Warning: This page contains spoilers for the April 30, 2026, game of Jeopardy! — please do not scroll down if you wish to avoid being spoiled. Please note that the game airs as early as noon Eastern in some U.S. television markets.
Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Sports & The Movies) for Thursday, April 30, 2026 (Season 42, Game 169):
In 2026 a New Year’s Day college football game featured these 2 team names that are both Gene Hackman movie titles
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s Jeopardy! contestants:
Kate Brody, a novelist from Los Angeles, California
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Derek Kaufman, an attorney from Los Angeles, California
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Greg Shahade, a chess player from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (3-day total: $74,602)
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Andy’s Pregame Thoughts:
After playing “giant killer” on Monday, Greg Shahade is starting a nice streak of his own, having won nearly $75,000 in three days. While he is quite likely to qualify for the 34th Tournament of Champions already at this point with what he’s won so far, he’ll definitely need a pair of victories to make his chances of qualifying 100%. Our challengers today, hoping to end Greg’s run at 3 wins, are a pair of Angelenos in novelist Kate Brody and attorney Derek Kaufman.
Also, you can guarantee that a lot of fans will go nuts for the “Johnny Gilbert: No. 1 Hit Machine” category in today’s Double Jeopardy! Round—for me, Johnny Gilbert reading song lyrics as clues is a favorite.
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Correct response: What are Hoosiers & Crimson Tide?
More information about Final Jeopardy:
(The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2026 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
The 112th Rose Bowl Game, which also served as one of the College Football Playoff quarterfinals, featured the #1-seeded Indiana Hoosiers and the #9-seeded Alabama Crimson Tide. Indiana dominated the game, winning 38-3.
The much more interesting part of this, though, is that Gene Hackman appeared in both the 1986 film Hoosiers and the 1995 film Crimson Tide.
Honestly, I believe that this Final Jeopardy clue today is 100% prototypical of the type of thinking that modern Jeopardy! wants to test. It’s the type of person who looks at this year’s Rose Bowl, sees the Hoosiers and the Crimson Tide, and realizes that not only are they both well-known films, but that Gene Hackman starred in both of them.
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