Barkley, other stars injured in Week 2

A star-studded cast of NFL players departed their games with injuries on Sept. 20.

Many of them could miss the rest of the season.

Start with running back, where Giants star Saquon Barkley is believed to have torn the ACL in his right knee early in their loss at Chicago. All-Pro standout Christian McCaffery departed Carolina’s loss to the Buccaneers with a right ankle injury, 49ers running back Raheem Mostert left with a knee injury, and the Rams’ Cam Akers hurt his ribs.

Plenty of wide receivers went down, too: The Packers’ Davante Adams hurt his hamstring in a win over the Lions; the Colts’ Parris Campbell was carted off with a leg injury against Minnesota; the Giants’ Sterling Shepard sustained a toe injury; and the Broncos’ Courtland Sutton left their loss in Pittsburgh with a knee injury.

Then there were the quarterbacks: Tyrod Taylor didn’t start the Chargers’ game against Kansas City after sustaining a chest injury before kickoff, giving way to rookie Justin Herbert. The Broncos’ Drew Lock hurt his shoulder. The 49ers’ Jimmy Garoppolo tried to play through a right ankle injury before Nick Mullens took over for the second half.

The most noteworthy single injury may have been to Barkley — “Going to see some doctors tomorrow. We will wait and see what that is,” Giants coach Joe Judge said — while the hardesthit team may have been the 49ers.

College football

MIAMI MOVES UP IN AP POLL » A week before Big Ten teams become eligible again for The Associated Press college football poll, No. 25 Marshall is ranked for the first time since 2014 and Miami jumped to No. 12 after a conference road victory.

Clemson remained a nearly unanimous No. 1 in the AP Top 25 after another light week in college football. The Tigers received 59 of 61 first-place votes from a panel of sports writers and broadcasters. The rest of the top 10 was basically unchanged. No. 2 Alabama received one first-place vote. Oklahoma was No. 3, followed by Georgia, Florida and LSU at No. 6. The defending champion Tigers also received a first-place vote.

Notre Dame is seventh. Auburn and Texas are now tied for eighth and Texas A&M is No. 10.

A season disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic cranks up next week. The SEC, which has eight teams ranked, kicks off.

The ACC and Big 12 have full slates of games. At least for now.