It was a play that perfectly encapsulated the Bill Belichick experience at North Carolina.

For the first time in more than a month, UNC wasn’t getting blown out, but had a chance to win. In the red zone and down by three points in the fourth quarter against California on Friday night, quarterback Gio Lopez found Nathan Leacock streaking across the middle of the field.

The touchdown and late lead were right there. All Leacock had to do was cross the goal line and a chance to change the narrative in Chapel Hill was imminent. 

But as Leacock was about to put the Tar Heels ahead, Cal defender Brent Austin punched the ball out. It rolled into the end zone and Austin recovered it. The Golden Bears took possession and held it until it left the Tar Heels with six seconds left and a failed lateral-filled final play.

A win literally slipped out of UNC’s hands. Call it a rude welcome to Pac-12 — sorry, ACC after dark. Apologies to any Tar Heel fan who stayed up til after 2 a.m. ET to watch that.

Despite showing improvement, Belichick’s early tenure in North Carolina continues to slide, dropping a 21-18 late night decision in Berkeley.

“Came up a little bit short today, or a couple of inches,” Belichick said. “Just keep working on the things that obviously we need to do a better job of.”

Now after an incredibly hyped debut, the Tar Heels are 2-4, have lost three straight games and are 0-4 against Power Four teams. That first ACC win will have to wait.

To be fair, Friday night was the best North Carolina has looked since its opening drive of the season against TCU. After a fumble on the opening play of the game that led to a Golden Bear touchdown, it looked like another blowout loss was in store. 

Yet, the Tar Heels kept it close. In the third quarter, a Cal touchdown made it 21-10 and gave the Golden Bears a chance for the knockout punch. 

Instead, North Carolina went down the field — thanks to some Cal penalties — and scored a touchdown and 2-point conversion to make it a three-point game. It forced a punt on the following drive, only for its chance at redemption to be stripped right before the goal line.

Is it progress? Yes. The offense wasn’t completely stagnant and the defense didn’t get ripped apart. For most Power Four teams with a new coach, it’s what you’re hoping to see as the season moves along. 

But that’s not what you’re looking for when you hire a six-time Super Bowl winning coach whose personal life has garnered more attention than what’s happening on the field. It’s not what you want when you are spending more time defending the decision to be there than time spent leading a game.

Even when it continues to be a story, Belichick dodges questions related to anything going on not related to a football field.

“I’m just focused on the game,” Belichick said. “I’m not going to deal with any of this, whatever else.”

Besides, progress doesn’t seem to really be exciting the coach.

“It is what it is,” he said when asked about the close loss instead of another blowout.

UNC football schedule doesn’t get any easier

The saying goes “winning fixes everything.” Given all the controversy and peculiar stories coming in and out of the program, a win against Cal could’ve really helped calmed down the noise.

Instead, the strangeness gets more amplified, and it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to see when a win could help quiet the criticism.

The Tar Heels have resurgent No. 19 Virginia next, followed by a road trip to Syracuse. It’s gotten to the point the games against Stanford and Wake Forest can’t be shoe-in victories. Then there’s the in-state battles against Duke and North Carolina State to end the season.

Is there a path to six, even five wins there? Not exactly what Tar Heel fans were hoping would be the goal just eight weeks into this strange tenure.

You’re expecting results, and they aren’t showing up in North Carolina.

Is it really a surprise anymore when there are massive upsets each weekend in college football? It seems the playoff picture gets a massive change every Saturday and Week 7 was no exception.

Week 8 has already started with a surprise loss by No. 2 Miami at the hands of Louisville. There surely will be further shocking results ahead. They could come among the trio of games in the SEC that will have a major impact on the conference race. Could another ACC unbeaten fall when No. 12 Georgia Tech hits the road? Or are there other games in the Big Ten or Big 12 that might reshape the US LBM Coaches Poll on Sunday?

PATH TO PLAYOFF: Sign up for our college football newsletter

That’s why the USA TODAY Sports college football staff is here to provide some answers to the difficult questions. Matt Hayes, Jordan Mendoza, Paul Myerberg, Erick Smith, Eddie Timanus and Blake Toppmeyer weigh in with their bold predictions for Week 8 of the college football season.

Arkansas upset gives first blemish to Texas A&M

Arkansas gets a big win over unbeaten Texas A&M to further cloud the SEC race. The classic letdown game for the Aggies, on the road in a sneaky bitter rivalry game against a team that can score points in bunches. Bobby Petrino helped the Razorbacks show competency on the road at Tennessee. It’ll all come together in Fayetteville. — Matt Hayes

Tennessee finally wins in Tuscaloosa

It’s been more than 20 years since Tennessee went into Bryant-Denny Stadium and left with a victory. The Volunteers have looked pretty shaky in recent weeks that doesn’t give confidence they can get it done this year, but expect Josh Huepel to play ultra-aggressive knowing how abundant is riding on this contest. Joey Aguilar outduels Ty Simpson and Tennessee can finally have those cigars in Alabama. — Jordan Mendoza

Duke topples Georgia Tech to complicate ACC race

Duke knocks off Georgia Tech to make things even more complicated in the ACC. The Blue Devils have been on fire offensively to open conference play, dropping 45 points on N.C. State, 38 on Syracuse and another 45 at California. This one will come down which teams set the tone: Tech will look to be a bully at the line of scrimmage while Duke wants a more wide-open game. — Paul Myerberg

Arizona State bounces back against Texas Tech

A quick glance at the score from Utah’s defeat of the Sun Devils might tell some people that Kenny Dillingham’s team is not prepared for the buzzsaw of the Red Raiders. But Arizona State was without quarterback Sam Leavitt, who is expected to play Saturday. Look for the home team to circle the wagons and maybe get an overconfident Texas Tech team that has looked the class of the Big 12. — Erick Smith

Vanderbilt takes down LSU

It speaks volumes about this glorious sport we call college football that a team’s fan base gets salty when its opponent’s victorious home crowd does not rush the field. Well, hate to break it to you, LSU folks, but there will be no storming in Nashville when Vanderbilt wins this week, either.

The Tigers are in the top 10 almost entirely because of one side of the ball. Against actual FBS competition, LSU is averaging under 20 points per outing. Granted they’ve allowed more than 10 points in a game just once, but that was their lone loss at Ole Miss. The defense will again do what it can, but Vandy will do just enough to slog out a victory. — Eddie Timanus

Florida gets win but Billy Napier is fired

This spin of the coaching carousel will be the wildest since 2021, when a bevy of bigtime jobs came open and salaries and buyouts skyrocketed. And we’re just getting started with the firings. So, who’s next? I’ll be keeping my eye on embattled coaches Billy Napier (Florida), Luke Fickell (Wisconsin) and Hugh Freeze (Auburn). Bold prediction: Napier gets the Ed Orgeron farewell, in that he’ll beat Mississippi State on Saturday but be fired on Sunday anyway. Orgeron, in 2021, beat Florida before getting fired a day later. Thanks for the memories. Yes, indeed, there are parallels between this year’s carousel and 2021. — Blake Toppmeyer

South Carolina football’s Dylan Stewart is out for the remainder of Saturday, Oct. 18’s game against Oklahoma with an apparent hip flexor injury, according to the ESPN broadcast.

Stewart was shown leaving the field for the locker room during the first drive of the game. Stewart later returned to the game early in the second quarter, but went down holding his hip again after just two plays.

The sophomore defensive end is a huge loss for the Gamecocks, as the talented pass rusher has 3.5 sacks and two forced fumbles this season. South Carolina can only hope the injury isn’t a long-term issue.

The former five-star recruit emerged as one of the best defensive players in the country last season as a true freshman, finishing his first year with 6.5 sacks and three forced fumbles.

Stewart was a preseason All-SEC first-team selection, and was also selected to numerous preseason first-team All-American lists.

Here’s everything to know of Stewart’s injury.

Dylan Stewart injury update

Stewart is out for the remainder of South Carolina-Oklahoma due to a hip flexor issue, according to the ESPN broadcast.

Stewart left the game and went to the sideline for a few moments before retreating to the locker room. ESPN’s Alyssa Lang reported he iced his hip in attempt to return to the game, and was shown jogging on the sideline to try and return to action.

Stewart was shown on the sideline bike, and returned to the game early in the second quarter. Just two plays later, however, Stewart went down once again. He held his hip as he was tended to by trainers, and was declared out shortly thereafter.

Baseball’s majesty and misery are almost always intertwined. And in a stunning eighth inning in an unforgettable Game 5 of the American League Championship Series, they were inseparable.

For several pulsating minutes at T-Mobile Park, the fates of the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners hung first on a crucial decision by a manager, and then in the air for several tantalizing seconds as Cal Raleigh’s pop fly ball drifted into the left field stands, and then finally when Eugenio Suárez’s grand slam settled into the right field stands.

A short burst of bedlam flipped the game from the Blue Jays’ win column to the Mariners’, a 6-2 victory that pushed them to a brink they’ve never encountered: One win away from their first World Series appearance in the franchise’s nearly 50-year history.

And it shoved a motley cast of characters front and center. Games 6 and 7 in Toronto may usher new narratives and different heroes and goats. But this wild night belonged to them.

Eugenio Suárez: Nice guys finish first

He’s played for four franchises, beloved so much in Seattle that the Mariners had to bring him back in a special season that certainly merited some trade-deadline punch.

And so when Suárez started the scoring with a second-inning homer, and ended it depositing Seranthony Dominguez’s 98-mph heater into the right field seats, the joy could be shared from Seattle to Arizona, Cincinnati to Detroit.

‘As good a player as Geno is, he’s an even better person. I think that’s what shines through with Geno,’ a grateful Mariners manager Dan Wilson told reporters after Game 5. ‘You can’t tell if he’s in a slump, you can’t tell what he’s going through, because he’s always picking everybody else up. He’s just a selfless player, and that’s why everybody in the clubhouse roots for Geno so hard, because he just doesn’t think about himself at all.

‘Just being able to give Geno a hug after the game and knowing how good it feels for him to do what he did today. He’s just an incredible person, an incredible leader, an incredible ball player.’

Who hit 49 home runs this season between Seattle and Arizona. And has gone to the postseason with three franchises – but never a World Series.

Given how he’s now virtually canonized in the Pacific Northwest, it would be appropriate if he and the Mariners crossed that threshold together.

‘For me, it’s very special. Emotions are always high,’ says Suárez postgame. ‘The crowd keeps us on the field, keeps us in the fight. They want all day to expect something good for us. And I’ve been waiting for games like this my whole career. Today, I had it.

‘Today, I had it in front of our crowd, in front of my family, my two daughters, my wife, and the moment is very special right now. My emotions right now, it’s very high. I feel so grateful.’

Cal Raleigh: Big Game Dumper

The MVP votes are already tallied, and we’ll find out next month if Raleigh outpointed Aaron Judge at the ballot box. Postseason performances aren’t factored in – instead, legacies are burnished or diminished.

And Raleigh is well on his way to an October platform blowing up his spot even more.

Seattle’s won three games in this ALCS and Raleigh’s homered in two of them, the first a game-tying shot off Blue Jays ace Kevin Gausman in Game 1.

The second?

‘It felt like Cal’s ball was in the air for, like, an hour,’ Wilson said of Raleigh’s sky ball in the bottom of the eighth inning, Mariners trailing 2-1, just six outs from a sweep in Seattle that would have made their pennant-winning task perhaps insurmountable.

When it came down, the score was tied 2-2, a chaotic eighth inning was only beginning and Raleigh further verified his greatness on a bigger stage.

No, he’s not just the guy with the funny nickname who somehow pumped 60 homers from the catcher position, and as a switch-hitter, no less. He’s added four more bombs to the total in 10 playoff games, a presence that consistently impacts the opponent more than anyone in Seattle’s lineup.

Even if it’s only with numbing consistency, devoid of flash.

‘I was patient waiting for my pitch there and understanding that let the game come to me, try and make solid contact, don’t need a home run, don’t need to try to hit a ball 500 feet,’ Raleigh told reporters in Seattle, matter-of-fact per usual. ‘Just do something good and adrenaline will usually take over in those moments.’

John Schneider: A Little problem

The manager of the Toronto Blue Jays got to his post and kept it thanks to a resolute mentality and steady demeanor, through parts of four seasons that have featured both playoff highs and dispiriting underperformance.

But it always comes down to pushing buttons, and while the living was easy when the Blue Jays pounded out 29 hits in winning Games 3 and 4, their Game 1 and Game 5 losses came about when a fellow named Brendon Little had the ball in his hands.

He’s a decent lefty reliever, a little better than your itinerant situational guy but also not the sort to blow your doors off. The man had 30 holds and a 3.03 ERA. He also walked nearly six batters per nine innings.

About that…

Schneider called on Little to preserve a 2-1 eighth-inning lead, Raleigh at the plate, the thinking that maybe forcing Big Dumper to bat right-handed the first time in the series might serve as Kryptonite.

One swing and 348 feet later, tie game.

Oh, but Little had to face two more batters. Befitting his season-long track record, he walked both of them.

Little threw 15 pitches. Ten were balls, and another landed in the front row of the left field seats.

That left Seranthony Dominguez to come on and try to clean up a two-on, no-out mess, Seattle ready to burst. He grazed Randy Arozarena with a pitch to load the bases and then there he was: Suárez, with nowhere to put him.

Sure, the players executed, but Schneider’s maneuvers set the events in motion.

‘I get it, man,’ he said in his postgame news conference. ‘After that, you got to settle down and throw strikes, too. It’s hard. No one feels worse than Little, no one feels worse than (Dominguez) right now.

‘Or me.’

La Liga players are delaying the start of their matches this weekend in Spain to protest a decision to move a Dec. 20 match between Barcelona and Villarreal to the United States.

While AFE exempted Barcelona and Villarreal players from the protest “to avoid the protest action being interpreted as a possible measure against any club,” Girona players initiated the pause for about 15 seconds after kickoff before beginning play against Barcelona on Saturday, Oct. 18.

Oviedo and Espanyol players stood still in the first 15 seconds of their Friday, Oct. 17 match.

“The Spanish Footballers’ Association categorically rejects a project that does not have the approval of the main players in our sport, and demands that the employers’ association create a negotiating table in which all information is shared,” their statement said.

The Dec. 20 Barcelona-Villarreal match at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium is set to be the first official La Liga match to be played in the United States, and outside of Spain.

“This is a landmark moment for La Liga and for world football,” La Liga president Javier Tebas said in an Oct. 8 news release when the match was confirmed.

“By bringing an official match to the United States, we are not only connecting with millions of fans across North America, but also reinforcing Spain’s leadership as a global soccer powerhouse. With the support of all relevant institutions, this initiative is bold, historic, and designed to inspire both our fans abroad and those at home in Spain.”

Pre-sale tickets for the match begin on Tuesday, Oct. 21, while sales to the general public start Wednesday, Oct. 22 at 10 a.m. ET.

James Franklin spoke publicly for the first time Saturday since he was fired by Penn State on Oct. 12.

Franklin joined the ESPN ‘College GameDay’ set only three weeks after he appeared on the show ahead of the Nittany Lions’ Sept. 27 game against Oregon, back when Penn State was 3-0, ranked No. 2 in the US LBM Coaches Poll and was one of the favorites to win the national championship.

What followed was nothing short of stunning, with an overtime loss to Oregon being followed by upset losses to UCLA and Northwestern in back-to-back weeks. Fifteen days after the Nittany Lions were a fourth-down conversion in overtime away from beating Oregon, Franklin was out of a job.

As shocking as that series of events was to the average fan, it was even more so to Franklin. In his interview with ‘GameDay,’ Franklin said he was fired by Penn State athletic director Patrick Kraft 15 minutes before the Nittany Lions had a scheduled team meeting.

‘The AD walked in and said, ‘We’re going to make a change, I’m sorry,” Franklin said. ‘I was in shock, obviously. Really took the next 15 minutes to let my kids know, so they wouldn’t find out on the internet, and then walked down and had a super emotional meeting with the team to tell them I was leaving. It really, that was it, it was that quick.’

When asked by Kirk Herbstreit if he believed his firing was fair, Franklin sidestepped the question and focused on his fonder memories from his time in State College.

‘Fair is not for me to decide, right?’ he said. ‘That’s for other people to decide. The decision that was made, that was hard for me to comprehend at the time, but what I want to do, I want to focus on all the unbelievable moments. I had a great run there, 12 years. Penn State was good to me and my family. Most importantly, it’s about the players. I’m a players’ coach. I always have been. So that’s the hardest part, walking away from all those young men in that locker room, the commits that were recruited to us. Lot of tough conversations. So that’s the challenge, it’s the people at the end of the day: the coaches, the staff, the families, the kids. What I don’t think people realize is how many people this affects. A ton of people. That’s where my heart breaks.”

Franklin was dismissed after the Nittany Lions suffered a third straight loss and second to an unranked opponent this season, a 22-21 loss to Northwestern on Oct. 11. He posted a 104-45 overall record in 12 seasons at Penn State, though what likely contributed to his firing was his 4-21 record against top-10 ranked teams in that span, including a 1-10 record against Big Ten foe Ohio State.

The Nittany Lions made their first College Football Playoff appearance last season under Franklin, and advanced to the semifinals. His buyout from Penn State is the second-most expensive contract buyout for a coach in college football history at just under $50 million, according to a financial term sheet he signed in 2022 that was obtained by the USA TODAY Sports.

The rapid disintegration of Penn State’s once-promising 2025 season and Franklin’s largely successful tenure is still something the coach is processing.

‘To be honest with you, I’m still working through it myself,’ Franklin said. ‘It feels surreal. I just got a message from Drew Allar’s dad that he’s sitting home as well. We both should be in Iowa, it’s what we’re used to doing and how we operate. And I’ve been doing this for 30 years, and 15 years as a head coach. To think essentially six games ago, we were fighting for a chance to be in the national championship, a 2-minute drive away.’

For the second time in the 2025 season, the Atlantic Coast Conference has started a college football weekend slate with an early contender for the biggest upset of the week.

Carson Beck and the Hurricanes sustained their first loss of the season on Friday, Oct. 17 with a 24-21 defeat by unranked Louisville at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

The Hurricanes had their backs against the wall for the entire night, as the Cardinals cashed in both of their first two drives of the night for touchdowns to get out to an early 14-0 lead. Miami would then put together a quick drive of its own to answer back and cut the deficit to 14-7 after Mark Fletcher Jr. punched one in from the 2-yard line.

That’d be about as much success as the Hurricanes’ offense would have on the night, as Miami would not find the back of the end zone again until the fourth quarter off a turnover. Beck threw four interceptions on the night, a career-high for the Georgia transfer, including one at the end of the game that sealed the Cardinals’ win despite Miami being on the edge of field goal range and only trailing by three, 24-21.

So, where will the Hurricanes fall in the latest top 25 rankings following the defeat? Here’s where they may land:

Miami football rankings: Where will Hurricanes drop after Louisville loss?

While the loss is certainly not a ‘season-ending’ one for Miami by any means, especially since it is their first loss of the season, the Hurricanes will still experience a fall in the top-25 rankings come Sunday afternoon.

As for how drastic of fall the Hurricanes will experience in the rankings, that will be answered by Saturday’s slate of games, as there are five top-25 matchups taking place throughout the country, including a top-15 matchup between No. 6 Alabama and No. 11 Tennessee.

This season, losses to unranked teams have been rather sizable and drastic. An example of this is Penn State dropping from No. 6 to No. 22 in the US LBM Coaches Poll following an unranked loss to UCLA, but that did come after a loss to No. 5 Oregon the week prior. A better example for Miami’s circumstances might be Florida State dropping 11 spots after a double-overtime loss to Virginia a few weeks back. But given that it is the first loss of the season, voters may be more lenient towards Miami in their ballots.

With that all said, the odds Miami finds itself still in the top-10 or just on the outside of the top-10 in a No. 11 or No. 12 spot are pretty favorable for the Hurricanes.

Final projection: No. 10

George Springer, one of the Toronto Blue Jays’ most potent offensive weapons, left Game 5 of the American League Championship Series after he was struck on the right knee by a Bryan Woo pitch.

He was diagnosed with a right knee contusion and manager John Schneider said X-rays were negative, and he expects Springer in the Game 6 lineup Oct. 19.  

But Schneider expressed disgust at the T-Mobile Park crowd that booed Springer when he attempted to rise to his feet, and when he walked toward first base in his attempt to stay in the game.

‘It’s really cool to play here. (But) I think the fans that were booing him should take a look in the mirror and understand what kind of player he is and … I’ll stop there,’ Schneider said in an emotional, profanity-laden press conference after the Blue Jays blew a one-run, eighth-inning lead and lost Game 5 6-2 on Eugenio Suárez’s grand slam.

‘Because when a guy gets hit in the knee and is in obvious pain and you have 40,000 people cheering – not the right thing to do.’

Springer, who drove in the Blue Jays’ first run with an RBI double in the fifth inning, doubled over in pain immediately after Woo’s 95.6 mph sinker struck him in the knee. 

He tried walking to first but could not do so without a severe limp; Joey Loperfido replaced Springer as a pinch runner and assumed his leadoff spot in the lineup at designated hitter. 

Springer has 10 hits, three homers and a .917 OPS in Toronto’s postseason run, and led them in WAR (4.8) and OPS (.959) during the regular season. 

Springer missed 16 games in August when he was struck in the helmet by a pitch at Baltimore and was placed on the concussion list.

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.

Trinity Rodman, a forward for the United States Women’s National Team and Washington Spirit, has suffered a Grade 1 MCL sprain, according to Spirit coach Adrián González. Her timeline to return is uncertain.

“Right now, we need to focus on day by day, try to help her to recover, to heal as best as possible, and let’s see how she’s progressing every day,” Spirit coach Adrián González said, according to the Associated Press.

Rodman appeared to be in visible pain after attempting a tackle and was unable to put pressure on her right leg during the Spirit’s 4-0 victory over Monterrey in the Concacaf W Champions Cup. She needed assistance leaving the field during the first half of the match. After the game, Rodman was observed on the field wearing a full-length knee brace and using crutches.

Rodman was named to the U.S. Women’s National Team for upcoming matches against Portugal and New Zealand. However, following her diagnosis, U.S. Soccer has not confirmed whether Rodman will have to withdraw from training camp.

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.