CINCINNATI (AP) — The Cincinnati Bengals scored on their first four possessions and rolled to a 35-17 win over the Atlanta Falcons. Joe Burrow passed for 345 yards and three touchdowns in the first half. He finished with 481 yards passing. Burrow also ran for a 1-yard score as the Bengals improved to 4-3, their first time over .500 this season. Receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tyler Boyd both eclipsed the 100-yard mark in the first half. Boyd finished with a career-high 155 yards on eight catches.

KENNESAW, Ga. (AP) — Xavier Shepherd scored from 4-yards out in overtime to lift Kennesaw State to a 33-30 win over Tennessee Tech in a wild non-conference showdown. The teams combined to score 17 points in the final 90 seconds of regulation.

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Gerald Green ran for two touchdowns and Jalen White ran for 138 yards and a score to carry Georgia Southern to a 28-23 win over Old Dominion. The Eagles took the lead for good with 10 seconds left in the first quarter on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Vantrease to Amare Jones. White scored just before intermission to make it 14-3 and Green scored on runs of 30- and 3-yards in the second half.

ATLANTA (AP) — For Marcus Mariota, the loss of confidence was the biggest blow. He’d experienced so much success, from winning the Heisman Trophy to being the No. 2 pick in the NFL draft. Then, for one of the rare times in his life, he wasn’t good enough. Mariota was benched by the Tennessee Titans in 2019 and barely played at all the past 2 1/2 seasons. But he's putting together a comeback in Atlanta.

CINCINNATI (AP) — The Atlanta Falcons and Bengals meet Sunday in Cincinnati, each with a chance to move above .500 for the first time this season. Both are 3-3 and are gaining confidence. The Bengals, last year’s AFC champions, dropped their first two games and had to come from behind again to beat the Saints last week. The Falcons, despite low preseason expectations, share the NFC South lead with Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

BOONE, N.C. (AP) — Camerun Peoples rushed for 168 yards and two touchdowns, quarterback Chase Brice added two rushing scores and Appalachian State scored 28 unanswered points in a 42-17 victory over Georgia State. Appalachian State, which had 41 rushing yards in its last game against Texas State, rushed for 379 yards and six touchdowns. Nate Noel added 69 yards rushing, Daetrich Harrington had 52 and Ahmani Marshall 48.

ATLANTA (AP) — Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Charley Trippi, a runner-up for the Heisman Trophy at Georgia who went on to lead the Cardinals to their most recent NFL championship in 1947, died Wednesday. He was 100. The University of Georgia announced that Trippi died peacefully at his Athens home.

ATLANTA (AP) — Top-ranked defending national champion Georgia is far from assured of a return trip to the Southeastern Conference championship game. The SEC East is making its biggest AP Top 25 power move since Florida’s Steve Spurrier and Tennessee’s Phillip Fulmer ruled the division 25 years ago. And Georgia is facing a grueling series of games in the second half of the season.

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) — The Atlanta Falcons have placed cornerback Casey Hayward on injured reserve. Hayward hurt his shoulder attempting to tackle San Francisco’s Deebo Samuel in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 28-14 victory over the 49ers. Hayward joined Atlanta as a free agent during the last offseason, giving the team another outside cornerback to team with A.J. Terrell.

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Hawks have committed to De’Andre Hunter as one of the key players on a team looking to return to championship contention, signing the small forward to a $95 million, four-year extension. The new deal begins with the 2023-24 season. Hunter could have become a restricted free agent following this season.

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Falcons are atop the NFC South. Yes really. Six weeks into a season of extremely low expectations, the Falcons are 3-3 and tied with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the division lead. Making it even more impressive, Atlanta has managed to have success while opening with a very difficult stretch of games that included the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

Tennessee has moved to No. 3 in The Associated Press college football poll behind No. 1 Georgia and No. 2 Ohio State. It comes after the Volunteers knocked off Alabama, one of five unbeaten teams to fall during a wild weekend. The Crimson Tide dropped three to No. 6 and swapped places with the Vols after Tennessee kicked a field goal as time expired Saturday. Alabama is out of the top five for the first time since 2019.

ATLANTA (AP) — Marcus Mariota threw a pair of touchdown passes and ran for another score against the NFL’s top-ranked defense, leading the Atlanta Falcons to a 28-14 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. Mariota completed his first 13 passes for the 3-3 Falcons, finally throwing his lone incompletion on his final attempt of the day with less than 11 minutes remaining.

More than four months of dazzling baseball carried the Atlanta Braves to a fifth straight NL East title. Their hopes of repeating as World Series champion fell apart in less than a week.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Brandon Marsh hit a three-run homer and J.T. Realmuto lined an inside-the-park home run that sent the Philadelphia Phillies bolting headfirst into the NL Championship Series for the first time since 2010 with an 8-3 win over the Atlanta Braves in Game 4. Realmuto became the first catcher to hit an inside-the-parker in postseason history and Bryce Harper punctuated the romp with a clinching home run that helped the Phillies take the NL Division Series 3-1 against the World Series champion Braves.

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Stetson Bennett threw for 289 yards and two TDs as Georgia stamped its return to No. 1 with a 55-0 rout of Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs improved to 7-0 with a total blowout after three straight weeks of rather lackluster performances. Bennett was nearly perfect in the first half, completing 18 of 20 for 211 yards and two TDs — his first scoring passes in nearly a month.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Chase McGrath made a 40-yard field goal as time expired to give No. 6 Tennessee a 52-49 victory over No. 3 Alabama on Saturday. As soon as the kick knuckle-balled through the uprights, some of the more than 100,000 fans stormed the field to celebrate the Volunteers ending a 15-game losing streak to the Crimson Tide.

ATLANTA (AP) — There may be no better opportunity for Marcus Mariota to prove he can be more than a bridge at quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons than in this week’s matchup with San Francisco and its top-rated defense. San Francisco's defense was dominant in last week’s 37-15 win over the Carolina Panthers, another NFC South team.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia Phillies are set to play their first home playoff game since 2011. The Phillies and Atlanta Braves are tied 1-1 in the best-of-five NL Division Series. Game 3 is Friday. The Phillies send Aaron Nola to the mound. Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker has yet to name a Game 3 starter.

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — The Georgia Bulldogs are back atop the rankings, even though their style points are a bit lacking. They reclaimed the No. 1 spot after Alabama went down to the final play against Texas A&M. Georgia has struggled a bit against overmatched opponents, especially on offense. The 6-0 Bulldogs will be facing another team that fits that bill on Saturday, hosting 3-3 Vanderbilt in an SEC contest between the hedges.

ATLANTA (AP) — Kyle Wright threw six brilliant innings to outduel Zack Wheeler, and the Atlanta Braves evened their NL Division Series at one game apiece with a 3-0 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. After rain delayed the first pitch by nearly three hours, Wright surrendered just two hits. He claimed the win when the Braves got to Wheeler for three runs in their half of the sixth.

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Former Georgia coach Vince Dooley has been released from a hospital after being treated for COVID-19. Georgia says the 90-year-old Dooley was released from an Athens-area hospital on Monday, two days after he was admitted. The school says he was treated for a “mild case” of COVID-19. Dooley said in a statement he plans to attend No. 1 Georgia’s homecoming game against Vanderbilt on Saturday and participate in a planned book signing

HOUSTON (AP) — Yordan Alvarez smashed a game-ending, three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning off Robbie Ray, wrecking Seattle’s strategy of using a Cy Young Award winner in a rare relief role and vaulting the Houston Astros over the Mariners 8-7 in their playoff opener.

ATLANTA (AP) — Nick Castellanos drove in three runs and made a potentially game-saving catch in the ninth inning, lifting the Philadelphia Phillies over the reigning World Series champion Atlanta Braves 7-6 in the opener of their NL Division Series. The Phillies have won three straight games to begin these playoffs, hardly looking like a team making its first postseason appearance since 2011.

ATLANTA (AP) — With their postseason curse eradicated, the Atlanta Braves have every reason to believe this could be another stellar October. They aren’t lacking for confidence, that’s for sure, after chasing down the New York Mets in a captivating NL East race. Heading into their NL Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Braves are playing with the swagger of a playoff-hardened team that won it all a year ago.