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The Detroit Tigers hired Jeff Greenberg as their new general manager Thursday, filling out their front office a year after Scott Harris joined the team as president of baseball operations.

Greenberg spent the past two seasons as associate general manager of the Chicago Blackhawks, whom he joined after a decade with the Chicago Cubs.

A graduate of Columbia Law School, Greenberg earned the reputation in the Cubs organization for intelligent and detail-oriented work, and in 2021, as an assistant GM, he spent much of the year doing similar duties to those of a general manager.

“I’m thrilled to add an executive of Jeff’s quality to our baseball operations leadership team,” Harris said in a statement. “Throughout this search, it was important for me to find someone who can fit seamlessly into the culture we’re building here. I also wanted to bring in someone with a fresh perspective and new ideas that could challenge us on a daily basis and make us all better as we strive towards our goal of bringing postseason baseball back to Detroit.”

At 71-81, the Tigers look to be on the upswing, with strong years from a core of young players — outfielders Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter, plus first baseman Spencer Torkelson — and promising performances from pitchers Tarik Skubal, Matt Manning and Reese Olson. Colt Keith, one of the best hitting prospects in baseball, should arrive next season as well.

With the retirement of Miguel Cabrera and left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez potentially opting out of the final three years of his contract, the only money the Tigers have on the books in 2024 and beyond is the $98 million owed to shortstop Javier Baez through 2027.

In the American League Central, the worst division in baseball, one good offseason can change the trajectory of an organization.

Greenberg’s influence in the Tigers organization is expected to run the gamut. With the Blackhawks, Greenberg built the foundation for one of the strongest analytics departments in the NHL, which now has more than 10 staffers and will continue to implement the systems Greenberg put in place.

“It’s an extraordinary honor to take on this role with one of the most historic franchises in Major League Baseball,” Greenberg said in a statement. “… It became clear that this organization is headed in a great direction with an incredible culture of development and innovation that I’m excited to be part of.

“Another constant message in those conversations was that Tigers fans want to see winning baseball deep into October. I’m excited to get to work with our front office on off-season and longer-term plans to make that our reality.”

Greenberg, whose father, Chuck, is a longtime sports executive and once owned the Texas Rangers, worked in Major League Baseball’s labor relations department, as well as in lower-level jobs with the Diamondbacks and Pirates, before joining the Cubs.

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Wisconsin QB O’Neil carted off with leg injury

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Wisconsin QB O'Neil carted off with leg injury

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin quarterback Danny O’Neil was carted off the field and into the locker room after injuring his leg in the first quarter of the Badgers’ game against No. 24 Washington (No. 23 College Football Playoff) on Saturday.

O’Neil got up at the end of a 21-yard keeper, limped and then went back down and clutched his right leg. Wisconsin announced in the second quarter that O’Neil would miss the rest of the game with what was officially ruled a lower-body injury.

The San Diego State transfer was making his first start since a Sept. 13 loss to Alabama, though he had played in a reserve role Sept. 20 against Maryland and Oct. 18 against Ohio State.

Freshman Carter Smith took over for O’Neil and made his college debut Saturday.

Quarterback issues have hindered Wisconsin throughout the season. Billy Edwards Jr. was Wisconsin’s first-team quarterback at the start of the year, but he sprained his knee in the second quarter of the Badgers’ season opener and has played only one full series since.

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Ohio St. WR Tate sits out with undisclosed injury

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Ohio St. WR Tate sits out with undisclosed injury

Ohio State standout receiver Carnell Tate sat out Saturday’s game against Purdue after suffering a minor undisclosed injury during pregame warmups.

Coach Ryan Day said the Buckeyes held Tate out just as a precaution.

“[Tate] wanted to play,” Day said, “but we’ve got a lot of football ahead us.”

The top-ranked Buckeyes (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) still defeated Purdue 34-10 to remain unbeaten. Jeremiah Smith led Ohio State with a career-high 10 receptions for 137 yards and a touchdown.

This season, Tate has 39 receptions for 711 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns.

The Buckeyes play UCLA next weekend.

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Texas Tech hands BYU 1st loss, improves to 9-1

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Texas Tech hands BYU 1st loss, improves to 9-1

LUBBOCK, Texas — Stone Harrington kicked a school-record five field goals and standout Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez had two takeaways as the No. 9 Red Raiders defeated No. 8 BYU 29-7 on Saturday, holding the previously undefeated Cougars to a season-low 255 total yards in a game with Big 12 and playoff implications.

Behren Morton passed for 216 yards and threw a 9-yard touchdown to Caleb Douglas while Cameron Dickey ran for 121 yards and a 1-yard score for Texas Tech (9-1, 6-1 Big 12, No. 8 CFP), which played in its first top-10 matchup since 2008.

“I told the team we have another gear,” Tech coach Joey McGuire said. “We can play better.”

BYU (8-1, 5-1, No. 7 CFP) had never played in such a game, though the teams could meet again in the Big 12 championship game in four weeks in Arlington, Texas.

Harrington kicked field goals of 47, 39, 34, 29 and 27 yards.

Rodriguez, the FBS leader with seven forced fumbles, had an interception midway through the third period leading to Harrington’s fourth field goal. He recovered a backward pass late in the fourth quarter that set up Harrington’s final kick.

Tech has gone from ranking 121st last season in the FBS allowing 34.8 points per game to fifth at 13.2 going into Saturday and lowering that to 12.6.

“Yeah, we are a better [defensive] team than we were last year,” Rodriguez said. “But … we’ve still got a lot of things to clean up.”

BYU snapped a 10-game winning streak dating back to last season. The Cougars avoided their first shutout since 2017 when Bear Bachmeier threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Chase Roberts midway through the fourth quarter.

The Cougars went into the game third in the FBS in turnover margin at plus-1.25. They lost two fumbles, threw an interception and muffed a punt.

Bachmeier was 23-of-38 passing for 188 yards. The true freshman also had two turnovers, an interception and a backward pass for a fumble.

“A couple of passes and a muffed punt cost us, I think, 13 points,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “Even after that, I thought we were going to be able to respond and make a game of it in the second half, but we weren’t able to do that.”

The Cougars went into play averaging 36.3 points and 434 yards per game. Their previous low offensive output this season was 332 yards in the 27-3 win over Stanford on Sept. 6.

Both teams have home games remaining against UCF, while the Cougars also play at No. 25 Cincinnati — the only other Big 12 team with one league loss — after hosting TCU next week. The Red Raiders host UCF next week before an open date and then their regular-season finale at West Virginia.

The Red Raiders, charter members of the Big 12 in 1996, are in position to play in the conference championship for the first time. Their remaining two opponents are a combined 3-10 in conference play.

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