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NBA: Two preseason injuries change two rotations before the real games even start
The afternoon injury news starts in Oklahoma City, where rookie guard Otega Oweh will miss the entire 2026-27 season with a ruptured right Achilles tendon. Oweh suffered the non-contact injury in overtime on Tuesday night against the Indiana Pacers and underwent surgery after the team announced the diagnosis on Wednesday. He was the 41st overall pick in the 2026 draft and scored 8 points in 15 minutes during the Thunder win over Indiana by a 114-112 score. A season that was supposed to start with a fight for bench minutes now starts with rehab instead, which is the cruelest depth chart move of the fall.
Denver is waiting on its own answer after guard Julian Strawther left Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Clippers with a left leg injury and was helped off the floor. Strawther is scheduled for an MRI on Thursday, and the timing stings because he had averaged 13.2 points per game across four preseason outings while pushing for a firm spot in the Nuggets rotation. He also faces an October 19 deadline for a rookie scale extension, so Denver has a medical question and a contract question riding on the same left leg. Two games are on the Thursday schedule, with Toronto at New York at 7:30 ET from Madison Square Garden and Oklahoma City at Houston at 8:30 ET on NBA TV from the Toyota Center. The Knicks close the preseason at 0-4 and get a quick rematch after Toronto beat them 148-98 on Tuesday in a game where New York rested its starters. Preseason revenge is still revenge, even if everybody pretends the standings are imaginary.
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MLB: A lunchtime pennant game in Cleveland and an elimination night in Los Angeles
Thursday turned into a postseason doubleheader after Major League Baseball moved both start times because of rain expected in Cleveland on Thursday evening. The Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians play Game 3 of the American League Championship Series at 1 ET at Progressive Field on TBS, truTV and HBO Max, with the series tied 1-1 after Cleveland won the opener 7-3 and Tampa Bay answered with a 3-1 win in Game 2. Gavin Williams starts for Cleveland after finishing the regular season at 14-8 with a 3.76 earned run average and 248 strikeouts, the most in the American League. Williams struck out 12 batters in the division series clincher against the Chicago White Sox, and Griffin Jax starts for Tampa Bay after going 8-10 with a 3.28 earned run average in the regular season. October baseball at lunch hour is a scheduling accident everybody in Cleveland plans to enjoy anyway.
The nightcap carries the bigger stakes, with Milwaukee at Los Angeles for Game 4 of the National League Championship Series at 8 ET at Dodger Stadium on FS1. The Brewers lead the series 3-0 after wins by scores of 2-1, 7-4, 6-2. One more win completes the sweep and sends Milwaukee to its second World Series appearance and its first since 1982. Tyler Glasnow starts for the Dodgers with a 1.93 earned run average so far this postseason, while Milwaukee had not named a Game 4 starter in the latest listings. Jackson Chourio leads the Brewers with 7 runs batted in this postseason and William Contreras leads the club with 3 home runs, while Los Angeles has scored 7 total runs across the first three games of the series. The two-time defending champions need four straight wins to survive, and the math portion of the evening is not offering them any extra credit.
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NFL: Denver loses two starting defensive backs for Thursday night
The Denver Broncos will host the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night without two starters in the secondary, and the timing could hardly be worse with Jaxon Smith-Njigba coming to town. Cornerback Pat Surtain II has been ruled out with an ankle injury for the 8:15 ET game on Prime Video, and safety Talanoa Hufanga has also been ruled out with an ankle injury that is expected to keep him out for two to three weeks. Hufanga was hurt during the 23-17 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday and leaves with 23 tackles, 2 interceptions, a sack and a forced fumble across five starts this season. Cornerback Riley Moss is questionable with a rib injury, Jahdae Barron is expected to start in place of Surtain and Devon Key is the likely replacement for Hufanga. Denver still enters at 3-2, yet the secondary depth chart now reads like a pop quiz nobody studied for.
Seattle has its own absences to manage before kickoff at Empower Field at Mile High. Linebacker Drake Thomas is out with an ankle injury, linebacker Chazz Surratt is out with a calf injury and running back Zach Charbonnet is out with a knee injury. Tyrice Knight is set to start at linebacker opposite Ernest Jones IV in place of Thomas, and Smith-Njigba was upgraded to a full practice participant after estimated limited listings earlier in the week. Around the rest of the league, Houston activated offensive tackle Braden Smith to the active roster on Wednesday ahead of the Sunday trip to London to face Jacksonville and waived defensive end Chris Braswell in the corresponding move. The Los Angeles Rams will also be without left tackle Alaric Jackson on Sunday against Arizona after a league suspension that was reduced from two games to one game on appeal, with David Quessenberry set to step in at left tackle. Thursday night gets the spotlight, and the injury report already stole the opening act.
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NCAAF: Three Thursday games, three leagues and one first meeting in Texas
Thursday night spreads across three conferences, starting with East Carolina at UAB at 7:30 ET on ESPN from Protective Stadium in Birmingham. East Carolina enters at 3-2 with three straight wins, including a 28-12 win over Rice where quarterback Emory Williams threw 2 touchdown passes and added a rushing touchdown. UAB enters at 3-3 after a 38-13 loss to Memphis where the Blazers committed 3 turnovers. Georgia Southern visits Old Dominion in the other 7:30 ET kickoff on ESPN2 in Norfolk, with both teams at 2-4 overall and the all-time series tied 3-3. Georgia Southern is 1-1 in Sun Belt play after a 27-24 loss to James Madison. Old Dominion is 1-2 in league play after a 10-3 win over Appalachian State, and the Monarchs have won the last three meetings in the series. Somebody leaves Norfolk with a season that still has a pulse, and somebody leaves with a very long film session.
The late game brings a first meeting between Colorado State and Texas State at 8 ET on CBS Sports Network from UFCU Stadium in San Marcos. Both teams are 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the rebuilt Pac-12, and both are coming off a bye week. The winner collects its first conference win in the new league. Colorado State lost its league opener 56-26 to Oregon State, and Texas State lost its opener 31-29 to San Diego State. Texas State running back Torrance Burgess has piled up 614 rushing yards on 84 carries this season. Friday then bridges the weekend with Memphis at Tulane at 7:30 ET, Washington at Purdue at 8 ET and Appalachian State at Coastal Carolina at 8 ET. Thursday is technically the appetizer, and the appetizer keeps showing up with a full plate.
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CBB: Arizona tops the Big 12 poll and Florida leads the SEC race
The Big 12 released its preseason coaches poll on Thursday and Arizona was picked to win the league for the second straight season. Arizona collected 220 points and 12 first-place votes from the 16 head coaches, Houston finished second with 214 points and 4 first-place votes, Kansas was third with 186 points, Iowa State was fourth with 181 points and Texas Tech was fifth with 180 points. Arizona center Motiejus Krivas was named Preseason Player of the Year after averaging 10.4 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game last season. Texas Tech senior JT Toppin was a unanimous pick for the preseason All-Big 12 team for the second straight season after averaging 21.8 points and 10.8 rebounds per game last season before a season-ending injury cut his year short. The league race stacks five contenders from 220 points down to 180 points at the top, which is poll season language for a winter full of arguments.
The Southeastern Conference media poll adds another favorite to the pile, with Florida picked first ahead of Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee and Alabama. Kentucky landed seventh in that poll, and Florida forward Thomas Haugh was named the preseason Player of the Year in the league. The regular season opens on Monday, November 2, and Texas Tech starts that day at home against Jackson State. Every program is still undefeated, every rotation is still deep on paper and every fan base has already found the one voter who got it wrong.
That is the Afternoon Edition. Five sports, zero filler. First pitch in Cleveland is already calling.
Sources: - [Yardbarker](https://www.yardbarker.com/nba/articles/thunder_rookies_2026_27_season_wiped_out_by_devastating_injury/s1_127_44430856) - [Hoops Rumors](https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2026/10/nuggets-strawther-to-undergo-mri-after-injuring-leg.html) - [Covers](https://www.covers.com/nba/preseason-moneyline-predictions-picks-thursday-oct-15-2026) - [RealGM](https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/287642/How-To-Watch-And-Live-Stream-Houston-Rockets-vs-Oklahoma-City-Thunder-NBA-Pre-Season-Game-Tonight-TV-Channels-Team-News-Start-Time) - [USA Today](https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/playoffs/2026/10/15/guardians-vs-rays-watch-score-highlights-alcs-channel--live/92259888007/) - [Akron Beacon Journal](https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/sports/mlb/cleveland-guardians/2026/10/14/cleveland-guardians-gavin-williams-mlb-playoffs-tampa-bay-rays/92254378007/) - [North Jersey](https://www.northjersey.com/story/sports/mlb/2026/10/15/mlb-playoff-games-today-october-15-start-times-schedule-alcs-nlcs/92246093007/) - [FOX Sports](https://foxsports.com/stories/mlb/how-watch-brewers-vs-dodgers-nlcs-game-4-tv-channel-live-stream-time) - [Broncos Wire](https://broncoswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/broncos/2026/10/14/broncos-injury-report-pat-surtain-talanoa-hufanga-riley-moss-statuses/92252093007/) - [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/sports/report-broncos-s-talanoa-hufanga-ankle-out-multiple-weeks--flm-2026-10-14/) - [Seahawks Wire](https://seahawkswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/seahawks/2026/10/14/seahawks-vs-broncos-seattle-rules-out-3-players-for-nfl-week-6-game/92256169007/) - [Seahawks Wire](https://seahawkswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/seahawks/2026/10/15/seahawks-lb-tyrice-knight-finds-himself-in-a-big-spot-vs-broncos/92261310007/) - [Texans Wire](https://texanswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/texans/2026/10/14/texans-braden-smith-active-roster-ahead-of-london-road-trip-jacksonville-jaguars-week-6/92249699007/) - [Cards Wire](https://cardswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/cardinals/2026/10/15/rams-injury-report-3-starters-out-limited-on-wednesday/92261839007/) - [FBSchedules](https://fbschedules.com/college-football-schedule-2026-week-7-matchups-tv-kickoff-times/) - [Sportsbook Wire](https://sportsbookwire.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2026/10/14/east-carolina-at-uab-odds-picks-and-predictions/92257400007/) - [Georgia Southern Athletics](https://gseagles.com/news/2026/10/12/football-game-preview-thursday-night-lights-on-tap-for-eagles) - [Fort Collins Coloradoan](https://www.coloradoan.com/story/sports/csu/football/2026/10/15/colorado-state-texas-state-channel-today-time-tv-schedule-streaming-info/92248877007/) - [Sports Illustrated](https://www.si.com/betting/colorado-state-vs-texas-state-prediction-odds-and-key-players-to-watch-for-college-football-week-7-2026) - [Texas Tech Athletics](https://texastech.com:443/news/2026/10/15/mens-basketball-toppin-selected-to-all-big-12-preseason-team-tech-picked-fifth) - [On3](https://www.on3.com/news/big-12-names-preseason-players-of-the-year-predicted-order-of-finish-in-conference/) - [Kentucky Wildcats Wire](https://ukwildcatswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/kentucky/mens-basketball/2026/10/13/kentucky-basketball-predicted-to-finish-seventh-sec/92237521007/)
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