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  • Tom VanHaaren, ESPN Staff WriterSep 16, 2023, 10:32 PM ET

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    • ESPN staff writer
    • Joined ESPN in 2011
    • Graduated from Central Michigan

In its first game since head coach Mel Tucker was suspended, Michigan State suffered a devastating 41-7 loss at home to Washington.

Interim head coach Harlon Barnett took over on Sunday after Tucker was suspended amid an ongoing investigation into claims that he sexually harassed sexual assault awareness speaker Brenda Tracy.

Barnett said the suspension was abrupt and the week was different than what anyone in the program has had to deal with, but he believes that the team did everything right in moving forward to focus on the game against Washington.

“There were a lot of different things that came about, but it’s gonna all settle down this week,” Barnett told reporters after the game. “I got some things in my mind I want to do as far as me coaching and try to normalize us again. Whereas this past week we were off kilter a little bit.”

The Spartans defense gave up 713 yards of offense to Washington, a record for any Michigan State team. Barnett said he didn’t realize it was a record, but he’s going to remember it and remember everything that took place in this game without excuses for what distractions may or may not have been out there this week for his team.

He recognized the difficulty of the week, but believed his team prepared as best they could for a strong opponent in Washington. He didn’t want to focus much on the past or what had happened with Tucker, but rather how he can galvanize the team moving forward and get back some normalcy for the players on the team.

“We are a week away from what happened,” Barnett said. “So, those guys, that’s out of their system, we played the game, played a really great team. And so, I think they’re ready to go and understand that all of our goals are still in front of us, so that’s a good thing.”

Senior offensive lineman J.D. Duplain said the players bought in to Barnett, who has been with the Michigan State program for a total of 15 seasons throughout his career, and there was no hesitation that they would trust him the rest of the way.

“Our team bought in to Coach Barnett, we trust him fully,” Duplain said. “We had good unity going into this weekend, guys were bought in. I think everyone was mission focused, we just made too many mistakes and we’re going to go back and watch film, we’re going to learn from it because the best teams, they learn from games like this.”

Senior receiver Tre Mosley echoed Duplain, saying the players were bought in and did what they could to limit distractions without their head coach. Mosley also echoed Barnett’s sentiment that they don’t want to focus on the past and that they’re ready to move forward as a team and with Barnett at the helm.

“The first day when it came out, it was a shock to everyone, but after that we did a great job moving on because we had an opponent to get ready for,” Mosley said. “We couldn’t live in the past or start to cry, because Washington didn’t care what was going on with us in our program. So, we had to go out there and prepare for this game.”

Despite the loss, Duplain and Mosley both said the team is eager to get back to work and try to fix the issues as the team is now 2-1 on the season with Maryland next on the schedule.

With or without Tucker, Michigan State is moving forward and despite being thrust into the role, Barnett is ready to take the head coaching duties head on now that he has more time to prepare the team for its next opponent.

“There are ups and downs, there are valleys you hit as well as the mountain tops,” Barnett said. “This is a valley moment. The good thing about it is you can always come back from a valley moment if you truly believe and trust and then start to work on the things that need to be worked on.

“So, valley moment right now, but we’ll get back up to the mountain.”

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Buffs fall out of AP Top 25; Buckeyes up to No. 4

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September 25, 2023

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Buffs fall out of AP Top 25; Buckeyes up to No. 4

  • ESPN News Services

Sep 24, 2023, 02:18 PM ET

Colorado and Deion Sanders fell out of The Associated Press Top 25 college football poll Sunday after a resounding loss in one of the weekend’s showcase games, and the teams toward the top of the rankings were shuffled and tightened.

A season-high six teams received first-place votes, the most since the 2016 preseason poll. Georgia is still where it started at No. 1 but is down to 55 first-place votes out of a possible 63.

Michigan remained No. 2 and got a first-place vote. Texas stayed at No. 3 with two first-place votes. Ohio State moved up two spots to No. 4 and got a first-place vote after beating Notre Dame with a touchdown on its final offensive play.

The Fighting Irish slipped to two spots to No. 11.

Florida State dropped a spot to No. 5 after a victory at Clemson, but it nevertheless received three first-place votes.

No. 6 Penn State and No. 7 Washington each moved up a spot. The Huskies received a first-place vote.

USC fell three places to No. 8, while No. 9 Oregon and No. 10 Utah each moved up a spot to give the Pac-12 four teams in the top 10 for the first time in the history of the conference.

The Ducks’ blowout of Sanders’ Colorado team knocked the Buffaloes all the way out of the AP Top 25 from No. 19.

Colorado has been the story of the early season, starting 3-0 after winning just one game last season. The Buffaloes jumped into the rankings with an opening-week upset of TCU, last season’s national runner-up.

After the Buffaloes were dominated at Oregon, USC comes to Boulder next week to give Colorado a chance to either jump back in the rankings or become an afterthought for voters for the rest of the season.

Utah’s victory over UCLA sent the Bruins falling out of the poll, leaving the Pac-12 with six ranked teams after two weeks with a conference-record eight.

Alabama, which fell out of the top 10 last week for the first time since 2015, inched up a spot to No. 12 after beating Ole Miss, which dropped five spots to No. 20.

Poll points

Six teams receiving first-place votes is the most in a regular-season poll since Nov. 1, 2015.

In that poll, Ohio State was the No. 1 team, and like Georgia, it had been that way since the preseason as the defending national champion. The Buckeyes received only 39 first-place votes. No. 2 Baylor got six first-place votes, as did No. 3 Clemson. No. 4 LSU got five. No. 5 TCU received four and No. 7 Alabama had one.

Moving in

Three teams entered the rankings this week, all for the first time this season:

No. 23 Missouri is ranked for the first time since a brief stay in 2019.

No. 24 Kansas is ranked for the second consecutive season. The Jayhawks have not had two straight years with poll appearances of any kind since 2008-09.

No. 25 Fresno State, which has won 13 straight games, the second-longest streak in the country behind Georgia, finished last season at No. 24.

Moving out

Joining Colorado and UCLA in falling out the poll was Iowa. The Hawkeyes have yo-yoed in and out of the rankings and did not receive a point this week after getting shut out at Penn State.

Conference call

The SEC moves back into the top spot, though more than half are in the bottom batch.

SEC: 7 (Nos. 1, 12, 13, 20, 21, 22, 23)
Pac-12: 6 (Nos. 7, 8, 9, 10, 16, 19)
ACC: 4 (Nos. 5, 15, 17, 18)
Big Ten: 3 (Nos. 2, 4, 6)
Big 12: 3 (Nos. 3, 14, 24)
Mountain West: 1 (No. 25)
Independent: 1 (No. 11)

Ranked vs. ranked

No. 10 Utah at No. 19 Oregon State: First ranked matchup between the two after 25 meetings.

No. 24 Kansas at No. 3 Texas: The first time the Jayhawks have played the Longhorns when they are ranked.

No. 13 LSU at No. 20 Ole Miss: The 11th ranked matchup in the rivalry.

No. 11 Notre Dame at No. 17 Duke: Maybe the biggest home game in Duke history will be the first trip to Durham, North Carolina, for ESPN’s “College GameDay.” With Duke off the board, only six schools in Power 5 conferences have not hosted the pregame show: California, Illinois, Maryland, Rutgers, Syracuse and Virginia.

Coaches’ poll

Ohio State’s victory over Notre Dame helped the Buckeyes creep up a spot to No. 3 in the AFCA Coaches Poll. No. 1 Georgia earned 61 of 64 first-place votes, while No. 2 Michigan earned two votes and No. 8 Washington got the other.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Texas lands 4-star Baker, No. 2 OT in 2024 class

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September 25, 2023

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Texas lands 4-star Baker, No. 2 OT in 2024 class

  • Blake Baumgartner, ESPN Staff WriterSep 24, 2023, 09:30 PM ET

Texas‘ on-field success to begin the 2023 season — highlighted by a Week 2 victory in Tuscaloosa over Alabama — is translating to the recruiting trail.

Four-star offensive tackle Brandon Baker committed to Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns on Sunday night.

Baker (No. 39 in the 2024 ESPN 300), the No. 2 offensive tackle in the cycle, becomes the ninth ESPN 300 pledge for the Longhorns in a class ESPN has 17th in its latest team rankings.

Texas won out for Baker’s pledge over Ohio State, Florida State, Oregon and Nebraska.

The Mater Dei High School (California) product would be the first ESPN 300 offensive tackle to sign with the program since Devon “DJ” Campbell, Kelvin Banks and Neto Umeozulu were all part of a 2022 class that was ranked fifth by ESPN.

Texas’ offense has averaged 432.8 total yards through four games (seventh in the Big 12) and is fifth in the conference with 277 passing yards a game.

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Rangers finish sweep of M’s, lead AL West by 2.5

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September 25, 2023

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Rangers finish sweep of M's, lead AL West by 2.5

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Texas Rangers secured a crucial three-game sweep of the Seattle Mariners in the tight AL West by hanging on through a rough patch from a bullpen that not long ago threatened to derail a promising season.

Suddenly 2 1/2 games up in the division after a 9-8 victory in their home finale Sunday, the Rangers hit the road for the final seven games looking to wrap up the No. 2 seed in the American League playoffs and home-field advantage in a Division Series.

“I packed like a normal seven-day trip,” Texas starter Nathan Eovaldi said. “We can always buy more clothes on the road. Yes, it’s a lot more clear. But we still have a lot of work that has to be done.”

Marcus Semien homered twice, and Corey Seager had an early two-run shot among a season-high six homers for the Rangers as they withstood two Seattle rallies.

Adolis Garcia, Leody Taveras and rookie Evan Carter also went deep for the Rangers, who had their most homers in a game at Globe Life Field, which opened four seasons ago.

Texas (85-70), in its first winning season since 2016, won its fifth consecutive game while defending World Series champion Houston, which started the weekend with a half-game lead in division, was swept at home by 102-loss Kansas City.

Teoscar Hernandez, who homered, drove in two runs for the Mariners along with Jarred Kelenic and Eugenio Suarez. Seattle nearly erased deficits of five and four runs before getting swept for the second time in three series.

Seattle (84-71) trails Houston by a half-game for the third and final wild card.

The Mariners play their final seven games at home, starting with the Astros on Monday before meeting Texas again in a season-ending four-game series. The Rangers start the week at the Los Angeles Angels.

“We will turn the page,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said. “We will let it go. I know there will be 45,000 of our closest friends there helping us out the way they can. It’s going to be super exciting. What can I say?”

Texas reliever Chris Stratton gave up consecutive two-out RBI singles to Hernández, Kelenic and Suárez as Seattle closed to 9-8 in the seventh before Jonathan Hernandez came on to get pinch-hitter Dominic Canzone on a popout.

After Jonathan Hernández faltered with two outs in the eighth, Brock Burke replaced him and struck out Cal Raleigh with runners on second and third.

Jose Leclerc finished for his fourth save, with first baseman Nathaniel Lowe making a nifty snag of a sharp grounder down the line from pinch-hitter Jose Caballero for the final out with the potential tying run at second base.

“We got through it,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said. “We used a lot of pitchers, but we found a way to get through it. Great series. Entertaining series. A lot of drama.”

That bullpen was a big part of the reason the Rangers dropped as far as three games back earlier this month after leading the division all but one day of the season into late August, but Texas got the crucial outs needed in all three games to improve to 8-1 against the Mariners this season.

“We did what we were hoping to do,” Bochy said. “To get a sweep, that’s tough to do against a good club like Seattle. We have seven games left here so we’re in better position than … not too long ago. Just shows you the fight in this club, the determination.”

Semien hit his 10th leadoff homer this season, extending his club record. The drive came off Bryan Woo, who gave up a double to Semien and a single to Seager on the first two pitches of his major league career in his debut at Texas in June.

A solo shot in the fourth gave Semien his third multi-homer game this season, all in September, on a drive to center that caromed out of the glove of Julio Rodriguez and over the wall.

Semien’s 27th homer that could have been an out on a spectacular play gave him 178 hits for the season, but Rodríguez retook the AL lead with two hits for 179 as they jockey for tops in the league in that category.

“No, I think it was more Julio saying I owe him one,” Semien, a second baseman, said when asked if his teammates said anything in the dugout. “I don’t think a ball at second base can get over the fence, so I’ll have to figure out a way to give him something back.”

Seager’s 33rd homer gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead in the third, and Taveras ended Woo’s outing with his 13th home run, a two-run shot in the fourth.

Woo (4-5) matched the six runs he allowed in his debut against the Rangers, in 3 1/3 innings this time after lasting just two innings in Texas’ 16-6 win on June 3.

Eovaldi (12-4) won for the first time since July 18, making his fifth start since missing seven weeks with a right forearm strain. He left with the bases loaded and a 7-2 lead in the sixth, but ended up allowing five runs in five-plus innings.

Attendance spike

The Rangers drew 35,412 fans to finish the season at 2,533,044, an average of 31,272. The total was the club’s largest since 2016, the last time Texas had a winning record. The Rangers saw a 26% increase from last season, the biggest year-to-year jump since a 31% increase from 1995 to 1996.

Up next

RHP Luis Castillo (14-7, 3.06 ERA) pitches for Seattle against Houston. He is fourth in the AL in ERA.

RHP Jon Gray (8-8, 4.22) is set for Texas to open a three-game series at the Los Angeles Angels on Monday. He hasn’t made it through the fourth inning in any of his past three starts.

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