No. 11 USC will make its first visit to the Big House since 1958 for the Big Ten's game of the week

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No. 11 USC will make its first visit to the Big House since 1958 for the Big Ten's game of the week

2024-09-19 18:10 Last Updated At：21:40

Things to watch this week in the Big Ten Conference:

No. 11 Southern California (2-0) at No. 18 Michigan (2-1), Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET (CBS)

This is a must-see game for college football fans who grew up watching these teams square off in the Rose Bowl. It's a conference game now and USC's first as a Big Ten member. The teams haven't met in the regular season since Michigan held on for a 20-19 win at the Big House in 1958.

The programs are on different tracks entering this game. USC has a rising star in QB Miller Moss and a revitalized defense, and the Trojans must be considered contenders to win the Big Ten or, short of that, make the College Football Playoff.

Defending national champion Michigan's struggling offense will have QB Alex Orji make his first start this week, and it doesn't bode well that its defense has been susceptible to giving up big pass plays.

USC is a six-point favorite, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.

No. 24 Illinois visits No. 22 Nebraska for a Friday night conference opener. The Illini are 3-0 for the first time since 2011 and the Cornhuskers for the first time since 2016. Five-star QB recruit Dylan Raiola has been everything the Huskers could have hoped for, but he will be tested by an Illinois defense that's sophisticated in how it changes coverages.

UCLA travels to No. 16 LSU for a matchup that has lost some of its luster. The Bruins under first-year coach DeShaun Foster struggled to win at Hawaii and were thoroughly beaten by Indiana at home. Though the Tigers have had their issues, they likely will make it a long night for UCLA in Death Valley.

Iowa heads to Minnesota to play for Floyd of Rosedale. This will be the earliest in a season the teams have played the game for the bronze pig. The Gophers won 12-10 in Iowa City last year in a game that had the lowest over-under point total (30.5) in 20 years. The oddsmakers expect more offense this year: the over-under is 35.5 on BetMGM.

Indiana QB Kurtis Rourke goes into the home game against Charlotte completing 74.3% of his passes for 251.7 yards per game. He's thrown a Big Ten-high seven touchdown passes and has not been intercepted.

Maryland WR Tai Felton enters the home game against Villanova as the first player in program history to open a season with three straight 100-yard receiving games.

Rutgers' Athan Kaliakmanis goes into his game at Virginia Tech as the first Scarlet Knights quarterback in nine years to throw for three touchdowns in consecutive games.

Ohio State, which hosts Marshall, has allowed six points through its first two games. That's the Buckeyes' third-lowest total since 1950. The 1960 and 1963 teams opened with consecutive shutouts. ... When Kent State visits Penn State, it will mark the 21st time in 23 seasons that the Nittany Lions will play a Mid-American Conference opponent. ... Northwestern, which visits Washington, has allowed one sack through three games compared with nine at this point in 2023. ... Washington has won 16 straight home games, the second-longest streak in the FBS behind Georgia (26). ... Purdue's 2,229-mile trip to Oregon State marks the farthest the Boilermakers have traveled for a game since they went 2,233 miles to play Oregon in 2009.

Michigan State (3-0) is a 6 1/2-point underdog for its visit to Boston College (2-1). Both teams are playing with newfound confidence under first-year coaches. Two weeks ago the Spartans won a down-to-the-wire Big Ten road game against Maryland that they probably would have lost a year ago. QB Aidan Chiles' confidence is growing, the run game has been productive though a bit too reliant on the big play, and the defense has picked off four passes and leads the Big Ten with 27 tackles for loss.

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Israel intensifies bombardment of Gaza and southern Lebanon ahead of Oct. 7 anniversary

2024-10-07 08:18 Last Updated At：08:21

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — A new round of airstrikes hit Beirut suburbs late Sunday as Israel intensified its bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Lebanon in a widening war with Iran-allied militant groups across the region. Palestinian officials said a strike on a mosque killed at least 19 people.

A year after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack, Israel has opened a new front in Lebanon against Hezbollah, which has traded fire with Israel since the war in Gaza began.

Israel’s military confirmed a Hezbollah attack on the northern city of Haifa, though it was not immediately clear whether shrapnel from “fallen projectiles” was from rockets or interceptors. Hezbollah said it tried to hit a nearby naval base. The Magen David Adom ambulance service said it treated 10 people, most of them hurt by shrapnel.

Israel also has vowed to strike Iran after a ballistic missile attack on Israel last week. The widening conflict risks further drawing in the United States, which has provided crucial military and diplomatic support to Israel. Iran-allied militant groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have joined in with long-distance strikes on Israel.

Israel is on high alert ahead of memorial events for the Oct. 7 attack, while rallies continue around the world marking the anniversary.

Beirut’s skyline lit up again late Sunday with new airstrikes, a day after Israel’s heaviest bombardment of the southern suburbs known as the Dahiyeh since it escalated its air campaign on Sept. 23. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties.

Israel confirmed the strikes and says it targets Hezbollah. The militant group, the strongest armed force in Lebanon, has called its months of firing rockets into Israel a show of support for the Palestinians.

A separate Israeli strike earlier Sunday in the town of Qamatiyeh southeast of Beirut killed six people, including three children, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported more than 30 strikes overnight into Sunday, while Israel’s military said about 130 projectiles had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory.

“It was very difficult. All of us in Beirut could hear everything,” resident Haytham Al-Darazi said. Another resident, Maxime Jawad, called it “a night of terror.”

One strike killed three sisters and their aunt in the coastal village of Jiyyeh. “This is a civilian home, and the biggest evidence is those martyred are four women,” said a neighbor, Ali Al Hajj.

Last week, Israel launched what it called a limited ground operation into southern Lebanon after a series of attacks killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his top commanders. The fighting is the worst since Israel and Hezbollah fought a month-long war in 2006.

At least 1,400 Lebanese, including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, have been killed and 1.2 million driven from their homes. Israel says it aims to drive the militant group from its border so tens of thousands of Israeli citizens can return home.

The Israeli military is now setting up a forward operating base close to a U.N. peacekeeping mission on the border in southern Lebanon, a U.N. official told The Associated Press. The base puts peacekeepers at risk, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.

UNIFIL, created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion, refused the Israeli military’s request to vacate some of its positions ahead of the ground incursion.

An Israeli strike hit a mosque where displaced people sheltered near the main hospital in the central Gaza town of Deir al-Balah. Another four were killed in a strike on a school-turned-shelter near the town. The military said both strikes targeted militants. An Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital morgue.

Israel's military announced a new air and ground offensive in Jabaliya in northern Gaza, home to a refugee camp dating to the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation. Israel has carried out several operations there only to see militants regroup. The military said three soldiers were severely wounded in Sunday's fighting in northern Gaza.

Israel reiterated its call for the complete evacuation of heavily destroyed northern Gaza, where up to 300,000 people are estimated to have remained.

“We are in a new phase of the war,” the military said in leaflets dropped over the area. “These areas are considered dangerous combat zones.” A later statement said three projectiles were identified crossing from northern Gaza into Israeli territory, with no injuries reported.

Frantic residents fled again. “Since Oct. 7 to the present day, this is the 12th time that I and my children, eight individuals, have been homeless and thrown into the streets and do not know where to go,” said one, Samia Khader.

The Civil Defense — first responders operating under the Hamas-run government — said it recovered three bodies, including a woman and a child, after a strike hit a home in the Shati refugee camp.

Residents mourned. Imad Alarabid said on Facebook an airstrike on his Jabaliya home killed a dozen family members, including his parents. Hassan Hamd, a freelance TV journalist whose footage had aired on Al Jazeera, was killed in shelling on his home in Jabaliya. Al Jazeera reporter Anas al-Sharif confirmed his death.

Nearly 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say how many were fighters, but says a little over half were women and children.

Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attack and took another 250 hostage. They still hold around 100 captives, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

The United Kingdom on Sunday advised its citizens against non-essential travel to Israel due to the violent clashes in the Mideast. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office also advised against all travel in parts of northern and southern Israel, most of the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.

Last week the UK advised its citizens against all travel to Lebanon.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday reiterated his call for a partial arms embargo on Israel, which had prompted an angry response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu had described such calls by Macron as a “disgrace.” Macron's office insisted that “France is Israel’s unfailing friend” and called Netanyahu's remarks “excessive."

Later on Sunday, Netanyahu's office said the two leaders had spoken and agreed to promote “a dialogue” on the matter. Macron's office called the discussion “frank” and said both leaders “accepted their divergence of views.”

Magdy reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, Sylvie Corbet in Paris and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war