Home

CJ Donaldson, Garrett Greene hurt in West Virginia’s 17-6 win over Pittsburgh in ‘Backyard Brawl’

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:59:26 GMT

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Fights aren’t meant to be pretty, and that’s what West Virginia coach Neal Brown saw in the “Backyard Brawl” with Pittsburgh.CJ Donaldson rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown before getting hurt and the Mountaineers scored 10 points off two Pittsburgh interceptions to beat the Panthers 17-6 Saturday night.Nicco Marchiol came on in place of the injured Garrett Greene to throw a short TD pass for the Mountaineers (2-1).Both teams struggled to get any passing game going in the 106th version of the Brawl, which resumed a year ago following an 11-year hiatus.Pittsburgh (1-2) was held to its fewest points in the series since a 34-0 loss in 1996. The Panthers were limited to 73 yards of offense in the second half. Each team had exactly 211 yards overall. But West Virginia got help from Pittsburgh mistakes.“They call it the ‘Brawl’ for a reason. That wasn’t a thing of beauty,” Brown said. “Regardless of what it was, it was a win for Wes...

Denis Bouanga scores 2 goals in LAFC’s 4-2 rivalry victory over the LA Galaxy

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:59:26 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Denis Bouanga broke a tie with his second goal in the 75th minute and Los Angeles FC rallied for a 4-2 victory over the LA Galaxy on Saturday night in another thrilling edition of the El Tráfico rivalry.Bouanga had another standout game against LAFC’s archrivals, scoring on a header in the first half before pouncing on Chris Mavinga’s giveaway for the go-ahead goal. Timothy Tillman added an insurance goal on the break in the 84th minute for the defending MLS champions, who snapped their three-game skid and moved up to second place in the Western Conference standings.LAFC goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau earned the victory in his long-awaited season debut, getting his first game action since breaking his leg in the MLS Cup final. Ryan Hollingshead also scored for LAFC.Billy Sharp scored an early goal and Maya Yoshida got the tying goal early in the second half for the 13th-place Galaxy, who put up a solid fight in front of another raucous crowd. The Los Angele...

Credle, Middlebrook help Middle Tennessee run away from Murray State, 35-14

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:59:26 GMT

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — Jaiden Credle raced 71 yards untouched for his second first-quarter touchdown, and Jekail Middlebrook had scoring runs of 18 and 25 yards as Middle Tennessee State cruised to a 35-14 win over Murray State on Saturday.After pulling in a 14-yard pass from Nicholas Vattiato to cap a seven-play, 75-yard drive for the game’s first touchdown, Credle took the handoff on the first play of a drive and raced for the sideline, turned the corner and tip-toed down the sideline for the an impressive 71-yard run to make it 14-0 after one quarter. Middlebrook took a handoff 25 yards to make it 21-0 two minutes into the second quarter, and added an 18-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Vattiato capped the scoring with a 40-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Tate Jr. Cole Rusk pulled in a 12-yard pass from DJ Williams to get the Racers on the board early in the second quarter. Cortezz Jones punched over from the 3 to get the Racers within two scores, 28-14, with 9:44...

Klauss scores late to help St. Louis City earn 1-1 draw with Dynamo

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:59:26 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — João Klauss scored an unassisted goal late in the second half to rally St. Louis City to a 1-1 draw with the Houston Dynamo on Saturday night.Klauss’ equalizer for St. Louis City (15-10-4) came in the 87th minute. It was his seventh goal this season for the Western Conference leaders in their first season of play.Houston (11-10-7) took a 1-0 lead three minutes before halftime on Corey Baird’s seventh netter of the season. It was unassisted.St. Louis City won its first three road matches this season but has gone just 2-9-3 away from home since then.Houston (11-10-7) fell to 1-8-2 in its last 11 regular-season matches against expansion teams. St. Louis City beat the Dynamo 3-0 at home earlier this season.Houston saw its run of posting five straight clean sheets come to an end. It was the longest shutout run by any team this season.___AP MLS: https://apnews.com/hub/major-league-soccer and AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccerSource

Dart runs for 2 TDs, throws for a third, as No. 17 Ole Miss pulls away to beat Georgia Tech 48-23

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:59:26 GMT

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Jaxson Dart ran for two touchdowns and threw for another as No. 17 Mississippi pulled away in the final 10 minutes to defeat Georgia Tech 48-23 on Saturday night.Ole Miss (3-0) needed a 45-yard field goal from Caden Davis, a 68-yard touchdown reception by Jordan Watkins from Dart and a 1-yard run by Quinshon Judkins to seal the win after Georgia Tech pulled within 24-17 with 10:31 remaining.“It’s good to get to 3-0. It wasn’t pretty at times but all you can be after three games is 3-0 and that’s great,” Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin said. “Jaxson did some special things running the ball and he made a couple of explosive plays in the passing game, too.”Dart finished 10 of 18 passing for 251 yards and added 14 rushes for 136 yards. He scored on runs of 1 and 6 yards as the Rebels had 550 total yards of offense, 341 in the second half.“I thought we did a good job of getting back to being balanced and that means running the ball,” Dart said. “I do need to slide more at...

Worthy TD sparks No. 4 Texas as Longhorns pull away late from Wyoming 31-10

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:59:26 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Xavier Worthy caught a 44-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter, Jerrin Thompson added an interception return for another score minutes later, and No. 4 Texas pulled away late from Wyoming for a 31-10 victory Saturday night that pushed the Longhorns to 3-0 for the first time since 2012.Jonathon Brooks added 164 yards rushing for Texas. After an impressive win at Alabama, Texas jumped to its highest ranking in 14 years, then came home to find itself in a dogfight for three quarters with a program that has never beaten a top-10 opponent. “We had a lot of sore backs from people patting us on the back congratulating us,“ after Alabama, Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “It’s human nature to get distracted by that and you lose sight of what’s right in front of you.”Wyoming (2-1) had already beaten Texas Tech of the Big 12 and wasn’t intimidated by the Texas sellout crowd of more than 100,000 and the fancy new stadium light show for the Longhorns. The Cowboy...

BYU rallies twice, beats Arkansas 38-31 on road to stay perfect

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:59:26 GMT

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Kedon Slovis threw for 167 yards and two touchdowns, including one to Chase Roberts who made a one-handed catch with eight minutes left, to give BYU a 38-31 win against Arkansas on Saturday night. Roberts’ grab capped a nine-play, 69-yard drive that saw BYU (3-0) convert two third-and-longs to keep Arkansas’ defense on the field. It was also the third straight series on which the Cougars scored, as they rallied from a 10-point deficit late in the third quarter.Arkansas (2-1) drove inside the BYU 20 in the final 20 seconds, but the drive stalled with four penalties including one on the final play to end the game.“On Arkansas’ side, they had penalties, some drive killers that hurt them. Fortunate for us, not for them,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “Second half, down by 10, the guys just keep believing.”Slovis and BYU tied the game on the first of the previous series when Parker Kingston caught a wide receiver screen pass and ran 20 yards to...

Sacramento State stuns former coach Troy Taylor in 30-23 win at Stanford

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:59:26 GMT

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Kaiden Bennett narrowly avoided a sack to throw a 49-yard touchdown pass with 1:32 to play and Sacramento State beat former coach Troy Taylor’s Stanford team 30-23 on Saturday night for the Hornets’ third win ever against a Pac-12 school.“It’s awesome that we got this opportunity,” said first-year Hornets coach Andy Thompson, who was promoted from defensive coordinator after Taylor left to take the job at Stanford. “We got to come over here, I think we collected a little bit of money too and got a win. … They should be very proud of how they played against a really good opponent.”It took a big play late to get the win. Bennett flung a short pass to Marcus Fulcher just before his knee touched the ground and Fulcher did the rest from there to score for the Hornets (3-0) and spoil his former coach’s home debut at Stanford.“He was doing what he was supposed to do on his part and he was where he needed to be on that play,” Bennett sai...

New Mexico State takes down New Mexico behind Pavia in 27-17 win

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:59:26 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico State quarterback Diego Pavia threw for 203 yards and two touchdowns and he added another 96 yards on the ground to spark the Aggies to a 27-17 win over rival New Mexico on Saturday.New Mexico State (3-1) held a 20-10 lead until Andrew Erickson caught a touchdown pass for the Lobos (1-2). But the Aggies immediately responded with a 75-yard touchdown pass from Pavia to Jonathan Brady to restore a 10-point advantage at 27-17.“I think the big play of the game was after they went down and scored, we hit them on a post for a touchdown to Brady and I think that really hurt,” said New Mexico State’s offensive coordinator and assistant head coach Tim Beck. “They had just put a nice drive together and had just scored and we answered on the very next play, so a great job by the offensive line. The offensive line played the best game they have up to this point.”This is the second straight win in the series for New Mexico State, who got 54 rushing yards...

Dugger-to-Caldwell connection strikes four times and Lindenwood rallies to defeat Western Illinois

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 08:59:26 GMT

MACOMB, Ill. (AP) — Cole Dugger and Jeff Caldwell connected on their fourth touchdown pass with 1:13 remaining and Lindenwood rallied to defeat Western Illinois 43-40 on Saturday night.The Lions drove 75 yards in 11 plays for the winning score — a 13-yard pass from Dugger to Caldwell — after Western Illinois had taken a 40-35 lead with a 14-play, 93-yard drive ending in Matt Morrissey’s 20-yard TD pass to Jay Parker.Western Illinois had 296 yards and a 31-14 lead by halftime, with Morrissey accounting for three scores. He threw for 247 yards with touchdowns of 75 yards to Jaylin Jackson on the second play of the game and 37 yards to Taj Sanders. Morrissey also had a 3-yard touchdown run late in the second quarter.But Lindenwood rallied in the second half, getting within 31-28 entering the fourth quarter. The Lions (2-1) took their first lead, 35-34, when Dugger and Caldwell connected on a 72-yard touchdown.Dugger completed 16 of 22 passes for 270 yards with five touchdowns and...