Some Southeastern Conference defenses are flexing their muscles after 2020 being a defensive coordinator’s nightmare.

Leon O’Neal Jr. had two interceptions, returning the second one 85 yards for a touchdown, and Devon Achane added two scores to help No. 6 Texas A&M pull away in the third quarter and cruise to a 41-10 win over Kent State Saturday night.

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins has been activated from the COVID-19 reserve list.

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins has been absent from practice this week due to COVID-19 protocols.

History dictates that it’s likely at least a couple of the five first-round quarterbacks won’t fulfill the hopes of the teams that drafted them.

Houston was well-represented in the first round of the NFL Draft.

American Team quarterback Kellen Mond of Texas A&M (12) has his throw tipped by National Team offensive lineman Osa Odighizuwa of UCLA (92) during the first half of the NCAA Senior Bowl college football game in Mobile, Ala., Saturday, Jan. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)MOBILE, Ala. – Texas A&M's Kellen Mond was the Senior Bowl Most Valuable Player but two fellow Southeastern Conference Western Division products made the decisive big play. Fitzpatrick had six catches for 90 yards in the showcase game for senior and graduate NFL prospects, earning offensive player of the game honors. Obviously, kind of shaky at the beginning but it definitely shows a lot of poise to be able to bounce back.”North Carolina running back Michael Carter also had a big game. Jamie Newman completed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Trevon Grimes with 49 seconds left for the American team after Franks and Yeboah made it a two-score game.

The next game he plays is for his NFL draft stock, provided the Alabama quarterback's gimpy left ankle is good to go. Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy said the plan is for Jones to dress out and see how his ankle feels. “Just being in that room, I already learned so much about NFL football,” he said. Mond started 44 games for the Aggies, Ehlinger logged 43 starts for the Longhorns,Mond led the Aggies into College Football Playoffs contention in his final season. I just wanted to come and kind of learn more about NFL football and learn a new playbook, which I thought I did a good job with.

Newman is hardly alone among the players trying to shake off the rust after long layoffs leading up to Saturday's Senior Bowl for senior NFL prospects. A number of the Senior Bowl players had shortened seasons or none at all because of the coronavirus pandemic. He was the lone quarterback at the Senior Bowl not made available for post-practice media interviews. But I think he’s done a really good job.”AdThere are number of players at the Senior Bowl returning after a long absences from the field. Darby trained in Las Vegas for the Senior Bowl and the now-canceled combine.

4 in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll of the season. It marks A&M’s second-highest finish in the AP Poll and highest since 1939 when the Aggies won the national championship. 4 rank is Texas A&M’s second top-five finish since joining the SEC in 2012 and marks the third time in his career that head coach Jimbo Fisher has finished inside the top-five. In the regular season, the Aggies went 9-1 against an all-SEC slate as they compiled the most victories against conference foes since joining the SEC for the 2012 season. It was A&M’s fourth top-five AP finish along with the No.

Texas A&M head coach Jumbo Fisher raises his hands during the trophy presentation at the Orange Bowl NCAA college football game, Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021, in Miami Gardens, Fla. Texas A&M defeated North Carolina 41-27. 14 North Carolina 41-27 on Saturday night — capping a winless bowl season for the Atlantic Coast Conference. North Carolina: The Tar Heels gave up 24 points in the fourth quarter, after allowing just 17 points in the first 45 minutes. North Carolina still could finish ranked for only the fourth time in the last 27 seasons. North Carolina: An ACC opponent likely awaits in Week 1 next season.

13 CFP) in the 87th edition of the Orange Bowl. “I always say this: The Orange Bowl is as good as it gets,” Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher said Friday. Thing is, neither of those running backs — Michael Carter and Javonte Williams — chose to play in the Orange Bowl. “That’s 4,000 yards worth of offense and our leading tackler on defense and two captains,” North Carolina coach Mack Brown said. With them gone, it means even more pressure will be on North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell.

An Orange Bowl spot against North Carolina will be its consolation prize. It will be North Carolina’s first time in the Orange Bowl, and the first meeting between the schools. This will be just the seventh January bowl game for North Carolina. BOWL WINNERSThe Orange Bowl coaches certainly know how to end seasons with victories. WELCOME BACKFor Fisher, it’s a return to a stadium where he’s gone 6-0 — including a pair of Orange Bowl victories.

4 Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff semifinal originally scheduled to serve as the 107th Rose Bowl, the playoff committee announced Sunday. In the end, those two teams were assigned to the Sugar Bowl semifinal, while the other playoff game will feature the national championship favorites against the final addition to the four-team playoff. But instead of a week amid the pomp and pageantry of the Rose Bowl, the teams will spend their semifinal week in Arlington, Texas. Oregon State beat Duke in Durham, North Carolina, in that version of the Rose Bowl. The festive week of genteel celebrations around the Rose Bowl game had already been mostly canceled.

Notre Dame was picked Sunday over Texas A&M for the final spot, ending what little drama there had been. Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson and Ohio State have also held the first four spots in the AP Top 25 since Oct. 25. The Atlantic Coast Conference is the second league to have two teams in the playoff, joining the SEC in 2017. After sitting second in the CFP rankings for a month, Notre Dame was blown out 34-10 by Clemson in the ACC championship. Barta said the disparate number of games played by contenders — along with far fewer cross-conference games than usual —- was a challenge for the committee all season.

5 Texas A&M to close its case for a spot in the College Football Playoff with a 34-13 victory over Tennessee. 5 CFP) finished their regular season and hoped for an upset or two within the CFP’s top four. Texas A&M's advantage went to 17-7 when the Aggies turned a Bailey fumble into a 23-yard field goal by Seth Small. Tennessee: After the second game of the season, the Vols were tied with Notre Dame for the longest winning streak among FBS teams. A victory over winless Vanderbilt ended the skid, but the loss to Texas A&M ended the regular season on a sour note.

Kellen Mond passed for two touchdowns and ran for a third and the fifth-ranked Aggies scored 17 points in the fourth quarter of a come-from-behind 31-20 victory over Auburn on Saturday. Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher wasn't interested in speculating on how the win might affect his team's playoff chances. He completed 18 of 23 for 196 yards, highlighted by two TDs to Jalen Wydermyer, and ran for 60 yards. The Aggies ran for a season-high 313 yards and held a 16-minute advantage in time of possession. Auburn: Was outgained 168-21 in the fourth quarter.

Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields throws a pass against Indiana during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 21, 2020, in Columbus, Ohio. 3 Ohio State is playing as much as who will be play playing for the Buckeyes this weekend. Ohio State seems to be on track to play at Michigan State on Saturday after a spike in COVID-19 cases in the program forced a cancellation of last week's road trip to Illinois. If Ohio State has one more game canceled it would be unable to meet the Big Ten's minimum game played to be eligible for the conference title game. UNDER THE RADARNebraska at PurdueNeither team is in the Big West race, but the interesting thing is the Boilermakers (2-3) have won two straight against the Cornhuskers (1-4).

So we can complain about this and this and that but, listen, we’re still getting to play football,” Fisher said. Last week, 15 FBS games were called off because of COVID-19, the most yet this season. Major college football conferences have been tweaking policies to provide their schools flexibility to schedule games on short notice. That probably won't work for LSU-Alabama, which was among four SEC games postponed last week. __Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at https://westwoodonepodcasts.com/pods/ap-top-25-college-football-podcast/___More AP college football: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

HOUSTON – Hello from the Xfinity Sports Desk and KPRC Channel 2 Sports. Here’s what’s happening this week on the sports scene for our teams and programs. Now the Texans look forward to preparing for the Cleveland Browns, who are dealing with some COVID-19 issues. UH FOOTBALLThe Cougars had a tough task this past weekend facing No. We’ll bring it to you from the Xfinity Sports Desk each night!

(AP) – Kellen Mond threw four touchdown passes to become Texas A&M’s career leader, Isaiah Spiller ran for 131 yards and the No. 7 Aggies routed South Carolina 48-3 on Saturday night. South Carolina has surrendered 1,071 yards and 100 points in losses to LSU and the Aggies its past two games. South Carolina linebacker Ernest Jones said the most disappointing thing was playing this poorly after a week off. South Carolina: The Gamecocks played without three defensive starters in lineman Aaron Sterling and defensive backs Shilo Sanders and R.J. Roderick.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Kellen Mond threw for 260 yards and three touchdowns as eighth-ranked Texas A&M built a big lead and held on for a 42-31 victory over Arkansas on Saturday night, extending its winning streak over the Razorbacks to nine games. Mond faced some criticism after A&M's 52-24 loss to the Crimson Tide, but Fisher said he never doubted his quarterback. Franks threw for 239 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 91 yards for Arkansas. Reed made a 34-yard field goal in the third quarter to cut the Aggies' lead to 28-17 after missing two longer tries in the first half. Mond’s second TD pass was on a 6-yard reception by Wydermyer, which extended the lead to 21-7 about seven minutes before halftime.

11 Aggies beat Mississippi State 28-14 on Saturday. Mississippi State (1-3) had little offensive rhythm for the third straight game. Mississippi State had minus-2 yards rushing and just 217 yards of total offense. THE TAKEAWAYThe Aggies continue to put points on the board, scoring 28 or more points for the second straight week. Meanwhile, Leach’s maiden voyage in Starkville continues to take on water in a second straight home loss.

“Now I want to see what do you follow up with?”Isaiah Spiller rushed for 174 yards and two touchdowns, and No. 21 Texas A&M beat fourth-ranked Florida 41-38 on Seth Small’s 26-yard field goal as time expired Saturday. Spiller helped get the Aggies get into position for Small’s decisive kick, sending A&M to its first win over a top-five team since a 41-38 victory over No. Florida led 28-24 early in the fourth when Spiller struck again, running 19 yards for a touchdown on a fourth-and-2 play. Spiller bounced off several defenders before waltzing into the end zone and then hitting the Florida fan section with a Gator chomp.

Briefly threatened early, Jones and the Crimson Tide (2-0) flexed their considerable big-play muscle in the passing game to put away the Aggies (1-1). Metchie and Jones hooked up for a 63-yarder in the fourth, giving the sophomore five catches for 181 yards. Jones finished 19-of-26 passing for a second straight surgically precise performance marred by one interception off a deflection. Smith, a converted receiver, emerged as another needed threat in the passing game. Alabama: Any questions about production of the Tide's passing game after Tua Tagovailoa, Jerry Jeudy and Henry Ruggs III have been answered.

Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher, left, talks with quarterback Kellen Mond (11) during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Vanderbilt Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020, in College Station, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

including the Deep South's Oldest Rivalry, highlights the fifth week of the college football season. 4 Georgia on Saturday night as the second month of the season starts, but only the second week of SEC play. The first of three games that decide the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy might have sneaked up on college football fans. The Falcons will play six conference games to go along with Navy and Army. ___Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at http://www.westwoodonepodcasts.com/pods/ap-top-25-college-football-podcast/___More AP college football: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25

12 Texas A&M took care of business in their season opener on Thursday night, routing Texas State 41-7 at Kyle Field. Ausbon held the ball secure and never let it touch the ground for the Aggies’ fifth touchdown of the game, making the score 38-0. Full Screen 1 / 9 COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS - AUGUST 29: Bryan London II #9 of the Texas State Bobcats celebrates with Justin Madubuike #52 after an interception against the Texas State Bobcats during the first half at Kyle Field on August 29, 2019 in College Station, Texas. Senior linebacker Bryan London II pounced on an easy opportunity and stopped what would have been the Aggies fifth touchdown of the night. Worst DriveDespite rolling past Texas State, the Aggies got off to an inauspicious start on Thursday night.

12 Texas A&M University hosts Texas State at Kyle Field on Thursday night to open their 2019 season. JAKE SPAVITAL REUTRNS TO KYLE FIELDThe Bobcats' first-year head coach returns to College Station for the first time since being a part of Kevin Sumlin's coaching staff. Spavital was a co-offensive coordinator and quarterback's coach in 2013 before taking over play calling duties from 2014-2015. KELLEN MOND BEGINS HIS SECOND SEASON UNDER FISHERIronically, Fisher will be starting a quarterback that Spavital himself recruited and offered during his time at Texas A&M. We will see how that knowledge transfers against a solid, but not great, Texas State defense on Thursday night.