MSU Suspends Tucker without pay for sexual harassment – Monday Morning Sports Update

NCAAFB – MSU suspends Mel Tucker; allegations of sexual harassment
Michigan State has suspended football coach Mel Tucker after allegations became public that he sexually harassed an activist and rape survivor during a phone call last year. The university’s president and athletic director announced the suspension pending the results of an outside investigation into the allegations. The school hired a Title IX attorney to investigate Brenda Tracy’s complaint and the investigation concluded on July 25. A hearing is scheduled for the week of Oct. 5 determine if Tucker violated the school’s sexual harassment and exploitation policy. Secondary coach Harlon Barnett will serve as the team’s interim coach and former coach Mark Dantonio was named associate head coach while Tucker awaits his fate.

NCAAFB – College Football – Week 2
Saturday
(2) Michigan 35, UNLV 7
(10) Notre Dame 45, NC State 24
Central Michigan 45, New Hampshire 42
Michigan State 45, Richmond 14
Syracuse 48, Western Michigan 7
Minnesota 25, Eastern Michigan 6

NCAAFB –Texas jumps to 4 after beating ‘Bama; PAC 12 has 8 ranked
Texas jumped to No. 4 in The Associated Press college football poll after beating Alabama and the Pac-12 became just the second conference to place as many as eight teams in an AP Top 25. Georgia received 55 first-place votes to remain the clear No. 1. Michigan is No. 2, with two-first place votes. No. 3 Florida State received three first-place votes and moved up a spot. Texas got two-first place votes. The Longhorns are in the top five for the first time since starting the 2010 season at No. 5 while Alabama dropped to No. 10.

NFL – National Football League – Week 1

Yesterday
Green Bay Packers 38, Chicago Bears 20
Jacksonville Jaguars 31, Indianapolis Colts 21

Packers 38, Bears 20 – Love delivers in opener as Packers beat Bears 38-20
Jordan Love looked like he might be ready to follow in the footsteps of Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, throwing for three touchdowns to lead the Green Bay Packers to a 38-20 season-opening victory over the Chicago Bears. Aaron Jones ran for a touchdown and caught one, helping the Packers pull away in the second half for their ninth straight win over the Bears. Green Bay was 25-5 against Chicago with Rodgers, including the playoffs, and 22-10 in games Favre started. It was a discouraging start for the Bears and second-year quarterback Justin Fields, who threw for 216 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

Jaguars 31, Colts 21 – Bigsby makes amends for big mistake by helping Jags earn rare 31-21 victory at Indy
Tank Bigsby made up for a big mistake by scoring the go-ahead touchdown in Jacksonville’s season-opener and Travis Etienne Jr. added a 26-yard scoring run to seal a 31-21 victory at Indianapolis. The defending AFC South champs snapped a five-game losing streak at Lucas Oil Stadium. Bigsby casually allowed the ball to be punched out of his hands after what he thought was an incompletion. Instead, Colts defensive tackle DeForest Buckner scooped up the loose ball and sprinted 26 yards for the score to give Indy a 21-17 third-quarter lead. Three series later, Bigsby’s 1-yard plunge to made it 24-21.

Tonight
Buffalo Bills at New York Jets, 8:15 p.m.

MLB – Major League Baseball
Yesterday
Detroit Tigers 3, Chicago White Sox 2
Chicago Cubs 5, Arizona Diamondbacks 2

Tigers 3, White Sox 2 – Gipson-Long wins MLB debut, Torkelson hits 2-run double as the Tigers beat White Sox 3-2
Sawyer Gipson-Long won his major league debut, Spencer Torkelson hit a two-run double in a three-run third inning and the Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox 3-2. Torkelson had two hits for the Tigers, who have gone 5-1 against Chicago over the past two weekends. They won the season series 8-5 after going 21-45 versus the White Sox from 2019-22. Gipson-Long threw 5 1/3 innings, allowing two runs and four hits. Four relievers finished for Detroit, with Alex Lange pitching the ninth for his 23rd save. Jesse Scholtens took the loss, giving up three runs on eight hits and two walks in five innings.

Cubs 5, Diamondbacks 2 – Morel, Bellinger Swanson connect in 3rd, Cubs power past Diamondbacks 5-2
Christopher Morel, Cody Bellinger and Dansby Swanson each hit solo homers in the third inning, and the Chicago Cubs snapped a three-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Swanson added two singles on a 3-for-4 afternoon and Kyle Hendricks tossed 5 2/3 effective innings to help Chicago (77-67) strengthen its hold on the second NL wild card spot. Arizona’s four-game winning streak ended, but the Diamondbacks (75-69) remained in the third wild-card spot. Arizona held the Cubs to just four runs in winning the first three games of the series.

Tonight
Kansas City (Singer 8-10) at Chicago White Sox (Cease 6-7), 7:40 p.m.
Chicago Cubs (Wicks 3-0) at Colorado (Freeland 6-14), 8:40 p.m.
Tigers are off, Detroit will host Cincinnati for three games starting on Tuesday

WNBA – Women’s National Basketball Association
Yesterday
Chicago Sky 102, Connecticut Sun 91 – OT
Indiana Fever 97, Minnesota Lynx 72
End Regular Season

Sky 102, Sun 91 – OT – Williams leads Sky over Sun in OT
In a regular-season finale where Connecticut’s Alyssa Thomas set several league records, Courtney Williams finished with a triple-double, scoring six of her 23 points in overtime, to rally the Chicago Sky to a 102-91 victory over the Sun. Chicago, which clinched the final playoff spot on Friday with a 92-87 victory over the Minnesota Lynx, will open on the road against the top-seeded Las Vegas Aces on Wednesday night. No. 3 seed Connecticut will host the sixth-seeded Minnesota Lynx in a first-round opener, also on Wednesday night.

Fever 97, Lynx 72 – Mitchell, Boston lead Fever past Lynx 87-72 to close regular season, Lynx falls to sixth seed
Kelsey Mitchell scored 24 points, Aliyah Boston had eight of her 19 in a game-closing 18-2 run and the Indiana Fever closed the regular season with an 87-72 win over the Minnesota Lynx. The loss dropped the Lynx into a three-way tie for fifth place with Atlanta and Washington with Minnesota ending up as the sixth seeded. The Lynx travel to No. 3 Connecticut to open the playoffs on Wednesday. Boston also had 12 rebounds with Nalyssa Smith also getting a double-double with 16points and 10 rebounds. Kayla McBride scored 24 points and Napheesa Collier 23 with 10 assists for Minnesota,

WNBA – Chicago star Kahleah Copper signs multi-year extension with Sky
The Chicago Sky signed star Kahleah Copper to a multi-year contract extension Sunday. Copper, who was set to be a free agent at the end of the season, ranks in the franchise’s top five in a number of categories including scoring (2,676 points) and games played (224), She currently leads the team in scoring (18.7 points) this season and has helped the Sky reach the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season. Copper helped the franchise win its first WNBA title in 2021, earning MVP honors of the Finals.

Tennis – Novak Djokovic wins the US Open for his 24th Grand Slam title
Novak Djokovic has won the U.S. Open for his 24th Grand Slam title by using every ounce of his energy and some serve-and-volley guile to get past Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the final at Flushing Meadows. Djokovic is a 36-year-old from Serbia whose triumph Sunday makes him the oldest man to win the U.S. Open in the professional era. He also moved one major singles title in front of Serena Williams to become the first player to win 24 entirely as a pro. Only Margaret Court also collected a total of 24, but 13 of those came before professionals were admitted to the Slam events. Medvedev had beaten Djokovic in the 2021 U.S. Open final, and Djokovic was unable to travel to New York last year because he wasn’t vaccinated against COVID-19.

NASCAR – Reddick takes advantage of late caution, holds off Hamlin to win at Kansas
Tyler Reddick took advantage of a late caution and fresh tires to rocket past six others in a two-lap sprint to win at Kansas Speedway on Sunday. He also punched his ticket to the next round of the playoffs with the NASCAR Cup Series win. Reddick’s car owner, Denny Hamlin, got a poor jump when the green flag dropped and was unable to chase Reddick down and finished second. Erik Jones held on for third and Kyle Larson, who won at Darlington last week, marched through the field in the closing laps to finish fourth. The playoff cut-off for the round of 12 happens next weekend at Bristol.

Soccer – US wins Berhalter’s return match as coach, beats Uzbekistan 3-0
The United States won its first match in Gregg Berhalter’s second term as coach, beating Uzbekistan 3-0 in an exhibition behind goals by Tim Weah, Ricardo Pepi and Christian Pulisic. Weah put the U.S. ahead in the fourth minute, Pepi doubled the lead in second-half stoppage time and Pulisic converted a penalty kick in the fifth minute of stoppage time. Berhalter first was hired after the failure to reach the 2018 World Cup. He was replaced by interim coaches while the U.S. Soccer Federation investigated a domestic violence accusation brought to its attention by the Reyna family, then was rehired.

MWL – Midwest League Baseball
Last Night
Great Lakes Loons 4, West Michigan Whitecaps 1
Lake County Captains 3, Lansing Lugnuts 2
South Bend Cubs 8, Quad Cities River Bandits 1
End Regular Season

Tuesday
MWL Eastern Division Playoffs – best of three
Great Lakes at Fort Wayne, 7:05 p.m. – Game 1

MHSAA – High School Sports
Tonight
Boys Soccer
Battle Creek Lakeview at St. Joseph, 6:30 p.m.
Michigan Lutheran at Buchanan, 5:00 p.m.
New Buffalo at Brandywine, 5:00 p.m.
Berrien Springs at Hopkins, 4:30 p.m.
Delton-Kellogg at Bridgman, 5:00 p.m.
Cassopolis at Bangor, 6:30 p.m.
Watervliet at Saugatuck, 6:45 p.m.
Hartford at Bloomingdale, 6:30 p.m.
Fennville at Holland Black River, 6:00 p.m.
Allegan at Kalamazoo Hackett, 5:30 p.m.
Constantine at Kalamazoo Christian, 5:00 p.m.
Schoolcraft at Lawton, 6:00 p.m.
Comstock at Parchment, 6:00 p.m.
Jackson Lumen Christi at Vicksburg, 6:00 p.m.

Volleyball
Lakeshore at Buchanan, 6:30 p.m.
Our Lady of the Lake at Brandywine, 6:30 p.m.
Berrien Springs, Colon, Three Rivers at Kalamazoo Central, 5:00 p.m.

Boys Tennis
Portage Northern at St. Joseph, 4:00 p.m.
Lakeshore at Kalamazoo Central, 4:00 p.m.

Girls Golf
South Haven at Michigan Lutheran, 4:00 p.m.