Kyle Boller filled in for an injured Mark Bulger, and the St. Louis Rams improved to 2-1 on the NFL preseason with a 24-21 victory over the host Cincinnati Bengals. The Rams led 24-14 heading into the fourth quarter, but a Bengals TD early in the frame made for some drama down the stretch. The Bengals couldn’t close the deal, however, and dropped to 1-2 on the NFL preseason.

Tony Romo passed for a NFL career best 353 yards and threw three touchdown passes as the Dallas Cowboys got their 2009 season off to a good start with a 34-21 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Raheem Morris went down in defeat in his debut as Bucs head coach, while the Cowboys answered a lot of questions about how their receiving corps would respond to the absence of Terrell Owens, now with the Buffalo Bills.

Here’s a word of advice to future opponents of Bobby Lashley–don’t make fun of his background in professional wrestling. Mike Cook found that out the hard way in the co-main event of Maximum Fighting Championships MFC 21: Hard Knocks. After spending the run up to fight week making fun of Lashley’s tenure in the WWE, Cook lasted a mere :24 seconds before being choked unconscious via a guillotine choke. The victory ran Lashley’s record in his brief MMA career to 3-0.

Reigning lightweight champ BJ Penn entered his main event battle against welterweight kingpin Georges St. Pierre looking to become the first man in UFC history to simultaneously hold titles in two weight classes. GSP never gave him the chance to make history, as he stopped Penn after four increasingly dominant rounds to retain his belt with a TKO victory and make a compelling case for being the pound for pound best fighter in mixed martial arts.

Behind a career day for quarterback Matt Schaub, the Houston Texans erased a 17-14 halftime deficit to score– points in the second half and defeat the host Cincinnati Bengals 28-17. Schaub threw for 342 yards and 4 touchdowns against one interception in the solid road victory. Against a team that had won three straight games in the final seconds, Houston never gave Cincinnati the chance to create any late drama. Cincinnati dropped to 4-2 with the loss while Houston evened their record at 3-3.

Professional hockey players from the former Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia are now ubiquitous, but Stan Mikita was something of a pioneer. The Chicago Blackhawks legend was sometimes relegated to secondary status behind more telegenetic stars like teammate Bobby Hull, but you can make a very good case that Mikita was the best NHL forward of the’60’s. He was born in Sokolce, in what is now known as Slovakia. In the conflict torn years prior to WW II, he was sent to Canada and adopted by an aunt and uncle. Like most young Canadian boys, he started playing hockey and quickly exhibited significant talent at the country’s national sport.

Ever since he burst onto the MMA scene Joe Lauzon has been working to earn respect. Hes lost only once since then–to top contender Kenny Florian in a bout that earned fight of the night honors–but for some reason hes had trouble being taken seriously as a top contender in the UFCs lightweight division. In the main event at the UFC Ultimate Fight Night in Tampa, Lauzon withstood a game challenge from late replacement Jeremy Stephens to earn a 2nd round submission victory.

The Indianapolis Colts, finding their offense shut down by a relentless Jacksonville Jaguars attack, fought back in kind. The often maligned Indy stop unit matched the ferocity of their Jaguars counterparts play for play, and one touchdown pass from Peyton Manning proved to be enough to earn victory by a 14-12 margin in the NFL season opener for both teams. With the victory Peyton Manning tied the great Johnny Unitas for the franchise victory lead.

The Montreal Canadiens have gotten off to a slow start this season, and entered Thursday night’s game against the New York Islanders having gone thirteen games without a win in regulation dating back to last season. Apparently, all they needed to cure their ails was a team that was struggling more than they are. The Islanders only have one win on the season, and the Habs jumped on them early scoring three goals in the first two periods en route to a 5-1 victory at the Bell Centre.

The University of North Carolina used a 21 yard field goal on the final play of the game to pull a big college football upset over #13 Virginia Tech on Thursday night, winning by a final score of 20-17. The Tar Heels’ #8 ranked defense proved as tenacious as their high national status would suggest, and gave the Hokies fits throughout. North Carolina led for most of the game, but withstood a late game Virginia Tech comeback bid to take the win. Both teams are now 5-3 on the college football season.