w/ Jim Field

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Chiefs are paying Chase Daniel more than $4 million in salary and bonuses this season, yet the backup quarterback has not taken a meaningful snap in a game. There’s an argument to be made that fact won’t change Sunday, when the Chiefs head to San Diego to play a game that can’t affect their playoff situation. Kansas City is already locked into the No. 5 seed and is merely waiting to find out who it will face the following weekend.

But there’s also an argument to be made that every snap Daniel takes — and it stands to reason there will be many — is very important. After winning their first nine games, the Chiefs have lost four of their last six. And any positive vibes that came with back-to-back wins over Washington and Oakland may have evaporated in a 23-7 rout last weekend by the Colts, a potential first-round playoff opponent.

So while most of the starters will likely sit out the majority of this one, it could be up to Daniel and a slew of backups to give Kansas City some momentum headed into the postseason.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Hawkeyes women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder has agreed to a one-year contract extension. University of Iowa Director of Athletics Gary Barta’s announcement Thursday means Bluder will be head coach of the women’s basketball program through the 2019 season.

The school says Bluder is one of 13 active Division One coaches with 600 or more wins. She has coached the Hawkeyes to the NCAA tournament in each of the last six seasons. Bluder is in her 14th season as Iowa’s head coach and her 30th year overall. She said in a statement Thursday that she was honored by the extension.

w/ Jim Field

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SAN DIEGO (AP) – Chargers rookie coach Mike McCoy says he expects running back Ryan Mathews to play against the Kansas City Chiefs despite missing practice Wednesday because of an injured left ankle. Mathews wore a walking boot to protect his ankle. He has played in all 15 games despite leaving one game with a concussion and two others with a hamstring injury.

Says Mathews: “There’s a big difference between being injured and being hurt. I’m just trying to work hard and be there for my teammates, and that’s all that matters.”  For Mathews, drafted 12th overall in 2010, it would be his first season without missing a game. He has rushed for a career-high 1,111 yards in helping the Chargers (8-7) stay in playoff contention.

HONOLULU (AP) — DeAndre Kane scored 23 points and No. 14 Iowa State overcame its worst half of the season to beat Boise State 70-66 on Wednesday in the Diamond Head Classic championship game. Kane hit a 3-pointer with less than 2 minutes left to help seal the win for the Cyclones (11-0). Boise State’s Derrick Marks had a chance to tie with less than 30 seconds left, but missed a 15-foot jumper. Melvin Ejim had 15 points and 10 rebounds.

The win gives Iowa State its best start to a season in school history. Derrick Marks had 23 points for Boise State (10-3). Iowa State came back after making less than a third of its shots in the first half. Ward earned tournament MVP honors for his three-game performance.

w/ Chris Parks

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The Iowa DNR reminds hunters that the late muzzleloader deer season began Dec. 23, which is the final season that any-deer licenses are available. Nearly 30,000 hunters participated in the late muzzleloader season in 2012 and the DNR expects similar numbers again this year. Archery season also re-opens on Dec. 23 so bow hunters with unfilled tags will likely be heading back to their tree stands as well.

Hunters are required to wear blaze orange during the late muzzleloader season, but unlike the shotgun seasons, party hunting is not allowed.  If hunters are seeing fewer deer where they hunt they may want to refrain from harvesting extra does. Hunters should check with landowners to see if deer numbers are at an acceptable level and tailor their harvest accordingly.

Hunters are reminded to report their harvest within 24 hours of recovering their deer. The DNR says that information is an important part of the data needed to manage Iowa’s deer herd.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — There is no prescribed number of plays that Chiefs coach Andy Reid would like the ball to end up in the hands of Jamaal Charles, one of the most dynamic playmakers in the NFL. One thing Reid does know is that Kansas City would be better off if Charles got the ball more than the six times he did in the second half of Sunday’s loss to Indianapolis. Or if he didn’t seem to stray from giving him touches at the end of close games.

It’s not as if Charles didn’t have another solid afternoon in a 23-7 loss. He ran for 106 yards and a touchdown, and caught five passes for 38 yards. But when the offense got stuck in the second half, it seemed Reid completely abandoned the run — even though it seemed to be working just fine. Charles carried eight times for 62 yards in the first half Sunday, including a 31-yard run for the Chiefs’ only touchdown. He had just five carries in the second half, while the Colts were in the midst of scoring 23 straight points, despite averaging nearly 9 yards per carry.

In other Chiefs Kingdom News….Kansas City signed Running Back Eric Kettani, Wide Receiver Jerrell Jackson and Line Backer Ridge Wilson to the practice squad, Tuesday. They replace WR Fred Williams, who was released, Full Back Toben Opurum, who was added to the Texans active roster, and Tight End Jake Byrne, who joined the Chargers’ active roster.  Coach Andy Reid said Tuesday that starters and backups will both practice this week. The Chiefs are assured of the No. 5 seed for the playoffs, so it’s likely most starters will rest against San Diego.

by:  LUKE MEREDITH, AP Sports Writer

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — It was the game of the year — won by the team of the year in Iowa sports.

Iowa had the ball and a 3-point lead with less than a minute left of a thrilling matchup with the rival Cyclones at Hilton Coliseum on Dec. 13. But Iowa State, helped immensely by a raucous home crowd, rallied to beat the Hawkeyes and highlight a fantastic 2013 for Fred Hoiberg’s surging program.

The Cyclones made back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances for the first time in 12 years in March, where they blasted Notre Dame before Ohio State’s Aaron Craft broke their hearts with a buzzer-beating 3. The Cyclones soon reloaded behind transfers DeAndre Kane and Dustin Hogue and became the last unbeaten team in the Big 12 to start this season.

Iowa State will enter 2014 as a legitimate contender for the conference title and a deep run in March.

The Cyclones certainly weren’t the only team to make news in Iowa this year, though. Here are some of the other top stories in Iowa sports in 2013.

2. HAWKEYE REVIVAL: After finishing 4-8 with six straight Big Ten losses in 2012, most thought Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes were due for a .500 season at best. But after some early stumbles in league play, Iowa reeled off three straight wins — capped by a 38-17 waxing of Nebraska on the road — to finish the regular season at 8-4 and 5-3 in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes defense blossomed into one of the best in the country, sophomore Jake Rudock had a promising debut season and Iowa wound up with a berth in the Outback Bowl against LSU. Next year could be even better for the Hawkeyes, who return a majority of their starters and appear to have a much more manageable schedule in 2014.

3. HOOPS TOO: Iowa’s basketball team was also on a major upswing in 2013. Though the Hawkeyes narrowly missed the NCAA tournament, they made a run to the finals of the NIT and started this season at 11-2, earning a spot in the Top 25. Iowa is one of the deepest teams in the country and looks ready to compete for a Big Ten title in the weeks ahead.

4. CYCLONES STUMBLE: Things weren’t nearly so rosy for coach Paul Rhoads and the scuffling Cyclones. Iowa State lost its season opener to Northern Iowa and things only got worse from there. The Cyclones lost nine of their first 10 games as quarterback Sam Richardson struggled through injuries and their young defense got lit up by a number of high-powered Big 12 offenses. Though Iowa State closed a dreadful season with a pair of wins, offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham was fired less than 24 hours after the final game of the year. The Cyclones have already signed a number of junior college recruits in an effort to fill immediate holes, and they’re hoping that Grant Rohach can solidify their quarterback situation.

5. WRESTLING’S OLYMPIC FIGHT: Perhaps nowhere in the United States was the International Olympic Committee’s recommendation that wrestling be dropped from the Olympic program felt more than in Iowa. A state with a long and illustrious history of supporting the sport was thrust into the fight to preserve its future — starting with the NCAA Championships in March. Sellout crowds in Des Moines helped start the push to save Olympic wrestling, which survived two rounds of IOC voting and was reinstated in September.

6. STEWART CRASHES IN IOWA: One of the biggest NASCAR stories of the year originated in Oskaloosa. Three-time NASCAR champion Tony Stewart broke his leg and missed the rest of the season after flipping his sprint car at the Southern Iowa Speedway in early August, again raising questions about safety in the sport. Stewart remains optimistic he’ll be ready to return for the Dayton 500 in late February.

7. SPEEDWAY SOLD: The NASCAR story most pertinent to Iowans broke just before Thanksgiving, when it was announced that NASCAR had purchased the Iowa Speedway in a near-unprecedented move. NASCAR called the purchase a “strategic play” — but it also said it has no plans to bring the top-tier Sprint Cup Series to Newton in the near future.

8. MR. 138 GOES FOR 180 IN TWO GAMES: Grinnell’s Jack Taylor made headlines when he set the NCAA scoring record with a staggering 138 points in late 2012. Taylor missed the second half of last season with a broken wrist, but he let the world know he was healthy at the onset of 2013. Taylor opened the season with a 71-point effort, which he followed up by scoring 109 points — third-most in NCAA history — in a 173-123 win over Crossroads on Nov. 18. Taylor is averaging a national-best 44.6 points a game, over 14 more than the player in second, as the Pioneers won seven of their first eight games.

9. DRAKE FIRES PHELPS: The Bulldogs gave Mark Phelps five years to try to replicate the success Keno Davis had in just one season in Des Moines. But after just 77 wins and 86 losses, Drake fired Phelps after last season and replaced him with Ray Giacoletti. The Bulldogs have taken to the change thus far, winning seven of their first 10 games.

10. IOWA, IOWA STATE MAKE NCAA TOURNAMENT YET AGAIN: The women’s basketball teams at Iowa and Iowa State make the NCAAs so often that it’s easy to forget how consistently strong they really are. The Hawkeyes made it to the second round in March, their sixth consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament, and the Cyclones also won an NCAA game in their seventh straight tournament trip. Both Iowa and Iowa State will finish 2013 in the Top 25 and in great shape for yet another NCAA bid.