Tag: Milton

Oct 17, 2021; London, England, United Kingdom; A general overall view of F-15d Eagle fighter plane fly over during the playing of the British and the United States national anthems before an NFL International Series game between the Miami Dolphins and the Jacksonville Jaguars at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Milton delays Jaguars’ UK departure; still scheduled for two London games

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Hurricane Milton delayed the Jacksonville Jaguars’ planned departure for London, but the NFL said there is no change to the schedule for Sunday.

The Jaguars called off an arrival press conference near the team hotel scheduled for Friday. The team is expected to land in England by Friday and play their NFL-high 12th regular-season game in London on Sunday. They’ll play the Chicago Bears (3-2) at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The Jaguars are spending all of next week in the city with back-to-back games in London for the second consecutive season. Next week, the Jaguars play a “home” game against the New England Patriots (1-4) at Wembley Stadium the following Sunday.

London is comfortable territory for the Jaguars, who’ve played at least one game in the International Series since 2013 with the exception of the isolated 2020 season due to COVID-19. Jacksonville is 6-5 in London games.

“We still have to get over there and get acclimated quickly. The travel, all of that, is familiar to us,” Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson said. “That does give you a peace of mind traveling over there. The bottom line is when you get there, you still have to get acclimated, keep the guys rolling Friday and Saturday, and get ready for the game on Sunday.”

Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence said he shared with new teammates yet to make the trip across the Atlantic Ocean that the key is getting your body “on track” as soon as possible.

“That time change can get you if you’re not careful,” he said.

Considered the home team this week, Bears officials opted for an earlier departure and have been in London since Tuesday, affording players more time to rest and adjust to a six-hour time difference from Chicago. They held their first full-speed practice on Thursday after walk-through workouts on Wednesday.

“It doesn’t seem like there’s any numbers that tell you that one way or another,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said of the team heading to London days before the Jaguars. “But to me, it’s about focusing on us. That’s really all we can do.”

Jacksonville (1-4) won for the first time this season last week.

The Bears previously have played twice in London, facing the Buccaneers in 2011 and Raiders in 2019.

–Field Level Media

Aug 23, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles talks with quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Displaced Bucs pack bags, families, riding out week in New Orleans

Posted on | by Field Level Media

A structured early exit from Tampa for Week 6 allowed the Buccaneers to pack their bags, families and pets for an impromptu trip to New Orleans as the region braces for the impact of Hurricane Milton.

Head coach Todd Bowles described the mission for the team and staff as a three-day process with logistical hurdles in organizing families, players and staff to make the trip to Louisiana on Tuesday morning. More than 350 are in the team’s traveling party this week and the Buccaneers evacuated other player and staff family members to resorts in Orlando to remove them from harm’s way.

“I think overall, everything has gone smoothly. We got the team out, we got the families out, we got their pets out,” Bowles said Wednesday from a seat behind a folding table in a makeshift press conference setting. “Family is the most important thing right now. You can replace material things and you want everybody to be OK and you hope everybody evacuated; if not hunkered down safely. Family is the most important thing. If you can get your family out and keep them safe, everything else can be replaced.”

Bowles and several current players experienced a similar but far less orderly team evacuation prior to Hurricane Ian in 2022. Bowles said multiple players drove with family and there were failed connections along the way. The Bucs made only minor adjustments to their work week when Hurricane Helene made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida two weeks ago.

This week the Buccaneers are practicing at Tulane University in the late afternoon. They’ll play the Saints in New Orleans on Sunday before determining possible next steps.

Bowles said the Buccaneers will assess the aftermath of the hurricane and another round of potential logistical challenges that could await. The team facility at One Buc Place is landlocked and adjacent to Raymond James Stadium, but sits blocks from the Hillsborough River to the east and is separated from Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico only by Tampa International Airport.

The Buccaneers weighed moving to Houston for the week but chose New Orleans to avoid making multiple trips before Sunday. They could be in a similar circumstance next week before a scheduled Monday night game at home against Baltimore.

Bowles noted obvious challenges and provisional plans should significant damage to the team facility force the Buccaneers to stay on the road for an extended period.

He knows players face unusual challenges returning to hotel rooms at night, many of them with family members present.

“We understand that the things that we do in football are a small mechanism in the game of life and the hurricane is going to affect people,” Bowles said. “But we’re focused and we’re trying to get ready for a game. If everybody’s here and there families are here, that makes it a lot easier.”

–Field Level Media

Motorist make their way North on I-75 Monday afternoon, October 7, 2024 as some were evacuating from South Florida because of Hurricane Milton which is expected to make landfall on Wednesday near the Tampa Bay area. Residents of Marion County were preparing for Hurricane Milton Monday afternoon, at local supply stores like Home Depot and people were grabbing their 10 bags of sand at locations throughout the city and county.

Memphis-USF game in Tampa moved to Saturday due to Milton

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Friday night’s game between Memphis and host South Florida in Tampa, Fla., has been rescheduled for Saturday due to Hurricane Milton.

The American Athletic Conference announced the change on Tuesday. Saturday’s game at Raymond James Stadium will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET, conditions permitting.

Memphis (4-1, 0-1 AAC) dropped its league opener at Navy, 56-44, on Sept. 21.

South Florida (2-3, 0-1) has been idle since a 45-10 defeat at Tulane in its AAC opener on Sept. 28.

–Field Level Media

Jan 9, 2023; Inglewood, CA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs running back Branson Robinson (22) celebrates as he scores a rushing touchdown against the TCU Horned Frogs during the CFP national championship game at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Georgia RB Branson Robinson (knee) out for season

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Georgia running back Branson Robinson will miss the upcoming season with a ruptured patellar tendon, coach Kirby Smart announced Wednesday.

Robinson sustained the injury in a non-contact drill at practice on Tuesday.

Robinson had 68 carries for 330 yards with three touchdowns in 12 games during his freshman season in 2022. He also scored twice as the Bulldogs breezed to a 65-7 victory over TCU in the national championship game on Jan. 9.

“It won’t affect our run-pass ratio,” Smart said of Robinson’s injury. “We have capable backs. He was one of our better backs. When healthy last year, we think he was kind of coming into his own. He was learning how to pass protect. He had a really good spring while he was going, so we were really excited about where he was headed. He was explosive, twitchy, could do some things in pass pro and running the ball that maybe some of the other guys couldn’t do.”

Georgia is expected to lean on Daijun Edwards and Kendall Milton, although the latter is nursing a tight hamstring.

Edwards rushed for 769 yards and seven touchdowns last season, while Milton had 592 yards and eight scores.

–Field Level Media

Apr 15, 2023; Columbus, Ohio, United States; Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. (18) sprints down the side of the field during the first quarter of the Ohio State Buckeyes spring game at Ohio Stadium on Saturday morning. Mandatory Credit: Joseph Scheller-The Columbus Dispatch

Heisman 2023: Bettors like Marvin Harrison Jr., Joe Milton

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams is favored to win the 2023 Heisman Trophy, but he has a long way to go to join Archie Miller (1974-75) as the only repeat winners in the award’s history.

Besides, from a betting perspective, where’s the fun in backing the reigning honoree?

With less than three weeks until the new season of college football kicks off, two names in particular are catching bettors’ eyes at BetMGM: Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. and Tennessee quarterback Joe Milton.

Harrison, who opened at +2500 before moving to +2000 to win the Heisman, leads all players with 8.5 percent of the total bets, BetMGM reported Monday. He has garnered 5.9 percent of the total handle.

The son of Hall of Fame wide receiver Marvin Harrison finished the 2022 season strong, with 77 receptions for 1,263 yards and 14 touchdowns for the Buckeyes.

The younger Harrison is considered the most dynamic offensive weapon on an Ohio State squad still sorting out whether Kyle McCord or Devin Brown will be the new starting quarterback. And there’s recent precedent for a wide receiver to win the Heisman: DeVonta Smith (2020) was one of just two non-quarterbacks to win the award since the dawn of the 2010s.

Milton has racked up the second-most tickets from Heisman futures bettors at BetMGM (7.33 percent) while earning the largest portion of the handle (9.2 percent).

He is taking over for Hendon Hooker as the Volunteers’ starting quarterback after Hooker had a Heisman-worthy campaign cut short by an ACL injury last November. Milton racked up 971 yards and 10 passing touchdowns in relief of Hooker last season and has plenty of college experience after spending multiple seasons at Michigan.

Milton opened at +2000 at BetMGM and has since seen his odds lengthen to +2500, the inverse of Harrison’s movement. He and McCarthy are the book’s top two Heisman liabilities as of Monday.

Williams is a +500 favorite at BetMGM with 7.27 percent of the tickets and 7.2 percent of the handle, and right behind him is LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels, who’s seen his odds to win the award shrink from +1600 to just +900.

Daniels — who has attracted 5.8 percent of the tickets and 6.3 percent of the money at BetMGM — took over the starting job at LSU last year after transferring from Arizona State. He threw for 2,913 yards, 17 touchdowns and just three interceptions and added 885 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns.

–Field Level Media