UNDATED (AP) — SMU captured the last open spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff, bumping Alabama to land in a bracket that placed undefeated Oregon at No. 1. The selection committee preferred the Mustangs, losers of a heartbreaker in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game, who had a far less difficult schedule than Alabama of the SEC but one fewer loss. The inaugural 12-team bracket marks a new era for college football, though the Alabama-SMU debate made clear there is no perfect formula. The tournament starts Dec. 20-21 with four first-round games. It concludes Jan. 20 with the national title game in Atlanta.
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — The Rose Bowl is the next stop on No. 1 Oregon’s national championship quest. And the Ducks’ opponent in the 111th edition of the Granddaddy of Them All will be Ohio State or Tennessee. Oregon formally received the top seed in the first 12-team College Football Playoff on Sunday, sending the Ducks to celebrate the new year in Pasadena for the ninth time in school history. But first, the eighth-seeded Buckeyes and the ninth-seeded Volunteers will meet in Columbus on Saturday, Dec. 21, to determine Oregon’s opponent in Pasadena.
UNDATED (AP) — The College Football Playoff bracket sends No. 10 seed Indiana to No. 7 Notre Dame for a first-round game on Dec. 20 with the winner facing No. 2 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1. The Indiana and Notre Dame campuses are separated by 200 miles but their football teams haven’t met since 1991. Georgia has played Notre Dame three times and all were high-stakes games. The Bulldogs have never played Indiana.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — No. 12 Southern Methodist will face No. 5 Penn State in the opening round of the College Football Playoff after edging Alabama in the final rankings. The Mustangs lost 34-31 to No. 13 Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game on Saturday night, but earned the No. 12 seed as the CFP’s last at-large selection over the Crimson Tide. SMU’s berth gives the ACC two teams in the 12-team playoff a year after unbeaten Florida State was left out of the final four-team bracket. Penn State earned the No. 6 seed in the CFP after losing 45-37 to top-ranked Oregon in the Big Ten championship game on Saturday. The winner will face No. 8 Boise State and electric running back Ashton Jeanty in the Fiesta Bowl at Glendale’s State Farm Stadium on Dec. 31.
UNDATED (AP) — Dylan Andrews banked in a 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds remaining to give UCLA a 73-71 victory over No. 12 Oregon on Sunday, the Ducks’ first loss of the season. Andrews answered for UCLA (8-1, 2-0 Big Ten) after Oregon (9-1, 1-1) took a 71-70 lead on Jackson Shelstad’s 3-pointer with 9.8 seconds remaining. Eric Dailey Jr. had 19 points to lead the Bruins Kobe Johnson added 11 points and five rebounds, and Andrews and Sebastian Mack had 10 points each. Nate Bittle had 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Ducks.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Purdue Boilermakers have hired UNLV coach Barry Odom as their next football coach. Athletic director Mike Bobinski made the announcement Sunday. The 48-year-old Odom replaces Ryan Walters, who was fired last week after compiling a 5-19 record in two seasons in West Lafayette, Indiana. Odom led the Rebels to two straight Mountain West Conference championship games, but they lost both times to Boise State. Odom was 19-8 in two seasons with UNLV and went 25-25 in his previous head coaching stint at Missouri from 2016-19.
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — Freshman Ryder Dodd scored twice, including the go-ahead goal in the closing seconds of the third quarter, to help No. 1 seed UCLA beat Southern California 11-8 at the Avery Aquatic Center to win its 13th men’s water polo national title. Five of those titles have come under coach Adam Wright, whose teams have beaten rival USC each time. The Bruins finished with a 26-2 record. Dodd’s second goal gave UCLA a one-goal lead with 49 seconds left in the third quarter. Jack Larsen scored a goal to make it 8-6 in the fourth and added another in the closing seconds. Robert Lopez Duart and Andrej Grgurevic each scored two goals for second-seeded USC (23-6). Dodd’s 102 goals this season set the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation’s single-season record.
SEATTLE (AP) — Lauren Betts had 23 point and top-ranked UCLA survived a late challenge with a 73-62 victory over Washington in the Big Ten opener for both teams. Kiki Rice added 18 for the undefeated Bruins, who led by as many as 17 in the third quarter. Elle Ladine led the Huskies with 19 points, going 3 for 5 from beyond the arc. Dalayah Daniels added 14 points.
