ATLANTA (AP) — Marcus Mariota and the Atlanta Falcons are still under .500 and still in the thick of the NFC South race. Younghoe Koo's 53-yard field goal gave Atlanta the lead with less than two minutes to play and the Falcons overcame another impressive game from Chicago's Justin Fields to beat the Bears 27-24 on Sunday.

HOUSTON (AP) — Carlos Curry scored 16 points as Georgia Southern beat Western Michigan 63-57 on Sunday.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Between Kenny McIntosh and Jack Podlesny, top-ranked Georgia got all the important points it needed on a day where style points weren't possible. McIntosh rushed for a career-best 143 yards, including a crucial 9-yard score late in the third quarter, and the Bulldogs withstood Kentucky's fourth-quarter rally Saturday for a 16-6 win and its second consecutive unbeaten season in the Southeastern Conference.

HARRISONBURG, Va. (AP) — Todd Centeio threw four touchdown passes, Percy Agyei-Obese ran for two scores and James Madison rallied from 20 points down to beat Georgia State 42-40 on Saturday. …

MACON, Ga. (AP) — Kamar Robertson scored 23 points as Mercer beat Winthrop 77-68 on Saturday. Robertson also added five rebounds for the Bears (2-2). David Craig added 15 points while …

NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees has won the American League MVP award, and St. Louis Cardinals slugger Paul Goldschmidt took the NL prize. After hitting 62 home runs this season to break the AL record, Judge easily beat out Los Angeles Angels two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani in an MVP race some thought might be close. The 6-foot-7 outfielder received 28 of 30 first-place votes and two seconds for 410 points from a Baseball Writers’ Association of America panel.

ATLANTA (AP) — Javon Franklin had 14 points and 11 rebounds, Deivon Smith added 11 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three blocks and Georgia Tech beat Northern Illinois 68-50 on Thursday night. Georgia Tech (3-0) has started a season with three straight wins for the first time since the 2015-16 season.

ROME, GA. – The Shorter University Hawks took down the Trojans of Trevecca Nazarene 73-64 in their home opener Tuesday night at Winthrop-King Centre. The Hawks scored 36 points in the first half to take a 12-point lead going into the second half.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Top-ranked Georgia and Kentucky were picked to finish 1-2 in the SEC East. They play each other Saturday headed in different directions. The Bulldogs have clinched another division title and look to complete a second consecutive unbeaten season in league play. The Wildcats have fallen off the map after a 4-0 start and No. 7 ranking, losing four of six.

Aaron Rodgers and his peers around the NFL are calling for teams to tear up their turf playing surfaces and replace them with grass. The outpouring comes a week after NFL Players Association President JC Tretter called on six venues to immediately change their field types, saying the artificial turf in those stadiums was resulting in higher injury rates.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Matt Ryan refused to stray from his regular routine. Not after throwing nine interceptions and losing fumbles in his first seven games with the Indianapolis Colts. Not after suffering a separated throwing shoulder. Not even after being benched for the first time in his 15-year career. Instead, the 37-year-old quarterback kept working his way back.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A women's volleyball team at a small, historically Black college withdrew from their conference tournament in Alabama after a member was subjected to racial abuse during an awards banquet, officials said. A Talladega College player using a feature that allows nearby cellphones to transfer data to each other received a “racially motivated picture” during the Southern States Athletic Conference's volleyball awards banquet, held last week during the tournament in Montgomery, the conference said in a statement.

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia Tech has lost two quarterbacks for the rest of the season with former starter Jeff Sims nursing a foot injury and No. 1 backup Zach Pyron out with a broken collarbone. Yellow Jackets interim coach Brent Key said Tuesday that Sims, the team’s starter since 2020, will spend the rest of the season in treatment and will not be a part of team activities.

NEW YORK (AP) — Atlanta's Michael Harris II and Seattle’s Julio Rodríguez, a pair of 21-year-old center fielders, are baseball's Rookies of the Year. Harris batted .297 with 19 homers, 64 RBIs and 20 steals. He was voted the NL award, getting 22 firsts and eight seconds for 134 points from a different BBWAA panel.

No. 1 Georgia leads an unchanged top five in The Associated Press college football poll. The rest of the Top 25 has been shuffled around after eight ranked teams lost. The Bulldogs received all but …

Stetson Bennett threw for three touchdowns and No. 1 Georgia overcame a first-half surge by Mississippi State for a 45-19 victory. With the victory, the East Division champion Bulldogs secured a spot …

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Atlanta Falcons were one of the NFL’s feel-good stories in the first month of the season. But the NFC South might be starting to slip away from the Falcons after three losses in four games, including a disappointing 25-15 defeat to the Carolina Panthers on Thursday night. It was Atlanta’s second loss in five days after falling 20-17 to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday — and a game it had to have to remain in first place in the division.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — D’Onta Foreman carried 31 times for 130 yards and a touchdown, Laviska Shenault added a 41-yard burst to the end zone and the Carolina Panthers beat the Atlanta Falcons 25-15 on a rainy night. The Panthers piled up a season-high 232 yards on the ground, and Eddy Pineiro kicked four field goals after he missed two critical kicks in a 37-34 overtime loss to the Falcons 11 days earlier.

Top-ranked Georgia looks to follow up its big win over Tennessee by beating Mississippi State in Starkville. Georgia's top-ranked SEC defense will face another high-octane offense, which is led by the SEC's top passer Will Rogers. Georgia's Stetson Bennett is second, and is coming off a three-touchdown performance against the Volunteers. MSU is coming off a 39-33 overtime win over Auburn.

Georgia was the new No. 1 in the College Football Playoff rankings, followed by Ohio State, Michigan and TCU. The Bulldogs rise from three to one was no surprise after their dominant victory against the previously top-ranked Volunteers. Clemson, which was No. 4 in the selection committee’s first rankings last week, also lost. That cleared the way for changes in the top four.

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Kario Oquendo scored 18 points, Frank Anselem added 11, and Georgia defeated Western Carolina 68-55 in a season opener. The win came in the debut of Bulldogs coach Mike White, the 23rd coach in Georgia’s 118 seasons of basketball. Anselem’s jumper with 18:40 remaining in the first half was the game’s only score until teammate Braelen Bridges scored three-and-a-half minutes later.

ATLANTA (AP) — Lance Terry scored 16 points to lead six players in double figures and Georgia Tech rolled to a 93-63 victory over Division II-member Clayton State in a season opener. Terry sank 4 of 8 shots from 3-point range for the Yellow Jackets, who snapped a two-game skid in openers. Rodney Howard finished with 15 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Jalon Moore added 11 points and nine rebounds off the bench.

HOUSTON (AP) — Fans celebrated the Houston Astros’ World Series win with a downtown parade on Monday. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said he encouraged fans coming to the victory parade to “arrive early, wear Astros’ colors, be loud and celebrate safely.”

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tom Brady became the first player in NFL history to throw for more than 100,000 yards, surpassing the milestone on a 15-yard completion to Leonard Fournette during the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Los Angeles Rams. The league’s career passing leader entered the matchup of the past two Super Bowl champions needing 164 yards to reach a plateau the 45-year-old quarterback concedes no one would have imagined possible for him to achieve when he entered the NFL as a sixth-round draft pick in 2000.

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Georgia leaned on its defense in winning its first national championship since 1980 last season. Georgia again is undefeated and No. 1 this season following a 27-13 win over No. 2 Tennessee. Georgia has changed its winning formula this season. The Bulldogs boast an energized offense led by quarterback Stetson Bennett to match its defense.