Holy Cross Handles Central, 70-53

BOULDER — Initial observations from CU’s 49-24 win over Utah in Big 12 action at Folsom Field on Saturday. Straight line to the playoff. A bid to the College Football Playoff — a feat that before the season would’ve been considered outlandish by many pundits, including here at The Denver Post  — is right in the Buffs’ palm.

BOULDER — Analysis from CU’s 49-24 blowout win over Utah in Big 12 action on Saturday at Folsom Field. No. 2’s rough start. On the first play of the game, quarterback Shedeur Sanders dropped back and promptly threw a pick. Sanders never saw Utah linebacker Lander Barton, who sunk in coverage and easily snared the pass intended for Will Sheppard on a crossing route to set Utah up at the Buffs’ 21-yard line.

Michael Malone gets it. Basketball. Leadership. Perspective. Society. Family. All of it. The occasionally deep thinkers on the Grading The Week crew don’t mind coaches who refuse to stick to sports. Truth be told? We kind of dig them. Malone, the Nuggets’ head whistle since 2015, sits proudly in that camp. He’s never been shy about offering an opinion on the news of the day, even if it’s from a worldview that doesn’t always mesh with 100% of his audience.

NEW ORLEANS — The first two weeks of Dario Saric’s new chapter didn’t go the way he or the Nuggets envisioned. But Michael Malone wanted him to know the book wasn’t closed. “We’re playing really well right now,” Denver’s 10th-year coach told his new backup center in one of their recent conversations while Saric was out of the rotation.

LEVI, Finland — American ski star Mikaela Shiffrin earned her record-extending 98th career World Cup win Saturday to give herself the chance to compete for victory No. 100 in front of a home crowd. Regardless of her result in a slalom in Austria next week, Shiffrin could reach the milestone in two races in Killington, Vermont on Nov.

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