Another European soccer weekend is in the books, we're fast approaching the holidays and the midway point of the season, and we've got plenty to talk about. Where shall we begin? How about Manchester United, with Ruben Amorim dropping Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho pregame before his team went on to win 2-1 at Manchester City? Arguably the result of the weekend, the victory showed the true scale of Pep Guardiola's task to turn his side around.

Elsewhere, Barcelona dropped more points in LaLiga with defeat vs. Leganes despite playing much better than the scoreline suggests. Also, Liverpool made a mess (thanks to Andy Robertson's early red card) vs. Fulham but showed impressive resilience to battle back and earn a draw. Beyond that, Bayern Munich stumbled in the Bundesliga, losing at Mainz without Harry Kane (injured) and with Jamal Musiala off the boil. We also had a frustrating Arsenal draw, more question marks about Juventus and Real Madrid, and another impressive performance by Chelsea as they continue to pick up wins in the Premier League.

So, let's get to it. Here are reactions to the most memorable moments of the weekend ...

Manchester United's bravery rewarded; Manchester City's futility punished

The single biggest takeaway for me from Sunday is about Ruben Amorim. The man has intestinal fortitude, guts -- whatever you want to call it.

Manchester United's late comeback should not overshadow what was a hugely brave decision: to leave Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford out of the 20-man matchday squad. Whatever your view is of the two of them, they both have expensive long-term contracts through 2028, and for better or worse, they are club assets on the Glazers' balance sheet.

Amorim stressed the omission was neither disciplinary nor fitness-based; it was just that he weighed up performances in training and games, the way the two engaged with teammates, the way they pushed their teammates, even "how they dress" and "how they eat," and made his decision. The door is still open, and they might be straight back for the next game, but he said that standards are high and that everyone has to fight their place. It's a big call to make for a new boss who had he lost on Sunday would have recorded three league defeats on the bounce, and who is still just one place above where Erik ten Hag was when he got sacked.

It tells you two things. One is that he feels empowered to make these sorts of decisions, and that's a positive: you go through the trouble of getting Amorim, you have to let him work. The other is that he thinks this is the right way to motivate Rashford and Garnacho, and of course that remains to be seen. Some guys respond to the carrot, others to the stick.

On the pitch, even before the late City meltdown, United more than held their own despite Amorim having to scrap his plan of Bruno Fernandes in a deeper position after Mason Mount's early exit forced him to send on Kobbie Mainoo. In a game that didn't offer much in the way of pretty football (as often happens with derbies), United kept at it and largely dominated after the break, leaving City with zero shots on target and xG of just 0.22.

City's downfall arguably began just before half-time when, for reasons known only to him, Kyle Walker engaged Rasmus Hojlund in one of those testosterone-fueled forehead-to-forehead stare-downs that ended with the City captain throwing himself to the ground in the hopes of getting his opponent sent off. I can live with "gamesmanship," but this was pretty horrendous to watch. Walker is the club captain, and he's trying to goad a 21-year-old into a red card. Not only does it show weakness and a lack of confidence, it's also breathtakingly silly in the presence of VAR. Referee Anthony Taylor dealt with it by showing both a yellow card, as often happens: he could well have shown Walker a second yellow for simulation.

Speaking of Taylor, United probably should have had a penalty when Rúben Dias tripped Hojlund 20 minutes into the second half. VAR official Stuart Attwell chose not to send Taylor to the monitor even though he was far away from the action and was unlikely to have had a clear view. You hope it wasn't because Taylor is one of England's top referees and Attwell didn't dare send him to have a look. You also hope referees have the humility -- if they don't see something clearly -- to communicate it with VAR.

Ultimately, Ruben Dias' tackle on Hojlund foreshadowed the chaos that marked City towards the end. Matheus Nunes's botched pass, and even-more-botched panicky tackle, gave Bruno Fernandes the chance to equalize, which he did. And then came the ball over the top from Lisandro Martínez -- and the collective misjudgement of the City defence -- that enabled Diallo (who was exceptional on the day) to slip in and notch the winner.

City weren't great throughout -- 17 touches in the opposition box is the lowest they recorded this season, distinctly unlike a Pep team -- but it's clear this was a late meltdown of the sort that seemed unthinkable not that long ago. (Bernardo Silva said they played like an "under-15 side" at the end.) It was hard to tell what annoyed Guardiola more at the end: the self-destruction or the overall poor performance, as City's press was too limp, their buildup too slow, and Erling Haaland too isolated.

To his credit, Guardiola took it on the chin: "I'm the boss, I'm the manager and I'm not good enough; it's as simple as that. I have to find a way to fix it ... and I'm not good enough. I'm not doing well. That's the truth."

One win (and eight defeats) in 11 games tell their own story. We know he is good enough to make a very good team great again. The question is whether he can get an underachieving team to at least punch their weight, which isn't something he's had to do before.

No, Barcelona fans: Despite defeat, the sky isn't falling, as long as they fix it vs. Atletico on Saturday

I get it. Back-to-back home defeats to teams fighting to avoid relegation (first Las Palmas and now Leganes) will make you go all Chicken Little. But not all losses -- however harsh -- are created equal, and the fact of the matter is that their 1-0 defeat against Leganes was simply part of what makes this sport what it is: it's low-scoring, there's randomness and you have to look past the result to the performance.

The fact of the matter is that the performance wasn't bad at all against Leganes. Yes, they should have done better on Sergio Gonzales' early set-piece goal, but they did respond the way you'd expect them to: by creating chance after chance. When you should really worry is when you create fewer opportunities than you concede. That didn't happen, as Barca put together a 2.63 xG (to Leganes' 0.40) and 20 total shots. Raphinha hit the crossbar and Robert Lewandowski alone could have had a hat trick.

In other words, the team is clicking: whether Lewandowski can do it all season long is a different matter, but you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. What matters more is that they put the negativity behind them and turn it around in the top-of-the-table clash with Atletico Madrid on Saturday. Stumble there and it becomes a concern, but if they play like this, you kinda feel they'll be alright.

Robertson red costs Liverpool, but there's plenty to praise in their performance

You're 17 minutes in, you're a goal down and a man down at home. This after a Champions League game you won without playing particularly well (away to Girona). Your opponent, Fulham, is in the top half of the table, is undefeated in four games and has taken points off Arsenal and Spurs in the past two weeks. You have to reshuffle your back four, getting your holding midfielder, Ryan Gravenberch to play center-back, a position he has never played. And still, you storm back to a 2-2 draw, racking up more than 2.00 expected goals along the way, outshooting the opposition and conceding a second only due to a deflection.

If you're Arne Slot, you either fret about Chelsea being two points back (albeit having played an extra game) or you remind your crew of what's in the above paragraph. Titles usually are won in moments of adversity. The best teams know how to contain the damage, ensuring a blip doesn't become a slump, and they find the energy to react when punched in the nose.

That's what Liverpool did after Robertson's red card. Twice, really, because after Rodrigo Muniz put Fulham ahead once more, they had to it all over again with 15 minutes to go.

There are plenty of reasons why Liverpool might not win the title. Even before Saturday, Robertson was showing signs of slowing down, Gravenberch is going to need a breather at some point, their three free agents-to-be (Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah) might yet let their contracts affect them, and there might be more injuries on the horizon. But what seems fairly certain is this: If they come up short, it won't be down to a lack of mentality or cohesion.

Musiala dependency rears its head again as Bayern Munich suffer first league defeat of the season

Maybe it's too easy to jump to conclusions, but sometimes Occam's razor applies (and Toni Kroos was correct). With Harry Kane still out and Jamal Musiala having an off day by his lofty standards, Bayern were blunted offensively away to Mainz, losing 2-1. An expected goals of 1.39 with just one shot on target won't get you far against a team that sits and congests the box, especially after taking the lead.

Make no mistake about it: Bayern weren't great defensively either, but there was a fair amount of bad luck on Lee Jae-Sung's opener and for the second, you feel like saying they are what they are. But you expect more efficiency and volume from a Vincent Kompany team in a game like this. Thomas Müller did what he could up front (not much, as it happened) and it's all the more evident that going into the season without a credible alternative to Kane (who, at 31, isn't the bionic man) was an unnecessary risk to take. And so when Kane's out, your options are Musiala or Muller out of position, or possibly Mathys Tel, whom Kompany doesn't seem to rate in that role.

Again, Kane will be fit before and against most teams, even without him, it won't really matter. But trophies are won on thin margins. Oh, and if you're wondering what Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting is doing right now, he just signed for New York Red Bulls. It's a shame he couldn't hang around for another few months ...

Quick hits

10. Eleven wins in a row and Atletico are flying, this time with help from the super-subs: We've talked before about how deep they are and on this occasion, it was Alexander Sorloth, Ángel Correa and Nahuel Molina coming off the bench and getting the ball over the line against the usual Getafe parked bus. In fact, Atleti probably should have gone ahead earlier, so dominant where they on the day. Diego Simeone seems to have finally found a formula that works for him and, should Atleti falter, he can always turn to his bench, which is one of the deepest around. And on Saturday, against Barcelona, they have the chance to go three points clear with a game in hand at the top of LaLiga...

9. League-leading Atalanta make it 10 straight wins: Is it time to ditch the 'upstart' tag? I'd say so. Not just for the fact that they finished fourth in Serie A last year, winning the Europa League, and this season, they're top of the league and recording a higher xG at home than Real Madrid. For me, it's the resilience. They weren't great away to Cagliari (Marco Carnesecchi made a string of big saves), but they nevertheless turned the game with their subs. When you can call on Nicolò Zaniolo (who scored his first goal of the season) and Lazar Samardzic (who may be the most technically gifted player in the squad) to turn a game? Well, that's a luxury usually reserved for big clubs.

8. Enzo Maresca is still right, and Chelsea are still not ready: The gap may be just two points between them and league-leading Liverpool after the 2-1 win over Brentford, but the guy knows what he's talking about. Chelsea's manager pointed out after the game that they needlessly let Brentford back in by conceding that Bryan Mbeumo goal. He might have added that while they could have scored four or five, they also could have conceded three or four. (Robert Sánchez was excellent, which -- after his recent outings -- is encouraging.) And you can't have one of your most experienced players acting the way Marc Cucurella did. He should know better than to get a pointless yellow deep in injury time, follow it up with some theatrics to get an opponent sent off and then, after the game is over, get a second yellow card. Leadership, eh? But the facts are there. Chelsea have seven wins in a row, folks other than Cole Palmer are creating chances and we haven't seen this sort of buzz at Stamford Bridge since well before the Clearlake era. At this rate, they'll be ready real soon.

7. Paris Saint-Germain dominate Lyon, but there's no love lost between Nasser Al-Khelaifi and John Textor: Luis Enrique left out a number of his big hitters (Marquinhos, Bradley Barcola, Gonçalo Ramos) and PSG still dominated Olympique Lyonnais on Sunday night. The trio will presumably be back on Wednesday for the clash with Monaco that could see PSG go 10 points clear of the chasing pack, but the undercard was equally entertaining between PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi (a man of many hats who also funds a big chunk of world football via beIN Sports, sits on the UEFA executive committee and heads up the European Club Association) and John Textor, whose ownership group controls, among others, Lyon and Botafogo. After WhatsApp messages (jibes, really) between Textor and Al-Khelaifi were leaked to French media, the former couldn't resist some trolling via Instagram. At least the feud will liven things up if PSG end up running away with Ligue 1...

6. Arsenal have a Plan A and Plan B: they just need a C and D: We've said it before, Arsenal are devastating on set pieces and with that righthand side chain of Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka. Beyond that, there's little in the way of creativity and danger, as evidenced in Saturday's 0-0 home draw with Everton. Mikel Arteta is obviously right when he says this was one-way traffic -- they shut down Everton (2 total shots, 0.09 xG) and Jordan Pickford had to make a couple of huge stops -- but that's the reality of facing Sean Dyche's Everton right now, they make no apologies for their approach to games (nor should they). So to give yourself the best chance to win, you need to be able to create from different sources, beyond the two cited before, and right now, it's not happening. Mikel Merino, supposedly the creative alternative to Odegaard, is offering little, Gabriel Martinelli even less. Arteta needs to find Plans C and D (maybe Plan E too): whether it's regenerating Merino and Martinelli, giving Ethan Nwaneri more minutes or figuring out the Riccardo Calafiori stepping into midfield thing (when he's fit again). As it stands, they're too predictable to regularly win games like this one.

5. Bayer Leverkusen go 'blue collar' again, and it's not a bad thing ... I'm not a fan of the more conservative version of Leverkusen -- with Jeremie Frimpong and Alex Grimaldo deployed as wingers and a midfield stuffed with ball-winners -- but I have to say, it's working. They dominated Inter in the Champions League on Tuesday (don't be fooled by the late goal and 1-0 scoreline) and on Saturday, they won 2-0 at Augsburg in league play. This time it was tweaked back to the more familiar 3-4-2-1 formation, with Martin Terrier ahead of Florian Wirtz and Nathan Tella, but it was still a low-key, safety-first performance. And that's OK. It helps to be able to play in different ways as they wait for Patrik Schick (who came off the bench) and Victor Boniface (targeting a mid-January return) to be ready to start again up front. That said, it's now seven wins on the bounce for Xabi Alonso & Co. ...

4. Real Madrid aren't a team right now, just grit and superstars ... I wrote as much after their 3-2 win away to Atalanta in the Champions League, and it was much the same in the 3-3 draw away to Rayo Vallecano. Don't get me wrong: that's not a bad starting point, but it's hard to judge Real Madrid when you look at Saturday's lineup. Carlo Ancelotti ran his team in a 4-2-4 formation with Rodrygo and Jude Bellingham as a front two, Aurélien Tchouaméni and Lucas Vázquez as the right side of the back four, 39-year-old Luka Modric pulling the strings. The stars deliver the goals -- Fede Valverde's wonder strike defied the laws of physics, Bellingham was on the spot -- and the grit got them over the line in a match they could just as easily have lost (3 goals off 0.69 xG to Rayo's 1.62 tell their own story) as won (Rodrygo might have won a penalty, Augusto Batalla made an exceptional save, Lucas Vazquez mistakes on both goals). It's a poorly assembled cluster mess right now and injuries make it worse. Ancelotti is bullish, saying they're still in the running for all of their seasonal goals, which is true, but there are only so many rabbits to pull out of the hat. They need help in January.

3. Inconsistent Juventus booed off again, though this time, it's a bit different: The headline is that this team is up and down -- beating Manchester City in midweek and then needing a lucky, but correctly awarded, penalty deep in injury time to avoid a home defeat against bottom club Venezia -- and that's undoubtedly true. Just as it's true that Thiago Motta's tenure is a source of great frustration to many Juventus fans (especially those in the Allegri camp). Even those of us who have been defending him, recognizing the many challenges he's faced, have to concede this team doesn't look right, though maybe there's some comfort from Saturday's poor performance being poor for different reasons than some of his previous outings. Juventus weren't overly conservative or risk-averse; they were simply way too slow and predictable in the buildup, like a kid trying to ride a bike for the first time. It's as if they're walking through Motta's schemes, rather than executing them at speed (which is when they work). Throw in some poor individual performances (Teun Koopmeiners, Nicolo' Savona, Weston McKennie) and some baffling choices (Kenan Yildiz stranded out wide, Francisco Conceição taking a dozen touches each time) that helps explain the result. The direction of travel is the right one, it's just things are happening so slowly you wonder if, by the time they get where they want to be, Motta will still be there.

2. Southampton are the perfect tonic for Tottenham, but they won't get to play them every week: At least not with manager Russell Martin at the helm, since he has been let go. After the heavy criticism of the past week, Ange Postecoglou needed a big win and he got it, with Spurs scoring five goals before half-time. You hope he won't be under any illusions, though. It's not just that Southampton have been spectacularly bad (13 defeats in 16 games), it's also that their style of play is a perfect match for Spurs. They won't enjoy that luxury in the League Cup on Thursday against Manchester United, or in the league against Liverpool next weekend. Postecoglou says he doesn't mind being in the eye of the storm and that he can get Tottenham out of it. Maybe so, but it won't be against sides like he faced Sunday night that he'll be judged.

1. Milan's 125th birthday celebration is ruined ... and it was avoidable: They had gorgeous throwback jerseys, they had invited a galaxy of past legends (including three Ballon d'Or winners), and they were all set to have a party by stuffing poor old Genoa. Instead, it ended a scoreless draw with a fan protest outside the stadium, Zlatan Ibrahimovic getting booed (to be fair, he was booed before kickoff as well) and the media speculating about a three-way civil war at the club: ownership vs. players vs. the manager, Paulo Fonseca. The latter had called out his captain (Davide Calabria) and vice captain (Theo Hernández) before the match, dropping them entirely and giving full debuts to 19-year-old Álex Jiménez and 17-year-old Mattia Liberali. It's not the first time Fonseca has cracked down this season, but of course, if you pick these fights, you have to win them. And while the numbers say Milan actually played well, the 0-0 result means it probably backfired since the knee-jerk reaction is always to fret about results. Milan fans are divided, with many backing Fonseca and blaming the players; what they're not divided on, however, is the club and the fact that owner Gerry Cardinale wasn't there on such a big night does little to quell the anger. Much of the bile postmatch was aimed at him and the ownership group. You don't know how this is going to end, and you feel a bit for Fonseca. As the football adage goes, it's easier to fire one coach than a host of players, and as we know, owners never get fired.

Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter of Colorado was a first-team selection at two spots and a second-team pick at another on the Associated Press All-America team announced Monday.

Hunter and Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts were repeat first-team selections, and Boise State's Ashton Jeanty was the only unanimous pick after he posted one of the highest single-season rushing totals in college football history.

A total of 24 schools are represented on the first team, selected by a panel of AP Top 25 voters. Texas and Miami had two players apiece on the first team.

Hunter, selected the AP Player of the Year last week, is regarded as one of the greatest two-way college athletes since football shifted away from such players in the 1940s. He was selected first-team cornerback, first-team all-purpose player and second-team receiver.

The junior from Suwanee, Georgia, has totaled 1,443 snaps on offense, defense and special teams over 12 games, according to Pro Football Focus. He played at least 120 snaps in 10 games, including a season-high 170 against Texas Tech on Nov. 9. His snaps were limited in two other games because of injury.

Hunter, who announced last month he would enter the 2025 NFL draft, said he would play in Colorado's game against BYU in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 28.

As a receiver, Hunter finished the regular season ranked among the national leaders with 92 catches for 1,152 yards and 14 touchdowns. His 21 catches for 20-plus yards apiece lead the country.

As a cornerback, he made 31 tackles and was among the national leaders with 11 pass breakups and four interceptions. His biggest defensive play came in the Buffaloes' overtime win over Baylor when his hard hit on Dominic Richardson near the goal line forced a fumble on the final play.

Notre Dame's Watts has five interceptions, tied for most among safeties, and he's responsible for six of the Irish's nation-leading 28 takeaways. Against USC, he became the first Notre Dame player to return an interception 100 yards. His 12 career picks are most by a Notre Dame player since 1996.

Boise State's Jeanty has rushed for 2,497 yards, the fourth most in the FBS, and he went over 200 yards in six games. His 29 rushing touchdowns are tied for the national lead.

First-team All-Americans (by conference)

SEC -- 6

ACC -- 5

Big Ten -- 5

Big 12 -- 4

MAC -- 3

Mountain West -- 2

Sun Belt -- 1

Independent -- 1

First-team offense

Wide receivers -- Nick Nash, San Jose State, senior, 6-3, 195, Irvine, California; Tetairoa McMillan, Arizona, junior, 6-5, 212, Waimanalo, Hawaii; Xavier Restrepo, Miami, senior, 5-10, 198, Coconut Creek, Florida.

Tackles -- Kelvin Banks Jr., Texas, junior, 6-3, 320, Humble, Texas; Will Campbell, LSU, junior, 6-6, 323, Monroe, Louisiana.

Guards -- Addison West, Western Michigan, senior, 6-3, 305, Cary, Illinois; Willie Lampkin, North Carolina, senior, 5-11, 290, Lakeland, Florida.

Center -- Jake Slaughter, Florida, junior, 6-5, 308, Sparr, Florida.

Tight end -- Harold Fannin Jr., Bowling Green, junior, 6-4, 230, Canton, Ohio.

Quarterback -- Cam Ward, Miami, senior, 6-2, 223, West Columbia, Texas.

Running backs -- u-Ashton Jeanty, Boise State, junior, 5-9, 215, Jacksonville, Florida; Cam Skattebo, Arizona State, senior, 5-11, 215, Rio Linda, California.

Kicker -- Kenneth Almendares, Louisiana-Lafayette, senior, 6-2, 252, Clute, Texas.

All-purpose -- Travis Hunter, Colorado, junior, 6-1, 185, Suwanee, Georgia.

First-team defense

Edge rushers -- Abdul Carter, Penn State, junior, 6-3, 252, Philadelphia; Donovan Ezeiruaku, Boston College, senior, 6-2, 247, Williamstown, New Jersey.

Interior linemen -- Mason Graham, Michigan, junior, 6-3, 320, Mission Viejo, California; Walter Nolen, Mississippi, junior, 6-3, 305, Powell, Tennessee.

Linebackers -- Jay Higgins, Iowa, senior, 6-2, 232, Indianapolis; Shaun Dolac, Buffalo, graduate, 6-1, 225, West Seneca, New York; Carson Schwesinger, UCLA, junior, 6-2, 225, Moorpark, California.

Cornerbacks -- Jahdae Barron, Texas, senior, 5-11, 200, Austin, Texas; Travis Hunter, Colorado, junior, 6-1, 185, Suwanee, Georgia.

Safeties -- Xavier Watts, Notre Dame, graduate, 6-0, 203, Omaha, Nebraska; Caleb Downs, Ohio State, sophomore, 6-0, 205, Hoschton, Georgia.

Defensive back -- Nick Emmanwori, South Carolina, junior, 6-3, 227, Irmo, South Carolina.

Punter -- Alex Mastromanno, Florida State, senior, 6-1, 241, Melbourne, Australia.

Second-team offense

Wide receivers -- Travis Hunter, Colorado, junior, 6-1, 185, Suwanee, Georgia; Tre Harris, Mississippi, senior, 6-3, 210, Lafayette, Louisiana; Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State, freshman, 6-3, 215, Miami Gardens, Florida.

Tackles -- Spencer Fano, Utah, sophomore, 6-5, 304, Spanish Fork, Utah; Wyatt Milum, West Virginia, senior, 6-6, 317, Kenova, West Virginia.

Guards -- Tyler Booker, Alabama, junior, 6-5, 325, New Haven, Connecticut; Donovan Jackson, Ohio State, senior, 6-4, 320, Cypress, Texas, and Dylan Fairchild, Georgia, junior, 6-5, 315, Cumming, Georgia.

Center -- Seth McLaughlin, Ohio State, graduate, 6-4, 305, Buford, Georgia.

Tight end -- Tyler Warren, Penn State, senior, 6-6, 261, Mechanicsville, Virginia.

Quarterback -- Shedeur Sanders, Colorado, senior, 6-2, 215, Dallas.

Running backs -- Omarion Hampton, North Carolina, junior, 6-0, 220, Clayton, North Carolina; Kaleb Johnson, Iowa, junior, 6-0, 225, Hamilton, Ohio.

Kicker -- Dominic Zvada, Michigan, junior 6-3, 180, Chandler, Arizona, and Alex Raynor, Kentucky, senior, 6-0, 185, Kennesaw, Georgia.

All-purpose -- Desmond Reid, Pittsburgh, junior, 5-8, 175, Miami Gardens, Florida.

Second-team defense

Edge rushers -- Kyle Kennard, South Carolina, senior, 6-5, 254, Atlanta; Mike Green, Marshall, sophomore, 6-4, 238, Williamsburg, Virginia.

Interior linemen -- Derrick Harmon, Oregon, junior, 6-5, 310, Detroit; Alfred Collins, Texas, senior, 6-5, 320, Bastrop, Texas.

Linebackers -- Anthony Hill Jr., Texas, sophomore, 6-3, 235, Denton, Texas; Danny Stutsman, Oklahoma, senior, 6-4, 243, Windermere, Florida; Kyle Louis, Pittsburgh, sophomore, 6-0, 225, East Orange, New Jersey.

Cornerbacks -- Nohl Williams, California, senior, 6-1, 200, Oxnard, California; Jermod McCoy, Tennessee, sophomore, 6-0, 193, Whitehouse, Texas.

Safeties -- Malaki Starks, Georgia, junior, 6-1, 205, Jefferson, Georgia; Malachi Moore, Alabama, graduate, 6-0, 201, Trussville, Alabama.

Defensive back -- Michael Taaffe, Texas, junior, 6-0, 195, Austin, Texas.

Punter -- Brett Thorson, Georgia, junior, 6-2, 235, Melbourne, Australia.

Third-team offense

Wide receivers -- Tai Felton, Maryland, senior, 6-2, 186, Ashburn, Virginia; Jayden Higgins, Iowa State, senior, 6-4, 215, South Miami, Florida; Jordyn Tyson, Arizona State, sophomore, 6-1, 195, Allen, Texas; Eric Rivers, Florida International, senior, 5-11, 174, Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Tackles -- Josh Conerly Jr., Oregon, junior, 6-4, 315, Seattle; Aireontae Ersery, Minnesota, senior, 6-3, 330, Kansas City, Missouri.

Guards -- Tate Ratledge, Georgia, senior, 6-6, 330, Rome, Georgia; Paolo Gennarelli, Army, sophomore, 6-1, 310, Campton Hills, Illinois.

Center -- Jacob Gardner, Colorado State, graduate, 6-4, 300, Rancho Cucamonga, California.

Tight end -- Oronde Gadsden II, Syracuse, junior, 6-5, 236, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Quarterback -- Dillon Gabriel, Oregon, graduate, 6-0, 200, Mililani, Hawaii.

Running backs -- Dylan Sampson, Tennessee; junior, 5-11, 201, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; RJ Harvey, UCF, senior, 5-9, 208, Orlando, Florida.

Kicker -- Ryan Fitzgerald, Florida State., senior, 6-1, 190, Coolidge, Georgia.

All-purpose -- Brashard Smith, SMU, 5-10, 196, senior, Richmond Heights, Florida.

Third-team defense

Edge rushers -- Antwaun Powell-Ryland, Virginia Tech, senior, 6-3, 252, Portsmouth, Virginia; Mikail Kamara, Indiana, junior, 6-1, 265, Ashburn, Virginia.

Interior linemen -- Aeneas Peebles, Virginia Tech, graduate, 6-1, 290, Raleigh, North Carolina; Kenneth Grant, Michigan, junior, 6-3, 339, Gary, Indiana.

Linebackers -- Chris Paul Jr., Mississippi, junior, 6-1, 235, Cordele, Georgia; Barrett Carter, Clemson, senior, 6-1, 230, Suwanee, Georgia; Jalon Walker, Georgia, junior, 6-2, 245, Salisbury, North Carolina.

Cornerbacks -- Chandler Rivers, Duke, junior, 5-10, 180, Beaumont, Texas; Will Johnson, Michigan, junior, 6-2, 202, Detroit.

Safeties -- Lathan Ransom, Ohio State, graduate, 6-1, 210, Tucson, Arizona; Jalen Catalon, UNLV, senior, 5-11, 205, Mansfield, Texas.

Defensive back -- Mello Dotson, Kansas, senior, 6-1, 190, Daytona Beach, Florida.

Punter -- Eddie Czaplicki, USC, senior, 6-1, 207, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Tennessee held onto No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for the second consecutive week, though No. 2 Auburn closed the gap as the top five remained unchanged in the men's college basketball poll Monday.

The Volunteers received 50 first-place votes from a national media panel after wins over Miami and Illinois pushed coach Rick Barnes' program to 10-0 for only the fifth time in school history. Auburn picked up nine first-place votes from last week and had 12 total. Iowa State, Duke and Kentucky rounded out the top five.

Tennessee is among five unbeatens left in men's Division I basketball and one of three teams from the Southeastern Conference, joining No. 7 Florida (10-0) and No. 14 Oklahoma (10-0). Drake (9-0) and Utah State (10-0) also enter this week undefeated.

"We know watching film there's a lot of areas we have to get better with, more consistent," Barnes said Monday. "It's everybody. Coaches getting better, players getting better. When you're in December, you have to be real. Look at film and realize we've done this or that, but we have a long way to go to be where we want to be."

Auburn improved to 9-1 with its 91-53 blowout of Ohio State in Atlanta. Johni Broome showed the way with 21 points and 20 rebounds for the Tigers' first 20-20 game in 35 years, then he raced back to Auburn for his graduation Saturday night.

"They may be the best team in the country right now," Ohio State coach Jake Diebler said. "They have a lot of experience, and they made us pay when we made a mistake."

The SEC continued to dominate the Top 25 with the Vols and Tigers joined by Kentucky, No. 6 Alabama and No. 7 Florida in giving the conference five of the top seven. Kansas moved up two spots to No. 8 while Marquette and Oregon rounded out the top 10.

Two-time defending national champion UConn jumped seven spots to No. 11 after beating then-No. 8 Gonzaga. The Huskies were followed by Texas A&M, the Bulldogs, the Sooners and Houston, which remained at No. 15.

Purdue dropped five spots to No. 16 after its loss to the Aggies, and was followed by Ole Miss, UCLA, Cincinnati and Michigan State. Dayton entered the poll for the first time this season at No. 22, just behind Memphis, which returned after its win over Clemson. Wisconsin dropped out after its loss to Illinois, and Mississippi State fell out after a narrow win over McNeese State.

San Diego State, Michigan and Clemson rounded out the Top 25.

Mid-major monitoring: Drake appeared on 11 ballots after an easy win over St. Ambrose kept first-year coach Ben McCollum's club unbeaten. Utah State showed up on 10 ballots after blowing out South Florida to give the Aggies their best start in school history.

"I've said all along, this is a place you can win at a high level consistently, and we've shown that, right? Year after year," Utah State coach Jarrod Calhoun said. "We never talk about making history. It was never talked about all week. ... It's about getting better each day. It's about enjoying the process."

Rising and falling: UConn made the biggest jump this week, climbing seven spots to No. 11 after beating Gonzaga. UCLA climbed six spots to No. 18 after beating Arizona for its eighth straight win, and Texas A&M moved up five spots to No. 12.

Michigan plummeted 10 places to No. 24 after blowing its halftime lead in an 89-87 loss to Arkansas in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden. Clemson fell nine spots to No. 25, and Gonzaga and Purdue each dropped five spots.

In and out: Memphis spent a week at No. 16 earlier this season before a loss to Arkansas State. The Tigers returned while Dayton made its season debut at the expense of Wisconsin and Mississippi State, which received the most votes of those outside the Top 25.

Conference watch: The SEC has eight teams in the Top 25 along with the first three outside the poll in Mississippi State, Arkansas and Missouri. The Big Ten has five, the Big 12 has four, and the ACC and Big East two apiece. Nine leagues had a ranked team.

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes has a high ankle sprain that the Kansas City Chiefs "don't think [is] bad," a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Monday.

The diagnosis was revealed through testing done Monday. The Chiefs will evaluate him through the week to determine if he has a chance to play Saturday against the Houston Texans.

The Chiefs then will face the Pittsburgh Steelers on Christmas Day, completing a stretch of three games in 11 days.

Mahomes was removed from the Chiefs' 21-7 victory over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday midway through the fourth quarter after being hit while throwing a fourth-down pass that was incomplete.

On the play, Mahomes was dragged down from behind by Cleveland defender Dalvin Tomlinson while also getting hit high by Mike Hall Jr.

Mahomes was 19-of-38 for 159 yards and two touchdowns before leaving the game. Mahomes was hit on several pass attempts and was pressured 21 times, according to ESPN Research.

The two-time MVP has passed for 3,348 yards with 22 touchdowns and 11 interceptions this season.

Carson Wentz finished the game for the Chiefs, who improved to an NFL-best 13-1.

ESPN's Adam Teicher contributed to this report.

Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery is out indefinitely after suffering a sprained MCL in Sunday's 48-42 loss to the Buffalo Bills, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Monday.

Montgomery is undergoing additional testing on his knee and getting a second opinion, the sources told Schefter. There are some within the Lions organization who believe Montgomery will be lost for the season, the sources said.

He is one of several key players who were injured Sunday, including several key defensive players. Lions starting defensive tackle Alim McNeill suffered a torn ACL, ending his season, and starting cornerback Carlton Davis III suffered a fractured jaw in the loss, sources told Schefter. Davis will undergo surgery and be sidelined indefinitely, the sources said.

Lions coach Dan Campbell had said Sunday that both McNeill and Davis would likely miss the rest of the season. The Lions also lost cornerback Khalil Dorsey to a season-ending ankle injury in Sunday's game, Campbell said.

The injuries to McNeill, Davis and Dorsey are the latest setbacks to a Lions defense that had 13 defensive players on the injured reserve list entering Sunday's game. That includes star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson, who suffered a fractured tibia and fibula in Week 6.

Montgomery is second on the Lions with 775 rushing yards and leads the team with 12 rushing touchdowns. He also has 36 receptions for 341 yards. He signed a two-year, $18.25 million extension with the Lions in October.

Montgomery is part of the Lions' one-two punch at running back with Jahmyr Gibbs, who leads the team with 1,047 rushing yards and has scored 14 total touchdowns (11 rushing).

McNeill signed a four-year, $97 million extension earlier this season and helped stabilize Detroit's defensive line after Hutchinson's injury. He finishes the season with 25 tackles and 3.5 sacks.

Davis, acquired in an offseason trade with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has 2 interceptions, 11 passes defensed and 56 tackles this season. He will be an unrestricted free agent after the season.

The loss to the Bills snapped the Lions' 11-game winning streak. The Lions (12-2) still are in the top spot in the NFC playoff bracket, holding the tiebreaker over the Philadelphia Eagles (12-2) based on winning percentage in conference games, with three games to go.

ESPN's Eric Woodyard contributed to this report.

AS MICHIGAN FOOTBALL players took their Block M flag to midfield at Ohio Stadium after their 13-10 win against rival Ohio State on Nov. 30, they unwittingly set off a chain of events that still has the college football world talking.

Inside a celebratory mass of players, a small group stood at the center and waved the flag back and forth before symbolically planting it at the 50-yard line. It was the Wolverines' fourth straight win against the Buckeyes, and again, they claimed the territory as their own.

None of this should have caught anyone off guard. When the Wolverines won at Ohio State in 2022, they celebrated the same way. Then-coach Jim Harbaugh thought so highly of it that he had the moment memorialized by displaying the flag itself prominently in the team museum at Schembechler Hall.

"I love it, love seeing that," Michigan coach Sherrone Moore, then the offensive coordinator, said of the flag the following spring. "I think about that game every day, think about every moment. When you walk in the building, you see it as soon as you walk in. Obviously, you see all the things about the rivalry and what it is, and you think about that every day. It's constantly on my mind."

That year, the on-field response was tame. There were agitated Ohio State players, but nothing outside the norm of what often transpires in the immediate aftermath of any big rivalry game.

This year, that was not the case.

Michigan's flag plant sparked a five-minute brawl that led to the use of pepper spray by police, left players and coaches from both sides bloodied and resulted in one police officer receiving medical attention.

It was the first of five similar postgame celebrations on college football's rivalry Saturday, with South Carolina (at Clemson), NC State (at North Carolina), Florida (at Florida State) and Arizona State (at Arizona) all staking territory at midfield after road wins.

By the time Texas put the finishing touches on its victory at Texas A&M that night -- the first game in a high-stakes, heated rivalry that had not been played since 2011 -- Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian knew he had to prevent a similar scene at Kyle Field. Earlier in the season, Texas linebacker David Gbenda planted a Longhorns flag after winning at Michigan, but Sarkisian quickly made his way to midfield this time and ushered his players away.

"I just watched Ohio State and Michigan get into a full-fledged brawl in my hotel room today, and I just didn't think it was right," Sarkisian said in the postgame news conference. "Rivalries are great, but there's a way to win with class. And I just didn't think that's the right thing to do. We shouldn't be on their logo."

Ahead of the first home-hosted playoff games in college football this week, flag-planting conversations have raged on. Some coaches, and even pro athletes, are for it; others are against it. One state lawmaker went as far as to introduce a bill to make the act a felony.

It's all, apparently, up for debate.

IN 2017, A Reddit user named Nathan Bingham created what he called the College Football Imperialism Map. Every county in the nation was assigned to whatever FBS program was closest to its geographic center. Then as games were played, the map was updated with the winner of each game acquiring whatever territory was possessed by the team it played.

It effectively turned the college football season into a modified version of the popular board game Risk, where fans got to see their team plant its proverbial flag (logo) in acquired territory across the country. It was an immediate hit. A lot of that can be attributed to how visually satisfying the map is -- especially when it updates -- but the exercise also tapped into the uniquely tribalistic nature of college football.

More so than in professional sports, where teams are made up of players from all over the country or world, college football programs have historically been a reflection of their region.

That has become less the case as recruiting has become more of a national game, but the general sentiment remains. That dynamic contributes to why rivalries are more prevalent in college: They extend to academics, other sports and beyond.

"In some ways [a rivalry] kind of morphs into an identity thing where part of being a member of one team is a desire to beat a specific team or have distaste for that team," said Dr. Francesco Dandekar, the associate director for sports psychiatry at Stanford University. "In those situations when your identity is in play or at stake, people will also do things that maybe they wouldn't normally do because it just feels like it's more necessary."

It helps explain why, perhaps, flag-planting celebrations have become more of an issue after rivalry games than lower-stakes games. For the Ohio State players, Michigan's celebration was received as an affront to their collective identity.

"Probably what people are reacting to is the idea that, 'We have conquered you,'" Dandekar said. "It can be taken as a very direct sign of disrespect to say, 'OK, we've not only beaten you, we are going to somehow deface your field and somehow claim your stadium for our own.'"

It's as if the Imperialism Map came to life.

From the outside, it's easy to look at college football players celebrating a win by slamming a PVC pipe into artificial turf and conclude that it's not that deep. And the idea that the act warrants a physical response can be dismissed out of hand.

But after a 3-hour football game, Dandekar said, it becomes a lot harder to regulate your behavior.

"In the heat of the moment, all of us will function suboptimally if you subject us to strong enough emotion," he said. "It's been studied up and down. When we start to increase the magnitude of emotion that we're feeling, it's harder for our prefrontal cortex -- which is the sort of higher-order decision-making part of our brain -- to modulate that.

"And in a sport like football, in which you are encouraged to be maximally aggressive within the stated rules -- you are in a very sort of heightened state. ... If someone does something that seems flagrantly disrespectful, your behavior is going to be more difficult to modulate."

For the layman, all the evidence for what Dandekar explained was captured on video in the Ohio State postgame, most notably with Buckeyes defensive end Jack Sawyer being held back as he shouted, "They're not f---ing planting the flag on our field again, bro."

CELEBRATORY FLAG PLANTING is not new in college football.

It's hard to pin down how long it has been going on, but cursory research found examples dating back at least 20 years.

After Michigan State upset Notre Dame 44-41 in overtime in 2005, two players -- Eric Smith and Kaleb Thornhill -- executed one of the more memorable celebrations.

"It was impulsive," Thornhill told the Lansing State Journal in 2017. "That's what's special about the game of football. We were in the moment, and we slammed that flag in the middle of the field."

A few weeks later, Minnesota did it after a win against Michigan, and an attempt by Georgia was thwarted by police officers after the Bulldogs' win at Tennessee.

In response, then-Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany sent a conference-wide memo that said flag-planting celebrations had to stop, which was followed by a similar message in the SEC that outlined how flag planting was a violation of the conference's sportsmanship policy.

It wasn't until 2017 that another such celebration captured national consciousness. That's when college football's patron saint of flag planting, eventual Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield, made his way to the Block O at Ohio Stadium and planted an Oklahoma flag following the No. 5 Sooners' 31-16 win against No. 2 Ohio State.

At the time, it was met with major backlash, and it resulted in Mayfield issuing an apology two days later.

"I didn't mean for it to be disrespectful to any Ohio State people at all, especially the team or the players, because they're a great team and a great program," Mayfield said at the time. "It was an emotional game. I knew that it was going to have a lot of implications on the playoffs. ... I got caught up in an emotional win. Yeah, it should've been something I did in the locker room. So I apologize for doing it in the middle of the field."

The incident followed Mayfield to the NFL, and in 2019, former Ohio State star Nick Bosa exacted revenge during a "Monday Night Football" game, when he sacked Mayfield -- then playing for the Cleveland Browns -- and celebrated with a wave and plant of an imaginary flag.

"I think everybody knows what that was for," Bosa said after the game. "I just wanted to get payback. He had it coming."

After the recent wave of flag planting and having already addressed Texas planting a flag over his Oklahoma jersey after the Longhorns beat the Sooners in the Red River Rivalry in October this year, Mayfield was asked again for his thoughts on this brand of celebration.

"College football is meant to have rivalries," Mayfield said. "That's like the Big 12 banning the 'horns down' signal. Just let the boys play."

FOR MID-AMERICAN CONFERENCE commissioner Jon Steinbrecher, the flag-planting debate is part of a larger conversation about sportsmanship in college sports.

After seeing the postgame fights in football and behavior on the sidelines by college basketball coaches, he felt compelled to write a letter to NCAA president Charlie Baker and the NCAA Division I board of directors on Dec. 5 with the subject line: Sportsmanship (or the absence thereof).

"The term poor sportsmanship does not capture the lack of decorum exhibited by coaches, student-athletes, and fans," he wrote. "A portion of the behavior, in a non-sports context, could be considered criminal."

In an interview with ESPN after he sent the letter, Steinbrecher reaffirmed those beliefs, expressing frustration about the state of play in college sports.

"I think it's very much a reflection of what we see in society today that people, on all sorts of levels, seem to ignore norms or traditions," he said. "In many circumstances, I think people are much more in your face. I think it has to do with the heightened scrutiny and pressure that people feel. We have, for some time now, athletes at all levels doing more and more things to draw attention to themselves."

Part of that trend is how incentives have changed. In the name, image and likeness era, personal branding has a significant impact on athletes' ability to make money. There is no financial value in blending in.

"In my mind, this isn't about enacting a bunch of rules," Steinbrecher said. "It's about saying this is what the standard is, and we're going to live to that standard, and we're going to hold ourselves accountable to that standard. And when we don't live up to that, we'll address it."

Steinbrecher admits, however, that finding an effective way to discipline college athletes isn't so straightforward.

"In the NFL, they have a financial system [where teams and leagues can fine a player]," he said. "Probably at the collegiate level we have a participation system, right? What's everybody want? Playing time."

But those punishments function much differently. A fine in pro sports hurts only that individual. When a player is sidelined, the team feels it.

It goes further than that. Many college football coaches have financial bonuses for games won each season, which gives them personal financial incentives not to suspend star players. Some athletic directors also have similar win bonuses.

Are they expected to punish themselves?

One extreme solution arrived in the form of political grandstanding last week, when Ohio state Rep. Josh Williams introduced a bill, the O.H.I.O. Sportsmanship Act, that would classify flag planting at Ohio Stadium on football gamedays as a fifth-degree felony.

"After it happened at five separate games during Rivalry Week, and seeing that there was no immediate movement, I thought it was necessary to send a signal to our institutions of higher learning that they need to come up with policies to prevent this in the future so it doesn't risk harm to our law enforcement officers or student-athletes or fans," Williams told ESPN's Adam Rittenberg.

NCAA president Charlie Baker told ESPN's Dan Murphy flag planting is an issue the NCAA plans to address.

"I think the conferences are pretty serious, and so are the schools about taking a look at how they might create a more aggressive approach to dealing with that," Baker said.

Whether that's lip service to weather the moment or leads to meaningful change remains to be seen.

The melee following the Michigan-Ohio State game cost both teams a $100,000 fine from the Big Ten, a figure former Alabama coach Nick Saban made light of on ESPN's "College GameDay."

"I think to fine these schools $100K is worrying about mouse manure when you're up to your ears in elephant s---," Saban said.

OHIO STATE WILL host Tennessee on Saturday and is one of four teams, along with Texas, Penn State and Notre Dame, that will play at home this week as the College Football Playoff arrives on campuses for the first time.

After the Buckeyes were conquered at home by Michigan, it's fair to question whether there will be lingering frustration from the events that marred the finish. Winning should be incentive enough, but the thought of losing at home, again, could also be a powerful motivator.

Especially since it would still be legal in the state of Ohio for Tennessee to celebrate the way Michigan did.

Most of the coaches whose teams were involved in the rivalry-week flag-planting games voiced their opposition to the act itself (and the retaliations) in the immediate aftermath, so the possibility of repeat performances seems unlikely.

Florida coach Billy Napier apologized "on behalf of the entire organization" for how his team represented the university.

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney called the incidents "a bad look for college football."

Ohio State coach Ryan Day and Michigan's Moore, however, mostly shrugged off what happened at The Horseshoe as the byproduct of an emotional game.

And if there was any doubt about Moore's feelings on the matter, he made them clear at a basketball game against Iowa on Dec. 7. When he appeared on the jumbotron in the arena, Moore fired up the crowd by pretending to plant a flag.

Sherrone Moore hypes up the faithful Michigan crowd and emphatically plants an imaginary flag.

The crowd liked it, to say the least. pic.twitter.com/xbakn2pxsn

Brock Heilig (@brockheilig) December 7, 2024

It was after an NBA game last week when perhaps the best solution for the whole issue was delivered after Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young celebrated a win in a similar fashion. As Young dribbled out the clock against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden, he mock-rolled dice on the Knicks' logo.

While some fans were outraged, Knicks star Jalen Brunson had a different response: "We should win the game if we don't want him to do that."