I feel like sending out the Buzz on Saturday mornings is the wrong time. The college scores are a week old! Sooo.. I’m going to try Wednesday AM distributions. This initial distribution is a bit later than I hope will be the norm. We’ll see how that works. If you prefer, you may watch & listen to the Buzz on You-Tube. As always, I really appreciate your time & read! Buzz this week is “FALL” INTO SPORTS—appropriate for this time of year

… MLB divisional races for winning the division or for qualifying for the post-season.  Once we get into mid/late September, as sports fans we really “FALL INTO SPORTS”. Let’s check out our “state” team first…

….The Mizzou football team really had a NICE FALL INTO SEC ACTION last weekend with a comeback win over S. Carolina last Saturday. While neither team has been predicted to be a “SEC top tier” team, a win is a win. Who knows what this SEC win does for the MU players emotionally, psychologically, and mentally for upcoming games. Mizzou’s 29-20 win had a little bit of everything for the Tigers. It was a close game throughout. Tied with a scoreless game after 1 quarter; at half it was Gamecocks 14-12; after 3 periods the 2 point margin still stood as Carolina was ahead 20-18 but Mizzou outscored S. Carolina 11-0 in the final quarter. What a good win with a back & forth game to watch & play/coach.

…MU had a strong running game throughout the game. That’s generally vital to a strong offense that doesn’t want to get predictable and FALL ON KEY DOWNS late in the game. Ahmad Hardy and Jamal Roberts led the charge this week with big yards, especially in the second half to spark the comeback win. Jamal Roberts 16 yd TD scamper gave the Tigers the lead in the 4^th. But Mizzou defense was also strong as they made a critical stand later in the 4^th quarter as well as a couple 3 & outs earlier in the 2^nd half. MU piled up 285 yards on the ground—that’s a good sign! A strong ground game sets up the pass game—they compliment each other.

…Another good sign was the 5-star kicker-Robert Myer (from Colfax California). If you’re like me, I had never heard of Colfax California! It’s in Northern California—150 miles NE of San Francisco. I’m sure that his skills will become more & more significant as the season unfolds against stronger teams with closer scores. I don’t see his skills FALLING.

…Let’s not get too excited about Mizzou having an unbeaten record at this point of the season. Right now in the SEC, NONE of the contenders have FALLEN! There are EIGHT teams with perfect, 4-0 unbeaten records at this moment as week 5 of the football season is this weekend. Most teams had easy rides in their non-conference wins with maybe..maybe…1 “real opponent”.  Sooo…in a sense, Mizzou is in the “middle of the pack” 😊 But…they haven’t lost a game yet….sooo… GO TIGERS!

…Speaking of FALLING INTO ACTION… I don’t think that Arkansas (SEC team) has recovered yet from last Saturday’s stunning  32-31 loss to Memphis. It was absolutely shocking! Memphis is much more known for its basketball than football…the win for them was a program uplifter! Now, I must say that I had no idea that Memphis was 11-2 & 10-3 in its last 2 football seasons. They play in the American Athletic Conference. It’s a D-1 conference but not the same level as the SEC or the Big 10.  I would have to say a somewhat lower end of D-1 competition. But, nonetheless, there are some familiar D-1 names in this AAC conference. The teams are—Charlotte, E. Carolina, Army, Florida Atlantic, Memphis, Rice, N. Texas, SMU, S. Florida, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB, UTSA.

… In this game, Memphis was trailing Arkansas by 18 points midway through the second quarter. It looked like the Tigers were going to suffer their 1^st loss of the season. But the Tigers rallied and now have scored 20 or more points in 44 consecutive games. If you like offense…this was YOUR game. There was 989 total offensive yards by the 2 teams—WOW!! One College football expert actually now has Memphis reaching the College Football Playoff!!! Boy…. I’m impressed by their win…but….”don’t FALL OVERBOARD in your excitement!!

…here’s another one  that will have YOU FALLING INTO DISBELIEF (as you fall to the floor 😊)…#25 ranked UCLA  got trounced by New Mexico 35-10 last Saturday!  Get up now from the floor now 😊!!  It was a shocker!!  New Mexico scored 21 unanswered points in the 4^th quarter to win this one! But…UCLA faltered in several ways—3 of 11 on 3^rd down conversions; 13 penalties for 116 yards, in total yardage UCLA was outgained 450-326. The more I write…the better the Mizzou game is looking!!!

…and this one is maybe the biggest of “FALL” of all…Florida State 31 Alabama 17 !!! Now, Florida State has been a strong program for many years…but somehow….I still expect (and all the Bama fans still certainly expect) Bama to roll over opponent each Saturday. But, football isn’t all that’s going on.

…But…as we look at MLB baseball outside of the Cardinals, there is one team that is really FALLING AT THE END OF THE SEASON…the Detroit Tigers!  The Tigers have been in 1^st place in 2025 for most of the season…to be exact, 182 days, as of Sept 21! In fact on July 9^th, they still had a 14 game lead in the AL Central– That’s a long, long time ( in the sports world). They’ve been the “talk of the league” for the last 3 months but the Tigers are FALLING CURRENTLY. The Tigers were 1-9, including 6 losses in a row, from Sep 11-21. As I write this Sept 24 Detroit is 85-72 for the season and tied for the AL Central lead over the charging Cleveland Guardians. There’s only 1 week—5/6 games left in the season as I write this Buzz. A once comfortable, yet shocking to most observers, lead is gone. Who will FALL in this last week?

… But…how DID Detroit jump so high this year in the first 5 months? Strong pitching! Led by Tarik Skubal, who has piled up a fantastic season on the mound: 30 starts; 20 quality starts; 13-5 w-L record; 233 K’s (#2 in AL) with only 30 walks; ERA 2.23 (also #2in the AL!!); permitting only 30 walks all season and an AL league leading 1.416 walks/9 innings!!!

… Generally, in order to have a really good season, you need an ACE like Skubal to “make it work”. But…you also need a “closer”.  The Tiger’25  closer is quite a story. Detroit’s closer is  Will Vest!  Bet you never heard of him…I sure hadn’t!! Vest has been in the MLB for 5 unspectacular years. He was drafted by Detroit in 2017 in 12^th round, the 365^th player drafted that year. Sooo… he didn’t come in “highly touted”!! He’s in his 5^th year and these are his career numbers:  W-L–15-13; 26 saves (this is his career not THIS year); 38 holds; 17 blown saves!

…Yet 2025 is different for him…this is his FIRST year as the primary closer! He has posted 21 saves this year with 3 holds & 7 blown saves so he had 5 saves in his total MLB career prior to this season. The question for the final week is, as I write this on Tuesday, will Detroit continue to FALL & FALL BADLY or hang on?

…Thanks for your time & read! Please share YOUR thoughts on any of the topics. Email to me; or post on Facebook page. It’s GREAT reading YOUR thoughts on the topics. Bob