Yahoo Sports AM: Sign-stealing
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🚨 HEADLINES
🏈 Jags escape: The Jaguars escaped with a 31-24 win at the Caesars Superdome after Saints tight end Foster Moreau dropped the game-tying TD in the end zone. Jacksonville improves to 5-2, while New Orleans drops to 3-4.
🇫🇷 Paris HQ raided (again): For the second time in four months, the 2024 Paris Olympics headquarters were raided as part of an ongoing investigation into potential corruption.
⚾️ HOF ballot: Former managers Jim Leyland, Lou Piniella and Davey Johnson are among the eight men on the ballot for Hall of Fame consideration by the contemporary era committee.
🏀 Liberty fined: The WNBA fined the Liberty $25,000 for violating the league's postgame media access policies after their loss in the WNBA Finals on Wednesday night. Barely anyone from the team was made available to reporters.
🏈 MICHIGAN UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR SIGN-STEALING
The NCAA is investigating the Michigan football program for an alleged sign-stealing operation, industry sources told Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger and Dan Wetzel.
Details: Teams are normally provided extensive video footage to scout opponents. At issue is whether Michigan had individuals attend games of both scheduled opponents and possible College Football Playoff opponents in an effort to gather information on the signs they use.
Sign stealing is not technically prohibited and has a long and colorful history as part of the game. Scouting opponents in person has been prohibited since 1994.
If the allegations are true, Michigan would have violated NCAA Bylaw 11.6.1, which states: "Off-campus, in-person scouting of future opponents (in the same season) is prohibited."
Person of interest: Connor Stalions, an analyst with the team and a retired captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, is a person of interest in the investigation, ESPN reported late last night. "He had one role," said a source with knowledge of Michigan's staff.
According to ESPN, Stalions technically works in the recruiting department but is known to spend much of his time watching TV copies of opponents' games to "decipher" their signals.
The NCAA's case doesn't hinge on whether Stalions broke down film, which is perfectly legal. Rather, it's whether or not illicit methods were used (i.e. scouting opponents in person).
Context: Teams commonly use hand signals or visual pictures on signs held aloft on the sideline to tell the QB or defensive captain the play. Stealing those signs has been a gray area in the past and teams routinely switch up their signals to guard against it.
What teams are saying: Two of Michigan's opponents this season told Yahoo Sports they became aware that Michigan knew their play signs. (Perhaps of note: Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said "there's some things going on that aren't right" in a halftime interview during his team's 31-7 loss to the Wolverines last month.)
What Michigan is saying: "I do not have any knowledge or information regarding [our] program illegally stealing signals, nor have I directed any staff member or others to participate in an off-campus scouting assignment," Harbaugh said in a statement.
Michigan is already under NCAA investigation for a series of Level II rule violations that include Harbaugh meeting with recruits during a COVID dead period, using too many coaches in practice and watching player workouts on Zoom.
The school suspended Harbaugh for the first three games of the season after a negotiated resolution with the NCAA for a four-game suspension collapsed. The case is expected to be heard after the 2023 season.
Coming up: Michigan is 7-0 and ranked No. 2 in the country heading into a rivalry game Saturday at Michigan State. The Spartans staff was notified of the situation earlier this week.
⚾️ IN PHOTOS: DOUBLEHEADER
Phoenix — Ketel Marte hit a bases-loaded, walk-off single to lift Arizona past Philadelphia, 2-1, and avoid a 3-0 NLCS hole. It's the third postseason walk-off in Diamondbacks history, with the previous two coming during the team's 2001 World Series run.
Arlington, Texas — The Astros blew out the Rangers, 10-3, at Globe Life Field, where the roof was open for the first time since May. Houston is the fifth team to come back to tie a series 2-2 after dropping the first two games at home. The last to do it? Houston in the 2019 World Series.
What to watch… The Phillies and Astros are currently favorites to advance to the World Series, where they'd become the first opponents to square off in consecutive Fall Classics since 1977-78, when the Yankees and Dodgers did so.
🏈 THE FALCONS ARE FLYING HIGH
If you want to see Colorado's buzziest college football team, head to Boulder. If you want to see Colorado's best college football team, head about an hour south to Colorado Springs. Stop when you see the fighter jets.
The year of the Falcons: No. 22 Air Force (6-0) is off to the best start by a service academy in 21 years and has the nation's fourth-longest winning streak (11 games) entering Saturday's game against Navy (3-3) in Annapolis, Maryland.
Air Force has been winning for a while. In fact, they're the only Group of 5 team (and one of just seven FBS teams) to win at least 10 games in each of the past three full seasons.
Since 2019, the only five schools with a better winning percentage than Air Force are Georgia, Ohio State, Alabama and Michigan, notes ESPN.
The Commander-in-Chief's Trophy: The Falcons won the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy last year by beating Army and Navy, giving them 21 CIC titles (Navy has 16, Army has nine). Even amid such a stellar season, this is the game that matters.
"We've always said if we go undefeated and win the conference, but we lose the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy … it's a wasted year," senior linebacker Bo Richter told ESPN. "These games [against Army and Navy] just mean so much more."
They have their work cut out for them: The home team has won nine of the past 10 games in this series, the lone exception being a 23-3 victory by Air Force at Navy two years ago.
By the numbers: Air Force has led the nation in rushing for three straight seasons, and they rank No. 1 again at 334.2 yards per game — nearly 60 more yards than No. 2 Liberty (274.6).
📸 BEHIND THE LENS
Each week, we'll be going "Behind the Lens" with Getty Images to get the backstory on the best photographs in sports.
This week's photo: Ireland players watch the New Zealand All Blacks perform the Haka prior to their quarterfinal match at the Rugby World Cup in Paris. New Zealand won, 28-24, after entering the match as an underdog for just the sixth time in history.
Photographer: Mike Hewitt
Date: October 14
📸 Behind the lens: Here's Mike…
I was high up in the stadium catwalk to capture this image. The French crowds seem to treat the Haka with a certain amount of reverence, whereas in England the crowd seem to think it's their duty to try and neutralize any benefits it may give to the kiwis by singing very loudly.
Apparently, the Irish team formed a figure of eight in memory of Anthony Foley, the ex-Irish international who wore No. 8 for Ireland. The Irish fans massively outnumbered the New Zealanders. Irish fans always travel in huge numbers and didn't have quite so far to come!
This is my seventh Rugby World Cup and this was one of the best matches I've covered. The crowds have been astonishing. Every match has been sold out. Unbelievably, Ireland have played in eight World Cup quarterfinals and lost them all.
Coming up: This weekend's semifinals feature four teams from four different continents. New Zealand plays Argentina today, and England plays South Africa tomorrow.
⚽️ MLS DECISION DAY
MLS Decision Day has arrived, with all but one team* taking the field on Saturday for their last game of the season, Jeff writes.
How it works: This year's postseason is the biggest ever, with nine teams qualifying in each conference, up from seven last year.
Seeds 1-7 automatically advance to Round One, which is now a best-of-three series, while Nos. 8 and 9 will play a single-elimination wild card match.
If teams finish the regular season with an equal number of points, the first tiebreaker is wins, the second is goal differential and the third is goals scored.
West clinching scenarios: The top six teams have all clinched byes and the bottom three teams have been eliminated, leaving five teams fighting for the final three spots — with all five still in contention for the seventh and final bye.
Portland: They're in if they beat Houston and could still advance with a draw or loss.
Dallas: They're in if they beat the Galaxy and could still advance with a draw or loss.
San Jose: They're in if they beat Austin and could still advance with a draw or loss.
Kansas City: They must beat Minnesota to have a chance.
Minnesota: They must beat Kansas City to have a chance.
East clinching scenarios: The top seven teams have all clinched byes and three teams have been eliminated, leaving five teams fighting for the two wild card spots.
Montréal: They're in if they beat Columbus and could still advance with a draw or loss depending on other results.
NY Red Bulls: They're in if they beat Nashville (assuming Chicago doesn't win their game by a lot) and could still advance with a draw.
Chicago: They must at least tie NYCFC to have a chance.
Charlotte: They must beat Miami to have a chance.
NYCFC: They must beat Chicago to have a chance.
*Because there are an odd number of clubs (29), one team concluded its season before Decision Day. That was D.C. United, who've already been mathematically eliminated.
🥇 DAILY RANKING: PAN AM GAMES MEDAL COUNT
The 2023 Pan American Gamesbegin today in Santiago, Chile, with 6,909 athletes from 41 nations competing in 425 events in 39 sports.
All-time medal table: The U.S. has been a dominant force at the Pan Am Games, which have been held every four years since 1951, featuring athletes from nations of the Americas.
🇺🇸 USA (4,713 medals)
🇨🇺 Cuba (2,124)
🇨🇦 Canada (2,067)
🇧🇷 Brazil (1,376)
🇦🇷 Argentina (1,160)
🇲🇽 Mexico (1,147)
🇻🇪 Venezuela (618)
🇨🇴 Colombia (568)
🇨🇱 Chile (336)
🇵🇷 Puerto Rico (267)
Team USA: The U.S. roster totals 631 athletes (318 women, 313 men) and includes 93 Olympians and 32 Olympic medalists. The youngest member is 15-year-old skateboarder Paige Heyn, and the oldest member is 57-year-old equestrian athlete Laura Kraut.
📆 OCT. 20, 2004: FOUR DAYS IN OCTOBER
19 years ago today, the Red Sox completed MLB's only comeback from a 3-0 series deficit, thumping the Yankees, 10-3, in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS to reach the World Series*, Jeff writes.
The heroes: Dave Roberts' legendary steal came in Game 4, which ended on a David Ortiz walk-off blast. Ortiz walked it off again in Game 5 (a single this time), Curt Schilling's bloody sock game won them Game 6 and Johnny Damon's two-homer game helped clinch it in Game 7.
🥇 1968: American Dick Fosbury won gold in the high jump at the Mexico City Games, setting an Olympic record and introducing the "Fosbury Flop," which remains the go-to technique.
⚾️ 1993: The Blue Jays beat the Phillies, 15-14, in the highest-scoring World Series game in MLB history. Three days later, they won the championship on Joe Carter's walk-off blast.
*A long time coming: Boston would go on to sweep the Cardinals in the Fall Classic, ending their 86-year title drought. They've won three more times since, and their four titles this century are the most in baseball.
⚾️ MLB TRIVIA
Justin Verlander, who will start Game 5 tonight for the Astros, has pitched the second most innings in postseason history (220.1).
Question: Who has pitched the most?
John Smoltz
Whitey Ford
Andy Pettitte
Clayton Kershaw
Answer at the bottom.
📺 WEEKEND WATCHLIST
Welcome to Weekend Watchlist, where we preview, well, the weekend. Think of it as an expanded version of our typical Watchlist section — with more games, more info and a dedicated home on the Yahoo Sports app/website.
This weekend is stacked with postseason MLB and NWSL action, MLS Decision Day, the Rugby World Cup semifinals, the U.S. Grand Prix, and of course, lots and lots of football.
⚾️ MLB playoffs: The World Series matchup could be set by Sunday.
⚽️ NWSL playoffs: The quarterfinals kick off tonight.
⚽️ MLS Decision Day: The regular season concludes tomorrow.
🏈 CFB Saturday: No. 7 Penn State at No. 3 Ohio State is the game of the weekend.
🏈 NFL Sunday: Eagles at Dolphins on "Sunday Night Football" headlines Week 7.
See the full watchlist on Yahoo Sports.
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Trivia answer: Andy Pettitte (276.2 postseason innings)
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