Georgia, Alabama, Michigan St., Oregon make top four in rankings
Georgia, Alabama, Michigan State and Oregon were the top four teams Tuesday night in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the season with Ohio State and Cincinnati up next.
At sixth, the unbeaten Bearcats have the best ranking ever in the selection committee’s Top 25 for a team from outside the Power Five conferences, but still sit behind three teams (Alabama, Oregon and Ohio State) that have already been beaten.
Michigan, Oklahoma, Wake Forest and Notre Dame rounded out the top 10.
Only once in the sevenyear history of the CFP have the four teams in the committee’s initial ranking made the final four. That was last season.
This season, Georgia was an obvious No. 1 and committee chairman Gary Barta, who is also Iowa’s athletic director, told ESPN that Alabama was a comfortable No. 2 for the 13-member panel.
He said Nos. 3-9 were hard to discern.
Oregon got the nod over Ohio State in four spot by virtue of beating the Buckeyes on the road in the second week of the season.
GA SOUTHERN NEARING DEAL TO HIRE HELTON AS COACH » Georgia Southern is working to finalize a deal with former Southern California coach Clay Helton to become the Eagles’ new head coach.
A person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press that Helton and the school were closing in on an agreement that could be done by the end of the day. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the school
was not yet ready to make an official announcement. On3.com first reported that Georgia Southern was interested in hiring Helton.
Helton was the first coach fired this season, two games into his eighth season at USC. Helton, 49, was 46-24 with the Trojans, including a Rose Bowl victory after the 2016 season.
NFL
RAIDERS RELEASE WR RUGGS III AFTER FATAL VEGAS CRASH » Las Vegas released Henry Ruggs III just hours before the promising young receiver faced an initial court appearance on multiple felony charges after a fiery predawn vehicle crash that left a woman dead and Ruggs and his female passenger injured.
The 22-year-old Ruggs and his passenger were hospitalized with unspecified injuries that police said did not appear life-threatening after the Chevrolet Corvette he was driving slammed at high speed into the rear of a Toyota Rav4 on a busy thoroughfare in a residential area several miles west of the Las Vegas Strip about 3:40 a.m. Tuesday.
The Toyota burst into flames and the driver and her dog died, police said. The woman was not immediately identified.
Soccer
BLATTER, PLATINI INDICTED FOR FRAUD IN SWITZERLAND » Former FIFA officials Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini were charged with fraud and other offenses by Swiss prosecutors on Tuesday after a six-year investigation into a controversial $2 million payment.
The 85-year-old Blatter and 66-year-old Platini now face a trial at federal criminal court in Bellinzona. They could be jailed for several years if found guilty, though Swiss cases often take years to reach a conclusion. CHAMPIONS LEAGUE » Robert Lewandowski missed a penalty but still got a hat trick.
The Poland star dominated on his 100th Champions League appearance to lead Bayern Munich into the last-16 after a 5-2 rout of Benfica.
Juventus also booked its place in the knockout rounds with a 4-2 win over
Zenit St. Petersburg.
They’re the first teams to progress this year with two games to spare from the group stage of Europe’s premier soccer competition.
Cristiano Ronaldo rescued a 2-2 draw for Manchester United against Atalanta, scoring two goals and maintaining his record of scoring in each game so far. But it was an underwhelming performance from the Premier League team whose hopes rely on the brilliance of its Portuguese stars Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes.
NASCAR
HENDRICK TEAM STANDS
BY LIBERTY U DESPITE LAWSUITS, SCRUTINY » With a 14th NASCAR Cup Series championship on the line this weekend, team owner Rick Hendrick defended his decision to extend his sponsorship deal with Liberty University as the school faces scrutiny over its handling of sexual assault allegations.
Hendrick Motorsports last month reached a new five-year agreement to extend the school’s support of driver William Byron and the No. 24 Chevrolet. Liberty will serve as the primary sponsor in 12 Cup races annually through 2026.
Not long after the extension was announced, a report by ProPublica detailed accusations that the university discouraged students from reporting sexual violence or outright dismissed reports of assault. Twelve women filed a lawsuit in July, accusing the evangelical Christian institution of a pattern of mishandling cases of sexual assault and harassment, and fostering an unsafe campus environment.