.39 billion.
The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses in the United States who paid for the package of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons on DirecTV. The lawsuit claimed the league broke antitrust laws by selling its package of Sunday games at an inflated price. The subscribers also say the league restricted competition by offering “Sunday Ticket” only on a satellite provider.
The NFL said it would appeal the verdict. That appeal would go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then possibly the Supreme Court.
Should the NFL end up paying damages, it could cost each of the 32 teams approximately $449.6 million.
“We are disappointed with the jury’s verdict today in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit,” the league said in a statement. “We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy, which features all NFL games broadcast on free over-the-air television in the markets of the participating teams and national distribution of our most popular games, supplemented by many additional choices including RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL+, is by far the most fan friendly distribution model in all of sports and entertainment.
“We will certainly contest this decision as we believe that the class action claims in this case are baseless and without merit.”
The trial lasted three weeks and featured testimony from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
“Justice was done. The verdict upholds protection for the consumers in our class. It was a great day for consumers,” plaintiffs attorney Bill Carmody said.
During his closing remarks, Carmody showed an April, 2017, NFL memo that showed the league was exploring a world without “Sunday Ticket” in 2017, where cable channels would air Sunday afternoon out-of-market games not shown on Fox or CBS.
The jury of five men and three women deliberated for nearly five hours before reaching its decision.
Judge Philip S. Gutierrez is scheduled to hear post-trial motions on July 31, including the NFL’s request to have him rule in favor of the league because the judge determined the plaintiffs did not prove their case.
Payment of damages, any changes to the “Sunday Ticket” package and/or the ways the NFL carries its Sunday afternoon games would be stayed until all appeals have been concluded.
The league maintained it had the right to sell “Sunday Ticket” under its antitrust exemption for broadcasting. The plaintiffs said that only covers over-the-air broadcasts and not pay TV.
Other professional sports leagues were also keeping an eye on this case since they also offer out-of-market packages. A major difference though is that MLB, the NBA and the NHL market their packages on multiple distributors and share in the revenue per subscriber instead of receiving an outright rights fee.
DirecTV had “Sunday Ticket” from its inception in 1994 through 2022. The league signed a seven-year deal with Google’s YouTube TV that began with the 2023 season.
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2015 by the Mucky Duck sports bar in San Francisco but was dismissed in 2017. Two years later, the 9th Circuit, which has jurisdiction over California and eight other states, reinstated the case. Gutierrez ruled last year the case could proceed as a class action.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Olympic team is one of a handful that will supply air conditioners for their athletes at the Paris Games in a move that undercuts organizers’ plans to cut carbon emissions.
U.S. Olympic and Paralympic CEO Sarah Hirshland said Friday that while the U.S. team appreciates efforts aimed at sustainability, the federation would be supplying AC units for what is typically the largest contingent of athletes at the Summer Games.
“As you can imagine, this is a period of time in which consistency and predictability is critical for Team USA’s performance,” Hirshland said. “In our conversations with athletes, this was a very high priority and something that the athletes felt was a critical component in their performance capability.”
The Washington Post reported earlier this month that Germany, Australia, Italy, Canada and Britain were among the other countries with plans to bring air conditioners to France.
Olympic organizers have touted plans to cool rooms in the Athletes Village, which will house more than 15,000 Olympians and sports officials over the course of the games, using a system of cooling pipes underneath the floors.
The average high in Paris on Aug. 1 is 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit). The objective is to keep the rooms between 23-26 degrees (73-79 degrees Fahrenheit). The rooms will also be equipped with fans.
“I want the Paris Games to be exemplary from an environmental point of view,” Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has said about the plans for the Olympics.
According to the International Energy Agency, fewer than 1 in 10 households in Europe has air conditioning, and the numbers in Paris are lower than that. The study said that of the 1.6 billion AC units in use across the globe in 2016, more than half were in China (570 million) and the United States (375 million). The entire European Union had around 100 million.
The Olympics mark the most important stop on the athletic careers of the 10,500-plus athletes who will descend on Paris, which has led some high-profile countries to undercut environmental efforts for the sake of comfort.
“It’s a high-performance environment,” Australian Olympic Committee spokesman Strath Gordon explained to The Post.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers seemed determined to keep playing. And playing. And playing.
The teams opened their Eastern Conference final playoff series with Florida’s 3-2 victory in four overtimes early Friday, with the game ranking as the sixth-longest game in NHL history.
Matthew Tkachuk’s goal came at the 19:47 mark of the fourth OT to end this one, which marked the 15th four-overtime game in NHL history and the longest game in franchise history for each team.
The longest game in NHL history came on March 24, 1936, when the Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Maroons 1-0 in the sixth overtime on Mud Bruneteau’s goal at 116 minutes, 30 seconds of extra play.
Florida’s previous record for longest game was 104:31 in Game 4 of the 1996 Stanley Cup final against Colorado. Carolina’s previous record was 114:47 for Game 3 of the 2002 Stanley Cup final.
The only good news for the teams is they had an extended break before this series began. Carolina closed out New Jersey exactly a week earlier, while Florida eliminated Toronto a day later.
But this game ended roughly six hours after Thursday night’s puck drop, and the teams have a Game 2 in less than 48 hours.
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
