Namibia 191 for 8 (Erasmus 72, Kotze 36, Mahboob 3-29) beat Singapore 104 all out (Param 28, Frylinck 4-21, Viljoen 3-14) by 87 runs

Gerhard Erasmus struck four sixes off a 29-run over in the 13th to highlight a dominant night for the tournament's hottest team as the Namibia juggernaut notched their fourth straight win, beating Singapore by 87 runs on Saturday night at Dubai International Stadium. Namibia captain Erasmus notched his second straight fifty to clinch a spot in the playoffs of the T20 World Cup Qualifier while Singapore fell to their fourth straight loss to bow out of the tournament, having struggled since the mid-tournament bowling ban placed on offspinner Selladore Vijayakumar.

Singapore captain Amjad Mahboob won the toss and chose to bowl in the hopes of restricting Namibia to a total that would need to be chased down in roughly 13 overs, depending on Namibia's exact score, in order to pass them on the net run rate tiebreaker with an equal six points in the event of a win. They had a reasonable shot of doing so at the seven-over mark after Singapore struck thrice in three overs to make it 55 for 3.

Stephen Baard skied a flick off Sidhant Singh with the medium pacer calling off the infield to take a return catch at short cover in the fifth. Niko Davin fell into a trap hooking Janak Prakash to Singapore's best fielder, Tim David, at deep backward square in the sixth. Craig Williams then became Sidhant's second wicket slicing to backward point in the seventh to round out the sequence with another bow and arrow celebration.

But Sidhant had nothing left in his quiver to deal with Erasmus. Taking on the captain in his final over, Sidhant repeatedly opted for length deliveries and Erasmus capitalized on the true bounce of the pitch by tonking him over square leg and midwicket on four consecutive occasions for six. Sidhant went around the wicket for the fifth ball and though he denied Erasmus the chance to emulate Garry Sobers and Yuvraj Singh, the Namibia captain still managed to slice a wide yorker over third man for four. A skier off the last ball was put down by David at midwicket with Erasmus on 39 and he continued to punish Singapore for the next six overs before finally perishing to a flat slog to deep midwicket off Mahboob in the final over.

By that stage though, Erasmus had completed two devastating stands: 70 runs for the fourth wicket with JP Kotze and another 53 in five overs with JJ Smit for the fifth. Erasmus was one of three wickets in four balls to end the innings for Singapore captain Mahboob, but there were only faint smiles in the Singapore family box above the team dugouts.

Needing to chase the target of 192 in 12.3 overs in order to pass Namibia on net run rate, Singapore tried their best to imitate Netherlands against Ireland at Sylhet in 2014, swinging hard from the first over. But instead of 24 runs off Andy McBrine, they lost two wickets in the first six balls to Jan Frylinck. Surendran Chandramohan was bowled off his pads with an inswinger for a golden duck before Aryaman Sunil skied a slog over point. Aritra Dutta fell skying Christi Viljoen to mid-on making it three wickets in the first ten balls.

The big scalp of David was dropped twice in two balls in the third over but he only managed to last until the eighth over before charging left-arm spinner Bernard Scholtz, waving through a skiddy arm ball to be stumped for 19. At 49 for 5, the match was effectively done before the halfway point of the chase. Singapore lasted until the 18th over before Viljoen and Frylinck finished off the tail.

Namibia can finish no lower than third place in the group regardless of Sunday's results on the last day of group play, guaranteeing them at least two chances to clinch a spot in the T20 World Cup for the first time.

Amelia Kerr played a gem of an innings to help the Brisbane Heat come through a tricky chase against the Hobart Hurricanes with one ball to spare at Allan Border Field. The Heat fell to 5 for 82 in the 15th over chasing 124 but Kerr hit 29 off 19 balls while the in-form Beth Mooney provided the anchor with an unbeaten 44. The key over came with the Heat needing 29 off 18 balls and Kerr took four boundaries off Belinda Vakarewa. The stuffing was knocked out of the Hurricanes' innings when Jess Jonassen took three wickets in four balls in the 15th over but Heather Knight (61 not out) played a superb hand to nurse them to 123 which almost proved enough.

Tahlia McGrath hit a dominant, unbeaten 65 off 46 balls to lead the Adelaide Strikers to a convincing seven-wicket victory over the Perth Scorchers. Chasing 116 after an impressive all-round bowling display, the Strikers were unsteady at 3 for 22 in the third over with Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates dismissed in the first seven balls of the innings. However, McGrath, who struck eight fours and two sixes, took charge and alongside Lauren Winfield the pair knocked off the runs with more than five overs to spare. Megan Schutt had set a superb tone with the ball when she started with consecutive maidens and the wicket of Amy Jones. Yesterday, Jones and Lanning added 129 for the first wicket against the Brisbane Heat but here they made just seven between them with Lanning bowled by Devine in her first over. Sarah Coyte backed up the early wickets with 3 for 18 off her four overs.

The experienced Alex Blackwell guided the Sydney Thunder home in a thriller at Bankstown Oval to keep the Melbourne Stars winless. Blackwell made 45 not out from 36 balls and timed the chase to perfection. The Thunder had stumbled to 6 for 108 after Madeline Penna took 4 for 20 for the Stars. They needed 34 to win from the last 20 balls but Blackwell struck two fours and two sixes to get them home with two balls to spare with the support of Rene Farrell. The Stars have lost four from four to start the season despite Elyse Villani and Lizelle Lee both scoring half-centuries as they posted 5 for 141. Farrell was outstanding with the ball taking 1 for 18 from her four overs.

Each week during the season, our college football writers are picking the four teams they think belong in the playoff right now. This weekend, No. 5 Oklahoma's 48-41 loss at Kansas State on Saturday dropped the Sooners from the writers' top four.

Kansas State withstood a fourth-quarter rally from Oklahoma after the Wildcats built their lead with a 17-0 third quarter.

The other top-ranked teams won Saturday.

No. 1 Alabama routed Arkansas 48-7 with Mac Jones filling in nicely for injured starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Jones passed for 235 yards and three scores.

No. 2 LSU edged No. 9 Auburn 23-20. Joe Burrow passed for 321 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score.

No. 3 Ohio State rolled past No. 13 Wisconsin 38-7.

No. 4 Clemson had no trouble against Boston College.

The 59-7 win was Clemson's 23rd consecutive victory. Trevor Lawrence passed for 275 yards and three TDs.

Here's how our writers see the playoff field after Week 9. (Note: These are not their projections for how the season will end.)

Andrea Adelson: 1. LSU; 2. Clemson; 3. Alabama; 4. Ohio State
Edward Aschoff: 1. Ohio State; 2. LSU; 3. Alabama; 4. Clemson
Kyle Bonagura: 1. Ohio State; 2. Alabama; 3. Clemson; 4. LSU
Bill Connelly: 1. Ohio State; 2. LSU; 3. Alabama; 4. Penn State
Heather Dinich: 1. LSU; 2. Ohio State; 3. Alabama; 4. Clemson
David Hale: 1. LSU; 2. Ohio State; 3. Clemson; 4. Alabama
Sam Khan Jr.: 1. LSU; 2. Ohio State; 3. Alabama; 4. Clemson
Chris Low: 1. Ohio State; 2. LSU; 3. Alabama; 4. Clemson
Ivan Maisel: 1. Ohio State; 2. LSU; 3. Alabama; 4. Clemson
Ryan McGee: 1. LSU; 2. Alabama; 3. Clemson; 4. Penn State
Adam Rittenberg: 1. LSU; 2. Ohio State; 3. Alabama; 4. Clemson
Alex Scarborough: 1. LSU; 2. Clemson; 3. Ohio State; 4. Alabama
Mark Schlabach: 1. Ohio State; 2. LSU; 3. Clemson; 4. Alabama
Tom VanHaaren: 1. Alabama; 2. Ohio State; 3. LSU; 4. Clemson

There was a time, believe it or not, when college football was not a duopoly, a kingdom ruled by Alabama and Clemson, with 128 other teams left to pick up the scraps. It's ancient history, really. It was way back in 2014, when the playoff was in its infancy, a mere six "Fast and Furious" movies had been made and Baby Shark was just a glint in Left Shark's eye. It was a time when "Clemsoning" was a pejorative and Nick Saban didn't have quite enough bling to make a Geico commercial. We were all so young and naive.

Forgive us, though, if we still have a hint of that naïveté after Saturday's games. Sure, we know how this season will probably end, with Clemson (big winners over Boston College on Saturday) and Alabama (dominant even without Tua Tagovailoa against Arkansas) playing for another championship. But Saturday also left us room to dream of a different future, of escaping this "Groundhog Day" and emerging into a brave new world where the playoff actually includes four teams capable of winning it all and the straight line pointing to another Bama-Clemson showdown suddenly veers in a new direction.

Just look at how Ohio State dominated Wisconsin's once unyielding defense Saturday. Rain battered the field, but it did nothing to slow down the Buckeyes' offense. Justin Fields looked like a poised veteran. The Buckeyes' running game that was stagnant last season was ferocious, led by J.K. Dobbins' 163 yards and two scores. There's a case to be made that no player impacts a game as much as Ohio State's Chase Young, who had four sacks and forced two fumbles, as the Buckeyes held Jonathan Taylor to only 52 yards, one of the worst games of his brilliant career. Surely this Ohio State team is good enough to challenge for a title, right?

Or dig into LSU's latest big win. The Tigers have already knocked off three top-10 teams, and even if Texas no longer looks like a showstopper, and Florida and Auburn won't present the same challenge as the Crimson Tide, the sheer volume of big wins has to mean something, right? Joe Burrow tossed his 30th touchdown of the season Saturday. The only other SEC quarterback to do that through eight games was Kentucky's Tim Couch in 1997, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. Perhaps there was room for worry about that LSU defense, which hadn't always looked sharp this season. No matter. The DBs at DBU utterly confounded Bo Nix on Saturday. The freshman QB was just 4-of-19 with a pick on throws of five yards or more. Surely this LSU team has the firepower to end Alabama's SEC supremacy, right?

And just think of the storylines. Ed Orgeron, having proved the world wrong, now on the brink of bringing his beloved LSU to the promised land. Ryan Day, in his first year replacing Urban Meyer, becoming the first coach not named Saban or Swinney to win it all since ... Urban Meyer. Oh, and then there's Burrow, the guy who wasn't good enough for the Buckeyes, potentially getting a chance to prove his old team wrong. That might make for a slightly more interesting few weeks of coverage than a shot-for-shot remake of Swinney vs. Saban.

Of course, we might've once thought Oklahoma would wedge its way into the class of elite teams, too. It wasn't that long ago that the Sooners' D drubbed Texas in what was supposed to be a turning point, and the Jalen Hurts redemption arc was the storyline du jour.

That ended Saturday in Manhattan, Kansas, as unlikely a setting for the Oklahoma dream to die as any (well, except maybe Lawrence, Kansas).

What then, was Saturday's lesson? Did you watch Ohio State and LSU and think there might finally be new residents at the top of the college football mountain? Or did you watch Oklahoma join the likes of Georgia and Wisconsin on the losing end of a stunning upset and think it's only a matter of time for the Buckeyes and Tigers, too?

We're two weeks from the first College Football Playoff rankings. There are seven unbeaten teams remaining in the Power 5. That's the most at this point in the season since 2015, the year the Clemson-Alabama dynasty began. To no one's surprise, Alabama and Clemson are back once more.

So maybe we're grasping at straws here. Maybe LSU and Ohio State and Penn State and (sure, why not) Minnesota or Baylor will simply join the ranks of 2014 Mississippi State and 2015 Iowa and 2017 Miami. Cue Sonny & Cher, and don't forget your booties -- it's Groundhog Day all over again.

Or maybe this season is different. It's Week 9, after all. A fan can dream, right?

Heisman Five

Joe Burrow cemented his spot at the top with a solid game against Auburn's stout defense Saturday, but there's a new name making his way toward the top of the rankings.

1. Burrow, LSU

It wasn't his typical offensive fireworks, but Burrow completed 32 of 42 passes for 321 yards against one of the toughest defensive fronts in the country. That's enough to stay No. 1.

2. Chase Young, Ohio State

He hasn't been listed on the board at Caesars all season, but that should change. Young was dominant against Wisconsin on Saturday -- he recorded six tackles (five for a loss), four sacks and forced two fumbles. He's quite possibly the best all-around player in college football.

3. Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama

He didn't play Saturday as he is recovering from an ankle injury. The bigger question is whether he can get back for the game against LSU on Nov. 9. Without that, it's going to be hard to win the Heisman -- or for Bama to beat the Tigers.

4. Justin Fields, Ohio State

Two players from the Buckeyes? It's hard to argue with either performance. His line -- 12-of-22 for 167 yards and two TD passes -- won't wow anyone, but given that it came in dreadful conditions against one of the country's better defenses offers more evidence that Fields belongs on the short list of best QBs in the country.

5. Jalen Hurts, Oklahoma

He accounted for four touchdowns and nearly 500 yards, but it wasn't enough to keep Oklahoma's playoff chances from being put on life support.

Big bets and bad beats

• Is it too early to officially dub 2019 the year of the upset? We've still got more than a month to go, but this season has been chock full of shockers for the top teams in the country, with Kansas State's upset of Oklahoma as a 23.5-point underdog the latest to upend the top 10. In fact, in the past decade, there have been only eight games where an underdog as large as K-State pulled off a win over a top-10 team, and it has happened in back-to-back weeks, with Illinois (+30.5) stunning Wisconsin last week. Add in Georgia's loss to South Carolina two weeks ago, and there have already been three teams ranked in the top six fall to underdogs of 20-plus points.

• It's only fair that, given the ridiculousness of the ACC Coastal Division this year, the Duke-UNC clash Saturday provided us with the rare double bad beat. The Tar Heels entered as 3-point favorites and led 20-17 with a first-and-goal at the Duke 3, but Javonte Williams fumbled going in for the score. Duke recovered, kept a drive going with two critical UNC penalties, and had a first-and-goal at the Tar Heels 2 with 18 seconds to play. Duke looked poised to win, but Deon Jackson's ill-fated jump pass found the hands of UNC linebacker Chazz Surratt. The game ended in a push.

• Rutgers has suffered more than its share of indignities in recent years, but being a 7.5-point underdog at home to Liberty -- well, that's just one step too far. The Scarlet Knights refused to be embarrassed in front of their home fans -- both of them! -- and won 44-34. So even during a season in which the coach was fired, multiple players volunteered to take a redshirt year and the offense went six weeks scoring a total of 30 points, there are still some lows to which even Rutgers won't sink.

• Life is no fun for Rice fans in general, but for those who backed the Owls on Saturday, it felt especially unfair. Southern Miss was up 13-7 and converted a third-and-3 to the Rice 37 with 1:24 to play, effectively icing the game. That was plenty for a Rice (+10) cover, but the Owls gave up a 38-yard touchdown run with only 32 seconds to play -- yet another brutal blow in a brutal year.

• Akron supposedly played a football game Saturday, though there's no evidence the Zips actually showed up in a 49-0 loss to Northern Illinois. It also means Akron is the only FBS team that hasn't covered a spread this season. The Zips' eight losses have been by an average of 25 points.

Narrowing the list of contenders

Any hopes Notre Dame might back its way into the playoff debate came to an emphatic end Saturday with a 45-14 loss to Michigan. It was loss No. 2 on the year for the Irish -- a fate Michigan endured a week earlier -- which all but assures both teams will be watching the playoff from home. And it further shakes up the list of remaining contenders.

Seven Power 5 teams remain undefeated, but with head-to-head matchups coming in November, the list of unbeaten teams by year's end will max out at four, meaning we're close to seeing the one-loss teams scrape back into the mix. Notre Dame and Michigan won't be among them, but the door remains open for Utah and Oregon in the Pac-12, Georgia, Oklahoma and Wake Forest (all with some bad losses) and Florida (which would have a loss to LSU on its résumé).

Let's rank the Hoosiers

Odds are, Indiana won't crack the top 25 this week -- the Hoosiers got zero votes following Week 8 -- but they're 6-2 and bowl eligible for the first time since 2016. The Hoosiers haven't won seven games in a season since 2007 and, should enough AP voters decide to reward them for the hot start, it would be their first time ranked since 1994 -- by far the longest stretch by any Power 5 program. That year, Indiana spent exactly one week ranked, at No. 25. How long ago was it? "Timecop" starring Jean-Claude Van Damme topped the box office, and Boyz II Men topped the charts.

Randy Edsall bonus of the week

This is not a drill: UConn won a football game. Sure, the Huskies only beat woeful UMass, but given they are soon to be independent brethren, this one's big. The great irony, however, is that after Edsall earned bonuses for all kinds of crazy caveats in UConn losses this season, he actually has it in his contract that he gets fined $12.50 for every Huskies win. Strange, strange deal.

Coastal chaos

The ACC's dysfunctional, drama-filled Coastal Division had another epic Saturday, with Miami pulling off an upset at Pitt despite mustering only 208 yards of offense. We also saw UNC hold on to top Duke in a game that involved two turnovers at the goal line in the final three minutes. None of this should come as a surprise. So far this season, there have been 13 games between Coastal teams, and eight of them have been decided by a touchdown or less. The favorites in those games are just 6-7 overall and 4-8-1 against the spread. Now if only there was an image from this weekend that truly embodied all of the hilarity and ridiculousness of the Coastal Division. Oh, thanks, Miami.

It must be the hair

Oklahoma State went on the road and picked up a big 34-27 win over Iowa State. That was Mike Gundy's ninth win over a ranked team since the start of the 2017 season. The only active coaches with more in that same span are Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney and, as of Saturday, Ed Orgeron, according to ESPN Stats & Info research.

Under-the-radar play of the week

San Jose State had won only three games in the past two years, but the Spartans are now 4-4 after Saturday's win at Army that featured one of the most acrobatic catches you'll see this season. Receiver Bailey Gaither couldn't corral the pass initially after Army's Javhari Bourdeau interfered, but as Gaither fell to his knees, he grabbed the tipped ball and managed to tap a knee before crawling out the back of the end zone.

Under-the-radar game of the week

In the FCS ranks, Villanova managed to wrestle defeat from the jaws of victory for the second straight year against Stony Brook. Villanova blew a 21-0 lead last year, and this time around, Stony Brook came back from down 35-20 with less than five minutes to play. Stony Brook scored twice in three minutes of action, pulling to within two on a touchdown with 1:32 to play -- but it failed on the conversion try. Villanova recovered the ensuing onside kick and, at that point, had a 99.9% chance to win, according to ESPN's metrics. But Nova went three-and-out, losing 20 yards in the process, and gave the ball back to Stony Brook with 21 seconds to play. The Seawolves promptly went 59 yards on five plays and booted a winning field goal.

Videos of the week

How do the Charlotte 49ers celebrate a come-from-behind 39-38 win? Flexing at a rave, apparently.

Flex on 'em, @Coach_heals ��#ClubLIT | #GOLDstandard pic.twitter.com/SkHQY1BV3H

- ������������������ ���������������� (@CharlotteFTBL) October 27, 2019

Dabo Swinney likes to get as many players in the game as possible during a blowout, but letting his star linebacker line up as a long snapper might be a bit much.

Hey @ClemsonFB, let @isaiahsimmons25 play the position that's in his heart. pic.twitter.com/vO9NvoEcpQ

- Michael Burns (@MikeBurnsInSC) October 27, 2019

Michigan has found its QB of the future. He's somewhere in the crowd.

We're not sure if this makes up for the last decade of Kansas football, but it's close.

How's that for an ending? pic.twitter.com/sZRYCkHoF5

- Kansas Football (@KU_Football) October 27, 2019

WASHINGTON -- The pimp job lasted 11 steps. The first five, methodical and languorous, allowed Alex Bregman to admire his work. His left arm extended, his blonde maple bat pointing at the ball that was about to breach the left-field fence at Nationals Park, Bregman walked toward first base. On the sixth step, the pace picked up, and on the seventh, he relaxed his left arm, and on the eighth, the transfer began, and by the ninth, the bat was in his right hand. He was already halfway down the line when he took his 10th step. And on his 11th, his knuckles to the sky, Bregman's right fist opened. If you're going to drop the mic in the World Series, it might as well be on a grand slam.

It was the seventh inning Saturday, and the Houston Astros already led Game 4 of the World Series, but no lead is ever good enough for Bregman. If Jose Altuve is the heart of the Astros, Bregman is their soul -- all id, endlessly seeking gratification, loud and blustery and entirely aware of his greatness. No third baseman had hit a grand slam in a World Series game since 1964? Well, Bregman might say, just wait.

He is also, in many ways, the Astros' metronome. When he lags, they lag. When he speeds up, they speed up. And his pace in an 8-1 throttling of the Washington Nationals on Saturday that evened the World Series was breakneck. When Bregman suddenly looked like his regular-season self, the Astros followed suit.

Over the previous two weeks, in the American League Championship Series' six games and the first three of the World Series, the 25-year-old had gathered four hits in 31 at-bats and driven in three runs. Bregman's struggles emboldened Nationals manager Dave Martinez to intentionally walk Michael Brantley to load the bases for Bregman in Game 3 -- and he escaped the inning after a groundout. The struggles ended there. On Saturday, Bregman rapped three hits in five at-bats, drove in five runs and cleared the bases to double the Astros' run total.

"It's impossible to break him," Astros manager AJ Hinch said. "And it's impossible to get to him. He's not going to fail. He's just not. There's not a lot of people like Alex Bregman."

Nor, it should be noted, are there many teams like these Astros. Down two games to none after the Nationals stunned their co-aces Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander at Minute Maid Park, the Astros did not cower or fold. They did what Bregman does when he's slumping: work. They're at their best when they string together good at-bats, which they did in the first inning of Game 4, lacing four consecutive singles, including a run-scoring shot to left-center field by Bregman that scored Altuve and staked them to a 1-0 lead.

They would plate one more in the first, another two in the fourth on Robinson Chirinos' second home run in as many nights and get five shutout innings out of rookie starter Jose Urquidy, who previously had thrown a total of 4⅓ innings this October. The Astros answered the Nationals' first run in the bottom of the sixth by going walk, walk, single to load the bases for Bregman.

He was facing Fernando Rodney, who at 42 is the oldest active player in baseball. Bregman most certainly did not respect his elder. Rodney fired a low-and-inside sinker. Bregman tends not to offer at such pitches. He saw 72 of them during the regular season. He put only 11 into play. Only three went for hits -- all singles. Rodney threw a good pitch. Bregman is simply better than good.

"This game is a game of failure, and you're gonna fail a heck of a lot more than you succeed in it," Bregman said. "I think the feeling that I had when I hit that was I was pretty fired up."

So fired up that he took his sweet old time to get to first base -- 9.43 seconds, to be exact. The rest of the trot wasn't exactly Bolt-ish: 28.71 seconds total, almost a quarter-second slower than his 28.47-second jog in a Game 2 blowout loss.

That was the low moment for the Astros, who hadn't exactly sleepwalked their way to the World Series but certainly hadn't worn their Sunday best, either. They haven't hit with runners in scoring position. They haven't gotten a consistent run of excellent starting pitching. That they haven't more than they have and are still here, with three games left to decide a champion, two of them back in Houston, illustrates the sort of outfit they are.

Houston won 107 games during the regular season, 14 more than the Nationals. The Astros were the best team in baseball, the Nationals a wild-card team. Houston has gotten here essentially with three starters, not relying heavily on Urquidy, a 24-year-old right-hander, until he kept getting Nationals hitters out. He left the game after 67 pitches because Hinch is thinking ahead to a Game 7, a potential all-hands-on-deck chase for the championship.

Between now and then, the series gets Version 2.0 of Cole vs. Max Scherzer (Game 5 on Sunday) and Verlander vs. Stephen Strasburg (Game 6 on Tuesday). This World Series doesn't rank anywhere near the greats, not yet, but the halfway point of Game 4 bulldozed a path for it to get there.

"This is what it is all about," Bregman said. "This is why we play the game. Got great pitching, great offenses going at it. Can't wait."

He didn't exactly say it with the unbridled enthusiasm of Bart Scott, but then Bregman didn't need to. He'd already dropped the mic once.

Tiger Woods shot 4-under 66 in the delayed third round of the Zozo Championship to take a three-stroke lead into the final frame, which began immediately thereafter on Sunday in Chiba, Japan. Here’s how things played out in Round 3 at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club:

Leaderboard: Woods (-16), Hideki Matsuyama (-13), Gary Woodland (-12), Corey Conners (-11), Billy Horschel (-11), Xander Schauffele (-11), Rory McIlroy (-10)

What it means: Woods is 18 holes – which will be contested over two days – from claiming his 82^nd PGA Tour victory. That will tie Sam Snead for the all-time record. Woods is 43-2 when leading outright through 54 holes on the PGA Tour (and 24-0 when leading by at least three). He led by three entering the final round of the 2018 Tour Championship (win No. 80) and trailed by two at this year’s Masters Tournament (win No. 81).

Round of the day: It wasn’t the lowest score of the day, and it didn’t quite match his opening pair of 64s, but Tiger’s 66 was still, comparatively speaking, the best of the lot on Sunday. After the field was sidelined for a day because of Typhoon Bualoi, Woods built upon his two-shot advantage – though, not immediately. Tiger bogeyed his first hole in the third round, only to recover with four birdies in a six-hole stretch before the turn.

A steady Woods added two birdies and a bogey to his card on the back nine.

Best of the rest: Local favorite Matsusyama did his best to keep pace with Woods. He, like Woods, made four birdies and a bogey on the front side. He added two more on the inward half, for a 5-under 65. Though he is Woods' nearest pursuer, because of the Saturday wipe-out, officials didn't not regroup after the third round. Matsuyama will not be alongside Woods in the finale.

The lowest score in Round 3, however, belonged to Rory McIlroy. After opening in 72 and following that with a 65, McIlroy shot 7-under 63, courtesy an eagle at the par-5 18^th. He stands at 10 under par, six back of Woods.

Biggest disappointment: The Tiger Effect is alive and well. U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland and Keegan Bradley played Round 3 alongside Woods. On a scoreable day in soft conditions, Woodland, who is hoping to get one of Woods' Presidents Cup captain's picks, could only muster a 2-under 68; not bad, by any means, but still cost him two shots on the lead. Bradley shot 1-over 71 and dropped to 7 under par, nine off the pace.

Shot of the day: Well, there weren’t a lot of fireworks in the third round, but that didn’t temper the enthusiasm of the Japanese faithful. They have Tiger in the lead, Hideki in contention, and nothing but good vibes all around.

England XI 178 for 4 (Bairstow 78*, Ferguson 3-32) beat New Zealand XI 172 for 4 (Devcich 62, Kitchen 50) by six wickets

Jonny Bairstow wants to use the T20I series against New Zealand as a route back into Test cricket, after his omission following a lean summer, and he has started the tour with an unbeaten 78 off 45 balls as England XI chased down 173 with 11 balls to spare at Lincoln.

After a somewhat ragged and rusty display in the field on a blustery day - which included four dropped catches, three off Pat Brown - England slipped to 51 for 3 in the chase. Lockie Ferguson, returning to action after a broken thumb, removed Tom Banton, who struck his second ball for six, James Vince and Joe Denly to sit with 3 for 8 off two overs.

Bairstow and newly promoted vice-captain Sam Billings then steadied things with a stand of 61 with Sam Curran then helping close out the chase with 28 off 15 balls, including the winning six. Ferguson's figures were damaged when his last over was taken for 21. Captain Eoin Morgan opted to give others a hit as he slid down the order.

Morgan had opted to bowl with a new-look attack feature Brown and Saqib Mahmood. It was the more experienced Chris Jordan who struck first and then Adil Rashid claimed a wicket with his fourth delivery in his first match since the World Cup final.

However, the New Zealand XI put the visitors under pressure with Anton Devcich and Anaru Kitchen striking enterprising half-centuries off 35 and 36 balls respectively as they benefited from England's poor catching. Having suffered the most with three drops, Brown managed to claim his first wicket off his final delivery when Christian Leopard was caught in the deep.

Josh Clarkson gave the innings a strong finish by sending Mahmood, who was guilty of two of the missed chances, for sixes off the last two deliveries.

CHIBA, Japan -- Tiger Woods is 18 holes away from matching one of the PGA Tour's most esteemed records.

Woods overcame an opening-hole bogey Sunday morning at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club to shoot 4-under-par 66 in the third round of the Zozo Championship, building a three-shot advantage over Hideki Matsuyama through 54 holes of the first PGA Tour event in Japan.

The winner of 81 PGA Tour events including this year's Masters, Woods has never failed to win when leading by at least three strokes heading into the final round. He made six birdies and two bogeys.

The fourth round was underway when Woods finished, and he has a 1 a.m. ET (Sunday) tee time for the fourth round. He is expected to get in approximately nine holes before darkness falls.

A victory would be the 82nd of his PGA Tour career, tying him with Hall of Famer Sam Snead, who was given credit for his record-setting total at the 1965 Greensboro Open, when he also became the oldest player in PGA Tour to win at age 52.

Woods, 43, has some pretty good history on his side.

He has converted a 54-hole lead 54 out of 58 times on the PGA Tour, including 43 of 45 times when he was the outright leader. The only times he has failed to follow through with a victory was at the 1996 Quad Cities Open and the 2009 PGA Championship. He has never blown a 54-hole lead of more than two strokes.

Woods completed 54 holes at 194, 16 under par.

It still doesn't figure to be easy. Matsuyama, who has five PGA Tour victories and 12 in his native Japan, is a massive figure in his own country and rivals Woods in popularity. He is currently ranked 27th in the world after getting as high as No. 2 two years ago. He shot 65.

Xander Schauffele, Billy Horschel, Corey Conners and Gary Woodland -- who was two strokes back at the start of the round -- were five back at 11 under par.

With Friday's play being postponed due to heavy rains, the tournament was striving to get in as many holes possible Sunday so a Monday finish can end in the morning. The fourth round is to be suspended by darkness, with everyone returning to their spots on the course Monday morning at 7:30 (6:30 p.m. ET Sunday).

This is Woods' first PGA Tour start of the 2019-20 season and his first event since the BMW Championship in August.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Jim Harbaugh desperately needed a significant victory to change the conversation, at least temporarily, about the job he's doing at Michigan.

The Wolverines delivered.

Zach Charbonnet ran for two touchdowns in the first half and Shea Patterson threw for two scores in the second half, helping No. 19 Michigan rout No. 8 Notre Dame 45-14 in driving rain Saturday night.

The Wolverines (6-2) ended an eight-game losing streak against top-10 teams under Harbaugh, who needed a signature win in his fifth season that likely won't end with the Big Ten title he and college football's winningest program desperately covet.

"Some of the tests that the team has gone through, you can make a lot of growth from it," Harbaugh said.

With the lopsided loss, the Fighting Irish (5-2) knocked themselves out of the College Football Playoff picture on the rain-filled night that seemed to affect them much more than Michigan.

"Clearly a very disappointing night for Notre Dame," coach Brian Kelly acknowledged.

The Irish took advantage of a questionable call on pass interference to set up Ian Book's 7-yard TD pass to Cole Kmet to pull within 10 points late in the third quarter.

Michigan responded with Patterson's 8-yard touchdown pass to Donovan Peoples-Jones on the ensuing drive, which got off to a good start with Hassan Haskins' 49-yard run. The former linebacker finished with career-high 149 yards on 20 carries.

Charbonnet had 74 yards rushing on 15 carries, giving Michigan a tandem of running backs to control the game behind an offensive line that created huge holes.

Patterson threw his second TD early in the fourth, connecting on a 16-yard pass to Nico Collins, to put Michigan ahead 31-7.

"We played our best game," Patterson said. "When we do that, we're a really tough team to beat."

On a windy and wet night, it was difficult to throw the ball and Michigan's defense made it tough for the Irish to run.

Book was 8 of 25 for 73 yards the senior's lowest total since last year's opener when he threw just three passes and a TD that averted a shutout.

"We knew once we hit (Book) a couple times we knew that he was going to be jumpy in the pocket," Michigan safety Josh Metellus said. "I know what this defense is capable of. We can shut anybody out. If everybody is locked in, doing their job, we can shut out anybody in the country."

With the game out of reach, Kelly put in sophomore Phil Jurkovec and he threw a 14-yard TD pass to Javon McKinley late in the game to cut the deficit to 31 points.

Notre Dame's Tony Jones Jr. was held to 14 yards on eight carries, reminiscent of the game he had in a loss to No. 3 Georgia last month when he had just 21 yards rushing on nine carries. Jones ran for 100-plus yards in his previous three games before being shut down by the swarming Wolverines and being slowed by an undisclosed injury during the game.

The Irish had just 180 yards of offense.

"It wasn't necessarily that they threw anything at us that we weren't ready for, we just didn't hit our standard of offense," Kelly insisted.

Metellus seemed to disagree.

"The type of offense that they run, they try to stick to the same type of script, give the same guys the ball," he said.

THE TAKEAWAY

Notre Dame: It has been a long time since the Irish beat a top-20 team on its home field. Since beating No. 8 Oklahoma on Oct. 27, 2012, they have lost 11 straight true road games against teams ranked among the top 20.

Michigan: A much-needed boost of confidence was earned, setting up the team to potentially close the regular season strong. The Wolverines host rivals Michigan State and Ohio State along with road games against Maryland and Indiana.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Michigan will make a jump in the poll, and Notre Dame will probably plummet.

RIVALRY RENEWED

On the same day the schools completed their two-game deal, they announced Michigan will host Notre Dame in 2033 and the Irish will play the Wolverines at home in 2034.

MISSED TRIP

Notre Dame junior receiver Michael Young, amid reports he will transfer, didn't travel to Michigan and Kelly said there would be a discussion about his status with the team moving forward. Young had six receptions for 21 yards this season and started one game

UP NEXT

Notre Dame: Hosts Virginia Tech.

Michigan: At Maryland.

‘That was massive for me’ says Makin
By SEAN REUTHE – Squash Mad Correspondent

Welshman Joel Makin claimed a huge upset in the men’s CIB Egyptian Squash Open as he ousted Egypt’s No.2 seed Tarek Momen to get his first win over the World No.3 at the third attempt. It came on an amazing day when five of the top eight seeds crashed out.

The Welshman has tested Momen in their previous two encounters, taking a game each time, but he executed his game plan to perfection to nullify Momen’s attacking intent, winning 11-8, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9 to ensure he will play Frenchman Victor Crouin in the last 16. Crouin overcame World No.15 Zahed Salem to reach round three of a major PSA event for the first time.

“That was massive for me,” said 24-year-old Makin afterwards. “I have had two tight losses to him recently. He played well and he is tricky, he moves the ball quickly around the court, he’s got into some really consistent form over the last few years and he hasn’t really lost to anyone lower down for a while.”

Meanwhile, England’s Chris Simpson completed the biggest win of his career as he stunned World No.8 Mohamed Abouelghar in a five-game thriller. Abouelghar was making his first appearance of the season after recovering from a shoulder injury, but Simpson played some of the best squash of his career to win 12-10, 7-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-5 in 73 minutes, setting up a meeting with compatriot Daryl Selby.

“It’s the most unexpected win of my career,” said the Englishman afterwards. “I’ve had an awful summer. Injuries, literally almost no squash and that’s sometimes just the way it goes. I was relaxed, I went on and knew he had been injured as well and after having such a good end to the season maybe he put a bit of pressure on himself, but I just wanted to do myself justice and to be honest I didn’t have any considerations about winning.”

Meanwhile, Frenchman Baptiste Masotti also claimed his best career win as he played some immaculate squash to defeat World No.9 Miguel Rodriguez, 24 hours after he upset former World No.5 Borja Golan. He will now play off against Malaysia’s Eain Yow Ng for a place in the quarter-finals, with Ng beating Germany’s Raphael Kandra.

Elsewhere, Egypt’s World No.25 Mostafa Asal came back from two games down to upset World No.7 Diego Elias in a fractious 77-minute match. No.4 seed Simon Rösner was the other seed to bow out after he fell to Egypt’s Fares Dessouky. 

Men’s CIB Egyptian Squash Open, Great Pyramids, Giza, Egypt.

Second Round:
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) bt Omar Mosaad (EGY) 3-0: 11-2, 11-8, 11-7 (39m)
Mazen Hesham (EGY) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 3-1: 8-11, 11-3, 11-7, 11-8 (40m)
Daryl Selby (ENG) bt Max Lee (HKG) 3-1: 11-8, 11-9, 6-11, 11-9 (57m)
Chris Simpson (ENG) bt [6] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) 3-2: 12-10, 7-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-5 (73m)
[5] Paul Coll (NZL) bt Lucas Serme (FRA) 3-0: 11-6, 11-2, 11-3 (38m)
Gregoire Marche (FRA) bt Iker Pajares Bernabeu (ESP) 3-2: 11-5, 11-7, 10-12, 4-11, 11-1 (87m)
Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Tsz Fung Yip (HKG) 3-0: 11-9, 11-5, 11-4 (43m)
Fares Dessouky (EGY) beats [4] Simon Rösner (GER) 3-1: 11-5, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9 (61m)
[3] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) bt Greg Lobban (SCO) 3-0: 11-9, 11-6, 11-8 (36m)
Leo Au (HKG) bt Adrian Waller (ENG) 3-1: 12-10, 5-11, 13-11, 15-13 (69m)
Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) bt Nathan Lake (ENG) 3-0: 11-8, 11-8, 12-10 (43m)
Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [7] Diego Elias (PER) 3-2: 7-11, 14-16, 11-7, 11-7, 11-7 (77m)
Baptiste Masotti (FRA) bt [8] Miguel Rodriguez (COL) 3-0: 11-7, 11-8, 11-6 (48m)
Eain Yow Ng (MAS) bt Raphael Kandra (GER) 3-2: 11-8, 11-6, 6-11, 6-11, 11-6 (60m)
Victor Crouin (FRA) bt Zahed Salem (EGY) 3-0: 11-8, 11-8, 11-6 (36m)
Joel Makin (WAL) bt [2] Tarek Momen (EGY) 3-1: 11-8, 9-11, 12-10, 11-9 (68m)

Third Round (Top Half) October 27:
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) v Mazen Hesham (EGY)
Daryl Selby (ENG) v Chris Simpson (ENG)
[5] Paul Coll (NZL) v Gregoire Marche (FRA)
Saurav Ghosal (IND) v Fares Dessouky (EGY)

Third Round (Bottom Half) October 28:
[3] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) v Leo Au (HKG)
Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) v Mostafa Asal (EGY)
Baptiste Masotti (FRA) v Eain Yow Ng (MAS)
Victor Crouin (FRA) v Joel Makin (WAL) 

Pictures courtesy of  PSA