Connect with us

Sports

Colorado football faces uphill battle as Big 12 preseason rankings list Buffaloes outside top-10

Published

on

Colorado football faces uphill battle as Big 12 preseason rankings list Buffaloes outside top-10

The Deion Sanders-led Colorado football team had a disappointing finish last season. 

Colorado was able to attract some top recruits in 2024 as the Pro Football Hall of Famer orchestrated a massive roster overhaul. The Buffaloes’ 4-8 record in 2023 was an improvement over its 1-11 mark in the season prior to Sanders’ arrival. 

But, the Buffaloes will face an uphill battle when they kick off their inaugural season in the Big 12 Conference in late August. As the calendar turns to July, the conference’s football media preseason poll was revealed.

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders directs players during the first half of an NCAA spring college football game Saturday, April 27, 2024, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Advertisement

The Big 12 Conference has expanded to 16 schools. Entering the 2024 season, media members projected the Buffaloes as the 11th best team in the conference.

Colorado’s roster does feature elite talent at some key positions. Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders received All-Big 12 honors, while star wide receiver and defensive back Travis Hunter was the preseason pick for defensive player of the year.

EX-COLORADO PLAYER RIPS DEION SANDERS’ APPROACH TO ROSTER OVERHAUL

However, some appear to believe the Buffaloes’ deficiencies could prevent the team from racking up a significant number of wins in 2024.

Colorado could enter several games this upcoming season as an underdog. The Buffaloes will host North Dakota State to open the regular season. They will then travel to Nebraska, followed by a matchup with in-state rival Colorado State.

Advertisement
Shedeur Sanders plays against Oregon

Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders (2) passes the ball during a PAC-12 conference football game between the Colorado Buffaloes and Oregon Ducks on September 23, 2023 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon.  (Brian Murphy/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The Buffaloes return home to take on Baylor, before traveling UCF. The remainder of Colorado’s schedule is listed below:

Oct. 12 – Kansas State

Oct. 19 – at Arizona

Oct. 26 – Cincinnati

Nov. 9 – at Texas Tech

Advertisement

Nov. 16 – Utah

Nov. 23 – at Kansas

Nov. 29 – Oklahoma State

CU fans rush the field

Colorado Buffaloes tight end Michael Harrison (87) celebrates with the fans on the field after winning the Rocky Mountain Showdown against the Colorado State Rams 43-35 in double over time at Folsom Field September 16, 2023.  (Andy Cross/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

Utah took the top spot in the Big 12 preseason poll, while Arizona State rounded out the list. The full preseason poll is listed below:

1. Utah 
2. Kansas State 
3. Oklahoma State
4. Kansas 
5. Arizona 
6. Iowa State
7. West Virginia
8. UCF 
9. Texas Tech
10. TCU 
11. Colorado
12. Baylor 
13. BYU 
14. Cincinnati 
15. Houston 
16. Arizona State

Advertisement
Shedeur Sanders throws a pass

Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders (2) looks to pass the ball during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Colorado State, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Boulder, Colo.  (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

The always confident Sanders will have to coach Colorado to victory during the regular season to disprove some of the doubts surrounding the Buffaloes.

The Big 12 Media Days are scheduled for July 9-10 in Las Vegas. Sanders missed last year’s Pac-12 Conference Media Days due to a “routine, follow-up” procedure on his foot.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Advertisement

Sports

Top boxing organization expels Ryan Garcia after hateful comments

Published

on

Top boxing organization expels Ryan Garcia after hateful comments

Boxer Ryan Garcia was expelled from one of the top organizations on Thursday after he made racist remarks about Black people and George Floyd as well as anti-Muslim comments.

Garcia made the remarks in an X Space and it quickly went viral.

Boxer Ryan Garcia is shown in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 17, 2024. (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman announced on X that Garcia had been expelled from the organization. 

Advertisement

“Exercising my authority as president of the WBC, I am hereby expelling Ryan Garcia from any activity with our organization,” Sulaiman wrote on X. “We reject any form of discrimination. I fear for Ryan well being as he has declined multiple attempts for our help with mental health and substance abuse.”

He went on another rant on X before the expulsion was handed down, trying to defend some of his remarks.

Fox News Digital reached out to Garcia’s representatives for comment.

Ryan Garcia at his presser

Ryan Garcia speaks onstage at Palladium Times Square in New York City on Feb. 27, 2024. (Cris Esqueda/Golden Boy/Getty Images)

Garcia was suspended by the New York State Athletic Commission for one year last month after a positive test for a banned substance after his fight against Devin Haney in April.

He later wrote on X that he was “officially retired” and claimed to be headed to the UFC. He’s pushed back on any notion he had a banned substance in his system against Haney.

Advertisement

He tested positive for Ostarine, which is not a steroid but can stimulate muscle growth and thus is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances.

Ryan Garcia at Davis vs. Martin

Ryan Garcia arrives at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on June 15, 2024. (Cassy Athena/Getty Images)

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Garcia and his team said at the time he was a “victim of substance contamination, with levels measured in the billions and trillions of a gram, which provided no advantage whatsoever in the ring.”

Fox News’ Ryan Morik contributed to this report.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Advertisement

Continue Reading

Sports

LAFC prevails over El Tráfico rival Galaxy in front of 70,000 fans at Rose Bowl

Published

on

LAFC prevails over El Tráfico rival Galaxy in front of 70,000 fans at Rose Bowl

For seven seasons, the Galaxy and LAFC have shared Southern California. But until Thursday they had never played each other while sharing the top spot in the Western Conference standings.

They didn’t finish the night that way, with first-half goals from Kei Kamara and Denis Bouanga lifting LAFC to a 2-1 victory before a crowd of 70,076 at the Rose Bowl. Gabriel Pec scored for the Galaxy early in the second half.

For much of the bitter crosstown rivalry, the Galaxy have been closer to the bottom of the table than the top. LAFC, meanwhile, has the best record in the league since entering MLS.

That has often left one team playing for a title and the other one playing spoiler. That wasn’t the case this time.

“It looked to me as if the Galaxy players had something today to lose,” LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo said. “They were not the underdogs today. And that’s a different burden.”

Advertisement

LAFC defender Aaron Long wasn’t so sure since nobody takes a copy of the standings into a game.

“It’s always going to feel the same, to be honest,” he said. “If you lose to them when you’re in first and they’re in last, it hurts the same as if you lose to them if you’re both tied for first.”

But when you win and break that tie? Well, it means a little more.

“That perhaps made it a little different,” defender Sergi Palencia said in Spanish. “Tied on points for first place, it was a very important game for us. We approached this match as a final.”

A final maybe, but it won’t be their last meeting. The teams will square off in September and, given the way both are playing, a playoff rematch in the fall looks likely.

Advertisement

Consider that LAFC (13-4-4), with its third win in as many games, extended the team’s franchise-record unbeaten streak to 10 matches and pushed it closer to Inter Miami in the Supporters’ Shield race. It has also won its last three games against the Galaxy. It is the hottest team in the league.

For the Galaxy (11-4-7), the loss, their second in 12 games, ended a four-match winning streak, the team’s longest since 2020, and dropped them into a tie with Real Salt Lake for second in the table on points.

The Galaxy are the third-best team in the Western Conference since April.

The two teams, who normally play in stadiums only 11 miles apart, moved their Fourth of July game to the Rose Bowl for the second straight year and were rewarded with the second-largest crowd in MLS this season and the 14th-largest in league history. And the 70,000-plus who showed up were rewarded with an entertaining game.

LAFC was better through much of the first half, outshooting the Galaxy 13-6, but they couldn’t beat goalkeeper John McCarthy until just before the break. After making two tough saves seconds part, first pushing away Mateusz Bogusz’s right-footed shot from the top of the box then lifting Ilie Sánchez’s header over the bar, McCarthy got beat on a Kamara header, ending the keeper’s scoreless streak at 319 minutes.

Advertisement

It was the 147th goal of Kamara’s MLS career, extending his lead over Landon Donovan for second on the all-time scoring list.

“When the service is right, it’s kind of unstoppable,” Long said. “When he gets that running head start and he gets the jump, no one’s going be able to jump with him. Everyone knows how good he’s in the air. But when the ball is right and he times it well, it’s almost impossible to stop.”

A minute later, Galaxy defender Julián Aude tripped midfielder Eduard Atuesta at the top of the box, drawing a penalty that Bouanga converted for his 14th goal of the season. The Galaxy hadn’t allowed two goals in the first half since an April loss in Austin.

But if LAFC dominated the first half, the Galaxy were more dangerous for much of the next 45 minutes.

Pec halved the deficit in the 56th minute, bulling his way through a pair of defenders before pushing in a left-footed shot from close range for this seventh goal of the season. The score also gave him a goal or assist in five straight games.

Advertisement

Joseph Paintsil nearly tied the game a minute later, spinning and launching a right-footed shot from the center of the box, but the ball sailed harmlessly over the crossbar. LAFC responded by packing the penalty area with as many as seven bodies in the final 10 minutes, finally breathing a sigh of relief at the final whistle.

“These derby matches, there’s so much you have to get up for, mentally and emotionally,” Long said. “So it feels the same, even though in the standings, it doesn’t look the same.”

Continue Reading

Sports

LIV Golf star posts bizarre motivational message as next event looms

Published

on

LIV Golf star posts bizarre motivational message as next event looms

LIV Golf’s Anthony Kim posted a bizarre motivational message on social media on Wednesday as he prepared for the series’ next event at Andalucía in Spain next week.

Kim made a reference to working harder than a crackhead as he posted early on X.

Anthony Kim is shown during the first day of LIV Golf Miami at Trump National Doral Miami on April 5, 2024, in Florida. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

“Good morning. Does a crakhead (sic) ever let a day go by w/out finding a way to get high? NO. I would know,” he wrote. “Not gonna let a crakhead (sic) outwork me today. 1% better today lessssgoo!!!”

Advertisement

Kim is tied for last in the LIV Golf standings. In Nashville last month, he finished 46th in the standings, posting an even score in 54 holes. He was 48th in Houston and 53rd in Singapore, dating back to early May.

He disappeared from the PGA Tour years ago and his return to the professional ranks was highly publicized back in January.

HAYDEN SPRINGER ETCHES HIS NAME INTO PGA TOUR HISTORY WITH EPIC JOHN DEERE CLASSIC 1ST ROUND

Anthony Kim at hole 8 in Singapore

Anthony Kim acknowledges the crowd after holing out on hole 8 during the first day of LIV Golf Singapore at Sentosa Golf Club on May 3, 2024. (Getty Images)

The last time Kim competed before joining LIV Golf was at the 2012 Wells Fargo Championship when he was 26 years old. He withdrew from the tournament due to injury, which was his third straight withdrawal.

One month later, Kim had surgery to repair his left Achilles tendon, and then he wasn’t heard from in the golf world as many wondered whether he would be back at all.

Advertisement

Kim also dealt with tendinitis in his left arm and a left thumb injury during his 122 starts on the PGA Tour.

He was open about his battle with addiction in an interview on LIV Golf Plus in April.

Anthony Kim in Tennessee

Anthony Kim is shown during the opening round of LIV Golf Nashville on June 21, 2024, at the Grove Golf Course in College Grove, Tennessee. (Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

“Golf is important to me and not important to me at the same time,” Kim said, per ESPN. “I’ve had some very dark moments. I’ve had some very low moments. I’ve felt very alone, even when there’s a million people around. I needed to get my mind straight and figure out what my purpose was on this planet.”

Fox News’ Scott Thompson contributed to this report.

Advertisement

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending