Charley Hull in Ibiza, a brutal missed sack and questions about college football crowds

Halloween and October are behind us, the clocks have changed, and the midterm elections are less than a day away. It has also been raining constantly in parts of Florida since Saturday night. Roads are flooded, and some yards have become hard to distinguish from nearby lakes.

Election predictions are all over the place. Some people expect Florida to shift blue; others think the results will be clear by dinnertime. My guess is the state stays red, though probably without the sort of landslide we’ve seen before. I’m a little more worried than I was in previous elections, but not by much.

On to sports. LPGA star Charley Hull is kicking off November aboard a boat in Ibiza, and, honestly, that seems like a pretty good way to do it. She’s also been featured in Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit issue.

A missed sack that’s hard to believe

Miami Dolphins rookie cornerback Chris Johnson had a remarkable miss against the New England Patriots on Sunday. He came around the edge with Drake Maye apparently right in front of him, and somehow failed to bring him down.

I expected a sack, maybe even a forced fumble. Instead, Johnson missed so badly that it looked like the broadcast had glitched. He’s a rookie and has played well this season, including a strong stop later in the drive that officials ruled a first down. Still, that whiff was something else. I can’t remember seeing one quite like it.

College football attendance is becoming a concern

College football has been more entertaining than the NFL this season, in my view, and Saturday’s schedule looks especially promising. But the sight of empty seats at games is hard to ignore.

Some cases make sense. Maryland has struggled, recently dismissed its coach and is having a rough season. But the sparse crowds weren’t limited to struggling teams. Even ranked matchups, including Texas Tech against Arizona, appeared to draw a surprisingly small turnout. Penn State also had plenty of empty seats.

So what’s behind the attendance problem? TV ratings are strong, and the games themselves have been good. I suspect the expanded playoff picture has made the regular season feel less urgent. More than that, though, fans may feel less connected to the players. Big programs rely heavily on transfers, and the old sense of watching local or homegrown talent seems to be fading. That connection mattered. Maybe more than people realized.

A quiet celebration for the WNBA champions

The Golden State Valkyries were celebrated as WNBA champions, but the crowd’s reaction sounded muted. The public-address announcer kept urging fans to get louder, with little apparent success. It was an oddly subdued ending to the season.

That’s it for now. It’s the start of a new week and a new month, with a tense election just around the corner. We’ll get through the next couple of days and move on from it soon enough.