The Precedent Daily: Wednesday, October 28, 2026

Carolina knocks off the NHL's top team, the Knicks finally win, Portland soars into the top five, and Texas takes over No. 1 in college football without playing.

Tuesday's top five

1. Carolina beat No. 1 Boston, and Utah took over the top spot. The Hurricanes beat Boston, first in The Precedent's Rating yesterday, 2-1. The game was tied entering the third period, and Sebastian Aho scored the winner midway through it. Boston fell to third. Utah lost 3-1 to Minnesota and still moved from second to first: four teams it had already played won, and its schedule's winning percentage rose from .539 to .556.
2. The Knicks won for the first time and knocked Detroit out of second. New York, 0-3 and 26th in the Rating, beat Detroit 111-97. The Knicks led by a point at halftime and took control with a 37-13 third quarter. Karl-Anthony Towns had 27 points and 20 rebounds. Detroit, unbeaten and second yesterday, dropped to eighth, the biggest upset of the day by Rating.
3. Portland jumped 16 places to fourth. The Trail Blazers won 136-129 at the LA Lakers, who were also unbeaten, and are 3-0. Damian Lillard's 3-pointer with 43 seconds left sealed it. Portland's own win counted, and adding a team that came in 3-0 lifted its opponents' combined winning percentage from .167 to .364.
4. Vancouver scored four straight goals to end its losing streak. The Canucks, last in the Rating, trailed Anaheim 4-1 after two periods and were still down three in the third. They tied it 5-5 late in regulation and won 6-5 in overtime on Filip Hronek's power-play goal, ending a 10-game losing streak. Anaheim fell from 19th to 24th.
5. Texas is college football's new No. 1 without playing. Indiana, first yesterday, fell to third after Western Kentucky, a team it had already played, lost 35-21 to Delaware. That dropped Indiana's schedule's winning percentage from .591 to .578. Texas, 5-2 against the toughest schedule in the country, moved up to first, and unbeaten Miami (FL) to second.

NHL

Boston's loss in Raleigh reshuffled the top of the Rating. Utah is first, Washington, idle, moved up to second, and Boston is third. Minnesota's win at Utah came from the only goal of the second period and two more in the third, and the Wild climbed from eighth to fourth. They lead the Central Division with 20 points.

Carolina moved from 12th to eighth and leads the Metropolitan Division with 22 points, the most in the league. The Hurricanes have the best record in the NHL, but their Rating ranks seven places lower, because the teams they have played have the weaker combined record.

The biggest upset of the day by Rating was No. 28 Buffalo's 2-0 shutout at No. 11 San Jose. The Sharks fell seven places to 18th, the biggest drop of the day, and Buffalo climbed five to 23rd. Florida also climbed five places, to 16th, after a 5-1 win at Winnipeg. Ottawa lost 4-1 at Vegas, which broke a 1-1 tie with three goals in the third period, and fell from sixth to 11th. Vegas moved into the top 10.

New Jersey won its fourth in a row, 5-1 at Dallas, and is ninth. Columbus beat Philadelphia 4-3 in overtime after blowing a three-goal lead, and the NY Islanders won 4-3 in a shootout at Nashville.

Tuesday's results

Ranks are The Precedent's Rating, yesterday → today. In The Precedent's Rating, an overtime or shootout winner gets a win and the other team a loss, so records here are W-L.

Biggest upsets by Rating

Rating Top 10

Teams tied on Rating share a rank. SOS = average Rating of the opponents played.

Full NHL Ratings →

Biggest risers

Biggest fallers

Rating vs record

Record rank is by winning percentage. The gap comes from the records of the teams each has played.

Full NHL standings and playoff picture →

NBA

Houston, 4-0, is still first. Atlanta moved up to second without playing, and Oklahoma City, also 4-0 and idle, climbed from seventh to third after San Antonio, a team it had already played, won. Portland is fourth after its win in Los Angeles, the Lakers' first loss.

Detroit led the Knicks by 13 after the first quarter before New York's third quarter turned the game. The Pistons' loss left four teams tied atop the East at 3-1: Detroit, Boston, Philadelphia and Charlotte.

Boston needed overtime to beat winless Brooklyn 125-124 and still fell from 11th to 14th. Brooklyn is 0-4, and adding the Nets lowered Boston's opponents' combined winning percentage from .400 to .313. San Antonio beat Sacramento 130-103 after scoring 80 points in the first half.

Tuesday's results

Ranks are The Precedent's Rating, yesterday → today.

Biggest upsets by Rating

Rating Top 10

Teams tied on Rating share a rank. SOS = average Rating of the opponents played.

Full NBA Ratings →

Biggest risers

Biggest fallers

Full NBA standings →

College Football

Delaware won 35-21 at Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers led after the first quarter, and Delaware scored 21 points in the second to take control. Delaware climbed from 113th to 103rd. Missouri State beat Sam Houston 24-3, holding a seven-point halftime lead before scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter, and rose from 130th to 122nd.

Those two results moved teams at the top too. Indiana fell from first to third and Texas Tech from 15th to 19th, both because a team they had already played lost. Three unbeaten teams remain: Miami (FL), Utah and UCLA, all 7-0.

Rating Top 25

Teams tied on Rating share a rank. SOS = average Rating of the opponents played.

Full College Football Ratings →

Biggest risers

Biggest fallers

Unbeaten tracker

Full College Football standings →

Coming up today

MLS · 14 matches

Nashville SC, first in The Precedent's Rating, hosts Philadelphia Union at 7:30 PM. All 14 games kick off tonight, including No. 3 Inter Miami CF against FC Cincinnati, No. 5 New England Revolution against Red Bull New York, and No. 2 FC Dallas against Columbus Crew.

NHL · 4 games

Washington, second in The Precedent's Rating, hosts last-place Philadelphia at 6:30 PM. Edmonton (fifth) hosts Calgary, which has won four in a row, and New Jersey takes its own four-game winning streak to Colorado.

NBA · 12 games

Houston, No. 1 in the Rating and 4-0, plays at Milwaukee at 7:00 PM. Oklahoma City, also unbeaten, is at Dallas at 8:30 PM, and Detroit hosts Charlotte in a meeting of two of the four teams tied atop the East. Atlanta, second in the Rating, hosts winless Miami.