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The Texas Longhorns jumped seven spots to No. 4 in The Associated Press college football poll Sunday after beating Alabama, and the Pac-12 became just the second conference to place as many as eight teams in an AP Top 25.

Georgia received 55 first-place votes to remain the clear No. 1. Michigan was No. 2, with two first-place votes. No. 3 Florida State moved up a spot and received three first-place votes.

Texas received two first-place votes after its biggest regular-season victory in years. The Longhorns are in the top five for the first time since starting the 2010 season at No. 5 and have their highest ranking since finishing No. 2 after losing the BCS Championship Game to Alabama in 2009.

Behind quarterback Quinn Ewers, Texas became the first team to beat Alabama by double digits on its home field under coach Nick Saban.

The loss dropped Alabama seven spots to No. 10, its lowest ranking since early last November, when the Crimson Tide also were 10th.

USC moved up a spot to No. 5, giving each Power 5 conference top-five representation for the first time since Sept. 24, 2017.

No conference has more teams in the Top 25 than the Pac-12, which is in its last season with its current membership before 10 schools depart for other leagues in 2024.

Only the SEC had ever placed as many eight teams in a single Top 25, doing it 21 times with a record 10 in September 2015.

In this week’s poll, Washington is No. 8, Utah is 12th, Oregon is 13th, Oregon State is No. 16, and Colorado has risen to 18th. Moving into the rankings are Washington State at No. 23 and UCLA at No. 24.

The Pac-12’s previous high was six ranked teams, achieved multiple times, including last week.

Oregon State and Washington State are the only members of the conference committed to it beyond this school year and would like to preserve the Pac-12, but whether its Power 5 status can be preserved remains to be seen.

After Washington State beat Wisconsin on Saturday night, Cougars coach Jake Dickert noted his school’s unfortunate position.

“We belong in the Power 5,” Dickert told ESPN among a swarm of Cougars, who rushed the field in Pullman.

No. 6 Ohio State, No. 7 Penn State and No. 9 Notre Dame round out the top 10.

Prime exposure

Colorado, which was unranked to begin the season, moved up another four spots to No. 18 with its victory over Nebraska in coach Deion Sanders’ home debut at Folsom Field.

The Buffaloes will again be in the national spotlight next Saturday as they host Colorado State with ESPN’s “College GameDay” coming to Boulder for the first time since 1996.

“At the risk of sounding arrogant, we truly expect that,” Coach Prime said of the national attention. “And that’s why those kids come, they want the biggest stage and they’re getting that every darn week. And the numbers justify it.”

The last time “GameDay” came to Boulder was Sept. 14, 1996, when the fifth-ranked Buffaloes lost to No. 11 Michigan 20-13. “GameDay” visited Boulder twice in 1995, the year after ESPN began sending its crew to college campuses.

Poll points

Alabama’s streak of top-10 rankings is at 128, which dates back to the 2015 season. The Crimson Tide’s streak is the second longest in AP poll history behind Miami‘s 137 from 1985 to 1993.

The next five longest streaks of appearing in the top five: Clemson (97, 2015-21); Nebraska (96, 1993-98); Florida (81, 1992-97).

Moving in

UCLA and Washington State were two of four teams to move into the rankings this week.

No. 22 Miami is ranked for the first time since last September, when it fell out of the AP Top 25 after losing at Texas A&M. The Hurricanes beat the Aggies on Saturday to move back in and knock out A&M.

Miami and Florida State are both ranked in the regular season for the first time since Sept. 18, 2017.

No. 25 Iowa slipped back in after falling out last week. The Hawkeyes beat Iowa State on Saturday.

Moving out

Falling out along with Texas A&M were Wisconsin, which lost at Washington State, and Tulane, which lost at home to Ole Miss.

Clemson also slipped out of the rankings, ending a streak of 21 appearances. The Tigers barely held on to a spot in the poll at No. 25 last week following an opening loss to Duke. Their rout of Charleston Southern on Saturday wasn’t enough to keep them ranked.

Conference call

With Tulane dropping out, there are no ranked teams from conferences outside the Power 5. The last time that happened was a little less than a year ago, though three Group of 5 conference teams ended up finishing the season ranked.

Behind the Pac-12’s eight ranked teams is the SEC (five), ACC (four), Big Ten (four) and Big 12 (three).

Differing opinion

While the top three teams are in the same spots as the AP Top 25 — with Georgia getting all but one of the first-place votes — the AFCA Coaches Poll differed on where to slot the Longhorns after their victory against the Crimson Tide.

The coaches currently have Texas at No. 6, behind both the Buckeyes and Trojans, respectively. And the coaches also had Notre Dame at No. 11, with Tennessee at No. 9.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Volpe toss hits Judge as sloppy Yanks fall again

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Volpe toss hits Judge as sloppy Yanks fall again

NEW YORK — A blunder that typifies the current state of the New York Yankees, who find themselves in the midst of their second six-game losing streak in three weeks, happened in front of 41,401 fans at Citi Field on Saturday, and almost nobody noticed.

The Yankees were jogging off the field after securing the third out of the fourth inning of their 12-6 loss to the Mets when shortstop Anthony Volpe, as is standard for teams across baseball at the end of innings, threw the ball to right fielder Aaron Judge as he crossed into the infield from right field.

Only Judge wasn’t looking, and the ball nailed him in the head, knocking his sunglasses off and leaving a small cut near his right eye. The wound required a bandage to stop the bleeding, but Judge stayed in the game.

“Confusion,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I didn’t know what happened initially. [It just] felt like something happened. Of course I was a little concerned.”

Avoiding an injury to the best player in baseball was on the Yankees’ very short list of positives in another sloppy, draining defeat to their crosstown rivals. With the loss, the Yankees, who held a three-game lead over the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East standings entering June 30, find themselves tied with the Tampa Bay Rays for second place three games behind the Blue Jays heading into Sunday’s Subway Series finale.

The nosedive has been fueled by messy defense and a depleted pitching staff that has encountered a wall.

“It’s been a terrible week,” said Boone, who before the game announced starter Clarke Schmidt will likely undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery.

For the second straight day, the Mets capitalized on mistakes and cracked timely home runs. After slugging three homers in Friday’s series opener, the Mets hit three more Saturday — a grand slam in the first inning from Brandon Nimmo to take a 4-0 lead and two home runs from Pete Alonso to widen the gap.

Nimmo’s blast — his second grand slam in four days — came after Yankees left fielder Jasson Dominguez misplayed a ball hit by the Mets’ leadoff hitter in the first inning. On Friday, he misread Nimmo’s line drive and watched it sail over his head for a double. On Saturday, he was slow to react to Starling Marte’s flyball in the left-center field gap and braked without catching or stopping it, allowing Marte to advance to second for a double. Yankees starter Carlos Rodon then walked two batters to load the bases for Nimmo, who yanked a mistake, a 1-2 slider over the wall.

“That slider probably needs to be down,” said Rodon, who allowed seven runs (six earned) over five innings. “A lot of misses today and they punished them.”

Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s throwing woes at third base — a position the Yankees have asked him to play to accommodate DJ LeMahieu at second base — continued in the second inning when he fielded Tyrone Taylor’s groundball and sailed a toss over first baseman Cody Bellinger’s head. Taylor was given second base and scored moments later on Marte’s RBI single.

The Yankees were charged with their second error in the Mets’ four-run seventh inning when center fielder Trent Grisham charged Francisco Lindor’s single up the middle and had it bounce off the heel of his glove.

The mistake allowed a run to score from second base without a throw, extending the Mets lead back to three runs after the Yankees had chipped their deficit, and allowed a heads-up Lindor to advance to second base. Lindor later scored on Alonso’s second home run, a three-run blast off left-hander Jayvien Sandridge in the pitcher’s major league debut.

“Just got to play better,” Judge said. “That’s what it comes down to. It’s fundamentals. Making a routine play, routine. It’s just the little things. That’s what it kind of comes down to. But every good team goes through a couple bumps in the road.”

This six-game losing skid has looked very different from the Yankees’ first. That rough patch, consisting of losses to the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels, was propelled by offensive troubles. The Yankees scored six runs in the six games and gave up just 16. This time, run prevention is the issue; the Yankees have scored 34 runs and surrendered 54 in four games against the Blue Jays in Toronto and two in Queens.

“The offense is starting to swing the bat, put some runs on the board,” Boone said. “The pitching, which has kind of carried us a lot this season, has really, really struggled this week. We haven’t caught the ball as well as I think we should.

“So, look, when you live it and you’re going through it, it sucks, it hurts. But you got to be able to handle it. You got to be able to deal with it. You got to be able to weather it and come out of this and grow.”

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Former White Sox pitcher, world champ Jenks dies

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Former White Sox pitcher, world champ Jenks dies

Bobby Jenks, a two-time All-Star pitcher for the Chicago White Sox who was on the roster when the franchise won the 2005 World Series, died Friday in Sintra, Portugal, the team announced.

Jenks, 44, who had been diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, a form of stomach cancer, this year, spent six seasons with the White Sox from 2005 to 2010 and also played for the Boston Red Sox in 2011. The reliever finished his major league career with a 16-20 record, 3.53 ERA and 173 saves.

“We have lost an iconic member of the White Sox family today,” White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said in a statement. “None of us will ever forget that ninth inning of Game 4 in Houston, all that Bobby did for the 2005 World Series champions and for the entire Sox organization during his time in Chicago. He and his family knew cancer would be his toughest battle, and he will be missed as a husband, father, friend and teammate. He will forever hold a special place in all our hearts.”

After Jenks moved to Portugal last year, he was diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis in his right calf. That eventually spread into blood clots in his lungs, prompting further testing. He was later diagnosed with adenocarcinoma and began undergoing radiation.

In February, as Jenks was being treated for the illness, the White Sox posted “We stand with you, Bobby” on Instagram, adding in the post that the club was “thinking of Bobby as he is being treated.”

In 2005, as the White Sox ended an 88-year drought en route to the World Series title, Jenks appeared in six postseason games. Chicago went 11-1 in the playoffs, and he earned saves in series-clinching wins in Game 3 of the ALDS at Boston, and Game 4 of the World Series against the Houston Astros.

In 2006, Jenks saved 41 games, and the following year, he posted 40 saves. He also retired 41 consecutive batters in 2007, matching a record for a reliever.

“You play for the love of the game, the joy of it,” Jenks said in his last interview with SoxTV last year. “It’s what I love to do. I [was] playing to be a world champion, and that’s what I wanted to do from the time I picked up a baseball.”

A native of Mission Hills, California, Jenks appeared in 19 games for the Red Sox and was originally drafted by the then-Anaheim Angels in the fifth round of the 2000 draft.

Jenks is survived by his wife, Eleni Tzitzivacos, their two children, Zeno and Kate, and his four children from a prior marriage, Cuma, Nolan, Rylan and Jackson.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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In search of infield options, Yanks add Candelario

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In search of infield options, Yanks add Candelario

NEW YORK — The New York Yankees, digging for options to bolster their infield, have signed third baseman Jeimer Candelario to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the affiliate announced Saturday.

Candelario, 31, was released by the Cincinnati Reds on June 23, halfway through a three-year, $45 million contract he signed before the start of last season. The decision was made after Candelario posted a .707 OPS in 2024 and batted .113 with a .410 OPS in 22 games for the Reds before going on the injured list in April with a back injury.

The performance was poor enough for Cincinnati to cut him in a move that Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall described as a sunk cost.

For the Yankees, signing Candelario is a low-cost flier on a player who recorded an .807 OPS just two seasons ago as they seek to find a third baseman to move Jazz Chisholm Jr. to second base, his natural position.

Candelario is the second veteran infielder the Yankees have signed to a minor league contract in the past three days; they agreed to terms with Nicky Lopez on Thursday.

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