VERMILLION, S.D. — No. 4-ranked South Dakota stunned top-ranked North Dakota State with a last-second touchdown off a frenetic sequence. ADVERTISEMENT Javion Phelps caught a 25-yard touchdown pass with 12 seconds remaining to lift the Coyotes to a 29-28 victory against the Bison on Saturday in Missouri Valley Football Conference play at the DakotaDome. NDSU (10-2, 8-1 MVFC) had its 10-game winning streak snapped and now shares the conference crown. The NCAA Division I FCS selection show is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 24, on ESPNU. South Dakota (9-2, 7-1) also earned a share of the MFVC championship. The Coyotes scored 12 points in the final 3 minutes, 22 seconds to rally past the Bison. No. 2-ranked Montana State (12-0) completed an undefeated regular season and will likely be the No. 1 seed for the playoffs. ADVERTISEMENT Bison quarterback Cam Miller completed 10 of 22 passes for 174 yards and one touchdown. He also rushed for a team-high 82 yards and one TD on 19 attempts after a slow start. The Coyotes raced to a 14-0 lead before NDSU responded in a game that had huge momentum shifts. Both teams rallied from double-digit deficits. USD had the lead early in the second half. Will Leyland hit a 37-yard field goal to give the Coyotes a 17-14 lead with 10 minutes, 21 seconds to play in the third quarter. That capped a 10-play, 51-yard drive. Miller scored on a 2-yard touchdown run to give the Bison a 21-17 lead with 4:48 to play in the third quarter, giving NDSU its first lead. That capped an 80-yard drive that took 10 plays. ADVERTISEMENT Bison running back Marty Brown completed an epic 99-yard drive with a 1-yard TD run for a 28-17 lead with 4:10 remaining in the fourth quarter. The long march lasted 20 plays and NDSU converted two fourth-and-1s in its own territory to extend the drive. The Bison looked in control at that point. USD, however, answered with a big drive. Wide receiver Jack Martens caught a 40-yard TD pass from quarterback Aidan Bouman to cut the lead to 28-23 with 3:22 remaining. The Coyotes missed on their two-point conversion attempt. Phelps later added his clutch TD catch for a 29-28 lead on a second-and-19 play in the closing seconds. The game-winning touchdown came after a Bison sack. The Coyotes were out of timeouts and Phelps broke wide open after USD hurried to regroup and run a play with the game clock winding down. ADVERTISEMENT The Coyotes not only finished strong, they started fast. Running back Travis Theis scored on a 6-yard touchdown run to give USD a 7-0 lead with 6:35 remaining in the first quarter. That capped an 80-yard drive that took 11 plays. The Coyotes converted on third-and-17 and third-and-9 on that scoring march. Theis added a 14-yard TD run for a 14-0 lead with 12:44 to play in the second quarter. That capped a 73-yard drive that lasted seven plays. USD had a 158-9 edge in yards after that score. ADVERTISEMENT Wide receiver Braylon Henderson countered with a 23-yard TD catch to cut the USD lead to 14-7 with 2:39 to play in the first half. That capped a 66-yard drive in six plays. Earlier in the drive, RaJa Nelson had a 30-yard catch that moved the ball to the USD 18-yard line. The 5-foot-11, 214-pound Brown scored on a 3-yard touchdown run to even the score at 14-14 with 26 seconds remaining in the first half. That capped an 83-yard drive in nine plays. Wide receiver Bryce Lance helped set up that score with a 48-yard catch to the USD 24. The Bison finished the first half with 173 yards on 30 plays, while the Coyotes had 184 yards on 32 plays. South Dakota gained 129 yards on 12 plays on its game-changing two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter. Bouman completed 18 of 30 passes for 272 yards with two touchdowns to help his team rally for victory. ADVERTISEMENTAnalysis: Protecting QBs from violent late hits like the one that leveled Trevor Lawrence isn't easy
The Latest: UnitedHealthcare shooting suspect contests his extradition back to New YorkTrump aims to appoint son-in-law’s father as US ambassador to FranceNew York, Nov 23 (AP) Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general, was chosen by Donald Trump to serve as US attorney general hours after his first choice, Matt Gaetz, withdrew from consideration after a federal sex trafficking investigation and ethics probe made his ability to be confirmed dubious. The 59-year-old has long been in Trump's orbit and her name had been floated during his first term as a potential candidate for the nation's highest law enforcement role. Trump announced his plans to nominate Bondi Thursday in a social media post. Also Read | Singapore Shocker: Teacher Groomed Student, Had Sex With Her Before She Turned 16; Sentenced to 14 Years in Jail. If confirmed by the Republican-led Senate, Bondi would instantly become one of the most closely watched members of Trump's Cabinet given the Republican's threat to pursue retribution against perceived adversaries and concern among Democrats that he will look to bend the Justice Department to his will. Also Read | Pakistan Violence: 15 Killed, 25 Injured in Fresh Sectarian Clashes in Kurram, 2 Days After Attack on Passenger Vehicles. Here's a few things to know about Bondi: She's long been a fixture in Trump's world Bondi has been a longtime and early ally. In March 2016, on the eve of the Republican primary in Florida, Bondi endorsed Trump at a rally, picking him over the candidate from her own state, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. She gained national attention with appearances on Fox News as a defender of Trump and had a notable speaking spot at 2016 Republican National Convention as Trump became the party's surprising nominee. During the remarks, some in the crowd began chanting "Lock her up" about Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Bondi responded by saying, “Lock her up,' I love that." As Trump prepared to move into the White House, she served on his first transition team. When Trump's first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, was ousted in 2018, Bondi's name was floated as a possible candidate for the job. Trump at the time said he would “love” Bondi to join the administration. He ultimately selected William Barr instead. She kept a toehold in Trump's orbit thereafter, including after he left office. She served as a chairwoman of America First Policy Institute, a think tank set up by former Trump administration staffers to lay the groundwork if he won a second term. She was Florida's first female attorney general Bondi made history in 2010 when she was elected as Florida's first female attorney general. Though the Tampa native spent more than 18 years as a prosecutor in the Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office, she was a political unknown when she held the state's top law enforcement job. Bondi was elevated in the primary after she was endorsed by former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. She campaigned on a message to use the state's top legal office in a robust way, challenging then-President Barack Obama's signature health care law. She also called for her state to adopt Arizona's “show me your papers” immigration law that sparked national debate. As Florida's top prosecutor, Bondi stressed human trafficking issues and urged tightening state laws against traffickers. She held the job from 2011 to 2019. She worked as a lobbyist for both US and foreign clients Bondi worked as a lobbyist for Ballard Partners, the powerful Florida-based firm where Trump's campaign chief and incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles was a partner. Her US clients have included General Motors, the commissioner of Major League Baseball and a Christian anti-human-trafficking advocacy group. She also lobbied for a Kuwaiti firm, according to Justice Department foreign agent filings and congressional lobbying documents. She registered as a foreign agent for the government of Qatar; her work was related to anti-human-trafficking efforts leading up to the World Cup, held in 2022. Bondi also represented the KGL Investment Company KSCC, a Kuwaiti firm also known as KGLI, lobbying the White House, National Security Council, State Department and Congress on immigration policy, human rights and economic sanctions issues. She defended Trump during his first impeachment trial Bondi stepped away from lobbying to serve on Trump's legal team during his first impeachment trial in 2020. He was accused — but not convicted — of abuse of power for allegedly pressuring the president of Ukraine to investigate his Democratic rivals while crucial US security aid was being withheld. He was also charged with obstruction of Congress for stonewalling investigative efforts. Trump wanted Ukraine's president to publicly commit to investigating Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden, who served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company. He pushed for the investigation while holding up nearly USD 400 million in military aid. Bondi was brought on to bolster the White House's messaging and communications. Trump and his allies sought to delegitimise the impeachment from the start, aiming to brush off the whole thing as a farce. She's been critical of the criminal cases against Trump Bondi has been a vocal critic of the criminal cases against Trump as well as Jack Smith, the special counsel who charged Trump in two federal cases. In one radio appearance, she blasted Smith and other prosecutors who have charged Trump as “horrible” people she said were trying to make names for themselves by “going after Donald Trump and weaponising our legal system”. It's unlikely that Bondi would be confirmed in time to overlap with Smith, who brought two federal indictments against Trump that are both expected to wind down before the incoming president takes office. Special counsels are expected to produce reports on their work that historically are made public, but it remains unclear when such a document might be released. Bondi was also among a group of Republicans who showed up to support Trump at his hush money criminal trial in New York that ended in May with a conviction on 34 felony counts. As president, Trump demanded investigations into political opponents like Hillary Clinton and sought to use the law enforcement powers of the Justice Department to advance his own interests, including in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Bondi appears likely to oblige him. She would inherit a Justice Department expected to pivot sharply on civil rights, corporate enforcement and the prosecutions of hundreds of Trump supporters charged in the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol — defendants whom Trump has pledged to pardon. She's had a few of her own political issues Bondi issued a public apology in 2013 while serving as attorney general after she sought to delay the execution of a convicted killer because it conflicted with a fundraiser for her reelection campaign. The attorney general, representing the state in death row appeals, typically remains available on the date of execution cases in case of any last-minute legal issues. Bondi later said she was wrong and sorry for requesting then-Gov. Rick Scott push back the execution of Marshall Lee Gore by three weeks. Bondi personally solicited a 2013 political contribution from Trump as her office was weighing whether to join New York in suing over fraud allegations involving Trump University. Trump cut a USD 25,000 check to a political committee supporting Bondi from his family's charitable foundation, in violation of legal prohibitions against charities supporting partisan political activities. After the check came in, Bondi's office nixed suing Trump's company for fraud, citing insufficient grounds to proceed. Both Trump and Bondi denied wrongdoing, the state's ethics commission tossed the complaints and a prosecutor assigned by then-GOP Gov. Rick Scott determined there was insufficient evidence to support bribery charges over the donation. "This is old, discredited news,” said Trump transition spokeswoman Alex Pfeiffer. Two days before being sworn in as president in January 2017, Trump paid USD 25 million to settle three lawsuits alleging Trump University defrauded its students. Trump also paid a USD 2,500 fine to the IRS over the illegal political donation to support Bondi from the Donald J. Trump Foundation, which he was forced to dissolve amid an investigation by the state of New York. (AP) (This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — The New England Patriots are focused on the future following their 25-24 loss to the Indianapolis Colts . The Patriots (3-10) were officially eliminated from playoff contention with the loss Sunday, meaning that this week’s bye in many ways will begin the process of the coaching staff and front office evaluating the roster for 2025. The good news is that this group has shown plenty of grit this season, playing seven games that were decided by one score. The bad news is that the Patriots are just 2-5 in those games. Though New England’s bye comes late in the season, coach Jerod Mayo said the timing is perfect for a team that is feeling the effects of its shortcomings . “A much-needed bye week, not only physically for the players but also mentally, just being able to hit the reset button and come back, put some good games together and continue to build for the future,” Mayo said. “That has to be our goal.” Tight end Austin Hooper said the seed that needs to be planted over the final four games is finding a way to limit the mistakes — namely penalties and trouble finishing drives — that have hampered the offense throughout the season. “We’ve got to execute at a higher level. We can’t beat a team before you stop hurting yourself,” Hooper said. “It’s not for lack of effort, just things that happen out there that get you scars in this league.” What’s working This was the most balanced performance by the offense this season, with 222 passing yards and a season-high 200 yards rushing. It shows progress under new coordinator Alex Van Pelt, which is something to build on over the final four games. The AP Top 25 college football poll is back every week throughout the season! Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here . What needs help Red zone efficiency. It continues to be the most glaring deficiency for the Patriots’ offense. They were 2 of 6 on Sunday and rank 30th in the NFL, scoring a touchdown only 44.7% (17 of 38) of the time inside the 20-yard line. Stock up TE Hunter Henry. He finished with seven catches for 75 yards, which is his seventh game this season with five or more receptions. He leads the team this season with 58 catches for 610 yards and continues to be a dependable option for quarterback Drake May as he navigates his rookie season. Stock down K Joey Slye. He made 3 of his 5 field-goal attempts, including a 54-yarder in the second quarter. Most of the conversation following the game was about his NFL record-long 68-yard attempt that came up short as time expired. But because of the 1-point loss, he was lamenting the 25-yard attempt he missed wide left just before halftime. “I take full responsibility for this,” Slye said. “Every point for this team matters with how we play complementary football with offense, defense and special teams. So, whenever I am out there, I have got to score points.” Injuries Henry left the game in the first quarter after a helmet-to-helmet hit. He was able to return in the second quarter and finished the game. Key number 7 — Number of penalties called on the Patriots, costing them 88 yards. Five penalties (four accepted) were called on the offensive line. That included one for holding on Mike Onwenu that nullified a touchdown run by Rhamondre Stevenson in the first quarter and forced New England to settle for a field goal. Next steps The Patriots have a bye this week. They visit the Arizona Cardinals on Dec. 15. ___ AP NFL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL