The seeds of Denver's stunning Super Bowl self-destruction were planted during Wednesday's practice when coach John Fox decided to turn down the speakers that simulate crowd noise because ''it's not an away game.'' A silent snap count would have been so much better because Seattle's famed 12th Man showed up on Denver's first play from scrimmage and helped ruin whatever great game plan offensive coordinator Adam Gase and Peyton Manning had come up with. Instead of thwarting the Seahawks' stingy secondary and stout front seven, the Broncos fell apart. MetLife Stadium might not have been as loud as CenturyLink Field, but it was plenty spirited as the start of all Super Bowls are and when Manning lined up in the shotgun and called for the ball from his 14-yard line, his center couldn't hear the cadence. Manny Ramirez crouched still and just as Manning stepped up to reset the play, Ramirez's snap sailed into the north end zone, where running back Knowshon Moreno smothered it for a safety.

Syracuse's reward for winning one of the best college basketball games of the season was a spot on top of The Associated Press Top 25 poll. Combined with No. 1 Arizona's first loss of the season last weekend, the Orange's 91-89 overtime win over Duke on Saturday moved them up one spot to the top. Syracuse (21-0) received all 65 first-place votes from the national media panel Monday, making the Orange the first unanimous No. 1 since Duke was for six weeks in 2010-11. ''We're happy to be No. 1,'' coach Jim Boeheim said Monday, hours before the Orange met Notre Dame.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- The head of New Jersey Transit is defending the agency's response to a huge bottleneck that left thousands of fans waiting for trains for hours after the Super Bowl.

With about 9 minutes left in Iowa State's game with TCU, Georges Niang of the Cyclones caught teammate Melvin Ejim looking up at the giant scoreboard that hangs over the center of the court. Ejim scored a Big 12-record 48 points, making 20 of 24 shots, and grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds to lead No. 16 Iowa State past TCU 84-69 on Saturday, keeping the Horned Frogs winless in the conference. We were just giving up the ball and luckily, I was on the receiving end.'' A 6-foot-6 senior, Ejim scored 20 straight Iowa State points during one stretch in the second half and easily notched his 30th career double-double. Iowa State's school record is 54 by Lafester Rhodes in an overtime victory over Iowa in 1987.

The only way Wichita State can answer all the questions about its schedule is win every game on it. Tekele Cotton scored 18 points and fourth-ranked Wichita State beat Northern Iowa 82-73 on Saturday night, clearing perhaps its toughest remaining regular-season hurdle. Cleanthony Early had all 16 of his points in the first half for the Shockers (25-0, 12-0 Missouri Valley Conference), who beat second-place Indiana State on the road Wednesday night. ''Going to Indiana State and Northern Iowa back-to-back, that's a chore for anyone,'' Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall said.