Getty Georgia quarterback Jake Fromm.
Welcome to the roundup of must-see sports news from Saturday, featuring Oregon and Georgia picking up some big wins to shift the college football landscape in advance of the first playoff rankings being released.
We’ll also take a look at Jorge Masvidal picking up the win over Nate Diaz at UFC 244 and a wild game-winner from Philadelphia 76ers guard Furkan Korkmaz against the Portland Trailblazers to help keep his team undefeated.
All this and more as we get you up to speed with the sports world on this Sunday!
Georgia Edges Florida at ‘World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party’
In a battle of top 10 squads, No. 8 Georgia rode 279 yards and a pair of touchdowns from quarterback Jake Fromm to a 24-17 victory over sixth-ranked Florida on Saturday. It was the Bulldogs third consecutive victory over the Gators.
“When Jake has time, he’s really efficient,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “I was so proud of him this game.”
The game was essentially an elimination game for a pair of squads looking to keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive. Georgia, who has a bad home loss to South Carolina on their resume, will still have a shot to get in if the cards fall right. It also moved them one step closer to winning the SEC’s Eastern Division.
Georgia needed a big play. Jake Fromm delivered it.
“There’s been a lot of outside noise, and this has been a challenge to our guys to not listen to the outside noise but to really gel within our locker room,” Fromm said after the game. “To come out and respond and play the way we did today, it really shows what our guys are made of, their hearts and what we mean to each other.”
Florida quarterback Kyle Trask was 21-of-33 on his passes for 257 yards and two scores.
“The only people we can be disappointed with are ourselves because they didn’t do anything we didn’t expect them to do,” Trask said.
The first College Football Playoff rankings are slated to come out on Tuesday.
Justin Herbert Leads Oregon Blowout of USC
“We’ve got the right guys and we just executed today.”
@oregonfootball QB Justin Herbert caught up with @JennyTaft after a thorough thrashing of USC at the Coliseum.
Oregon was playing from behind against USC, but not for long.
After falling behind 10-0 to USC early, the No. 7 Ducks exploded, outscoring the Trojans 56-14 the rest of the way to come away with a dominant 56-24 victory over their Pac-12 rival.
“We just looked at each other,” quarterback Justin Herbert said. “We knew that we’re a special group, and we just needed to calm down and say, ‘This isn’t us. We’re going to do better.’ And we addressed that and got to move the ball pretty well. We knew we were better than that. We just had to fix things.”
Herbert — one of the top quarterback prospects in next year’s draft — passed for 225 yards and threw three touchdowns.
The Ducks also scored on an interception return by Brady Breeze and a momentum-shifting 100-yard kick return by Mykael Wright.
Oregon goes 100 YARDS UNTOUCHED 🏎
(via @CFBONFOX)
Much like Georgia, Oregon now has a path to the College Football Playoff and has an inside route to a matchup with Utah in the Pac-12 championship. The Utes, who beat Washington 33-28, are ranked No. 9.
“Without question, I feel we need to be in that conversation,” Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal said. “And we need to keep getting better. … We started a little bit slow. But once we got going, we really got going.”
COLLEGE FOOTBALL TOP 25: How They Fared This Week
- No. 1 LSU (8-0) did not play
- No. 2 Alabama (8-0) did not play
- No. 3 Ohio State (8-0) did not play
- No. 4 Clemson (9-0) beat Wofford 59-14
- No. 5 Penn State (7-0) did not play
- No. 6 Florida (7-2) lost to No. 8 Georgia at Jacksonville, Fla 24-17
- No. 7 Oregon (8-1) beat Southern Cal 56-24
- No. 8 Georgia (7-1) beat No. 6 Florida at Jacksonville, Fla 24-17
- No. 9 Utah (8-1) beat Washington 33-28
- No. 10 Oklahoma (7-1) did not play
- No. 11 Auburn (7-2) beat Mississippi 20-14
- No. 12 Baylor (8-0) beat West Virginia 17-14 (Thursday)
- No. 13 Minnesota (8-0) did not play
- No. 14 Michigan (7-2) beat Maryland 38-7
- No. 15 SMU (8-1) lost to No. 24 Memphis 54-48
- No. 16 Notre Dame (6-2) beat Virginia Tech 21-20
- No. 17 Cincinnati (7-1) beat East Carolina 46-43
- No. 18 Wisconsin (6-2) did not play
- No. 19 Iowa (6-2) did not play
- No. 20 Appalachian State (7-1) lost to Georgia Southern 24-21 (Thursday)
- No. 21 Boise State (7-1) beat San Jose State 52-42
- No. 22 Kansas State (6-2) beat Kansas 38-10
- No. 23 Wake Forest (7-1) beat N.C. State 44-10
- No. 24 Memphis (8-1) beat No. 15 SMU 54-48
- No. 25 San Diego State (7-1) did not play
BLOODY MESS: Jorge Masvidal Beats up on Nate Diaz at UFC 244
It’s official: Jorge Masvidal is the baddest man in the UFC.
Masvidal swiftly beat Nate Diaz via third-round TKO at UFC 244 on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, capturing the BMF belt. The fight was stopped before the fourth round by a doctor for the New York State Athletic Commission because of a nasty cut over Diaz’s right eye.
“For a fact, I told Nate right now, let’s run it back,” Masvidal said in his postfight interview. “UFC, make it happen. Let’s run it back. I don’t like to leave the ring like this with my opponent conscious. There’s only one way to do it, and that’s to baptize them, and I didn’t get to baptize Nate, so we’re going to run it back.”
“We’re running it back. We’ll run this back.”
@GamebredFighter says the first #BMF defense will be a rematch with Diaz. #UFC244
Diaz echoed Masvidal, saying he didn’t think the fight would be stopped.
“I didn’t think they were going to stop it,” he said. “I was getting ready to get started.”
UFC president Dana White said he initially didn’t think the fight should have been held up, but changed his mind once he got an up close look.
“Obviously when you put on an event, you want a definitive, spectacular finish, but you don’t get it all the time,” White said. “When the fight first ended … I thought that the fight should have gone on, and then I just went on saw Nate in the other room over there and I was looking at him, and I was going, maybe the fight shouldn’t have gone on, you know? His eyebrow was flopped over like this, and he’s got another cut underneath the eye.”
Both the Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and President Donald Trump were on hand to watch the fight.
Whatcha know bout them Miami boys? 🌴 #UFC244
Sixers Guard Fukman Korkmaz Drills Game-Winner Against Blazers
Furkan called game in Portland.
With the game on the line, the Philadelphia 76ers drew up a play for Furkan Korkmaz, who delivered a clutch 3-pointer with .4 seconds left to give his squad a 129-128 victory against the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday.
@NBATV @sixers @trailblazers 🚨 FURKAN KORKMAZ FOR THE @SIXERS WIN! 🚨
”I didn’t know how to feel or how to act. It was the biggest shot of my career,” he said. ”We were working on that in practice. I knew that if I was open I would take the shot. That was my mentality when I was going in.”
Korkmaz played 20 minutes off the bench and finished with 11 points, hitting 3-of-6 from 3-point land. At 5-0, the Sixers are the NBA’s only undefeated team remaining.
DON’T MISS THESE STORIES: Rounding Up the Top Headlines
GettyCanelo Alvarez lands a punch on Sergey Kovalev.
- Canelo Alvarez stops Sergey Kovalev, becomes 4-division champion
- Cowboys sign former Redskins, Eagles cornerback
- Browns defensive back undergoes knee surgery
- Steelers part ways with free-agent bust Donte Moncrief
- World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg opts out of deal with Nationals
WHAT’S ON TAP IN THE SPORTS WORLD ON SUNDAY
“It’s going to be a big challenge but one that I think we’re looking forward to.”
Former Ravens, Watson, Bethel, Simon and Brooks, on returning to Baltimore.
NFL: Sunday Night Football, Patriots vs. Ravens
Tom Brady and the New England Patriots will look to stay unbeaten as they take on Lamar Jackson and the AFC North leading Baltimore Ravens in primetime.
WHEN: Today, 3:20 p.m. ET
TV: NBC
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