FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Sonny Dykes says he thought about changing careers five years ago when he was finishing a season as an off-field offensive analyst at TCU after being fired at California. Instead, he’s coaching the 12-1 Horned Frogs this week in the CFP semifinal Fiesta Bowl against Michigan. Dykes replaced Gary Patterson following a successful four-year stay at SMU. The 53-year-old son of the late Spike Dykes is the AP college football coach of the year. The Frogs were undefeated until an overtime loss to Kansas State in the Big 12 championship game.
UNDATED (AP) — New Mexico has thrived quickly under second-year coach Richard Pitino. The Lobos are No. 22 in the latest AP Top 25, their first ranking since the 2013-14 season. New Mexico will face Colorado State and Wyoming this week in Mountain West Conference play. The AP Top 25 schedule also includes instate rivalry games featuring No. 5 Arizona against Arizona State, and No. 19 Kentucky against Louisville. And in the ACC, No. 14 Miami and No. 25 North Carolina will look to keep momentum going from win streaks.
UNDATED (AP) — Purdue remained atop The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll for a third straight week. The week also included preseason No. 1 North Carolina returning to the rankings at No. 25 and New Mexico cracking the poll for the first time in eight years. The Boilermakers earned 40 of 60 first-place votes in Monday’s new poll, while fellow unbeaten Connecticut earned the other 20 to sit at No. 2 in an unchanged top. Houston, Kansas and Arizona rounded out the top five. Miami made the week’s biggest jump by climbing eight spots to No. 14.
UNDATED (AP) — South Carolina maintained its hold on top of The Associated Press women’s basketball poll. The Gamecocks have held the No. 1 spot for 27 consecutive weeks. That is the fifth longest run all-time. UConn has three of the top four streaks, including the record 51-week run from Feb. 18, 2008 to Dec. 10, 2010. Louisiana Tech has the second longest streak of 36 weeks. The top five teams remained unchanged as Stanford, Ohio State, Indiana and Notre Dame stayed behind the Gamecocks. South Carolina hosts Texas A&M on Thursday.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The Ohio State defense is looking to bounce back from its last game. That was a loss to archrival Michigan in late November. The Buckeyes surrendered a handful of big plays and more than 500 yards in offense in losing its first game of the season. The Buckeyes still made the College Football Playoff and will face No. 1 Georgia in the Peach Bowl. They know they need to correct mistakes and limit big plays to reach the national championship game Jan. 9. If they do, their opponent could be Michigan.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — C.J. Stroud is 21-3 as the starting quarterback at No. 4 Ohio State. The junior is a two-time offensive player of the year in the Big Ten and he’s been a Heisman Trophy finalist the past two seasons. But the Buckeyes have also failed to win the Big Ten the past two years. Stroud and his teammates get a chance to write a storybook ending: Ohio State will play top-ranked Georgia in the Fiesta Bowl semifinal on Dec. 31 for a berth in the national championship game. Stroud is already a top NFL prospect. It’s just a matter of when.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Michigan center Olu Oluwatimi lost three friends and former teammates at Virginia and four days later, his father had surgery to remove a brain tumor. Oluwatimi endured the heartache and finished off a college football season that was better than his dreams. The graduate transfer wasn’t surprised the Wolverines had a successful season and that he won the Rimington Award as the college football’s best center. Oluwatimi didn’t expect to become the first Michigan player to win the Outland Trophy, which recognizes the top interior lineman on either side of the ball. Michian plays TCU in the Fiesta Bowl for a shot a national title.
