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Week 4 gave us plenty of moments to write home about. From Kansas reaching a 4-0 status (yes, the Jayhawks are in fact the real deal), to one of the most incredible plays of the entire year, we got a little bit of everything that makes college football great.

Wildest play

Watch this play. Then watch it over and over and over again. Not only is it incredible, but it might have saved Texas A&M’s season, as the Aggies held on for a 23-21 win over Arkansas.

play

1:32

Tyreek Chappell comes away with a fumble recovery and hands it off to Demani Richardson, who takes it 81 yards to the crib for the Aggies.

It’s one of the wildest plays not just of the weekend but the entire 2022 season.


Let the Heisman campaigning begin

Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels made no preseason watch lists before the season began. But through four games, he is making everyone sit up and take notice. Daniels has emerged as an efficient, prolific dual-threat quarterback who can do it all — run, throw, and yes, even kick.

“I was able to punt the ball my freshman year once and I’ve just been waiting for them to call that play again,” Daniels said. “So it felt nice to be able to show that I’m able to do a few more things.”

He has already done plenty. Against Duke, Daniels threw for 324 yards and ran for another 83, scoring five times. He scored five times the week before in an upset win over Houston, making him the first quarterback in school history with multiple games scoring five or more touchdowns. The fast start to the season has all led to some early Heisman talk and a little creativity from the Kansas social media team.

After the game, coach Lance Leipold was asked whether Daniels and Heisman should be said in the same sentence. Leipold had to stop himself after starting, “That’s not for …” before changing course and saying, “You know, he’s a heck of a player. So yeah, I’m all for it. Who’s ever running the campaign? Let’s get it going. I don’t vote. I just say this: He’s done a heck of a job getting a lot of people to take notice and take this program seriously.” — Andrea Adelson


Best upset

Middle Tennessee’s 45-31 victory over Miami was consequential in the way that a major upset — Miami was a 25.5-point favorite — always is. It became even more so with the way that three different plays or clips ended up going viral.

First, you had an atrocious run play that was most noteworthy for how much worse it could have been.

How there wasn’t a fumble, or some sort of desperate heave returned for a touchdown at the end, is beyond me. It seemed that’s where things were headed. Either way, this play summarized Miami’s general level of synchronicity — or complete and total lack thereof — for most of the first three quarters or so as the Canes fell behind by three touchdowns on two occasions.

Then you had the knockout blow, a spectacular 1-2 combination of a fourth-and-goal stop and a 98-yard touchdown pass that put the game out of reach just as Miami looked like it was getting its act together.

Finally, you had the postgame interview, in which a fired-up Rick Stockstill, Middle Tennessee’s coach and a proud former Florida State quarterback, said, “I know [in] Tallahassee, I know they’re pretty excited about the mighty Blue Raiders kicking the Hurricanes’ tail. ‘Cause we kicked their tail, I ain’t afraid to say it.” — Bill Connelly


Best fan moment of the week

SMU honored late fan Paul Layne before Saturday’s rivalry game with TCU, celebrating the life of a devoted supporter who didn’t miss a Mustangs game for 50 years.

Layne was a freshman cheerleader at SMU in 1972, and didn’t miss a single game until this season — making 542 straight Mustangs games, even in the bleak post-NCAA Death Penalty years — and was permitted to watch games in person during the pandemic to keep the streak intact, often taking his place alongside the cardboard cutouts of fans.

Layne missed his first game on Sept. 3, when he was hospitalized with a blood clot. His family and friends wore “I am Paul Layne” shirts in his place in the first two games of the season. Layne died on Sept. 12 at 68.

On Saturday, before first the Mustangs’ first home game since his passing, SMU passed out stickers and pins featuring a megaphone that said “542” with Layne’s name on them in the press box and honored his family during a pregame ceremony.

SMU coach Rhett Lashley said last week that Layne was one of the first people he met when he was hired at SMU in 2018, and that he will be missed.

“Whether it was [former coach] Sonny [Dykes] or others, there was an outpouring of love and support for his family,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said. “He will be missed, but boy, he made an impact on everybody he touched.”

Lashlee marveled at Layne’s dedication.

“It’s incredible. Whether it’s just a normal illness or a canceled flight, there’s all kinds of things that could prevent it. But 542 straight games is remarkable,” Lashlee said. “A very familiar face we’re going to miss.” — Dave Wilson

A wild day in Texas

As the Lone Star State turns, it was a wild day for the state’s Top 25 teams. We’ll start out in Lubbock, first-year Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire landed a win over No. 22 Texas as Red Raiders fans stormed the field after a 37-34 overtime win over Texas in what is likely the Longhorns’ last visit to Lubbock for the foreseeable future with an SEC departure on the horizon.

It was a short honeymoon for the Longhorns, who felt like they were turning the corner after a close loss to Alabama and then a gritty win over UTSA. The Red Raiders are now 3-1 after wins over No. 25 Houston, No. 22 Texas, and a 27-14 loss on the road at No. 16 NC State. McGuire, known for his energy, was animated after the win.

No. 23 Texas A&M grabbed a victory over No. 10 Arkansas, helped in large part by Demani Richardson ripping the ball from a teammate after a fumble recovery and racing 82 yards to kick-start the Aggies, who had sleepwalked through the first quarter without making a first down and having only 28 total yards before scoring 23 consecutive points. Then, they watched Arkansas line up for a potential game-winning field goal with 1:30 left, before it hit the top of the upright and bounced into the air, falling short of the crossbar.

No. 17 Baylor survived a trip to Iowa State, beating the Cyclones 31-24 to end ISU’s streak of 11 straight home wins over Big 12 teams. The Bears’ defense held Iowa State to 2.4 yards per carry and picked off two passes by Hunter Dekker. Even the normally stoic Dave Aranda was amped during this one. — Wilson

Was that score really 98-0?

When Lamar elected to return to the Southland Conference this past summer, after just one year in the Western Athletic Conference, other WAC teams had to scramble to fill holes in the schedule. There are only so many options available for such a thing, so for Family Weekend in Nacogdoches, Stephen F. Austin arranged to play the NAIA’s Warner University.

Warner isn’t just any NAIA team, however. The Royals rank 89th out of 98 teams in my NAIA SP+ rankings. They had lost to two other NAIA teams by a combined 93-29 and had fallen to Division II power West Florida 52-3 in a game they trailed 45-0 at halftime. This was destined to be a massive blowout.

It was even worse than expected. SFA scored 28 points — two off of long touchdown passes, two off of fumble returns — in the game’s first six minutes, then added 31 more points before halftime. Four different Lumberjack quarterbacks threw touchdown passes, and after a punt return score made it 85-0 with 6:58 left, Warner immediately threw an interception, and SFA made it 92-0 with 6:32 left. And then Warner fumbled the kickoff. And SFA scored again. They kneeled out a 2-point conversion to stop at 98 points, and Warner stopped self-destructing long enough for the clock to run out. SFA fell seven points short of the FCS single-game scoring record (set by Portland State in 1980), but everyone involved seemed OK with that. — Connelly

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Stanton won’t blame ailing elbows on torpedo bats

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Stanton won't blame ailing elbows on torpedo bats

NEW YORK — Giancarlo Stanton, one of the first known adopters of the torpedo bat, declined Tuesday to say whether he believes using it last season caused the tendon ailments in both elbows that forced him to begin this season on the injured list.

Last month, Stanton alluded to “bat adjustments” he made last season as a possible reason for the epicondylitis, commonly known as tennis elbow, he’s dealing with.

“You’re not going to get the story you’re looking for,” Stanton said. “So, if that’s what you guys want, that ain’t going to happen.”

Stanton said he will continue using the torpedo bat when he returns from injury. The 35-year-old New York Yankees slugger, who has undergone multiple rounds of platelet-rich plasma injections to treat his elbows, shared during spring training that season-ending surgery on both elbows was a possibility. But he has progressed enough to recently begin hitting off a Trajekt — a pitching robot that simulates any pitcher’s windup, arm angle and arsenal. However, he still wouldn’t define his return as “close.”

He said he will first have to go on a minor league rehab assignment at an unknown date for an unknown period. It won’t start in the next week, he added.

“This is very unique,” Stanton said. “I definitely haven’t missed a full spring before. So, it just depends on my timing, really, how fast I get to feel comfortable in the box versus live pitching.”

While the craze of the torpedo bat (also known as the bowling pin bat) has swept the baseball world since it was revealed Saturday — while the Yankees were blasting nine home runs against the Milwaukee Brewers — that a few members of the Yankees were using one, the modified bat already had quietly spread throughout the majors in 2024. Both Stanton and former Yankees catcher Jose Trevino, now with the Cincinnati Reds, were among players who used the bats last season after being introduced to the concept by Aaron Leanhardt, an MIT-educated physicist and former minor league hitting coordinator for the organization.

Anthony Volpe, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt and Austin Wells were among the Yankees who used torpedo bats during their season-opening sweep of the Brewers.

Stanton explained he has changed bats before. He said he has usually adjusted the length. Sometimes, he opts for lighter bats at the end of the long season. In the past, when knuckleballers were more common in the majors, he’d opt for heavier lumber.

Last year, he said he simply chose his usual bat but with a different barrel after experimenting with a few models.

“I mean, it makes a lot of sense,” Stanton said. “But it’s, like, why hasn’t anyone thought of it in 100-plus years? So, it’s explained simply and then you try it and as long as it’s comfortable in your hands [it works]. We’re creatures of habit, so the bat’s got to feel kind of like a glove or an extension of your arm.”

Stanton went on to lead the majors with an average bat velocity of 81.2 mph — nearly 3 mph ahead of the competition. He had a rebound, but not spectacular, regular season in which he batted .233 with 27 home runs and a .773 OPS before clubbing seven home runs in 14 playoff games.

“It’s not like [it was] unreal all of a sudden for me,” Stanton said.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone described the torpedo bats “as the evolution of equipment” comparable to getting fitted for new golf clubs. He said the organization is not pushing players to use them and insisted the science is more complicated than just picking a bat with a different barrel.

“There’s a lot more to it than, ‘I’ll take the torpedo bat on the shelf over there — 34 [inches], 32 [ounces],'” Boone said. “Our guys are way more invested in it than that. And really personalized, really work with our players in creating this stuff. But it’s equipment evolving.”

As players around the majors order torpedo bats in droves after the Yankees’ barrage over the weekend — they clubbed a record-tying 13 homers in two games against the Brewers — Boone alluded to the notion that, though everyone is aware of the concept, not every organization can optimize its usage.

“You’re trying to just, where you can on the margins, move the needle a little bit,” Boone said. “And that’s really all you’re going to do. I don’t think this is some revelation to where we’re going to be; it’s not related to the weekend that we had, for example. Like, I don’t think it’s that. Maybe in some cases, for some players, it may help them incrementally. That’s how I view it.”

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Rangers’ Eovaldi gets season’s 1st complete game

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Rangers' Eovaldi gets season's 1st complete game

CINCINNATI — Nathan Eovaldi pitched a four-hitter for the majors’ first complete game of the season, and the Texas Rangers blanked the Cincinnati Reds 1-0 on Tuesday night.

Eovaldi struck out eight and walked none in his fifth career complete game. The right-hander threw 99 pitches, 70 for strikes.

It was Eovaldi’s first shutout since April 29, 2023, against the Yankees and just the third of his career. He became the first Ranger with multiple career shutouts with no walks in the past 30 seasons, according to ESPN Research.

“I feel like, by the fifth or sixth inning, that my pitch count was down, and I feel like we had a really good game plan going into it,” Eovaldi said in his on-field postgame interview on Victory+. “I thought [Texas catcher Kyle Higashioka] called a great game. We were on the same page throughout the entire game.”

In the first inning, Wyatt Langford homered for Texas against Carson Spiers (0-1), and that proved to be all Eovaldi needed. A day after Cincinnati collected 14 hits in a 14-3 victory in the series opener, Eovaldi (1-0) silenced the lineup.

“We needed it, these bats are still quiet,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said of his starter’s outing. “It took a well-pitched game like that. What a game.”

The Reds put the tying run on second with two out in the ninth, but Eovaldi retired Elly De La Cruz on a grounder to first.

“He’s as good as I have seen as far as a pitcher performing under pressure,” Bochy said. “He is so good. He’s a pro out there. He wants to be out there.”

Eovaldi retired his first 12 batters, including five straight strikeouts during one stretch. Gavin Lux hit a leadoff single in the fifth for Cincinnati’s first baserunner.

“I think it was the first-pitch strikes,” Eovaldi said, when asked what made him so efficient. “But also, the off-speed pitches. I was able to get some quick outs, and I didn’t really have many deep counts. … And not walking guys helps.”

Spiers gave up three hits in six innings in his season debut. He struck out five and walked two for the Reds, who fell to 2-3.

The Rangers moved to 4-2, and Langford has been at the center of it all. He now has two home runs in six games to begin the season. In 2024, it took him until the 29th game of the season to homer for the first time. Langford hit 16 homers in 134 games last season during his rookie year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Source: USC flips Ducks’ Topui, No. 3 DT in 2026

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Source: USC flips Ducks' Topui, No. 3 DT in 2026

USC secured the commitment of former Oregon defensive tackle pledge Tomuhini Topui on Tuesday, a source told ESPN, handing the Trojans their latest recruiting victory in the 2026 cycle over the Big Ten rival Ducks.

Topui, ESPN’s No. 3 defensive tackle and No. 72 overall recruit in the 2026 class, spent five and half months committed to Oregon before pulling his pledge from the program on March 27. Topui attended USC’s initial spring camp practice that afternoon, and seven days later the 6-foot-4, 295-pound defender gave the Trojans his pledge to become the sixth ESPN 300 defender in the program’s 2026 class.

Topui’s commitment gives USC its 10th ESPN 300 pledge this cycle — more than any other program nationally — and pulls a fourth top-100 recruit into the impressive defensive class the Trojans are building this spring. Alongside Topui, USC’s defensive class includes in-state cornerbacks R.J. Sermons (No. 26 in ESPN Junior 300) and Brandon Lockhart (No. 77); four-star outside linebacker Xavier Griffin (No. 27) out of Gainesville, Georgia; and two more defensive line pledges between Jaimeon Winfield (No. 143) and Simote Katoanga (No. 174).

The Trojans are working to reestablish their local recruiting presence in the 2026 class under newly hired general manager Chad Bowden. Topui not only gives the Trojans their 11th in-state commit in the cycle, but his pledge represents a potentially important step toward revamping the program’s pipeline to perennial local powerhouse Mater Dei High School, too.

Topui will enter his senior season this fall at Mater Dei, the program that has produced a long line of USC stars including Matt Leinart, Matt Barkley and Amon-Ra St. Brown. However, if Topui ultimately signs with the program later this year, he’ll mark the Trojans’ first Mater Dei signee since the 2022 cycle, when USC pulled three top-300 prospects — Domani Jackson, Raleek Brown and C.J. Williams — from the high school program based in Santa Ana, California.

Topui’s flip to the Trojans also adds another layer to a recruiting rivalry rekindling between USC and Oregon in the 2026 cycle.

Tuesday’s commitment comes less than two months after coach Lincoln Riley and the Trojans flipped four-star Oregon quarterback pledge Jonas Williams, ESPN’s No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in 2026. USC is expected to continue targeting several Ducks commits this spring, including four-star offensive tackle Kodi Greene, another top prospect out of Mater Dei.

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