Sports

By DAVID BRANDT – AP Sports Writer SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Penn State coach James Franklin believes college football needs a commissioner and he even has a candidate in mind: former Alabama coach Nick Saban. “I think he’s the obvious choice, right?” Franklin said. Franklin — who joked that Saban wouldn’t be thrilled with his

By AP GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Alijah Martin scored 18 points, Will Richard added 17 and No. 6 Florida remained unbeaten with an 85-45 victory over Stetson on Sunday. Fellow guard Walter Clayton Jr. chipped in 12 points and seven assists as the Gators (13-0) extended their home winning streak to 15 and ended nonconference

By TOM WITHERS – AP Sports Writer CLEVELAND (AP) — The Miami Dolphins will try to keep their slim playoff hopes alive without starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. A hip injury is keeping Tagovailoa out of Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns (3-12). The Dolphins (7-8) have to win to stay alive in the AFC wild-card

By AP AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Tre Johnson returned to the Texas lineup and scored 18 points to lead the Longhorns to a 77-53 win over Northwestern State to close out their nonconference schedule on Sunday. Johnson, a freshman averaging better than 19 points per game, sat out the team’s win over Southern with a

By MITCH STACY – AP Sports Writer CINCINNATI (AP) — Saturday’s wild overtime win over the Denver Broncos was the most important in what has been a mostly disappointing season for the Cincinnati Bengals. Not only did the Bengals (8-8) win their fourth straight for the first time this season and keep their slim playoff

By AP COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Bruce Thornton scored a career-high 33 points, four teammates also scored in double figures, and Ohio State stormed past Indiana State in the second half of a 103-83 victory on Sunday. Thornton made 11 of 16 shots, 4 of 7 3-pointers, and 7 of 8 free throws for the

By JOHN MARSHALL – AP Sports Writer SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Ashton Jeanty’s athletic arc took him from the bowels of an Italian volcano to the Heisman Trophy stage in New York City. As the son of a Navy chief petty officer, Jeanty bounced around as a kid, spending his football-formative years at a base

By AP LEICESTER, England (AP) — Even after marking his 500th game in charge of Manchester City with a much-needed victory, Pep Guardiola insisted his team has “no chance” of winning a fifth straight Premier League title. Guardiola looked visibly relieved after City ended a five-game winless run in all competitions by beating Leicester 2-0

By AP TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Aaliyah Nye scored a career-high 30 points and matched her career-high with eight 3-pointers as No. 20 Alabama routed Jacksonville 93-46 on Sunday. Eris Lester added 14 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks off the bench for Alabama (13-1). Zaay Green scored 13 points and Sarah Ashlee

By ARNIE STAPLETON – AP Pro Football Writer ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Losses to the Chargers and Bengals with a playoff berth on the line show Sean Payton made a miscalculation when he agreed to flex the Denver Broncos’ Week 16 game to a Thursday night. The NFL needed the Broncos’ approval to replace the

By DAVID BRANDT – AP Sports Writer SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Even when Penn State quarterback Drew Allar gets some praise, it’s usually a backhanded compliment. They say he’s a good game manager and stays within himself, or that he doesn’t try to do too much. They mention he might not be flashy, but he

By DANIELLA MATAR – AP Sports Writer BORMIO, Italy (AP) — Fredrik Moeller of Norway claimed his first World Cup victory by winning a super-G that got off to an inauspicious start on Sunday as Gino Caviezel became the third skier this weekend to be airlifted off the slope set to be used for the

By DANIELLA MATAR – AP Sports Writer BORMIO, Italy (AP) — A men’s World Cup super-G got off to an inauspicious start on Sunday as the very first skier crashed dramatically on the slope set to be used for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Gino Caviezel became the third skier airlifted to hospital off the Stelvio

By JOSH DUBOW – AP Pro Football Writer SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Down 17 points to Detroit at the half of last season’s NFC title game, Brock Purdy helped engineer the comeback that sent the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl in one of the most memorable performances of a spectacular first full

By AP TURIN, Italy (AP) — Discriminatory chants aimed at Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic by visiting Fiorentina fans prompted a two-minute suspension during the first half of a Serie A match on Sunday. Vlahovic, a Serbia international who played for Fiorentina before transferring to Juventus three years ago, appeared to tell the referee about the

By TERESA M. WALKER – AP Sports Writer NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Missouri Tigers and Iowa Hawkeyes finally get to make up for a missed opportunity on Monday at the Music City Bowl. The teams originally were set to play each other here in 2020 when Missouri was hit hard by COVID-19 cases, canceling

By PAUL NEWBERRY – AP National Writer ATLANTA (AP) — As they prepare for Arizona State’s biggest game in nearly three decades, the guys who made it happen aren’t the least bit surprised to be rated a two-touchdown underdog in the College Football Playoff. That’s a familiar position for the Sun Devils. “We’ve been the

By The Associated Press Quotes from around the basketball world on LeBron James’ longevity as he turns 40 on Monday: “It’s always a blast. The competitive spirit, the history, his greatness, it allows me to just appreciate all that we’ve been through, all the battles back and forth and the fact that in 2024, we’re

By TIM REYNOLDS – AP Basketball Writer LeBron James turns 40 on Monday, and the Los Angeles Lakers star is about to join a small list of NBA players who have been in the league at that age. A look at some statistical milestones for players in their 40s in NBA history: Scoring 40 at

By The Associated Press Dec. 30 1956 — The New York Giants win the NFL title with a 47-7 rout of the Chicago Bears. 1962 — The Green Bay Packers beat the New York Giants 16-7 to win the NFL title for the second straight year. 1973 — The Minnesota Vikings beat the Dallas Cowboys

By AP SEMMERING, Austria (AP) — Zrinka Ljutic gave the Croatian women’s ski team its first World Cup victory in almost 19 years by triumphing in the final race of the calendar year on Sunday. With injured star Mikaela Shiffrin not racing, Ljutic dominated the fourth slalom of the season, posted the fastest times in

By AP UNDATED (AP) — Georgia quarterback Carson Beck has announced his plans to enter the NFL draft, five days after having season-ending elbow surgery. The fifth-year senior made his NFL plans official on social media. Beck suffered a right elbow injury in the first half of the Bulldogs’ 22-19 overtime win over Texas in

By AP SAN ANTONIO (AP) — On the scoreboard, Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders went out with a whimper at Colorado. But their lasting impact in Boulder — both on the field and off — was probably immeasurable. With two dynamic stars playing their final college game, the 20th-ranked Buffaloes were blown out 36-14 by

By AP INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Eric Dailey Jr. scored 18 points and No. 22 UCLA edged 14th-ranked Gonzaga 65-62 in the first college basketball game played at Intuit Dome, the new home of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers. Ryan Nembhard’s basket gave Gonzaga a 60-58 lead with 56 seconds left before the Bruins scored

By RICH DUBROFF – Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Jalen Brunson scored nine of his season-high 55 points in overtime and Karl-Anthony Towns had 30 points and 14 rebounds as the New York Knicks extended their season-long winning streak to seven games in a 136-132 win over the Washington Wizards on Saturday night. It was

By AP CENTURION, South Africa (AP) — South Africa tailenders Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen hung in against relentless fast bowler Mohammad Abbas for a tense two-wicket win in the first test on Sunday to seal the Proteas’ place in next year’s World Test Championship final. Jansen (16 not out) overshadowed Abbas’ brilliant figures of

By AP ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Rocco Becht scored from a yard out on fourth-and-goal with 56 seconds remaining and No. 18 Iowa State capped the best season in school history by rallying past No. 15 Miami 42-41 in the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Saturday. Becht finished with 270 yards passing and three touchdowns for Iowa

By AP WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka says she won’t “hang around” in tennis if her results fail to match her high expectations. The 27-year-old Japanese player will play her first match since she suffered a back injury in the China Open in October at the ASB tennis classic

By AP BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — On the eve of his return to the court, Novak Djokovic has weighed in on tennis’s high-profile doping cases and criticized what he perceives as double standards in the sport. The former world No. 1, who is chasing a record 25th Grand Slam title at next month’s Australian Open,

By DAN GREENSPAN – Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Based on what he saw in a 132-122 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night after what he described as a “crazy 24 hours” following the firing of Mike Brown, interim coach Doug Christie thinks the Sacramento Kings are capable of turning things