Bruins

There are many reasons for Bruins fans to be disenchanted from the 2024-25 season.

David Pastrnak just isn’t considered one of them.

The deputy captain of Boston has been very effective for the reason that starting of 2025, and despite his slow start within the season, he stays as much as 100 points for the third time in a row.

Pastrnak scored first for the Bruins on Saturday evening, scored a reasonably goal for the outlier and quickly prolonged his skilled point series to 17 games. He has a big charge for Boston and for the reason that starting of the calendar 12 months 2025 Pastrnak leads the NHL in destinations and points.

Pastrnak took two points on Saturday and picked up an assist to make his lamp easier.

Despite these efforts, Boston is firmly on the skin of the Playoff bubble, which helped regulate the regulation on Saturday, however the Bruins are still two points from the ultimate Eastern Conference Wildcard Spot and have fewer games than the opposite teams within the Playoff picture.

Nevertheless, Pastrnak just isn’t able to sow the situation in a self -pity by which Boston is situated. He quickly released the concept that the bruins can exhale just a little after they’ve caught their losing strips.

“No, we will play the game for game. We finally got a victory [but] We have to group new to tomorrow, ”said Pastrnak. “We will fight to the end. We won't give up here, and we know that we are standing and how close the view is.

“We can definitely survive and I think we have to accept and enjoy it to have fun with these games. They make sense each of them. I personally love that. “

The Bruins have a difficult technique to position themselves for the playoffs. But Pastrnak continues to fireside on all cylinders, helps Boston's hopes to achieve the Stanley Cup playoffs under unlikely circumstances.

The Bruins will play the second half of their back leader on Sunday and take the Minnesota wildly at 3:30 p.m.

Boys: Riordan is top dog

Nobody surprised Archbishop Riordan the highest seeds of the section within the open division. The Crusaders not only won every West Catholic athletic League game, but additionally in a historical way. Riordan scored an ideal 14: 0 and defeated the opponents of the league on average 38 points. Riordan's dominance surely brought her into the conversation as probably the greatest highschool school teams from the Bay Area. The San Francisco School is stacked at every position. Texas A & M Commit Jasir Rencher, Riordan, and the four-star junior point guard Andrew Hilman and the high-flying shooter, Ryder Bush, leads. Big men Nes Emeneke and JP Pihtovs are in the center at each ends. Santa Cruz broadcasts Kirby Seals and Senior striker John Tofi a powerful scale and central defense for the crusaders. Riordan might be accustomed to this 12 months's Open Division Bracket. Six of the eight teams within the division got here from the WCAL. At this point, the query just isn’t whether Riordan will win the Open Division or not, but how much?

– Nathan Canilao

Boys: What happens in the opposite departments

The top public schools of South Bay are in your complete bracket of the Division I. The top seed pale Alto leads the Division I Group, followed by Los Gatos No. 2 and No. 4 Mountain View. Under the direction of Senior Jorell Clark, Palo Alto became the regular season 20-4 and took second place within the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League de Anza Division. No. 5 Leigh, No. 6, Santa Teresa and No. 7 Homestead, have explosive crimes that might perform a surprise within the later rounds. … Christopher comes into the playoffs of Division II as top seeds after the 22: 2 degree. When the seeds hold on, the Cougars will compete in the ultimate against the league and No. 2 Westmont. Christopher had two competition games against the Warriors this season. … Division IV has the potential to be probably the most exciting playoff clip out of the pile. The King's Academy (20-4) was awarded the highest seed after winning the West Bay Athletic League. The knights are led by Freshman Sensation Boss Mhoon, who achieves Big Man Claxton Ladine and Shifty Guard Xavier Barnett. No. 4 Sacred Heart Prep, No. 3 Half Moon Bay and No. 2 Carmel have the potential to attain a run for the title of Division IV.

Boys

Menlo Atheron (18-6) and Milpitas (21-3) were the one public schools that made the Open Division. Ma won the Division of Peninsula Athletic League Bay and had a formidable victory over Valley Christian, who can be outdoors. Milpitas surprised many after winning the Scval de Anza Division. The Trojans are led by Isaac Sisay and Junior Guard Dylan Nguyen. … Although St. Francis only won seven games, he was awarded number 4 in Division II. The Lancers fought this 12 months and can have a tough table in the event that they should go to the semi -finals. When seeds hold, the Mountain View School plays the primary -class Christopher. … Top seed priority might be the favourite that wins the V-Klamt division. The Panthers ended the regular 18-6 season, which the King's Academy and the Menlo School won. Small Summit Shasta can be a division V. The Daly City School had a terrific 12 months and ended the regular season 21: 3.

Girls Open Division: Can Pinewood Throw down?

The Archbishop Mitty Monarchs, who corresponds to her nickname, used years within the Central Coast section about basketball within the central coast. Usually the drama is restricted and speculative movements, against which teams Mitty will end within the CIF Norcal clip or the state championship.

That has modified this 12 months. Without a superstar junior striker McKenna Woliczko, who suffered a torn ACL in January and is traveling for the season, the monarchs are more susceptible than usual.

Could Pinewood get the throne and us see? The program based in Los Altos Hills was excellent through the years, but had difficulty keeping pace with Mitys.

The deep stock of the monarchs of fantastic players kept them competitive, but without Woliczko they are usually not the identical team. Pinewood with 20-3 almost tells the identical record as Mitty (21-3).

The Panthers based in Los Altos Hills defeated Mitty for the CCS title in spring 2021 and ended a run of 5 consecutive section titles for the monarchs. Could the story repeat in 2025?

– Christian Babcock

Open department: Pool game explained

The CCS Open Division just isn’t a one-and-done proposal for boys or girls' basketball.

CCS, which lifted the proposal from the southern section of the CIF, initiated the pool game within the open bracket in 2022. The premise is logical enough: Each team routinely makes the CIF -Norcal clip, so that each one at the very least three games are guaranteed to follow the regional tournament within the CIF norcal.

In practice, nevertheless, it’s a wierd setup. The eight open division teams are divided into two four-team pods-pool A and pool B.

The winner of each pod that was determined by round-robin game meets the open championship game. But what if two or more teams are sure in the identical pool?

It gets really complicated here. The first tiebreaker is easy-to-head-to-head result.

If this doesn’t settle, the team with the bottom combined seeds from the games they won is out of the pool.

This puts plenty of pressure on the best seeds (No. 1 and a couple of), for the reason that teams that they’re faced with of their POD are and lower.

The excellent news? These things often regulate themselves-the teams are the best seeds usually a cut above.

And when you don't? All open teams will receive one other shot within the Norcal Play, which follows a regular clip setup.

– Christian Babcock

Girl

No. 1 Los Gatos (16-8) is prepared for a deep run within the I-Tournament division. The wildcats were an open division team in 2024 and might have been again this 12 months. Instead, you have got a superb shot to trace a CCS title. The Wildcats are headed by the Senior Center Nicole Steiner, who began the primary triple double in class history originally of this 12 months. Senior Ashley Childers offers one other strong presence on the front square. … the open department is all private schools. Six of eight hails from the West Catholic Athletic League, while Pinewood and Priory come from West Bay Athletic League. The teams of the Bay Area teams prove the highest seed in all six CCS clips. (14-8) In Division IV and No. 1 Castilleja (18-3) in Division V. … the women' basketball campaign will proceed to be accomplished next week. All brackets start playing on Friday. Everyone except the open game on Saturday and all six divisions will hold games next Tuesday and Thursday. All six CCS division tournaments will culminate within the championships on March 1 at Santa Clara University.

– Christian Babcock

Bruins

COMMENT

If the 2024-25 NHL regular season ended today, the Boston Bruins could be within the playoffs.

As of Sunday evening, Boston currently occupies the primary wild card spot within the Eastern Conference – Saturday's 3-1 win over the Avalanche moved the Bruins to 5-1-1 of their last seven games.

But despite this recent resurgence, Joe Sacco's side have little room for error because of months of mediocre play.

Even with their current playoff positionMoneyPuck won Boston with only a 38.9 percent likelihood to play postseason hockey on Causeway Street in April.

A crowded playoff field within the Eastern Conference – coupled with the indisputable fact that a lot of these teams have already got multiple games against Boston – means the Bruins are operating on shaky ground.

Even after an encouraging 6-2 win over the Lightning on Jan. 14, Boston's inconsistent performance amid a discouraging playoff matchup led Cam Neely to comprehend that a franchise once set for a deep run is perhaps waiting for trades “Two paths” to think about Deadline – Accepting a reality during which Boston chooses to retool for playoff hockey in 2025 somewhat than to arm yourself.

It was an acceptance of the situation the Bruins have found themselves in over the primary 4 months of the season — and a challenge to a locker room that would look very different in just a few weeks as Boston's playoff hopes fade.

It was a message that defender Nikita Zadorov heard loud and clear.

“We were desperate,” Zadorov said of Boston’s mentality Saturday against Colorado. “We know that our desperation level must be higher than other teams because of our position in the table. There are plenty of teams in the East pushing for a playoff spot.

“We also understand the message from management. We have 12,13 games to play until March 7th [trade deadline]? And we still have six games left [4 Nations Face-Off] break? I think we have to position ourselves well in the overall standings to get the green light.”

Even if Boston stabilizes its play and more starters either return from injury or start squandering opportunities, the Bruins have put themselves able where each of their remaining 31 games would require tough execution and lots of looks on the league lead.

It's a departure from recent seasons, during which the Bruins comfortably earned a spot in the highest three of the Atlantic Division because of some strong starts.

But it's also an prolonged wave of adversity that — while largely self-inflicted — may gain advantage a Bruins team that has heard loads of rumors a couple of possible rebuild in the approaching months.

“There is a belief in this room that knows no bounds,” Jeremy Swayman — who now has a .918 save percentage in his last 10 games — said of his teammates. “No matter what we have been through, I know that we have always believed in each other and know that each of us can achieve something at different times.

“In every game, even when it didn’t go our way, the boys improved and really developed their game in the right direction. I think that’s a huge testament to our group and what kind of people we have here that don’t let the adversity of results dictate how we play and how we approach the game every day.”

While Boston appears to have bounced back from an unsightly six-game loss earlier this month, this roster – at the least as currently constructed – doesn't encourage much confidence for an extended playoff run.

The Bruins rank twenty fifth within the NHL in goals per game (2.73) and twentieth within the NHL in goals allowed per game (3.10). Brutal special teams play has further hampered Boston, with the Bruins rating thirty first within the NHL on the facility play (13.4 percent) and twenty fifth on the penalty kill (76.0 percent).

As of Sunday evening, the Bruins are one in all only two teams currently within the playoffs with a negative goal difference.

The Calgary Flames are clinging to the ultimate wildcard spot within the Western Conference with a goal difference of -8. The Bruins? An ugly goal difference of -20 – tied for the third-worst performance in all the Eastern Conference.

Even with the returns of Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm from injury – coupled with the strong play of Swayman and David Pastrnak (22 points in his last 12 games) – the Bruins have several holes of their depth chart that must be addressed.

The odds aren't exactly favorable to the Bruins' playoff hopes straight away.

But contrary to Neely's threatening comments, Zadorov and his teammates pay no attention with regards to their slim playoff possibilities.

“I mean, you have to face reality every now and then, right? You can't put it in your back pocket all the time and say, 'Oh, let's just focus on day by day,'” Zadorov said of playing with pressure every night. “I mean, you still look at the big picture. I don't plan on missing the playoffs. That's why I'm here.

“I’m here to play in the playoffs. I want to see Boston Garden full of life. I think that's definitely an extra motivation for us. I mean, you guys are doing a good job of writing us off, so I think that's additional motivation for this group as well. Because we have many characters. We have a lot of people who want to compete and play on the big stages. I think that’s our attitude every day.”

Baltimore Ravens Strick End Mark Andrews took to Instagram on Thursday and broke his silence after several errors within the fourth quarter-a loss Sunday.

“It is impossible to adequately express how I feel. “I am absolutely disappointed in what happened on Sunday,” Andrews wrote. “I’m devastated for my teammates, my coaches and Ravens fans. I pour every ounce when playing at the very best level because I really like my team and the sport of football like nothing else. That's why it's taken me until now to collect my thoughts and address this publicly. “

In the times following Baltimore's season-ending loss, a GofundMe fundraiseroriginally organized by Bills fan Nicholas Howard, has raised over $100,000 in greater than 3,000 donations to a charity near Andrews' heart. Breakthrough T1D. Founded in 1970, the nonprofit organization focuses on global type 1 diabetes research and advocacy for those affected like Andrews.

“Despite the negativity, I have seen warm love and encouragement, including from those who have donated generously to the groundbreaking T1D organization,” Andrews wrote Thursday. “Even when the moment seems dark, perspective can show that there continues to be much light on this world. I’ll now do my part to leap back and contribute. “

Mark Andrews on IG: pic.twitter.com/ptoanmx2nf

-Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) January 23, 2025

What's next for Andrews?

This Andrews didn’t speak to reporters after Sunday's game and was absent from the veteran tight end's locker room on Monday. He has long been one in all the Ravens' most accessible and accountable players. He was awarded the Ravens Media Goodwill award earlier in his profession for his cooperation with the media.

Obviously, his comments on his Instagram account won't make it a non-story. Whenever Andrews next faces the media, his fourth-quarter fumble and the drop of a possible two-point conversion pass in a two-point loss to the Bills develop into outstanding storylines. However, it wouldn't be hard for the Ravens and Andrews to maneuver forward from this bitter loss without the tight end addressing him in some capability.

This has already develop into an interesting offseason for Andrews. He is value $56 million in the ultimate 12 months of a four-year contract. His salary cap rises to $16.9 million in 2025. Both were entering the ultimate 12 months of their contracts.

General manager Eric DeCosta acknowledged that the team can have some tough decisions on the tight end position going forward.

Required reading

The road to the Super Bowl leads through Kansas City. After defeating the Houston Texans, the Chiefs will play within the AFC Championship Game for the seventh consecutive 12 months. They are actually just two wins away from the best achievement of the Super Bowl era: a three-peat. Standing of their way are the Buffalo Bills, who defeated the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night and now have the possibility to dethrone the reigning two-time champions.

In the NFC, the Commanders shocked the world by defeating the Detroit Lions on Saturday night and can look to repeat the feat next weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles, who beat the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.

Jeff Howe breaks down the conference championship game matchups before the NFL projection model created by Austin Mock reveals each remaining team's probabilities of winning the Super Bowl.

AFC

No. 1 Kansas City Chiefs (15-2, 1-0 Playoffs) vs. No. 2 Buffalo Bills (13-4, 2-0 Playoffs)

The AFC's powers show no signs of slowing this season because the Chiefs and Bills meet on the AFC Championship Game stage for the second time in 4 years.

The Bills concluded Sunday night's showdown with an exciting 27-25 win over the Baltimore Ravens. Quarterback Josh Allen got the higher of fellow MVP Lamar Jackson because the Bills star went 16 of twenty-two for 127 yards and added a pair of rushing scores to assist stave off Baltimore's comeback efforts.

The Chiefs were a little bit shaky of their postseason debut, but they defeated the Texans by a decisive 23-14 margin despite the visitors outnumbering them in yards, time of possession, first downs and third down conversions. That's because defense (eight sacks, 14 QB hits) and special teams still carry plenty of weight, and the Chiefs are essentially the most balanced team on the sector.

As previously mentioned, the Chiefs are aiming to change into the primary team in history to win three straight Super Bowls. Since coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes joined forces, they’ve hoisted the Lombardi Trophy thrice.

It hasn't been an explosive season for Mahomes, who has more games with fewer than 200 passing yards (five) than with over 300 yards (three), including the divisional round. But he hasn't made any mistakes, scoring 13 touchdowns (one rushing) since his last interception two months ago.

Mahomes has also scored 15 touchdowns with just two interceptions in six AFC Championship games (each losses to the Cincinnati Bengals). In fact, the Chiefs haven't lost a single turnover of their last eight games. That will probably be a key point against the Bills, who had three takeaways against the Ravens on Sunday and have forced multiple turnovers in 11 of 19 games this season.

Mahomes didn't get much help. Its offensive tackles were poor – at the very least when left guard Joe Thuney wasn't doubling as left tackle – and its talented players kept coming into the lineup with injuries.

But he still has Travis Kelce, who just ripped off the ninth 100-yard game of his playoff profession. The 35-year-old future Pro Football Hall of Famer's performance dipped significantly in the course of the regular season, but Kelce is as nimble as ever within the playoffs. He had at the very least 70 yards rushing in 14 consecutive postseason games – a median of 99.1 yards per outing over that stretch. He also led the league in scoring touchdowns in 4 of the last five postseasons.

And yet the trendy NFL dynasty will face one query all week: Can they stop Allen?

Allen accomplished 63.6 percent of his passes for 3,731 yards, 28 touchdowns and a career-low six interceptions in the course of the regular season, and he added 531 rushing yards and a dozen scores.

Allen was 27 of 40 for 262 yards, one touchdown and one interception because the Bills defeated the Chiefs 30-21 in Week 11. He added 55 rushing yards, including a 26-yard touchdown on an important fourth-and-2. That was the Chiefs' only loss this season with Mahomes because the starter, and it can have been the performance that launched Allen's MVP campaign.

The Chiefs are 6-3 within the AFC Championship in the course of the Super Bowl era, including 4-2 against Mahomes, while the Bills are 4-3. The Chiefs are 4-2 against the Bills within the playoffs, including three straight wins during the last 4 years.

• Chiefs possibilities to win the Super Bowl: 30.5%
• Bills' possibilities to win the Super Bowl: 25.9%

NFC

No. 2 Philadelphia Eagles (14-3, 2-0 Playoffs) vs. No. 6 Washington Commanders (12-5, 2-0 Playoffs)

The NFC North held the crown all season, however the NFC East is within the hunt for the ring.

The Eagles and Commanders meet within the NFC Championship Game after splitting within the regular season. The Commanders earned a 36-33 home win of their last meeting in Week 16. The Eagles needed a fourth-quarter comeback to beat the Commanders 26-18 in Week 11, so each games were close.

The Eagles might want an asterisk for his or her loss since quarterback Jalen Hurts left early with a concussion, but their 33 points were the sixth-highest performance of the season behind a powerful performance from Kenny Pickett. The way more vital story was that the Eagles couldn't win despite a 5-2 advantage within the turnover battle.

So what happens if the Eagles can't find enough takeaways within the third? Perhaps this can be a moot point as that they had a slim 1-0 lead of their earlier win. It's rare that ball losses didn't make the difference in either final result.

Still, commanders is not going to need to test this theory any further. The Eagles have forced 30 turnovers of their last 13 games, including a pair of forced fumbles in an important stretch of the second half once they beat the Los Angeles Rams 28-22 within the divisional round.

Daniels had the Commanders' offense playing at an elite level of their two road playoff wins. They scored on 11 of 16 possessions, excluding half-ending sequences, and fumbled only once. They turned it over thrice on downs — a risk-reward formula that proved to be a net positive — but there have been no interceptions or lost fumbles. They even have a missed field goal.

Daniels' leadership in all situations was remarkable. While the rookie has a clutch gene that has turn out to be useful on their game-winning drives this season, Daniels did a powerful job Saturday night in keeping the pressure on the top-seeded Lions and leading the Commanders to steer in 4 of their five The following possessions resulted in a Detroit rating. The exception was a missed field goal, so Daniels kept the ball moving always because the Lions tried to make a run.

Daniels could have to be great to steer the Commanders to their first Super Bowl in 33 years, and there are indications he’ll rise to the challenge. During the seven-game winning streak, he passed for 1,522 yards, 17 touchdowns and 4 interceptions and added 422 yards and a rating on the bottom. However, three of Daniels' nine interceptions this season got here against the Eagles.

Since getting back from a concussion, Hurts and the Eagles' passing attack has been fleeting. In the 2 playoff wins, he had 259 passing yards and two touchdowns, although he had 106 yards and a rating as a rusher. As a result, wide receivers AJ Brown (three catches for twenty-four yards) and DeVonta Smith (eight catches for 76 yards) didn't make much of an impact.

But fear not, since the Eagles still have running back Saquon Barkley. The league's top offseason signing posted 324 rushing yards and two touchdowns in two playoff games as he hasn't slowed down since his torrid regular season.

These teams have a postseason meeting, with Washington playing their wild card match on January 5, 1991. The Commanders are 90-86-6 within the all-time series.

The Commanders are 5-1 in conference championships in the course of the Super Bowl era, while the Eagles are 4-4.

• Eagles' possibilities to win the Super Bowl: 33.8%
• Commanders' possibilities to win the Super Bowl: 9.8%

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Two Boise States were on the sector on New Year's Eve.

One was a conference champion having a dream season. A team that got to the College Football Playoff on the back of star running back Ashton Jeanty, and once more a storied program at the highest of the Group of 5 conferences.

The other Boise State was an inferior G5 squad that made a valiant but futile attempt against a greater and more talented Penn State squad.

Both versions coexisted in No. 3 Boise State's 31-14 loss to No. 6 Penn State within the playoff quarterfinals on the Fiesta Bowl on Tuesday night. The first deserves to be celebrated. The latter gave Big Ten runner-up Penn State a seemingly easier path to the semifinals than Big Ten champion and No. 1 seed Oregon or SEC champion and No. 2 seed Georgia, and can further fuel the narrative that an imperfectly expanded playoff is required Adjust the seeding format as quickly as possible.

For Broncos fans and people who wish to root for Cinderella, a disappointing and frustrating performance won't take away from the magical run. No, Jeanty didn't break Barry Sanders' single-season rushing record, coming in at 27 yards shy of his lowest rushing performance of the season. No, the game's biggest underdog couldn't pull off one other upset within the Fiesta Bowl, on the identical field that hosted this system's decisive victories. But 2024 will go down as one of the memorable seasons in Boise State football history.

“I am so proud of this team. “It didn’t go our way tonight, but they restored the standard in Boise and are a light on the mound for the country that had been lost for a while,” said head coach Spencer Danielson. “This is a legacy that can never be taken away from them.”

For the opposite CFP teams not on the sector Tuesday, or for faculty football fans basically — an admittedly difficult group to please — the matchup highlighted a vital flaw in a system that was speculated to reward conference champions, but before The realignment turned the Power 5 right into a top-heavy Power 4.

The flaw on this playoff formula, during which byes went to the 4 top-seeded conference champions, was apparent long before the teams were distributed on Selection Sunday via ESPN, including ninth-seeded Boise State, which advanced to No. 3 courtesy of 1 Mountain West Championship. A bracket emerged during which No. 1 Oregon faces sixth-seeded Ohio State, seeded eighth, and No. 2 Georgia faces fifth-seeded Notre Dame, seeded seventh, on New Year's Day.

Those who understand the format have been warning about these unintended consequences for months. But seeing is believing, and Penn State illustrated that reality within the Fiesta Bowl as a fourth-seeded but No. 6 seed against the ninth-seeded but No. 3 seed Broncos. In a multibillion-dollar tournament years within the making, it was easy negligence (or perhaps stubbornness?) that allowed a higher-ranked but lower-seeded team to complete as an 11.5-point player in a neutral site, the quarterfinals of the national championship , draft favorite – a game the Nittany Lions ultimately won by 17.

“Obviously tonight we didn't perform the way we needed to to win a heavyweight fight that we knew was going to happen,” Danielson said.

Boise State was not a charity case. It outgained Penn State by 412 yards to 387, and plenty of of its problems — including 13 penalties for 90 yards — were self-inflicted. But a Broncos team that suffered just eight turnovers all season committed 4 turnovers Tuesday and benefited from an opponent that played with its food for nearly three quarters. Penn State led wire-to-wire, and although the lead was briefly cut to 17-14 early within the second half, the Nittany Lions were on top of things all the time.

“I think the Big Ten prepared our guys,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “Boise is a really good football team. …We didn’t take them lightly. We talk about the maturity of our football team – I think it shows.”

The loss isn’t an indictment of Boise State or its previous 12-win season. And this isn’t the identical debate as those arguing about Indiana and SMU getting major contracts. There's no good argument that the Broncos don't deserve a playoff spot and a probability to compete for a national title.

This team was an example of the larger approach that this sport has desperately needed for many years. The same praise and criticism that brought Boise also applies to No. 4 seed Arizona State of the Big 12, which finished twelfth in the ultimate CFP rankings and can play third-seeded and No. 1 on the Peach Bow on Wednesday fifth seed Texas Texas will compete. But the Broncos had their first shot at proving the doubters flawed by confirming their “Please Count Us Out” T-shirts. Instead, they made it even harder to justify a system that made Nos. 5 and 6 — and losing a conference championship — seem more advantageous than the highest two spots.

Boise State has nothing to apologize for. Offensive coordinator Dirk Kötter admitted last week that the playoff seeding system will likely be modified, perhaps as early as next season. But it's not just like the Broncos orchestrated or exploited the system.

“We didn’t make those (bye) rules,” Koetter said. “I’m smart enough to realize that we may not be the third best team, but we definitely deserve to be there.”

Danielson echoed that sentiment after Tuesday's game, just because the clock struck midnight on the East Coast and ushered within the New Year. College football in 2025 can be higher suited if it has expanded playoffs that widen the trail to competing for a national title. Boise State earned its way on this season, similar to SMU and Penn State and Georgia and each other team in the sector. That shouldn't change in the long run either.

Even though Boise State – at the identical time and on the identical field – was also the rationale why, the subsequent time the Broncos get there, the trail will definitely look a bit of different.

In 1993, an 11-1 Notre Dame team finished second within the poll, behind a 12-1 Florida State team that had defeated the Fighting Irish within the regular season. Notre Dame fans were indignant that they were denied a national championship since the sport refused to place its champion on the sector. The school's athletic director, Dick Rosenthal, didn’t share her standpoint.

“(Notre Dame's) position was to reject the playoffs because we don't believe in extending the season,” he said. “It is a threat to the student-athlete’s academic success.”

Guess which school will host the first-ever College Football Playoff home game 31 years later?

Notre Dame hosts Indiana on Friday night in the primary game of the primary 12 months of a 12-team postseason tournament. It's nothing in need of a miracle that there are 4 FBS playoff games on college campuses this weekend, considering that coaches, athletic directors, university presidents, conference commissioners and, in fact, bowl managers have been warning us for many years about all of the dire consequences That day will ever come.

“If our team were fortunate enough to qualify, there would be a very serious academic conflict,” Tennessee athletic director Bob Woodruff wrote a 1971 NCAA News editorial. “In order to play more than one football game during the holiday period from mid-December to January 1, special (testing) schedules would be required.”

It only took 53 years, but Tennessee will need to have figured something out. The Vols play a first-round playoff game at Ohio State on Saturday. If they win, they may play again on January 1st in Pasadena, California.

College football's infinite debate over conducting NFL-style playoffs dates back to at the least the Nineteen Sixties, when several distinguished coaches began advocating for such a system. One of the primary was Penn State University's Joe Paterno, who didn't live to see the Nittany Lions host SMU on Saturday in a first-round game with temperatures expected to be within the low 70s and possibly snow.

Their voices remained within the minority amongst college athletic leaders for many years. It took until 1998 for an official national championship game to be held at considered one of the 4 bowl sites, after which until 2014 to carry a four-team playoff. Anything beyond that was a bridge too far.

“I have to tell you, I really don't think there's going to be an NFL-style playoff in college football anytime soon,” then-BCS coordinator Kevin Weiberg said in 2005. He was right.

Academics were considered one of the most important excuses (ahem, concerns) expressed by university presidents and others. Not to say the undeniable fact that basketball players have been commuting across the country for 3 weeks during March Madness or that the College World Series is well beyond graduation. Football players would definitely fail in the event that they needed to play an additional game within the finals week.

“They’re going to rip a playoff system from my cold, dead hands,” then-Ohio State president Gordon Gee said in 2007. Gee, now West Virginia’s president, continues to be very much alive.

Another major concern was that a bigger playoff would smash college football's exciting regular season. In a 2008 interview, Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese referenced Pitt's season-ending upset of West Virginia the previous season, which had knocked the Mountaineers completely out of contention for the national championship.

“If there had been a playoff, who would have seen this game?” he said. “It wouldn’t mean anything. West Virginia would already be in the playoffs.”

On the ultimate day of this regular season, 16.6 million people watched an SEC championship game between two teams, Georgia and Texas, each of which were safely within the playoffs.

When it involves hosting December games on campus, generations of leaders whose schools might get the chance to host the most important home game of their history found countless reasons to say “no thanks.”

For example, in 2019, then-Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich said of potential home playoff games: “Have you ever tried to get a hotel (on short notice) in Clemson, SC, or Blacksburg, Virginia?”

Well, problem solved: Clemson is playing its first-round game in Austin, Texas, where there are 50,000 hotel rooms. (Plus, CFP's travel agency secured hotel blocks near all of its most important competitors months ago.)

And oh yes, the cold weather. No cold weather please. It doesn't matter that lower-tier schools in Montana and Minnesota have long played outdoor postseason games.

“There needs to be some accounting of stadiums that need to be winterized in the months of December and January, etc.,” Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said in 2021.

No have to panic. Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft said the newly renovated Beaver Stadium could be ready to be used this weekend.

“The heat is rolling,” he said. “Everything will be fine.”

The root reason behind all these excuses (ahem, concerns) was the game's undying loyalty to its bowl game-hosting friends. Generations of coaches, player managers and spectators enjoyed holiday visits to Pasadena, California, New Orleans and Miami and dared not betray the people of those communities. Who unequivocally warned of the existential threat of a playoff.

“Basically,” Liberty Bowl general manager William McElroy Jr. said in 1984, “I think it would put the bowls out of business.”

When McElroy said this, there have been 18 bowl games. Today there are 41. Six of them will host playoff games starting December thirty first.

So what has modified? Why, after six many years of struggle, have commissioners and their universities' presidents finally agreed to an event during which Notre Dame, Penn State, Ohio State and Texas will host playoff games within the cold and snowy December? Why are they now okay with Indiana, SMU, Clemson and Tennessee athletes spending the last week of their semester practicing for a road game? Or since the 4 losing schools miss a bowl trip?

If money had been the one motive, they’d have done this an extended time ago – like within the Nineteen Nineties, when a Swiss marketing firm offered to host a 16-team playoff that might pay schools $300 million a 12 months, in keeping with the BCS corresponds on the time. (That company, ISL, went out of business shortly thereafter amid a mountain of debt.)

The easy answer may be that college football has evolved. Drastic. Freshmen who were ineligible became a few of their teams' biggest stars. Recruitment letters gave option to Instagram DMs. The I formation and belly dive gave option to shotguns and RPOs.

And little by little, as time went on – albeit on the speed of a 350-pound offensive lineman – increasingly more executives became receptive to the concept it would just be possible to carry a much bigger playoff without destroying every little thing, what’s sacred to us.

In this column, you've heard from a wide selection of playoff doomsayers. Here we pay tribute to the late Washington Post columnist William Barry Furlong, who in 1974 predicted the mindset that might ultimately prevail, even when it took one other 50 years.

“If college football claims to be a part of Americana,” he wrote, “it must acknowledge something of the American spirit.” There are deeper currents within the American people than rah-rah and pennant-waving. Because deep within the American psyche is the necessity to finish things properly, to have an end to things and at the identical time have a starting. The playoffs would reflect the spirit of the American people.”

On Friday evening, nearly 78,000 Americans will flock to Notre Dame Stadium for the beginning of this historic event, which can conclude properly exactly a month later in Atlanta.

We assume that the wait until this moment was price it.

The athlete

It's been hanging over the 49ers for months.

Call it a hangover, a disappointment or karmic retribution, but twelve weeks into the season they couldn't shake it.

In fact, things are getting worse.

The Niners have exposed some weaknesses during this lost season, but none of their disappointing performances compare to Sunday's 38-10 loss to the Packers in Green Bay.

Is the Niners' season technically over at 5-6? NO.

But spiritually it's over.

It might be over before it begins: The 2020 vibe that this team has exuded for the reason that Super Bowl loss in February is unmistakable.

Well, they’re undeniable. The Niners are only repeating unfavorable history immediately.

When San Francisco got here out of halftime tied at 4-4, the team had one rule for the second half: Don't lose two games in a row.

If you try this, your fate will fall out of your hands. And fate was never going to be on the Niners' side this season.

Well, the Niners lost their second game in a row on Sunday. It took three weeks for them to offer the death knell to a cursed campaign.

And, my goodness, Sunday's loss was a humiliation from start (a near-fight before the sport) to complete (Deebo Samuel refusing to talk to the media afterward).

Do we’d like to go over what happened between these points?

Yes, the 49ers took the sector at Lambeau Field without their three most vital players – quarterback Brock Purdy (shoulder), defensive end Nick Bosa (oblique, hip) and left tackle Trent Williams – but San Francisco continued to play the identical way flawed football that has marred this season.

Green Bay didn't even play particularly well on Sunday. Packers quarterback Jordan Love – hoping for touchdowns from deep moderately than controlling the ball with a lead – played around and gave the Niners a handful of opportunities to make Sunday's contest a competitive game.

The 49ers stubbornly refused to make the most. This team insists on making things difficult for themselves.

And in a game where a Niners win would have been an in depth call, they placed on a self-sabotaging performance for the ages, not only failing to simply accept the Packers' well-wrapped presents firstly of the vacation season, but missing out on top of that Tackled at a record-breaking rate, committed nine penalties – including three on special teams – and turned the ball over 3 times.

Yes, that's the performance the Niners delivered when all it took was a flawless game (and even that probably wouldn't have been enough to win).

Midway through the second quarter on Sunday, with the Niners already down 10-0 and stuck deep in their very own territory, there was a moment when the San Francisco defense took two consecutive penalties with 12 players on the court.

Yes, the Niners were so disorganized that they were assessed a 12-man penalty that negated an interception ultimately zone. Then, after a protracted pause, they huddled together and got here out again with too many men.

Let this senselessness sink in for a moment.

This is a shady football team, folks.

And the Niners have had to enhance on that level of failure in recent months. Playoffs? Super Bowl? Get real. Sunday's performance is what they’ve been working towards all season. The loss to the Packers was their showcase event.

So don't take heed to anyone who says there's a greater type of football on this team. Ignore the concept if this team “just gets healthy,” it is going to finally seem like a top quality operation.

It's a lost yr – a byproduct of this war of attrition they call skilled football. It stinks, but it might probably't be completely unexpected.

And I do know what happens next. However, you’ll have deleted it out of your memory. I don’t blame you – it happened in 2020, in spite of everything.

Aside from the incontrovertible fact that there isn’t any global pandemic, the present circumstances for the Niners are shockingly much like those of 2020. The battered and struggling Niners went in with a 5-6 record and the misguided belief that every thing can be effective in the event that they were on this one could get back to .500 this season.

They got smoked – Allen reworked them – and the Niners admitted defeat and limped to the season's finish line.

Can you guess who the 5-6 Niners will play next in Week 13?

Let me put it this manner: It's not Brandon Allen.

It has been claimed that history doesn’t repeat itself but does rhyme.

This could just as easily be a homonym.

So let's learn the lesson from the past:

In a season marked by declining performances and lower expectations, let's skip the part where we pretend there's something left for the Niners.

August's malaise has was November's agony, and things only worsen in December.

So if the Niners have any luck this season, it is going to be for his or her draft position in April.

Originally published: November 24, 2024 at 6:35 pm PST

Alabama's 42-13 blitzkrieg against LSU coupled with Ole Miss' 28-10 win over Georgia has caused quite a stir within the SEC. At least eight different teams could still reach the SEC Championship Game.

For the needs of this exercise, I'm assuming the Dawgs will beat Tennessee and Texas will win at Texas A&M next week. Based on my colleague Seth Emerson's calculations, this could likely result in a Texas-Alabama matchup in Atlanta, and I just like the Tide in that game.

Meanwhile, at this rate, a minimum of one SEC team will finish 10-2 and miss the playoffs. My guess is Tennessee, where there would only be one top-25 win (against Alabama) and possibly only three wins against teams with a record of .500 or higher. Unless, after all, the Vols beat an 11-1 Indiana team without winning the Top 25.

Elsewhere, Oregon did absolutely nothing flawed, but I'll be rooting for Ohio State again after they meet in a Big Ten Championship Game rematch. Penn State has a disappointing record, but given the committee had them ranked No. 6 last week, an 11-1 Nittany Lions team would likely be seeded ahead of 11-2 Texas and 10-2 Georgia.

Finally, Colorado is my recent projected Big 12 champion. The buffs are rolling. It pains me to depart 9-0 BYU out entirely, however the Cougars' luck will run out sooner or later, possibly at Arizona State in a number of weeks. A ten-2 Ole Miss team with lopsided wins over Georgia and a possible 9-3 South Carolina team earn my final overall spot.