MONDAY SPORTS: Tigers, Gamecocks gain in polls; NFL week 8; Series now even at 2-2

Clemson rebounded on Saturday with a 40-27 win at Maryland and South Carolina defeated #5 Missouri 27-24 in double overtime and because of those wins, Clemson gained two spots and South Carolina four in the new USA Today Coaches’ College Football Top 25 released Sunday. The Tigers are now #8 and the Gamecocks are #16. Alabama, Oregon, Florida State are the top three in the coaches ranking. In the AP poll, Clemson remained the same as last week at #9 while USC jumped six spots to #14. And, in the BCS rankings released Sunday night, Clemson is now #8, the Gamecocks move up to #14. Alabama remains #1, with Oregon moving past Florida State into the #2 slot. The Seminoles are third.

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Week 8 of NFL play saw the Detroit Lions defeat the Dallas Cowboys 31-30. Calvin Johnson of the Lions finished with 329 receiving yards, setting a new record for the most in regulation. He was just seven yards shy of the overall record, set by Flipper Anderson in a 1989 overtime game.

The Kansas City Chiefs remain undefeated at 8-0 after beating the Cleveland Browns 23-17.

In a game played at London’s Wembley Stadium, the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 42-10.

At University of Phoenix Stadium, the Arizona Cardinals downed the Atlanta Falcons 27-13.

Tonight’s Monday Night Football game on ESPN features the St. Louis Rams hosting the Seattle Seahawks. Kick-off is set for 8:30 PM ET.

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The Boston Red Sox defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 4-2 Sunday night at Busch Stadium to even up the World Series at two games each. Sunday night’s contest ended on a weird play for the second time in two games, finishing with a pickoff play while Saturday’s game ended on a rare obstruction call, giving the Cardinals a 5-4 victory. Boston’s Koji Uehara picked off rookie pinch-runner Kolten Wong at first base last night for the final out while St. Louis’ Carlos Beltran was at the plate. The big blow of the game was a three-run homer by Boston’s Jonny Gomes in the sixth inning off of reliever Seth Maness. Game 5 will be played Monday night in St. Louis, with Jon Lester starting for Boston and Adam Wainwright for the Cardinals, a rematch of Game 1.