ORLANDO, Fla. – Coach Deion Sanders and the Colorado football team traveled by plane to Florida on Wednesday, one day earlier than they had planned, all to avoid the hurricane that made landfall in the state on Thursday.

Then they tried to get ready for all of this – a warm, wet and humid game Saturday against Central Florida and the No. 1 rushing offense in the nation (375.7 yards per game).

Last week, the Buffaloes (3-1) needed a miracle to survive a wet homecoming game in Boulder against Baylor. On Saturday, they might need another one at sold-out FBC Mortgage Stadium, at least according to oddsmakers who favor the Knights (3-0) by 14 points.

The game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. ET on Fox and will mark a different kind of homecoming for Sanders and many of his players from the Sunshine State, including two-way star Travis Hunter, who is from West Palm Beach.

A big question is whether Hunter will be enough against the Knights. He’s lifted the Buffs to victory at times this year, along with quarterback Shedeur Sanders. But this might be a taller task. UCF hasn’t scored fewer than 35 points this season under coach Guz Malzahn.

Follow along here for the latest updates, news and highlights.

UCF scores: RJ Harvey answers back with touchdown

ORLANDO, Fla. – The UCF Knights answered Colorado’s touchdown drive with a touchdown of their own on the very next play. Quarterback KJ Jefferson lofted a first-down pass to the left side of the field, where running back RJ Harvey caught it and outraced Travis Hunter down the left sideline to score on a 75-yard touchdown catch with 3:38 left in the first quarter. The score is tied at 7-7.

Colorado Scores: Shedeur Sanders finds Travis Hunter for touchdown

ORLANDO, Fla. – The Shedeur Sanders-Travis Hunter show just got started. And now the Buffaloes are up 7-0 against Central Florida with 3:49 left in the first quarter.

Sanders, Colorado’s quarterback, found Hunter near the goal line for a 23-yard touchdown pass, finishing an 80-yard, 11-play scoring drive for the Buffaloes. Freshman running back Micah Welch had two runs on the drive for 27 yards.

Hunter now has four catches for 36 yards after two possessions. Sanders is 8-for-9 passing for 35 yards and a touchdown with one interception.

Score: Colorado 7, UCF 0 with 3:46 in the first quarter

Colorado, UCF swap interceptions to start game

ORLANDO, Fla. – Two possessions, two interceptions. After the delayed kickoff, Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders threw an interception on his first possession of the game, setting up a short field for Central Florida at the Colorado 31-yard line.

But the Buffaloes got the ball back with an interception of their own when UCF quarterback KJ Jefferson lofted a pass into the end zone that was picked off by Colorado defensive back Preston Hodge. UCF ran 10 plays before the turnover and has 24 yards of offense.

The score is still 0-0 with 4:17 left in the first quarter.

When is Colorado-UCF game?

Kickoff is Saturday, Sept. 28 at 3:30 p.m. ET from FBC Mortgage Stadium in Orlando, Florida.

How to watch Colorado vs. UCF game

The game will be broadcast on FOX and also is available on Fubo.

Catch College Football action this season with a Fubo subscription

Colorado-UCF kickoff delayed

ORLANDO, Fla. –  Kickoff for the Colorado-Central Florida game has been delayed until at least 4:20 p.m. ET because of inclement weather and lightning in the area.

The game had been set to start at about 3:30 p.m. on Fox, then was delayed until 4:05 and then 4:20. The new kickoff time is “pending no lightning strikes within 8 miles,” according to the stadium video board. 

College Football Week 5 schedule, Top 25

Virginia Tech at Miami, ESPN, 7:30 p.m. (Friday, Sept. 27)
Kentucky at No. 5 Ole Miss, ABC, Noon
No. 22 BYU at Baylor, FS1, Noon
No. 20 Oklahoma State at No. 25 Kansas State, ESPN, Noon
Minnesota at No. 12 Michigan, FOX, Noon
Fresno State at No. 23 UNLV, FS1, 3:30 p.m.
Arkansas at No. 24 Texas A&M, ESPN, 3:30 p.m.
No. 18 Oklahoma at Auburn, ABC, 3:30 p.m.
No. 17 Louisville at No. 14 Notre Dame, Peacock, 3:30 p.m.
Wisconsin at No. 18 USC, CBS, 3:30 p.m.
Mississippi State at No. 2 Texas, SEC Network, 4:15 p.m.
No. 19 Iowa State at Houston, FS1, 7:00 p.m.
Stanford at No. 15 Clemson, ESPN, 7:00 p.m.
No. 1 Georgia at No. 4 Alabama, ABC, 7:30 p.m.
No. 21 Illinois at No. 8 Penn State, NBC, 7:30 p.m.
No. 3 Ohio State at Michigan State, Peacock, 7:30 p.m.
South Alabama at No. 13 LSU, SEC Network, 7:45 p.m.
No. 7 Oregon at UCLA, FOX, 11:00 p.m.

Colorado vs. UCF odds, line

The Central Florida Knights are favorites to defeat the Colorado Buffaloes in Saturday’s college football matchup, according to the BetMGM college football odds. Looking to wager? Check out the top college football betting apps in 2024, offering the top NCAA football betting promos and bonuses in 2024. 

Odds as of Saturday.

Spread: UCF (-14)
Moneyline: UCF (-550)
Over/Under: 61.5

College football picks Week 5

USA TODAY experts have you covered on how things will go down in Week 5.

Rain, rocket fill skies near UCF stadium

ORLANDO, Fla. –  A rain cloud burst above the field at FBC Mortgage Stadium about 100 minutes before kickoff, chasing players off the field and under the cover of the stadium. The downpour also chased away Cam Newton, the 2010 Heisman Trophy winner who was strolling on the field before the game as a guest.

It’s not clear how long the rain will last, but the skies have been something to watch here lately. At 1:17 p.m. ET, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission lifted off about 35 miles east of the stadium at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch wasn’t visible from the stadium because of cloudy weather.

About an hour before game time, the stadium video board was still imploring fans to leave the seating bowl.

‘Inclement weather in the area!’ the video board said. ‘Please exit the seating bowl at this time.’

Many students still stayed seated behind the end zones.

Deion Sanders, Colorado players return home to Florida for UCF game

Coach Deion Sanders calls them his “Florida boys” – players on his Colorado football team who are Florida natives just like him.

This week many of them came home when the Buffaloes arrived in Orlando Wednesday for Saturday’s game at Central Florida.

The Colorado roster officially lists 18 players on the roster from Florida, second only to players from Texas (21) and more than even players from Colorado itself (14).

But there are more than that with connections to the state. The list doesn’t even include two-way star Travis Hunter, who is from West Palm Beach but moved to Georgia for high school. It also doesn’t include freshman starting offensive tackle Jordan Seaton, who played the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, but is from Washington, D.C.

The list does include wide receiver LaJohntay Wester, who returns home a hero after catching a Hail Mary touchdown pass last week as time expired in the fourth quarter of a 38-31 overtime win against Baylor. He is from Palmetto, Florida, and transferred to Colorado from Florida Atlantic, along with his brother Jaylen, a linebacker for Colorado.

Sanders is from Fort Myers, Florida, and played at Florida State. He has made it a point to recruit players from Florida and cited the state’s high number of players in the NFL. Earlier this year, he also hired Orlando native Warren Sapp to join his coaching staff as a graduate assistant. Sapp starred at the University of Miami.

This is a big recruiting weekend for Deion Sanders

UCF is expected to host dozens of recruits Saturday. But Deion Sanders suggested that many will be there to check out the Buffaloes.

“I shouldn’t say this,” Sanders said on his weekly show on CBS Colorado. “But this is the way we do it… A lot of recruits that really want to see us, they will sign up to go to the game on the behalf of an opposing team.”

Sanders said he guaranteed the Knights will “have their biggest recruiting weekend this weekend.”

“Every recruit in Florida is gonna be on that sideline,” he said.

Colorado vs. UCF predictions

ESPN: UCF has an 82% chance to win

According to ESPN’s Matchup Predictor, the UCF Knights have an 82% chance to beat the Colorado Buffaloes in Week 5.

The Oklahoman: UCF 34, Colorado 31

Justin Martinez writes, ‘Colorado beat the odds in its overtime win over Baylor last week, getting a Hail Mary touchdown from Shedeur Sanders to LaJohntay Wester at the end of regulation. I don’t think the Buffaloes will be able to repeat that magic against the Knights, though. UCF ranks first in the nation in rushing yards per game this season (375.7), and it’ll use that strength to control the time of possession and take the ball out of Sanders’ hands. This one will be closer than the odds suggest, but UCF will still get the win.’

Buffaloes Wire: UCF 34, Colorado 28

Jack Carlough writes, ‘The Knights are currently favored by about two touchdowns, which is far too generous toward UCF. However, Colorado’s special teams woes and continued offensive line problems still have me leaning toward those Knights.’

Colorado vs. UCF all-time record

Saturday will mark the first time the two programs have met and will see UCF (3-0) take on Colorado (3-1), led by its second-year coach, Deion Sanders.

Colorado depth chart

Offense 

QB: Shedeur Sanders
RB: Isaiah Augustave
WR: Will Sheppard
WR: Travis Hunter
WR: Jimmy Horn Jr.
TE: Sav’ell Smalls
LT: Jordan Seaton
LG: Tyler Brown
C: Hank Zilinskas
RG: Kahlil Benson
RT: Phillip Houston

Defense 

DE: BJ Green
DT: Chidozie Nwankwo
DT: Shane Cokes
DE: Samuel Okunlola
LB: Lavonta Bentley
LB: Nakhai Hill-Green
NB: Preston Hodge
CB: Travis Hunter
S: Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig
S: Carter Stoutmire
CB: DJ McKinney

Specialists 

Punter: Mark Vassett
Placekicker: Alejando Mata 

UCF depth chart 

Offense 

QB: KJ Jefferson
RB: RJ Harvey
WR Xavier Townsend
WR: Kobe Hudson
WR: Trent Whittemore
TE: Randy Pittman Jr.
LT: Amari Kight
LG: Adrian Medley
C: Caden Kitler
RG: Marcellus Marshall
RT: Paul Rubelt

Defense 

LDE: Malachi Lawrence
NT: Lee Hunter
DT: Ricky Barber
RDE: Nyjalik Kelly
WLB: Deshawn Pace
MLB: Ethan Barr
CB: Brandon Adams
S: Sheldon Arnold
S: Quadric Bullard
CB: Mac McWilliams
NB: Braeden Marshall

Specialists 

Punter: Mitch McCarthy
Placekicker: Colton Boomer

College Football Fix podcast 

Dan Wolken and Paul Myerberg of USA TODAY Sports discuss these topics and more in this week’s version of the College Football Fix.

US LBM Coaches Poll 

Nebraska and Memphis both dropped out of this week’s US LBM Coaches Poll. The Georgia Bulldogs pulled ahead to take the top spot with the Texas Longhorns in a close second.

College football bowl projections 

There is still plenty of time left in the season for teams to continue vying for position, with the hope of securing a spot in the College Football Playoff or at the very least a bowl game. Here are Erick Smith’s USA TODAY Sports bowl projections following the results of Week 4 games.

College football Re-Rank 1-134 

Paul Myerberg provides this week’s USA TODAY Sports NCAA Re-Rank 1-134, where he ranks every team in college football, including Colorado and UCF before they meet this afternoon.

College football overreactions from Week 4

Reporter Eddie Timanus is back to offer some big-picture perspective in response to a bit of the buzz from Week 4, much of which was generated by members of one conference in particular.

We occasionally recommend interesting products and services. If you make a purchase by clicking one of the links, we may earn an affiliate fee. USA TODAY Network newsrooms operate independently, and this doesn’t influence our coverage.

This story was updated to add new information.

The Chicago White Sox have officially become Major League Baseball’s kings of futility.

With their 121st defeat of the season, the White Sox now stand alone as the losingest team in modern baseball history.

The record-breaker came Friday night in a 4-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers.

White Sox ace Garrett Crochet kept the Tigers in check through four innings, but the dam finally broke in the fifth inning after he was lifted. Detroit got to reliever Jared Shuster and plated two to break a scoreless tie, and it was enough (though the Tigers added two more runs in the seventh for good measure). Zach DeLoach’s solo home run in the sixth was the only run the White Sox could muster.

Follow every MLB game: Latest MLB scores, stats, schedules and standings.

The loss breaks a tie with the 1962 New York Mets, who finished their inaugural season with a record of 40-120, prompting manager Casey Stengel to lament, ‘Can’t anybody here play this game?’

The same question could also be posed of the 2024 White Sox.

Chicago (39-121) has endured losing streaks of 21, 14 and 12 games this season, with the longest of the streaks leading to the firing of manager Pedro Grifol in early August.

Avoiding baseball infamy wasn’t part of the White Sox’s plan either as they dealt away pitchers Erick Fedde and Michael Kopech, and outfielders Eloy Jimenez and Tommy Pham just before the July 30 trade deadline — further weakening the team on the field.

Entering Friday’s game, the White Sox ranked last in the majors in scoring (3.1 runs per game), batting average (.221), on-base percentage (.279) and slugging (.340). Their pitchers also have the highest team ERA in the American League (4.71), trailing only the Miami Marlins (4.77) and Colorado Rockies (5.40) for the worst in the majors.

They fought off standing alone in infamy earlier this week, by sweeping the Los Angeles Angels, but couldn’t avoid loss 121 on Friday night.

‘Winning three in a row, maybe we could do something special and ride it out and … think it’s maybe not going to happen,’ the White Sox’s Gavin Sheets said after the game, per the Chicago Tribune’s Daryl Van Schouwen. ‘And all of a sudden on the last out you’re on the wrong side of history. It hurt a little more than I expected it to.’

While the White Sox were left licking their wounds Friday night, the Tigers celebrated a better kind of history: they secured their first playoff berth in 10 years. Bad news for the White Sox? They still have two more games this weekend to add to their record-setting loss total.

The one team the White Sox will not surpass, however, is the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, who posted a record of 20-134, for a ‘winning’ percentage of .130.

Augusta National Golf Club is top of mind with golf fans after Hurricane Helene hit Augusta, Georgia, leaving more than 200,000 residents without power.

The Category 4 storm rolled through the area on Friday, leading to speculation that the home of the Masters could have suffered significant damage in the process. On Saturday morning, the private club that hosts the season’s first men’s major and is ranked No. 3 in the Golfweek’s Best Classic Course list, issued a statement regarding the storm on its social media platform.

‘Our Augusta community has suffered catastrophic and historic impact from Hurricane Helene. We currently are assessing the effects at Augusta National Golf Club,’ wrote club Chairman Fred Ridley. ‘In the meantime, our focus and efforts are foremost with our staff, neighbors and business owners in Augusta. Our thoughts and prayers are with them as well as everyone throughout Georgia and the Southeast who have been affected.”

Hurrican Helene made landfall Thursday night along Florida’s Big Bend coast. Helene brought tropical storm-force wind to the Augusta area (30-40 mph winds with 65 mph gusts).

A video on X showed what appeared to be Rae’s Creek flowing at a high level. The creek flows close to holes No. 11 and 12 at Augusta National.

Another post from Eureka Earth, which has often been the first to detect course work at the club via drone footage, showed photos of trees down on the famed course.

First responders in Columbia County reported numerous trees falling on houses, cars and roads Friday morning. Augusta first responders reported multiple water rescues and structure fires.

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more. 

Mike Locksley knows the look by heart. It’s the one on an athlete’s face that tells you something is wrong.

It’s the one, he says, where you can see a person’s soul.

The three-decade college football coach has seen it on his players, and he saw it on his child.

“I didn’t understand it until it affected me,” says Locksley, Maryland’s head football coach. “I had no idea what they were going through.”

On Sept. 3, 2017, while Locksley was working as an Alabama assistant coach in a season-opening game in Atlanta, his son, Meiko was shot and killed outside a townhouse in Columbia, Maryland. The case remains mostly unsolved.

In the years leading up to his death, Meiko, a 25-year-old former Division I football player, had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. He struggled, his parents say, with distinguishing myth from reality. Locksley and his wife, Kia, believe Meiko’s decline in mental health may have been a factor in his murder.

“The tragedy of losing my son, it opened my eyes,” Locksley says. “My son is struggling with these same looks I’ve seen before, and I didn’t recognize them. It hurts me a little bit because now, thinking back to the first 20 years of my profession, I had no idea what mental health meant, what it was about. We joke openly about, ‘Oh somebody’s crazy.’ I think you don’t get the same empathy.”

Locksley spoke with USA TODAY Sports at the Project Play Summit last spring in Baltimore, where he participated on a panel about health equity in youth sports. He talked openly about his transformation from a self-labeled “old school” football coach to one who understands players’ psychological struggles.

“You don’t have to be a tough guy if you went through some depression or you’re going through anxiety,” he says.

One in every four to five adolescents and adults can meet the criteria for a mental health concern every year in the United States, Timothy Neal, director of the athletic training program at Concordia University Ann Arbor in Michigan, said in a presentation this past summer. He was speaking at a National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) media briefing that addressed mental health challenges Olympic athletes face.

“Many athletic trainers at the Olympic level, the collegiate level, the secondary school level will tell you many of those worst moments for athletes are psychological in nature,” he said.

As we enter the grind of the fall sports season, you might see that look, too. Here is how parents and coaches can notice and understand signs of emotional distress in young athletes and, as Locksley says, “create a safe environment where mental health is real.”

Mental health issues are normal at all ages and levels. The stigma associated with them prevents us from treating them.

Neal has chaired writing groups of two of the NATA’s consensus statements on secondary school and collegiate athletes and psychological concerns.

As a licensed social worker who has had psychotherapy sessions with athletes, he has found the higher your athletic identity, the less likely you are to seek psychological help. Think of Locksley’s old tough-guy approach.

“As a football coach, to be talking about mental health and not being in a good space, that wasn’t a typical conversation in a football locker room,” he says.

When the 54-year-old coach was growing up in Southeast Washington, D.C., he said nobody talked about mental health.

“It was your aunt had a mental breakdown or your aunt is not feeling well,” he said as part of the panel at Project Play. “Well, what does that mean? So we embrace it. We make it easy to come in and talk about it. We teach blocking, tackling, running, catching, throwing. Well, how can we teach the mental development of these young players?”

The topic has always seemed to have a stigma attached to it in all sports. Simone Biles’ case of “the twisties” that forced her to re-examine her mental health brought it attention. The NATA briefing revealed there are other Olympians dealing with similar issues.

“Inside I’m jumping for joy, because this is such an important topic for us,” said Clayton Young, an American Olympic marathoner who competed in Paris this summer. “There’s so much focus on our performance, but our mental health is just as important.”

Emma Coburn, a three-time American Olympian in steeplechase and a bronze medal winner in 2016 in Rio, talked about breaking her ankle this past spring and the strain of being unable to compete in this year’s trials.

“Coming off of an injury last year where I had finally kind of built my body back up, and not having a chance to show that was really kind of the emotionally more challenging part than missing Paris, in a way,” she said.

Olympians have performance anxiety just like young athletes. Locksley spoke of it with his players, as did Juliet Barnes, head athletic trainer for the U.S. women’s soccer team that won gold in Paris. Barnes supports them by referring them to a mental health provider or to apps such as Calm or Headspace that can take them through meditation or breathing exercises.

Sometimes, the strategy is simply an athlete visualizing herself performing well or making a certain movement that was previously inhibited by an injury.

“My wife’s a yogi,” Locksley says. “Meditation, sound baths, she’s into all of that. I used to be like, ‘That’s not for football.’ But no, it’s even more because it’s more mental than physical.”

Know the triggers for mental health issues and your association with them

As parents and coaches, we need to try and understand what our athletes are going through, but also the place from where they arrive.

Locksley, who played basketball and football at Towson State (now Towson University), was the first member of his family to graduate from college.

“These kids that come from the neighborhoods that I come from, the pressure they have on them to be successful in the sport that I’m coaching creates a tremendous amount of mental anxiety, pressure,” Locksley says. “A lot of them already have enough on their plate where they’re (from) single-parent homes, they’re breadwinners in their family. They have this enormous luggage that they’ve never unpacked of trauma, tragedy, things that have taken place that, when they come to college, for some of them like me, it was the first time in a setting with people of a different race.

“I grew up in a predominantly Black educational system and the first time I went and sat in a classroom with a white person was in college and so that in itself created anxiety.”

Locksley took the reins as Maryland’s full-time head coach in 2019. He inherited a group of players who had lost teammate Jordan McNair, who died of heatstroke in 2018, a harrowing episode in which McNair collapsed on the field during a workout. It happened less than a year after Locksley’s son died.

“It was almost like two worlds colliding to heal together,” he said.

At the time, Maryland had one mental health professional who worked with 120 players on the team. Locksley approached team physician Yvette Rooks about adding more. There are now five full-time mental health professionals players can consult, and the officials attend practice.

On Thursdays, Locksley says he brings everyone from campus life who associates with his team — coaches, teachers, mental health professionals, nutritionists, athletic trainers — for what he calls a State of the Union of each player in the program.

“That way,” he says, “if a kid’s struggling academically, our player development people may say, ‘Hey, you know, his cousin got shot two days ago, and he’s been struggling with it.’ We have everybody communicating about each individual player to make sure that as the village that’s raising him, we’re all on the same page.”

After Meiko Locksley’s death, The New York Times reported that he had CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, brought on by head trauma.

But while Mike Locksley has said the diagnosis has made him think twice about the amount of contact his team has in practice, he has been careful to differentiate between CTE and mental health. Concussions are a trigger that could raise psychological concerns for young athletes, but there are many others.

If you’re a parent of a young athlete, you know that silent intensity that can surround a youth sports event. Kids are compressed to smaller courts or fields, magnifying the pressure. Often, it’s the quiet of the parent waiting to explode with joy or anger that creates the pressure.

Imagine how a kid feels who’s going through all of this, especially if other things are bothering him or her.

They may not be playing well (and you have told them about it), or are having a conflict with a coach or teammate. Your son or daughter could be getting bullied or hazed. Some other triggering events, according to the NATA, are getting cut from a team, grades and overall concern about school, parent expectations and burnout on a sport.

It may be bottled up inside.

COACH STEVE: 70% of kids drop out of youth sports by 13. Why?

Watch your kids’ behavior closely for signs of a mental health disturbance.

“All of a sudden the kid’s standoffish that’s usually happy-go-lucky,” Locksley says. “We do room checks where I send my player development staff to check the dorms to go see them in their place. And all of a sudden, a kid’s room is a mess. A good player, now all of a sudden, he’s struggling.

‘We’re teachers. And I think as teachers, kids are gonna to fail, they’re gonna make mistakes, and we’ve got to teach the lesson of the mistake or the lesson of the failure to be able to help them the next time around.”

Coming Sunday, Part II: How his son’s death taught Maryland’s football coach to change his approach

Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons’ baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents for two high schoolers. His column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here.

This story was updated to add new information and change a photo.

No. 9 Miami fought off Virginia Tech’s upset bid Friday night with a big assist from a controversial replay review.

The Hokies, who led for a large stretch of the game before yielding the go-ahead touchdown with 1:57 to go, appeared to come up with the game-winning points on a Hail Mary touchdown reeled in by Da’Quan Felton amid a mass of bodies.

At least, that’s what the refs ruled on the field at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens.

The chaotic final play went to replay review. After significant deliberation, the ruling of a touchdown on the field was overturned.

The refs did not offer up much regarding what they saw that caused them to change the initial ruling.

The game was declared over with Miami a 38-34 winner. The Hurricanes improved to 5-0 while the Hokies slipped to 2-3.

‘That’s a tough one right there. … I hope they got that call right,’ Virginia Tech coach Brent Pry said, per Tech Sideline’s Andy Bitter. ‘To take it from our kids, our coaches, our fans, I hope they got it right.’

The WNBA playoffs gave Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever “a taste of where we want to be,” Clark said Friday during exit interviews. Moving in the offseason, she’s focused on how to get the Fever a top-four seed going forward. 

In the current WNBA playoff format — three-game series in the first round, with a home-home-away format — a top-four seed would guarantee a home playoff game, something Clark and the Fever didn’t get to experience this season after Connecticut swept them.

So what’s next for Clark as she heads into her first break from organized basketball in nearly a year? 

The likely Rookie of the Year didn’t get into specifics about what parts of her game she plans to work on this offseason, but did say “as a point guard and a leader, there are lots of areas I can improve on.” She added that she loves hard work and will absolutely want to get into the gym soon. 

“I think there are so many ways that I can continue to get better,” Clark said. “That’s what gets you going and gets you fired up. I feel like (at the end) we were really starting to find our groove.” 

General manager Lin Dunn and Fever coach Christie Sides agreed with Clark’s assessment, especially when it came to evaluating the play of their star rookie.

Dunn said for all Clark’s college accolades, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft was “underestimated when it came to her speed, strength and quickness.” She was particularly impressed with how well Clark adapted and adjusted to the physicality of the league and, despite a rough 1-8 start for the Fever, said “by the Olympic break, I thought we saw the Caitlin Clark we all thought we would see.” 

Dunn added that with Clark leading the charge, and lifting her teammates in the process, she’s thrilled to see the Fever “back on the path to challenge for championships.” 

In the immediate, Clark will take some sort of break. Clark acknowledged it’s been a lot to have “everybody always watching your every move,” and said she’s excited to get out of the spotlight for awhile. 

During Game 2 Wednesday, ESPN announcers said Clark will not play in the winter, either overseas or, theoretically, in the soon-to-be-launched Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 league created by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier. Clark did not confirm her offseason plans immediately after the season-ending loss or on Friday. 

She did reflect fondly on some of her favorite moments from the season, including a 78-73 win at Los Angeles early in the season. Clark struggled shooting that game — “I couldn’t buy a basket!” she recalled, laughing — until the final 2:27, when she hit two 3s that helped the Fever pull out the road victory. She was just two assists short of a triple-double that night, a milestone she’d eventually reach twice, the first WNBA rookie to do so.  

Demand for that LA-Indiana game was so high it got moved to Crypto.com Arena, home of the Lakers, a building full of basketball history not lost on a hoops junkie like Clark. 

For all Clark’s accomplishments on the court this season, it might be moments off the court that stick with her most. In Indiana, the Fever regularly packed Gainbridge Fieldhouse, setting a WNBA attendance record.  

“Playing at home in front of these fans, the way these young girls dangle over the side of the rails and are so happy and people (in the stands) are crying,” Clark said. “You understand the impact you’re having on people’s lives and that’s what’s so cool about it.”

This story was updated to add a video.

This story was updated to add new information.

New Mexico State football offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Tyler Wright’s social media contains more than 150 social media posts containing derogatory language about Africans and African Americans, Hispanics, women and the LGBTQ+ community from more than 10 years ago when he was a student and football player at Tarleton State.

Minutes after the Las Cruces Sun-News, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK, reported on Wright’s social media account history late Friday evening, NMSU athletics director Mario Moccia informed the Sun-News that Wright will ‘no longer be with the team’ as the school reviews the matter.

A survey of Wright’s account on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, uncovered several potentially insensitive posts, including that Ugandan warlord and accused war criminal Joseph Kony ‘should be a college coach’ because ‘he got thousands of black kids to do what he said.’ Wright also posted that he would ‘beat’ a roommate if he was an LGBTQ+ individual and used a slur commonly used in reference to Black people when announcing he was leaving for a vacation in Jamaica.

Wright did not respond to repeated requests for comment from the Las Cruces Sun-News on Friday night. Moccia told the Sun-News he was ‘not aware of anything’ regarding Wright’s posts, then later informed the Sun-News that Wright will not be with the team as the matter is investigated. Head coach Tony Sanchez also declined to comment, as did a university athletics department communications spokesman.

The school is aware of the posts and looking into the matter, a New Mexico State University spokesman indicated to the Sun-News.

The posts range from 2011-14, when Wright was a wide receiver at Tarleton State in Stephenville, Texas. He later became a football intern at the school in 2015, according to his LinkedIn profile and his biography on the New Mexico State athletics website. Wright played at Tarleton for four seasons, helping the then-Division II school become co-Lone Star Conference champions in 2013 with 432 receiving yards.

The account, currently using the handle @CoachWrightNMSU, was created in July 2010 when Wright was a student at Granbury High School in Granbury, Texas. The account bio includes his current position with the Aggies as well as the school’s imagery, logos and the hashtag #AggiesUp under an image of him in school apparel holding a football. The account matches up with the timeline of his coaching career with posts from his tenures at Permian High School from 2015-18, UT-Permian Basin from 2018-19, TCU from 2019-21 and New Mexico State from 2021-present.

Wright’s posts include nearly 100 remarks on LGBTQ+ individuals including homophobic slurs, more than 60 references to Ugandan warlord Kony – many of which include racial remarks about Africans and African Americans – at least a dozen posts degrading women, nine posts stereotyping and demeaning Hispanics and Latinos and five uses of racial slurs for Black people.

Posts that could be considered racist, sexist or homophobic ceased around the time Wright began his coaching career as a wide receivers coach at Permian High School in Odessa, Texas, in the fall of 2015.

Though Wright’s last personal post was on July 31, he has shared more than 150 posts from other accounts since then as of Friday evening.

Wright is in his third season with the Aggies and his first as offensive coordinator. He’s coaching an offense that ranks second-to-last in yards per game and seventh-to-last in points per game amongst FBS teams this season.

Former New Mexico State coach Jerry Kill hired Wright as tight ends coach and special teams coordinator in 2022 after the two worked together at TCU from 2020-21. Wright was promoted to his current position in January 2024 after new Aggies coach Sanchez succeeded Kill.

Wright’s annual salary increased from $70,000 to $200,000 on Feb. 1. His contract, which also contains clauses for bonuses of up to $85,000 per year, runs through June 2026 and contains language that he can be fired for cause for ‘commission of, or participation in any act, situation or occurrence’ that the school judges to bring Wright into ‘public disrepute, scandal or ridicule’ or engages in personal conduct that offends ‘prevailing social mores and values,’ including conduct that reflects ‘unfavorably on NMSU’s reputation.’

Wright’s contract, provided to the USA TODAY Sports Network on May 31, had not been signed by the coach. The document includes a trace of all parties receiving and signing the contract which does not include Wright. The final notation in the trace says the contract was completed March 12.

Wright has been recognized as a rising star in his profession, being named to the 2024 American Football Coaches Association’s 35 under 35 Coaches Leadership Institute, which is ‘aimed at identifying and developing premier, future leaders in the football coaching profession’ according to the AFCA website.

The school website carries this statement as NMSU’s Commitment to Equity, Inclusion and Diversity: ‘New Mexico State University is a proud and dedicated land-grant, space-grant, Hispanic Serving and Minority Serving Institution, located in the borderlands and Tribal lands regions. With priorities centering equity and inclusion, NMSU is committed to practices that leverage the insight emerging from the intersectional diversity of our students, staff, faculty, and communities that we serve and support, through outreach and Extension, research, and teaching.’

The Aggies (1-3) play New Mexico (0-4) at home Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.

Posts concerning Joseph Kony, Africans and African Americans

Wright posted more than 60 times from 2012-14 about Kony. The vast majority of these posts were made in a two-day timespan from March 7-8, 2012, the same week the ‘Kony 2012’ documentary was released.

Kony founded the Lord’s Resistance Army in 1987, which is designated as a terrorist group by the United Nations and the U.S. State Department. He has been accused by multiple governments of abducting children to be child soldiers and sex slaves, and his forces reportedly displaced 2 million people from 1986-2009 according to the U.N.

Wright posted remarks detailing Kony’s killings and child abductions, with the posts ranging from insensitive remarks or humor about Kony’s war crimes to racial stereotyping.

Wright also referred to Kony as the ‘most influential person of the last 20 years’ and ‘mr. population control’ (sic). Wright also called him the ‘principle’ (sic) because ‘Black kids see him often.’

He also appears to have celebrated Kony’s killings and the war crimes for which Kony was indicted by the International Criminal Court, writing he’s ‘knockin Africans down like bowling pins’ (sic).

In another post, Wright said the flurry of Kony posts was because he was ‘trying to tweet one time for every kony kid’ (sic).

Wright made two posts in 2020 during protests surrounding the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer that appear to show a change. He posted on May 26 of that year, ‘Humans are humans regardless of skin color or background and deserve to be treated as such. We must do better, support each other’s goals and love one another.’ He posted a black square on June 2 for Blackout Tuesday, a collective social media action to protest racism and police brutality.

Posts concerning Hispanics

Wright has posted several derogatory remarks about Hispanics and Latinos, even referring to himself as the ‘Whitest Mexican (sic)’ in a May 2012 post.

Wright engaged in racial stereotyping with two posts in December 2011, demeaning Hispanics with an expletive for having to teach them English and describing them allegedly watching pornographic videos during lunch breaks as ‘classic.’ Wright referred to the individuals as Mexican in the posts.

He made a racial remark about Hispanics in an April 2012 post, writing ‘Oiled up and dark! lookin like a Mexican’ (sic). Wright called a group of Mexican people a ‘Comanche town hall meeting’ in a December 2013 post.

Hispanics and Latinos constitute a majority in Las Cruces, with 60.33% of the city’s population identifying as such according to the 2020 United States census.

Posts using homophobic slurs and demeaning LGBTQ+ individuals

Wright used homophobic slurs in several posts, including one of the most common slurs in its regular and shortened form.

He either posted or reposted the shorthand version of the slur six times from 2011-13. He called his friends the longer version in a November 2012 post about the ‘Madden NFL’ video game.

Wright used the word ‘gay’ 73 times from when he entered college in the fall of 2011 to 2014 to describe friends, commercials, websites, clothing items and musicians including country music band Rascal Flatts. He called the latter the ‘epitome of gay’ in a May 2012 post.

Wright also posted or reposted another four-letter homophobic slur eight times from 2012-13, with a majority of the posts using the term appearing to describe friends.

He made a transphobic remark about transgender women in a March 2012 post, commenting on their body parts.

Posts concerning women

Wright’s posts have included language that demeans and perpetuates stereotypes about women.

In March 2012, he posted that women who ‘can’t make a sandwich’ should become better at sex instead. He also shared a post by another person from July 2012 that called women’s sports a ‘joke.’ In an October 2012 post, he remarked that he would dress as laundry for Halloween because ‘women love laundry.’

In September 2013, he described women that are ‘passed around’ as ‘contagious’ in a post. In August 2013, he posted that those who have a ‘naked girl silhouette sticker’ on their car are ‘dubs,’ referring to wins.

Use of other insensitive words

Wright has used and reposted a common slur for Black people. He reposted a post from someone whose X account has since been deactivated, referring to Wright as the word and used it himself in a post announcing his vacation to Jamaica in 2013.

He also used the word ‘ghetto’ in reference to girls at La Vega High School in Bellmead, Texas, a city where Black people are the second-largest ethnic group at 18.8%, according to the 2020 United States census.

Wright also used a common slur in reference to people with learning disabilities in a May 2013 post to talk about a girlfriend he appeared to have at the time.

A number of MLS playoff spots are on the line this weekend, and additional Concacaf Champions Cup berths were secured this week.

Let’s get to it. Here’s a look at the teams that can clinch MLS postseason berths on Saturday:

Simplest route: There is no simple route … all scenarios include Charlotte FC having to win at league leader Inter Miami
Most convoluted route: Win, and Atlanta United loss or draw, and CF Montréal loss or draw, and D.C. United loss or draw, and Nashville SC loss or draw

Simplest route: Win
Most convoluted route: FC Dallas loss or draw

Simplest route: Win or draw
Most convoluted route: FC Dallas loss or draw

Simplest route: Win, and Toronto FC loss or draw, and D.C. United loss or draw, and Nashville SC loss or draw
Most convoluted route: Win, and Atlanta United loss or draw, and CF Montréal loss or draw, and D.C. United loss or draw, and Nashville SC loss or draw

Simplest route: Win
Most convoluted route: Nashville SC loss or draw, and Atlanta United loss or draw, and D.C. United loss or draw and CF Montréal loss

Simplest route: Win
Most convoluted route: Draw and Nashville SC loss or draw, and Atlanta United loss or draw, and D.C. United loss or draw, and CF Montréal loss or draw

Simplest route: Win, and FC Dallas loss, and Austin FC loss or draw
Most convoluted route: N/A (there’s only one scenario)

Simplest route: Win
Most convoluted route: Loss, and FC Dallas loss, and Austin FC loss or draw

Simplest route: Win, and FC Dallas loss or draw
Most convoluted route: Draw, and FC Dallas loss, and Austin FC loss or draw

In addition to those scenarios, the LA Galaxy can lock up home-field advantage in the Western Conference playoffs this weekend.

MLS Matchday 35: What are Saturday’s games?

(All games available on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.)

FC Cincinnati vs. Los Angeles FC, 7:30 p.m. ET
D.C. United vs. Columbus Crew, 7:30 p.m. ET
Inter Miami CF vs. Charlotte FC, 7:30 p.m. ET
CF Montréal vs. San Jose Earthquakes, 7:30 p.m. ET
New England Revolution vs. Nashville SC, 7:30 p.m. ET
New York Red Bulls vs. New York City FC, 7:30 p.m. ET
Philadelphia Union vs. Atlanta United, 7:30 p.m. ET
Austin FC vs. Real Salt Lake, 8:30 p.m. ET
Chicago Fire FC vs. Toronto FC, 8:30 p.m. ET
FC Dallas vs. Orlando City SC, 8:30 p.m. ET
Minnesota United FC vs. Colorado Rapids, 8:30 p.m. ET
St. Louis City SC vs. Sporting Kansas City, 8:30 p.m. ET
Seattle Sounders FC vs. Houston Dynamo FC, 10:30 p.m. ET
Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs. Portland Timbers, 10:30 p.m. ET

What is the format for the 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs?

A total of 18 teams qualify for the 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs — the top nine finishers from each conference.

The eighth- and ninth-place finishers in each conference will play in wild-card matches. The top seven seeds qualify for the Round 1 best-of-three series.

When do the MLS playoffs start?

Here is the playoff schedule:

Oct. 3: Wild-card matches (single-elimination matches)
Oct. 26-Nov. 10: Round 1 (best-of-three series)
Nov. 23-24: Conference semifinals (single-elimination matches)
Nov. 30-Dec. 1: Conference finals (single-elimination matches)
Dec. 7: MLS Cup (single winner-take-all match)

MLS CUP: Ranking every Major League Soccer championship game

MLS playoff picture: If the season ended today …

Heading into MLS Matchday 35, these would be the MLS playoff matchups through the first round …

EASTERN CONFERENCE

➤ Clinched playoff spot: Columbus Crew, FC Cincinnati, Inter Miami CF

Wild-card match:

Toronto FC (No. 8 seed) vs. Philadelphia Union (9)

Round 1 (best-of-three series):

Inter Miami CF (1) vs. Toronto FC-Philadelphia Union winner
FC Cincinnati (2) vs. New York City FC (7)
Columbus Crew (3) vs. Charlotte FC (6)
New York Red Bulls (4) vs. Orlando City SC (5)

WESTERN CONFERENCE

➤ Clinched playoff spot: Colorado Rapids, LA Galaxy, Real Salt Lake

Wild-card match:

Portland Timbers (No. 8 seed) vs. Minnesota United FC (9)

Round 1 (best-of-three series):

LA Galaxy (1) vs. Portland Timbers-Minnesota United FC winner
Real Salt Lake (2) vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC (7)
Colorado Rapids (3) vs. Seattle Sounders FC (6)
Los Angeles FC (4) vs. Houston Dynamo FC(5)

MLS betting odds: Who is favorite to win championship?

According to BetMGM, Inter Miami CF (+150) is the current favorite to win the 2024 league championship, followed by LA Galaxy (+600), Columbus Crew (+700), Los Angeles FC (+900) and FC Cincinnati (+1200).

Concacaf Champions Cup 2025: MLS teams that have qualified

So far, six MLS clubs have qualified for next year’s Concacaf Champions Cup competition:

➤ Colorado Rapids: Via winning third-place match of Leagues Cup

➤ Columbus Crew: Via winning Leagues Cup

➤ Inter Miami CF: Via being among two next-best clubs in MLS Supporters’ Shield standings

➤ Los Angeles FC: Via being Leagues Cup runners-up (also U.S. Open Cup winner)

➤ Sporting Kansas City: Via being a U.S. Open Cup finalist (if the U.S. Open Cup winner also holds another Concacaf Champions Cup qualification spot, the tournament’s runner-up will earn a Concacaf Champions Cup spot)

➤ Vancouver Whitecaps FC: Via winning the Canadian Championship

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The Chicago Sky have fired head coach Teresa Weatherspoon less than a year after her hiring.

‘After careful consideration, we have decided it is in the best interest of the organization to part ways with head coach Teresa Weatherspoon,’ the Sky announced in a statement shared on social media on Friday.

Weatherspoon was hired as Chicago’s head coach in October 2023 following the departure of James Wade, who stepped down in July 2023 to take an NBA assistant coaching position after leading the Sky to a championship in 2021. The injury-riddled Sky finished with a 13-27 record in Weatherspoon’s lone season as coach, narrowly missing the playoffs for the first time since 2018 — due in part to Angel Reese’s season-ending wrist injury.

‘We are deeply appreciative of Coach TSpoon’s contributions to the Chicago Sky, and the energy and passion she brought to the head coaching role. We thank her for inspiring a competitive, resilient spirit across the team,’ the Sky said in a statement. ‘TSpoon will always be part of the Skytown family and we wish her the very best.’

Reese, who was drafted by the Sky out of LSU with the No. 7 overall pick of the 2024 WNBA draft, said she was ‘heartbroken’ over Weatherspoon’s firing. Reese added that Weatherspoon ‘didn’t deserve this.’

‘I’m literally lost for words knowing what this woman meant to me in such a pivotal point in my life. She was the only person that believed in me. The one that trusted me,’ Reese wrote in a lengthy social media post on Thursday. ‘Many don’t even know what it’s like to be a black women in sports when nobody believes in you. You had a tough job. All the crazy circumstances that we went through this year & when your back was against the wall, you always believed. I came to Chicago because of YOU. You were an unsung hero in my life.’

Reese added: ‘We built a relationship in a short amount of time that will last forever. I’ll never question God why he brings people in my life and takes them away from me in the capacity that I need them but I’ve always believed everyone is in your life for a reason and a season. You were the best reason & season. You didn’t deserve this but I can’t thank you enough. I love you Tspoon.’

Weatherspoon played for the New York Liberty and Los Angeles Sparks from 1997 to 2004. She was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010 and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019.

Weatherspoon served as the head coach of Louisiana Tech from 2009-2014 and served as an assistant for the New Orleans Pelicans from 2020-2023.

This story was updated to add new information.

The Detroit Tigers were sellers at the trade deadline, parting ways with veterans Jack Flaherty, Andrew Chafin and Mark Canha. After Aug. 10, the Tigers were buried eight games under .500 and 10 games back in the wild-card race, with a 0.2% chance to make the playoffs, according to Fangraphs.

Less than 50 days later, the Tigers are headed to the postseason for the first time since 2014.

The Tigers needed one win in three games against the Chicago White Sox to clinch an American League wild-card spot. They didn’t waste any time, winning 4-1 in Friday’s series opener to advance beyond the regular season.

The regular season ends Sunday.

All things Tigers: Latest Detroit Tigers news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.

‘We feel really good about how we’re doing it, not just what we’re doing,’ manager A.J. Hinch said before Friday’s game. ‘We put a lot of work in to play as consistently as we can and bring it every day. The DNA, the personality of this club is very special. We don’t think much of it. We really just come to play and win. We’ve done a lot of that recently, and we hope to do more.’

But the Tigers — in Hinch’s fourth year as manager — will open the postseason Tuesday, against either the Houston Astros or the Baltimore Orioles. The opponent and location for the three-game wild-card series will be determined by the seeding of the three wild-card teams, which might not be finalized until Sunday evening.

‘It’s why you play the game, to pitch in the postseason and to hopefully win the big one,’ Skubal said before Thursday’s game. ‘That’s the most important thing in this game, and that’s the most important thing to me. Awards, you care about them, but I’d like the World Series ring more than anything.’

To get to the playoffs, the Tigers turned on the jets with a 31-11 record in 42 games since Aug. 11. At the same time, the Minnesota Twins posted a 12-24 record in 36 games since Aug. 18 to freefall out of the playoff picture.

The epic failure of the Twins opened the door for the red-hot Tigers to catch up.

Sure enough, the Tigers joined the 1973 New York Mets as the only teams to make the playoffs after being at least eight games under .500 through 115 games.

Pitching was the biggest difference between the Tigers and the Twins in their respective end-of-season trends. Since Aug. 11, the Tigers lead MLB with a 2.60 ERA. Since Aug. 18, the Twins rank 25th in MLB with a 4.65 ERA.

What else sparked the Tigers’ winning ways? A top-tier pitching staff comprised of openers and bulk relievers despite only two starters in the rotation for more than a month, the return of several position players from injuries, an increase in aggressiveness on the bases and a World Series-winning manager who pushes all the right buttons to set players up for success.

‘I’ve been managing like Game 7 for two months, is what it feels like,’ Hinch said. ‘We want to win today’s game, and we’re going to use the guys that can help us win today’s game. You’re going to see us play the same brand that we’ve been playing with that has got us to this point. … We got to play the nine innings, and we got to play to win. Whatever the game calls for is what we’re going to try to do.’

As of Friday’s game, the Tigers had the youngest roster among the 30 MLB teams, an average age of 26.3. Only two players on the roster — outfielder Matt Vierling and right-handed reliever Kenta Maeda — have postseason experience.

The Tigers snapped a nine-year drought — tied for the longest active streak in MLB — by reaching the postseason in 2024, the second year under president of baseball operations Scott Harris. The Tigers hired Harris on Sept. 19, 2022, after firing general manager Al Avila.

In their last postseason experience, the Tigers were swept in three games by the Orioles in the 2014 AL Division Series, despite starts from Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and David Price.

The franchise has now made the playoffs in 17 of its 125 seasons, winning the World Series in 1935, 1945, 1968 and 1984. Since the 1984 championship, though, the Tigers advanced to the playoffs in just seven of the last 40 seasons.

While seeding needs to be determined, the six AL teams are locked in for the postseason: New York Yankees (AL East), Cleveland Guardians (AL Central), Astros (AL West), Orioles (wild card), Tigers (wild card) and Kansas City Royals (wild card).

Of those teams, the Tigers took the most improbable route to the playoffs.

The magical run continues.