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Ashlon Jackson scores career-best 30 points to lead No. 13 Duke past No. 9 Kansas 73-62On the surface, Thanksgiving week might be a good time for Baylor to really appreciate just how far it has come this season after winning its fifth game in a row and securing a trip to a bowl game. Not so fast, my friend. Kansas has won three straight games over ranked teams and comes to Waco to close out the regular season in a battle of two red-hot teams on Saturday at 11 a.m. “You pop on their tape and (it's) way apparent, they’re probably the best team we've played,” Baylor head coach Dave Aranda. Baylor has won its last 13 meetings against Kansas, including a perfect 11-0 all-time record when the two teams face off in Waco. With no classes this week, it gives the Bears much more time to focus on football. But it also gives them much more time to ruin all the good things they’ve built leading up to the regular season finale. Baylor head coach Dave Aranda runs on the field with offensive lineman Omar Aigbedion before their game with Houston. “There’s a maturity with this team as we’ve gone (on), Aranda said. “I feel like we’re in a position to handle that the right way. They know they’re playing for a lot. They’re playing for these seniors. They’re playing for a real successful end of the year. I know it means a lot to them.” It wasn’t pretty, but Baylor outlasted Houston, 20-10, on Saturday night for their fifth win in a row and won all their games against fellow Texas-based Big 12 teams this season. Quarterback Sawyer Robertson threw a career-high three interceptions, the Bears’ 325 yards of total offense are the third-fewest in a game this season and the 20 points was the second-lowest scoring output of the season for the Bears. “I'm confident in our offense,” Aranda said. “I'm confident in the coaches and in our players. I think all of it can be a good thing, that you struggle at times, it allows you to reflect and really look at yourself and find the things that we were taking for granted, or we were losing a little bit of an edge on.” Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson gives the “sic ’em” sign while walking off the field during their win over Houston. With just one week to go, they are one of nine conference teams that are still alive for a berth in the Big 12 Championship game. The first step in that process begins with a Baylor win over Kansas on Saturday. If that happens, the Bears need three of the four two-loss teams (Arizona State vs. Arizona, BYU vs. Houston, Colorado vs. Oklahoma State and Iowa State vs. Kansas State) to lose to clinch a trip to Arlington. Despite all the assistant coaches and analysts on the Baylor staff, there is not one in charge of figuring out tiebreakers. “It just speaks to the conference and to just how tough it is to win,” Aranda said. “Everyone's talented, everyone's got really good coaches. You have to be on it. Physically, you've got to be healthy enough to be on it. Mentally, with all the schematic issues that you get... That’s exhausting.” Injury updates Steve Linton missed the Houston game with a lower-leg injury but is trending in the right direction ahead of the season finale, according to Aranda. “(He) looks good,” Aranda said. “He was moving around today. We wish we could have had him for Saturday, but I'm confident we'll have him for this next one.” Linton missed a game earlier this season due to suspension but has been a crucial piece of the defense, ranking 10th on the team with 25 tackles and coming in at No. 2 on the team with seven TFLs and three sacks. Quarterback Dequan Finn started the first two games of the season, was available in the road game at Colorado and rushed for a touchdown in the fourth quarter of the road win over Texas Tech. Finn, who transferred to Baylor after four years at Toledo, will remain sidelined as he and the Bears look toward the next steps. “Dequan is still trying to work through his injury and get it properly diagnosed and what's next for him in his career,” Aranda said. “That has been however many weeks we're into it. I feel for him, and I'm hopeful we get some type of closure with that here soon.” Baylor vs. Houston Game Highlights | 2024 Big 12 Football // via BaylorAthletics on YouTube Welcome to 'Feast Week' Aranda was quick to tell his team to stay focused this week, but that doesn’t mean they can’t kick back a little bit on Thursday. His favorite part of Thanksgiving is being with family. Aranda said his oldest daughter, Jaelyn, was back from Wisconsin for a little bit, and before she leaves for the Badgers’ next football game, it’s been good to see his other two children be excited to spend time with their older sister. What are his plans for Thursday? “I enjoy being on the couch after eating a lot of food, watching football,” Aranda said. Also, the pie. “I would say pies would probably be my top (food choice),” Aranda said. “I take all types of pies. There are times where I go pies prior (to dinner) before I should.” Be the first to know Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
The Pittsburgh Steelers have exceeded expectations thus far in 2024, as the team is 8-3 and atop the AFC North through 12 weeks. Pittsburgh suffered a disappointing 24-19 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Thursday Night Football in Week 12 but will look to bounce back in Week 13 versus the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium. Though the Steelers have one of the most complete rosters in the NFL, the team still has some glaring weaknesses, primarily at cornerback. Outside of Joey Porter Jr., Pittsburgh lacks consistent production and high-level play at the position. Though Donte Jackson has shown flashes of dominance, the veteran has been extremely inconsistent in his debut campaign with the Steelers. General manager Omar Khan should look to address Pittsburgh's need for another boundary corner this offseason, and Bleacher Report's Alex Ballentine believes San Francisco 49ers' defensive back Charvarius Ward could join the Steelers in the offseason. Charvarius Ward's contract with the San Francisco 49ers is set to void at the end of the season. He will likely be a pricey free agent, and it only makes sense to sign him to a one- or two-year deal, but he could be the kind of player that puts the Steelers defense over the top. Pittsburgh is a legitimate contender this season because of an elite defense and an offense that understands how to help that elite defense. Joey Porter Jr. continues to improve, but veteran corner Donte Jackson is a bit of a liability. Ward wouldn't come cheap and they may have to do some cap gymnastics to make it work, but the risk could be worth the reward. Ward has been one of the most consistent cornerbacks in the NFL over the last few seasons, as the former undrafted free agent had a career year in 2023 and is having another solid campaign in 2024. Ward posted a career-high five interceptions and a league-leading 23 passes defended last season and was selected to the Pro Bowler and earned a second-team All-Pro selection. Ward doesn't have the flashy interception numbers this year, but the 28-year-old is allowing just a 53% completion rate and an 86.5 passer rating when targeted. The former Middle Tennessee State standout has missed the last three games due to personal reasons. Though Ward hasn't been elite in 2024, adding the Super Bowl LVI champion would be a savvy move from Omar Khan. Ward is still a reliable player who hasn't sustained many major injuries in his career and would be an excellent fit alongside Joey Porter in the secondary. Signing Ward shouldn't be problematic for Khan, as the Steelers are set to boast over $57 million in cap space, per Spotrac , and the former Kansas City Chief shouldn't demand an unreasonable deal. Ward has been an integral piece to the 49ers' defense over the last few years, but San Francisco recently gave fellow cornerback Deommodore Lenoir a $92 million extension , meaning Ward is likely the odd man out in the team's defensive back room.The Kremlin fired a new intermediate-range ballistic missile at Ukraine on Thursday in response to Kyiv's use this week of American and British missiles capable of striking deeper into Russia, President Vladimir Putin said. In a televised address to the country, the Russian president warned that U.S. air defense systems would be powerless to stop the new missile, which he said flies at ten times the speed of sound and which he called the Oreshnik — Russian for hazelnut tree. He also said it could be used to attack any Ukrainian ally whose missiles are used to attack Russia. “We believe that we have the right to use our weapons against military facilities of the countries that allow to use their weapons against our facilities,” Putin said in his first comments since President Joe Biden gave Ukraine the green light this month to use U.S. ATACMS missiles to strike at limited targets inside Russia. Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed that Russia’s missile was a new, experimental type of intermediate range missile based on it’s RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile. “This was new type of lethal capability that was deployed on the battlefield, so that was certainly of concern," Singh said, noting that the missile could carry either conventional or nuclear warheads. The U.S. was notified ahead of the launch through nuclear risk reduction channels, she said. The attack on the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro came in response to Kyiv's use of longer-range U.S. and British missiles in strikes Tuesday and Wednesday on southern Russia, Putin said. Those strikes caused a fire at an ammunition depot in Russia's Bryansk region and killed and wounded some security services personnel in the Kursk region, he said. “In the event of an escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond decisively and in kind,” the Russian president said, adding that Western leaders who are hatching plans to use their forces against Moscow should “seriously think about this.” Putin said the Oreshnik fired Thursday struck a well-known missile factory in Dnipro. He also said Russia would issue advance warnings if it launches more strikes with the Oreshnik against Ukraine to allow civilians to evacuate to safety — something Moscow hasn’t done before previous aerial attacks. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov initially said Russia hadn’t warned the U.S. about the coming launch of the new missile, noting that it wasn't obligated to do so. But he later changed tack and said Moscow did issue a warning 30 minutes before the launch. Putin's announcement came hours after Ukraine claimed that Russia had used an intercontinental ballistic missile in the Dnipro attack, which wounded two people and damaged an industrial facility and rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, according to local officials. But American officials said an initial U.S. assessment indicated the strike was carried out with an intermediate-range ballistic missile. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post that the use of the missile was an "obvious and serious escalation in the scale and brutality of this war, a cynical violation of the UN Charter.” He also said there had been “no strong global reaction” to the use of the missile, which he said could threaten other countries. “Putin is very sensitive to this. He is testing you, dear partners,” Zelenskyy wrote. “If there is no tough response to Russia’s actions, it means they see that such actions are possible.” The attack comes during a week of escalating tensions , as the U.S. eased restrictions on Ukraine's use of American-made longer-range missiles inside Russia and Putin lowered the threshold for launching nuclear weapons. The Ukrainian air force said in a statement that the Dnipro attack was launched from Russia’s Astrakhan region, on the Caspian Sea. “Today, our crazy neighbor once again showed what he really is,” Zelenskyy said hours before Putin's address. “And how afraid he is.” Russia was sending a message by attacking Ukraine with an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of releasing multiple warheads at extremely high speeds, even if they are less accurate than cruise missiles or short-range ballistic missiles, said Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank. “Why might you use it therefore?” Savill said. "Signaling — signaling to the Ukrainians. We’ve got stuff that outrages you. But really signaling to the West ‘We’re happy to enter into a competition around intermediate range ballistic missiles. P.S.: These could be nuclear tipped. Do you really want to take that risk?’” Military experts say that modern ICBMs and IRBMs are extremely difficult to intercept, although Ukraine has previously claimed to have stopped some other weapons that Russia described as “unstoppable,” including the air-launched Kinzhal hypersonic missile. David Albright, of the Washington-based think tank the Institute for Science and International Security, said he was “skeptical” of Putin’s claim, adding that Russian technology sometimes “falls short.” He suggested Putin was “taunting the West to try to shoot it down ... like a braggart boasting, taunting his enemy.” Earlier this week, the Biden administration authorized Ukraine to use the U.S.-supplied, longer-range missiles to strike deeper inside Russia — a move that drew an angry response from Moscow. Days later, Ukraine fired several of the missiles into Russia, according to the Kremlin. The same day, Putin signed a new doctrine that allows for a potential nuclear response even to a conventional attack on Russia by any nation that is supported by a nuclear power. The doctrine is formulated broadly to avoid a firm commitment to use nuclear weapons. In response, Western countries, including the U.S., said Russia has used irresponsible nuclear rhetoric and behavior throughout the war to intimidate Ukraine and other nations. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday that Russia’s formal lowering of the threshold for nuclear weapons use did not prompt any changes in U.S. doctrine. She pushed back on concerns that the decision to allow Ukraine to use Western missiles to strike deeper inside Russia might escalate the war. ′′They’re the ones who are escalating this,” she said of the Kremlin — in part because of a flood of North Korean troops sent to the region. More than 1,000 days into war , Russia has the upper hand, with its larger army advancing in Donetsk and Ukrainian civilians suffering from relentless drone and missile strikes. Analysts and observers say the loosening of restrictions on Ukraine's use of Western missiles is unlikely to change the the course of the war, but it puts the Russian army in a more vulnerable position and could complicate the logistics that are crucial in warfare. Putin has also warned that the move would mean that Russia and NATO are at war. “It is an important move and it pulls against, undermines the narrative that Putin had been trying to establish that it was fine for Russia to rain down Iranian drones and North Korean missiles on Ukraine but a reckless escalation for Ukraine to use Western-supplied weapons at legitimate targets in Russia,” said Peter Ricketts, a former U.K. national security adviser who now sits in the House of Lords. ___ Associated Press writers Jill Lawless and Emma Burrows in London, and Zeke Miller and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report. ___ Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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Universal Pictures has revealed that Christopher Nolan's next film will be The Odyssey, a 'mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX film technology' that will be released in theaters on July 17, 2026. Nolan's The Odyssey will bring "Homer's foundational saga to IMAX film screens for the first time" and will be a retelling of the Ancient Greek epic poem that was first written in the 8th or 7th century BC. Christopher Nolan’s next film ‘The Odyssey’ is a mythic action epic shot across the world using brand new IMAX film technology. The film brings Homer’s foundational saga to IMAX film screens for the first time and opens in theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026.— Universal Pictures (@UniversalPics) For those unfamiliar, The Odyssey follows the journey of Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, who travels the world for 10 years in an attempt to get home after the Trojan War. While Universal didn't reveal any further details on Nolan's The Odyssey, reports which marks his return to Universal after 2023's Oppenheimer, which won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. Alongside Damon, reports state he may be joined by Charlize Theron, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, Lupita Nyong'o, and Robert Pattinson. We're obviously excited about Nolan's next film as we gave Oppenheimer a 10/10. we said, "A biopic in constant free fall, Oppenheimer is Christopher Nolan’s most abstract yet most exacting work, with themes of guilt writ large through apocalyptic IMAX nightmares that grow both more enormous and more intimate as time ticks on. "A disturbing, mesmerizing vision of what humanity is capable of bringing upon itself, both through its innovation, and through its capacity to justify any atrocity." For more, and
Rams don't dominate, but they're rolling toward the playoffs with superb complementary footballThanks to meme culture, a whole new generation is enjoying the beloved 2003 holiday movie, "Elf." Video above: Giant Buddy the Elf cutout looms over Vermont children's museum We are now learning the behind-the-scenes story about one particular scene that has gone viral. According to Mark Acheson, who played "Mailroom Guy" in the film, not only was much of his scene improvised, it almost didn't make it into the movie. "I called my agent and he said, 'Listen, they would like you to come and do one line with Will Ferrell. Would you like to do it?,'" Acheson told People magazine. "And I said, yeah, I'd be happy to do that. I was only supposed to say 'work release' and that was the end of it." Ferrell plays Buddy the Elf, sent to the mailroom at his father's office to stay occupied. "Elf" director Jon Favreau got Acheson to improvise with Ferrell. During the scene, Acheson's character tells Ferrell's character he's 26 years old but has "nothing to show for it." "You're young, you're so young," Ferrell's Buddy tells the "Mailroom Guy." But not everyone loved the banter, and Acheson said the improvised dialogue initially landed on the chopping block. "The producers wanted to axe the whole scene because of that. I think, 'Who is gonna believe this guy is 26?' I mean, seriously," Acheson said. "I believe I was 46 at the time and an older, 46 even at that. Because I never looked young in my life." Favreau fought to keep it in the movie. "He said that the joke, that's the funny part, right?" Acheson recalled. "He kept me in. They didn't want me, but he did and thank God for me because it changed my career quite a bit." The scene is now being shared all over social media.JOHANNESBURG - If you are a gamer, Nasrec is the place to be this weekend. The 2024 rAge Expo is currently underway in Johannesburg. READ | Transformation in education | Preparing for advancing technology The three-day event which has managed to bring scores of gamers together focuses on video gaming, technology, esports, geek culture and digital entertainment. This year the event will showcase the latest gadgets on the market. eNCA's reporter Grabrielle Matthew is at the expo and has more details.