GENEVA (AP) — The International Cycling Union agrees with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, stripping Lance Armstrong's seven Tour de France titles and banning him for life.

ICU President Pat McQuaid says his federation accepted USADA's (yoo-SAH'-duhz) report on Armstrong and will not appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

USADA said Armstrong should be banned and stripped of his Tour titles for "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen" within his U.S. Postal Service and Discovery Channel teams.

Today's decision clears the way for Tour de France organizers to officially remove Armstrong's name from the record books.

Tour director Christian Prudhomme has said the race would go along with whatever cycling's governing body decides and will have no official winners for those years.

MLB-NLCS

Never-say-die Giants

UNDATED (AP) — Major League Baseball is going to have a third winner-take-all game in four postseason series, and it'll be played tonight in San Francisco.

The Giants pushed the NLCS to a decisive seventh game by beating the visiting Cardinals 6-1. It's San Francisco's second straight win with their backs to the wall and fifth of the playoffs.

Ryan Vogelsong worked seven outstanding innings and Marco Scutaro (SKOO'-tah-roh) sparked a pair of early rallies. Vogelsong limited the Cards to a run and four hits while striking out nine. He blanked the Redbirds until Carlos Beltran doubled and scored on Allen Craig's single in the sixth.

Scutaro walked and scored the Giants' first run in the opening inning. He also scored in the second after slapping a two-run double.

Redbirds starter Chris Carpenter was reached for five runs and six hits in four innings.

Tonight's winner will host the Detroit Tigers for Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday. Detroit completed an ALCS sweep of the New York Yankees on Thursday.

MLB-RED SOX-FARRELL

Red Sox name new skipper

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Red Sox have hired John Farrell away from the Blue Jays to be their new manager.

The Red Sox obtained the rights to their former pitching coach by trading infielder Mike Aviles (ah-VEE'-lihs) to Toronto. Farrell had been the Jays skipper the past two seasons, posting a 154-170 record with two fourth-place finishes.

NFL-SCHEDULE

Texans blast Ravens...Giants rally

UNDATED (AP) — The Houston Texans bounced back from their lone loss of the season by trouncing the only other AFC team with a winning record heading into Week 7.

The Texans improve to 6-1 by blasting Baltimore 43-13, dropping the Ravens to 5-2. It is Houston first victory over Baltimore in seven meetings.

Matt Schaub threw two touchdown passes and Arian Foster ran for two scores for the Texans, whose defense bounced back big time from an embarrassing loss to Green Bay. Antonio Smith had two sacks and J.J. Watt deflected a pass that Johnathan Joseph intercepted and returned 52 yards to pay dirt.

Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco threw two interceptions and was sacked four times.

Elsewhere:

— Eli Manning hit Victor Cruz for a 77-yard touchdown pass with 73 seconds remaining as the New York Giants defeated Washington 27-23 to improve to 5-2. The go-ahead scoring strike came just 19 seconds after Santana Moss hauled in a 30-yard TD toss from Robert Griffin III to put the Redskins ahead 23-20.

— Chris Rainey scored the tiebreaking touchdown on an 11-yard run in the fourth quarter of Pittsburgh's 24-17 comeback win at Cincinnati. Ben Roethlisberger (RAWTH'-lis-bur-gur) passed for 278 yards and a touchdown for the Steelers, who trailed 14-3 before improving to 3-3.

— At Foxborough, Stephen Gostkowski drilled a 48-yard field goal at 3:58 of overtime before Mark Sanchez fumbled with 7:28 left on the clock to secure the Patriots' 29-26 win over the New York Jets. Gostkowski also hit a 43-yard field goal at the end of regulation after the Patriots blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.

— Drew Brees threw for 377 yards and four touchdowns to lead New Orleans to a 35-28 come-from-behind road victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He extends his NFL record for consecutive games with a TD pass to 49. Brees led long scoring drives on four straight possessions to turn a 14-point deficit into a 28-21 halftime lead. Linebacker Jonathan Vilma played for the first time while appealing a season-long suspension for his role in the Saints bounty program.

— After opening the season 4-0 the Arizona Cardinals sit 4-3 following a 21-14 loss at Minnesota. Adrian Peterson ran for 153 yards and a first-quarter touchdown, and the Vikings survive an ugly second half to run their record to 5-2.

— The Green Bay Packers defeated the St. Louis Rams 30-20 for their first two-game winning streak of the season. Aaron Rodgers completed 30 of 37 passes for 342 yards and three touchdowns to help the Pack get to 4-3 on the season.

— Dan Bailey's foot lifted the Dallas Cowboys to a 19-14 victory at Carolina. Bailey's 28-yarder with 3:25 left in the game gave the Cowboys the lead. He capped the scoring with 53 seconds left on the clock, kicking his fourth field goal of the game.

— Matt Hasselbeck engineered the 22nd fourth-quarter comeback of his NFL career and second in as many weeks, lifting the Tennessee Titans to a 35-34 win over Buffalo on the Bills' home field. Hasselbeck's 15-yard scoring pass to Nate Washington with 1:03 on the clock was the game winner.

— There was overtime in Oakland as Sebastien Janikowski hit a 40-yard field goal at 2:02 of the extra session to give the Raiders a 26-23 triumph over Jacksonville. The game-winning boot came after Cecil Shorts lost a fumble to set up the Raiders deep in Jacksonville territory.

— The Colts surpassed last year's win total in game six of the 2012 season. Indianapolis improves to 3-3 with a 17-13 victory over visiting Cleveland.

NFL-UNION-TAGLIABUE

Union may challenge appointment of Tagliabue

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — The NFL players' union might challenge former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue (TAG'-lee-uh-boo) replacing successor Roger Goodell (guh-DEHL') as the appeals officer in the Saints' bounties case.

The players association has concerns about "ethical and legal issues," a person familiar with the matter tells The Associated Press.

The NFL has no comment.

Tagliabue works for the law firm that is defending the league in U.S. District Court in Louisiana in the bounties case. The NFLPA believes that's a conflict of interest. The union also might contend that such "pay-for programs" existed when Tagliabue was commissioner, with his knowledge.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL_BCS POLL

Wildcats pass Ducks

NEW YORK (AP) — Kansas State has moved ahead of Oregon for No. 3 in the new BCS poll, behind SEC rivals Alabama and Florida.

The Wildcats' big victory Saturday at West Virginia was enough to nudge them past the Ducks, who are No. 2 in both polls but are getting held back by computer ratings that lag behind the other highly ranked teams.

The Crimson Tide is still solidly in first, and Florida grabbed a firmer grip on second with a 44-11 victory over South Carolina on Saturday.

The Gators are tops in the computer ratings and Kansas State is second. The Wildcats beat West Virginia 55-14 for their third Big 12 road victory.

Fourth-place Oregon is coming off a 43-21 win at Arizona State and sits sixth in the computer ratings.

T25 FOOTBALL-AP POLL

Top 6 still the same

NEW YORK (AP) — Florida took one first-place vote away from Alabama, leaving the Crimson Tide one shy of being a unanimous No. 1 for a fourth straight week in the AP college football poll. The Gators blasted then-No. 9 South Carolina 44-11 and 'Bama beat up on Tennessee 44-13.

Oregon remains No. 2 for a fifth consecutive week, and Florida, Kansas State, Notre Dame and LSU are still three through six, respectively.

Oregon State moves up a notch to seven and Oklahoma rises two places to No. 8. Ohio State falls two spots to ninth and Southern Cal inches up one notch to round out the top 10.

South Carolina fell to No. 17.

NHL-LABOR

All talk, no action

NEW YORK (AP) — The NHL and the players' association are still talking, but have no plans yet to return to the bargaining table.

For the second straight day, representatives on both sides of the lockout had telephone conversations on Sunday. None of those talks have yet led to concrete negotiations that could lead to an elusive collective bargaining agreement and get the delayed hockey season going.

The lockout entered its 36th day on Sunday. All games through Nov. 1 have been canceled by the NHL, and the league says a deal must be reached by Thursday for a full 82-game season to be played.

NBA-KNICKS-STOUDEMIRE OUT

Stoudemire nursing knee injury

NEW YORK (AP) — Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire (ah-MAR'-ay STOW'-duh-my-ur) is a good bet to miss the start of the regular season because of a left knee injury.

The Knicks say an MRI revealed a ruptured benign cyst and Stoudemire, who has seen little action in the preseason, is expected to miss two to three weeks.

The Knicks open their regular season Nov. 1 against Brooklyn.

PGA-MCGLADREY CLASSIC

Gainey comes from out of nowhere to win

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — Tommy Gainey rocketed up the leaderboard with a 10-under-par 60 and won The McGladrey Classic by a stroke for his first PGA Tour victory. David Toms finished second after carding a 63 that got him to 15-under-par.

Third-round co-leaders Jim Furyk (FYOOR'-ihk) and Davis Love III couldn't keep up. Furyk shot a 69 and finished two shots back in third place. Love could do no better than a 1-over 71, finishing in a three-way tie for fourth place at minus-12.

Gainey is the fourth player this year to rally from at least seven shots behind in the final round to win on the PGA Tour.

NASCAR-SPRINT CUP

Kenseth takes checkered flag

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Matt Kenseth was the winner of the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Kenseth's second victory in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship leaves him 55 points behind overall leader Brad Keselowski (kehz-LOW'-skee) with four races remaining.

Jimmie Johnson led 44 laps early but crashed hard after spinning by himself. He managed to finish ninth and remains second in the Sprint Cup standings, still seven points behind Keselowski.

Denny Hamlin's 13th-place finish keeps him third in the points race, 20 off the lead and five ahead of Clint Bowyer (BOY'-ur).

NASCAR-EARNHARDT-CONCUSSION

Earnhardt good to go

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Team owner Rick Hendrick says Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been cleared by his doctor to race next weekend at Martinsville Speedway.

NASCAR's most popular driver just sat out his second consecutive race because of two concussions in six weeks. Hendrick says Earnhardt has been headache-free for more than a week, and tests by a specialist in Pittsburgh show no lingering issues.

Regan Smith replaced him in the Hendrick Motorsports ride.