Hamlin, Busch advance in playoffs
NASCAR’s Championship Four set 3C
Sounders win MLS Cup
Seattle takes second title in four years 3C
Kawhi, Raptors meet up again
Leonard leads Clippers into Monday game 4C
IN SPORTS
DENNY HAMLIN BY USA TODAY
FIRST WORD
I’m just sick. It’s just
devastating. The nic-
est kid. I’m not a real emo-
tional guy, but at 5 o’clock
this morning, I just broke
down in tears.”
Pat Donnelly, basketball coach
at University of Detroit Jesuit
High, on Sunday to the Detroit
Free Press about the death of
former player Zachary Winston.
The younger brother of Michi-
gan State All-American Cassius
Winston and a player at Albion
(Michigan) College died Sat-
urday after stepping in front of
a train, Albion Public Safety
chief Scott Kipp told the Battle
Creek Enquirer.
NOTABLE NUMBERS
A perfect passer rating for the
Ravens’ Lamar Jackson (15 of
Mary Tillman, mother of former
NFL star and Army Ranger Pat
Tillman, to former Army Ranger
Steven Elliott, according to
Elliott’s book, “War Story: A
Memoir.” Elliott is considered
one of two Army Rangers most
likely to have killed Tillman in a
friendly fire incident in the
Middle East. Elliott is donating
proceeds to the Pat Tillman
Foundation and organizations
serving the mental health
needs of the military.
I never thought that I’d
say we beat the best
players in the world, and I
think if we played again the
outcome might be totally
different, but we’re really
proud of this team and our
coaching staff and what we
did tonight.”
Sabrina Ionescu of top-ranked
Oregon on stunning the U.S.
women’s team 93-86 Saturday,
the second loss ever by the
U.S. to a college program.
17, three TDs, 223) Sunday in
Cincinnati. He is the second QB
after the Steelers’ Ben Roeth-
lisberger in 2007 to reach the
mark twice in the same season.
22
Games for Chad Morris
at Arkansas before he
was fired Sunday as football
coach. The Hogs were 4-
overall and 0-14 in the South-
eastern Conference under him.
The move comes a day after a
45-19 loss to Western Ken-
tucky, the school’s second this
season to an opponent paid
$1.5 million to visit Fayetteville.
Morris’ buyout is $10 million.
LAST WORDS
I’m so glad you reached
out, and you need to
know that I don’t blame you
for what happened. I can’t
imagine all that you’ve been
through. We all lost.”
SPORTSLINE
Sometimes the results of
games feel like seismic shifts,
don’t they? There’s no way to
know until later, of course, the
actual magnitude. And anyone
who predicts the demise of Ala-
bama after a loss is, well, just
don’t do that. In the big picture,
’Bama isn’t necessarily going
anywhere anytime soon. But it
seems pretty clear: LSU has fi-
nally arrived.
Eight years after that 9-
overtime slog, the Tide and Ti-
gers hooked up for a Big 12-style
shootout. It was superb enter-
tainment. It was a revelation:
Yeah, LSU is for real. (“We’re
the better football team,” Ed Or-
geron said he told his team last
week, and he was correct.) Yup,
LSU is good enough to win it all.
Yep, LSU is now No. 1 in the
Football Four. Is there real rea-
son to argue?
None of which means Ohio
State did anything wrong in
hanging 70-plus on Maryland,
or that Clemson isn’t terrific,
too. But the LSU Tigers geaux
right to the top seed.
As always, remember we
pick the bracket as if the season
was over today.*
Football Four
- LSU –The Tigers exorcised
eight years of agony with a 46-
41 win at Alabama. More im-
portant, they move to the very
top of everyone’s rankings.
- Ohio State – Another
week, another dominant per-
formance by the Buckeyes.
Wouldn’t it be fun to match
them against LSU?
- Clemson –We’ve heard all
about that soft Atlantic Coast
Conference schedule, and it is
very soft. But Clemson is doing
exactly what it should do
George
Schroeder
Columnist
USA TODAY
LSU rises
to top of
Football
Four
See SCHROEDER, Page 2C
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – For as
long and grueling as these NFL
seasons can be, they ultimately
can be whittled down to a small
collection of defining mo-
ments.
Many of those moments –
not all of them, but too many –
had gone against these Titans.
This one couldn’t be another.
A season hung in the bal-
ance with 1:21 remaining in
Sunday’s home game. If these
Titans were to still make some-
thing of what has so far been a
disappointing season, it was
going to have to happen now,
and it was going to have to be
the offense.
And it happened.
This one feels big. Entire
seasons have turned on less. At
the very least, hope stays alive
as a result of Ryan Tannehill di-
recting a frenzied final march
against one of this season’s
AFC favorites, finding receiver
Adam Humphries for a 23-yard
touchdown with 23 seconds
left before a last-second field
goal attempt by the Chiefs was
blocked.
When they look back on the
Titans’ 2019 season, they’ll re-
member much about this 35-
victory, starting with Chiefs
quarterback Patrick Mahomes
returning from a knee injury to
throw for 446 yards and three
touchdowns, putting his team
in front 29-20 in the fourth
quarter.
Yes, the Titans’ defense
struggled with the NFL’s best
quarterback and his electric of-
fense. For most of the after-
noon, the Chiefs (6-4) had been
the better team.
Based largely on a few big
plays, the Titans (5-5) some-
how had a chance to secure a
massive victory, return to.
and take desperately needed
momentum into a bye week.
It never looked likely,
though. Down early and late,
the Titans kept fighting. The
defense did just enough. The
offense finally leaned on run-
ning back Derrick Henry in a
meaningful situation, and he
rewarded that decision with
188 rushing yards on 23 carries,
growing stronger into the
fourth quarter.
Down five points in those fi-
nal minutes, the Titans had the
football and needed 59 more
yards. And they did it.
It would have been difficult
to envision the Titans recover-
ing from another setback at
4-6 and making a playoff run.
The Titans are not a domi-
nant bunch, but they are
fighters. That was proved
again Sunday, when the
Chiefs threw countless offen-
sive punches and rolled up a
ton of yards without being
able to knock the Titans out of
the game.
The Titans did enough to
hang enough. They hit a deep
ball to Kalif Raymond for 52
yards, leading to a TD. Line-
backer Rashaan Evans
scooped up a fumble and
sprinted 53 yards for another.
Henry ripped off a 68-yard TD
run.
Despite being roundly out-
played, the Titans were some-
how able to make a statement
when they had no other
choice.
Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill celebrates running in a two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter to beat the Chiefs at
Nissan Stadium on Sunday in Nashville, Tennessee.ANDREW NELLES/TENNESSEAN.COM
Titans stand tall in rally
Gentry Estes
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E3 USA TODAY z MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2019 z SECTION C
