Pirate Galaxy » four TD grabs of at least 65 yard

Its hard to call one of the biggest clubs in the world a surprise package, but through the first two months of the season, Liverpool have been just that.Jurgen Klopps Reds will face a unique challenge on Saturday when they travel to Selhurst Park to battle Crystal Palace.Liverpool (6-2-1) are unbeaten in eight consecutive matches across all competitions and find themselves tied on points (20) with Arsenal and Manchester City for the top spot in the table, trailing only by goal difference.If theres one thing that has plagued Liverpool over the past few seasons, its been an inability to beat the teams that they should beat. Clubs like Palace (3-2-4) or West Bromwich Albion, which generally present problems to an emerging attacking juggernaut. But the mark of a potential title winning side is the ability to come away with three points in those fixtures, despite not having their best day at the office.The Reds had one of those games against Swansea City back on Oct. 1, but were able to come away with the points thanks to goals from Roberto Firmino and James Milner. Last week against West Brom, Liverpool ran out to a 2-0 lead as Philippe Coutinho and Sadio Mane came through.Gareth McAuley pulled one back with nine minutes to play, making the Anfield faithful a bit nervous, but the defence held it together long enough to prevail.Liverpool also carried some momentum with it into a 2-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur in the EFL Cup on Tuesday. Daniel Sturridge scored a brace to help the Reds advance to the quarterfinals against Leeds United.After reaching the final last season only to be denied by Manchester City, Klopp believes his boys have some unfinished business to take care of this time around.Its not only unfinished business because we lost in the final -- you cant say that just because you were in the final last year then its your logical role to be the next winner! Klopp said. We have to do a lot for it.Now its the quarter-final. We dont dream, but well be ready again in November.Crystal Palace, meanwhile, have had an up-and-down start to their season. Alan Pardews boys failed to win each of their first three matches, but followed that stretch with three consecutive wins.But since a 3-2 victory over Sunderland on Sept. 24, the Eagles have managed two goals during an 0-2-1 stretch.Palace fell 3-1 at the hands of reigning champions Leicester City. Yohan Cabaye scored for the Eagles but after the visitors trailed 3-0.Palace got off to a decent start against Leicester, but slowly faded as the match wore on and they were unable to cope with the quality of their opponent.In the first 20 minutes we had a good reaction to (the defeat against) West Ham, thats what I expected us to do, Pardew said. We all knew that after Leicesters performance at Chelsea there was going to be a response from them, so to dominate like we did (was a positive).We just let ourselves down in the final moment in that period. We only created one really clear chance, where Christian hits the angle. We should have done a little bit better, I thought, but they were good today -- Leicester. There wasnt much weakness in the team, we had to really work hard for everything in the midfield and then into their back four.Cabaye believed the score didnt tell the whole story.In some stages of the game we played well but it was disappointing to concede the goal just before halftime but I think overall the score is not a fair reflection on the way we played, he said. We did create chances to score goals but we lost the game in the end and that is the most important thing.Palace striker Christian Benteke will face his former club for the first time since Liverpool sold him to the south London outfit in the summer for a fee of ￡32 million. Benteke had nine goals and three assists in 29 league matches last season for the Reds. Hes scored three times for the Eagles in seven top-division contests this campaign.Palace have had the better of this fixture recently, winning three of the last four Premier League contests. Liverpool won the last meeting on March 6 when Benteke scored a 90th-minute winner.Cheap NHL Jerseys Authentic .ca look back at each of the Top 10 stories of 2013. Today, we look back at Boston Strong - a citys recovery from tragedy. NHL Jerseys China . -- Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Alrdridge were again the go-to duo for the Trail Blazers against the Kings. https://www.chinanhljerseys.us/ .J. Jefferson has been charged with assaulting his girlfriend. Discount NHL Jerseys . -- Josh Sterk scored once and set up two more as the Oshawa Generals edged the visiting Belleville Bulls 3-2 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Clearance NHL Jerseys . Sulaiman, 44, was chosen unanimously Tuesday in a vote by the leadership, the World Boxing Council said. Sulaiman becomes the sixth president of the organization.AMES, Iowa -- Baker Mayfield threw four more touchdown passes for the streaking Oklahoma Sooners.Mayfield completed 25 of 34 passes for 328 yards and 14th-ranked Oklahoma held off Iowa State 34-24 on Thursday night for its sixth straight victory.Dede Westbrook caught seven passes for 131 yards and a score for the Sooners (7-2, 6-0 Big 12; No. 12 AP). They beat the Cyclones (1-8, 0-6) for the 18th time in a row and the 74th time in 81 meetings.Mayfield threw TD passes to Westbrook and Dimitri Flowers in the final 4:16 of the first half, extending his streak of games with at least four touchdown tosses to an FBS-high four games.Mayfield has 31 scoring passes, good for second nationally, with just six interceptions.That was a big jolt. They didnt have the lead but for 10 seconds, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said about the 65-yard TD reception by Westbrook that came immediately after Iowa State jumped ahead 17-14. Dede and Baker have been doing that a bunch.Oklahomas defense stiffened after some early struggles, allowing just seven points in the second half to help the injury-depleted Sooners survive on the road.Were short a few guys. But we had some young guys step in and take full control of the game, Westbrook said.Jacob Park passed for 160 yards and two touchdowns for the Cyclones in his first career start. Theyve dropped five straight.Iowa State played without rushing leader Mike Warren. He sprained an ankle last week in a loss to Kansas State.I just think knowing that the front we were going to face, we had to throw the football a little bit, and you Jacob gave us the best opportunity to start the football game, Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said.THE TAKEAWAYOklahoma: The Sooners maintained their hold atop the Big 12 by avoiding the Thursday night road upset that has derailed more than a few teams in recent years. With Baylor, West Virginia and Oklahoma State up next, Oklahoma is control of its own destiny in the league title race.Iowa State: The Cyclones showed glimpses of promise yet again. But theyre not ready to beat a conference contender like Oklahoma quite yet. Still, it was the fourth time in six games that Iowa Sttate was within 10 points in a league game.ddddddddddddPOLL IMPLICATIONSOklahoma didnt do much to impress the voters . But margins of victory arent terribly important when it comes to road league games in November. Besides, the Big 12 championship is essentially all the Sooners have left to play for -- and the rankings dont matter for that.Iowa State: The Cyclones once again showed glimpses of promise. But theyre not ready to beat a team as talented as the Sooners just yet. Still, Iowa State looked respectable for a program that had dropped its previous 11 games to coach Bob Stoops by an average score of 41-9.FLOWERS BLOOMSWith Joe Mixon (suspension) and Samaje Perine (injury) out of action Thursday, Dimitri Flowers stepped in to give Oklahoma a running game with 115 yards on 22 carries. Freshman Abdul Adams added 54 yards. I told him in the locker room in front of the whole team, I dont believe Ive ever seen a guy do all of that, what he did, so well in a game, Stoops said of Flowers. And he had two days of practice to do it.THE NUMBERSMayfield, who was 25 of 34 passing, has 19 TDs and just 2 picks last four games. ...Westbrook now has four TD grabs of at least 65 yards this season. ... Oklahoma has allowed just 27 points in its last two games. Granted the Sooners played Kansas and Iowa State, but they allowed 59 against Texas Tech before that. ... Joel Lanning is quickly becoming Iowa States backup quarterback. Lanning threw just one pass, an incompletion, though his 41-yard TD run in the second quarter gave the Cyclones a 17-14 lead. That gave Iowa State fans hope that an upset was possible, but Mayfield proved to be too tough to stop.UP NEXTOklahoma hosts the 13th-ranked Bears in a matchup with serious Big 12 title implications. The Sooners won their first 20 matchups against the Bears, but are 2/3 the past five years.Iowa State travels to face Kansas in the least appealing matchups in the Big 12 this year. The Jayhawks are 1-7 and have lost their last three games by an average of 40 points. ' ' '