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HOUSTON — After capping his magnificent comeback season with another stellar start Tuesday night, Justin Verlander was too busy looking ahead to reflect too much on what he’s accomplished already.

“I wouldn’t be who I am or in this position now if I just was happy with where I finish the regular season. … I’m already trying to prepare myself for the postseason and get ready for that,” he said. “But at the same time, I see the numbers, I know how good they are, and I do appreciate it.”

Verlander struck out 10 without allowing a hit in five innings, and Houston’s bullpen kept the Philadelphia Phillies hitless until the ninth inning in a 10-0 win.

Verlander, who has pitched three no-hitters in his career, walked one before being pulled after 77 pitches. The AL West champion Astros led the NL wild-card Phillies 8-0 at that point.

“It’s great to have him on the mound,” manager Dusty Baker said. “The team’s excited, the fans are excited, I think baseball is excited when he’s on the mound on a national stage like that. He’s some pitcher.”

Rookie Hunter Brown pitched 2⅓ hitless innings and Hector Neris got the last two outs of the eighth inning. Will Smith came on for the ninth, and Garrett Stubbs singled to center field to break up the no-hit bid, causing a smattering of boos from the crowd.

“About the fifth inning you start thinking about it,” Baker said of the possibility of a no-hitter. “You start counting the amount of outs. … Everybody in our bullpen, the guys that came in, they wanted to be a part of it.”

Added Verlander: “It didn’t work out. It wasn’t our night.”

Jeremy Peña, Kyle Tucker and Martín Maldonado homered as the Astros jumped on Ranger Suárez (10-7) for six runs in two innings to build a huge lead early in their 1,000th win at Minute Maid Park, which opened in 2000.

Verlander (18-4) collected his American League-leading 18th win, and his MLB-leading 1.75 ERA is the lowest for a qualified pitcher in the AL, excluding the pandemic-shortened season, since Pedro Martinez posted a 1.74 ERA in 2000.

The two-time Cy Young Award winner’s ERA is also the lowest of his career, besting his 2.40 ERA in 2011, when he won his first Cy Young and was also named AL MVP while with Detroit.

Verlander, who also won the Cy Young in 2019, is a top candidate to win the award for a third time this season after returning to form following an almost two-year absence following Tommy John surgery.

“To me, this is maybe not what was supposed to happen, but what I expected to happen,” he said. “I didn’t know exactly how good the season would be, but I thought I would be me when I’m healthy, which is usually pretty good.”

Verlander, 39, was dominant from the start Tuesday, fanning eight consecutive batters at one point to set a career-high and tie a franchise record.

That eight-strikeout streak started when he got Darick Hall to end the first. He then struck out the side in the second and third innings before striking out Bryce Harper to start the fourth. The streak ended when Alec Bohm grounded out after that. Verlander didn’t allow a baserunner until Brandon Marsh walked to start the fifth.

But he got right back on track, retiring Bryson Stott and Nick Maton before Matt Vierling grounded into a force-out to end the inning. Verlander received a nice ovation as he walked to the dugout and he tipped his cap to the crowd just before stepping off the field.

He would have pitched a little longer Tuesday, but caused the top of one of his fingers to bleed by “clicking it” on his glove. Verlander said it’s something he has dealt with before and it wasn’t serious, but he didn’t see a reason to push it at this point in the season.

Harper and Marsh played Tuesday, but the Phillies fielded a lineup missing many of their regular starters after clinching their first playoff berth since 2011 a night earlier.

Jose Altuve hit a leadoff double before Peña homered to center field to make it 2-0. Yordan Alvarez then doubled off the wall in left field and Alex Bregman walked.

Tucker then smacked a ball to the seats in right field to extend the lead to 5-0.

Maldonado pushed it to 6-0 when he opened Houston’s second with his shot to left-center.

Tucker has 30 homers, 107 RBIs and 25 stolen bases this season to join Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell as the only players in franchise history with at least 30 homers, 25 steals and 100 RBIs in a season; Bagwell did it twice, in 1997 and 1999.

Suárez allowed seven hits and six runs, with a career-high three homers in three innings.

Christian Vazquez and Mauricio Dubon each hit an RBI single in the sixth inning to make it 8-0.

NO-HITTERS THIS SEASON

There have been three no-hitters this season, including two combined no-hitters.

Los Angeles Angels rookie Reid Detmers kept the Tampa Bay Rays hitless in May. The New York Mets had a combined no-hitter against the Phillies and the Astros combined for a no-hitter against the New York Yankees.

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Buckeyes seize No. 1; LSU, Canes rise as Tide fall

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Buckeyes seize No. 1; LSU, Canes rise as Tide fall

Ohio State climbed to No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25 college football poll on Tuesday, LSU and Miami moved into the top five, and Florida State jumped back into the rankings at the expense of Alabama, which plummeted to its lowest spot in 17 seasons.

The defending national champion Buckeyes received 55 of 66 first-place votes to move up two spots after their win over preseason No. 1 Texas. Ohio State is at the top of a regular-season poll for the first time since November 2015.

The Longhorns dropped to No. 7 as the media voters shuffled the rankings following a topsy-turvy Labor Day weekend. It was only the second time — and first since 1972 — that two top-five teams lost in Week 1 and the first time that four top-10 teams lost.

Only three teams in the Top 25 are in the same spot they were in the preseason poll.

Penn State got seven first-place votes and remained No. 2. LSU, which received three first first-place votes, was followed by Georgia and Miami to round out the top five.

Oregon got the other first-place vote and was followed by Texas, the Clemson Tigers, Notre Dame and South Carolina.

LSU jumped six spots after winning at Clemson and Miami got a five-rung promotion for its victory over Notre Dame.

The biggest movers in the poll were Florida State and Alabama after the Seminoles’ 31-17 victory in their head-to-head matchup.

The Seminoles, who were 15 spots outside the Top 25 in the preseason, are now No. 14. The Crimson Tide fell all the way from No. 8 to No. 21 — their lowest ranking since Bama was No. 24 in the 2008 preseason poll. That was the second of Nick Saban’s 17 teams in Tuscaloosa.

It’s been quite a turnabout for Florida State. The Seminoles were No. 10 in the 2024 preseason, lost their first two games, finished 2-10 and weren’t ranked again until now.

Utah, at No. 25, joins Florida State as the only newcomers to this week’s poll. The Utes are ranked for the first time since last October, when they were at the front end of a seven-game losing streak.

Utah had received the second-most points, behind BYU, among teams outside the preseason Top 25, but the Utes got more credit for beating UCLA on the road than the Cougars received for hammering FCS foe Portland State.

Boise State, which had been No. 25, received no votes following its 34-7 loss at South Florida. The Broncos had appeared in 14 straight polls.

The other team to drop out of the poll was No. 17 Kansas State, which followed up its season-opening loss to Iowa State with a last-minute home win over FCS team North Dakota.

Ohio State is the first team to take over the top spot in the first regular-season poll since Alabama in 2012. It was the biggest jump to No. 1 in the first regular-season poll since USC was promoted from No. 3 in 2008.

Texas’ fall was the biggest for a preseason No. 1 since Auburn dropped to No. 8 in the first regular-season poll of 1984.

LSU has its highest ranking after Week 1 since it was No. 3 in 2012, and Miami has its highest ranking after Week 1 since it was No. 5 in 2004.

South Carolina is in the top 10 in the regular season for the first time since it was No. 8 in December 2013.

CONFERENCE CALL

SEC: 10 (Nos. 3, 4, 7, 10, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)

Big Ten: 6 (Nos. 1, 2, 6, 11, 15, 23)

ACC: 4 (Nos. 5, 8, 14, 17)

Big 12: 4 (Nos. 12, 16, 24, 25)

Independent: 1 (No. 9)

RANKED VS. RANKED

No. 15 Michigan at No. 18 Oklahoma: This weekend’s game will be the first meeting since Oklahoma beat the Wolverines in the Orange Bowl to win the 1975 national championship. Wolverines freshman QB Bryce Underwood gets put to the test in his second start.

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Hold that, Tiger: Kelly asks if Dabo saw 2nd half

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Hold that, Tiger: Kelly asks if Dabo saw 2nd half

While Dabo Swinney isn’t inflating LSU‘s grade for beating his team in Saturday’s season opener, Brian Kelly is ready to give the Clemson coach an incomplete for his evaluation.

Both coaches weighed in Tuesday on how LSU’s 17-10 win at Clemson should be viewed. After trailing 10-3 at halftime, LSU outscored Clemson 14-0 in the second half and finished with significant edges in both total yards (354-261) and first downs (25-13).

LSU rose six spots to No. 3 in the AP Top 25 poll Tuesday, while Clemson dropped four spots to No. 8.

“It was a helluva game, down to the last play,” Swinney said in his weekly news conference. “Right out of the gate. It’s like getting the final exam [on] Day 1 of class. They made a 65; we made a 58. Neither one of us were great.”

Kelly had not won a season opener at LSU before Saturday, and the victory was his first with the Tigers against an AP top-5 opponent.

“I thought we dominated them in the second half, so he’s really a really good grader for giving himself a 58, or he’s a really hard grader on us,” Kelly said in his news conference when told about Swinney’s comment.

“Or he didn’t see the second half, which, that might be the case. He might not have wanted to see the second half.”

Kelly added that LSU is moving on to this week’s game against Louisiana Tech.

“Clemson is a darn good football team,” Kelly said. “That’s a top-notch team, and they’re going to be a team in the hunt for [the] playoff picture. We hope we are, too. But it was only one game. So I don’t know if he’s a hard grader or an easy grader, but I like the way that we played in the second half.”

Clemson visits LSU to open the 2026 season.

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Venables: Michigan’s Underwood ‘a little different’

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Venables: Michigan's Underwood 'a little different'

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said Bryce Underwood “looks to be wise beyond his years” and compared Michigan‘s freshman quarterback to former Clemson national championship QB Trevor Lawrence on Tuesday ahead of the No. 18 Sooners’ Week 2 visit from the No. 15 Wolverines.

Underwood, ESPN’s No. 1 overall recruit in the 2025 class, will make his second career start at Oklahoma on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC).

The coveted freshman earned Michigan’s starting job at the end of fall camp, beating out a collection of experienced passers on the depth chart including offseason portal additions Mikey Keene (Fresno State) and Jake Garcia (East Carolina). Underwood delivered a smooth college debut against New Mexico in Week 1, completing 21 of 31 passes for 251 yards and a touchdown in Michigan’s 34-17 win.

At Oklahoma, Underwood is set to face a much stiffer challenge against Venables, who resumed control of the Sooners’ defensive playcalling ahead of the 2024 season, and an experienced defense that held Illinois State to 151 yards of total offense in Week 1.

The former Clemson defensive coordinator compared Underwood to Lawrence, the five-star quarterback prospect who started as a freshman in 2018 and led the Tigers to a national championship win over Alabama.

“He’s a little different,” Venables said of Underwood. “It reminds me a lot of a Trevor Lawrence. Quick. Decisive. Accurate. Poised. Tough. Consistent. There’s a reason he was the No. 1 player in America. And he’s got a maturity and a work ethic and leadership agility to go along with that.”

As Oklahoma seeks to rebound from a 6-7 finish last fall, a new-look Sooners offense will get a test of its own Saturday.

Behind transfer QB John Mateer and first-year offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, Oklahoma gained 495 yards of offense in its 35-3, season-opening win over Illinois State. Mateer, who arrived in the offseason from Washington State alongside Arbuckle, passed Baker Mayfield for the most passing yards by an Oklahoma QB in a debut with 392 yards.

On Tuesday, Venables highlighted the Wolverines’ experience on defense, particularly in the front seven, as a defining challenge for the Sooners in an intriguing Week 2 matchup between two of college football’s most storied brands.

“[It’s] a defense that for the last several years has been one of the gold standards of college football when it comes to playing good defense,” Venables said. “It’s going to be a great physical matchup, and for us, a great litmus test to where we’re at.”

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