UNDATED (AP) — Lane Kiffin has left Ole Miss to become the head coach at LSU. This decision comes after Ole Miss's victory over Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl, which likely secured them a playoff spot. Kiffin expressed disappointment that he wasn't allowed to coach Ole Miss in the postseason. Ole Miss has promoted defensive coordinator Pete Golding to head coach. LSU's athletic director praised Kiffin as a top coach who can lead the team into the future. Kiffin's move adds to an already busy hiring cycle in college football, with several coaching changes happening recently.
UNDATED (AP) — Texas A&M is out of the top five in The Associated Press college football poll for the first time in two months. The Aggies slipped from No. 3 to No. 7 following their 10-point loss at Texas. Ohio State and Indiana remain the top two teams for the seventh straight poll and Georgia and Oregon each moved up a spot. Texas Tech is next and Mississippi, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Notre Dame and Alabama round out the top 10. There are two top-10 matchups in conference championship games. Those are Indiana-Ohio State in the Big Ten and Georgia-Alabama in the SEC.
UNDATED (AP) — The final regular season week of college football has set the stage for conference championships. Virginia clinched a spot in the ACC title game with a win over Virginia Tech. SMU's loss to Cal opened the door for Duke, who will face Virginia in Charlotte. Alabama secured its place in the SEC championship by defeating Auburn in the Iron Bowl. The Crimson Tide will meet Georgia in Atlanta. Ohio State maintained a perfect 12-0 season with a win over Michigan and will face Indiana in the Big Ten championship. Texas Tech and BYU will meet again in the Big 12 title game.
UNDATED (AP) — Oregon would receive a top-four seed and Texas A&M would play a first-round home game in the biggest changes to the College Football Playoff mock bracket based on the latest Associated Press Top 25. Texas A&M slipped from No. 3 to No. 7 in the poll. That allows Oregon to move up one spot to No. 4 and give the Big Ten three of the top four seeds. Ohio State would be No. 1, Indiana No. 2 and Georgia No. 3. Virginia would also fellow ACC team Miami from the bracket. The CFP committee will release its fourth rankings of the season Tuesday night.
LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Nik Bonitto batted away Marcus Mariota’s pass in overtime to deny Washington a winning 2-point conversion, and the Denver Broncos held on for their ninth straight victory, a 27-26 thriller over the Commanders. After Denver’s RJ Harvey ran for a touchdown on the first possession of overtime, Mariota drove the Commanders down the field and connected with Terry McLaurin for a TD on fourth-and-goal from the 3. Commanders coach Dan Quinn went for 2 and Mariota had an open receiver, but Bonitto leaped and knocked the ball down. The Broncos have eight victories in one-score games this season.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert will have surgery Monday to repair a broken bone in his non-throwing hand. Herbert is optimistic about his chances to play next week for the Chargers, who beat the Raiders 31-14 for their fourth victory in five games. Herbert played the final three quarters against Las Vegas with a hard cast on his left hand while exclusively taking shotgun snaps. Herbert wasn’t sure when his hand was broken, but it appeared to happen late in the Chargers’ opening drive when he was thrown to the ground by Raiders safety Jeremy Chinn.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers are hurting in more ways than one after a 26-7 loss to Buffalo. Rodgers sustained a bloody nose in the second half as Pittsburgh lost for the fifth time in seven games to drop to 6-6. Rodgers completed just 10 of 21 passes for 117 yards while playing with a brace on his broken left wrist. Pittsburgh's offense managed just 166 yards. The defense struggled to get off the field while allowing the Bills to pile up 249 yards rushing. Pittsburgh remains tied with Baltimore atop the AFC North, but the Steelers know they must improve if they want to win the division.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Bryce Young completed 15 of 20 passes for 206 yards and three touchdowns — two of them coming on fourth down — and the Carolina Panthers forced three turnovers by Matthew Stafford to beat Los Angeles 31-28 on Sunday and snap the Rams' six-game winning streak. Carolina’s defense intercepted Stafford twice with Mike Jackson returning one for a 48-yard touchdown and ended the 37-year-old’s NFL record of 28 straight TD passes without an interception. Derrick Brown, who tipped a ball resulting in one of Stafford’s first pick, came up with a key strip-sack with 2:25 left in the game to preserve the win. Stafford completed 18 of 28 passes for 243 yards with two touchdown passes to Davante Adams, his 13th and 14th of the season.
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — JT Toppin scored 27 points and had nine rebounds as No. 20 Texas Tech outlasted Wyoming 76-72. The win Sunday extended the Red Raiders’ non-conference home winning streak to 44 games. LeJuan Watts added 19 points and Christian Anderson 15 for the 6-2 Red Raiders. Leland Walker had 28 points and was the only player scoring in double figures for 6-2 Wyoming. The Cowboys lost 96-49 in Lubbock early last season, but this meeting included eight ties and seven lead changes. The Red Raiders haven’t lost a non-conference home game since an overtime loss to No. 15 Kentucky in January 2020.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Chance Moore had 11 points and eight rebounds, Amir Jenkins scored 10 points, and West Virginia beat Mercyhurst 70-38. Treysen Eaglestaff had nine points and eight rebounds and Brenen Lorient scored all his nine points in the first half for West Virginia (6-2). Mercyhurst’s 38 points were the fewest allowed by the Mountaineers since Coppin State also scored 38 on Dec. 20, 2017. WVU scored the first 10 points in a 16-2 opening run and never trailed. The Lakers scored 13 of the next 15 points — which included 3-pointers 35 seconds apart by Bernie Blunt — to trim their deficit to three points a little more than nine minutes into the game but got no closer.
WACO, Texas (AP) — Taliah Scott scored 17 points and No. 15 Baylor held Grambling to 10 points in the first half before cruising to a 76-35 victory. Scott made just 3 of 11 shots from the floor, including 2 of 7 from 3-point range, but she nailed all nine of her free throws for Baylor (7-1), which attempted only 11 foul shots in the game. Darianna Littlepage-Buggs totaled 10 points and 16 rebounds for her third double-double of the season for the Bears. Zaria Johnson scored 14 on 5-for-17 shooting to top Grambling (1-7), which falls to 0-6 on the road.
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Audi Crooks scored a career-high 47 points and No. 10 Iowa State pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat Indiana 106-95 for the Blue Heron Division Championship on Sunday. She made 19 of her 25 field goal attempts as she combined a feathery touch with spin moves and a step-back jumpers. She outdueled Indiana’s Shay Ciezki, who had 38 points. The Cyclones outscored Indiana 31-27 in the fourth quarter. Jada Williams backed Crooks’ effort with 23 points while Addy Brown added 17 along with 10 rebounds.
SUNDAY SCORES
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Final Carolina 31 L.A. Rams 28
Final Houston 20 Indianapolis 16
Final Jacksonville 25 Tennessee 3
Final Miami 21 New Orleans 17
Final N-Y Jets 27 Atlanta 24
Final San Francisco 26 Cleveland 8
Final Tampa Bay 20 Arizona 17
Final Seattle 26 Minnesota 0
Final Buffalo 26 Pittsburgh 7
Final L.A. Chargers 31 Las Vegas 14
Final OT Denver 27 Washington 26
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Final (20)Texas Tech 76 Wyoming 72
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Houston 129 Utah 101
Final New York 116 Toronto 94
Final Boston 117 Cleveland 115
Final Oklahoma City 123 Portland 115
Final 2OT Atlanta 142 Philadelphia 134
Final Minnesota 125 San Antonio 112
Final Memphis 115 Sacramento 107
Final L.A. Lakers 133 New Orleans 121
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final Washington 4 N-Y Islanders 1
Final Chicago 5 Anaheim 3
Final OT Carolina 1 Calgary 0
Final Dallas 6 Ottawa 1