Chicago Fire star Nemanja Nikolic said Saturday that he is leaving the team after three seasons.

Nikolic made the announcement on his Facebook page. He is the second-leading goal scorer (51) in franchise history and played in 96 games for the club.

The 31-year-old Serbian didn't reveal his future plans with his statement focusing on his farewell and being a synopsis of his time in Chicago.

"When a period of time is intense, if you concentrate and perform on daily basis, time passes by quickly," Nikolic wrote. "It was a massive three years for me and my family. When I look at the memories I had in Chicago, I realize the huge amount of action that happened to me in the U.S. It was a big jump. We went far from home. ...

"People were skeptical about the adventure, but the unknown challenge motivated me and, luckily, I proved quickly that my decision was right."

Nikolic earned MLS All-Star honors and set a franchise-record with 24 goals in his first season in 2017. He tallied 15 goals the following season and had 12 this past season.

Ante Razov with 76 goals is the only player in Fire history with more tallies.

Nikolic represents the second big loss for the Fire. German standout Bastian Schweinsteiger announced his retirement earlier this week.

Schweinsteiger, a midfielder, tallied eight goals and 15 assists in 85 games over three seasons with Chicago, and was named an All-Star twice.

Italy secured a place at next year's European Championship finals with three games to spare thanks to a 2-0 win over Greece at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday.

A second-half penalty from Chelsea midfielder Jorginho gave the hosts the lead before Federico Bernardeschi drilled in the winner 12 minutes from time.

- Euro 2020: Who will reach the finals?

- Euro 2020 qualifying: All you need to know

Roberto Mancini's side have won all seven of their qualifying matches and top Group J on 21 points, having ended fifth-placed Greece's slim hopes of qualification.

Finland suffered a thumping 4-1 defeat away to Bosnia & Herzegovina but remain second on 12 points, two ahead of Bosnia and Armenia, who missed a golden opportunity to go joint second when they were held to a 1-1 draw away to rock-bottom Liechtenstein.

Italy, dressed in their controversial new green shirt for the first time instead of the usual blue, toiled during the first half as a well-drilled Greek side stopped the hosts from registering any shots on target despite them boasting 72% of possession.

Mancini's side found the breakthrough when Lorenzo Insigne's shot was blocked by the arm of defender Andreas Bouchalakis just after the hour mark, and Jorginho sent the goalkeeper the wrong way from the resulting spot kick.

The result was put beyond doubt late on when substitute Bernardeschi fired a shot into the bottom corner from outside the box.

"We were too frenetic in the first half but should've patiently moved the ball around to open up spaces," Mancini told Rai Sport. "Instead, we started long balls and that's no good.

"It was a much more relaxed second half, we kept focused and achieved our objective."

Victory assured Italy, who failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup finals, of top spot in their group and extended their winning run to eight matches in all competitions, one short of the all-time record set by Vittorio Pozzo's side of 1938/39.

An intriguing battle for second place is developing after two goals from Juventus midfielder Miralem Pjanic helped Bosnia & Herzegovina to thrash Finland 4-1 in Zenica.

Izet Hajrovic and Armin Hodzic also found the net for the hosts either side of a penalty and volley from Pjanic, while Joel Pohjanpalo bagged a late consolation for the Finns.

Armenia squandered the chance to draw level with Finland on 12 points after they took the lead away to Liechtenstein through Tigran Barseghyan, only for Yanik Frick to equalise with 18 minutes remaining.

Thirty-four for three, 20 for 3, and then 53 for 5.

This hasn't been a uniformly terrible tour for South Africa's batsmen. Dean Elgar and Quinton de Kock have both scored hundreds, and Faf du Plessis has made a couple of fifties. The lower order has stuck around to the extent that South Africa, on this tour, have achieved two of the five longest ninth-wicket partnerships ever seen in India.

But it has been a nightmare tour for South Africa against the new ball, and Temba Bavuma, their No. 4, isn't shying away from that.

"Look, from the guys at the top, the top-order batters, the guys who are entrusted with scoring the bulk of the runs, it does kind of hurt," Bavuma said at the end of the third day's play in Pune. "It does dent your ego when you're seeing the lower order go out and fight it out to do what you're really playing to do.

"The boys are trying with the bat and I think, looking forward, looking at the second innings, there's a lot of confidence we can take in the fact that it's not all demons out there. We can actually bat. We've just got to find a way to dominate with the bat, as much as India have done so.

"I don't have the answers as to where it's going wrong. The obvious one is that we're not able to put up partnerships. We haven't been able to absorb and sustain the pressure that the Indian bowlers have put on us for a consistent period of time. And that's obviously something that we'll be trying to rectify. We're going to have an opportunity now in the second innings, whether India decide to bat again, whether they decide to [enforce the] follow-on, we're going to have an opportunity as batters to really stake our claim."

In three innings on this tour, Bavuma has made 18, 0 and 8. He knows a lot more is expected of him.

"I can understand all the criticism and all the flak that is coming my way," Bavuma said. "Like I've always said, as a batter your currency is runs and that's what you're judged according to. And when your performances are not at the level that we're so accustomed to as South African batters, people are going to come hard.

"The South African public, the fans, are very proud and they're used to a higher standard of cricket. Us as sportsmen represent the South African country - that's the pressure we deal with. From my side as a player, it's not as if I am going out there and trying to nick balls and trying to miss straight ones.

"I can honestly probably say, being critical of myself, that I'm giving my best but probably my best at this point in time is not good enough. In saying that, it is not something that I'll shy away from. Criticism is a good thing. I've always felt that it's just a matter of me, as a professional cricketer, stepping up to the pressure that is before me and trying to win back the support of the fans back home."

At the end of the second day's play, when South Africa were 36 for 3 in response to India's 601 for 5 declared, their team director Enoch Nkwe had stern words for the players.

"We had an honest and truthful chat from the coach," Bavuma said. "He gave us his true feelings, his true thoughts on how we had gone about our last two days. He was really critical of our effort. Basically he said with everything that's happened, we've got to find a way.

"We haven't come to India to lose, we haven't necessarily come to India to just learn; we've actually come to compete and to win. That's what our goal is. Yes, we haven't done it in the first Test. We haven't been able to do that in the first two-and-a-half days [here], but there's an opportunity going forward to do it. Like I said, there is a responsibility from us to stake our claim and do everyone justice."

The top-order batsmen, Bavuma said, could look to the lower-order pair of Keshav Maharaj and Vernon Philander, who put on 109 in 259 balls, if they need any inspiration for the second innings.

"It was a spectacular effort from Vernon and Keshav to fight it out there out in the middle, and face as many balls as they did, and in saying that still accumulate runs. I mean, us in the change room and even on the sides, we were enjoying every moment of it.

"But as I said, we were feeding from the confidence they were giving us. You saw the balance between their defence as well as their attacking shots. That's something we've been speaking about as batters. That's been our aim in what we're trying to do. The mood is definitely positive, the mood has been positive, to be honest. It was enjoyable, the 260-ball partnership between those two."

There was more inspiration to take from the fact that Maharaj, who scored his first Test fifty, was batting with an injured right shoulder.

"There's definitely a lot of positives to take," Bavuma said. "This is a confidence-booster. Keshav is a big player in the team, obviously Vernon as well. For big players, for senior players in the team to step up when the occasion arises is definitely is something that you can stick out your chest on.

"Like I said, over the next two days we're going to need a lot more of that, with the ball, with the bat, in every department, we are going to need guys to put up their hand and no matter which way the result goes, let's just make sure that our pride is intact."

Barbados Tridents 171 for 6 (Carter 50*, Charles 39, Tahir 1-24) beat Guyana Amazon Warriors 144 for 9 (King 43, Reifer 4-24, Nurse 2-17, Gurney 2-24) by 27 runs

When the New England Patriots defeated the New York Giants 38-35 to end the 2007 NFL regular season, they became the first American Football team to go undefeated since the league expanded to a 16-game format. But the game exposed vulnerabilities that gave the Giants a blueprint to beat the Patriots in their rematch in Super Bowl XLII 17-14.

Last Sunday, Guyana Amazon Warriors defeated Barbados Tridents to take their CPL record unbeaten streak to 11 matches by posting 218 for 3 behind Brandon King's record century. What was lost in the shuffle of that match was that the Tridents actually made a serious fist of the chase, ending on 188 with Jonathan Carter top scoring to make 49 off 26, as some vulnerabilities started to appear.

Bucking the T20 trend of teams opting to chase, the Tridents' success through much of CPL 2019 has been in defending totals. Given a chance to bat first in the CPL final at Brian Lara Academy, Carter produced a stirring roundhouse kidney punch that stopped the Amazon Warriors in their tracks. Unable to dance around the ring, the Amazon Warriors' chase was floored by a collective effort from Jason Holder's bowling unit, as the Tridents produced a stunning upset to claim their second CPL title, and first since 2014, by knocking off the Warriors to thwart their undefeated title bid and hand them a fifth CPL final loss.

Running amok

Having to go without their second-highest scorer JP Duminy, who sat out with a hamstring injury picked up in Thursday's win over Trinbago Knight Riders, the Tridents got off to a solid start to reach 76 for 3 in the first ten overs. But after Shai Hope fell in the 12th over, the innings went haywire with Shakib Al Hasan involved in a pair of run-outs.

The first came four balls after Hope's wicket as Holder flicked to deep midwicket. Shakib hared down three strides ahead of Holder for the first run and was already a quarter of the way back for a second before Holder had turned at the non-striker's end. Keemo Paul had covered the ground well to field and relay to Nicholas Pooran over the striker's stumps as Holder came back reluctantly in response to Shakib and wound up being out by a foot.

Shakib created an identical situation with Carter two overs later after the latter drove out to extra cover. Once again, Shakib was three steps ahead and started coming back for a second run, Carter was slow getting out of the crease after striking the ball and wasn't interested in the second, but he made his decision too late for Shakib. This time Paul's throw dragged Pooran well away from the stumps but Shakib had given up and the keeper's throw from five yards away was true, leaving the score 108 for 6 with 31 balls left.

Upset the apple Cart(er)

Against Trinbago Knight Riders on Thursday, Ashley Nurse and Raymon Reifer plundered 43 off the last two overs to salvage a floundering innings and get up to 160 on a traditionally low-scoring ground. On this occasion, it was Nurse and Carter who resurrected the Tridents in the closing overs.

Carter took the lead with a trio of fabulous straight drives for six before another over midwicket. The bulk of that came in the 19th over off Paul, who leaked 17 as momentum swung sharply towards the Tridents. Nurse then took his swipes at Romario Shepherd in the 20th with a six and four to start the final over before Carter struck a two to bring up a 26-ball half-century as the Tridents ended with 63 off the last 31 balls to post a total that looked like it was well above par based on past evidence.

USA 3, rest of CPL 2

Coming into the final, Shoaib Malik had only been dismissed four times in 11 innings. Two of those came at the hands of the Knight Riders fast bowler Ali Khan and the Tridents legspinner Hayden Walsh Jr, the only two Americans playing in the tournament. Walsh Jr added Shoaib to his list for a second time on Saturday night to cap his season with a tournament-best 22 wickets in just nine matches.

After Raymon Reifer had set back the Amazon Warriors in the Powerplay with the wickets of Chandrapaul Hemraj and Shimron Hetmyer, Shoaib came to the middle but was not his usual fluent self. After reaching 4 off 10 balls, he got a half-tracker from Walsh Jr that should have gone for six but failed to get the elevation, a microcosm of his lack of rhythm on the night as he picked out Reifer at deep midwicket. It put Walsh Jr on the path to ensure an American would raise the CPL trophy for the second year in a row after Khan with the Knight Riders in 2018.

King dethroned

The Warriors were still in with a chance of overhauling the target as long as the tournament's leading scorer was at the crease. Brandon King was looking sharp but struggled for support at the other end, which caused him to lose patience. On the last ball of the 11th over, King charged impetuously at Nurse and turned a full ball into a yorker, playing over the top as it slid past leg stump for a simple stumping by Hope.

Another relative half-tracker claimed a big scalp for the second time in the chase as Pooran toe-slapped one from Nurse to Alex Hales at long-on. Harry Gurney and Reifer then continued to whittle through the middle order until 41 were required off 12 balls. Paul holed out to long-on off Gurney in the 19th and with 33 needed off the last over, Reifer mathematically clinched it by having Chris Green skying a leading edge to the keeper, giving him the best bowling figures ever in a CPL final.

With their backs against the wall playing a de-facto elimination match in their penultimate round-robin game of the season against St Lucia Zouks, the Tridents stormed back to life and, by the end, they had snuffed out the Amazon Warriors' fairytale season with a Cinderella finish of their own.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa made a little history on Saturday, but neither he nor his coach is dwelling on it much.

During the No. 1 Crimson Tide's 47-28 victory over No. 24 Texas A&M at Kyle Field, Tagovailoa became Alabama's all-time career touchdown pass leader, throwing four to bring his career total to 81. He entered the game tied with AJ McCarron, who previously held the school mark with 77 career TD passes.

"I mean, it's a great achievement, but we're not done yet," said Tagovailoa, who threw for 293 yards. "As a team, we still gotta continue to grow, we still gotta get each other better offensively and defensively and see what we can do better, and we'll move on to next week."

Coach Nick Saban used the milestone as a chance to dive into one of his signature rants, calling back the "rat poison" speech from Alabama's 2017 trip to Aggieland.

"Well, it means he's had a great career to this point and we certainly appreciate his competitive spirit, the way he prepares for games, his leadership, the way he practices, his ability to help us score points on offense," Saban said of Tagovailoa. "He's very instinctive, so it means a lot from that standpoint, but it also doesn't mean much when it comes to, 'What are you going to do in the future?' And I think he has an opportunity, based on the type of offensive team we have, to have great production if he can continue to just stay focused on what we want to do.

"I mean, this is where -- this very seat is where 'rat poison' was born," Saban continued. "So I remember that two years ago, all right? And when I hear things in the media about whether guys are first-round draft picks or they're setting great records and all that type of thing, that's not really what I like for players to be focusing on right now.

"You've got to focus on what are you doing right now, not what's going to happen in the future, not really what happened in the past, but, 'What can I learn from what's happened in the past? How can I affect what's going on right now?' Because that's what's going to affect the future in a positive way. So, that's how we want our players to think regardless of how difficult y'all make it for us sometimes with some of our players."

As Saban's postgame news conference wrapped, he said with a smile to reporters, "But I appreciate y'all."

After Alabama beat Texas A&M 27-19 in College Station on Oct. 7, 2017, Saban first used the term "rat poison" when commenting on his team's lack of offensive success early in that game.

"I'm trying to get our players to listen to me, instead of listening to you guys," Saban told reporters then. "You know, all that stuff you write about how good we are? All that stuff they hear on ESPN? It's like poison, you know what I mean? It's like rat poison, all right? So I'm asking them, 'Are you going to listen to me, or are you going to listen to these guys about how good you are?'"

Tagovailoa, a junior, has an FBS-high 27 touchdown passes this season for the Crimson Tide (6-0, 3-0 SEC). He threw his first interception of the season with two minutes remaining in the second quarter. Texas A&M defensive back Demani Richardson picked off a Tagovailoa pass in the end zone.

"I think it was a good play by [Richardson]," Tagovailoa said. "I think it was bad on my part. I kinda stayed on one [receiver] too long. The outside guy wasn't there, I tried to hang on Jerry [Jeudy], then I forced the ball. But we had [Jaylen] Waddle underneath. It's something I can learn from."

The Aggies (3-3, 1-2) trailed 24-13 at the half but never got closer than that. Waddle (128 punt return yards) and Henry Ruggs III (131 kickoff return yards) helped Alabama gain a massive field-position advantage throughout the day. The Tide's average starting field position was Texas A&M's 47-yard line, whereas the Aggies' was their own 22. DeVonta Smith led the receiving corps with seven catches for 99 yards and a touchdown. Waddle and Ruggs each caught touchdowns as well.

Alabama hosts Tennessee next week. The Aggies travel to Ole Miss.

Penn State personnel confiscated T-shirts bearing the words "Chains, Tattoos, Dreads, & WE ARE" that Nittany Lions football players were wearing during the pregame portion of Saturday night's contest at Iowa.

According to ESPN's Holly Rowe, coach James Franklin was upset that his players did not discuss beforehand their intentions to wear the shirts.

"While we are supportive of our students expressing themselves in a thoughtful manner, they are expected to wear team-issued apparel on game day," Penn State said in a statement released during the game. "We asked our students to remove the shirts out of an abundance of caution for NCAA compliance."

According to Rowe, one player told her the shirts were made and worn as a show of support for safety Jonathan Sutherland, who last week received a letter from a man who identified himself as a Penn State alum who was critical of his appearance.

The players are "unified" behind Sutherland, Rowe said she was told.

In the letter, David Petersen wrote that Sutherland's "shoulder length dreadlocks look disgusting."

The story took on a life of its own, with Franklin issuing an impassioned defense of Sutherland at his weekly news conference.

"Jonathan Sutherland is one of the most respected players in our program," Franklin said of the redshirt junior. "He's the ultimate example of what our program is all about. He's a captain, he's a dean's list honor student, he's confident, he's articulate, he's intelligent, he's thoughtful, he's caring and he's committed."

According to Rowe, Franklin said he thought the T-shirt message was not needed because the team had already addressed the issue earlier in the week.

ATHENS, Ga. -- On Saturday morning, two hours before kickoff at Sanford Stadium, South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp stood in the end zone and looked over the field where he once played as a University of Georgia defensive back.

Barely into mid-October, it had already been a long season for Muschamp and the Gamecocks. They lost their starting quarterback after one game. The ensuing 2-3 record had sports talk radio in the Palmetto State already crackling with potential candidates to replace Muschamp when he was inevitably canned. After a must-win victory over Kentucky two weeks ago, the coach wore his reading glasses during his news conference and joked that the long season had aged him and that even his wife was tired of him because she didn't like hanging out with losers.

But on Saturday morning, when asked about his team's chances against third-ranked Georgia, he grinned. "We are going to have to play pretty damn well," he said with a handshake. "And we're going to." It felt genuine, not merely optimistic coachspeak, because of the honesty he displayed next, joking, "We could also use them to not play well. Good plan, right?"

Turns out, it was prophetic. All of it. As evidenced by the even larger smile on Muschamp's face six hours later as the beautifully sloppy 20-17 double-overtime upset became official ... and by the pained grimace of his old friend, Georgia head coach Kirby Smart.

"Coach!" an Athens townie shouted to Smart as the Bulldogs left the field where South Carolina celebrated behind them. The man held up a pair of empty contraband Red Bull cans. "I should have given y'all these four hours ago!"

The Bulldogs did indeed come out flat. To anyone who has watched them closely this season, that should not be a surprise. Every big game and rivalry game the team has played in 2019 has gotten off to a sluggish first half, from Notre Dame to Tennessee to, yes, South Carolina. The difference on Saturday was that, unlike in the first two games, Georgia woke up too late, even later than the slow-arriving home crowd for the noon kickoff.

Cinderella's magic doesn't work at 12:01. Even when your opponent loses its freshman phenom QB in the midst of an otherworldly accurate afternoon (Ryan Hilinski was 15-20 when he left with an injury in the third quarter, replaced by fellow freshman Dakereon Joyner) and you're handed unexpected extra life after a brutal turnover at the start of the first overtime.

"It was pretty simple, really," Smart explained, thumping himself on the chest to make sure everyone knew he was speaking of himself just as much as he was his players and staff. "There was a team here today that showed up ready to go, mentally and emotionally. That team was not us."

Statistically, Georgia was the better team. But to anyone who watched the game, South Carolina visibly beat Georgia in every unmeasurable aspect of the game, from hustle to heart. As for what can be measured, the Gamecocks' special teams kept the Bulldogs pinned back in their own territory and in their own heads all afternoon.

"We did figure out a way to get back into the game," Smart continued. "But you can't keep pushing your luck like that and always expect to bail yourself out."

Those comments felt familiar. So did the performance. It was 364 days ago that Georgia laid a similar offensive egg, then nearly rallied during a gigantic top-10 matchup at LSU. But just like in that 36-16 loss in Baton Rouge, the struggles of quarterback Jake Fromm and his teammates were only partially self-inflicted. The South Carolina defense was stifling, keeping Georgia's third-year starter and his much-hyped offensive line off-balance all afternoon. The Gamecocks intercepted him three times. The last time Fromm threw multiple interceptions was in that 2018 LSU game. The first of those interceptions, his first career pick-six, was the difference in the ballgame. Fromm hurled a personal-record 51 pass attempts, the offense stubbornly trying to stretch the field in the first half. That's not how UGA -- the birthplace of Herschel, Gurley & Co. -- typically tries to make its living. The Bulldogs are now 0-5 in games when Fromm has thrown the ball 30 or more times.

"Some days things just don't feel quite right," Fromm said. "Today was one of those days."

One year ago, as Kirby Smart left Death Valley, he declared that the LSU loss would be a good thing. A wake-up call.

It was. The Bulldogs won five in a row, clinched the SEC East and nearly won the SEC championship in Atlanta before playing in the Sugar Bowl, finishing 11-3 and No. 8 in the final rankings.

That was good enough in 2018, a post-national championship runner-up year that Smart had openly preached would likely be a transition year for the Dawgs.

It will not be good enough this year, a season that Georgia has spent on nearly every College Football Playoff candidate short list since August.

The other teams on those lists have either cruised, earned signature wins or suffered a sloppy scare that still ended with a win. Georgia entered Saturday having already experienced all three. Now the Bulldogs are where those other teams have yet to travel: into the realm of the bad loss. They won't be alone there for long. But they're arguably the first. In the CFP era, that's the last first anyone wants on their résumé.

"It's mid-October and there's still a lot of season left, a lot of big games left," Smart said before departing to no doubt immediately start preparations for next weekend's visit from Kentucky. Like South Carolina, the Wildcats are another unranked SEC East foe off to a disappointing start, with a losing record, a backup quarterback and a head coach doing a "this is making me feel really old" stand-up comedy routine.

"We had a bad day," Smart said. "Now we have to make sure we don't have another one."

The problem with September football is that it skews our perspective. College football is still figuring itself out in September. The comparison points are all hypothetical. September lies. October, however, offers real insight.

Was LSU's offense really ready for a title run? It's easy enough to think so when Joe Burrow is torching Georgia Southern and Vanderbilt and, yes, even a shaky Texas defense. But what happens when he's faced with one of the country's best secondaries in Florida? That's when we learn something, when we get real answers.

This was true for Georgia and Clemson, Penn State and Oklahoma, Notre Dame and even Minnesota on Saturday. We've picked apart the appetizer portion of the 2019 college football season already, and Saturday offered our first taste of the main course. This was a week of turning points, a chance to see nearly every contender test some of its glaring weaknesses, answer some of its biggest questions and start scripting the playoff run.

Start with Burrow, who offered an emphatic answer to any lingering doubters. Florida's defense had run roughshod over Auburn just a week earlier, but CJ Henderson & Co. were no match for the red-hot Tigers. Burrow completed 21-of-24 throws for 293 yards and three touchdowns, looking every bit the part of a Heisman favorite.

Here's the list of players who've completed 70% of their throws with three touchdowns and 300 total yards against Florida in the past decade: Burrow, Joe. That's it. That's the list.

So yes, this LSU offense is for real, a unit that looks poised to go toe-to-toe with Alabama and finally upset the power structure of the SEC.

The LSU defense? OK, that's a question we'll have to answer down the road.

Around the rest of the country, turning point Saturday gave us plenty more insight into the playoff contenders. We got some surprising answers. (Minnesota's good!) Some teams failed their tests. (Wake Forest's defense is a problem.) And we have a few incompletes. (Alabama still hasn't been tested.) Some had the rough equivalent of that dream where you show up in your underwear for an exam you haven't studied for. (Hi, Georgia.)

But that's the beauty of October. We're finally learning. Here's what we found out.

Does Georgia have the downfield passing game to win the SEC?

The Bulldogs weren't expecting much of a test from South Carolina on Saturday, and as pop quizzes go, this one got ugly.

There were, of course, some real questions surrounding Georgia's offense. Entering play Saturday, Georgia had only one touchdown on a pass of more than 10 yards downfield, and the Bulldogs ranked 61st out of 65 Power 5 programs in total explosive plays vs. FBS opponents. It was a warning sign.

Jake Fromm had arguably the worst game of his college career, throwing three interceptions, and the Bulldogs struggled mightily to move the ball with any consistency vs. South Carolina. Downfield, Fromm was bad, completing just 8-of-20 passes for 140 yards on throws of 10 yards or more, and on throws of 20-plus, he was a woeful 1-of-8, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. The inability to stretch the field allowed South Carolina to swarm at the line of scrimmage, too, and the pressure clearly rattled the Georgia QB. Fromm was 1-of-11 for only 11 yards and a pick when pressured, including three sacks.

The Bulldogs' playoff hopes aren't over after the 20-17 double-overtime loss, but if the offense can't find some ways to be more explosive, it's hard to see how Fromm & Co. manage to win out the rest of the way.

Meanwhile, Will Muschamp offered an emphatic answer to the biggest question looming over South Carolina. Yes, he looks damn good in a pair of reading glasses.

Is Oklahoma's defense playoff-caliber?

It seemed obvious from the Sooners' first five games that new coordinator Alex Grinch had made significant improvements to a defense that struggled badly last season, but the competition -- Houston, South Dakota, UCLA, Texas Tech and Kansas -- left a little room for the doubters.

Saturday's performance vs. Texas in a 34-27 victory removed all doubt.

The Sooners utterly manhandled Texas' offensive line, sacking Sam Ehlinger nine times and finishing with 15 tackles for loss. Ehlinger was pressured on 15 of his 47 dropbacks. Those 15 plays resulted in a grand total of minus-42 yards for the Longhorns. Overall, Oklahoma had eight players record a sack, and 14 players chipped in on at least one tackle for loss. In two games vs. the Sooners last season, Texas totaled 938 yards of offense. The Longhorns had just 310 on Saturday.

Though the Heisman buzz continues to surround Oklahoma QB Jalen Hurts, it might be Kenneth Murray and the Oklahoma defense that finally puts the Sooners over the top in 2019. On the other hand, Oklahoma did see the end of its streak of 10 straight games scoring 40 or more points, so perhaps we should start the "What's wrong with Jalen Hurts?" controversy now.

Does Clemson have a second gear?

After a narrow escape at North Carolina in Week 5, Clemson took its share of heat for early-season struggles and dropped from atop the AP poll. That was all bad news for Florida State.

Whether it was the slight by the pollsters, an off week to get things right or just the horrendous play of the Seminoles, everything finally clicked for the defending champs Saturday in a 45-14 rout. There's no need for further late-night texts to Dabo Swinney to inquire about Trevor Lawrence's health. He had his best game of the season, completing 17-of-25 passing with four total touchdowns. Two of those TD throws went to Justyn Ross, the star of last season's playoff who'd been off to a dismal start in 2019. Travis Etienne went over 100 yards on the ground for the first time since the season opener. The defense demolished James Blackman and the FSU O-line. Everything worked.

Somewhere, we assume FSU Book Guy was flipping through the final page of "Pass Blocking For Dummies" in the second half. Someone needs to find answers for the Seminoles.

Can Jonathan Taylor be stopped?

Since the start of 2018, no defense in the Power 5 has been tougher against the run than Michigan State, so it seemed reasonable to assume if anyone was going to slow down Wisconsin's superstar tailback, it would be the Spartans.

Turns out, they kind of did. At least by Taylor standards. He ran for only 80 yards in 26 carries, snapping a streak of 10 straight 100-yard games. So that's the good news for anyone facing Wisconsin the rest of the way.

The bad news? Taylor's two touchdowns Saturday are just two fewer than the Badgers' defense has allowed all season.

Wisconsin's D was dominant once again, pitching its fourth shutout of the season in a 38-0 victory over Michigan State. Here's how impressive it has been: It's the first time a team has recorded four shutouts in its first six games since Minnesota in 1962. The 29 points Wisconsin has surrendered are the fewest by a Big Ten team since Ohio State and Michigan each gave up only 23 in 1973. And it's the fewest points given up by any FBS defense through six games since 1993 Florida State gave up only 23, according to ESPN Stats & Info. research. Those Seminoles won the national championship.

On the other hand, Taylor was stopped four yards shy of 5,000 for his career. So it wasn't all good.

Is Penn State's offense good enough to make a run?

The 17-12 final score probably won't add many new fans to the Penn State bandwagon, and there will be days -- Ohio State on Nov. 23, perhaps -- when the offense needs to do more than it did Saturday, when Sean Clifford was fine, but the Lions managed only 294 total yards. But Penn State didn't turn the ball over, ran the ball 53 times to control the game and turned in another stellar defensive effort to move to 6-0. The Nittany Lions are not as flashy as Ohio State or as dominant as Wisconsin, but don't be shocked if it's Penn State that comes away with a Big Ten title.

Heisman Five

1. Joe Burrow, LSU

Of all the gaudy numbers posted by the Heisman contenders vs. lackluster defenses, Burrow's Saturday stands alone as a truly epic performance against a team that simply doesn't allow those types of games. Burrow was an astonishing 21-of-24 passing, finished with 336 total yards and three touchdowns. Until someone else tops that against a real contender, he's your Heisman front-runner.

2. Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama

Tagovailoa's interception in the end zone near the end of the first half snapped a streak of 166 consecutive throws without a pick. His stat line for the season now is 27 TD passes and one pick. Slacker.

3. Jalen Hurts, Oklahoma

Anyone who can pull off a Harlem Globetrotters routine, spinning the ball behind his back while avoiding a sack, warrants some serious Heisman love.

Jalen Hurts really went behind the back while avoiding a sack �� #SCtop10 pic.twitter.com/GAluTPti9z

- SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 12, 2019

4. Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin

Since Nov. 1, Taylor has 1,844 rushing yards, 26 total touchdowns and zero lost fumbles. Not too shabby.

5. Justin Fields, Ohio State

The Buckeyes had the week off. Fields still threw for 320 yards and 2 TDs vs. the bye week.

Ranking the SEC's most embarrassing losses

The SEC might have three or four of the country's best teams, but the conference also has suffered some brutal losses in 2019. And since the wins just mean more, so too do the losses, so let's take a closer look at the worst of the worst.

5. South Carolina 20, Georgia 17, 2 OT, Week 7: This was brutal and severely dented Georgia's playoff hopes, so it makes the list. But at least the loss came against a fellow SEC member.

4. Wyoming 37, Missouri 30, Week 1: This was an ugly score, but it came on the road and Missouri actually had 12 more first downs and 150 more yards of offense, and since this opening week embarrassment, the Tigers have actually played quite well.

3. San Jose State 31, Arkansas 24, Week 4: The Spartans were 1-11 last season, were 0-19 in the previous decade vs. Power 5 schools (losing by an average of four touchdowns) and hadn't won a road game of any kind since the final week of 2016. And under normal circumstances this would be as embarrassing as it gets. But it has been worse in the SEC this year.

2. UNLV 34, Vanderbilt 10, Week 7: UNLV is bad. It hadn't beaten an FBS team yet this year. It hadn't won on the road since 2017. That same season, it lost to Howard. And yet, the Rebels dominated Vandy on Saturday, running for 206 yards and winning by 24.

1. Georgia State 38, Tennessee 30, Week 1: For sheer national embarrassment, this takes the cake. The good news, however, is Tennessee actually won an SEC game Saturday, so maybe the Vols really are on the verge of something special.

Badgers own the Wolverine State

Wisconsin's shutout win over Sparty on Saturday concluded the Badgers' three-game series vs. the state of Michigan for 2019, and it seems a shame AD Barry Alvarez didn't schedule Eastern and Western Michigan, too.

Wisconsin beat Central Michigan 61-0, thumped the Wolverines 35-14 and stomped Michigan State 38-0 on Saturday. Total score: 134-14.

By upper-Midwest law, that kind of dominance means Wisconsin takes ownership of Bob Seger, General Motors and "Robocop 3."

Memphis madness

Temple's 30-28 upset win on a hotly debated call in the final moments Saturday might be the biggest controversy to hit Memphis since Elvis faked his death (don't argue, it's true). Memphis receiver Joey Magnifico (his real name!) appeared to make the grab to convert a critical fourth-and-10 with less than two minutes to play, but the call was overturned upon video review.

Afterward, Memphis coach Mike Norvell stated his case in favor of a catch, but the conference released a statement saying there was ample video evidence to overturn the call on the field.

Regardless of the debate, it'll go down as a loss for the Tigers, their first of the season. It also marked the first time in Temple history the Owls have beaten two ranked teams in the same season, according to ESPN Stats & Info research, after they upended Maryland earlier this year.

You play to win the close games

We knew when Arizona State hired Herm Edwards before the 2018 season, it would be interesting, and sure enough, he has delivered.

Saturday's 38-34 win over Washington State featured more than 1,000 yards of offense, two 300-yard passers, zero turnovers and a go-ahead TD with 34 seconds to play.

Chalk it up as typical Arizona State. It's the Sun Devils' 13th game decided by a touchdown or less since Edwards took over, tied with Texas for the most by any program in the country. Overall, ASU is 7-6 in those games.

On the flip side of Saturday's action was Mike Leach and his Cougars. Remember a few weeks ago when Washington State was up 49-17 in the third quarter against UCLA and on the brink of being 4-0? The Cougars' D has given up 126 points in a little more than nine quarters since.

Randy Edsall bonus of the week

Another week, another brutal loss for UConn, but as we've come to learn, there's always a silver lining for Huskies coach Randy Edsall, whose obscure bonus clauses in his contract mean the checks get bigger, even when the margin of defeat does the same. This week's likely bonus? The whole team made it to halftime without UConn shuttering the football program. Good work, everyone!

It's Halftime! pic.twitter.com/Ro5MEQvD4j

- UConn Football (@UConnFootball) October 12, 2019

Big bets and bad beats

• Before Saturday, the last time Georgia lost a game outright as a favorite of more than 20 points was Oct. 15, 1994, when Ray Goff was head coach. And as a general rule, if there's a Goff reference, it means something has gone horribly wrong for the Bulldogs. Such was the case in a brutal 20-17 double-overtime loss to South Carolina on Saturday. UGA was a 21.5-point favorite at kickoff, but South Carolina led most of the way, and though both teams managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory repeatedly, the Gamecocks eventually prevailed, paying out on a +950 money line. And while the outright victory was a shocker, perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that South Carolina hung with the Dawgs. Since the start of 2017, the Gamecocks are 10-3 against the spread as an underdog in SEC games.

• There was a good case to be made for Bowling Green as the worst team in FBS entering Saturday. The Falcons were 0-4 vs. FBS opponents, having lost by a combined score of 201-27. But the football gods smiled upon Scot Loeffler's crew Saturday, with Bowling Green pulling off a dominant 20-7 win over Toledo as a 20.5-point underdog.

• Vanderbilt's embarrassing loss to UNLV as a 15-point favorite was ugly, but it probably shouldn't have been all that surprising. The Commodores are now 0-6 against the spread this season. They're not alone, though. Woeful Akron was blown out again by Kent State, and also remains winless against the spread. Then there's Georgia Tech, which was blown out by Duke on Saturday, keeping the Jackets winless against the spread, too, including a loss to The Citadel, an FCS team. Worse, Georgia Tech hasn't covered a spread since winning in a pick 'em against Miami on Nov. 10 last season -- a string of nine straight games.

• It was a relaxing evening for anyone with the over in the Wake Forest-Louisville game. The total closed at 65, which turned out to be an absurdly low number. Jamie Newman's TD pass to Sage Surratt with nearly 10 minutes left in the third quarter put the total at 66, and the two teams didn't stop there. The final -- a 62-59 Louisville win -- was the highest-scoring game in the ACC this year and the second highest of the season in FBS after that bonkers 67-63 win by UCLA over Washington State. It was also the second-highest scoring game in ACC history and only the fourth time in ACC play both teams topped 50 points.

Under-the-radar play of the day

The list of truly majestic images in college football is a long one -- the mountain backdrop at the Rose Bowl, the freshly trimmed hedges of Sanford Stadium, Mike Gundy's hair -- but nothing is so beautiful as the celebration of a Big Man TD, and Ohio's Austen Pleasants offered us a performance for the ages. The 6-foot-7, 317-pound Pleasants lined up as a blocker, peeled off, turned and hauled in a catch from QB Nathan Rourke, and rumbled untouched into the end zone, raising his hand in triumph before ever crossing the goal line. From there, his teammates surrounded him -- pure, unadulterated joy. Everyone loves the big guys.

Under-the-radar games of the day

• It probably comes as no surprise to learn North Dakota State won again, this time 46-14 against Northern Iowa. Ho-hum. But this one did come with a little extra juice. It marked the 26th straight win for the Bison, passing the James Madison teams of 2016-17 for the second-longest win streak in FCS history. The longest? Well, that one also belongs to the Bison, who won 33 straight from 2012 to 2014.

• Meanwhile on the FCS level, James Madison pulled off a 38-24 win against Villanova, sending the Wildcats to their first loss of the season. That leaves only three undefeated FCS teams remaining: North Dakota State, Dartmouth and Princeton.

SHENZHEN, China -- With a couple of minutes remaining in pregame warm-ups, LeBron James made his way from the court to the Los Angeles Lakers' bench. He sat down, closed his eyes and let out a deep breath.

After a long week in China, where the NBA's burgeoning business in the Far East was tested nearly to its breaking point, it was time, quite simply, to play a basketball game.

Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey's since-deleted tweet supporting Hong Kong protesters sparked the turmoil that exists between the league and China.

The second of the league's two preseason exhibitions between the Lakers and Brooklyn Nets tipped off about 30 miles from Hong Kong, but one wouldn't know anything was amiss inside the Shenzhen Universiade Centre.

A sellout crowd of 17,396 was in the arena, and the section of seats immediately behind the Lakers' bench featured fans proudly draped in NBA gear -- not just Lakers and Nets jerseys but also garb supporting the Spurs, Raptors, Magic, Celtics and Kings.

There was hardly a reminder that the games were in jeopardy, outside of the photographers on the baseline wearing official vests for the event printed with "NBA SHENZHEN GAME 2019 Presented by," with a piece of black electrical tape covering up the logo of a sponsor who pulled out during the controversy.

The Nets won 91-77 behind Caris LeVert's 22 points. The Lakers' Anthony Davis (sprained thumb) and James (rest) played just 12 minutes apiece, while Kyrie Irving (facial fracture) didn't even suit up.

But James still found a way to entertain.

Just as he did Thursday in Shanghai, James turned the pregame layup line into a dunk display, eliciting oohs and aahs. He tossed chalk in the air at the scorer's table before tipoff as a sea of smartphones captured the moment on camera.

And he kept the show going even after subbing out for good. He tallied six points, four assists and three rebounds in the first quarter.

James might have spent the third quarter with his hoodie pulled over his head as he chewed on a sandwich and sipped from a coffee cup, but the Lakers star made sure to swivel in his seat to acknowledge fans calling for his attention a few times.

When he got up from his seat, reacting to a ferocious missed dunk by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, the crowd serenaded him with the first of several "L-B-J" chants in the second half. Later, James interacted with the fans around him by bellowing in their direction, which they mimicked back at him, as if this were Freddie Mercury owning the audience at Live Aid.

The Lakers went 0-2 in China, but a team source told ESPN that the "silver lining" to the tension-filled trip was the extra bonding time baked in. Because of the uncertainty enveloping the week as the Chinese government canceled a handful of ancillary events leading up to the games, the Lakers players did not spend much time away from the team hotel, which meant there were more shared dinners and downtime spent together.

Neither team spoke to the media for the entirety of the 2019 China Games. At first, the media ban was at the behest of the Chinese government. By the end of the trip, the NBA adopted the temporary policy because it felt the teams "have been placed into a complicated and unprecedented situation while abroad, and we believe it would be unfair to ask them to address these matters in real time."

The Nets and Lakers both left the arena to board planes headed back to the United States immediately after Saturday's game.

The Cleveland Cavaliers visited team owner Dan Gilbert, who is recovering at home after suffering a stroke in May.

After playing a preseason game in Detroit on Friday night, the Cavs delayed their trip to Boston so they could spend time Saturday with the 57-year-old Gilbert.

He recently returned to his home in Franklin, Michigan, after staying at a rehabilitation facility in Illinois. Gilbert suffered a stroke May 26 after being taken to a hospital by a family friend following stroke-like symptoms.

All of Cleveland's players, along with first-year coach John Beilein and his staff, held a film session and short walk-through on a replica basketball court Gilbert has at his home before having lunch. Gilbert and his wife, Jennifer, spoke with many of the players.

The Cavs play their third preseason game Sunday against the Celtics.

Gilbert has owned Cleveland's NBA franchise since 2005.