September 2007 in Sports - 30 September 2007 (Sunday)

30 September 2007 (Sunday)

• Major League Baseball: National League playoff races
  • Florida Marlins 8, New York Mets 1
  • Philadelphia Phillies 6, Washington Nationals 1
    • The Mets complete their historic September collapse, and the Phillies win the NL East. They will play the wild card winner in the NL Division Series.
  • Milwaukee Brewers 11, San Diego Padres 6
  • Colorado Rockies 4, Arizona Diamondbacks 3
    • The Padres and Rockies finish in a tie for the NL wild card. The teams will meet in Denver in a one-game playoff, with the winner to meet the Phils in the NLDS.
    • Even though they lost on the last day of the season, the D-backs still clinch the NL West title. They will go against the Chicago Cubs in their playoff series.

• Auto racing:
  • Formula One: Japanese Grand Prix at Oyama, Japan:

  (1) Lewis Hamilton (2) Heikki Kovalainen (3) Kimi Räikkönen

  • NEXTEL Cup: LifeLock 400 at Kansas City, Kansas:

  (1) Greg Biffle (2) Clint Bowyer (3) Jimmie Johnson

  • The Chase for the NEXTEL Cup standings are rocked in a race that was red-flagged twice due to rain, shortened by 85 miles due to darkness, and finished under caution. Of the 12 drivers in the Chase, seven finished 29th or worse. The day started with the top six drivers separated by 28 points; now, the only drivers within 100 points of new Chase leader Johnson are Jeff Gordon and Bowyer.

• American football:
  • National Football League Week 4:
    • Green Bay Packers 23, Minnesota Vikings 16
      • Brett Favre completes a touchdown pass to Greg Jennings in the first quarter to become the sole owner of the career passing TD record, surpassing Dan Marino. Favre would later go on to throw another touchdown, putting the total at 422 as the Green Bay Packers go 4–0 for the first time since 1998.
    • Oakland Raiders 35, Miami Dolphins 17
      • Daunte Culpepper rushes for three touchdowns and passes for two; the Raiders rush for 299 yards.
    • Buffalo Bills 17, New York Jets 14
      • Buffalo rookie quarterback Trent Edwards and a defense that picks off Chad Pennington twice in the fourth quarter lead the Bills to their first win.
    • Atlanta Falcons 26, Houston Texans 16
      • Quarterback Joey Harrington paces the Falcons, completing 23 of 29 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns.
    • Detroit Lions 37, Chicago Bears 27
      • The surprising 3–1 Lions set a league record with 34 fourth-quarter points, including returns of an interception and an onside kick for touchdowns; new Bears starting quarterback Brian Griese throws three interceptions.
    • Cleveland Browns 27, Baltimore Ravens 13
      • Derek Anderson throws two first-quarter touchdowns, and the Browns defense holds Baltimore to 13 points on eight Baltimore drives into Cleveland territory.
    • Dallas Cowboys 35, St. Louis Rams 7
      • Tony Romo throws for 331 yards and three touchdown and runs for a fourth score.
    • Tampa Bay Buccaneers 20, Carolina Panthers 7
      • The Bucs defense makes things miserable for backup Panthers quarterback David Carr and his offense; Carr throws for only 155 yards on 41 attempts.
    • Seattle Seahawks 23, San Francisco 49ers 3
      • With starting QB Alex Smith out with an early injury, 49ers second-stringer Trent Dilfer completes only 12 of 33 passes, throws two interceptions and is sacked five times.
    • Kansas City Chiefs 30, San Diego Chargers 16
      • Tyron Brackenridge, a rookie free agent defensive back on the Chiefs, returns a Philip Rivers fumble 50 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
    • Arizona Cardinals 21, Pittsburgh Steelers 14
      • The Cardinals go ahead in the fourth quarter when Steve Breaston returns a punt 73 yards for a touchdown; Arizona's defense sacks Ben Roethlisberger four times and forces two costly interceptions.
    • Indianapolis Colts 38, Denver Broncos 20
      • A banged-up Colts team scores on six of its last eight possessions, including three Peyton Manning touchdown passes and one Manning TD sneak.
    • New York Giants 16, Philadelphia Eagles 3
  • College football polls:
    • LSU takes over the top ranking in the AP Poll from USC after the Trojans' sloppy 27–24 win over Washington. USC remains atop the Coaches and Harris Polls, with LSU second. USC becomes the first team to lose the #1 ranking in either poll after a victory since 2002. ESPN.com
    • After a tumultuous week that saw 10 of last week's Top 25 lose to lower-ranked or unranked teams, the remainder of the poll is completely overhauled, with only one team (Nebraska) holding down the same position in the AP Poll as last week. Highlights:
      • Cal, Ohio State, and Wisconsin rise to #3 through #5 in all three polls.
      • Two weeks after earning the school's first ranking in history, South Florida enters the top 10, at #6 AP/#9 Coaches/#10 Harris.
      • Boston College enters the top 10 for the first time since 1992 (#7 AP/#6 Coaches and Harris).
      • Kentucky enters the top 10 for the first time since 1977 (#8 AP and Coaches/#7 Harris).

• Basketball:
  • FIBA Africa Championship for Women at Dakar, Senegal
    • Final: Mali 65–58 Senegal
      • Mali qualifies to Olympics; Senegal qualifies to the pre-Olympic wildcard tournament.
    • Third place: Angola 73–58 Mozambique
      • Angola qualifies to the pre-Olympic wildcard tournament.
  • FIBA Americas Championship for Women at Valdivia, Chile
    • Final: United States 101–71 Cuba
      • USA qualifies to Olympics; Cuba qualifies to the pre-Olympic wildcard tournament.
    • Third place: Brazil 73–41 Argentina
      • Both teams qualify to the pre-Olympic wildcard tournament.
  • UAAP men's basketball semifinal at Quezon City, Philippines.
    • La Salle 65–60 Ateneo
      • More than 23,000 people inside the Araneta Coliseum saw the Green Archers defeat the Blue Eagles in a knockout game to determine University of the East's Finals opponent.

• Football (soccer):
  • 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in China
  • Final:
    • Germany 2–0 Brazil, Shanghai
  • Third-place playoff
    • Norway 1–4 United States, Shanghai
  • Germany become the first women's soccer side to successfully defend a major championship.

• Golf:
  • The United States team defeats the International team 19½–14½ in the Presidents Cup in Montréal. This is the first time that Team USA has won the Presidents Cup outside the USA. Mike Weir gives his fellow Canadians a consolation prize by defeating world #1 Tiger Woods 1-up in their singles match.
  • Team Great Britain & Ireland win The Seve Trophy for the third consecutive meeting, defeating Team Continental Europe 16½–11½ in the Republic of Ireland.

• Rugby league: NRL Grand Final
  • Melbourne Storm 34–8 Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles at Telstra Stadium

• Rugby union: 2007 Rugby World Cup in France
  • Pool D: France 64–7 Georgia at Marseille
  • Pool D: Ireland 15–30 Argentina at Paris
    • Argentina secure top spot in pool D, and assure themselves of a meeting with Scotland in Paris next Sunday. France book an appointment in Cardiff with New Zealand next Saturday.
  • Pool A: South Africa 64–15 United States at Montpellier