KC’s Next Play: After Chiefs-Bills, it’s college football, soccer and marathon ahead
Nothing like football at night to get the blood pumping, even on your couch or easy-chair at home. And that’s precisely how this week begins for Kansas City sports fans.
It’s Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen, two of the game’s most electrifying quarterbacks, squaring off for the third time in their career Sunday when the Buffalo Bills take on the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
From there, get ready for a lot more football. Saturday’s highlights include some tasty college football matchups.
Here’s a rundown of what awaits us in the wings this week.
Nighttime? Showtime!
This week gets started right: Chiefs-Bills at Arrowhead Stadium, a Sunday Night Football rematch of the last AFC Championship Game that was won by the Chiefs on their way to Super Bowl LV.
For NFL fans, there’s little that compares to seeing the home team playing on a bright grassy field under the lights. Could the Chiefs break out their all-red uniforms for this one? We’ll know soon enough.
Next weekend, the Chiefs will have this season’s WFT moment (Washington Football Team moment, that is): a game at FedEx Field in the nation’s capitol.
We’ll talk a whole lot more about this game against the Washington Football Team in the week ahead.
Farmageddon and friends
All three of the area’s Division I college football teams have interesting pairings next weekend.
In Manhattan, the Wildcats come off their bye week with a bang, prepping for another installment of the always intense Kansas State-Iowa State series. Game time at Bill Snyder Family Stadium is 6:30 p.m.
Kansas plays host to Patrick Mahomes University, better known elsewhere as Texas Tech, on Saturday in Lawrence. Kickoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. at the Jayhawks’ Memorial Stadium in Lawrence.
The Missouri Tigers, meanwhile, play their third straight home game Saturday. After losing big to Tennessee and then hosting North Texas this weekend, next up for Mizzou is a return to SEC competition in the form of an 11 a.m. game against Texas A&M.
Look for MU coach Eli Drinkwitz and his Tigers to try to make a statement against a tough A&M squad.
Soccer solidarity
All of last weekend’s National Women’s Soccer League games were postponed in the wake of a report detailing damning allegations of sexual coercion by a longtime (now former) coach and subsequent inaction by the league.
KC NWSL returns to the field today (Sunday) against the Portland Thorns. It’s a 4 p.m. home game, so it should be a nice prelude to the evening’s Chiefs-Bills game.
Will KC NWSL’s players and players from the Thorns follow the lead of other NWSL teams that played over the last few days, with some sort of locked-arms solidarity on the field to keep fans’ focus on the greater issues at hand?
This is the first of two KC NWSL games this week. The game postponed from last weekend, at home against the Houston Dash, will be contested Wednesday at Legends Field.
Sporting KC has just one game between now and an Oct. 17 road match at Vancouver: today (Sunday) at 3 p.m. against the Houston Dynamo at Children’s Mercy Park.
It’s marathon time!
The big Garmin Kansas City Marathon is Saturday. There’s a new start/finish line at the Nelson-Atkins Museum, and a new course layout, too.
If you’re out and about driving, be aware of possible street closures. And if you see any of those entrants braving the 26.2-mile course, smile and wave. We’re sure they’d appreciate the encouragement.
