SI:AM | Every Must-Watch Sporting Event This Holiday Weekend

It’s a jam-packed schedule. Here are the best games on offer.

Audi Crooks and the Cyclones will be another tough test for South Carolina. / Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m off for the next couple of days. SI:AM will return on Monday. Enjoy your holiday. 

In today’s SI:AM: 

🔎 Analyzing the CFP rankings
😡 A rivalry renewed
🏀 Big win for Kansas

What a weekend we have in store

Thanksgiving weekend is perhaps the best time of year to be a sports fan. You’ve got several nationally televised NFL games, the final day of college football’s regular season and numerous marquee matchups in college basketball on top of all sorts of NBA and NHL regular-season action. The Thanksgiving Day NFL matchups may be underwhelming this year (please, do yourself a favor and skip the backup quarterback bonanza between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants in the late afternoon window), but there’s plenty else on offer this weekend that’s worthy of your attention. Here are all the most compelling games, listed chronologically and with broadcast information. 

No. 4 South Carolina Gamecocks vs. No. 15 Iowa State Cyclones (women’s basketball, 1:30 p.m. ET Thursday on Fox)

South Carolina will look to bounce back against a good Iowa State team after having its 43-game winning streak snapped on Sunday against the UCLA Bruins. The game will be played in Fort Myers, Fla., as part of the Fort Myers Tip-Off event. 

The Cyclones, who reached the second round of the NCAA tournament last season, match up well against South Carolina. They’re led by 6' 3" sophomore center Audi Crooks, a very physical player who bullies opponents in the low post. That could be an issue for the Gamecocks, who are still figuring out how to defend on the interior now that Kamilla Cardoso has graduated and gone on to the WNBA. South Carolina managed to contain UCLA’s star forward Lauren Betts in Sunday’s loss, but the rest of the Bruins took advantage of the focus on stopping Betts. 

Crooks had her way against the Drake Bulldogs in an 80–78 win on Sunday, scoring 33 points on 15-of-25 shooting, but she isn’t the only player South Carolina needs to worry about stopping. Sophomore forward Addy Brown is averaging 16.2 points per game and is sixth in the Big 12 with 8.7 rebounds per game, and fifth-year senior Emily Ryan leads the nation with 9.0 assists per game. 

The game marks the beginning of a difficult final three weeks of the nonconference slate for Iowa State, who will also play the No. 22 Iowa Hawkeyes (on the road on Dec. 11) and No. 2 UConn Huskies (at home on Dec. 17) before tipping off Big 12 play against the 6–0 Oklahoma State Cowgirls on Dec. 21. 

Winnipeg Jets at Vegas Golden Knights (8:30 p.m. ET Friday on ESPN+)

The NHL is trying to turn Black Friday into what Thanksgiving is for the NFL. This year, 28 of the league’s 32 teams will be in action on the day after the holiday, including a matchup that features two of the top teams in the Western Conference. 

The Jets got off to a historic start, winning 15 of their first 16 games but have cooled off a bit of late and are 3–3 over their last six. The Golden Knights have won three straight and are currently third in the West (tied on points with the Minnesota Wild but with more regulation losses). 

Sparks could fly in this one, as it pits the top offense in the league (Winnipeg) and the No. 2 scoring team (Vegas). And with the Golden Knights’ suspect defense (ranked 20th in goals allowed), it could be a high-scoring affair. 

Oklahoma City Thunder at Los Angeles Lakers (10 p.m. ET Friday on ESPN)

It’s tempting to look at this as a compelling matchup between the past and future of the NBA, but both teams are plenty relevant to the present of the league. 

The Lakers may be led by the NBA’s oldest active player (the nearly 40-year-old LeBron James) and coached by a guy who’d never coached competitive basketball before (JJ Redick) but they’re off to a solid start (10–7) after bowing out in the first round of the playoffs last season. 

The Thunder opened the season looking like title contenders after winning eight of their first nine and out-scoring opponents by 15.4 points per game. But then star center Chet Holmgren went down with a fractured hip. OKC is 5–3 since he got hurt (including the loss to the Golden State Warriors in which he only played five minutes before leaving with the injury). Holmgren is still on crutches and it’ll be a while before he’s back on the court, although the team did say it expects him to be able to return this season. That means the next few months will be about his teammates finding ways to stay afloat while waiting for him to come back. Fortunately, they can lean on the elite scoring duo of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams to carry the offense. They also got a big boost with the debut of center Isaiah Hartenstein, who missed the first 15 games of the season with a broken hand. 

Big 12 football chaos (Friday and Saturday, check your local listings)

While most other college football conferences have a good idea of who will be in their title games, the Big 12 championship scenarios look like Charlie Kelly’s bulletin board. The Arizona State Sun Devils, BYU Cougars, Colorado Buffaloes and Iowa State Cyclones are all tied atop the standings at 6–2. If all four teams win this weekend and remain tied, the two title game spots would go to the Sun Devils and Cyclones. But there are also five teams with 5–3 conference records, only two of whom are playing each other this weekend (the Baylor Bears and West Virginia Mountaineers). That means that it’s possible we could have an eight-way tie for first in the conference at 6–3. The Big 12 told CBS Sports that as it stands now, there are over 250 possible combinations of conference title game participants. The final day of the regular season could result in complete anarchy. 

No. 3 Texas Longhorns at No. 20 Texas A&M Aggies (7:30 p.m. ET Saturday on ABC)

The conference championship outlook is a whole lot clearer in the SEC, where the Georgia Bulldogs have already clinched a fourth straight trip. The other spot will go to either Texas or Texas A&M. This will be the first meeting between the Longhorns and Aggies since 2011. And if the renewal of this classic rivalry wasn’t compelling enough, it now comes with the added pressure of the winner earning a spot in the conference title game. 

The Longhorns could still earn a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff even if they lose, but the Aggies’ only realistic path to the Playoff starts with beating Texas. Even then, they’d probably need to also knock off Georgia for the SEC’s automatic bid if they want to get in. 

Last week’s loss in quadruple overtime to the Auburn Tigers was a disaster for A&M. Will the Aggies be able to get back on track in a pressure-packed game against a more talented rival? 

Arizona Cardinals at Minnesota Vikings (1 p.m. ET Sunday on Fox)

The Cardinals’ 16–6 loss last weekend to the Seattle Seahawks knocked them out of first place in the NFC West and they’re in danger of losing more ground in a tight division race as they travel to face the 9–2 Vikings. A win here would be equally significant for Minnesota, which is seeking to keep pace with the 10–1 Detroit Lions atop the NFC North. 

Baltimore Ravens at Philadelphia Eagles (4:25 p.m. ET Sunday on CBS)

This is a meeting of two teams that have been steadily making a case that they should be considered the best in their respective conferences. Philadelphia has won seven in a row, while Baltimore has won 10 of its last 12. Neither team is elite enough that you can comfortably call this a potential Super Bowl preview, but they’re two very good teams peaking at the right time. 

The real reason to watch, though, is to see what Eagles running back Saquon Barkley does. Not only is Barkley leading the league in rushing, he’s doing it with flair. He broke off two touchdown runs in Sunday night’s win over the Los Angeles Rams that were in excess of 70 yards. Every time he gets the ball, you should stop whatever you’re doing and watch. 

Boston Celtics at Cleveland Cavaliers (6 p.m. ET Sunday on NBA TV)

The Cavaliers will have an opportunity to exact revenge on the Celtics after Boston snapped Cleveland’s 15-game season-opening win streak last week. These two have the best records in the NBA, with the Cavs now at 17–1 and the Celtics at 15–3, and this could very well be a playoff preview. 

Last week’s game was a good one. The Celtics stretched their lead to as many as 21 points in the third quarter before Cleveland closed the quarter on a 30–14 run to cut the deficit to five. Boston went on to win by just three points. It’s honestly pretty incredible that the Cavs were able to keep it so close when one of their key players—point guard Darius Garland—had such a terrible night. He scored just eight points on 3-of-21 shooting. Don’t expect him to be that ineffective on Sunday. But the Celtics will also be a different team. They just got center Kristaps Porziņģis back from a leg injury that kept him out from the first 17 games of the season. 

Is Cleveland ready to put the pressure on Deshaun Watson? Winston has gone 2–2 in his four starts with the Browns in 2024. / Scott Galvin-Imagn Images

The best of Sports Illustrated

• Pat Forde explains why the latest College Football Playoff rankings were really good news for the ACC—and bad news for the SEC and Big 12. 

• With Texas and Texas A&M set to meet this weekend for the first time in 13 years, Bryan Fischer has a good primer on what makes this rivalry so special. 

• Gilberto Manzano argues that the Browns should consider making Jameis Winston their starting quarterback next season. 

• The Lakers are off to a decent start, but Chris Mannix believes they still have some issues that need to be ironed out if they’re going to be real title contenders. 

• Liam McKeone examines 10 trends that have emerged over the first month of the NBA season. 

• Kevin Sweeney was impressed with Kansas’s big win over Duke and believes it shows the Jayhawks made the right offseason moves to put last season’s disappointing finish behind them. 

• WWE’s Roman Reigns was the guest on the latest episode of Jimmy Traina’s SI Media podcast.

• Here are Michael Fabiano’s weekly fantasy football Start ’Em, Sit ’Em recommendations for quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers and tight ends. 

• We got our first big surprise of the MLB offseason last night, with the Dodgers agreeing to a massive deal with two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell.  

• The Red Sox are reportedly “legitimate contenders” to sign Juan Soto. 

• Argentina legend Javier Mascherano is Lionel Messi’s new manager at Inter Miami.

The top five…

… things I saw last night: 

5. Alex Newhook’s awareness to pounce on a loose puck near the net and bang it home for the Canadiens.
4. A really tough bucket by Austin Reaves.
3. Alperen Şengün’s “too small” taunt on Rudy Gobert.
2. A powerful dunk by Duke star freshman Cooper Flagg.
1. Bryce Eaton’s buzzer beater to lift Saint Peter’s over Fairleigh Dickinson in a matchup of recent North Jersey March Madness Cinderellas.