Lawrence, Etienne power Clemson past Syracuse
CLEMSON, S. C. — Trevor Lawrence threw two touchdown passes, Travis Etienne ran for three scores and No. 1 Clemson shook off a sluggish performance to win its 27th straight Atlantic Coast Conference game and put away pesky Syracuse 47- 21 on Saturday.
The Tigers opened 6- 0 for the sixth straight season, but it took a late burst to get it done — just like usual against Syracuse ( 1- 5, 1- 4). The Orange were the last ACC team to beat the Tigers ( 5- 0 ACC) with a 27- 24 victory in 2017. A year later at Death Valley, Syracuse again looked primed for the upset as it held a 10- point lead in the fourth quarter before Clemson’s 27- 23 escape to keep its national championship season intact.
NO. 2 ALABAMA 48, TENNESSEE 17
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Mac Jones threw for 387 yards and ran for a touchdown, and Najee Harris ran for three more TDs as Alabama routed Tennessee for the 14th straight win in this rivalry.
We receiver Jaylen Waddle rolled his right ankle as he was tackled on the opening kickoff. He was taken by cart to the locker room, and coach Nick Saban said at halftime that Waddle will be out the rest of the year and that the junior likely will need surgery.
NO. 3 NOTRE DAME 45, PITT 3
PITTSBURGH — Ian Book passed for 312 yards and three touchdowns — two of them long catch- and- runs to graduate transfer Ben Skowronek — and Notre Dame overwhelmed reeling Pittsburgh.
NO. 5 OHIO STATE 51, NEBRASKA 17
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Justin Fields completed 20 of 21 passes for two touchdowns and ran for another score, Master Teague III rushed for a pair of scores and Ohio State rolled over Nebraska in the Big Ten teams’ pandemic- delayed opener.
Fields completed his first 12 passes and threw for 276 yards.
NO. 6 OKLAHOMA STATE 24, NO. 17 IOWA STATE 21
STILLWATER, Okla. — Spencer Sanders passed for 235 yards and ran for 71 and a touchdown in his return from injury, and Oklahoma State defeated Iowa State.
INDIANA 36, NO. 8 PENN STATE 35 ( OT)
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Michael Penix forced overtime with a 2- point conversion run with 22 seconds left, then scored on a diving 2- point conversion to give Indiana a season- opening upset victory over Penn State — ending the Big Ten’s longest streak of consecutive losses to Top 10 teams at 42.
NO. 14 NORTH CAROLINA 48, NO. 23 NC STATE 21
CHAPEL HILL, N. C. — Javonte Williams ran for 160 yards and three touchdowns to help North Carolina beat North Carolina State in the renewal of the longtime state rivalry.
WAKE FOREST 23, NO. 19 VIRGINIA TECH 16
WINSTON- SALEM, N. C. — Walk- on freshman safety Nick Anderson had three interceptions, Christian Beal- Smith ran for 129 yards and Nick Sciba kicked three field goals to help Wake Forest beat Virginia Tech.
NO. 20 KANSAS STATE 55, KANSAS 14
MANHATTAN, Kan. ( AP) — Phillip Brooks returned a pair of punts for touchdowns, Kansas State took advantage of an embarrassing day of special teams by its biggest rival, and the Wildcats rolled past Kansas.
NO. 22 MARSHALL 20, FLORIDA ATLANTIC 9
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. — Brenden Knox rushed for 101 yards and caught one of redshirt freshman Grant Wells’ two touchdown passes to lead Marshall over pandemic- depleted Florida Atlantic.
NO. 25 COASTAL CAR0LINA 28, GEORGIA SOUTHERN 14
CONWAY, S. C. — Backup quarterback Fred Payton three three touchdown passes and Coastal Carolina won its first game as a ranked team with a victory over Georgia Southern.
Major League Baseball was aware that a player on the Miami Marlins had tested positive for the coronavirus before the team opened a three- game series in Philadelphia in July, according to a report released Thursday.
The league came under scrutiny on the day of the third game of the series, when word surfaced that four players on the Marlins had tested positive but the game against the Philadelphia Phillies was played as scheduled.
The Marlins’ outbreak, which infected 20 members of the team’s traveling party and forced the team to shut down for more than a week, was labeled a “super- spreading event.”
The Marlins’ information was included by the Centers for Disease Control as part of its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Dr. Ali Khan, an expert in infectious diseases and the lead consultant to MLB in developing its health and safety protocols, was one of the authors of the report on the Marlins’ case.
The initial protocols, which were approved by public health officials, did not call for a team to be shut down after one player tested positive. The league made changes to its protocols and, after two significant outbreaks in two weeks, completed its abbreviated season without another outbreak.
On July 22, the same day that the Marlins played an exhibition game in Atlanta against the Braves, the Miami players completed their every- other- day test for COVID- 19, as required under the MLB protocol. On July 24, before the Marlins’ scheduled game in Philadelphia, one of those tests came back positive.
The unidentified player, who had shown no symptoms, was isolated. The Marlins put one player on the injured list that day, catcher Jorge Alfaro, but did not say why. Alfaro later said he had contracted the virus.
The game against the Phillies went on, but so did expedited testing, and tracing to identify players deemed to have come into close contact with the infected player.
After the July 25 game, three additional Marlins players received positive test results. The Marlins and Phillies went ahead with their July 26 game and, after the game, eight more Marlins players and staff members received positive test results.
The Marlins did not play again until Aug. 4.
In the wake of the Marlins’ outbreak — and in the midst of an outbreak that shut down the St. Louis Cardinals for more than two weeks — the league reinforced its directives about social distancing; required players and staffers to wear masks on airplanes and buses, within hotels and in all public places; prohibited visits to hotel bars, lounges and other such public gathering spots; and added a compliance officer for each team.
The league also decided to postpone games as soon as a player tested positive. In August, when an Oakland
Athletics player tested positive, the league promptly shut down the team until MLB could be assured the virus had not spread. No other players tested positive, and the A’s resumed play after a five- day shutdown.
No MLB player tested positive over the final 30 days of the regular season, the league said. The players moved into bubbles for the postseason, with the Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays set for Game 5 of the World Series on Sunday.
According to the report released Thursday, MLB determined that 168 players and other employees had been exposed to the virus as a result of the Marlins’ super- spreader event.
On the Marlins, 20 of 68 persons tested positive, a rate of 29%. However, on the Phillies, one of 31 persons tested positive: a staffer who worked in the Marlins’ clubhouse. On the Braves, none of 38 persons tested positive.
The report noted that “asymptomatic, unknowingly infected players and coaches spent more than a cumulative 11 hours on the field” and yet no opposing players, coaches or umpires became infected. The report concluded that the virus most likely spread off the field, through “indoor exposures.”