Verlander, Scherzer: First showdown to be ‘fun’
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Bradford Doolittle, ESPN Staff Writer
ARLINGTON, Texas — As arguably the two best right-handed pitchers of their generation, the relationship between the Texas Rangers‘ Max Scherzer and the Houston Astros‘ Justin Verlander has taken many forms.
It also has evolved from some early career friction as young teammates with the Detroit Tigers, mostly thanks to their brief time as teammates with the New York Mets.
“Looking at each other now through a different lens,” Verlander said, “it’s two guys who, we do go about things differently, but there’s more than one way to be successful. I can’t speak for Max, but for myself, this time around, I think we had good conversations about the way he sees things, the way I see things and how that can be beneficial.”
In Detroit, the two future Hall of Famers were in competition with each other as well as opponents. They’ve also been on teams that competed against each other for playoff spots and championships. In New York, they were teammates again, but older and wiser.
On Wednesday, the relationship will take a form it never has before: opposing pitchers on the mound.
Hard as it is to believe, Scherzer and Verlander will go head-to-head for the first time in their careers when the Rangers and Astros play at Globe Life Field on Wednesday in the finale of a key three-game series.
“That’ll be fun,” Scherzer said. “First time facing him. My whole career, I’ve got to face all the best guys in the world and I’ve got to play with all the best guys in the world. So I got to play with [Verlander] for a while. Now it’s going to be fun to actually go up against him.”
The matchup would be compelling in any context, but there are extra layers. When the Mets’ season fizzled, New York dealt both pitchers at the trade deadline, sending them to cross-state rivals in the midst of a heated divisional and wild-card playoff race.
While their time together in New York was short, Verlander said it allowed their relationship to grow.
“A lot has been talked about our past,” Verlander said. “I think it was a bit blown out of proportion. But you know, there was some tension there. And I think we both decided to make an effort coming in to just move past that.”
Scherzer went 9-4 with a 4.01 ERA for the Mets; Verlander was 6-5 with a 3.15 ERA for New York before going back to the Astros, with whom he won a World Series last season.
“It was good to get back with him,” Scherzer said. “He’s obviously one of the great competitors of our time, so it was good to be back with him and really get a download of how he is as a pitcher, and how he’s evolved.
“The game has changed over the seven or eight years we were apart. It was good to get back with him and get inside his pitching mind and how he attacks hitters.”
The Rangers and Astros are locked in a three-way battle with the Seattle Mariners for supremacy in the AL West, with those clubs also battling the Toronto Blue Jays in the wild-card chase.
Yet even the pitchers’ future Hall of Fame managers can’t help but marvel at what they might see Wednesday.
“I’ve said this many times,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “I’ve got a great seat to watch some really great players play. To see matchups like this, I enjoy it, to see guys who have had tremendous careers like they’ve had and how competitive they are.”
In addition to managing Verlander with the Astros, Houston’s Dusty Baker was Scherzer’s skipper with the Washington Nationals for two seasons.
“[It’s a challenge] to continue to manage and not become a spectator,” Baker said. “They’re different but they’re similar in their determination and their competitiveness.”
You can’t blame the managers for being a little excited. The two aces rank in the top three of all major career categories among active pitchers. In strikeouts, they are 1-2, with Scherzer topping the list with 3,361 and Verlander just 50 back at 3,311.
A meeting between two pitchers this accomplished is a rare thing, especially in this era of reduced starting pitcher workloads. According to Elias, Verlander and Scherzer’s 467 combined career wins will be the most by opposing starters over the past 15 seasons. It will be the first time since CC Sabathia and Mark Buehrle squared off in 2015 that there has been a meeting of two starters with at last 200 career wins.
Only 11 pitchers have won at least three Cy Young Awards; two of them will square off on Wednesday.
“I think it’s exciting,” Verlander said. “It’s not too often in baseball anymore you get matchups between two guys who have had the careers like him and I have had. I think it’s exciting for baseball.”
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Kyle Bonagura, ESPN Staff Writer
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty bolstered his Heisman Trophy résumé Saturday night by breaking the single-season school rushing record in a 42-21 win against San José State.
Jeanty rushed for 159 yards on 32 carries with three touchdowns to up his season total to 1,893 yards through 10 games. He broke the school record set by Jay Ajayi, who ran for 1,823 yards in 14 games in 2014.
“He’s the best football player in the country,” Boise State coach Spencer Danielson said. “He is also a big-time leader and an elite human being.”
The win guaranteed the Broncos, ranked No. 13 in the College Football Playoff rankings, a spot in the Mountain West championship game, which means Jeanty is on pace to rush for over 2,400 yards by the time the Heisman Trophy ballots must be submitted. With a bowl game or an appearance in the playoff, Jeanty could challenge Barry Sanders’ single-season FBS rushing record of 2,628 yards set in 1988.
“It means a lot,” Jeanty said of the school record. “All the past running backs are great and amazing, but to keep the legacy going, the tradition of great running backs at Boise State, I think is a big deal to me.”
Things did not start well for the Broncos and Jeanty against San José State. He was limited to 19 yards on his first nine carries as Boise State fell behind 14-0. But after the Spartans failed to convert on fourth-and-goal to go up 21-0, the Broncos started to find their way.
Jeanty keyed a strong drive to finish the half, which he capped with a 2-yard score to tie the game with 38 seconds before halftime.
“[The challenge] every week is wearing the defense down,” Jeanty said. “We got 8-men boxes, 9-man boxes, so not as many big runs, but over the course of the game, if we’re able to grind them down, get ’em tired, those big runs will come.”
That’s what happened against SJSU. In the second half, Jeanty had runs of 36, 12, 13 and 11 yards, and the Spartans couldn’t keep pace, despite 446 yards passing from quarterback Walker Eget.
Boise State (9-1, 6-0 MW) travels to Wyoming next week before ending the regular season at home against Oregon State on Nov. 29.
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Jake Trotter, ESPN Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Oregon had yet to score a touchdown when “Jump Around” blared throughout Camp Randall Stadium, signaling the start of the fourth quarter in Wisconsin.
The top-ranked Ducks trailed and faced fourth-and-nine. Oregon coach Dan Lanning considered taking a delay of game and punting. Instead, he put his trust in quarterback Dillon Gabriel. And once again, the Heisman Trophy contender delivered.
Unable to find an open receiver, Gabriel scrambled left before threading a pass through a trio of Wisconsin defenders into the chest of tight end Terrance Ferguson for the first down. Three plays later, the Ducks scored their only touchdown of the night.
That was all need they needed. Oregon survived Saturday night with a 16-13 victory over Wisconsin to remain unbeaten.
According to ESPN Research, the Ducks are the only team in the country to win three times this season after trailing by at least six points in the fourth quarter. They’re also just the seventh team in the AP Poll era (since 1936) to start 11-0 with three wins by three or fewer points. Oregon also rallied for wins against Boise State and Ohio State by a combined margin of four points.
“It’s hard to win,” said Gabriel, who passed for 219 yards. “Big plays need to happen in big moments. … winning games are hard, and we have a team that knows how to win. That just speaks volumes about the guys we have.”
The Ducks didn’t make it easy.
Oregon twice settled for field goals in the first half after promising drives. Gabriel also had a pass tipped and intercepted on first-and-goal.
With Oregon’s offense scuffling, the Badgers gradually took control with a methodical rushing attack led by Tawee Walker, who finished with 97 yards.
The Badgers led 13-6 to begin the fourth quarter and seemed headed for their first win over a No. 1 team since toppling Ohio State in 2010.
But momentum swung back in Oregon’s favor after “Jump Around,” Wisconsin’s famed tradition. The Ducks played the song all week during practice to prepare them for the road trip.
To begin the fourth quarter, Lanning told Gabriel to take the delay of game if the Badgers showed zone coverage against Oregon’s triple slant play.
“(They) were in the look that we liked and then they actually checked out of that look,” Lanning said. “But our guys did a good job of executing the scramble drill. … we probably had a little good luck there — and an impressive play by Dillon to keep it alive and find somebody down the field.”
Two possessions later, the Ducks later added the game-winning field goal. Gabriel’s eight-yard scramble on third down helped set up the chip-shot, 24-yard attempt for Atticus Sappington, who nailed the kick with just over 2 minutes to play.
Oregon’s defense did the rest, forcing a turnover on downs, then a tipped interception on Wisconsin’s final drive.
The Ducks will have a bye before facing Washington in the regular-season finale. If they win, they’ll have a chance to secure the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs with another victory in the Big Ten championship game.
“We can handle critical moments,” Lanning said. “We can handle when it’s tough and at some point, that experience is going to pay off for us. It certainly paid off for us tonight.”
ATHENS, Ga. — On a raucous Saturday night between the hedges, Carson Beck once again looked like a quarterback who could lead Georgia to another national title.
Showing off his arm and his legs, Beck silenced his critics by throwing for two touchdowns and running for another, leading the No. 12 Bulldogs to a 31-17 victory over No. 7 Tennessee that gave a huge boost to their College Football Playoff hopes.
Georgia (8-2, 6-2 Southeastern Conference) bounced back from a 28-10 loss at Ole Miss that left the Bulldogs just outside the provisional 12-team postseason field.
Now, they are positioned for a likely playoff berth — and a shot at winning their third national championship in four years — if they can close out the regular season with wins over UMass and Georgia Tech.
“Our kids showed resiliency. I’m proud of them,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “A week ago, we were dead and gone. People had written us off.”
Tennessee (8-2, 5-2) could have moved a big step closer to a berth in the SEC championship game, but the Vols’ postseason prospects are now a whole lot murkier after what had all the makings of a playoff elimination game.
In the midst of a disappointing season, Beck came up huge for the Bulldogs when they needed him most, guiding them to a 29th straight home victory in an FBS-leading streak that dates to 2019.
“He gets judged on outcomes and stats, but we don’t judge based on that,” Smart said. “We judge internally on what gives us the best chance to win. He’s got poise, he’s got composure. He gets us in the right play over and over again.”
Beck connected on a pair of touchdown passes to tight end Oscar Delp in the first half and scrambled for the go-ahead score in the third quarter, darting 10 yards to the end zone for his first rushing TD of the season.
Georgia sealed the victory with a 92-yard drive — its longest of the season — in the closing minutes. Freshman Nate Frazier finished it off with a 2-yard touchdown run with 2:26 remaining.
Beck, who had thrown 12 interceptions in the previous six games, didn’t have any picks against the Volunteers. He completed 25 of 40 passes for 347 yards.
With quarterback Nico Iamaleava cleared to play after going through concussion protocol, Tennessee jumped to a 10-0 lead on Miles Kitselman’s 1-yard dive and Max Gilbert’s 52-yard field goal, dampening the mood of more than 93,000 at Sanford Stadium.
But the Bulldogs, after a sluggish start that has become their trademark, grabbed the lead as Beck connected with Delp on similar-looking scoring passes of 19 and 4 yards in the back of the end zone.
Dylan Sampson put the Vols back in front with his 21st rushing touchdown of the season, a 27-yard scamper through a huge hole right up the middle.
But Beck guided the Bulldogs into position for Peyton Woodring’s 36-yard field goal with 5 seconds remaining in the half, sending the teams to the locker room tied at 17.
A 14-yard run set up his first touchdown pass to Delp, an 8-yard run on third down extended the drive that led to Woodring’s field goal near the end of the first half, and the touchdown run came on third-and-7 from the 10.
“He’s a good athlete,” Smart said. “He can make plays with his feet.”
Tennessee: The Vols defense had not allowed more than 19 points all season, but they couldn’t contain the Beck-led offense. Georgia piled up 453 yards and 24 first downs while converting eight of 13 third-down opportunities. Tennessee just doesn’t have an answer for the Bulldogs, who have dominated the series with eight straight victories – all of them by margins of at least two touchdowns.
Georgia: The Bulldogs played without top running back Travis Etienne, who was sidelined by a rib issue, and the offense took another blow when receiver Dillon Bell went out with an ankle injury sustained on a hit along the sideline late in the first half. But Frazier, the first true freshman to start at tailback for the Bulldogs since 2014, rushed for 68 yard and London Humphreys stepped up to make three huge catches for 63 yards. Big kudos, as well, to the offensive line, which did not give up a sack after Beck was dumped five times the previous week by Ole Miss.
Tennessee: The Vols return home next Saturday to take on UTEP before wrapping up the regular season with a short trip to Nashville to face Vanderbilt on Nov. 30.
Georgia: With their SEC schedule complete, the Bulldogs close out the regular season with two non-conference games at home. UMass (2-8) shouldn’t present much of a problem next Saturday.
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