Rekindled FSO moves past loss on way to BC
BASEBALL: Joe Girardi’s tenure as Yankees manager ended after a decade that produced just one World Series title for a team that expects to win every year. Yankees GM Brian Cashman made the announcement five days after the Yankees lost to the Astros in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series. “Everything this organization does is done with careful and thorough consideration, and we’ve decided to pursue alternatives for the managerial position,” Cashman said in a statement . ... The Brewers signed RHP Chase Anderson to a two-year contract through the 2019 season, with club options for 2020 and 2021. Anderson went 12-4 with a 2.74 ERA in 25 starts and set career highs for wins and strikeouts (133). The Brewers also agreed to one-year, $2.4 million contract with INF Eric Sogard . ... The Cubs hired former major-league OF Chili Davis to replace John Mallee as hitting coach . ... The Cardinals hired former Nationals pitching coach Mike Maddux. ... The Indians hired Carl Willis as pitching coach after he spent the last two seasons with the Red Sox.
COLLEGES: The credit card scandal that led to the suspensions of nine Florida football players in August and 62 felony complaints last month is nearing an end for most of the players involved. WR Antonio Callaway and six others agreed to enter a pretrial intervention program that would lead to the dismissal of third-degree felony credit card fraud charges for each . ... Duke is the favorite to win the ACC men’s basketball title according the league’s preseason poll. Notre Dame F Bonzie Colson was named preseason player of the year and Duke F Marvin Bagley III was voted preseason rookie of the year . ... North Carolina State senior F Abdul-Malik Abu suffered a sprained knee ligament. Abu won’t need surgery and it’s unclear how long he’ll need to recover.
GOLF: Andrew Landry, J.J. Spaun, Conrad Shindler, Ryan Armour and Wyndham Clark each shot 6-under 66 to share the lead of the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Miss. Landry had four birdies and an eagle in his first five holes . ... U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka opened with an 8-under 64 to build one-shot lead over Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Gavin Green at the HSBC Champions in Shanghai . ... Former world No. 1 Lydia Ko fired a 7-under 64 for one of her lowest rounds of the year to take a one-shot lead over Su Oh at the LPGA Tour’s Sime Darby event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
TENNIS: Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro eased into the Swiss Indoors quarterfinals by beating French opponents in straight sets. Top-seeded Federer, a seven-time winner of the tournament, cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 win over Benoit Paire in 57 minutes. Two-time champ and No. 4 seed Del Potro beat Julien Benneteau 6-4, 6-4 and stayed on course to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals lineup in London next month . ... Venus Williams reached the semifinals at the WTA Finals in Singapore by beating Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza 7-5, 6-4. Williams, 37, advanced from the White Group along with Karolina Pliskova, who lost to French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-1. Both Williams and Pliskova finished with 2-1 records.
TALLAHASSEE — After one of the more demoralizing losses in recent Florida State history last week, coach Jimbo Fisher said he has seen the life return to the eyes of his players.
Fisher insists he does not have any concerns about the emotional state of his team after its 31-28 loss to Louisville last Saturday, that dropped FSU to 2-4 this season, crushed the Seminoles’ spirits moving some players to tears, and caused Fisher to get into a verbal spat with a fan advocating for new assistant coaches in the stands after the game.
But the Seminoles are undoubtedly battered and playing for their pride for the rest of the season, starting with Friday night’s game at Boston College.
“Losing is hard. It’s never going to be easy, especially being here at Florida State. We’re not accustomed to it,” FSU sophomore linebacker Dontavious Jackson said earlier this week.
“It’s definitely hard. But as a man, as a team, and as a community, we have to get past that and move on to Boston College. On a short week, we can’t dwell on the past.”
FSU true freshman quarterback James Blackman was in the midst of leading his fourth straight fourth-quarter comeback against Louisville in his fifth career game, before a fumbled handoff with true freshman running back Cam Akers marked Blackman’s third turnover of the game.
Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson led his team down the field for a gamewinning field goal.
The Seminoles immediately returned to practice on Sunday after the loss. Fisher said he started the see his players’ spirits rejuvenated on Monday and Tuesday before the team departed for Boston College Wednesday night for Friday’s game.
“When you come off a game like that, Sunday is a grind when you go through a walk-through [practice session]. Even Monday, sometimes, they start pushing back through it and it was really good,” Fisher said.
“Then, Tuesday, they were back and guys were sharp in meetings. Everything is good,” Fisher added.
For the third time this season, FSU heads on the road looking to bounce back from a home loss.
Boston College is trending after wins in three of its last four games, including road wins over Louisville and Virginia that saw the Eagles score more than 40 points in consecutive ACC games for the first time in school history.
Like the Seminoles’ combo of Blackman and Akers, the Eagles also feature a freshman duo behind quarterback Anthony Brown and running back AJ Dillon.
Most recently, Brown tossed for 275 yards passing and three touchdowns in last week’s Boston College win over Virginia, while Dillon led the way with 272 yards rushing and four touchdowns in a win over Louisville on Oct. 14.
“I guess they finally found the pieces to their puzzle that they’ve been missing for the past couple years,” FSU safety Trey Marshall said. “It seems like they’ve got their groove and we’ve got to come out with a game plan to stop them.”