The average final score over the first week of the College Football Playoffs: Winners 36, Losers 17.

Will Howard threw two touchdown passes to freshman Jeremiah Smith and Ohio State routed Tennessee 42-17 on Saturday night in a first-round College Football Playoff game, setting up a New Year’s Day rematch with No. 1 Oregon at the Rose Bowl.

Jaydon Blue ran for 146 yards and two touchdowns, the last a 77-yard burst in the fourth quarter, and Texas beat Clemson 38-24 on Saturday in the first round of the expanded College Football Playoff.

Jeremiyah Love tied the Notre Dame record with a 98-yard touchdown run, Riley Leonard added two more scores and the Fighting Irish shut down the highest-scoring team in the College Football Playoff, overwhelming Indiana 27-17 on Friday night.

UNLV is reaching into the Southeastern Conference to keep momentum going for its 24th-ranked football team by hiring former Florida and Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen on Thursday.

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 executive director of the new 12-team College Football Playoff suggested that while wins and the age-old “eye test” will play a role in determining who makes the bracket, strength of schedule also will be a major factor in the selection committee’s deliberations.

The College Football Playoff expands to from four to 12 teams this season, a massive change that will profoundly impact the sport and how success is defined.

TNT Sports will begin airing College Football Playoff games this upcoming season through a sublicense with ESPN.

The College Football Playoff snub of unbeaten Florida State is still a fresh wound for the entire Atlantic Coast Conference.

With the expanded College Football Playoff locked in through 2031, questions still remain about what the rest of the postseason will look like.

Former University of Texas defensive lineman T’Vondre Sweat was arrested for driving while intoxicated on Sunday, according to ESPN.

The College Football Playoff and ESPN have announced a deal that will give the network exclusive rights to the expanded postseason through the 2031 season.

The nine Bowl Subdivision conferences and Notre Dame have reached an agreement on a six-year deal to continue the College Football Playoff through the 2031 season.

College Football Playoff officials are considering a 14-team model that would guarantee multiple automatic bids for each of the four power conferences, starting in 2026.

There are already discussions about possibly expanding the College Football Playoff again.

The field for the 12-team College Football Playoff will comprise five conference champions and seven at-large selections after the university presidents who oversee the CFP voted unanimously to tweak the format.

Two people with knowledge of the agreement say ESPN and the College Football Playoff have agreed to a six-year deal worth $1.3 billion annually that will allow the network to keep exclusive rights to the 12-team playoff through the 2031 season.

Texas will give football coach Steve Sarkisian a four-year contract extension through 2030.

Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr.’s wizardry in the Sugar Bowl got the Huskies into Monday’s College Football Playoff championship game.

Michigan quarterback J.

ESPN has apologized for a video clip of a woman baring her breast that was shown during the broadcast of the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

The curtain will close on the Pac-12’s final season as a Power Five football conference on the biggest stage in the sport.

Jalen Milroe helped rally Alabama with his legs and put the fourth-ranked Crimson Tide on the verge of its seventh appearance in the College Football Playoff championship game.

3 key takeaways from the state’s football scene -- and a glimpse at what’s to come next week.

One of these three teams will not make the College Football Playoff: Alabama, Florida State and Texas.

Georgia coach Kirby Smart challenged the College Football Playoff selection committee to believe what that see when judging his No. 1 Bulldogs following the end of their 29-game winning streak.

The four-team College Football Playoff is going out with the most crowded field of contenders and the most consequential championship weekend in the 10-year history of the system.

Bo Nix threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, securing No. 6 Oregon a spot in the Pac-12 championship game with a 31-7 victory over No. 15 Oregon State in the final scheduled matchup between the in-state rivals.

College Football Playoff managers will meet this week at the Big Ten offices outside Chicago.

The College Football Playoff released a schedule for the 12-team format that will be used in the 2024 and 2025 seasons, which will feature New Year’s Day quarterfinal tripleheaders but no games played on Saturday.

Kirby Smart didn't really want to discuss his Georgia Bulldogs' chances for a three-peat on the morning after they won their second straight College Football Playoff championship game.

Only months after Georgia defensive linemen and Ohio State wide receivers combined to fill five first-round slots in the NFL draft, those positions again boast top talent for the teams preparing to meet in the College Football Playoff Peach Bowl semifinal.

Three key takeaways from the state’s football scene this past weekend -- and a glimpse at what’s to come next week.

The College Football Playoff will include 12 teams, starting with the 2024 season.

The College Football Playoff says it will expand to a 12-team event starting in 2024.

Rose Bowl game organizers have cleared the way for the College Football Playoff to expand to 12 teams starting in the 2024 season.

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TCU coach Sonny Dykes has a simple response for anyone who questions if the fourth-ranked Horned Frogs really deserve to be in the playoff discussion.

The conference commissioners who manage the College Football Playoff have met for almost seven hours to work on expanding the postseason system from four to 12 teams as soon as the 2024 season.

The College Football Playoff management committee gathered for 4 1/2 hours at a hotel in the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport.

The College Football Playoff that determines the national champion is expanding from four teams to 12.

The university presidents who oversee the College Football Playoff are scheduled to meet Friday to discuss expanding the four-team format.

Atlanta and South Florida have been selected to host College Football Playoff national championship games for the second time.

The university leaders who oversee the College Football Playoff want the next format for determining a champion settled by this time next year.

Alabama coach Nick Saban called out Texas A&M, saying the school was “buying” players with name, image and likeness deals.

College football and men’s basketball players on scholarship in one of the major conferences can expect to soon earn a minimum of $50,000 each year he plays because of the influx of cash from booster collectives brokering name, image and likeness deals.

The commissioners of the Southeastern Conference and the Pac-12 are scheduled to meet with lawmakers in Washington They will lobby for federal legislation to regulate name, image and likeness compensation to athletes.

Nielsen is being acquired for $16 billion, including debt, about a week after the media measurement company rejected a $9 billion offer.

The National College Players Association says NCAA Division I schools are violating the civil rights of Black basketball and major college football players by prohibiting compensation.

The College Football Playoff is set to stick with a four-team format through the 2025 season.

Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner Jim Phillips says now is not the time for College Football Playoff expansion.

Georgia is No. 1 in The Associated Press college football poll, earning their second national title by beating Alabama.

Alabama had plenty of chances in the College Football Playoff championship Monday — but rarely turned those opportunities into touchdowns.

With Jameson Williams and John Metchie III sidelined by injuries, Bryce Young had his Heisman Trophy-winning season effectively ended by a last-minute pick six in the College Football Playoff championship game.

Georgia won its long-awaited national championship the way it dominated during an undefeated regular season — by relying on its defense.

The Holiday Bowl has become the fifth postseason college football game to be canceled.

The biggest game week in Cincinnati history has arrived.

If a team is unavailable to play in College Football Playoff semifinals because of COVID-19 issues, the game will be forfeited and the available team will advance to the championship game.

Cincinnati is the first outsider to make the College Football Playoff and Alabama is the standard bearer.

Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby says expanding the College Football Playoff as soon as the 2024 season is "in some jeopardy" if an agreement on a new format cannot be reached soon.

American Athletic Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco says he will oppose a College Football Playoff expansion model gives automatic access only to Power Five conference champions.

Running back Sincere McCormick ran for 169 yards and a touchdown, quarterback Frank Harris accounted for four total scores, and No. 16 UTSA dominated UTEP on the road to improve to 9-0 on the season.

UTSA head football coach Jeff Traylor trolled the College Football Playoff committee and committee chair Gary Barta after the unbeaten Roadrunners were left out of the initial playoff rankings and Barta referred to the Roadrunners as “USTA.”

Attending a major sporting event can be overwhelming: You might have to fly or embark on a road trip just to get there, depending on the location of course, and consider your accommodations and where you’ll stay, eat and how you’ll get around.

The college sports leaders who run the College Football Playoff have about four months to come to an agreement on a new format if expansion is to be implemented for the 2024 season.

The preseason AP Top 25 college football is out and Alabama will pick up where it left off as No. 1 in the country.

Alabama is No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 preseason college football poll for fourth time in the past six seasons.

Big 12 coaches say they like the proposal to expand the College Football Playoff to 12 teams.

Home games or bowl games.

The 11 university presidents and chancellors who oversee the College Football Playoff have authorized the continued evaluation of a proposed 12-team playoff.

Officials in charge of the College Football Playoff have opened two days of meetings in suburban Chicago.

There is a plan in place to expand the College Football Playoff from four teams to 12.

A new College Football Playoff with triple the number of teams involved could bring in three times as much money to the conferences and schools that share the wealth.

The College Football Playoff is considering an expansion from four to 12 teams.

A big two has emerged within the Power Five.

Patrick Surtain II and Mac Jones had the spotlight at Alabama's Pro Day, Tuesday, March 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)DeVonta Smith was there for quarterback Mac Jones once again, this time it was at Alabama's latest pro day. “He didn't have to do that,” Jones told the SEC Network, which aired the pro day. '”Jones showcased his arm strength a week after participating in the Crimson Tide's first pro day. “Mac was just on me like, ‘Bro, come catch, come catch, come catch,’” Smith told the network.

There is no timetable in place for the next release of a college football game, the company said. “We’ve heard from the millions of passionate fans requesting the return of college football video games,” EA Sports executive vice president and general manage Cam Weber said in a statement. “We love the energy, tradition and pageantry of college football and I am beyond thrilled to say we are back in development." The NCAA Football video game did not identify players by name, but the game simulated teams and players as they played in real life. The video game was part of a broad legal challenge and a judge ruled the NCAA had been inappropriately using the names, images and likenesses of college athletes.

Dr. Scott Harris, the head of the Alabama Department of Public Health, said he expected more cases of COVID-19 to result from the street party. “It’s disappointing to see people not paying attention to the guidance that we try to give to keep them safe. Students and workers also are required to complete online training about reducing the risk of spreading the illness. More than 5,500 people have died in Alabama from the illness caused by the coronavirus, and about 408,000 have tested positive. People lined up to get into the bars an hour before kickoff despite the warnings, The Tuscaloosa News reported.

(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Alabama finished the season No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for the 12th time, extending its record by completing the program’s first perfect season since 2009. With 12 AP titles overall — Paul “Bear” Bryant was coach for five and Gene Stallings for one — Alabama has four more than Notre Dame, in second place with eight. The Big 12 finished with a perfect record in five bowl games. ___Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at https://westwoodonepodcasts.com/pods/ap-top-25-college-football-podcast/___More AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25___This story has been updated to correct the number of national titles for Alabama to 12, not.

From start to finish, the specter of COVID-19 loomed large over the 2020 college football season and the national championship game was no exception. The game, played in the Miami Dolphins’ stadium, drew the sort of turnout typically found in the fourth quarter of an NFL preseason game. But the challenges college football faced in navigating the pandemic were unique. The Pac-12 and Big Ten postponed their seasons before reversing course, and Ohio State played only eight games. It was a made-for-TV season that ends with an asterisk, and college football now looks toward the 2021 season, which is a big question mark.

Ohio State is back for the first time since winning the inaugural title in the CFP era. After the SEC champion Crimson Tide rolled past Notre Dame 31-14 in a Rose Bowl played deep in the heart of Texas, the No. 3 Buckeyes of the Big Ten beat Clemson 49-28 in the other CFP semifinal at the Sugar Bowl on Friday night. The Tigers were trying, like Alabama, to get to the title game for the fifth time in the seven seasons of the four-team playoff. Alabama was the top seed in the first four-team playoff, but Ohio State beat the Tide 42-35 in the semifinal Sugar Bowl.

Alabama punt returner DeVonta Smith (6) returns a punt for a touchdown against Arkansas during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Dec. 12, 2020, in Fayetteville, Ark. (AP Photo/Michael Woods)Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson and Ohio State will enter championship weekend in position to make the College Football Playoff with very little drama. Ohio State (5-0) is fourth going into the Big Ten title game against Northwestern, and Texas A&M is on deck at No. The unbeaten Bearcats host Tulsa, which is 23rd, in the American Athletic Conference title game. "We continue to work with the College Football Playoff and local health officials to provide the safest possible environment at our game.”___More AP college football: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and http:www.twitter.com/AP_Top25

Ohio State (4-0) had to cancel its game at Illinois last week because of a spike in COVID-19 cases in the program. HERBSTREIT APOLOGYESPN's Kirk Herbstreit caused a commotion with some of his analysis regarding Ohio State, Michigan and teams using COVID-19 as an excuse to not play. The Wolverines (2-4) are scheduled to host Maryland this week and play at Ohio State on Dec. 12. “I still think Michigan waves the white flag, potentially avoids playing Ohio State next week,” Herbstreit said. the former Ohio State quarterback said.

POLL POINTSWhen it comes to winning games against ranked teams, Alabama coach Nick Saban is the best ever. Even before beating Georgia, Saban held the record for most victories against AP top-five teams (now 25) and top-10 teams (now 42). The average number of games played in a college football season is also longer now than ever before. The conference has had three of its teams ranked at one point or another. 23 North Carolina State is ranked for the first time since 2018.

The conference commissioners who manage the College Football Playoff decided to stick with a four-team format during this pandemic-altered season after the Pac-12 made a request to consider expansion. Conferences are not playing the same number of games, are starting play at different times and there are no interconference matchups between Power Five leagues. Hancock added any decision on expansion would need the approval of the CFP’s presidential oversight committee after a recommendation by commissioners. The Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference and Big 12 are already up and running among the Power Five leagues. AAC Commissioner Mike Aresco is the one member of the management committee who has publicly suggested playoff expansion in the past.

The College Football Playoff unveiled a revised schedule Monday for its weekly rankings, with the first set pushed back two weeks to Nov. 17 and the final list now on tap for Dec. 20. Hancock said the CFP selection committee still plans to rank its top 25 teams each week, but nothing isnt open for tweaking if necessary. The six conferences have announced their intention to play, so the committee just established its meeting scheduled to be prepared, Hancock said. This is another way we're planning for a College Football Playoff to happen with a championship in Miami.The Atlantic Coast Conference, Big 12, Southeastern Conference, American Athletic Conference, Conference USA and Sun Belt are move toward playing in the fall. The playoff management committee, which consists of the 10 FBS conference commissioners and Notre Dame's athletic director, met last week, Hancock said.

FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2020, file photo, LSU wide receiver Justin Jefferson (2) is tackled by Clemson during the first half of an NCAA College Football Playoff national championship game in New Orleans. The NCAA's latest guidance for playing college sports during the COVID-19 pandemic recommends testing players once a week within 72 hours of competition. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)The NCAA football oversight committee is asking the associations Board of Governors to avoid making a decision later this week on whether to conduct fall championships as college sports tries to find a path to play through the pandemic. The board could decide to call off NCAA championship events in fall sports such as soccer, womens volleyball and lower-division football. The NCAA has no authority to postpone or cancel specific seasons, a decision that would be up to individual schools or their conferences.