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FORT WORTH, Texas — TCU continued its charmed season Saturday night with another comeback win, this time rallying from an 18-point first-half deficit to beat No. 17 Kansas State 38-28 and stay undefeated.

Under first-year coach Sonny Dykes, the No. 8 Horned Frogs (7-0, 4-0 in Big 12), who finished 5-7 last season, joined 2016 Oklahoma as the only teams in Big 12 history to win four consecutive games against opponents ranked in the AP poll. The Frogs are among six undefeated teams in the country.

After rallying from 17 points down last week to beat No. 8 Oklahoma State in double overtime, TCU became the third team in the past 20 seasons to come back from multiple 17-point deficits against ranked teams in a season.

Dykes would prefer the Frogs not dig themselves into a hole, saying the team has played tight in the first half the past two weeks, something he said he needs to get fixed. But he said he has seen confidence take hold among his team in the locker room at halftime.

“We just settled in and started playing with more confidence,” Dykes said. “I think that knowing that they could do that, having done it last week, we walked in at halftime and there was no sense of panic. I think there was a little bit of frustration from everybody because we felt like we certainly hadn’t played a great half of football, but I didn’t sense any kind of panic.”

Despite losing starting quarterback Adrian Martinez, Kansas State scored touchdowns on four consecutive possessions in the first half behind Will Howard, who went 13-of-20 for 225 yards and two touchdowns. Howard was briefly knocked out of the game in the third quarter, and redshirt freshman Jake Rubley threw an interception on his only passing attempt.

After giving up 303 yards and 10.1 yards per play in the first half, the TCU defense surrendered just 87 yards and 3.8 yards per play in the second half, holding Kansas State scoreless as the Wildcats missed two field goals.

“We started to get some pressure, and as we got pressure we created some turnovers and the offense did a good job taking advantage of it,” Dykes said.

Max Duggan had another efficient performance, completing 17 of 26 passes for 280 yards and throwing touchdowns to three different receivers.

“What can you say about Max?” Dykes said. “I mean, it’s hard to put a value on how valuable he is to our team, just the toughness he brings and that never-say-die mentality and attitude just permeates the entire program. That unselfishness has kind of taken over our team.”

Kendre Miller, who ran for 153 yards and two touchdowns, said Dykes’ laid-back persona has helped the team deal with the deficits and the required second-half comebacks.

“He’s completely chill, calm,” Miller said. “I think it keeps everybody stable. If the head coach is going crazy, everybody kind of gets to panicking and stuff. He stays chill, everybody’s chill.”

Duggan said being undefeated hasn’t changed the Horned Frogs’ focus.

“No one talked about us before the season,” Duggan said. “We never listened to them. I think now when people start talking about you, you do the same thing. You don’t listen to them.”

Dykes said he has seen that approach take hold among the team.

“I’ve kind of been waiting to start hearing some talk about … conference standings or bowl games or rankings, and I just haven’t heard it ever with this group,” Dykes said. “I mean, never once. And that sounds absurd. I think the guys just have adopted that mentality of, ‘Hey, let’s just show up on Tuesday and have a good Tuesday practice.’ I think these guys kind of buy into the whole thing.”

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Sale, Crochet named comeback players of year

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Sale, Crochet named comeback players of year

LAS VEGAS — Left-handers Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves and Garrett Crochet of the Chicago White Sox won Major League Baseball’s Comeback Player of the Year awards on Thursday.

Cleveland right-hander Emmanuel Clase won his second AL Reliever of the Year award and St. Louis righty Ryan Helsley won the NL honor.

Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani joined David Ortiz as the only players to win four straight Outstanding Designated Hitter awards. Ohtani and the New York YankeesAaron Judge won Hank Aaron Awards as the outstanding offensive performers in their leagues.

Major League Baseball made the announcements at its All-MLB Awards Show.

Sale, 35, was 18-3 with a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts in 177⅔ innings for the NL’s first pitching triple crown since the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw in 2011. He earned his eighth All-Star selection and first since 2018.

Sale helped Boston to the 2018 World Series title but made just 56 starts from 2020-23, going 17-18 with a 4.86 ERA, 400 strikeouts and 79 walks over 298⅓ innings. He was acquired by Boston from the White Sox in December 2016 and made nine trips to the injured list with the Red Sox, mostly with shoulder and elbow ailments. He had Tommy John surgery on March 30, 2020, and returned to a big league mound on Aug. 14, 2021.

Sale fractured a rib while pitching in batting practice in February 2022 during the management lockout. On July 17, in his second start back, he broke his left pinkie finger when he was hit by a line drive off the bat of the Yankees’ Aaron Hicks. Sale broke his right wrist while riding a bicycle en route to lunch on Aug. 6, ending his season.

Crochet, 25, was 6-12 with a 3.58 ERA over 32 starts for a White Sox team that set a post-1900 record of 121 losses, becoming a first-time All-Star. He struck out 209 and walked 33 in 146 innings.

He had Tommy John surgery on April 5, 2022, and returned to the major leagues on May 18, 2023. Crochet had a 3.55 ERA in 13 relief appearances in 2023, and then joined the rotation this year.

Sale and Crochet were chosen in voting by MLB.com beat writers.

Clase and Helsley were unanimous picks by a panel that included Hall of Famers Trevor Hoffman, Mariano Rivera, Dennis Eckersley and Rollie Fingers, along with John Franco and Billy Wagner. The AL award is named after Rivera and the NL honor after Hoffman.

A three-time All-Star, Clase was 4-2 with a 0.61 ERA, 66 strikeouts and 10 walks in 74⅓ innings, holding batters to a .154 average. The 26-year-old converted 47 of 50 save chances, including his last 47.

Voting was based on the regular season. Clase was 0-2 with a 9.00 ERA in the playoffs, allowing three home runs, one more than his regular-season total.

Helsley, a two-time All-Star, was 7-4 with a 2.04 ERA and 49 saves in 53 chances. He struck out 79 and walked 23 in 66⅓ innings.

Ohtani became the first player with 50 or more homers and 50 or more stolen bases in a season. A two-way star limited to hitting following elbow surgery, Ohtani batted .310 and led the NL with 54 homers and 130 RBIs while stealing 59 bases.

Ortiz won the DH award five years in a row from 2003-07.

The DH award, named after Edgar Martinez, is picked in voting by team beat writers, broadcasters and public relations departments. MLB.com writers determined the finalists for the Aaron awards, and a fan vote was combined with picks from a panel of Hall of Famers and former winners to determine the selections.

Judge led the major leagues with 58 homers and 144 RBIs while hitting .322.

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Gators’ Lagway ‘ready to play,’ will start vs. LSU

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Gators' Lagway 'ready to play,' will start vs. LSU

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida quarterback DJ Lagway is “ready to play,” coach Billy Napier said Thursday on his weekly radio show.

Napier removed Lagway from the team’s injury report and penciled him in to start against No. 21 LSU in the Swamp on Saturday.

Lagway practiced every day this week while progressing from a strained left hamstring. The highly touted freshman was carted off the field against Georgia on Nov. 2. Tests revealed a “less significant” injury than initially feared, and now he’s back in time to face the Tigers.

The Gators (4-5, 2-4 Southeastern Conference) need him. They have to win two of their final three regular-season games to become bowl eligible.

LSU (6-3, 3-2) has struggled mightily against dual-threat QBs, including Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, who ran for 185 yards and four touchdowns last week.

Lagway returns after walk-on and Yale transfer Aidan Warner started in his place against Texas. Warner threw two interceptions and was 12-of-25 passing for 132 yards in a 49-17 loss.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Georgia leading rusher Etienne ruled out vs. Vols

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Georgia leading rusher Etienne ruled out vs. Vols

No. 12 Georgia will be without leading rusher Trevor Etienne for Saturday’s showdown against No. 7 Tennessee.

Etienne was downgraded from questionable to out on Thursday night’s SEC availability report.

Etienne left Georgia’s win over Florida with an upper-body injury on Nov. 2 and did not return. He played limited snaps in last week’s 28-10 loss at Ole Miss, carrying the ball six times for 24 yards.

Etienne leads the Bulldogs with 477 rushing yards and seven touchdowns this season.

The loss is another blow to Georgia’s banged-up backfield. Cash Jones is also listed as questionable while Branson Robinson remains out after missing the past three games with a knee injury.

That leaves true freshman Nate Frazier as the only healthy Bulldogs running back who has played meaningful snaps this year. Frazier is second on the team with 333 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

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