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Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Texas picked to win SEC championship with Arch Manning at QB
Texas, with Heisman Trophy candidate Arch Manning set to take over as starting quarterback, is the preseason pick to win the Southeastern Conference championship. The Longhorns received 96 of the 204 votes cast from media members covering the SEC media days this week to be crowned SEC champion on Dec. 6 in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Georgia, with 44 votes, received the second-most votes. If that scenario plays out, it would mean a rematch of the 2024 SEC championship game, which Georgia won in an overtime thriller. The SEC championship game pits the two teams with the best regular-season conference record against one another. Alabama was third with 29 votes, while LSU got 20. South Carolina was next with five, while Oklahoma received three and Vanderbilt and Florida each got two votes. Tennessee, Ole Miss and Auburn each received one vote. Since 1992, only 10 times has the predicted champion in the preseason poll gone on to win the SEC championship. The 2024 SEC title game averaged 16.6 million viewers across ABC and ESPN, the fourth-largest audience on record for the game. The overtime win for Georgia, which peaked with 19.7 million viewers, delivered the largest audience of the college football season. ___ AP college football: and The Associated Press
Associated Press
18-07-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Texas picked to win SEC championship with Arch Manning at QB
Texas, with Heisman Trophy candidate Arch Manning set to take over as starting quarterback, is the preseason pick to win the Southeastern Conference championship. The Longhorns received 96 of the 204 votes cast from media members covering the SEC media days this week to be crowned SEC champion on Dec. 6 in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Georgia, with 44 votes, received the second-most votes. If that scenario plays out, it would mean a rematch of the 2024 SEC championship game, which Georgia won in an overtime thriller. The SEC championship game pits the two teams with the best regular-season conference record against one another. Alabama was third with 29 votes, while LSU got 20. South Carolina was next with five, while Oklahoma received three and Vanderbilt and Florida each got two votes. Tennessee, Ole Miss and Auburn each received one vote. Since 1992, only 10 times has the predicted champion in the preseason poll gone on to win the SEC championship. The 2024 SEC title game averaged 16.6 million viewers across ABC and ESPN, the fourth-largest audience on record for the game. The overtime win for Georgia, which peaked with 19.7 million viewers, delivered the largest audience of the college football season. ___ AP college football: and
New York Times
18-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Ohio State mailbag: What would be a successful year? How good does Julian Sayin need to be?
It seems like Ohio State just walked off the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with the national championship trophy yesterday, yet here we are just two weeks away from the start of preseason camp. You have a lot of questions about the reloading Buckeyes, so let's get to Part I of a two-part Buckeyes mailbag. Check back next week for more. Advertisement The 'experts' at The Athletic have placed Julian Sayin in the fourth tier of quarterbacks for the upcoming season. He would have to play higher than that for the Buckeyes to have another great year. Your thoughts? — Crahans I give Sam Khan and Antonio Morales a ton of credit for putting together a complete ranking of the projected starters around the country. I know that took a ton of work, so props to them. Sayin is ranked No. 32, in the fourth tier, which includes a variety of young, unproven starters. He hasn't played a snap yet, so it's hard to say exactly what he'd need to do to reach the 'great' level you ask about. I think we have to be careful comparing what Sayin needs to do this year versus what other quarterbacks have had to do historically for Ohio State. Will Howard won a national championship while throwing for 4,010 yards and 35 touchdowns in a program-record 16 games. He finished 23rd in the FBS in passing yards per game and third in pass efficiency, but he's not on the Mount Rushmore of Ryan Day quarterbacks in terms of talent. He did do a terrific job of doing everything Day asked of him. So does Sayin need to be a top-10 quarterback for Ohio State to have a great year? I don't think so. If he becomes that, then there's little doubt Ohio State will be a contender, but I think the Buckeyes can achieve that even without Sayin reaching that mark in his first season starting. Day and new play caller Brian Hartline aren't going to tell Sayin to throw the ball 35 times a game and live and die by his arm talent; they'll scheme things that work for him and the talent around him. He doesn't have to be an out-of-this-world quarterback to get the ball in the hands of Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate, Brandon Inniss and Max Klare, either. What he does have to do is take care of the ball. Advertisement Only one Day-coached quarterback has thrown double-digit interceptions in a year — that was Howard, who threw 10 in an expanded season — so that trend will need to continue. If Sayin can limit turnovers, Ohio State will be in a good position. Let's just keep expectations for a redshirt freshman in check, even if he was a five-star recruit. What do you consider a successful season this year? Beating the team up north? Making the natty? Big Ten championship? A combination? — Matt T. Speaking of expectations, I think it's a combination. The standard at Ohio State is always 10 wins in the regular season, at minimum. But I'd say the No. 1 priority right now is beating Michigan after four losses in a row in the rivalry. From there, I think whether Ohio State wins the Big Ten title or not doesn't matter a ton as long as it makes at least a Playoff quarterfinal appearance again. That's the baseline for a successful season, to me, with so much turnover on the roster. Then you take that experience and make a run for another national title in 2026. How fast before OSU overtakes Penn State in the rankings? I've never seen a team so overhyped. Drew Allar folds under pressure in every big game. Would you rather your team had Allar this year or Sayin? This year only. — G.R. It's not a given that Penn State will be ranked ahead of Ohio State in the preseason AP and coaches polls, though our Stewart Mandel did have the Nittany Lions No. 2, two spots ahead of the Buckeyes, in his post-spring Top 25, so we'll see in a few weeks. Regardless, if Ohio State beats Texas to open the year, it'll be the No. 1 team in the country going into the Grambling State game. Penn State doesn't play anyone of note until Oregon on Sept. 27. Some people have a lot to say about Allar being overrated, but I don't know if I'd go that far right now. He's No. 6 on our list of projected starting quarterbacks, which I think is a fair spot. He has a chance to be a high draft pick next year, the physical traits are all there and I don't think we've seen him play his best ball yet because of the lack of weapons Penn State had at wide receiver (something the Nittany Lions have attempted to correct through the portal). If you put him on Ohio State this year, I think people would be talking much more about the Buckeyes winning back-to-back titles, to be honest. I like Sayin a lot, but he's young and unproven. If you're asking me who the better quarterback is right now, it's Allar. Still, for where Ohio State is, I'd take Sayin because there's a bright future brewing for Ohio State's young players that could all come together for another title run in the next year or two with him at quarterback. And I think it's time Ohio State begins rebuilding and developing its quarterback room after having to go to the portal last year and struggling for consistency with Kyle McCord. Advertisement How truly competitive is the QB competition? Day talks about it like it's really close, but he always says stuff like that in QB comps. What concerns me more is chatter that neither QB has separated himself. If that's true, is that because both are underwhelming? Or because both look great? — Michael H. The way I've been describing the quarterback battle is it's more like Devin Brown vs. Kyle McCord in 2023 than Will Howard vs. Brown last offseason. Last year, there was a 'QB competition,' but I don't think Howard was ever going to be the backup after transferring from Kansas State. The year before, though, Brown and McCord went back and forth all the way into the season. This year's battle between Sayin and Lincoln Kienholz seems more like the latter because the spring was truly a back-and-forth affair. It says a lot that when the receivers go to California to work out together, they are with both Sayin and Kienholz. Both have good qualities, but they were inconsistent in the spring. I wouldn't quite say underwhelming; it was kind of what you'd expect from two players who played a total of 35 snaps last season. Only 14 of those were passing snaps, and all of them went to Sayin. They just don't have experience being the guy right now. Though I think Sayin had the slight lead leaving the spring game, it could change after the first camp weekend if he doesn't build off what he did then. Ultimately, I think it'll be Sayin starting, but I could see this dragging right up to Texas week. In the last couple of decades of watching Ohio State football, it's been common to see them have high highs (winning a championship) followed by a period of good, but not great, football. Is there any reason to be optimistic that Ohio State could have a season better than history might project us to believe it will be? In other words, could they realistically contend for a championship this year? — Tim W. I would disagree with the idea that Ohio State has been 'good, but not great' after winning championships. After Ohio State won the 2002 title, it went 11-2 and won the Fiesta Bowl in 2003, finishing No. 4 in the AP poll. And after winning the inaugural College Football Playoff in 2024, Ohio State probably should've won back-to-back titles but lost to Michigan State and still finished 12-1 and ranked No. 4 again. Advertisement No team has had a more consistent 21st century than Ohio State, so when we say 'good but not great,' you mean good, but coming up short of a title. Can Ohio State be a title contender this year? Yes. But a bit more parity has crept back into college football now and the only team to win back-to-back titles in the Playoff era is Georgia in 2021 and 2022. I think there's a handful of true contenders this year: Texas, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Penn State, Georgia, Oregon, Clemson, Alabama and maybe LSU. That's nine teams, so a trip to the quarterfinal would be a good season and anything after that would be great. I think that's realistic for a team that lost 14 NFL Draft picks but returns the best receiving corps in the country, one of the deepest tight end groups, the best safety and a talented secondary. As long as Ohio State can avoid some early traps against Washington and Illinois, it's realistic to think it will be in that conversation again. Will the Buckeyes win it all? I'd bet against it right now, but the sport is extremely unpredictable. (Top photo of Julian Sayin: Ben Jackson / Getty Images)
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Beyoncé Cowboy Carter tour: Jay Z surprises crowd on night 3 in Atlanta
After a break on Saturday, Beyoncé returned to the stage for night 3 of her Cowboy Carter tour in Atlanta on Sunday. Queen Bey pulled out all the stops again, including surprising the crowd with a performance from Jay Z. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The rapper and media mogul joined his wife on stage for 'Crazy in Love' before he performed 'Public Service Announcement' from his 2003 studio album 'The Black Album.' This is only the second appearance that Jay Z has made on the Cowboy Carter tour after Beyoncé brought him out during a Paris tour stop. Beyoncé wraps up her 4-night show at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Monday night. She is the first entertainer to play four shows in one stop at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in its history. RELATED STORIES: Beyoncé Cowboy Carter tour at Mercedes-Benz Stadium: Tickets, parking, merchandise and more Thousands of fans descend on downtown Atlanta for dueling Beyoncé, ATEEZ concerts Fans say hotel canceled reservations before Beyoncé show, then relisted rooms at triple the price [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
CNA
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CNA
Unreleased Beyonce music stolen during Cowboy Carter tour
Unreleased music by Beyonce along with footage, show plans and concert set lists were stolen from a car in Atlanta rented by the singer's choreographer and one of her dancers, according to a police incident report. The theft of the materials, stored on five thumb drives, happened on Jul 8, two days before Beyonce began a four-day residency at Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Beyonce was set to take the stage Monday evening for her last night in the city. The Atlanta Police Department said in a news release Monday (Jul 14) it has secured an arrest warrant for a suspect whose identity was withheld. Two MacBook laptops, Apple headphones, as well as luxury clothing and accessories were also reported stolen, according to the incident report. Beyonce's choreographer, Christopher Grant, and dancer Diandre Blue told police they parked their rental car, a 2024 Jeep Wagoneer, at a food hall in the city at about 8.09pm. The pair returned to the car just after 9pm to discover the trunk window had been damaged and two suitcases had been taken. Grant told officers that 'he was also carrying some personal sensitive information for the musician Beyonce', the police incident report stated. The report identifies a possible suspect vehicle as a 2025 red Hyundai Elantra. Responding officers were able to identify 'light prints' at the scene, and security cameras in the parking lot captured the incident, according to the report. Officers canvassed an area where the stolen laptop and headphones were tracked by using the devices' location services, the report stated. Beyonce kicked off her highly-anticipated tour in late April, taking her Grammy-winning album, Cowboy Carter, to stadiums in the US and Europe. The singer will end her tour with two Las Vegas nights in late July.
