Connect with us

Published

on

No. 3 Washington, No. 4 Florida State and No. 5 Oregon all moved up a spot in The Associated Press college football poll Sunday, giving the Pac-12 two top-five teams for the first time since the final ranking of the 2016 season.

Georgia remained No. 1 as the two-time defending national champions have been for 24 straight polls, dating back to the middle of last season. The Bulldogs received 52 of 62 first-place votes.

Michigan returned to No. 2 following a week at No. 3 and received 10 first-place votes after beating Ohio State 30-24 in Ann Arbor on Saturday.

The Buckeyes slipped from second to No. 6, clearing the way for Washington to reach its best ranking since finishing the 2000 season at No. 3 and setting up a top-five matchup with Oregon in the Pac-12 championship game Friday in Las Vegas.

The final Pac-12 championship game in the conference’s current form before 10 members leave for other Power 5 conferences will be its first matching top-five teams.

The last time there were two Pac-12 teams in the top five of the AP poll was 2016, when USC finished No. 3 and Washington No. 4. The last time it happened during the season was Oct. 6, 2013, when Oregon was No. 2 and Stanford was fifth.

No. 7 Texas and No. 8 Alabama held their places Sunday. Missouri moved up one spot to ninth and Penn State to No. 10.

The same eight teams have been the top eight in the country for five straight weeks, with the only loss among those teams during that span being Ohio State’s to Michigan.

The last time there was no team turnover in the top eight for that long was during Weeks 11-15 in 2008. That year, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, USC, Penn State, Utah and Texas Tech held the top eight spots in some order for five weeks.

Among the top eight teams, there are only four losses, one each for Oregon, Ohio State, Texas and Alabama. Of those four losses, three have come to other teams in the top eight: Oregon lost to Washington, Ohio State lost to Michigan, and Alabama lost to Texas.

Texas’ loss came to No. 12 Oklahoma. Extend it out to the top 12 to include No. 11 Ole Miss and the only loss to a currently unranked team among that group is Oklahoma’s to Kansas.

MOVING IN; MOVING OUT

NC State and SMU made their Top 25 debuts this week, raising to 44 the total number of teams to be ranked for at least a week this season.

Falling out for the first time was Tennessee, which finished its regular season 8-4 with a victory over Vanderbilt after barely hanging on at No. 25 last week.

Kansas State also dropped out again after losing a high-scoring game in the snow to Iowa State.

CONFERENCE CALL

Five teams from non-Power 5 conferences in the AP Top 25 is the most since the final 2021 poll.

SEC: 5 (Nos. 1, 8, 9, 11, 13)
Pac-12: 4 (Nos. 3, 5, 14, 21-tie)
Big Ten: 4 (Nos. 2, 6, 10, 18)
ACC: 3 (Nos. 4, 15, 21-tie)
Big 12: 3 (Nos. 7, 12, 19)
American: 2 (Nos. 17, 25)
Conference USA: 1 (No. 20)
Sun Belt: 1 (No. 24)
Mid-American: 1 (No. 23)
Independent: 1 (No. 16)

RANKED vs. RANKED

No. 8 Alabama vs. No. 1 Georgia: SEC championship in Atlanta

No. 18 Iowa vs. No. 2 Michigan: Big Ten championship in Indianapolis

No. 5 Oregon vs. No. 3 Washington: Pac-12 championship in Las Vegas

No. 15 Louisville vs. No. 4 Florida State: ACC championship in Charlotte, North Carolina

No. 19 Oklahoma State vs. No. 7 Texas: Big 12 championship in Arlington, Texas

No. 25 SMU at No. 17 Tulane: AAC championship in New Orleans

Continue Reading

Sports

Marlins def. Yankees, earn 1st-ever sweep of N.Y.

Published

on

By

Marlins def. Yankees, earn 1st-ever sweep of N.Y.

MIAMI — Kyle Stowers hit a three-run homer and the Miami Marlins defeated the New York Yankees 7-3 on Sunday, completing their first-ever sweep of the Yankees in a series of three or more games.

The Marlins (55-55) reached .500 for the first time since April 15, when the team was 8-8. Since June 13, the Marlins are 30-14; that’s tied with the 2003 team for the most wins in a 44-game span in franchise history, according to ESPN Research.

The 2003 Marlins went on to beat the Yankees in the World Series in six games.

Marlins starter Edward Cabrera (5-5) pitched six innings of two-hit ball with seven strikeouts and one walk. His only blemish came against the first batter he faced. Trent Grisham drove Cabrera’s 98.1 mph four-seam fastball to right-center.

Miami rookie Jakob Marsee, who made his major league debut on Friday, was 2-for-4 and finished a single short of the cycle.

Stowers made it 6-1 when he connected on an 0-2 fastball from Brent Headrick, who entered in the fourth with two on after starter Luis Gil (0-1) was lifted 3⅓ innings into his season debut.

Gil, the reigning AL Rookie of the Year, struck out three and surrendered five runs and five hits while issuing four walks in his return from a high-grade lat strain. He threw 77 pitches.

Gil’s shaky debut comes at a rough point in the season for the Yankees, whose inconsistency has prompted a rash of criticism, the latest coming from former Yankees stars Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez on Fox’s pregame show Saturday night.

“They make way too many mistakes,” Jeter said. “Way too many mistakes, and you can’t get away with making that number of mistakes against great teams.”

Added Rodriguez: “Where’s the accountability?”

Boone addressed those criticisms before Sunday’s game, saying it comes with the territory of being the Yankees, but he added after the loss that it’s “gut-check” time for his club.

New York’s weekend series at Miami included the Yankees blowing a six-run lead in a wild 13-12 loss on Friday, before a 2-0 loss on Saturday.

The Yankees had a seven-game lead in the AL East in late May. By July 2, the lead was gone and the Yankees have been looking up at Toronto in the division ever since. The red-hot Boston Red Sox, who were more than 10 games behind the Yankees about two months ago, have overtaken their rival for the second spot in the AL East and AL wild-card lead.

“It’s getting late,” Boone said. “And it’s certainly not too late for us. I am confident that we’re going to get it together. But that’s all it is right now is, you know, it’s empty until we start doing it.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Sports

Rodriguez makes history with 4th 20-20 season

Published

on

By

Rodriguez makes history with 4th 20-20 season

SEATTLE — Julio Rodriguez homered to become the first player in major league history with 20 or more home runs and 20 or more stolen bases in each of his first four seasons, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Texas Rangers 5-4 on Sunday.

Rodriguez hit a two-run shot in the third inning — his 100th career homer — and the slugging and speedy center fielder also added his 21st stolen base of the season after singling in the fifth inning.

Jorge Polanco added a solo shot in the second, and shortstop J.P. Crawford smacked a two-run blast in the fourth against Rangers starter Jacob deGrom (10-4), who became the fastest pitcher in major league history to reach 1,800 career strikeouts by games and innings Sunday.

The Rangers kept things close by pushing across three runs against Mariners starter Logan Evans (5-4), but tallied only one run against the Mariners bullpen before closer Andrés Muñoz locked down his 25th save of the season.

Continue Reading

Sports

White Sox place Vargas on IL with oblique strain

Published

on

By

White Sox place Vargas on IL with oblique strain

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Chicago White Sox placed infielder Miguel Vargas on the 10-day injured list on Sunday because of a left oblique strain.

Vargas, 25, was scratched from Saturday night’s 1-0 victory at the Angels. Vargas, who was acquired from the Dodgers as part of a three-team trade in July 2024, is batting .229 with 13 homers and 44 RBIs in 106 games.

The White Sox also recalled infielder Curtis Mead from Triple-A Charlotte before their series finale against the Angels. Left-hander Bryan Hudson and right-hander Elvis Peguero were claimed off waivers from Milwaukee and assigned to Charlotte.

Mead, 24, came over when the White Sox traded right-hander Adrian Houser to Tampa Bay on Thursday. Mead hit .226 with three homers and eight RBIs in 49 games with the Rays this year.

Continue Reading

Trending