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In Pictures: Sporting photos of the week

A selection of some of the most striking sports photographs taken around the world over the past seven days.




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'Why I'm taking pictures of the bins in my town'

Andy Bailey has been photographing bins in his Cheshire town, giving them a rating out of 25.




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Your pictures on the theme of 'railways'

A selection of photographs sent in by our readers on the theme of "railways".




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Your pictures on the theme of 'arches'

A selection of readers' photographs on the theme of 'arches.'




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We set the theme, you take the pictures

Each week, we ask you to send in your pictures on a set theme and a selection of these are then published each Thursday on our In pictures page




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Your pictures on the theme of 'in the air'

A selection of pictures sent in by our readers on the theme of 'in the air'.




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Your pictures on the theme of 'road trip'

A selection of pictures on the theme of 'road trip'.




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Canada staff 'objected' to drone use before Olympics

Members of Canada women's coaching staff "objected" to flying drones over training sessions before the scandal at Paris 2024.




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You're the boss - pick your Northern Ireland starting XI

It's time for you to be the boss as you select your Northern Ireland starting XI to take on Belarus in Belfast on Friday.




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Typical Democrat: Harris Raised One BILLION for her Campaign… Ended it $20 Million In Debt

In what seems like the work of a typical Democrat, Kama Harris raised one billion dollars for her campaign… and finished it $20 million in debt. Imagine what she would have done to the United States which would have started out bankrupt if Harris had entered the White House. How do you have an actual […]

The post Typical Democrat: Harris Raised One BILLION for her Campaign… Ended it $20 Million In Debt appeared first on The Lid.




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How Hard Could It Be to Translate a Picture Book?

With so few words, most of them kid-friendly, it should be a piece of cake. But it depends on who’s holding the whisk. Translator Daniel Hahn say,"I believe my job as a translator is to preserve all the dimensions of a book, not just one of them. When I find complexity, my job is to keep complexity, or more accurately to reconstruct it. And some of the most complex books I’ve reconstructed have been children’s picture books."




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News24 Business | Investment update | Cybersecurity is a goldmine - top picks for investors

The latest investment insights and market developments.




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The Rocky Horror Picture Show is now a video game

If you have ever thought, "I wish I could play as an 8-bit version of Janet Weiss or Brad Majors," you are in luck. You can "Jump to the left and dodge to the right" in the upcoming video game adaptation of everyone's favorite midnight movie. — Read the rest

The post The Rocky Horror Picture Show is now a video game appeared first on Boing Boing.




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INTERNal Stupidity: Pentagon Interns Post Pic of Chinese Plane on Veteran’s Day

The following article, INTERNal Stupidity: Pentagon Interns Post Pic of Chinese Plane on Veteran’s Day, was first published on Conservative Firing Line.

A knock-off Chinese plane similar to the US F-35 was inadvertently posted by the F-35 JPO (Joint Program Office) on Veteran’s Day. Somebody needs to help this administration figure out some basics …oh wait, a new administration is coming in January. Good. The JPO Strike Force account had no clue what they did until an …

Continue reading INTERNal Stupidity: Pentagon Interns Post Pic of Chinese Plane on Veteran’s Day ...




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30+ Epic Things to Do in Rome, Italy

Rome is magnificent in every way possible, from the millennia of history made here to the deliciousness of a perfect cacio e pepe pasta. There are so many things to do in Rome, from the Colosseum to the Vatican Museums to the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. Rome is so overwhelming, in a good […]

The post 30+ Epic Things to Do in Rome, Italy appeared first on Adventurous Kate.




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Spicy Cranberry Salsa Recipe

Merry belated Christmas and happy Hanukkah, friends! It’s been a crazy last few months of 2016. I’ve had some new work projects keeping me busy, plus some family health scares, fear for my country’s future, and yes, these goddamn celebrity deaths (I watched Love Actually for the first time last weekend since Alan Rickman died. Then pre-teen crush […]

The article Spicy Cranberry Salsa Recipe originated at EverInTransit.com







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Trump to Pick Senator Marco Rubio for Crucial Cabinet Position: Report

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as his secretary of state, reports late Monday indicate. According to The Wall Street Journal, while the nomination isn’t […]

The post Trump to Pick Senator Marco Rubio for Crucial Cabinet Position: Report appeared first on The Western Journal.




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Trump Makes His Pick for Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Secretary: Report

In a surprise move that broke in the early hours of Tuesday morning, President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly picked South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as his nominee to head the […]

The post Trump Makes His Pick for Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Secretary: Report appeared first on The Western Journal.




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Flashback: Video of Tom Homan Taking Down AOC Resurfaces, Showing Why Trump Picked Him

Shortly after President-elect Donald Trump appointed Tom Homan as “border czar,” the immigration hardliner’s hilarious 2019 smackdown of Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York went viral on social media. […]

The post Flashback: Video of Tom Homan Taking Down AOC Resurfaces, Showing Why Trump Picked Him appeared first on The Western Journal.




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Trump Makes His Pick for US Ambassador to Israel as Conflict in Gaza Remains Heated

President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is his pick to be the next U.S. ambassador to Israel. “Mike has been a great public servant, Governor, […]

The post Trump Makes His Pick for US Ambassador to Israel as Conflict in Gaza Remains Heated appeared first on The Western Journal.




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'Warrior for Truth': Trump Has Chosen His Next CIA Director, Crediting Pick for 'Exposing Russian Collusion' Hoax

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen the next director of the CIA. Trump tapped former Texas congressman and director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe for the job. According to a statement […]

The post 'Warrior for Truth': Trump Has Chosen His Next CIA Director, Crediting Pick for 'Exposing Russian Collusion' Hoax appeared first on The Western Journal.




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Mutation of an atypical oxirane oxyanion hole improves regioselectivity of the {alpha}/{beta}-fold epoxide hydrolase Alp1U [Enzymology]

Epoxide hydrolases (EHs) have been characterized and engineered as biocatalysts that convert epoxides to valuable chiral vicinal diol precursors of drugs and bioactive compounds. Nonetheless, the regioselectivity control of the epoxide ring opening by EHs remains challenging. Alp1U is an α/β-fold EH that exhibits poor regioselectivity in the epoxide hydrolysis of fluostatin C (compound 1) and produces a pair of stereoisomers. Herein, we established the absolute configuration of the two stereoisomeric products and determined the crystal structure of Alp1U. A Trp-186/Trp-187/Tyr-247 oxirane oxygen hole was identified in Alp1U that replaced the canonical Tyr/Tyr pair in α/β-EHs. Mutation of residues in the atypical oxirane oxygen hole of Alp1U improved the regioselectivity for epoxide hydrolysis on 1. The single site Y247F mutation led to highly regioselective (98%) attack at C-3 of 1, whereas the double mutation W187F/Y247F resulted in regioselective (94%) nucleophilic attack at C-2. Furthermore, single-crystal X-ray structures of the two regioselective Alp1U variants in complex with 1 were determined. These findings allowed insights into the reaction details of Alp1U and provided a new approach for engineering regioselective epoxide hydrolases.





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Topics in Multiple Time Scale Dynamics

Maximilian Engel, Hildeberto Jardón-Kojakhmetov and Cinzia Soresina, editors. American Mathematical Society, 2024, CONM, volume 806, approx. 232 pp. ISBN: 978-1-4704-7327-3 (print), 978-1-4704-7684-7 (online).

This volume contains the proceedings of the BIRS Workshop "Topics in Multiple Time Scale Dynamics," held from November 27– December 2, 2022, at...





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A highly potent CD73 biparatopic antibody blocks organization of the enzyme active site through dual mechanisms [Methods and Resources]

The dimeric ectonucleotidase CD73 catalyzes the hydrolysis of AMP at the cell surface to form adenosine, a potent suppressor of the immune response. Blocking CD73 activity in the tumor microenvironment can have a beneficial effect on tumor eradication and is a promising approach for cancer therapy. Biparatopic antibodies binding different regions of CD73 may be a means to antagonize its enzymatic activity. A panel of biparatopic antibodies representing the pairwise combination of 11 parental monoclonal antibodies against CD73 was generated by Fab-arm exchange. Nine variants vastly exceeded the potency of their parental antibodies with ≥90% inhibition of activity and subnanomolar EC50 values. Pairing the Fabs of parents with nonoverlapping epitopes was both sufficient and necessary whereas monovalent antibodies were poor inhibitors. Some parental antibodies yielded potent biparatopics with multiple partners, one of which (TB19) producing the most potent. The structure of the TB19 Fab with CD73 reveals that it blocks alignment of the N- and C-terminal CD73 domains necessary for catalysis. A separate structure of CD73 with a Fab (TB38) which complements TB19 in a particularly potent biparatopic shows its binding to a nonoverlapping site on the CD73 N-terminal domain. Structural modeling demonstrates a TB19/TB38 biparatopic antibody would be unable to bind the CD73 dimer in a bivalent manner, implicating crosslinking of separate CD73 dimers in its mechanism of action. This ability of a biparatopic antibody to both crosslink CD73 dimers and fix them in an inactive conformation thus represents a highly effective mechanism for the inhibition of CD73 activity.




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Picking Up the Broken Pieces of UK Foreign Policy

14 September 2020

Sir Simon Fraser

Deputy Chairman, Chatham House; Senior Adviser, Europe Programme
The challenge is to define a credible new role for a medium-sized international power.

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US president Donald Trump (right) is welcomed by British prime minister Boris Johnson (centre) and NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg during the NATO Summit in London, December 2019. Photo by Mustafa Kamaci/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images.

Does the UK have a foreign policy? The failures in Iraq and Afghanistan curbed our Blairite appetite for intervention. Then the Brexit referendum and the advent of Donald Trump as US president upended the European and Atlantic pillars of our strategy. The UK has been outflanked by Russian opportunism, and on China it is confused about the balance of security risk and economic opportunity. Meanwhile, the world is accelerating into a dangerous, bipolar era of geopolitics.

The claim that leaving the EU would open a highway to British global influence was always hollow. Since 2016, the UK’s influence has declined; our forces are barely present in international theatres of conflict and, as recent days have again shown, the Brexit soap opera undermines our diplomacy and soft power. So far, there are only glimmers of a new direction.

On issues such as Iran, climate change and excluding Russia from the G7, the UK has stayed close to EU positions. Elsewhere, it has taken a tougher stance on China and Hong Kong that is aligned more closely with the US and the Five Eyes intelligence community, which includes Australia, Canada and New Zealand. There is also a renewed focus on human rights.

However, this does not add up to a coherent strategy. Getting it to do so is the job of this autumn’s 'integrated review' of security, defence, development and foreign policy. The timing is driven by the government’s comprehensive spending review, which — bizarrely — means they will reach conclusions without knowing what sort of deal, if any, we will strike with the EU, or who will be the next US president.

The challenge is to define a credible and distinctive role for a freestanding medium power with strong traditions of diplomacy, defence, intelligence, trade and aid. Not everything has changed; although unmoored from the EU, the UK remains a significant player in Nato, the UN Security Council and other international organisations. 

The review needs to start by deciding what matters most. A sensible list would include avoiding conflict between the US and China, maintaining global prosperity, preventing nuclear proliferation, addressing environmental damage and climate change, and shoring up a multilateral system of international rules. There will always be urgent problems, and it matters how we respond to them. But a foreign policy should be geared to enduring aims.

On each priority, the review must examine how the UK, outside the EU, can make a difference. Sometimes it may find a specific national role, such as convening next year’s COP26 climate conference. Nine times out of 10, however, the route to our national goals will lie, as before, through leveraging relationships with others.

Three relationships matter most. We need a plan for the US, whoever wins the election. If Boris Johnson is the European leader closest to Donald Trump, how will the British prime minister turn that to his advantage if Trump wins? On the other hand, a Joe Biden victory would better serve our wider interest in a reinvigorated Euro-Atlantic community — although, under this government, that would also weaken our hand in Washington compared with Berlin and Paris. What is the plan to counter that?

Second, we need clear thinking on China. In the new bipolar geopolitics, the UK should stand firmly with the US — although not to the extent of allowing Washington to dictate our policy, or of cutting necessary and useful links with China. We need to decide on a strategic objective. Are we preparing for lasting great-power confrontation or even conflict; or are we working for a more sophisticated global equilibrium? In either case, who will be our best international partners?

Evidently, this requires a constructive relationship with Europe, with which the UK has the most obvious shared interests. Bilateral relationships will be valuable, as will the E3 group of the UK, France and Germany. But our reluctance to negotiate a foreign policy relationship with the EU collectively is an error.

When the brainy Whitehall strategists have put down their pens, the review will then, as always, descend into a hard-nosed haggle over money. There are already large holes in Ministry of Defence procurement budgets; the COVID-induced recession will make things worse. With new priorities to fund, such as cybersecurity, the argument will be less about spending more than gouging out savings to redistribute.

Finally, the review must look at delivery. As Downing Street has disempowered ministries, Whitehall’s foreign policy machinery has become over-centralized. Trade and economic considerations should have more weight. Delivery of the new strategy should also be led by a reformed and renamed Department for International Affairs that has leadership on foreign, development and trade policy, oversees external intelligence and works closely with the Ministry of Defence.

Only with such clarity on priorities, relationships and resources can we craft the coherent foreign policy post-Brexit Britain needs. The task will be easier if the UK and EU reach a deal in December.

This article was originally published in the Financial Times.




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Multiomics Reveals Ectopic ATP Synthase Blockade Induces Cancer Cell Death via a lncRNA-mediated Phospho-signaling Network [Research]

The EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor gefitinib is commonly used for lung cancer patients. However, some patients eventually become resistant to gefitinib and develop progressive disease. Here, we indicate that ecto-ATP synthase, which ectopically translocated from mitochondrial inner membrane to plasma membrane, is considered as a potential therapeutic target for drug-resistant cells. Quantitative multi-omics profiling reveals that ecto-ATP synthase inhibitor mediates CK2-dependent phosphorylation of DNA topoisomerase IIα (topo IIα) at serine 1106 and subsequently increases the expression of long noncoding RNA, GAS5. Additionally, we also determine that downstream of GAS5, p53 pathway, is activated by ecto-ATP synthase inhibitor for regulation of programed cell death. Interestingly, GAS5-proteins interactomic profiling elucidates that GAS5 associates with topo IIα and subsequently enhancing the phosphorylation level of topo IIα. Taken together, our findings suggest that ecto-ATP synthase blockade is an effective therapeutic strategy via regulation of CK2/phospho-topo IIα/GAS5 network in gefitinib-resistant lung cancer cells.




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The Proteomics of Networks and Pathways: A Movie is Worth a Thousand Pictures [Editorial]

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To be there when the picture is being painted [Protein Structure and Folding]

There is nothing quite like the excitement of discovery in science—of finding something no one else knew and seeing a story unfold. One has to be part of an emerging picture to feel the elation. These moments in a lifetime are few and far between, but they fuel enthusiasm and keep one going. They are embedded in struggles and joys of everyday life, years of establishing what Louis Pasteur called “the prepared mind,” working with mentors, trainees, and colleagues, failures and successes. This article recalls 1) how I got to be a biochemist; 2) my contributions as an educator and researcher, especially regarding meprin metalloproteases; and 3) my participation in communities of science. Perhaps my reflections will help an aspiring scientist see how fulfilling a career in science can be.




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[68Ga]Ga-RAYZ-8009: A Glypican-3-Targeted Diagnostic Radiopharmaceutical for Hepatocellular Carcinoma Molecular Imaging--A First-in-Human Case Series

To date, the imaging and diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) rely on CT/MRI, which have well-known limitations. Glypican-3 (GPC3) is a cell surface receptor highly expressed by HCC but not by normal or cirrhotic liver tissue. Here we report initial clinical results of GPC3-targeted PET imaging with [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-RYZ-GPC3 (RAYZ-8009), a peptide-based GPC3 ligand in patients with known or suspected HCC. Methods: [68Ga]Ga-RAYZ-8009 was obtained after labeling the peptide precursor with 68Ga from a 68Ge/68Ga generator and heating at 90°C for 10 min followed by sterile filtration. After administration of [68Ga]Ga-RAYZ-8009, a dynamic or static PET/CT scan was acquired between 45 min and 4 h after administration. Radiotracer uptake was measured by SUVs for the following tissues: suspected or actual HCC or hepatoblastoma lesions, non–tumor-bearing liver, renal cortex, blood pool in the left ventricle, and gastric fundus. Additionally, tumor–to–healthy-liver ratios (TLRs) were calculated. Results: Twenty-four patients (5 patients in the dynamic protocol; 19 patients in the static protocol) were scanned. No adverse events occurred. Two patients had no lesion detected and did not have HCC during follow-up. In total, 50 lesions were detected and analyzed. The mean SUVmax of these lesions was 19.6 (range, 2.7–95.3), and the mean SUVmean was 10.1 (range, 1.0–49.2) at approximately 60 min after administration. Uptake in non–tumor-bearing liver and blood pool rapidly decreased over time and became negligible 45 min after administration (mean SUVmean, <1.6), with a continuous decline to 4 h after administration (mean SUVmean, 1.0). The opposite was observed for HCC lesions, for which SUVs and TLRs continuously increased for up to 4 h after administration. In individual lesion analysis, TLR was the highest between 60 and 120 min after administration. Uptake in the gastric fundus gradually increased for up to 45 min (to an SUVmax of 31.3) and decreased gradually afterward. Conclusion: [68Ga]Ga-RAYZ-8009 is safe and allows for high-contrast imaging of GPC3-positive HCC, with rapid clearance from most normal organs. Thereby, [68Ga]Ga-RAYZ-8009 is promising for HCC diagnosis and staging. Further research is warranted.




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Microchip Expands 64-Bit Portfolio with High-Performance PIC64HX Microprocessors for Edge Computing

CHANDLER, Ariz., Oct. 23, 2024 — The global edge computing market is expected to grow by more than 30 percent in the next five years, serving mission-critical applications in the […]

The post Microchip Expands 64-Bit Portfolio with High-Performance PIC64HX Microprocessors for Edge Computing appeared first on HPCwire.




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Repairs to Tampa Bay Rays' Tropicana Field from Hurricane Milton put at $55.7 million

It will cost $55.7 million to repair Tropicana Field, home to the MLB Tampa Bay Rays, in time for the 2026 home opener, St. Petersburg., Fla., city officials said Tuesday.




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Movie review: 'Gladiator II' entertains with epic violence, flamboyant acting

"Gladiator II" has even more crowd-pleasing combat events than the original and an operatic story showcasing flamboyant performances.




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Trump picks Mike Huckabee to be U.S. Ambassador to Israel

President-elect Donald Trump says that he wants ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to represent America's interests in the troubled Middle East region as U.S. Ambassador to Israel.




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President-elect Trump picks Fox News host, Army veteran to lead Pentagon

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday night announced his nomination of Fox News host and Army veteran Pete Hegseth to head the Department of Defense.




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Holcomb announces pick for new Indiana education secretary




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New investigator picked for Bangor High School racism probe




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One Teacher's Life in a Coronavirus Epicenter

The days are a technology overload, mixed with the joy of seeing her students' faces and worry about her own family's health and safety, New York City teacher Ariel Sacks writes.




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Holcomb announces pick for new Indiana education secretary




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Holcomb announces pick for new Indiana education secretary




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Capitals send picks to Penguins for center Lars Eller, who won a Stanley Cup with Washington in 2018

Washington sent a 2025 fifth-round pick and a 2027 third-round pick to Pittsburgh on Tuesday for Eller.




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Where’s Alabama in latest College Football Playoff bracket? Full playoff picture

The latest update of the College Football Playoff rankings was officially released Tuesday night on ESPN, with the Alabama Crimson Tide seeing some movement as a result of their dominant 42-13 road win over the LSU Tigers on Saturday. In the rankings




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Where's Oregon in the latest College Football Playoff bracket? Full playoff picture

No. 1 Oregon will travel to Madison this weekend to take on the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium.




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Where’s Texas A&M in latest College Football Playoff bracket? Full playoff picture

Texas A&M's Week 11 bye week was (hopefully) successful in terms of fixing the issues that plagued the Aggies, especially the defensive issues that led to 25 missed tackles in the 44-20 loss to South Carolina, which dropped the Aggies to No. 14 in the first Col




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Texas moves up in College Football Playoff bracket, get complete playoff picture

Georgia and Miami misery translates into joy for the Texas Longhorns. Thanks to losses by the 'Canes and Bulldogs on Saturday, the Horns move up two spots in the college football playoff ranki




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College Football Playoff bracket: Complete playoff picture after latest rankings

The second release of College Football Playoff rankings changes the projected bracket. Here's what it looks like if the season ended today.