AI-assisted summary
• Broadcaster Joe Buck guest-hosted ‘Good Morning America’ before calling a ‘Monday Night Football’ game on the same day.
• Buck enjoys the challenge of hosting ‘GMA’ as it allows him to use a different broadcasting skillset.
• He credits his work ethic to his father, legendary broadcaster Jack Buck, who never turned down an assignment.

FOXBOROUGH, MA — Joe Buck walked into the broadcast booth on the main concourse of Gillette Stadium on Dec. 1 when a security guard offered some feedback. 

“Hey Joe, nice job on ‘GMA’ today!” 

This certainly qualified as a marathon Monday for Buck, who guest-hosted “Good Morning America” in New York before flying to call the ‘Monday Night Football’ game between the New England Patriots and New York Giants on ESPN. 

It was Buck’s fifth time hosting “GMA” after he expressed interest in doing so earlier this year. The Disney bosses – the company owns ABC and ESPN – were happy to oblige. The double-duty aspect of Buck’s day was equal parts promotional and logistical, with the “MNF” assignment a short flight from New York. 

“That was a blast,” Buck told USA TODAY Sports from the booth. “I’m always up for a challenge. Really, it was more of a logistic challenge. Now I’m here, so let the games begin.” 

For Buck, 56, the opportunity allows him to flex a different muscle of his broadcasting skillset.

“People go, ‘Well why would you want to do that?’ It’s good for me. It’s good for my brain,” Buck said. “It’s good for, I don’t know, just kind of being challenged. It’s a long day, but so what? People work a heck of a lot harder in the real world than getting up and being on TV with makeup on your face. I’m not downplaying it, but that’s kind of what I saw my dad do when I was a little kid.” 

Buck watched his father Jack Buck, a broadcaster who grew up during the Great Depression and “had to scrape to make ends meet together when he was a kid and didn’t have anything,” Buck said. “And so when he got a job, whatever they asked him to do, he went and did,” Buck added, “and he never said no.” 

With Joe Buck a “yes” for this task, he flew to New York on Sunday with his prep work for the Giants-Patriots game done. It reminded Buck of calling Major League Baseball during his 25-year tenure at FOX when he’d call the postseason in the middle of the NFL season. 

For the first half of Monday and all day Sunday he could concentrate on “GMA” responsibilities. “You just have to compartmentalize,” he said. 

Buck woke up at 4:30 a.m. ET and made it to the studio an hour later. He sat at the anchor desk and did his teleprompter reads and tosses. 

“It felt good from the start, just in the – this sounds corny – everyone’s so good at what they do,” Buck said of doing “GMA.” “I’ve never been part of a show where everything goes just like clockwork like that.” 

The show is well-laid out and that makes it as easy as possible on whoever the guest host is, Buck said. 

“It makes it fun,” he said. “You can lead to something, you know it’s going to pop up, you say someone’s name and they turn around. I don’t know, I feel like TV is not always like that.” 

Somewhat differently than his approach for a prime-time football game, he went about his “GMA” prep segment-by-segment and tackled what was in front of him at the advice of the producers, who feed him only what he needs to know, he said. Sometimes it feels like he’s exclusively tossing to chief meteorologist Ginger Zee because “that’s what I think they trust me to do at this point,” he said jokingly.

Once the show ended at 9 a.m. ET, he hopped on a plane and made it to the Boston suburbs. He wasn’t planning on napping but by 1 o’clock “it just overtook me.” He snoozed, rose, grabbed something to eat, showered and made his way to the stadium. 

 “Yeah, it’s like, ‘Oh Nicolás Maduro, am I going to have to sit down with him?’ Just kidding,” Buck joked.  

Normally, Buck is paying attention to news and storylines about the NFL and his fantasy team, but also enjoys being a citizen of the world.

“I try to know a little bit about the world around me,” he said, adding: “Being able to show versatility and having at least somewhat interesting conversation with somebody in that arena is a good thing.” 

By nightfall, Buck was back in a more familiar arena – a football stadium.

“I don’t know, you just go do it,” he said. “And it’s fun. It’s a blast. To start my day and end my day the way I’m doing it (Monday), I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” 

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FOXBOROUGH, MA — The New York Giants’ special teams unit didn’t have its proudest half against the New England Patriots on ‘Monday Night Football.’

After allowing a 94-yard punt return for a touchdown in the first quarter, the field-goal unit came onto the field in a 17-7 game with 6:35 remaining in the second quarter.

The snap from Casey Kreiter was high and not handled well by punter Jamie Gillan, who is the holder in the operation. Younghoe Koo, the kicker, looked slightly hesitant coming into his kick and his right foot became stuck in the Gillette Stadium turf.

‘The ball kind of slipped a little bit,’ Giants interim head coach Mike Kafka said. ‘(Koo) wasn’t sure if it was going to get set. Jamie tried to reset it and by that time, it was kind of, he was already kind of out of his groove on it. So it was just tough right there.’

Koo’s trip forced Gillan to pick the ball up and the punter tried to scramble, but he lost 12 yards and the play went into the record books as a sack.

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When the Nebraska women’s volleyball team steps onto the court, inspiration is always within reach for Harper Murray. All the outside hitter has to do is look down at her fingers, which she carefully tapes before every match.

She inscribes ’27’ on the tape binding her left ring finger in honor of her late father Vada Murray, who died when she was 5 years old. He wore No. 27 while playing football at Michigan. Murray then writes former coach John Cook’s initials on her left pointer finger, ‘a father figure’ that helped her grow as a player. She also adds Huskers head coach Dani Busboom Kelly’s initials on her middle finger as a reminder to lay it all on the line.

The initials on her right hand changes every year.

‘Every year for the past three years, I have written the location of the Final Four,’ Murray told USA TODAY Sports. ‘On my pointer finger and my middle finger, I have the letters ‘KC,’ which is Kansas City, which is where the NCAA Tournament is held this year.’

Nebraska was named the top overall seed during the NCAA Tournament selection show on Sunday and will begin its journey to Kansas City against Long Island University at 8 p.m. ET Friday. The Cornhuskers, who have won five national titles, fell short of their first since 2017 losing to Penn State in the semifinals last season.

Nebraska (30-0) has since kicked off the Busboom Kelly era with its first undefeated season since 2000. The Huskers will make their 44th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance after winning the Big Ten title while dropping six sets the entire season. Although Busboom Kelly said ‘whoever is (coaching Nebraska) would be doing well,’ her players argue otherwise.

‘When (Busboom Kelly) came in here, that Nebraska standard wasn’t lost at all. She knew what she wanted and she really pushes us to reach that level,’ Nebraska middle blocker Andi Jackson told USA TODAY Sports. ‘She’s been in our shoes before and … she can really relate to us and she knows what we’re feeling and she knows what it takes to win.’

Long before succeeding longtime coach and mentor John Cook in January, Busboom had already done a lot of winning at Nebraska. The Cortland, Nebraska, native won national titles as a player in 2006 and as an assistant coach in 2015.

But even the best coaches have their limitations. During an appearance on the Welcome To The Party podcast earlier this month, Busboom Kelly described her coaching style compared to Cook, who ‘was so good for so long, but he had his way. He had his plan and there wasn’t a lot of deviating from that.’

‘We’re really a collaborative group. I’m huge on that as a head coach,’ Busboom Kelly said. ‘I really trust my players to give me honest feedback. … It never has to be my way or the highway. Our team has grasped that. They love the collaboration and they love the ownership.’

Busboom Kelly’s credentials and reputation earned instant buy-in from the team, but it was her commitment to empowering her players that took the elite program to another level this season.

‘Anyone off of our bench, any of our game-changers, they can go in and the level stays the exact same,’ Jackson said. ‘It’s rare. I don’t think at a lot of programs can say your bench can be the second best team in the country. We have the privilege of getting to say that and (Busboom Kelly) has just been such a huge part of that.

‘She just gives us so much confidence and we know that with her as our coach, we just can play fearless.’

Nebraska’s three Player of the Year semifinalists

When the AVCA Player of the Year semifinalists were announced earlier this month, Nebraska had three of the 14 players on the list — Jackson, Murray and junior setter Bergen Reilly. It’s another example of the Huskers’ depth.

‘We have arguably the best in each position for the country,’ Jackson said. ‘We have the best setter in the country, we have the best outside in the country. And I think it just shows how strong our team is, especially at that front row that we have. When Harper (Murray), Bergen (Reilly) and I are up, we always give each other a smile because we know what we have to offer.’

The trio has led Nebraska to the nation’s top hitting percentage (.352) and the fourth-highest kill per set mark (14.70). Murray leads the Huskers with 3.55 kills per set and is averaging 2.15 digs per set. Jackson is averaging 2.75 kills per set on .471 hitting with 1.13 blocks per set, while Reilly is averaging a team-high 10.31 assists per set and 2.73 digs per set. 

‘We’ve been side by side for three years and it’s such a special row, because we just know that all of us have been through thick and thin together and our bond is so strong,’ Jackson added.

Huskers blocking out ‘outside noise’

Busboom Kelly knew Nebraska would be a title contender this season. ‘I was expecting us to be great, but certainly not undefeated. … They continue to exceed our expectations.’

Nebraska has asserted its dominance, winning 48 straight sets between Sept. 20 and Nov. 14, a streak that came to an end in the Huskers’ 3-1 win over UCLA. Players said dropping the set was ‘relieving’ and ‘freeing.’

‘It was just getting shoved down our throats how much Nebraska was winning … every time you opened any platform it was there,’ Jackson said. ‘After we lost that set, I looked at (my teammates) and I was like, ‘That is the best thing that could have happened to us.’ It’s over now. The weight is off of our shoulders. We don’t have to hold it up anymore, because I do think as much as we like to say play free, when that outside noise does creep in, it can just feel like there’s kind of a weight on the court while we’re playing.’

Murray added, ‘At some point we’re going to drop a set and we don’t want that to come in the NCAA Tournament and not be prepared and not know how to come back from it.’

Playing volleyball at Nebraska comes with a national spotlight and relentless attention. As Busboom Kelly put it, Nebraska ‘volleyball is so serious’ and ‘that is of course is why people come here,’ but with, as with any storied program, there’s pressure to execute.

‘There is a standard and we are expected to win … but we don’t want to put too much pressure on ourselves,’ Jackson said. ‘One thing that makes being at Nebraska so special is the team culture that we have. … We do such a good job of just caring for each other … especially when that noise starts to get really big towards the end of the season.

‘We just remember where our value actually comes from, because there can be so much outside noise and so many things being said with our team clustered all over the media. There can be lots of negativity.’

Murray said she and her teammates set social media limits to ensure the group maintains focus and aren’t ‘consumed’ by the onslaught of attention: ‘Not everyone’s going to be perfect and know how to handle criticism online or have a boundary for themselves, but that’s something that just comes with experience. And I think a lot of the older girls have done a good job guiding the newcomers.’

When the Huskers step on the court ahead of first serve, their attention will be on the team.

‘Before every game, we always say what matters are the six on the court and the 10 girls on the bench, not anyone else,’ Murray said. ‘The biggest thing for us is focusing on what we have going on on the court.’

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FOXBOROUGH, MA — Jaxson Dart has a message for anybody who thinks he should reconsider his playing style.

‘This isn’t soccer,’ the New York Giants quarterback said.

In Dart’s return from a two-game absence following a concussion he suffered Nov. 16 against the Chicago Bears, he took one of the more vicious – and by the book – hits a quarterback can take in the NFL when New England Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss leveled him near the Giants’ sideline in the first quarter of the eventual 33-15 Patriots victory on ‘Monday Night Football.’

‘I play the game aggressively,’ Dart said defiantly following the loss. ‘I took one hit that people are talking about. I slid. Got out of the way of a lot of hits. I appreciate people wanting me to be healthy and all that stuff, and I want to be healthy too.’

In Dart’s view, he was trying to reach the first-down marker when Elliss blasted him. He maintained the hit had no effect on the way he went about the rest of the game, although there were certainly instances in which he seemed hesitant, trapped between wanting to take off or throw the ball away or whatever rapid thoughts must cross the mind of a rookie quarterback with a pocket collapsing around him. 

“It didn’t hurt,” he said, “so that didn’t play any thought in my mind.” 

Dart might be right about the fact that his concussion suffered against the Bears came on a fluky play. He claimed he lost control of the ball while running it and, while trying to regain possession, failed to properly brace himself for contact with the ground. That moment cost him two games of his rookie season. 

But he’s also ignoring the three other times he was evaluated for a concussion since the start of the preseason, and Monday marked his eighth career start. 

The Ole Miss product encouraged anyone who questioned his play style to watch his tape from high school and college. This is simply who he is, he says. 

“It’s not a shocker to anybody. It’s how I’ve played,” the No. 25 overall pick in the 2025 draft said. “I felt like if you just watch the game, like, I did slide. I did avoid a lot of hits, so you’re going to get hit. It’s football.”

But what about the fact this is the NFL? Dart replied that all adjustments are different. 

“So just like any other league, you take new steps, there’s bigger, faster players. My body feels good. I’m going to play aggressive,” he said. “I feel like if I just turn into a complete pocket passer, that’s just not how I want to play the game. I feel like there’s an advantage to me using my legs. So, yeah.” 

Nobody is asking Dart to become a statue. But to show an ounce of understanding and humility would come across as maturity. 

Instead, Dart kept doubling down. 

“I understand the question, but this is football,” said Dart, who often looked exasperated standing behind the podium. “Like, I’m going to get hit if I’m in the pocket or outside the pocket. I feel like I played this way my whole entire life. It shouldn’t be any shocker to anybody if you followed along with my career. 

“You’re going to get hit. Things happen. It’s just part of the game.” 

Giants interim head coach Mike Kafka said he “obviously” doesn’t want Dart to take any hits that are unnecessary but saw that the quarterback was “working his way out of bounds” on the play.

“Listen, Jaxson’s an aggressive football player,” Kafka said. “He’s on the sideline, trying to get himself out of bounds. Takes a hit. He bounced up. He’s a tough kid.” 

Patriots cornerback Carlton Davis III said Dart is “a gutsy player” who “wants to make plays.” Young players trying to prove themselves in the NFL often play that way.  

“Just by watching the film, you could tell he’s going to take some chances, and that’s good for him,” Davis told USA TODAY Sports. “That’s the only way he could really learn in this league – taking chances and being confident.” 

Davis considers Dart a playmaker who “when he hits his stride, he’ll be similar to Baker Mayfield.” 

That’s high praise, but even the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback is still dealing with the ramifications of being tough with a left shoulder injury that knocked him out of a Nov. 23 game against the Los Angeles Rams and hampered him in a win over the Arizona Cardinals a week later. It was his toughness and attempt to play through an injury that served as a motivating factor for the Cleveland Browns to move on from him and trade for Deshaun Watson after all. 

Maybe Dart can learn from the quarterback on the other sideline Monday night. Patriots second-year signal-caller Drake Maye dealt with a reputation for running too much and being reckless in doing so, and he twice took big hits at different points in the season but didn’t miss any time.

Maye said he learned his lesson after he had to exit against the Los Angeles Chargers on a similar sideline hit as a rookie. 

“I think it’s something that’s been across the league that has showed up with quarterbacks near the boundary or near the sideline, just kind of relaxing,” Maye said. 

Maye added: “So just be smart and know you’ve almost got to accelerate or get down or do something over there. I think Jaxson, he made some good plays with his feet, so he’s tough to handle.”

Fast-forward a year and Maye has developed into one of the most comfortable-looking pocket-passers in the NFL and entered the Patriots’ bye week as one of the leading candidates to win the 2025 MVP award. 

“Everybody’s journey is different,” Dart said. “I’ve known Drake for years and he’s done a great job. He also went through a struggle his first year, too. Everybody’s journey’s different. I’m just trying to do my best to change this franchise around a little bit and do my part. Just got to stay diligent.” 

A lot can change in a year, as Maye and New England have proved. How Dart approaches a similar hurdle will determine whether he can actually institute the change he desires within a franchise that desperately needs it. 

Fewer than 24 hours after firing 13-year head coach Mark Stoops, Kentucky reportedly named his replacement Dec. 1.

Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein, a Louisville alum, will be taking the reins in Lexington as a first-time head coach, per a report from ESPN. He will take over a 5-7 Wildcats team that just lost 41-0 to Stein’s alma mater, as he attempts to right the ship.

Stoops was the all-time winningest coach at Kentucky, racking up 82 wins. He barely finished his career there above .500, going 82-80 in that span. Kentucky missed bowl games in consecutive years for the first time in 10 seasons, exacerbating the urgency to show Stoops the door.

The timing of firing Stoops was puzzling, with Jon Sumrall accepting the Florida job earlier on Nov. 30. Sumrall, who played at Kentucky, was a popular name being tied to the job as an alum. But the subsequent timing of Stein’s hiring indicates he was a priority target for Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart and the Kentucky brass.

The seeds for Stein to Kentucky have been cultivated for over a year.

Now, Stein will have an opportunity to prove he can thrive in SEC football as well, as he looks to do what Clark Lea has done at Vanderbilt and help one of the more difficult jobs in the conference turn things around.