BOULDER, CO — Colorado entered its 2025 season opener against Georgia Tech dogged by a slew of questions about how it would fare without reigning Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and record-setting quarterback Shedeur Sanders, both of whom are now in the NFL.

By the end of the night, there was another question that loomed much larger.

While trying to mount a last-minute drive to tie the game, the Buffaloes didn’t use their two remaining timeouts. They reached midfield with three seconds remaining, but a desperation heave from quarterback Kaidon Salter didn’t connect with a receiver in the end zone, cementing a 27-20 loss.

The sequence raised criticism of third-year head coach Deion Sanders, who only said so much in his post-game news conference to alleviate doubts about how he orchestrated the game’s final minute.

“I think we got out of bounds a couple of times,” Sanders said. “We didn’t have to take them. That’s what transpired. We got out of bounds I think on both sidelines. That’s what happened. After the first, I think we got a good play and we caught the ball, I think, for nine yards. We had one yard to go, so if you get the first down, the clock stops. It don’t make sense to really use your timeout in that sense.”

Sanders’ recollection of the drive didn’t line up entirely with how it actually transpired.

A Salter pass to running back Micah Welch resulted in a 2-yard loss for Colorado on the first play of the possession, with Welch getting brought down in bounds with 1:02 to play. Rather than calling one of his two timeouts, Sanders allowed the clock to run and the Buffaloes didn’t get the snap of their next play off until only 45 seconds remained.

Though an 11-yard completion to Hykeem Williams got Colorado within one yard of a first down, and an automatic clock stoppage, Sanders again didn’t use a timeout, causing 11 seconds to elapse between the end of one play and the start of the next. A 5-yard scramble from Salter got the Buffaloes a first down at their own 39-yard line with 18 seconds left, but it shaved another 11 seconds off the clock, a chunk of which came from Salter running to the sideline rather than going down in bounds.

Colorado began the drive with a sizable task, trying to go 75 yards in 67 seconds to tie the game, but the precious seconds saved by timeouts could have helped it advance farther up the field and give it more than just a Hail Mary attempt on the final play.

Instead, the Buffaloes fell to 0-1 to start the season — and their coach left the field with two unused timeouts in his pocket.

“We were just really trying to preserve them for when we needed them,” Sanders said. “I don’t want to go home with timeouts. They don’t do me no good. But you’ve got to be strategic, as well. Just burning timeouts just to burn them just so you guys won’t say nothing, that don’t make sense at all.”

NEW YORK — ‘Welcome to the show,’ Taylor Townsend said to a cheering Arthur Ashe Stadium late Friday night, ready to embrace a newfound popularity.

Townsend entered this US Open, well-known in tennis circles as a competitive player, friendly with nearly every player on tour, and most recently part of a dominant doubles pairing with Katerina Siniakova, who has won two Grand Slam championships in the past year.

Earlier this week, after beating Jelena Ostapenko 7-5, 6-1 in the second round, both players approached the net for a customary post-match handshake, and words were immediately exchanged, in which Ostapenko, who is from Latvia, had an issue with Townsend not apologizing for a net-cord, in which a player wins a point when the ball accidentally hits the net.

Ostapenko soon went to social media to explain her side, even going so far as to deny she is racist, after internet trolls implied that she was because of her post-match behavior.

Townsend, the No. 1 doubles player in the world, found supporters on her side, including two-time US Open champion Naomi Osaka, who called Ostapenko’s comments ‘just terrible.’

‘It’s one of the worst things you can say to a Black tennis player in a majority White sport,’ Osaka said. ‘But if you’re like genuinely asking me about the history of Ostapenko, I don’t think that’s the craziest thing she’s said.’

But Townsend, who is Black, has refused to let distractions get in the way of the goal of winning championships, and she showed that Friday after dismantling No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-2 to reach the fourth round in singles for the first time in six years.

‘It’s bigger than me,’ Townsend said after the match. ‘It’s about the message. It’s about the representation. It’s about being bold and being able to show up as yourself, and I did that tonight. You guys saw the real Taylor Townsend tonight.’

The real Taylor Townsend, a Chicago native, recalls more than a decade ago, when the US Tennis Association did not fund her tournament appearances due to concerns about her fitness. She is also the mother to her four-year-old son, Adyn Aubrey Johnson, whom she dedicated her victory over Andreeva to.

As Townsend puts it, the last 48 hours after the Ostapenko incident haven’t been hard at all because she ‘made for this type of stuff’ and ‘because I stood in my truth.’ And honestly, she hasn’t had time to think about it because she is still competing in the doubles tournament.

Indeed, Townsend, who is the 139th-ranked singles player in the world, is using the dust-up with Ostapenko to remind people that she is not about to be quiet about anything, and standing up for yourself is essential.

‘Sometimes, I feel like in society, especially people of color, we are expected to be silenced, or sometimes, there are times where we have to decide and be very strategic as to when we speak up, and in these type of moments, it’s important for me to speak up, not only for myself but for my culture,’ Townsend said.

‘No matter what, no matter what attention comes or whatever, I think it’s about being unapologetically yourself, be happy in who you are and never allow anyone to take you out of your character and who you are as a person.’

Townsend has her work cut out for her if she wants to advance to a Grand Slam quarterfinal for the first time in her singles career. On Sunday, she takes on two-time Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejčíková, who defeated Emma Navarro in an exciting three-set match.

With another victory, whether in doubles or singles play, she can officially put the issue of not being recognized behind her, gaining thousands of new followers on social media with each passing day.

‘It’s a different type of exposure, my social media and all of the people being able to have access and things to say,’ Townsend said. ‘I said to my team, ‘Dang, I didn’t know this many people had my phone number.”

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The 2025 college football season is a chance for a fresh start for both Alabama and Florida State.

Alabama struggled in its first season after Nick Saban’s retirement, going 9-4 under first-year head coach Kalen DeBoer, their fewest wins in a season since 2007. That mark was a resounding success compared to what the Seminoles endured, going from the top 10 of the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll to a stunningly poor 2-10 record that included just one win against an FBS opponent.

By the end of the day Saturday, one of those clean slates will have an early blemish.

Watch Alabama vs. Florida State live with Fubo (free trial)

A marquee matchups of a loaded Week 1 slate will take place in Tallahassee, Florida, where No. 8 Alabama will take on Florida State in Doak Campbell Stadium in a meeting of two of the most historically decorated programs in college football.

Will the Seminoles and coach Mike Norvell be able to escape the immense hole they dug for themselves last year? Will the Tide be able to offer some reassurance that they can remain a national powerhouse even without Saban intensely roaming the sideline?

USA TODAY is bringing you live updates, scores and highlights from the game. Follow along.

Alabama vs Florida State live score

This section will be updated throughout the game

Alabama vs Florida State live updates

Florida State jerseys

Florida State will don its classic gold-garnet-gold garb its opener against Alabama at Doak Campbell Stadium.

Alabama football depth chart

Here’s a look at Alabama’s depth chart vs Florida State for their Aug. 30 matchup.

What time does Alabama vs Florida State start?

Date: Saturday, August 30
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Where: Doak Campbell Stadium (Tallahassee, Florida)

What channel is Alabama vs Florida State on today?

TV: ABC
Streaming: ESPN App ∣ ESPN+ ∣ Fubo (free trial)

Alabama vs Florida State predictions

Colin Gay, Tuscaloosa News: Alabama 31, Florida State 17New quarterback and new offensive coordinator on a big stage starts Alabama football’s 2025 season. Expect some bumps along the way, but, especially with a defense in the second year under Wommack’s tutelage, Alabama should be able to make a statement in Week 1.
Liam Rooney, Tallahassee Democrat:Alabama 34, Florida State 17I think this game will be closer than many expect in the first half as the Seminoles get a home crowd boost at the newly renovated Doak Campbell Stadium, and Alabama’s Simpson takes a few drives to settle in. However, the Tide pull away in the second half with the trio of star receivers making impact plays.

Alabama vs Florida State injury updates

Alabama running back Jam Miller, the Crimson Tide’s leading rusher last season, will miss the game after suffering an upper-body injury earlier this month.
Alabama defensive tackle Tim Keenan III will ‘probably not’ be ready for the season opener due to a lower-body injury he sustained in practice this week, coach Kalen DeBoer said on August 27.

Who is starting for Alabama at quarterback?

Ty Simpson will be Alabama’s starting quarterback heading into the 2025 season. He’s taking over for Jalen Milroe, the Tide’s starter each of the past two seasons who is now in his rookie season with the Seattle Seahawks.

Who is starting for Florida State at quarterback?

After last season’s disastrous 2-10 run, Florida State went out and got a new quarterback, adding Boston College transfer Thomas Castellanos. Castellanos threw for 3,614 yards, 33 touchdowns and 19 touchdowns the past two seasons with the Eagles, along with 1,307 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns.

Alabama schedule 2025

Here’s the Crimson Tide’s full 2025 schedule and results:

Saturday, August 30: at Florida State
Saturday, September 6: vs. Louisiana-Monroe
Saturday, September 13: vs. Wisconsin
Saturday, September 27: at No. 4 Georgia
Saturday, October 4: vs. Vanderbilt
Saturday, October 11: at Missouri
Saturday, October 18: vs. No. 18 Tennessee
Saturday, October 25: at No. 13 South Carolina
Saturday, November 8: vs. No. 9 LSU
Saturday, November 15: vs. Oklahoma
Saturday, November 22: vs. Eastern Illinois
Saturday, November 29: at Auburn

Florida State schedule 2025

Here’s the Seminoles’ full 2025 schedule and results:

Saturday, August 30: vs. No. 8 Alabama
Saturday, September 6: vs. East Texas A&M
Saturday, September 20: vs. Kent State
Friday, September 26: at Virginia
Saturday, October 4: vs. No. 10 Miami
Saturday, October 11: at Pitt
Saturday, October 18: at Stanford
Saturday, November 1: vs. Wake Forest
Saturday, November 8: at No. 6 Clemson
Saturday, November 15: vs. Virginia Tech
Friday, November 21: at NC State
Saturday, November 29: at No. 17 Florida

Sport scientist Amanda Visek’s research suggests that ‘fun’ is a key element in athletic development, not just a cliché.
Coco Gauff’s experience at the US Open highlights the importance of psychological safety and support from coaches and the crowd.
Focusing on the process of improvement, rather than solely on winning, can lead to greater long-term success and enjoyment in sports.

Your early-round opponents at a tennis grand slam can be some of your toughest.

Part of the reason is the atmosphere, which this week and next finds the world’s best in the sport standing square in the middle of New York City’s Arthur Ashe Stadium before more than 20,000 spectators.

But what you also face, especially as a top-ranked competitor, is an adversary charged with the excitement of the challenge you pose. He or she has little to lose.

US Open No. 3 seed Coco Gauff played unseeded Ajla Tomljanovic, whom Gauff had beaten in straight sets at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The idea of facing Gauff again, though, gave the Australian a chance to play at a higher level, to rise up to the challenge Gauff presented.

In other words, applying the research of sport scientist Amanda Visek, it was an opportunity for fun.

Gauff, a two-time grand slam winner, had endured a wave of double faults in recent weeks. She had made what seemed like a drastic change by switching coaches just days before the year’s final major tournament.

And yet she had similar intentions.

“I’m definitely very excited,” Gauff told ESPN before she stepped onto center court for the first round. “Obviously, a little bit nervous, but I’m just gonna go out there and have fun.”

What Visek has learned in studying what makes sports fun is that the answer is far from a cliché. Her groundbreaking “Fun Maps” study that included male and female soccer players of varying ages and skill levels in 2015, found it to be a state of being that goes hand in hand with athletic development.

What Gauff discovered over three difficult sets against Tomljanovic, and two nights later in her excruciating win over Croatia’s Donna Vekic in the second round, is at the essence of Visek’s latest published paper studying fun determinants in tennis.

It’s Visek’s first study about an individual sport, and it confirms what she has learned about sport after sport.

‘It’s actually simpler than we might think,’ says Visek, an associate professor at The George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health in Washington. “It’s not, ‘What makes it fun for Steve is different than from Amanda,’ and then you’ve got to jump through all these hoops to make it an individualized experience unique to him or her.

“Not at all. Instead, there’s very common elements across the experience fundamental to quality sport participation athletes describe as fun.”

Fun, Visek says, doesn’t just happen when you drop your kid off at practice or a game, or get out of a player shuttle at the US Open.

Organizations, coaches, parents and athletes can design for it and, perhaps like Gauff, realize it when they least expect it.

What does having ‘fun’ mean in tennis, and in all sports?

Visek’s original study, “The Fun Integration Theory”, asked youth soccer players (ages 8 to 19) from around the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area what made their sport fun. From their responses, 81 fun determinants were identified, which the research team listed on cards they gave to the players to sort and rate in importance.

Based on how the cards were sorted, the determinants were grouped into 11 dimensions of fun (fun factors) and graphically presented on a map.

She has repeated the study design with basketball and ice hockey players in Sweden (84 fun determinants) and now tennis (120 determinants).

The results reveal much of the same about what we find fun about sports, whether we are male or female, consider ourselves elite or recreational players, or are young kids or young adults.

Visek’s study of fun determinants in tennis included 667 male and female junior tennis players (aged 6-19) from the mid-Atlantic and Southeastern areas of the United States. They were represented across racial identities and skill levels and recruited from a broad array of tennis facilities and programs.

Of all the studies Visek has conducted so far, they identified the most fun determinants yet, everything from coaches who help players learn and challenge them; to coaches who care about their progress; to keeping positive energy to persevere through setbacks. There are so many determinants that make the experience fun.

Of primary importance in tennis were fun factors that included determinants of “Match Play,” “Positive Coaching,” “Working Hard & Learning,” ‘Developing Mental Strength,” “Staying Active,” “Sportsmanship” and “Training with a Coach.”

Note the repeated word ‘Coach.’

“Having a coach who cares and checks in on players’ mental health matters as much as learning the perfect backhand and hitting a clean, smooth shot!” she writes on social media about the tennis study.

Athletes, even Coco Gauff, want to feel it’s safe to make mistakes

Gavin MacMillan, Gauff’s new coach, was obsessed with sports as a boy in Toronto. He says his father pushed him away from hockey, his favorite one, when he was about 16, by sending him to a tennis academy.

“It was a horrifying experience,” MacMillan told Performance-Plus Tennis in an interview. “It was super humbling … And after I got done playing college, I really started trying to understand what I had failed at and why, what I could have done differently.”

He intricately studied the power serves of Pete Sampras and others. He found similarities in the way Sampras served with the way quarterbacks threw, as well as pitchers who could hit 100 mph with their fastballs. There was an internal rotation of the throwing arm, he noticed, while the other arm created torque in the spine.

He realized he could teach by comparison, but also with an understanding of how difficult the task was. He had lived it.

MacMillan helped world No. 1 and defending US Open champion Aryna Sabalenka rebuild her serve. What we have seen in just over a week of working with Gauff is his human touch.

ESPN reporter Kris Budden, who observed him for 40 minutes on a practice court a few hours before Gauff’s opening match in New York, described a hands-off approach. Budden said the discussion was positive but minimal.

“The only thing that I saw him work on with the serve was some foot placement, but other than that has been very complimentary, visibly applauding her for her serves,” Budden said on air.

Look at the No. 1 most important fun determinant in Visek’s tennis study: A coach that is easy to learn from to help master my skills.

Here are some others that relate to it:

A coach that cares about my progress (3)
A coach that motivates and encourages me when I am doing poorly (8)
Knowing it is okay to make mistakes and fail (45)  
A coach that congratulates me when I hit a nice shot (48)
People cheering after I make a good shot (91)

“It very clearly shows the role of psychological safety,” Visek says. “Across all the studies, the athletes have said, ‘I like learning from mistakes. That makes it fun. I love the opportunity to get coached and get corrected and the opportunity to try again.’

“The opportunity to learn, to improve, to make mistakes, to learn from those mistakes, in a very safe environment, makes it a fun experience versus a threatening experience with abusive coaching.”

When Gauff hit a big shot during the US Open’s first two rounds, MacMillan was on his feet, clapping and cheering along with Gauff’s mother, Candi. But he also encouraged her when she double-faulted.

Here, there was a feeling of responsibility to not let the other down, but also that their partnership would come with ups and downs.

COACH STEVE: 3 steps for dealing with a ‘bad coach’

Building mental strength and finding a social connection is part of the fun

The double faults were mounting for Gauff and Vekic late in the first set. Gauff, who was remaking a crucial part of her game on the fly, wore her duress more acutely.  

As ESPN cameras switched to her sitting in her courtside chair, she was shaking. She clutched a towel to her face and cried.

“You want her to be happy,” analyst Mary Joe Fernandez said. “You want her to be enjoying the competition, the challenge.” 

Play stopped when Vekic led 6-5, and she received medical treatment on her arm. Gauff practiced serves. She looked into the crowd and saw Simone Biles being interviewed.

She thought about how the most decorated gymnast in the world had removed herself from the 2020 Games when she developed ‘the twisties’. Biles returned to the Paris Olympics to win three gold medals. 

“She helped me pull it out,” Gauff said. “I was just thinking if she can go on a six-inch beam and do that with all the pressures of the world, then I can hit the ball. It brought me a little bit of calm, just knowing her story with all the things she went through mentally.”

It was a reminder, as Visek’s latest study lays out, that tennis is a shared human experience. You share it intimately with the opponent who pushes you to play better, but also with the people who support you.

 “People tend to think and talk about tennis as an ‘individual sport,’ ” Visek says, “and I think one of the things that’s really cool that came through the results of the study is if you look across all 120 determinants, very clearly there is a relational and social connection component to the experience that is fundamental to having fun.”

Gauff heard the crowd, which included her mother and coach, get behind her, and she found herself up for the challenge.

She pulled out the first set in a tiebreaker and pulled away in the second, firing some of her hardest and most accurate serves of the tournament to close out the match 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.

“You guys really helped me a lot so I’m doing this for myself but I’m also doing it for you,” she told the crowd, “and no matter how tough it gets inside, you can do it.”

Minutes later, sitting with ESPN’s Fernandez and Chris McKendry, she said: “It was an emotional match for me, but I think this is something I can relate on for the rest of my career and that feeling that I felt, because I never felt like that on the court before.”  

She was still frustrated by her serve but drew strength from her ground game.

That feeling of “hitting a clean, smooth shot” – the way Gauff felt with a lot of her forehands – ranked No. 15 on the long list of fun determinants in Visek’s study.

“Developing physical and mental strength,” which she needed to execute them, ranked two spots ahead of it.

“There’s been some matches where I feel like mentally, I didn’t put my best foot forward and those losses hurt more than anything,” Gauff said. “It’s like, ‘What if I just settled down or what if I just tried not to give up on myself?’ So today, even when the moments got tough, and it looked like I wasn’t there, I was there. It was just trying to find it.

“I just try to get my best mental effort. In the physical part, you can’t control how you showed up, but the mental part I can. So every day I just try to put that on the court and then when I go home, I can say I left it all out there.”

Focusing on winning alone is secondary; focusing on the process of winning makes more of it possible

Gauff, 21, is known for looking fashionable as she plays.

“Before we go,” McKendry said at the end of the interview, ‘can I just see your nails? Can we end on something fun?”

It turns out though, with what she had just undergone, Gauff already had fun, at least by the end of the match.

“I think I just showed people what it’s like to be a human and I have bad days, but I think it’s more about how you get up after those bad moments and how you show up after that,” she said. “And I think today I showed that I can get up after feeling the worst I’ve ever felt on the court.”

Look at the top fun determinants among tennis players, according to Visek’s study:

A coach that is easy to learn from to help master my skills
Trying my best by giving full effort
A coach that cares about my progress
High and positive energy during practice
Being encouraged to try hard and play my best
Not giving up and persevering from setbacks

Here are the top 25, as published in the International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching:

Similar to Visek’s previous studies, winning falls further down the list. Winning a match is No. 49, winning a tournament No. 50 and winning a set No. 52. However, “winning against someone I have lost to before,” is rated high at No. 11.

Gauff had fallen to Vekic at the Paris Olympics.

“Winning itself, it’s the singular outcome of a competitive experience,” Visek says. “And when you’re playing an opponent, you don’t have entire control over whether you win or lose a match.

“The focus of playing should really be on the process rather than the outcome. If you focus on the process, you make more possible the outcome of winning. The research is really clear here – fun is the accumulation of moment-to-moment experiences that challenge us, that make us better.” 

Gauff said this week she’s “obsessed with the process of getting better.” She looks at her hiring of MacMillan as one that will bring her more long-term success, even if she doesn’t raise this year’s US Open trophy. She has now reached the fourth round.

Here is a scientific explanation of Gauff’s pursuit:

“If you want to win more,” Visek says, “maybe you need to make it more fun.’

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.

Lee Corso has a special relationship with the college football world, but his roots with Kirk Herbstreit run deep.

The ‘College GameDay’ staples have sat next to each other at 9 a.m. on College Football Saturdays at the dais for years, and it’s impossible not to feel the bond that emanates from the two of them.

Ahead of what was sure to be an emotional show from Columbus, Ohio on Aug. 30, Herbstreit showed off the lining of his jacket, which honored his broadcasting mentor and friend:

The jacket shows photos of the ‘College GameDay’ crew and Herbstreit and Corso together, documenting their time through the years.

Corso, who turned 90 on Aug. 7, has been with ‘College GameDay’ since its inception in 1987. He became one of the most beloved figures in the sport when the show began to tour in 1993, known for his positive attitude and generally fun demeanor.

Herbstreit, who is not only on ‘College GameDay’ but also serves as the analyst for ESPN’s top game of the week, joined the beloved pregame show in 1996 and has often served as Corso’s file.

McDowald’s membership to USA Fencing has been terminated for five years following multiple violations of USA Fencing’s Code of Conduct and Athlete Code of Conduct, according to a notice USA Fencing emailed to members Aug. 29.

McDowald, 29, will be eligible to apply for reinstatement Aug. 29, 2030 subject to approval by the USA Fencing Grievance and Disciplinary Committee and the USA Fencing Board of Directors, according to the notice. The notice said the Grievance and Disciplinary Committee issued the decision in the disciplinary matter.

In 2023, McDowald was temporarily suspended for allegations of misconduct, according to the U.S. Center for SafeSport website.

SafeSport is an independent body tasked by Congress with protecting athletes in the Olympic movement.

In 2023, McDowald’s behavior undermined the chances of the men’s epee team to qualify for the Paris Olympics in 2024. During the final touch of Team USA’s semifinal bout in the Pan-American Senior Games, McDowald kicked a freestanding banner near the strip, “among other actions,’’ according to a press release issued at the time by USA Fencing.

The actions resulted in Team USA being awarded no qualifying points for the Paris Olympics. The men’s epee team did not qualify for the Paris Olympics.

The Cowboys ranked 21st in our power poll … before shipping out Parsons, arguably their best player.
Already our NFC pick for Super Bowl 60, where do Packers check in now ahead of opener vs. Lions?
Big as the Parsons trade is, the three teams atop our power poll remain unchanged.

NFL power rankings with the 2025 regular season set to kick off Sept. 4 … and Micah Parsons on the move (previous rank in parentheses):

1. Philadelphia Eagles (1): There’s little doubt they’re a legit threat to follow the Chiefs, whom they decisively vanquished in Super Bowl 59, as the second team to repeat in a four-season span. The early part of the season already seems to be breaking Philly’s way − the Eagles now set to open against a Cowboys squad devoid of Parsons, rather than the pitch-count version of Parsons, before heading to Arrowhead Stadium and catching the perennial AFC champions on the back end of their 10,000-mile roundtrip to Brazil in Week 1.

2. Baltimore Ravens (2): Looking for a flaw here? They didn’t manage to get in on the Parsons sweepstakes, otherwise … The biggest issue facing Baltimore presently might be avoiding boredom in September and October − and the Ravens have been known to strike some easily avoidable early schedule potholes in past seasons.

3. Kansas City Chiefs (3): You have to wonder just how engaged they’ll be during the regular season given how married they are to Super Bowl success.

4. Green Bay Packers (6): Some of the sager members of the NFL media corps had already picked them as the NFC’s Super Bowl 60 entry … not that anyone, cough, is looking for credit. But with Parsons now coming aboard in the kind of deal Pack fans rarely enjoy? Better buy another bandwagon. Or two.

6. Los Angeles Rams (5): A young team is hoping to pick up where it left off after last season’s resurgence refueled its Super Bowl aspirations. Unfortunately, that young team has an old quarterback with a creaky back who also effectively renders the entire operation a house of cards … all due respect to Jimmy Garoppolo.

7. Washington Commanders (7): They’ve eliminated one risk by resolving the contractual situation of longtime team captain Terry McLaurin. They’ve potentially invited another one by trading starting RB Brian Robinson to the Niners. FWIW, they’re also not going to be able to duck Parsons, drawing a Thursday night assignment in Green Bay in Week 2 − get ready, Laremy Tunsil.

8. Denver Broncos (8): They’re exactly why you don’t judge actual NFL teams by their fantasy football value. Denver arguably has the league’s best offensive line and defense. Who needs Bo Nix?

9. Detroit Lions (9): Much of the offseason focus has understandably been trained on their numerous coaching departures, including both coordinators. But let’s not forget that DE Aidan Hutchinson will be back wrecking shop in Week 1, either.

10. Pittsburgh Steelers (10): It’s worth wondering how long it will take QB Aaron Rodgers to practically get a handle on this offense after he sat out the preseason. Conversely, unnecessary penalties or not, fun to see new DB Jalen Ramsey sending the message Pittsburgh’s defense is back.

11. Arizona Cardinals (12): A 5-2 start coming out of a Week 8 bye seems quite reasonable for a team that struggled to get out of the blocks during its first two seasons under coach Jonathan Gannon. It might also be enough to distinguish the Cards in what appears to be a tightly packed NFC West.

12. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (14): Similar to the Lions, let’s not try to obsess over the delayed 2025 debuts of LT Tristan Wirfs and WRs Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan − not to mention the departure of OC Liam Coen … which we’ve now mentioned. Instead, let’s focus on the opportunity first-round WR Emeka Egbuka now has to make a run at Offensive Rookie of the Year honors.

13. San Francisco 49ers (11): In the event you’d lost track, Russell Gage, Skyy Moore, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Robbie Chosen (the latter two on the practice squad) are now part of the Niners’ expanded − by necessity − suite of wideout options. If that seems problematic … yep.

14. Seattle Seahawks (16): In the event you’d lost track, Dareke Young, Cody White, Jake Bobo, Ricky White III and Tyrone Broden (the latter two on the practice squad) are now part of the Seahawks’ expanded − by necessity − suite of wideout options. If that seems problematic … well, Seattle still has Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Cooper Kupp on what’s likely going to be a run-oriented offense that isn’t overly reliant on new QB Sam Darnold.

15. Minnesota Vikings (17): Their forecast was tempered at best at this time a year ago. So discount the Vikes at your peril. It also would have been crazy to wonder a year ago if J.J. McCarthy could fill Darnold’s shoes. Maybe the return of WR Adam Thielen, who will certainly ease the temporary absence of Jordan Addison, helps that cause.

16. Houston Texans (13): With RB Joe Mixon’s absence set to extend well into the fall, and his return nowhere in sight, an offense that already had a convulsive offseason has another major question mark going into Week 1 and beyond.

17. Cincinnati Bengals (18): With DE Trey Hendrickson sufficiently appeased (for 2025 anyway), this roster basically heads into the season intact, albeit a significantly more expensive version compared to the disappointing 2024 edition. Good luck with that.

18. Los Angeles Chargers (15): You don’t want to undersell a team coached by Jim Harbaugh. But there were enough concerns about portions of this roster before newly extended Pro Bowl LT Rashawn Slater blew out his knee.

19. New England Patriots (19): Exciting new head coach. Exciting free agent additions. Exciting rookie class. The new recipe may not coalesce immediately, but this team should be cooking with grease soon.

20. Jacksonville Jaguars (22): Are we already souring on the grand Travis Hunter experiment now that he’s apparently already been sideswiped by injury before the games that count have even started?

21. Chicago Bears (20): After an offseason seemingly overflowing with justifiable optimism, the last few weeks have been something of a reality check as rookie HC Ben Johnson gets his sea legs under him while his players try to stay afloat in their new reality. Fun fact, Bears are actually great swimmers.

22. Atlanta Falcons (24): Amazing how (relatively) quiet RB Bijan Robinson 1,887 yards from scrimmage in 2024 were but good bet he breaks into the coverage of Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry in 2025.

23. New York Jets (23): Preseason was a mixed bag, similar to their new Nike ‘Gotham City Football Club’ uniforms. But even if the new-look offense struggles at times in 2025, which is probably a given, don’t expect the toughness rookie HC Aaron Glenn is injecting into this organization to take a day off.

24. Carolina Panthers (25): There’s fresh hope around this group after it finished 2024 on the upswing. But, wow, is QB Bryce Young’s receiving corps green following the trade of Thielen and release of Hunter Renfrow.

25. Dallas Cowboys (21): There’s no way to spin the departure of Parsons − at least to this locker room − as anything other than a gut punch. And what becomes of first-year coordinator Matt Eberflus’ defense, which has been stripped of Parsons, its linchpin, and DeMarcus Lawrence? Seems like the Cowboys could be morphing into Bengals West … without the same level of offensive firepower.

26. New York Giants (29): If the NFL crowned preseason champs, you’re probably looking at ’em. Alas. But nevertheless, even though it may not be reflected much in the 2025 win column, plenty of good feels around this team − primarily generated by rookie QB Jaxson Dart and LB Abdul Carter. Factor in WR Malik Nabers, and the Giants’ may just have the league’s premier trio of youngsters … at least based on what we saw in their dominant August. In a Parsons-less NFC East, maybe Big Blue now has a legit shot at third place.

27. Las Vegas Raiders (26): Maybe first-round RB Ashton Jeanty justifies the hype. Maybe Tyree Wilson, their top pick in 2023, is finally ready to help DE Maxx Crosby. Maybe QB Geno Smith won’t have to give way to recently obtained Kenny Pickett. Notice a theme of maybes?

28. Miami Dolphins (27): If this summer taught us anything, there are still concerns about what’s going on inside the building and also on the field. Factor in several key starters nursing training camp injuries, and a problematic team that usually starts well under coach Mike McDaniel may struggle to replicate even that.

29. Tennessee Titans (28): September could be tough, but don’t be surprised if this team becomes an incrementally tougher out as the season progresses … and rookie QB Cam Ward starts imprinting his unmissable stamp on the organization.

30. Cleveland Browns (31): There are some good players in this lineup. Rookie QB Shedeur Sanders isn’t one of them … and that will almost surely be the story until that changes.

31. Indianapolis Colts (30): Quarterback notwithstanding, this roster has plenty going for it. But despite how hard it is to trust Daniel Jones, Indy nevertheless decided he was a preferable option to Anthony Richardson as QB1 … so drumming up much optimism here is a tough ask.

32. New Orleans Saints (32): Maybe new QB1 Spencer Rattler, 24, has grown leaps and bounds after six ugly starts as a rookie in 2024. But the fact second-rounder Tyler Shough, 25, couldn’t beat him out just feels like this organization’s latest setback.

Entering September, MLB’s playoff picture is getting more clear.
Locked in division and wild-card races, the Yankees need more from shortstop Anthony Volpe.
Shohei Ohtani is easing back into action and is an X-factor for the Dodgers in October.

With Major League Baseball’s playoff field coming into greater focus each week, the final sprint through September may be missing some of its typical drama.

Yet plenty is at stake with division titles, first-round byes and worrisome issues for top contenders to clean up before the annual bracket challenge is at hand.

A little less than 30 games remain for most clubs, time enough for swing adjustments, a few more spins around the rotation and bullpen roles to gain or lose definition. USA TODAY Sports takes a look at six players crucial to their teams’ prospects of getting in – and staying in – the playoffs:

Anthony Volpe, Yankees SS

There are multiple authors of this uninspired Yankees season, but the club seemed to tacitly say the quiet part out loud in giving Volpe a two-day “mental reset” recently. And within that span, the club concocted a five-game winning streak to stabilize its hold on a playoff spot.

But this season has been mystifying for the once-Gold Glove shortstop, who outside of his 18 homers has been beaten badly at the plate (.207, 83 adjusted OPS) and brutal afield.

He ranks fourth-to-last among major league shortstops with -7 outs above average, which only partly illustrates how the cog of the Yankees’ defense has set a sloppy tone for the entire unit.

By season’s end, Volpe and the Yankees will reach a key checkpoint. He’ll have three years of service time under his belt, eligible for arbitration and halfway to free agency. Any significant revamp on either side of the ball will likely have to come in Volpe’s offseason. Yet how the Yankees and Volpe finish will frame their playoff prospects and his long-term stature in the organization.

Shohei Ohtani – the pitcher

It seemed unthinkable just a couple months ago, when the Dodgers were slow-walking Shohei Ohtani’s pitching ramp-up and an October of one- and two-inning bursts seemed likely.

But after striking out nine and maintaining his stuff over five innings of his last start, it’s only fair to wonder: Will we see The Full Ohtani in the postseason?

Ohtani threw a kitchen sink of seven pitches at the Cincinnati Reds in notching his first win of the season. Better yet, his four-seam fastball hovered at 98.2 mph, just 0.1 off his season average, while his sinker was at 96.6 mph, 0.4 above average.

And perhaps most important, Ohtani is learning to wean himself off his sweeper, a pitch he probably fell too in love with before succumbing to a second Tommy John surgery in 2023.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers’ pitching plans continue to stay weird. Where it once looked like they’d be back to spackle-and-Casparius postseason plans, the horses are aligning: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, followed by now-healthy Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow. Clayton Kershaw has found the Fountain of Something at age 37. Youngster Emmet Sheehan is throwing the ball very well.

And then there’s the 6-foot-4 full-time DH, an enticing weapon come the playoffs. Should Ohtani continue taking steps forward in his last four or five starts, it would be hard to put a ceiling on what he may do through October.

Orion Kerkering, Phillies RHP

Autumn is nearing and Kerkering is a member of the Phillies bullpen and that means it’s spooky szn. And this Phillies squad seems even more extreme than the past two editions undone in October by the relief core: The club has at times resembled the class of the NL, yet its best-laid bullpen plans have long since gone awry.

Top lefty Jose Alvarado cannot pitch in the postseason due to a PED violation. Projected closer Jordan Romano has an 8.23 ERA and has made a mess of any role, though he’s now on the IL. Joe Ross has been DFA’d, Lou Trivino is here and the club hopes to wring a few clean innings from 40-year-old late-season mercenary David Robertson.

Yes, the club landed top-flight closer Jhoan Duran at the trade deadline. The lefty crew – Matt Strahm and Tanner Banks – is pretty solid. The overall depth will be buttressed by a starter – perhaps Taijuan Walker – dropping into the ‘pen for the playoffs. But in a Zack Wheeler-less universe, there will be more innings for relievers to cover.

And it would greatly aid the Phillies’ cause if Kerkering can punch his way up the pecking order.

His strikeout-walk ratio has fallen by almost half from his rookie year (4.35 to 2.32) and his WHIP has risen (1.08 to 1.33), as hitters have tracked his devastating sweeper more effectively. And while the Phillies have aimed to start him with clean innings, he’s failed this month when dropped into the fire, allowing six of nine inherited runners to score.

For a guy like Kerkering, things can turn on a dime. Teammates still swear by his stuff. He’s still striking out 10.1 batters per nine in his young career. He just needs to find it – and hopefully before the Phillies see a tightly-contested NLDS turn on their bullpen failings.

Riley Greene, Tigers LF

Make no mistake: Greene is a great player having a season worthy of his All-Star selection. And there are many reasons why the Tigers roared to a 59-34 start, only to go 19-23 since, most notably a pitching rotation that simply is what it is after ace Tarik Skubal.

But the Tigers’ slide in some ways mirrors Greene’s softer second half. He’s been almost metronomic from a power standpoint, his 34 longballs coming in bursts of six or seven each month of the season.

On the downside, he’s running away with the major league strikeout title with 168, coming at a 30.8% clip. Greene took a .284 average and .879 OPS into the All-Star break, but that was accompanied by a highly unsustainable .365 batting average on balls in play.

It’s all come back to earth some, with a .250 second-half BABIP and a .216/.284/.433 line. The body of work is framed by mid-range hard-hit percentages (45.1%) and average exit velocity (90 mph).

In short: Streaky dude. That doesn’t mean Greene can’t perk up to solidify the Tigers’ first-round bye – and take that into the playoffs.

Dylan Cease, Padres RHP

Left unspoken in the will-they-won’t-they trade discourse surrounding Cease and the Padres last month was the fact he hadn’t pitched particularly well this season. He took a 4.59 ERA into deadline week and has backtracked further, with a 5.72 ERA and 1.44 WHIP in six starts, failing to pitch past the fifth in five of them.

Remarkably, the Padres went 5-1 in those starts, but the stakes are rising for all parties. San Diego still has a shot at the NL West title, sitting two games behind the Dodgers. And they could easily land in any of the three wild-card slots, the difference between hosting or having to play, say, at the division-winning Dodgers in the first round.

Cease has his own motivations: He’s a free agent after this season and has a high-profile window to salvage this platform season with a strong stretch run and playoff performance. Further regression may create a quandary of accepting a shorter-term deal and trying to pump his value next season.

Andrew Vaughn, Brewers 1B

Within the game’s most unlikely story – Milwaukee Brewers, best team in baseball – resided an even more startling development:

Andrew Vaughn, indispensable cog.

The Brewers were good – 50-40, four games behind the Chicago Cubs – when they summoned Vaughn to the big club to fill in for injured Rhys Hoskins, days after acquiring him from the Chicago White Sox, where he was one of the worst hitters in the game.

Yet the .189/.214/.314 banjo hitter on the South Side suddenly blossomed into a slugger worthy of the No. 3 overall pick in 2019, as Vaughn was. The Brewers won their first nine games with him in the lineup and entered Friday 33-12 – with a 6 ½-game NL Central lead – since he joined the squad.

Late August, though, hasn’t been as kind: Milwaukee dropped its last two series, to sub-.500 teams, and Vaughn is in an 8-for-40 (.170) hole with just one extra-base hit in his last 13 games. Meanwhile, Hoskins has a .924 OPS in the first eight games of his rehab assignment for a thumb sprain and should return next week. The Brewers can do some mixing and matching to get both Vaughn and Hoskins in the lineup, such as depositing Christian Yelich in right field every so often. This final stretch of games, though, should determine just what they have in Vaughn – a summer curiosity or an October staple.

The Cowboys’ defense is facing a radical shift in the wake of the Micah Parsons trade.
While Jerry and Stephen Jones have emphasized improving the run defense, a pass rush that counted on Parsons’ disruption faces plenty of uncertainty.
Dante Fowler Jr. might have to do a lot of the heavy lifting for a unit that otherwise features few proven products on the edge.

When things first began to click for Donovan Ezeiruaku in training camp, the Dallas Cowboys rookie sparked a competition of sorts with his fellow pass rushers.

‘We just had a two-minute period, and the first thing Dante (Fowler Jr.) said to me was, ‘I’ll meet you back there (in the backfield),” Ezeiruaku said in late July. ‘I said, ‘No, I’m going to get there first.’ And then the first play, I got back there so I asked, ‘Where you at?”

One month later, the Cowboys now are counting on Ezeiruaku, Fowler and a host of other faces to be the ones to hold court in opponents’ backfields.

On Thursday, Dallas agreed to trade two-time All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers in exchange for two first-round draft picks and defensive tackle Kenny Clark. The move served as a stunning resolution to the escalating friction between one of the league’s most accomplished young defensive stars and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, with the two having clashed over negotiations for a contract extension.

But regardless of what led to the split – Jones insisted it was driven by a belief that his team could be better both right away and well into the future – Dallas now must recalibrate a pass rush no longer ignited by Parsons, who not only offered prolific production but a gravitational pull for the rest of the defense. And with the season-opener against the defending-champion Philadelphia Eagles less than a week away, the unit has little time to sort things out.

Here’s a look at how the Cowboys might move forward, from this season and beyond:

Where do Cowboys go next in 2025 after Micah Parsons trade?

In terms of generating sacks and pressure from a singular source, replicating Parsons is a non-starter.

Parsons recorded 52 ½ sacks in four seasons in Dallas. The five defensive ends on the active roster – Ezeiruaku, Fowler, Marshawn Kneeland, Sam Williams and James Houston – have combined for 73 sacks in their careers. Last year’s defense ranked second in sack rate at 9.22% largely thanks to Parsons, who had twice as many sacks as any other player and created both clean-up opportunities and favorable looks for others with the attention he demanded.

But in changing the narrative to center on a run defense that was gashed through former coach Mike McCarthy’s previous playoff faceplants and final disappointment of a 7-10 season, Jones and his son Stephen, the team’s executive vice president, seemed to indicate the unit is shifting its focus rather than attempting to recreate what it once had.

“We feel like in addition to the depth, you can scheme pressure as well,” Stephen Jones said in a news conference Thursday evening. “I think (defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus) has been really good at that, in terms of using scheme to get pressure on the quarterback. But what is tough to scheme is to stop the run.’

Jerry Jones also left open the possibility that the team could use any of its four first-round draft picks in the next two years ‘to go get somebody right now.’ But between the scarcity of top pass rushers typically available on the market and the high cost that typically accompanies acquiring and paying players at the position, Dallas probably won’t have any sizable additions coming in the calendar year.

And that means cobbling together a pass rush in the aggregate.

Fowler might have to shoulder much of the early load. The 10th-year veteran enjoyed a surprising 2024 breakout that included 10 ½ sacks, with his eighth-ranked pass rush win rate placing him among the league’s elite. But operating as the main attraction is a steep challenge for the 31-year-old, and the players behind him are largely unproven.

Micah Parsons trade grades: Who won deal between Packers, Cowboys?

Kneeland, who looks set to hold down the other starting spot, did not record a sack as a rookie in 11 games. At 6-3 and a burly 275 pounds, the third-round pick is built to set edges and overwhelm blockers with his bull rush, but there’s not much more to his game at the moment. Williams remains a wild card after missing all of last season with multiple torn knee ligaments, though his pre-injury burst and fluidity made him a tantalizing prospect. Houston pushed his way into a roster spot with a promising camp and preseason performance. And Ezeiruaku, the second-round pick who ranked second in the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2024 with 16 ½ sacks, might be called on to provide a spark even earlier than anticipated.

Cowboys’ 2026 free agency options

At this moment, the 2026 free agency class looks particularly promising at edge rusher. Don’t expect it to stay that way, though.

Pro Bowler Nik Bonitto seems like a virtual lock to stay with the Denver Broncos, while the Miami Dolphins likely won’t want to let Jaelan Phillips go so long as the 2021 first-round pick can stay healthy. Trey Hendrickson appears headed for his long-awaited split from the Cincinnati Bengals and a trip to the open market, but Jones almost surely would have reservations about paying top-of-market money to a sack artist nearly five years older than Parsons. And while the Seattle Seahawks’ Boye Mafe and Baltimore Ravens’ Odafe Oweh could price themselves out of their current teams’ plans, Jones has largely been content to surf the smaller later waves of free agency rather than make a big splash with marquee names.

Cowboys’ 2026 draft options

If the Cowboys are to draft another edge rusher after using three second-round picks at the position in the last four years, it would make sense for the team to target the kind of high-end difference-maker it lacks with Parsons gone.

Eight months out from the 2026 draft, the class doesn’t have a clear-cut, elite disruptor in the mold of Parsons or Abdul Carter, the fellow Penn State product who went No. 3 overall to the New York Giants in April. But plenty can change with an entire season still to play out.

Winners, losers of Micah Parsons trade: Ample fallout for Cowboys, Packers

Here are seven draft prospects who could be of interest to the Cowboys if the team sets its sights on a potential replacement for Parsons:

1. Keldric Faulk, Auburn

At 6-6 and 285 pounds, he’s potentially the picture of what the Cowboys are seeking for their new age on defense. Comfortable tossing aside blockers, he’ll be a force in the run game and help set the tone up front from Day 1. His seven sacks in 2024 belie his overall pass-rushing ability, which is still in need of refinement. But supersized, stout edge rushers are en vogue, and Faulk is the kind of project the Cowboys – or any other team – likely will be eager to take on.

2. T.J. Parker, Clemson

With 11 sacks, 19 ½ tackles for loss and six forced fumbles in 2024, he’s both one of the more proven and most promising edge rushers in this class. Parker might not be the overbearing force that teammate Peter Woods is along the front, but his disruptiveness against the pass is hard to match.

3. LT Overton, Alabama

Like Faulk, he fits the bill of the powerful inside-outside threat that Dallas seems to be gravitating toward. The 6-5, 283-pound former five-star recruit is very much a work in progress as a pass rusher after notching just two sacks last season, but he could flourish with the bevy of stunts, twists and slants Eberflus loves to employ.

4. Matayo Uiagalelei, Oregon

A 6-5, 272-pound defensive end nicknamed ‘Young Concrete’ has to be of interest to the Cowboys. Uiagalelei is among college football’s most forceful players, consistently tapping into a dogged pursuit that helps him wear down blockers.

5. Rueben Bain Jr., Miami (Fla.)

After a soft-tissue injury hampered him as a sophomore, Bain has some work to do to re-establish himself as a premier prospect. But if he’s able to recapture his form he displayed as a freshman, when he stormed onto the scene with 7 ½ sacks and consistent pressure, the 6-3, 275-pound power rusher should stir plenty of interest as a potential early pick.