In a world without Bama in the playoff (movie narrator voice)… but in all seriousness, the CFB bracket dropped yesterday. We’ll detail the last team in the bracket argument, the massive Juan Soto deal, plus supermen Josh Allen and Scottie Scheffler, Chris Paul making history, and another top college basketball team falls! All of that, and more, in Monday’s edition of the DAILY STUMP

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Today’s Trivia🧠

(answer at the bottom of the Stump!)

On This Day…

⚽️ On this day in 1892, the English football club Newcastle United was founded.

Commonly known by their nickname, the Magpies, or as we call them, Pies. The club has spent all but three years of its history in the English Premier League, and never dropping below the second tier of English Soccer. Newcastle is a staple of the Premier League.

Today’s Stump Story…

🏈 SMU In, Bama Out: The Right Choice?

At the end of the day, there really is no right answer. I feel bad for the selection committee, they’re never going to win. But did they get the last team in right?

The massive debate entering Sunday morning’s reveal was what the committee would do with SMU, Alabama, and some will argue Miami U. The Mustangs were ranked 8 last week, but their loss to Clemson in the ACC Championship game really clouded the CFP bracket.

Alabama, who had lost 3 games this year, was on the outside looking in. Bama fans hoped that their wins over top opponents like Georgia, South Carolina, Missouri, and LSU would be enough to jump SMU. But it was Bama’s losses to unranked Vanderbilt and Oklahoma that really ended their season.

The committee went with SMU, who despite playing a much weaker schedule than Bama, managed to go 11-1 in the regular season. SMU didn’t really have any big losses, but went down big to Clemson before they came all the way back just to lose on a walk-off 56-yard FG by the Tigers. SMU is part of the new blood of power conference teams that were highly successful in their season in their respective conference, teams like Texas, Arizona State, and Oregon.

Was the committee right to go with SMU? Personally, I think they were. The Mustangs, while not always facing the best competition, are a perfect example of why this new CFP format is so cool. So many new teams get to compete for a championship. SMU took care of business all year long, and they looked like the high-power offense we all expected in the second half against Clemson.

Sure, could Alabama beat SMU? Maybe. But I don’t care. The problem with Bama is you don’t know what team you’re going to get. You could get the team that beat Georgia and LSU. You could also get the team that lost to Oklahoma and Vanderbilt. If they took care of business in those games, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. SMU played good teams, they didn’t play top 25 teams maybe, but it is not their fault the ACC had a down year.

Bama: Win the games you’re supposed to, and then we’ll talk.

Quick Hitters

⚾️ Not to outshine any of the other crazy things that went down yesterday, one of the BIGGEST contracts in MLB history was shelled out to Juan Soto yesterday. Soto and the New York Mets reached an unheard-of 15-year, $765M contract to make him the face of the franchise for the next decade and a half. What an absolutely stunning outcome as the Mets bring in one of the best players in baseball and outbid their crosstown rival in New York. It becomes the largest deal in professional sports. What a day for Mets fan…

⛳️ I think I should just start copying and pasting this blip because I type it all the time: Scottie Scheffler has won another tournament. World Hero Challenge has the top players in the PGA representing, and the one who was the best all year in 2024, took home the win. Scottie started the day one back, but ran away with the tournament. Here’s the top 5:

• Scottie Scheffler (USA): -25

• Tom Kim (South Korea): -19

• Justin Thomas (USA): -18

• Akshay Bhatia (USA): -15

• Keegan Bradley (USA): -14

🏀 Veteran PG and future Hall of Famer, Chris Paul, passed Jason Kidd last night for 2nd all-time in NBA assists. He passed Kidd with a drop off to Victor Wembenyama, securing his 12,092nd career assists. He now only trails Hall of Famer John Stockton, who amassed 15,086, a record that Paul at 39-years-old will probably not reach. Paul is also chasing Kidd in career steals, he’s 38 behind Kidd’s second-place all-time mark.

🏈 In a year where the Buffalo Bills have been arguably the best team in all of football, a loss like yesterday raises some defensive questions. Bills QB Josh Allen put on the Superman cape as he went for 6 total touchdowns and over 400 total yards, but the defense couldn’t particularly stop anything. The Bills hope that recently re-signed Safety Micah Hyde can help out, but I’d be shocked if we don’t see the Bills make some other changes. The LA Rams may be all the way back! Watch out NFC!

🤯 It’s not a good year to sit atop the College Basketball world. A couple weeks after UConn ripped off three-straight losses in Maui, the (1) Kansas Jayhawks lose their second straight game after they were shocked by Missouri just a few nights after their loss to Creighton. The SEC boasts the best basketball conference in the nation, and the Missouri Tigers are right in the thick of it. After (2) Auburn lost on the road to (9) Duke, it looks like (3) Tennessee will end up as the new (1) in this weeks poll.

Other News:

• 🥲 “Dumpster fire” banner flies over MetLife

• 🏆️ 2 MLB legends get HOF nod

• ❓️ Is Mbappe just “too hungry”?

• 🔥 Full College Football Playoff Bracket

Top Performers:

• 🏀 Nikola Jokic (DEN): 48 points, 14 rebounds, 8 assists

• 🏈 Sam Darnold (MIN): 347 yards passing yards, 5 TDs

• 🏈 Josh Allen (BUF): 424 total yards, 6 total TDs

• 🏀 Tyler Herro (MIA): 34 points, 6 assists, 7 rebounds

Stump Favorites

💯 Every TD from the Rams-Bills game (12 total, lol)

🤣 Jokic hit a half-courter like it was nothing

😮 Brandon Miller can really soar

🔥 UCLA game winner at Oregon

💯 Full Scoreboards: MLB, Soccer, PGA, NFL, WNBA, NCAAF, NHL

Today’s Slate

*All times are ET*

🏈 NFL: Monday Night Football: Bengals @ Cowboys (8:15 on ESPN), full schedule

🏀 NBA: Knicks @ Raptors (7:30 PM on NBATV), full schedule

🏀 CBB (M): (15) Baylor vs Abilene Christian (8:00 PM), full schedule

🏀 CBB (W): (14) Kentucky vs Queens University (6:00 PM), full schedule

🏒 NHL: Red Wings @ Sabres (7:00 PM), Blackhawks vs Rangers (7:00 PM), Ducks vs Canadiens (7:30 PM), full schedule

⚽️ EPL: West Ham vs Wolverhampton (3:00 PM), full schedule

Trivia Answer:

A. Sheffield FC. Founded in 1857 in Sheffield, England, the club is the oldest in the United Kingdom and is recognized as the oldest club in the world by FIFA that still competes professionally. .

Can’t thank you enough for sticking to the end of this thing we call The Daily Stump. If you know anybody who might want this bit of daily sports news in their life, send them this link! It would go a long way! Appreciate the hell out of you all!

Trees get chopped. Stumps hold strong!