Top 10 stays same in third CFP ranking
The College Football Playoff rankings held steady at the top, with Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and Michigan an unchanged first four from last week.
The third rankings of the season were drama-free last night after every top 10 team won last weekend. In fact, the entire top 10 stayed the same, the first time that has happened in the five seasons since the CFP was born.
With three weekends left until the final selections are made on Dec. 2, Georgia was fifth and Oklahoma was sixth. LSU, Washington State, West Virginia and Ohio State rounded out the top 10.
UCF moved up one spot to No. 11 . . . . Maryland interim coach Matt Canada announced that starting quarterback Kasim Hill tore the ACL in his left knee during last week’s game at Indiana, making this the second straight season he’s had cut short by an ACL tear . . . .
Earlham College in Richmond, Ind., has suspended its football program after a fifth consecutive winless season and a Division 3 record 53 straight losses.
The Quakers finished the season with a 70-6 loss to Rose-Hulman last Saturday . . . .
Georgia Tech forward James Banks, a transfer from Texas, has been granted immediate eligibility from the NCAA.
Kapler loses house in Calif. fires
Phillies manager Gabe Kapler is among the homeowners who lost their house in Southern California’s wildfires.
The former Red Sox player told The Athletic his exwife and two sons lived in the Malibu house and evacuated last week. A friend sent him photos over the weekend showing only a steel staircase remained of the property, about a mile from the Pacific Ocean . . . .
Major League Baseball is investigating claims made against the Seattle Mariners by the team’s recently fired training and conditioning director, who said team management had disparaged Latino players.
The Mariners denied the allegations in a statement on Monday following the social media postings from
Lorena Martin in which she claimed general manager Jerry Dipoto, manager Scott Servais and director of player development Andy McKay had called Latino players “lazy, dumb and stupid, especially the Dominicans.” Martin, whose title with the team was director of high performance, posted her message on Instagram and Twitter.
Morgan, U.S. close unbeaten year
Alex Morgan scored late in the first half and the U.S. women’s national soccer team wrapped up the year with a 1-0 victory over Scotland in Glasgow.
The U.S. team is undefeated this year with 19 wins and two ties . . . . Gerardo Martino was voted coach of the year in Major League Soccer in his last season with Atlanta United . . . . Real Madrid is done searching for a new coach. The club said it is sticking with Santiago Solari, giving him a permanent contract until June 2021 . . . . Roger Federer produced an improved performance to get his campaign for a seventh ATP Finals title back on track with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Dominic Thiem in London. Jed Copham, the owner of Brainerd International Raceway in Minnesota, died in a swimming accident off the Florida coast on Sunday. He was 46.