With Week 9 in the books, the conference races are heating up.
To this point, the focus in the Big 12 has been on Texas and Oklahoma, but with the Sooners suffering their first loss, things are more unsettled. Surging Kansas State is part of a five-team logjam at the top of the league, and the Wildcats’ upcoming matchup with the Longhorns takes on greater weight.
Oregon made a statement in the Pac-12, but don’t sleep on upstart Arizona in that star-crossed conference. And while things are lining up for Florida State in the ACC, second place is up for grabs with some surprising contenders.
Here are some of the top takeaways from the weekend.
Kansas State’s Big 12 title defense is accelerating fast
The Big 12 discussion to date has, understandably and appropriately, focused on Texas and Oklahoma. Those are the league’s most talented teams, they delivered another epic game at the Cotton Bowl several weeks ago, and they’ll be departing for the SEC after the season.
But don’t forget about the team that won the league in 2022, and suddenly looks very capable of defending its championship. Kansas State fell off the radar after dropping games to Missouri and Oklahoma State, but Chris Klieman’s team has figured things out lately, which could be bad news for Texas and its upcoming opponents.
Klieman’s tenure is defined by signature wins — Oklahoma in 2019, 2020 and 2022, the Big 12 championship game triumph over TCU last year — but also has featured some dominant, bullying victories. Like, push your face in the dirt and smush it around kind of stuff. Last season, the Wildcats walloped Oklahoma State 48-0 and Baylor 31-3 — and those two teams reached the Big 12 title game in 2021.
Two weeks ago, Kansas State stomped TCU 41-3 and followed up Saturday by handing Houston its first shutout loss (41-0) since 2000. The Wildcats have shut out two opponents in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1936 and 1937.
Although K-State’s defense has been strong all season, the offense needed to sort out some things, as quarterback Will Howard struggled with turnovers early on and the unit lacked a true game-wrecker like Deuce Vaughn. But Howard and freshman Avery Johnson have handled a two-quarterback system well lately, while DJ Giddens, Phillip Brooks, Treshaun Ward and others keep piling up yards.
“We’ve got to keep building on what we’ve done the last couple of weeks,” offensive coordinator Collin Klein told ESPN. “That’s win the line of scrimmage and make people change and defend the width of the field with some of our jets, and some of our run game that has a lot of variety to it with where it can hurt you. We’ve got to continue to push the envelope to establish those explosive plays down the field.
“If we start hitting and become efficient in some of those areas, then we could be pretty dangerous.”
Kansas State is very dangerous right now, and a win at Texas this week would put the Wildcats right in the mix to defend their Big 12 crown. — Adam Rittenberg
Texas’ red zone issues continue
Texas is 7-1, ranked No. 7 and can’t afford another loss if it wants to remain in the Big 12 hunt, much less be a College Football Playoff contender.
But despite the Longhorns’ 35-6 drubbing of BYU on Saturday, there’s a big concern down the stretch: their red zone woes. After coming away twice with no points inside the BYU 5, Texas ranks 120th in the country in red zone efficiency. Kansas State, which is headed to Austin this week, is ranked third in red zone defense, which obviously is cause for alarm.
Texas coach Steve Sarkisian is a gifted playcaller, and he’s breaking in a backup quarterback in Maalik Murphy. The Longhorns have scored 30 or more points in their first eight games for the first time in school history. But the issues have shown up in multiple ways in multiple games, most notably against Oklahoma, when the Longhorns put a defensive tackle in the backfield and lined up in a jumbo package but were stopped four times on a variety of looks from the 1-yard-line.
“It sucked,” Sarkisian said the following week.
On one drive that started at the BYU 6, Sarkisian tried two Wildcat looks with Murphy lined up at wide receiver and direct snaps to running back Savion Red, who had two carries for 4 yards. Murphy then attempted two passes, completing one on fourth down to Ja’Tavion Sanders, who was stopped at the 1.
Texas also had a first-and-10 at the BYU 11 at the beginning of the fourth quarter and tried a more conventional approach. Murphy went 1-of-2 with a 10-yard completion to running back Jonathon Brooks, but Texas’ two rushes, to CJ Baxter and Brooks, went for a total of minus-2 yards. Again, the Longhorns came away without points.
It will bear watching this week. Texas has scored a touchdown on 49% of red zone trips, with just 13 teams in the country faring worse. Kansas State allows a touchdown on just 30% of opponents’ drives, but Texas is even better at 27.3%. Only Michigan ranks better than either of them at 11%.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you there’s a level of frustration as it pertains to that,” Sarkisian said Saturday night about his team’s inability to complete drives. “We’ve got to continue to dig deep into that.” — Dave Wilson
Oregon clears path to Pac-12 title game
Oregon wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice.
For the second time in three weeks, it faced a top-15 foe in a hostile environment with an opportunity to make a reverberating statement.
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Bo Nix makes a great play to toss his 2nd TD of the game
Bo Nix fakes a defender out and finds Troy Franklin for a touchdown to give Oregon a 21-3 lead.
And it seems the Ducks learned a lesson from their trip to Seattle two weeks ago, all but ensuring there will be a new Pac-12 champion after dispatching Utah — the conference’s two-time defending champion — in Salt Lake City.
Dan Lanning’s team didn’t allow Utes quarterback Bryson Barnes to replicate what he did seven days earlier at the Coliseum against USC. Barnes (15-of-29 passing for 136 yards and 2 interceptions) and the Utah offense managed just 241 total yards against the 16th-best defense in the country (303.6 yards allowed per game).
Meanwhile, Ducks quarterback Bo Nix has worked his way back into the Heisman Trophy race after throwing for 248 yards and two touchdowns while running for another score. Oregon’s 35-point effort marked the most points Utah had given up since a 42-32 loss at UCLA on Oct. 8, 2022.
According to ESPN Stats & Information research, the Ducks are 14-1 when Nix accounts for at least three touchdowns. His 78.3 completion percentage leads all of the FBS and his touchdown to interception ratio (21-1) is about as good as it gets.
The path to a sixth Pac-12 championship game appearance and a fifth title — both league highs — is there. Three of Oregon’s four remaining games are at Autzen Stadium, including its regular-season finale against Oregon State. Lanning’s team likely is still smarting over last year’s 38-34 loss in Corvallis. — Blake Baumgartner
It’s time to talk about Arizona
In a conference full of teams that attracted a lot of attention this season, such as Oregon, Washington, USC and Colorado, the Arizona Wildcats have been the true surprise in the Pac-12 so far. After back-to-back wins over ranked teams Washington State and Oregon State, Arizona has five wins, tying its win total from last season and placing the Wildcats one victory from their first bowl berth since 2017.
Even the Wildcats’ losses have been impressive this season. They have lost three games (two in overtime) by a combined 16 points and took both USC and Washington to the brink. The former was a triple-overtime battle that came down to the last play, while the latter was a one-score game.
Arizona’s return to relevancy has come under coach Jedd Fisch, who led the team to five wins last season after a one-win campaign in 2021 and has turned around the Wildcats’ recruiting efforts as well. But it would be hard to imagine this kind of season happening had it not been for the sudden rise of freshman quarterback Noah Fifita.
Fifita’s first start of the year came against an undefeated Washington team following an injury to starter Jayden de Laura, and he hasn’t looked back since. In four games, the freshman has totaled 1,152 passing yards and 11 touchdowns, jumpstarting the Wildcats’ offense.
“There’s no flinch in Noah,” Fisch said after Saturday’s win over Oregon State, when the quarterback completed 25 of 32 passes for 275 yards and 3 touchdowns. “That gives you poise, that gives you confidence. … He did a fantastic job in running the team.”
Things were already trending upward for Fisch’s team, but with Fifita under center, its future in the Big 12 next year and beyond looks far brighter than it may have seemed at the start of the season. — Paolo Uggetti
Florida State’s CFP hopes still strong
With Florida State off to its first 8-0 start since 2014, Mike Norvell has gotten Florida State back where the program believes it should be — at the forefront of the national conversation. But the Seminoles can’t afford to slip up.
Their September victory over Clemson got a lot of attention, but with the Tigers now 4-4 after a loss to NC State, that triumph in Death Valley doesn’t resonate as prominently.
Their Labor Day weekend dismantling of LSU, however, is the crown jewel on their résumé, and FSU backers will be rooting for Brian Kelly’s team to beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night.
According to ESPN Stats & Information research, Jordan Travis (2,109 passing yards, 18 TD passes) became the first Florida State quarterback over the past 20 seasons to account for 300 yards of total offense and four touchdowns in one half Saturday, as the Noles dropped 34 first-half points on Wake Forest en route to a 41-16 win in Winston-Salem.
Travis’ connection with Keon Coleman (38 receptions for 538 yards and 9 touchdowns) continues to grow for an offense that is averaging 41.5 points per game. Coleman has been recharged after transferring from Michigan State.
The defense has been quite stingy as well, allowing a combined 14 pass completions over the last two weeks against Duke and Wake Forest.
Miami and Florida remain on the schedule, and Louisville, surprising Virginia Tech or North Carolina, could be waiting in Charlotte on Dec. 2 with the ACC crown at stake.
Florida State can provide a significant challenge for Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State and Washington on the sport’s biggest stage. But it needs to get there first. — Baumgartner
Virginia Tech a surprising second-place team in ACC
Louisville lost to Pitt this season and Virginia Tech lost to Marshall, but the Cardinals and Hokies are tied for second in the ACC behind undefeated Florida State — just as we all predicted.
OK, nobody predicted it quite this way, although Louisville was a popular sleeper choice with the addition of favored alum Jeff Brohm taking over as coach. The more surprising team is Virginia Tech, which has won three of its past four, with the lone loss on the road to the Seminoles.
While the three teams the Hokies beat are among the four worst teams in the conference standings, the fact Virginia Tech is sitting at 3-1 in ACC play should be considered progress considering this team went 1-6 in the ACC last year, Brent Pry’s first year as head coach.
Behind dual-threat quarterback Kyron Drones and running back Bhayshul Tuten, the Hokies have significantly improved their rushing game. Both went over 100 yards in a 38-10 win over Syracuse, in which the Hokies rushed for a season-high 318. Even in the loss to the Seminoles, Virginia Tech rushed for 209 yards.
Just how far that rushing offense has come will be tested Saturday, when the Hokies and Cards play in Louisville in what — at least for now — is a de facto tiebreaker game in the race for an ACC championship game berth. Louisville has the No. 9 rush defense in the nation and just held Duke to 51 yards on the ground.
ESPN analytics gives Louisville a 78% chance to beat Virginia Tech. But in the ACC, expecting the unexpected is a recurring theme. — Andrea Adelson
Warning: What you’re about to read is Jacob Wilson‘s opinion. He is a professional baseball player — a very good one — and not a medical expert, but there are some things he is convinced are true, and this is one of them.
The 23-year-old Wilson, the Athletics’ wunderkind shortstop, is wise enough to understand that the sort of success he has found on the baseball field — a .347 batting average and a near-certain invitation to the All-Star Game coming — comes from a multitude of areas. He is the son of a longtime big leaguer, so certainly genetics helped, and he works relentlessly at his craft, which goes a long way. But the special sauce that built the American League Rookie of the Year favorite, he believes, included a secret ingredient.
Fortnite.
“Kids are going to love this one. Parents are going to hate me,” Wilson said. “I am a big believer in video games. It’s fast decision-making strategy. I think that gets me ready for the game, because when you’re in the box, you have to process a lot. So there’s some days where I’ll wake up and I’ll play video games and then I’ll go to the field, and I’ll have a good day. Some days I won’t play and don’t see the ball well. I think it really helps me train kind of the decision-making that I have to make six, seven hours later at the baseball field.”
Yes, one of the best hitters in the major leagues, a contact maven who strikes out with the infrequency of Tony Gwynn, swears that he’s as good as he is at a kid’s game because of his aptitude at another kid’s game. After Wilson wakes up, he deploys to his living room and parks in a chair. On the table in front of him sit a PC and a controller. He logs in to Fortnite — the 8-year-old game still played by millions every day — hops on the Battle Bus and systematically disposes of those with the misfortune of sharing a map with him.
“If we play a game with me and him and guys we know and you kill him once, you’re like, ‘That’s a good day,'” A’s infielder Max Muncy said. “You could play 50 rounds. Just once is good.”
Muncy has known of Wilson’s Fortnite exploits since they were teammates at Thousand Oaks (California) High, where Wilson’s father, former Pittsburgh shortstop Jack Wilson, coached. Back then, Jack actually questioned whether the game was interfering with Jacob’s baseball growth — though he understood his son’s reasoning. Over his 12-year big league career, Jack earned a reputation as one of the best pingpong players in the major leagues. It was pure reaction, not unlike hitting, and he complemented his pregame work in the batting cage with the brain training found in a paddle and hollow ball.
He saw the same opportunity in video games for his son — with a caveat.
“I do believe in the hand-eye coordination that video games give — as long as you do your homework,” Jack said. “Kids, if you’re reading, do your homework.”
The Wilsons are not alone in their belief that unconventional methods off the field can lead to success on it. Studies back up the suggestion that video games can be beneficial for brain activity. And considering the recognition being lavished on Jacob Wilson — he is more than a quarter-million votes ahead of Kansas City star Bobby Witt Jr. in All-Star balloting to be the American League’s starting shortstop — the benefits can be pronounced.
Of course, dropping into Anarchy Acres does not a big league hitter make. The story of Wilson’s ascent actually starts in his backyard, where he spent countless hours figuring out how to thrive in a game that simply isn’t built for hitters like him anymore.
Heaven for the Wilson family is a regulation-sized turfed infield with a FungoMan ground ball machine, a fence covered with famous retired numbers and stadium logos, a full dugout on the third-base side — and a grill stationed in center field in case someone gets hungry. The backyard of the family’s home is a testament to form and function, and it’s where Jacob learned how to be — and how not to be — like his father.
“It was a place built for guys who just love the grind of wanting to get better every day,” Jack said.
Jack’s bat was never as adept as his glove, and to last a dozen years in the big leagues, he needed countless reps to keep his fielding at a level that, according to Baseball-Reference, produced the fifth-most defensive wins above replacement this century, behind only Andrelton Simmons, Yadier Molina, Adrian Beltre and Kevin Kiermaier.
“You know that idea about being able to write a letter to your former self on what would you tell yourself now?” Jack said. “I get to do that with Jake. And I said, ‘You know, this is the way I hit. I don’t want you to hit like this.’ Because there were so many things I wish I could have done differently. If I were to build a perfect hitter, what would I do?”
He started with Miguel Cabrera. Wilson always admired how tall he stood in the batter’s box before sinking into his legs. Then it was Mike Trout. The simplicity of his swing has always been a marvel, but in particular Wilson appreciated the speed at which he loads his hands, allowing Trout to be on time even for 100 mph fastballs. The final lesson was Albert Pujols’ bat path, which was so flat and stayed in the zone for so long that it allowed him to sting the ball from foul pole to foul pole while maintaining strikeout numbers that were well below league average.
To hone that Voltron of a swing, a teenage Wilson would grip a custom wood bat with a 1½-inch barrel — an inch less than a standard big league barrel — and face his dad, who stood 45 feet away and ripped 85 mph fastballs and sliders using a tennis ball. If he didn’t catch the ball on the meat of the barrel, it would spin sideways, forcing him to learn to maneuver his bat with special dexterity.
The skinny bat made a regulation-sized model feel twice as big. When he took regular batting practice, Jacob always started by peppering the right side of the field on his first dozen swings. Even though Jacob was bigger than his father — at 6-foot-3, he is a comparatively imposing presence — Jack didn’t want him to fall into the trap of always trying to pull the ball. While that approach works for some hitters, Cabrera, Trout and Pujols embraced and embodied an all-fields approach.
By Wilson’s junior year in high school, the work started to pay off. Wilson didn’t strike out once all season. He didn’t punch out during his COVID-shortened senior season, either, then continued that trend at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, where his sophomore year he whiffed seven times in 275 plate appearances and his junior season had five punchouts in 217 times at the plate. Twice, he received a plaque from the NCAA for being the toughest hitter to strike out in college baseball.
The A’s took Wilson with the sixth pick in the loaded 2023 draft. Last year, he hit .433/.473/.668 with just 15 strikeouts in 226 plate appearances across three minor league levels and, just a year and 10 days after being drafted, he debuted in the big leagues.
In a world of launch angle and exit velocity, Wilson arrived in the majors wanting to be more like Luis Arráez and Nico Hoerner, contact artists nonpareil who value batting average and are allergic to strikeouts.
“I just take strikeouts so personally,” Wilson said. “It’s the one thing in this game that makes me more mad than anything. So I’ll go up there and I’ll swing at a pitch that’s maybe a couple inches off and take a base hit to right. So I think batting average definitely is a stat that should be seen and should matter for most hitters.”
Wilson’s swing is kinetic, with a wide-open stance that closes as he moves his legs and flaps his arms — a little Chicken Dance, a little Cabrera-Trout-Pujols. While he hasn’t always been this twitchy — “I’ve got to keep my muscles moving a little bit,” Wilson said — it works for him. He keeps the knob of the bat in the direction of the ball longer than most hitters, reminding himself to “stay inside the baseball,” a lesson preached ad nauseam by Jack. Aiming to strike the inside of the ball, Jacob said, keeps him from rolling over it. He lives by the old axiom “good hitters get jammed” and doesn’t shy away from flipping a duck snort between the infield and outfield.
The approach has served him well. After starting the year in the No. 9 hole, Wilson has hit first or second every game since May 7. Only Arráez has a lower strikeout rate than Wilson’s 6.8% — and Wilson has nine home runs compared with Arráez’s one. Of all the strikeout-averse hitters in the game, the one with a line most comparable to Wilson’s.347/.388/.487 is Cleveland third baseman Jose Ramirez, who is primed to play in his seventh All-Star Game this season.
“It’s not even his hits,” said Nick Kurtz, the A’s first baseman and fellow rookie. “I’ve seen multiple times where there’s a sinker up and in that was going to hit him, and he hit it to second base. Sometimes they’re a hit, sometimes they’re not. Every time, though, I’m like, ‘How the hell did he do that?’ Being able to touch it, not break your bat and go the other way with it? I’m at a loss for words.”
On April 5 at 11:13 p.m., Jack Wilson’s phone dinged. He had texted his son to congratulate him on a good team win by the A’s. Jacob didn’t want to hear it. He was mad. He had gone 1-for-4 with a two-run double, but that wasn’t good enough.
“I’m not a .250 hitter,” Jacob texted.
Jack laughed. He batted .265 in his career. It was enough to earn him more than $40 million playing. His son wants to be better — not because he’s greedy but because he’s capable of it.
“That’s a good thought process,” Jack said. “Because when I was a rookie and I got a hit, I was pumped. I always tell him, ‘Man, hitting is freaking hard.’ It’s just not going to be every day where your swing is on point and you match up. It’s just the way it is. So this has been a real learning experience. And it will be for a long time. The more he learns now, the better off he is in the future and hopefully spends a long time as an Athletic.”
The A’s are counting on their star shortstop as a linchpin of their impressive offensive core. Wilson is the fulcrum, Kurtz the powerhouse with a propensity for late-inning heroics. Designated hitter Brent Rooker and outfielder Lawrence Butler are both sluggers locked up to long-term deals. First baseman Tyler Soderstrom and catcher Shea Langeliers provide additional home run thump. Denzel Clarke is going to win multiple Gold Gloves in center field. If they can build a pitching staff to match, the team scheduled to move to Las Vegas for the 2028 season will be among the most exciting in baseball.
And it all starts with the kid who is definitely not a .250 hitter and definitely does take strikeouts personally.
“I mean, I’ve studied his swing,” Muncy said. “There’s things that he does so well that other guys don’t do that leads to that. And I think one of the things is probably just his mentality. He has always thought he could put it in play. I don’t think there’s ever been a guy where he is like, ‘I can’t put it in play.’ When you have that supplemental edge — I can put it in play no matter what — that helps.”
Every edge helps, be it bat-to-ball skills, burgeoning power or the ability to no-scope someone from 300 meters. Wilson has no plans to abandon his Fortnite reps. It’s part of his training now, and even if it doesn’t work for everyone, he sees Victory Royales leading to victories for the A’s.
“Everybody has their own approach and everybody’s here for a reason,” Wilson said. “This is the big leagues. Everybody is the best in the world at what they do.”
Judge led the major leagues with 4,012,983 votes in the first round of fan balloting, and the outfielder was picked for his seventh American League start in eight All-Star Games, though he missed the 2023 game because of a sprained right big toe. He was also the leading vote-getter during the first phase in 2022 and last year.
Ohtani topped the National League and was second in the big leagues with 3,967,668 votes, becoming the first designated hitter to start in five straight All-Star Games.
The pair was selected under rules that began in 2022 and give starting spots to the top vote-getter in each league in the first phase of online voting, which began June 4 and ended Thursday. Two finalists at every other position advanced to the second phase, which runs from noon ET on Monday to noon ET on July 2. Votes from the first phase do not carry over.
An individual can vote once per 24-hour period.
Remaining starters will be announced July 2. Pitchers and reserves will be revealed July 6.
SAN FRANCISCO — Barry Bonds will be getting a statue outside the San Francisco Giants‘ home stadium where he set baseball’s career home run record, the team’s CEO said Thursday.
Larry Baer, Giants president and chief executive officer, was asked during a radio interview about a statue for Bonds, and he responded that it was “on the radar.” But Baer didn’t have any details of when it would happen.
“Barry is certainly deserving of a statue, and I would say should be next up,” Baer said during an appearance on San Francisco’s 95.7 The Game. “We don’t have the exact location and the exact date and the exact timing. … It’s coming. All I can say is it’s coming.”
Bonds played for San Francisco the last 15 of his 22 big league seasons, hitting 586 of his 762 homers while with the Giants from 1993 to 2007. He set the single-season MLB record with 73 homers in 2001, and hit his record-breaking 756th homer to pass Hank Aaron in a home game off Washington’s Mike Bacsik on Aug. 7, 2007.
There are currently five statues outside Oracle Park, those of Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry and Orlando Cepeda. The Giants retired Bonds’ No. 25 jersey in 2018.
Bonds, a seven-time MVP and 14-time All-Star, is not in the Hall of Fame. He failed to reach the 75% threshold required during his 10 years on the Baseball Writers Association of America’s Hall of Fame ballot, mostly because of steroids allegations that dogged him during his final years with the Giants. The Contemporary Player Committee also passed on electing Bonds in 2022, though the committee could reconsider Bonds’ status.