Weekend Sports in Brief – Miami Herald

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Clemson moved up to No. 2 in The Associated Press college football poll, jumping Oklahoma and closing in on Alabama after beating a team ranked in the Top 15 for the second straight week.

The Tigers received 15 first-place votes, the most the defending national champions have received this season, and 1,446 points after beating Louisville 47-21 on the road. Alabama remains No. 1 with 45 first-place votes and 1,504 points.

Oklahoma slipped one spot to No. 3. The Sooners received the remaining first-place vote.

Penn State moved up a spot to No. 4, flip-flopping with No. 5 Southern California. Oklahoma State rose three spots to No. 6, its best ranking since late in the 2013 season.

Washington is No. 7 and three Big Ten teams round out the top 10: Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio State.

WOOSTER, Ohio (AP) — Officials say a football player at the College of Wooster died after being hospitalized following a game Saturday when he complained he didn’t feel well.

A college spokesman says 21-year-old Clayton Gelb died at a hospital in Wooster. He was a senior offensive lineman on the team and a chemistry major at the school.

Spokesman Hugh Howard said he couldn’t provide any details about what caused Gelb’s death. Gelb started at right guard in Saturday’s 38-20 home win over Ohio Wesleyan University.

Gelb was from London, Ohio. He was an all-conference offensive lineman and was twice named to the North Coast Athletic Conference Academic Honor Roll.

University of Wooster is about 60 miles (97 kilometers) south of Cleveland.

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — Ma’lik Richmond played in Youngstown State’s 59-9 win over Central Connecticut State on Saturday, a day after a federal appeals court declined a university request to keep the defensive end from playing.

Richmond, 21, was convicted of rape as a teenager in Steubenville, Ohio, and he sued Youngstown State this week after the school allowed him to join the football team but then told him he couldn’t play this season. The school backed off its initial decision after a petition began circulating on campus demanding Richmond not be allowed to play.

He entered Saturday’s game late in the third quarter with Youngstown State leading 52-6 and played for the rest of the game.

“You’re happy for the kid,” Youngstown State coach Bo Pelini said. “It’s not about me.”

Youngstown State had asked the appeals court to throw out a decision by U.S. District Court Judge Benita Pearson to temporarily allow Richmond to play football for the school for at least the next 14 days, including Saturday’s game. Pearson has scheduled a Sept. 28 hearing to determine whether to make the decision permanent.

PRO FOOTBALL

SEATTLE (AP) — Michael Bennett was the first Seattle Seahawks player announced during pregame introductions before the home opener against San Francisco, receiving one of the loudest ovations.

It was the second show of support for Seattle’s outspoken defensive end.

Outside of CenturyLink Field, a group of protesters supporting Bennett gathered prior to the game. The group expressed its support for Bennett after he says he was subjected to racial profiling and excessive force when Las Vegas police detained him last month. Protesters also showed support for quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who is still without a job after his anthem protests a year ago. It was a small protest with about 50 people participating.

When the anthem began Sunday, Bennett took what’s become his usual seat on the bench. Seattle center Justin Britt and running back Thomas Rawls stood next to Bennett each with a hand on his shoulder during the anthem. Teammates Cliff Avril and Frank Clark also sat with Bennett for the final few bars of the anthem.

BOXING

LAS VEGAS (AP) — One great fight, one lousy scorecard.

Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin did their part to make their middleweight showdown a memorable one, putting on the kind of big drama show both had promised. They traded big shots and battled for 12 rounds, and when it was over they leaped into the arms of their corner men, both certain they had won.

That the judges ruled it a draw wasn’t out of line. It was that kind of fight, a close, tense bout that could have gone either way, but only slightly.

Unfortunately, one judge somehow had Alvarez winning all but two rounds. The 118-110 margin in favor of Alvarez by Adalaide Byrd was so stunningly off that it dominated the talk at a post-fight press conference that otherwise would have focused on one of the better fights of the year.

Once again, boxing can’t seem to get out of its own way.

“People can argue either way, but it was such a great fight,” promoter Oscar De La Hoya said. “But a lot of people can’t understand 118-110, just like myself.”

AUTO RACING

NORTH BRANFORD, Conn. (AP) — Modified championship racer Ted Christopher was one of two people killed when a small plane crashed in the woods in Connecticut on Saturday, NASCAR officials said.

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that two people were aboard a Mooney M20C plane that went down near the North Branford-Guilford border shortly before 2 p.m. Saturday, but they didn’t release the names of the victims.

Brian France, NASCAR chairman and CEO, said Christopher, 59, and the plane’s pilot both died.

The National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the accident. Details of the plane’s itinerary were not immediately released.