Toronto’s Pozuelo wins MLS MVP
Toronto attacking midfielder Alejandro Pozuelo has been named Major League Soccer’s 2020 Most Valuable Player.
Pozuelo had nine goals and 10 assists during the coronavirus-shortened regular season, even while the Reds played part of the year in Connecticut because of travel restrictions in Canada.
“I’m very proud because this means a lot and maybe tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, when I start seeing more news, I will believe that I’ve won this award,” he said. “But I’m very proud to represent Toronto. And I know it’s easy to say that I won the award, but it’s something that takes a lot of work to get here.”
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Alabama was No. 1 for the fifth week in a row and extended its streak of consecutive poll appearances to 210, the third longest in the history of The Associated Press college football poll.
The Crimson Tide were the unanimous No. 1 for the third straight week and the top seven teams were unchanged for a fifth consecutive poll.
Notre Dame was No. 2, followed by Ohio State, Clemson and Texas A&M to round out the top five. No. 6 Florida and No. 7 Cincinnati also held their spots.
Alabama’s poll appearance streak passed Florida’s run of 209 under Steve Spurrier from 1990-2002.
Up next is Florida State’s streak of 211 during the Bobby Bowden era from 1989-2001. The record belongs to Nebraska at 348 from 1981-2002.
BYU was the only top-10 team to lose, falling in a thriller at Coastal Carolina on Saturday. The Cougars dropped six spots to No. 14 and the Chanticleers jumped three spots to No. 11.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Gonzaga and Baylor remained atop the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll after their hotly anticipated weekend game in Indianapolis was called off about 90 minutes before tipoff because of positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing within the Bulldogs’ program.
Gonzaga received 54 of 61 first-place votes from a national media panel while the Bears had the other seven. Iowa remained third after Luka Garza’s monster week powered the Hawkeyes to a pair of easy victories, Michigan State climbed four spots to No. 4 and Kansas jumped two spots to round out the top 5.
Illinois allowed the Big Ten Conference to keep three teams in the top six after then-No. 4 Wisconsin took a tumble with a last-second loss to Marquette.
The Illini were followed by Houston, Creighton, Villanova and Duke.
The top 10 could get a shakeup this week. Iowa plays No. 16 North Carolina and Illinois faces the Blue Devils in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge tonight.
The Jayhawks play the Bluejays in the Big East-Big 12 Battle.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Coach Tara VanDerveer and Stanford are the new No. 1 in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll.
The Cardinal ascended to the top spot after previous No. 1 South Carolina lost at home to then-No. 8 North Carolina State. Stanford received 24 of the 30 first-place votes from a national media panel.
The Cardinal moved up to No. 1 at nearly the same time last year and held on to that spot for three weeks, the team’s first appearance there in seven years.
Louisville moved up three spots to No. 2 — matching the highest ranking in school history — and received two first-place votes. UConn, which has yet to play a game because the Huskies were on pause due to coronavirus concerns, stayed at No. 3, also receiving two first-place votes.
The Wolfpack, who got the other two first-place ballots, jumped four places to No. 4 after the 54-46 victory over the Gamecocks. South Carolina fell to fifth.
Arizona, Baylor, Oregon, Kentucky and Texas A&M round out the top 10. No. 6 is the highest ranking in Arizona’s history.
NFL
A person with direct knowledge of the decision says the New York Jets fired defensive coordinator Gregg Williams a day after his stunning play call cost the team its first win of the season.
The still-winless Jets were seconds away from their first victory Sunday until Williams inexplicably called for an all-out blitz against Las Vegas.
Bakersfield Christian graduate Derek Carr heaved a perfectly placed 46-yard touchdown pass to Henry Ruggs III — who was in man-to-man, or Cover Zero, coverage with rookie cornerback Lamar Jackson — with 5 seconds left to lift the Raiders to a 31-28 victory.
Williams took heavy criticism from fans, the media and even team captain Marcus Maye, who said the defense should have been in a better call in that situation. It ended up costing Williams his job.