The running game will be front-and-center when third-seeded Boise State meets sixth-seeded Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal game.

SMU's Kevin Jennings is the only quarterback starting for his hometown team in the 12-team College Football Playoff.

The College Football Playoff gets started this week with four games on college campuses.

Texas winning the national championship next month would be bad news for BetMGM Sportsbook.

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.

Undefeated Oregon pulled off the expected and grabbed the top spot in the College Football Playoff.

Athletic directors at Iowa State and SMU are in a turf war over the latest College Football Playoff rankings, leading to a “stay off my lawn” moment on social media.

Miami’s playoff hopes took a nosedive while Alabama’s got a boost in the last rankings before the College Football Playoff bracket is set next weekend.

The Southeastern Conference’s losses were almost everyone else’s gain in the College Football Playoff rankings, with SMU nudging its way into the top 12 and Indiana staying in the mix at No. 10 despite a lopsided loss of its own.

The American Athletic Conference has been in contact with Army as it looks for a replacement for Atlantic Coast Conference-bound SMU, according to two people with direct knowledge of the discussions.

The Atlantic Coast Conference has voted to add Stanford, California and SMU next year.

New Mexico State has suspended operations of its men’s basketball program placed its coaching staff on paid administrative leave due to allegations unrelated to a fatal shooting last year.

John Rhys Plumlee threw for 316 yards and two touchdowns, both coming in the second half to Ryan O’Keefe, and UCF scored 31 unanswered points to beat SMU 41-19 in a game postponed because of tropical weather.

A UCF football game previously rescheduled for Sunday has been moved to next week in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.

Cincinnati has moved into position to make the College Football Playoff, climbing a spot to fourth behind Georgia, Ohio State and Alabama.

Michigan State has moved up to No. 5 in The Associated Press college football poll and Wake Forest is a top-10 team for the first time in school history.

(Sarah Stier/Pool Photo via AP)The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:___The list of players in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol dropped to a season-low three, despite the additions of Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby and Nashville’s Ryan Johansen. San Jose’s Tomas Hertl is the only other player on the list after entering his seventh day in the protocol. ___Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby will miss Tuesday night’s game against Philadelphia after being placed on the COVID-19 protocol list. The news comes a day after the NHL had a season-low four players in the COVID-19 protocol. AdTuesday night’s game will be the first game with fans in attendance at PPG Paints Arena since last March.

Now, their rivalry game for the Old Oaken Bucket has been canceled for the second time in two weeks — and the third time this season. Athletic directors Scott Dolson and Mike Bobinski said Friday's game had been scrapped because of continuing concerns over COVID-19. “As we stated last week, we know the history and tradition of this great rivalry game and how much it means to our current students, alumni and fans," they said Tuesday. "Both universities worked extremely hard in an effort to play, but at this time it just isn’t possible.”The final month of the season, including bowl games, is likely to be affected by the pandemic, just as the regular season was. The Hoosiers haven't won a bowl game since 1991 and Allen believes that would be a good way to wrap up a historic season.

17 Ohio State women’s basketball team canceled Saturday’s game against Iowa because of a spike in positive COVID-19 tests in the Buckeyes program. The status of Ohio’s State road game against Maryland on Dec. 23 is still to be determined. ___Saint Louis and North Carolina State have agreed to meet Thursday in St. Louis as part of a two-game men’s basketball series. The Beach didn’t open its season until Dec. 4 and six of its seven games scheduled this month are road games. USC postponed its Pac-12 opener at home against Stanford over the weekend when it first reported the positive COVID-19 test.

California doesn’t have the minimum number of scholarship players available for the game as a result of the positive test and the need for other players to isolate under contact tracing protocols, the Pac-12 said in a statement Thursday. Wilcox had said Wednesday night that the game was in jeopardy because of the large number of players needing contact tracing. The school said the player with a positive test is asymptomatic. This marked the first positive test on Cal’s football team since practices began last month. This is the fourth time a Tulsa game has been postponed or canceled because of COVID cases.