A Football-Filled Weekend Of Sports

If you like upsets, you loved Saturday’s college football. Streaks ended, title hopes may have ended and a good time was had by underdogs.

● Iowa State, which hadn’t won in Norman in 27 years, stunned then-No. 3 Oklahoma 38-31 without their starting quarterback, Jacob Park, who left the team for undisclosed health reasons.
● Unranked LSU, coming off a loss to Troy, walked into Gainesville and dumped then-No. 21 Florida 17-16.
● Then-No. 13 Miami, which had lost seven in a row to Florida State, won 24-20 in Tallahassee.
● And Michigan State stopped by the Big House to drop then-No. 7 Michigan 14-10.

The game of the day had to be the seven-overtime marathon in which Western Michigan beat Buffalo 71-68.

The top five in the AP poll this week: Alabama, Clemson, Penn State (up from fourth), Georgia (up from fifth), Washington

MLB: The New York Yankees stayed alive in the American League Division Series with the Cleveland Indians, winning Sunday night 1-0 on Greg Bird’s seventh-niiing home run. The Boston Red Sox staved off elimination in the ALDS’ earlier game Sunday, defeating the Houston Astros 10-3.
The Washington Nationals beat the Chicago Cubs 6-3 on Saturday thanks to a pair of home runs in the eighth inning to even their National League Division Series at one apiece. … The Los Angeles Dodgers hold a 2-0 lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks after Saturday’s 8-5 victory in their best-of-series. Both NL series resume Monday.

NFL: The Kansas City Chiefs (5-0) remained the league’s only unbeaten team after their 42-34 win on the road Sunday night over the Houston Texans (3-2). Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson tied a rookie record for touchdown passes in a game with five. … The Jacksonville Jaguars (3-2) felled the Steelers (3-2) in Pittsburgh 30-9 as Ben Roethlisberger was intercepted a career-high five times. … The Green Bay Packers (4-1) marched down the field in a final-minute drive and scored to beat the Cowboys (2-3) on the road, 35-30. … The New York Giants fell to 0-5, losing 27-22 at home to the Los Angeles Chargers (1-4).

NASCAR: Martin Truex Jr. opened the Monster Cup Energy Series playoff round of 12 Sunday at Charlotte with a victory. In a two-lap shootout, Truex took the checkered flag 0.911 seconds ahead of Chase Elliott, who finished second for the second consecutive week and third time in the last four races.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman