ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Falcons’ depleted secondary didn’t have much of a chance even before starting cornerback A.J. Terrell and starting safety Jaylinn Hawkins left with injuries during a 35-17 loss at high-powered Cincinnati. With starting cornerback Casey Heyward placed on injured reserve last week and key backup Dee Alford unable to dress because of a hamstring injury, the Falcons had to rely on Cornell Armstrong to play the final three quarters and the secondary was unable to play man coverage.

NASHVILLE (BP) – In his three (and some) seasons as quarterback for Houston Baptist University, Bailey Zappe turned a lot of heads in the Huskies’ Air Raid passing offense on his way to becoming the school’s first NFL Draft pick. The last two weeks as an NFL starter in place of the Patriots’ Mac Jones has led to more of the same, not to mention a potential quarterback controversy in New England.

The annual rivalry game between No. 1 Georgia and SEC rival Florida in Jacksonville, Florida, is under contract only through 2023. Georgia coach Kirby Smart’s recruiting concerns at the neutral site are a factor in discussions about the future of the series. Officials from Georgia and Florida released a joint statement in which they said a number of factors would be considered as the schools consider keeping the game at the neutral site or moving to home sites.

NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart will make his drag racing debut this weekend at the NHRA Nevada Nationals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Stewart will compete for McPhillips Racing in a Top Alcohol dragster — the equivalent of NASCAR’s second-tier Xfinity Series. Stewart is guaranteed a minimum of four passes at Vegas beginning Friday through the first round of eliminations on Sunday.

Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies are set to play the Houston Astros in the World Series. Both teams stamped their ticket to the Fall Classic on Sunday. Harper's home run in the eighth inning sent the Phillies over the San Diego Padres 4-3 in Game 5 of the NL Championship Series. Alex Bregman and the Astros finished off a four-game sweep of the New York Yankees in the AL Championship Series with a 6-5 win. The World Series starts Friday night in Houston.

CINCINNATI (AP) — Marcus Mariota and the Falcons couldn’t keep up with Joe Burrow and the Bengals, and Atlanta’s 35-17 loss erased the momentum it gained from last week’s win over San Francisco. At 3-4, the Falcons are still tied with slumping Tampa Bay atop the unimpressive NFC South. But their chance to take control of the division ended early. They fell behind 21-0 by the second quarter and never got closer than 11 points.

CINCINNATI (AP) — The Cincinnati Bengals scored on their first four possessions and rolled to a 35-17 win over the Atlanta Falcons. Joe Burrow passed for 345 yards and three touchdowns in the first half. He finished with 481 yards passing. Burrow also ran for a 1-yard score as the Bengals improved to 4-3, their first time over .500 this season. Receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tyler Boyd both eclipsed the 100-yard mark in the first half. Boyd finished with a career-high 155 yards on eight catches.

KENNESAW, Ga. (AP) — Xavier Shepherd scored from 4-yards out in overtime to lift Kennesaw State to a 33-30 win over Tennessee Tech in a wild non-conference showdown. The teams combined to score 17 points in the final 90 seconds of regulation.

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Gerald Green ran for two touchdowns and Jalen White ran for 138 yards and a score to carry Georgia Southern to a 28-23 win over Old Dominion. The Eagles took the lead for good with 10 seconds left in the first quarter on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Vantrease to Amare Jones. White scored just before intermission to make it 14-3 and Green scored on runs of 30- and 3-yards in the second half.

ATLANTA (AP) — For Marcus Mariota, the loss of confidence was the biggest blow. He’d experienced so much success, from winning the Heisman Trophy to being the No. 2 pick in the NFL draft. Then, for one of the rare times in his life, he wasn’t good enough. Mariota was benched by the Tennessee Titans in 2019 and barely played at all the past 2 1/2 seasons. But he's putting together a comeback in Atlanta.

CINCINNATI (AP) — The Atlanta Falcons and Bengals meet Sunday in Cincinnati, each with a chance to move above .500 for the first time this season. Both are 3-3 and are gaining confidence. The Bengals, last year’s AFC champions, dropped their first two games and had to come from behind again to beat the Saints last week. The Falcons, despite low preseason expectations, share the NFC South lead with Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

BOONE, N.C. (AP) — Camerun Peoples rushed for 168 yards and two touchdowns, quarterback Chase Brice added two rushing scores and Appalachian State scored 28 unanswered points in a 42-17 victory over Georgia State. Appalachian State, which had 41 rushing yards in its last game against Texas State, rushed for 379 yards and six touchdowns. Nate Noel added 69 yards rushing, Daetrich Harrington had 52 and Ahmani Marshall 48.

ATLANTA (AP) — Pro and College Football Hall of Famer Charley Trippi, a runner-up for the Heisman Trophy at Georgia who went on to lead the Cardinals to their most recent NFL championship in 1947, died Wednesday. He was 100. The University of Georgia announced that Trippi died peacefully at his Athens home.

ATLANTA (AP) — Top-ranked defending national champion Georgia is far from assured of a return trip to the Southeastern Conference championship game. The SEC East is making its biggest AP Top 25 power move since Florida’s Steve Spurrier and Tennessee’s Phillip Fulmer ruled the division 25 years ago. And Georgia is facing a grueling series of games in the second half of the season.

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) — The Atlanta Falcons have placed cornerback Casey Hayward on injured reserve. Hayward hurt his shoulder attempting to tackle San Francisco’s Deebo Samuel in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 28-14 victory over the 49ers. Hayward joined Atlanta as a free agent during the last offseason, giving the team another outside cornerback to team with A.J. Terrell.

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Hawks have committed to De’Andre Hunter as one of the key players on a team looking to return to championship contention, signing the small forward to a $95 million, four-year extension. The new deal begins with the 2023-24 season. Hunter could have become a restricted free agent following this season.

ATLANTA (AP) — The Atlanta Falcons are atop the NFC South. Yes really. Six weeks into a season of extremely low expectations, the Falcons are 3-3 and tied with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the division lead. Making it even more impressive, Atlanta has managed to have success while opening with a very difficult stretch of games that included the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.

Tennessee has moved to No. 3 in The Associated Press college football poll behind No. 1 Georgia and No. 2 Ohio State. It comes after the Volunteers knocked off Alabama, one of five unbeaten teams to fall during a wild weekend. The Crimson Tide dropped three to No. 6 and swapped places with the Vols after Tennessee kicked a field goal as time expired Saturday. Alabama is out of the top five for the first time since 2019.

ATLANTA (AP) — Marcus Mariota threw a pair of touchdown passes and ran for another score against the NFL’s top-ranked defense, leading the Atlanta Falcons to a 28-14 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. Mariota completed his first 13 passes for the 3-3 Falcons, finally throwing his lone incompletion on his final attempt of the day with less than 11 minutes remaining.

More than four months of dazzling baseball carried the Atlanta Braves to a fifth straight NL East title. Their hopes of repeating as World Series champion fell apart in less than a week.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Brandon Marsh hit a three-run homer and J.T. Realmuto lined an inside-the-park home run that sent the Philadelphia Phillies bolting headfirst into the NL Championship Series for the first time since 2010 with an 8-3 win over the Atlanta Braves in Game 4. Realmuto became the first catcher to hit an inside-the-parker in postseason history and Bryce Harper punctuated the romp with a clinching home run that helped the Phillies take the NL Division Series 3-1 against the World Series champion Braves.

ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Stetson Bennett threw for 289 yards and two TDs as Georgia stamped its return to No. 1 with a 55-0 rout of Vanderbilt. The Bulldogs improved to 7-0 with a total blowout after three straight weeks of rather lackluster performances. Bennett was nearly perfect in the first half, completing 18 of 20 for 211 yards and two TDs — his first scoring passes in nearly a month.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Chase McGrath made a 40-yard field goal as time expired to give No. 6 Tennessee a 52-49 victory over No. 3 Alabama on Saturday. As soon as the kick knuckle-balled through the uprights, some of the more than 100,000 fans stormed the field to celebrate the Volunteers ending a 15-game losing streak to the Crimson Tide.

ATLANTA (AP) — There may be no better opportunity for Marcus Mariota to prove he can be more than a bridge at quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons than in this week’s matchup with San Francisco and its top-rated defense. San Francisco's defense was dominant in last week’s 37-15 win over the Carolina Panthers, another NFC South team.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia Phillies are set to play their first home playoff game since 2011. The Phillies and Atlanta Braves are tied 1-1 in the best-of-five NL Division Series. Game 3 is Friday. The Phillies send Aaron Nola to the mound. Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker has yet to name a Game 3 starter.