Titans rally past Niners; Bowl for RU
Randy Bullock kicked a 44yard field goal with four seconds remaining and the banged-up Titans rallied from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat the 49ers, 20-17, Thursday night in Nashville.
The Titans (10-5) are a win or a Colts’ loss away from clinching their second straight AFC South title despite losing three of their past four games to drop from the AFC’s top seed to third. Indianapolis plays Arizona on Saturday.
Ryan Tannehill threw for just 40 yards in the first half but finished with 209 yards and a TD for Tennessee. A.J. Brown caught 11 passes for 145 yards hours after he was activated off injured reserve, and his 18-yard TD catch gave Tennessee a 17-10 lead early in the fourth.
RUTGERS IN GATOR BOWL
Rutgers will replace Texas A&M in the Gator Bowl against Wake Forest after an NCAA committee decided Thursday to adhere to an existing policy for making teams with 5-7 records bowl eligible.
The NCAA football oversight committee also announced that any bowl can be moved to as late as Jan. 10 if the schools involved need additional time to prepare for the game.
The Gator Bowl will keep its scheduled date and 11 a.m. EST kickoff on New Year’s Eve, meaning Rutgers will have less than a week to get ready to play one of the highest-scoring teams in the country.
STORM-BUTLER PPD
Thursday night’s Butler-St. John’s game was postponed because of COVID issues in the St. John’s program with the hope that it can be rescheduled. Meanwhile, the Southeastern and Big East conferences have updated their policies for basketball game postponements, cancellations and rescheduling to provide more leniency for teams that are unable to play because of COVID-19 cases.
The policies for both conferences establish that men’s and women’s teams will be required to play if seven scholarship athletes and one countable coaching staff member are available. The SEC gives teams the option to play with fewer players or coaches.
If a team can’t play, both leagues say the game will be rescheduled or declared a no contest. The policies announced Thursday are a revision of previous procedures, which called for a game to be forfeited.