Favre tops win list
Brett Favre threw three touchdown passes to rally the Green Bay Packers past the New York Giants yesterday. With the victory – the 149th of his career – Favre become the quarterback with the most wins in NFL history, moving past Hall of Famer John Elway.
Steelers steamroll Bills
Willie Parker ran for a touchdown and 126 yards and Ben Roethlisberger threw for a score as the Pittsburgh Steelers controlled the clock and the tempo while pulling away from the Buffalo Bills.
Seahawks fumble one away
Arizona Cardinals defender Darnell Dockett recovered a fumble by Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, setting up Neil Rackers’s 41-yard field goal with one second to go.
Ravens hold on
Kyle Boller threw for 185 yards and two touchdowns and the Baltimore Ravens overcame a late charge by the New York Jets.
Hanson gets final word
Jason Hanson’s 37-yard field goal in overtime lifted the Detroit Lions over the Minnesota Vikings. The teams combined for nine turnovers in regulation time and two missed field goals in the final 35 seconds.
Hester breaks it open
Devin Hester scored on a 73-yard punt return in the second quarter and set up a field goal with another long return as the Chicago Bears beat the Kansas City Chiefs.
Not Green’s day
The Dallas Cowboys intercepted Trent Green four times and recovered a fumbled snap to beat the Miami Dolphins.
timeout turns the tide
Jason Elam’s 23-yard field goal in overtime gave the Denver Broncos a win just minutes after the Oakland Raiders had been celebrating. Sebastian Janikowski nailed a 52-yard field goal at 11:13 of overtime, but the officials ruled Denver called a timeout before the snap. On the retry, Janikowski hit the left upright, giving the Broncos the ball at their 42.
Texans on a roll
Matt Schaub threw for 227 yards and two scores as the Houston Texans recovered from a sluggish start against the Carolina Panthers to go 2-0 for the first time.
Colts clip titans
Peyton Manning threw for 312 yards and a touchdown and the Indianapolis Colts held off the Tennessee Titans on a final-drive come-from-behind attempt.
Late mistake trips Rams
St. Louis Rams kick returner Dante Hall fumbled and Marcus Hudson recovered for the San Francisco 49ers, setting up the winning field goal by Joe Nedney.
Bucs surprise Saints
Joey Galloway caught four passes for 135 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a victory over the New Orleans Saints.
Falcons fall again
The Jacksonville Jaguars sacked Joey Harrington seven times and held the Atlanta Falcons to less than 100 yards rushing.
The scores
Yesterday
Pittsburgh 26, Buffalo 3
Indianapolis 22, Tennessee 20
Green Bay 35, N.Y. Giants 13
Houston 34, Carolina 21
San Francisco 17, St. Louis 16
Cleveland 51, Cincinnati 45
Tampa Bay 31, New Orleans 14
Jacksonville 13, Atlanta 7
Dallas 37, Miami 20
Detroit 20, Minnesota 17 (OT)
Arizona 23, Seattle 20
Chicago 20, Kansas City 10
Baltimore 20, N.Y. Jets 13
Denver 23, Oakland 20 (OT)
New England 38, San Diego 14
Tonight
Washington at Philadelphia
Beat a ranked team, be a ranked team.Kentucky’s football team is in The Associated Press poll for the first time since 1984, claiming the No. 21 spot Sunday.
The 3-0 Wildcats’ ranking comes fresh off their 40-34 victory over then-No. 9 Louisville Saturday night at Commonwealth Stadium.
Louisville fell nine spots to 18th.
Another SEC team also returns to the Top 25 as Alabama’s Nick Saban needed three games to get that job done.
The Crimson Tide jumped into the poll Sunday at No. 16, its first time in the rankings since the final poll of the 2005 season.
Saban, lured from the Miami Dolphins with a $4 million per year contract, earned his first important win with the Tide on Saturday night. Alabama blew a big lead to Arkansas then responded with a late rally of its own to beat the Razorbacks 41-38 in front of a swooning Bryant-Denny Stadium crowd.
At the top of the poll, No. 1 Southern California recouped some of the first-place votes it lost to No. 2 LSU in the previous two weeks.
USC received 46 first-place votes, up six from last week, and 1,605 points after a 49-31 victory at Nebraska that was not as close as the final score.
The Tigers continued to impress with a 44-0 victory over Middle Tennessee, their second shutout of the season. LSU received 19 first-place votes and 1,577 points in the latest Top 25.
Florida slipped past Oklahoma into the third spot behind USC and LSU, but the Gators and Sooners are just three points apart (1,437-1,434).
Florida is coming off a 59-20 victory over Tennessee. Oklahoma has outscored its opponents by 158 points during a 3-0 start.
No. 5 West Virginia slipped a spot, California rose two places to No. 6 and Texas dropped a place to No. 7. No. 8 Ohio State moved up two spots and fellow Big Ten teams Wisconsin and Penn State rounded out the first 10.
There were two other new teams in the Top 25 this week along with Alabama and Kentucky. No. 23 South Florida and No. 25 Missouri entered the poll for the first time this season.
For the idle South Florida Bulls, this is the first time they’ve been ranked. They fell just short of making the previous Top 25 after their victory over Auburn.
Missouri is ranked for the first time since the middle of last season.
Dropping out of the Top 25 were Georgia Tech, which lost 24-10 at home to Boston College, and UCLA, which was stunned 44-6 by a Utah team that had been 0-2. Tennessee and Arkansas also fell out of the rankings.
In Tuscaloosa on Saturday night, the Razorbacks wiped out an early 21-point deficit but couldn’t close out the victory. John Parker Wilson hit Matt Caddell with a 4-yard touchdown pass with 8 seconds left to give the Tide the win.
Alabama didn’t manage a come-from-behind victory in the fourth quarter during previous coach Mike Shula’s four-year stay.
“We always talk about playing 60 minutes,” Saban said. “And to score with 8 seconds left, it’s an easy way to reinforce a point.”
No. 11 Rutgers starts the second 10, followed by South Carolina, Oregon, Boston College and Clemson.
After Alabama, Virginia Tech is 17th and Louisville, Texas A&M and Hawaii complete the top 20.
Joining the three new teams in the final five are No. 22 Georgia and No. 24 Nebraska, which fell 10 spots after getting trounced by USC.
Appalachian State, whose victory at Michigan swayed the AP to open the poll to teams from all divisions, received five points in the latest vote. The Mountaineers had 19 points last week.