KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Deshaun Watson led Cleveland on back-to-back touchdown drives before the Kansas City Chiefs’ backups overcame two pick-6s from their quarterbacks and rallied for a 33-32 victory over the Browns on Saturday in the exhibition finale for both teams. Struggling Browns kicker Cade York had given them the lead with a 40-yarder with 4:23 to go, but the Chiefs went the other way to set up Harrison Butker's 44-yarder for the final margin. York had another FG attempt blocked in the final minute. Watson played four series and was 5 of 10 for 92 yards with a TD pass. Juan Thornhill and Caleb Biggers had the pick-6s for the Browns. Justyn Ross, Ihmir Smith-Marsette and La’Mical Perine had touchdown receptions for Kansas City.
DENVER (AP) — His teammates serenaded tight end Albert Okwuegbunam after he played the starring role in the Denver Broncos’ 41-0 blowout of the Los Angeles Rams in the teams’ preseason closer Saturday night. Okwuegbunam caught seven passes in eight targets for 109 yards and a TD. The capper was a one-handed, 20-yard grab on fourth down that set up Denver’s final TD. Jarrett Stidham directed Denver to scores on its first five drives. Wearing white uniforms at home for the first time in 20 years, the Broncos built a 27-0 halftime lead after lighting up their mammoth new scoreboard, the gemstone of a $100 million offseason stadium upgrade.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Will Grier threw for 305 yards with star quarterback Dak Prescott as his play-caller. Grier had a hand in four touchdowns in a 31-16 win over the Las Vegas Raiders in a preseason finale Saturday night, a day after the Cowboys appeared to fill his third-string role by acquiring Trey Lance in a trade with San Francisco. With Prescott in his ear, Grier completed 29 of 35 passes with two TDs and ran for 54 yards with two more scores in a likely Dallas swan song after two seasons behind backup Cooper Rush, and not taking a snap in the regular season. The loss ended a six-game preseason winning streak for Las Vegas, which was tied with Pittsburgh for the NFL’s longest after Baltimore’s record 24-game run ended at Washington last week.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — No. 6 Southern California opened the season with a 56-28 victory over San Jose State. Caleb Williams passed for 278 yards and four touchdowns in his return from his Heisman Trophy season, and freshman Zachariah Branch made an electrifying debut with a 96-yard kickoff return and a 25-yard reception for touchdowns. Dorian Singer, Tahj Washington and Brenden Rice also caught TD passes and Austin Jones rushed for two more scores as USC opened its second season under Lincoln Riley with another impressive offensive performance that easily covered the Trojans’ persistent defensive flaws.
UNDATED (AP) — Welcome to the final season of college football as we know it. That might sound extreme, but 2023 has an end-of-an-era feel. Texas and Oklahoma are taking their last lap in the Big 12. The Pac-12 is still a Power Five conference. Will it even be a conference in 2024? The College Football Playoff is a four-team event for the last time this year, before tripling in size. Before the maps are redrawn and the stakes are remade, there is one more season to left to appreciate what is being lost — or long for what’s being gained.
UNDATED (AP) — The Big 12 Conference is bigger than ever this season with 14 teams. That includes newcomers BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF in the final season for No. 11 Texas and No. 20 Oklahoma before they go to the Southeastern Conference. The Longhorns and Sooners are the only remaining conference members with national championships in football. The Big 12's future was in question two summers ago. But the conference added the four teams starting play this year, and next year will bring in four teams that are now in their final Pac-12 seasons.
UNDATED (AP) — The four newcomers in the Big 12 Conference brought some huge student bodies into the league, and some long trips too. The league now has 14 schools spread across eight states, from West Virginia to Florida to Utah. Those numbers will increase next year when it will be 16 teams in 10 states. UCF with nearly 60,000 undergraduate students has the largest enrollment for Big 12 schools, surpassing Texas for the most. With just over 10,000 undergrads, TCU is the smallest. But the Horned Frogs made the College Football Playoff national championship game last season.
SEATTLE (AP) — Teoscar Hernández homered twice and drove in six runs as the Seattle Mariners matched a franchise record with seven home runs in a 15-2 rout of the Kansas City Royals. Hernández hit a grand slam to highlight a seven-run third inning and added a 446-foot shot off position player Matt Duffy in the eighth for his 21st of the season. Josh Rojas, Mike Ford, Julio Rodríguez, Cal Raleigh and Cade Marlowe also homered for Seattle, which won for the 10th time in 11 games. Logan Gilbert delivered seven strong innings for Seattle, allowing just one run and two hits.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Zack Wheeler struck out 10 while pitching into the eighth inning, and Bryson Stott, Nick Castellanos and Brandon Marsh all went deep as the Philadelphia Phillies set a club record for home runs in a month and beat the St. Louis Cardinals 12-1. Bryce Harper doubled among his three hits and drove in two runs for the defending NL champion Phillies, who are in first place in the wild-card standings. Philadelphia’s 48 home runs in August topped the 46 they hit in September 2019.
BALTIMORE (AP) — Ryan Mountcastle doubled in two runs in the sixth inning to put Baltimore ahead for good, and the Orioles got an effective performance from their realigned bullpen in a 5-4 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Saturday night. Baltimore has won four straight and seven of eight to move 33 games over .500 (81-48) for the first time since the end of the 1997 season. The victory enabled the Orioles to maintain their three-game lead over second-place Tampa Bay in the AL East.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Chris Buescher won the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway, eliminating fan favorite Chase Elliott from the playoffs and sending Bubba Wallace into the postseason. Buescher and teammate Brad Keselowski finished 1-2 for RFK Racing, with Buescher winning for the third time in the last five races. Because Buescher already had won, Wallace got the 16th and final playoff spot on points. Ryan Preece flipped about a dozen times after sliding into the infield grass with six laps to go and came to a halt in his mangled No. 41 Ford. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver was able to get out with help.
ATLANTA (AP) — Viktor Hovland is one round away from the FedEx Cup title and its $18 million prize. Hovland shot a 66 to build a six-shot lead over Xander Schauffele in the Tour Championship. Hovland is coming off a 61 in the final round last week at Olympia Fields to win the BMW Championship. Schauffele had a 68. He will have to repeat Rory McIlroy's feat from a year ago of rallying from six shots behind. Collin Morikawa had a 73 to fall seven behind. Scottie Scheffler didn't make birdie until the 18th hole for a 73. He was nine back.
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Sha’Carri Richardson and Noah Lyles anchored the U.S. to back-to-back victories in the 4x100 relays, giving the Americans a sweep of the relays at world championships for the first time since 2007. For Lyles, it closed out a 3-for-3 championships. He’s the first man since Usain Bolt in 2015 to win the 100, 200 and the short relay at worlds. When Lyles crossed the line, closing out a lap of 37.38 seconds for the U.S., he lifted three fingers in the air to punctuate what he’s done.
SATURDAY SCORES
INTERLEAGUE
Final Boston 8 L.A. Dodgers 5
Final Baltimore 5 Colorado 4
Final L.A. Angels 5 N.Y. Mets 3
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Toronto 8 Cleveland 3
Final Tampa Bay 3 N.Y. Yankees 0
Final Seattle 15 Kansas City 2
Final Houston 9 Detroit 2
Final Chicago White Sox 6 Oakland 2
Final Texas 6 Minnesota 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final Washington 3 Miami 2
Final Atlanta 7 San Francisco 3
Final Milwaukee 5 San Diego 4
Final Philadelphia 12 St. Louis 1
Final Chicago Cubs 10 Pittsburgh 6
Final Cincinnati 8 Arizona 7
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE PRESEASON
Final Arizona 18 Minnesota 17
Final Buffalo 24 Chicago 21
Final Green Bay 19 Seattle 15
Final Kansas City 33 Cleveland 32
Final N-Y Jets 32 N-Y Giants 24
Final Washington 21 Cincinnati 19
Final Jacksonville 31 Miami 18
Final Tampa Bay 26 Baltimore 20
Final Dallas 31 Las Vegas 16
Final Denver 41 L.A. Rams 0
TOP-25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Final (13)Notre Dame 42 Navy 3
Final (6)Southern Cal 56 San Jose St. 28