KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 306 yards and a touchdown, Harrison Butker kicked four field goals, and the Kansas City Chiefs held off the Denver Broncos 19-8. It was the Chiefs' 16th straight win over their longtime AFC West rivals. Travis Kelce had nine catches for 124 yards for Kansas City with Taylor Swift again cheering him on from an Arrowhead Stadium suite. The Broncos' Russell Wilson was held to 95 yards passing with a touchdown and a pair of interceptions. Denver has not beaten the Chiefs since Sept. 17, 2015, the year Peyton Manning led the Broncos to the Super Bowl.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Pop superstar Taylor Swift was back at Arrowhead Stadium on Thursday night to watch Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Denver Broncos. Her return came one day after Swift walked the red carpet in Los Angeles for the premiere of her concert movie at The Grove. Swift and Kelce have been in a budding relationship the past few weeks, ever since the All-Pro tight end invited her to a game when he failed to meet her during her Eras Tour. Thursday night's game was the third that Swift has attended in four weeks.
HOUSTON (AP) — Donovan Smith threw a 49-yard touchdown pass that was caught by Stephon Johnson as time expired to give Houston a thrilling 41-39 win over West Virginia. The teams combined to score 42 fourth-quarter points. Smith finished with 253 yards passing and four touchdowns, completed his final 16 passes, and added 2-yard TD run as Houston earned its first Big 12 win. Trailing 35-24, West Virginia cut the lead to three on an 8-yard touchdown run and a 2-point conversion pass to Traylon Ray. After Houston was forced to punt, Garrett Greene found Hudson Clement for a 50-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-10 to give the Mountaineers a four-point lead with 12 seconds left. Greened finished with 391 yards passing with two TDs and also ran for two scores for WVU.
UNDATED (AP) — The Oklahoma State Cowboys are preparing to face the backup Kansas quarterback that beat them last year. The 23rd-ranked Jayhawks are 5-1 even while playing half of their games without injured star quarterback Jalon Daniels because of back issues. Jason Bean likely will start Saturday against the Cowboys. Bean had 296 total yards and three touchdowns last year in a 37-16 win that snapped Kansas' 12-game losing streak in its series against Oklahoma State. Also in the Big 12 this weekend, Texas Tech running back Tahj Brooks puts his streak of four consecutive 100-yard rushing games on the line against Kansas State and the league's top rushing defense.
UNDATED (AP) — Kansas has won five of its first six games for the second straight year and wants to stay on track against Oklahoma State. Kansas star quarterback Jalon Daniels has missed the past two games with a back injury. The Jayhawks have a capable replacement in Jason Bean if necessary. Kansas visits an Oklahoma State team coming off an inspired 29-21 win over Kansas State. The Cowboys have settled on quarterback Alan Bowman, and the offense has looked better in his two starts. Oklahoma State could make a statement with back-to-back wins against highly regarded teams.
UNDATED (AP) — Texas Tech will try to win its third consecutive Big 12 game since a disappointing 1-3 start to coach Joey McGuire’s second season. The defending conference champion Kansas State Wildcats have a seven-game winning streak in the series. They are on the road for the second week in a row after losing 29-21 at Oklahoma State last week. Texas Tech running back Tahj Brooks has four consecutive 100-yard rushing games, including career highs with 31 carries for 170 yards in a win last week at Baylor. Kansas State is the Big 12's best rushing defense, allowing 93.4 yards rushing per game.
UNDATED (AP) — Big 12 newcomer BYU and TCU will meet for the first time since 2011. It will be the third different conference in which they have played games against each other. The Cougars and Horned Frogs previously overlapped in the Western Athletic Conference from 1996-98, and were also together in the Mountain West from 2005-10. They have split their eight conference games against each other. The Cougars are coming off an open date. TCU running back Emani Bailey is averaging 115 yards rushing per game. He'll be going against a BYU defense that could be without leading tackler linebacker Ben Bywater because of a shoulder injury.
UNDATED (AP) — New Big 12 Conference foes Iowa State and Cincinnati are set to face off for the first time Saturday. The Bearcats and first-year coach Scott Satterfield look to end their three-game losing streak while securing their first win in Big 12 play. A victory for the Cyclones would equal their win total from a season ago and give them a 3-1 start in conference play for the fifth time under eighth-year coach Matt Campbell.
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The Colorado Buffaloes will play another late game when they host Stanford on Friday night at sold-out Folsom Field. The game won’t start until at least 8 p.m. Mountain and doesn’t figure to finish until at least 11:30 p.m. Coach Deion Sanders isn’t a big fan of the late kickoffs, calling it the stupidest thing ever invented.The only other time Colorado has played on a Friday the 13th was in November 2015, when the Buffs lost 27-24 to Southern California.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Nick Castellanos became the first player to hit multiple homers in consecutive postseason games, leading the Philadelphia Phillies to a 3-1 win in Game 4 of their NL Division Series that knocked the 104-win Atlanta Braves out of the playoffs for the second straight year. The Phillies head next week to the NLCS and will play the Arizona Diamondbacks, making their first trip 2007. Game 1 is Monday in Philadelphia. Trea Turner hit a solo homer in the fifth for a 2-1 lead as the Phillies make another run at the franchise’s first World Series title since 2008.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers were left wondering why they can’t win in October after they were swept out of the NL Division Series. They’ll spend all winter searching for answers while reliving their quick exit for the second straight season. Three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw has a major decision to make on whether he returns for a 17th season or retires. He dealt with a lingering shoulder injury over the final months of the season and got lit up by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLDS opener. The Dodgers' rotation could be bolstered next year by the return of Walker Buehler.
GENEVA (AP) — The Russian Olympic Committee has been suspended by the IOC for breaching the Olympic Charter by incorporating sports bodies in four regions in eastern Ukraine. Russian Olympic officials provoked the dispute last week by accepting the councils in Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia as its members. The suspension does not immediately affect any Russians who are returning to compete in international sporting events as neutral athletes. The Russian Olympic Committee can challenge the IOC decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.
DALLAS (AP) — Walt Garrison, who led the Big 8 in rushing for the Oklahoma State Cowboys, won a Super Bowl as a fullback with the Dallas Cowboys and competed as a rodeo cowboy, has died. He was 79. The NFL team said on its website Thursday that Garrison died overnight. It did not give a cause of death. A fifth-round draft choice out of Oklahoma State, the 6-foot, 205-pound Garrison played nine years in Dallas and retired in 1974 as the No. 3 rusher and No. 4 receiver in franchise history. But it was Garrison’s rodeo career — which he called his first love — that made him the ultimate cowboy. He also was a longtime spokesman for U.S. Tobacco and its Skoal smokeless brand.
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NATIONAL LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
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NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE