Mack vs. Dave, Bryce balling and a tasty trophy in the sports moments of the week

By Clark Gerber, WRAL Sports contributor

The internet is a big place. Unless you're 100% plugged in all the time (and let's be clear, that is NOT recommended), you're going to miss some stuff.

Let us do that work. You can be a well-adjusted human being and still catch all the best sports moments of the week, with a quick review ...

UNC/ NC State rivalry turns up the heat

The Tar Heels and Wolfpack don't see eye to eye as it is, so when a head coach openly trash talks the other (using profanity no less!), things are bound to get really spicy.

You may remember back in November, after NC State stomped UNC 39-20, Dave Doeren used a certain four-letter word to describe his team's biggest rival in a celebratory postgame speech.

Well, that quip got back to North Carolina head coach Mack Brown. And he didn't like it too much.

Brown didn't hold back at his National Signing Day press conference, calling Doeren's comment "classless," among other things.

As you can imagine, both fan bases retreated to their respective message boards and had some not-so-nice things to say about the other (stuff I can't print here).

Doeren did his best to walk back the comments at his own Signing Day press conference, saying that he already personally apologized to coach Brown, but I'm afraid the fuse has already been lit.

The "pieces of s---" comment is going to live on in this rivalry for years, and will make things especially tense when the Pack visits Chapel Hill next season. Buckle up for that.

Panthers "Keep Pounding" in loss

The Carolina Panthers got back to their losing ways on Sunday, but things at least looked ... hopeful(?) in their 33-30 loss to Green Bay.

Why?

Because Bryce Young looked good. Really good.

The rookie threw for a career-high 312 yards, 2 touchdowns, no turnovers and led the team back from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter.

In truth, the Panthers probably should have had a kick to tie it too, but they barely (and I mean barely) ran out of time on Young's final spike.

It was an encouraging performance at the very least because at this point, wins and losses aren't really a big deal. The most important thing is Bryce Young's development and, for the first time, he looked like a potential Pro Bowler in this game.

One other moment from the game that bears mentioning, Mike Tolbert broke the Keep Pounding drum!

You might say it's just the latest thing to go wrong during this lost season.

Or (spin zone!), maybe it's a new beginning. A rebirth that will take the Panthers from the dregs of the league back into the light, with Bryce Young as their leader!

We can hope, can't we? (Side note, I think Mike Tolbert could break any drum he came across. That dude is a unit.)

Duke football had a very good Saturday

The Blue Devils got a pair of huge wins over the weekend, the first of which came in the transfer portal.

Former Texas quarterback, and 4-star recruit, Maalik Murphy committed to the Blue Devils and new head coach Manny Diaz.

Murphy showed a lot of talent in two starts for the Longhorns this season (both wins). He has three years of college eligibility remaining, so the Blue Devils should be pretty set at quarterback for the foreseeable future.

Later in the day, Duke faced off against Troy in the Birmingham Bowl, much to the delight of their social media team.

The Blue Devils grinded out a 17-10 win over the Trojans. Their only touchdown allowed came on a trick throwback play to an offensive tackle late in the fourth quarter. (It was pretty awesome.)

After going 55 years without a postseason win, Duke has now won five bowl games in a row. All of which came in the last nine seasons.

Pop-Tarts Bowl unveils edible trophy

College football bowl season is great for many reasons, but the increased quirkiness for each individual game is quickly climbing the rankings.

You may remember the Pop-Tarts Bowl (which features NC State versus Kansas State this year) announced the first-ever edible mascot a few weeks ago.

Well, now they've revealed the trophy ... and it's partly-edible too.

That's right, we've got holders for a pair of real deal Pop-Tarts, presumably to be eaten by the winning coach. I'm also assuming that coach will get to choose his flavor of choice. Dave Doeren is already on record saying he's a Brown Sugar guy.

It's a fabulous idea, but I stand with our guy Pat Welter, who has an excellent idea for an improved design next year: a functioning toaster!

We can make that happen, right? Just put a couple of heating coils inside the football on top. How sweet would that be???

Other bowl game shenanigans

We've all got places to be this holiday season, so we'll finish with some really quick hitters:

Georgia State whomped Utah State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, so the GSU players decided to celebrate by hoisting the potato mascot (named "Spuddy Buddy" because of course) onto their shoulders.

It was a fun ride for ol' Spuddy, until he hit the ground like ... a sack of potatoes. (Ba-doom tsh!)

Unfortunately, there was actual violence at the end of the 68 Ventures Bowl.

That game was also a blowout, with South Alabama beating Eastern Michigan 59-10. You would think the Eagles would want to get out of there as soon as possible, right?

Well, apparently not. One EMU player came out of nowhere to sucker punch a USA player, and it turned into an all-out brawl.

Can't we all just get along? It's the holidays!

Bedard meets Wembanyama

How's this for a striking visual?

NHL #1 draft pick Connor Bedard attended a meet-and-greet with NBA #1 pick Victor Wembanyama, and the pictures are wild.

Are we sure that was a meet-and-greet? Or are they secretly filming "Twins 2" together?

(For you younger readers, "Twins" was a 1988 movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito, who played fraternal twins. I'm old. Let's move on.)

TAYLOR SWIFT UPDATE

Did Taylor Swift ruin the Chiefs?

You're going to be hearing a lot more of that question (fair or unfair) if Kansas City doesn't turn it around quick.

The defending Super Bowl champs lost 20-14 to the Raiders on Christmas Day, their third loss in the last four weeks.

Taylor arrived to the game with Santa Claus, which got social media all worked up, but after that, it was not a fun afternoon for the home team.

Travis' day was highlighted by a couple really bad drops, which led to him throwing his helmet on the sidelines.

He got a stern talking to from head coach Andy Reid, while Taylor was left to console Brittany Mahomes as it became clear that the Chiefs were going to take the 'L'.

Ok, you're all caught up! Happy holidays and we'll see you next year.

(Dad joke, sorry. See you next week – which is 2024. I'll see myself out.)