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Texas State, North Texas face off in First Responder Bowl

NCAA Football: Army at North TexasNov 9, 2024; Denton, Texas, USA; North Texas Mean Green head coach Eric Morris greets Army Black Knights head coach Jeff Monken after Army’s 14-3 win during the second half at DATCU Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-Imagn Images

There will be a Lone Star State flair on display when North Texas battles Texas State on Friday afternoon in the First Responder Bowl at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas.

It will be the 15th rendition of the bowl and the second consecutive appearance in the game for Texas State, which beat Rice 45-21 in last year’s contest.

North Texas also has played in the bowl, losing to Army 38-31 in overtime in 2016 after beating UNLV in the 2013 season.

Both head coaches in this year’s game — Eric Morris of the Mean Green and GJ Kinne for the Bobcats — are native Texans, and more than three-fourths of the players on the combined rosters are from the Lone Star State.

In the lead-up to the game, both squads were hit hard by the transfer portal, with 11 players leaving from Texas State and 16 from North Texas.

The Mean Green (6-6) had to capture their season finale against Temple to earn the bowl appearance.

North Texas will be without quarterback Chandler Morris for the game. Morris, who earned third-team All-American Athletic Conference honors this season, bolted for Virginia after the regular season. Drew Mestemaker, who threw five passes while appearing in three games as a freshman this season, is expected to start behind center. He completed four passes for 69 yards.

Despite all the assumed familiarity between the teams because of their Texas-centric rosters and coaching staff, there’s little for the Bobcats to glean on Mestemaker when studying tape of North Texas.

“We want to find (Mestemaker) skill sets and the things he does well and really try to force-feed him some of those things,” Morris said about his quarterback. “That’s the cool thing. There’s no tape on Drew Mestemaker for anybody to go study right now.”

Kinne wants to make sure that Texas State won’t overlook the potent North Texas attack, which ranks third in the nation in total offense at 488.7 yards a game.

“Coach Morris is one of the best offensive minds in the country,” Kinne said. “… It doesn’t matter who is back there playing quarterback.”

The Bobcats (7-5) head to Dallas after winning three of their final four games, including 45-38 at South Alabama in their final regular-season contest.

Quarterback Jordan McCloud leads the Bobcats, who rank fifth in FBS in total offense at 474.3 yards per game. McCloud has passed for 2,920 yards and 29 touchdowns with 12 interceptions, and has completed 69.6 percent of his throws.

Texas State saw five starters — running back Ismail Mahdi, wide receiver Kole Wilson, defensive tackle Dominique Ratcliff, defensive end Ben Bell and cornerback Joshua Eaton — declare for the transfer portal.

“You have some of the depth pieces,” Kinne explained about the losses in the portal. “A lot of your walk-ons and a lot of guys that are looking maybe to get on scholarship somewhere. “We just did a little bit more good on good (in practice), but that’s part of it.”

–Field Level Media

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Warriors star Steph Curry out at least 5 more games with knee injury

NBA: Denver Nuggets at Golden State WarriorsFeb 22, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) cheers from the bench during a game against the Denver Nuggets in the third quarter at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images

The Golden State Warriors on Sunday said Stephen Curry will miss the next five games before his right knee injury is re-evaluated.

Curry, who hasn’t played since Jan. 30, is officially out for Monday’s home game against the Los Angeles Clippers with “right patellofemoral pain syndrome,” also called “runner’s knee.” It’s an overuse condition that is marked by pain around the kneecap.

In addition to the Clippers game, Curry will miss the Warriors’ three-game road trip to Houston, Oklahoma City and Utah and a home game against Chicago on March 10. The soonest he could be back is March 13 against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Warriors have said Curry is making progress but is not doing work on the court yet.

Golden State (31-29) is in eighth place in the Western Conference and just 4-6 in the games Curry has missed before and after the All-Star break. The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Warriors 129-101 on Saturday.

–Field Level Media

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Anders Lee's game-winner downs Panthers, caps another Islanders comeback

NHL: Florida Panthers at New York IslandersMar 1, 2026; Elmont, New York, USA; New York Islanders left wing Anders Lee (27) controls the puck against the Florida Panthers during the first period at UBS Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Schneidler-Imagn Images

Anders Lee scored the game-winning goal with 30.9 seconds left Sunday night for the surging New York Islanders, who overcame another two-goal deficit to beat the Florida Panthers, 5-4, in Elmont. N.Y.

Lee got a step on Aaron Ekblad, extended his stick to draw out goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and buried a forehand into the wide open left corner of the net.

Rookie Mathew Schafer scored twice while Carson Soucy and Bo Horvat also scored for the Islanders, who have won five straight games. New York has trailed 2-0 in each of its last three victories.

Goalie David Rittich made 29 saves.

Sam Bennett scored twice while Sandis Vilmanis and Sam Reinhart scored one apiece for the Panthers, who have lost seven of nine (2-7-0). Bobrovsky recorded 21 saves.

Vilmanis opened the scoring 3:44 after the opening faceoff, when he gloved a pass from A.J. Greer and backhanded a shot that trickled under Rittich’s legs.

Bennett doubled the lead by scoring six seconds into a power play with 5:06 left, when his shot from the left faceoff circle sailed past Rittich’s glove.

The Islanders began their latest comeback in unusual fashion with 1:59 remaining, when Schaefer’s shot from the right faceoff circle bounced before the crease, caromed over Bobrovsky’s head and glanced off the top post before bouncing off his back and into the net.

Soucy tied the score with a 4-on-4 goal 7:28 into the second. The defenseman took a drop pass from Simon Holmstrom, who was draped by the Panthers’ Gustav Forsling, and sent a shot under Bobrovsky’s glove.

Bennett gave the Panthers the lead again with 7:56 remaining, when his backhander from the middle of the right faceoff circle went under Rittich’s stick arm.

Horvat tied the score with 2:46 left with an angled shot from near the goal line that landed beneath Bobrovsky’s stick.

Schaefer gave the Islanders their first lead by scoring from the slot with 9:31 left in the third. This gave Schaefer 20 on the year at just 18 years old, making him the youngest defenseman to ever record 20 goals in a season and the youngest since Dion Phaneuf (20 years old) did it for the Calgary Flames in 2005-06.

With Bobrovsky pulled for an extra attacker, Reinhart tied it back up with 1:58 remaining.

–Field Level Media

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Lionel Messi, Miami score four in second half to upend Orlando

MLS: Inter Miami CF at Orlando CityMar 1, 2026; Orlando, Florida, USA; Inter Miami CF forward Lionel Messi (10) controls the ball from Orlando City SC defender Tahir Reid-Brown (29) in the first half at Inter&Co Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Lionel Messi recorded a brace, Telasco Sevogia scored the tiebreaking goal in the 85th minute and assisted on two others and Inter Miami dominated the second half to record a 4-2 comeback victory over host Orlando City on Sunday night.

Mateo Silvetti added a goal and an assist in Inter Miami’s four-goal second half that erased a 2-0 deficit. The Herons (1-1-0, 3 points) bounced back from a 3-0 season-opening loss to Los Angeles FC.

Messi, who scored in the 57th and 90th minutes, has eight goals in five meetings against the Lions across all competitions.

Marco Pasalic and Martin Ojeda scored goals for Orlando City (0-2-0, 0 points).

Orlando was unable to clear the ball out of its zone on the tiebreaking sequence.

Miami’s German Berterame came up with the ball to begin the sequence. Sevogia eventually received it and booted a right-footed shot into the net.

Three minutes later, Orlando City’s Colin Guske pulled Messi down and was given his second yellow card. The automatic upgrade to red led to Guske’s ejection, leaving the Lions with just 10 men for the rest of the match that included 10 minutes of stoppage time.

Messi then took a free kick from close range in the 90th minute and sent a left-footed shot past the wall and inside the left post to give the Herons a two-goal lead.

Dayne St. Clair made three saves for Miami, which outshot Orlando City 16-12 and placed eight shots on target to the Lions’ five.

Maxime Crepeau had four stops for Orlando City.

Orlando City won both regular-season meetings last season, prevailing by scores of 4-0 and 3-1.

Miami woke up fast after the halftime break.

Silvetti was beyond the box when he ripped a right-footed shot into the left corner of the net in the 49th minute.

Messi scored the equalizer eight minutes later by lining a left-footed shot inside the right post.

Ojeda had a big opportunity to put Orlando City back ahead in the 70th minute but St. Clair made a leg save on Ojeda’s close-ranged left-footed shot.

Orlando struck in the 18th minute when Ivan Angulo fed Pasalic, who sent a left-footed grounder that caromed off the arms of St. Clair and into the net.

Six minutes later, the Lions made it 2-0 when Ojeda performed a give-and-go with Griffin Dorsey. Upon receiving the ball back, Ojeda sent a right-footed shot into the right corner.

Crepeau made three first-half saves, including one of Messi in the 28th minute. Messi also sent a free kick wide left of the net late in the half.

–Field Level Media

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