KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes is putting together one of the best seasons of any quarterback in NFL history. The Broncos? Well, they’re just happy to HAVE a quarterback. Drew Lock will be back under center when Denver visits Kansas City in the latest edition of their long-simmering AFC West rivalry Sunday night. Lock was deemed a high-risk close contact of infected quarterback Jeff Driskel — along with the rest of the Broncos’ quarterbacks — and left his team without a true QB to face New Orleans last week. The Broncos turned to a practice squad wide receiver to take most of the snaps in a 31-3 rout.
LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — David McCormack scored 17 points, Ochai Agbaji added 16 and Jalen Wilson had 12, helping seventh-ranked Kansas cruise to a 89-54 victory over lower-division Washburn in the Jayhawks' long-delayed home opener. Kansas had opened with a pair of games in Florida and beat Kentucky in Indianapolis before returning to Allen Fieldhouse. But their first game played in the Phog since the COVID-19 pandemic began lacked much of the atmosphere that has made the building one of the toughest in college basketball. Levi Braun and Tyler Geiman scored nine points apiece to lead the Ichabods.
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Brady Manek made a career-high eight 3-pointers and finished with 29 points as Oklahoma won its season opener with an 105-66 rout of UTSA. Manek, a 6-foot-9 senior forward who averaged 14.4 points last season, was 9 of 15 from the floor and missed only three 3s. His eighth 3-pointer of the game stretched the Sooners’ lead to 74-44 with 10:35 remaining. De’Vion Harmon had 22 points for Oklahoma (1-0), which has won 18 consecutive season openers dating to the 2003-04 season. Jhivvan Jackson led UTSA (1-2) with 28 points, on 10-of-21 shooting, including four 3-pointers.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — RJ Nembhard had 23 points, Kevin Samuel added 12 points and 15 rebounds, and TCU held off Northwestern State for a 74-68 win. PJ Fuller scored 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting and Jaedon LeDee scored 11 for the Horned Frogs. TCU pulled away with a 15-3 run to take its largest lead at 70-56 on Mike Miles’ 3-pointer with 3:57 left in the game. Trenton Massner scored 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting for the Demons.
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Tom Herman’s tenure as the coach at Texas could be decided in the Sunflower State. The Longhorns begin a two-game finishing stretch against Kansas State and the Jayhawks with a trip to Manhattan on Saturday. The dominant storyline this week is whether Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte is counting down the days on Herman’s time in Austin.
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Big 12 receiving leader Tylan Wallace never wants to come out of the game for No. 19 Oklahoma State. The senior now gets one more college game in his hometown of Fort Worth when the Cowboys play Saturday at TCU. Wallace missed the end of last season because of a torn ACL. Coach Mike Gundy says Wallace has done his team a huge favor with how he competes. The coach says Wallace has also proven to NFL scouts that he is healthy after the injury. TCU has won three of its last four games after a 1-3 start.
UNDATED (AP) — No. 13 Oklahoma will try to get rolling again after last week's game at West Virginia got postponed due to COVID-19 cases and contact tracing in the Sooner program. Oklahoma looks to build on a five-game win streak when it hosts Baylor. The Sooners blew past Oklahoma State 41-13 in their most recent game to boost their chances of playing in the Big 12 championship game. Baylor is coming off a dramatic win over Kansas State last week that snapped a five-game losing streak. Baylor made a 30-yard field goal as time expired to claim a 32-31 win.
UNDATED (AP) — No. 12 Iowa State's most remarkable accomplishment this season might not be beating Oklahoma and Texas in the same season for the first time. Or reaching the conference championship game if they do. It could be staying on the field in a season dominated by the pandemic. The Cyclones are one of three Big 12 teams set to finish their 10-game regular season Saturday. The others are Kansas State and Texas Tech. While the Big 12 has only had to reschedule three games so far, there are still the weekly and even daily COVID-19 issues for every team.
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — No spectators will be allowed at the Rose Bowl for the College Football Playoff semifinal on Jan. 1 because of state, county and city of Pasadena COVID-19 restrictions. The Tournament of Roses says it requested special permission to allow for a limited number of spectators or a select number of guests of players and coaches at the 90,888-seat stadium but was denied. Los Angeles County is under a stay-home order that took effect this week and runs through mid-December. Pasadena has its own public health department and can set its own rules, but has mostly followed the county's lead during the pandemic.
THURSDAY SCORES
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Temple at (12)Villanova 7 p.m. (Canceled)
St. John's at (17)Texas Tech 9 p.m. (Canceled)
Final (3)Iowa 99 W. Illinois 58
Final (7)Kansas 89 Washburn 54
Final (16)Virginia Tech 64 VMI 57
Final (25)Arizona St. 70 California 62