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By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, Nick Saban knew his seventh national title would not come on this night. He stalked the Alabama sideline as he always does, barking into his headset and at anyone within earshot. There was nothing he could do. The greatest coach in college football history watched his team get outplayed, out-lucked — and, yes, outcoached. "I just had a feeling that I didn't do a very good job," Saban said. "I never really ever got comfortable with what we needed to do to win this game."

The throw left Trevor Lawrence’s hand at the Clemson 12-yard line in the first quarter of the College Football Playoff title game on Monday night. It landed in receiver Tee Higgins’ hands on the Alabama 45-yard line, the first dazzling completion for Lawrence on a night defined by them. But it wasn’t just the pass to Higgins that left jaws agape, NFL front offices drooling and the Alabama defense backfield shredded. It was the way the ball left his hand – as if it were shot out of a laser gun, whistling 43 yards with barely any arc and somehow...

CLEMSON, S.C. -- The most significant plate of eggs and bacon in the recent history of Clemson football was eaten a day after the Tigers' route of Georgia Tech on Sept. 22, at Sunnyside Cafe, just down the road from campus, and was shared between the veteran leader of the defense and the young kid about to take over the offense. Trevor Lawrence had just ascended to the throne after months of speculation about the future of Clemson's quarterback job. Christian Wilkins had been the unquestioned voice of the locker room for years, and the defensive tackle wanted to offer...

Clemson's Christian Wilkins will end his fourth and final season with the Tigers the same way he has ended each of the prior three: with a showdown against Alabama, and for the third time it comes in the College Football Playoff National Championship presented by AT&T (Monday, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN App). "I guess the only comparison is the Rocky movies," he said. "I know after three it's a trilogy. But what's four?" It's a good question, though it's doubtful Nick Saban and Dabo Swinney have spent much time researching it. The on-field questions, however, deserve plenty of attention. Sure,...

Alabama's offense has scored more points than ever for a myriad of reasons. Tua Tagovailoa had the best statistical season for a Crimson Tide quarterback, thanks in part to the best set of skill-position players the program has ever collected. But perhaps the biggest reason is Nick Saban's willingness to get more aggressive passing the ball. "We may have to score more points to win this season than we have in the past," Saban told ESPN's Chris Lowe before the season. As Alabama prepares to face Clemson on Monday to determine this season's national championship, Saban's inkling has proven to...

The Cincinnati Bengals are looking for a new head coach for the first time in 16 years. At one of his final news conferences, now-former head coach Marvin Lewis endorsed just one man as his replacement: former Cleveland Browns head coach Hue Jackson, who joined the Bengals staff after the Browns fired him in October. Jackson racked up a 3-36-1 record over three seasons, but Lewis had nothing but positive things to say about his old friend Hue. On the heels of Lewis’ glowing endorsement comes this news from NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport: Hue Jackson may be interviewed by the Bengals...

Tom Brady bet on himself this season and lost big. As part of a series of team-friendly deals the three-time MVP has taken from the Patriots, Brady had $5 million in performance bonuses built into his contract for 2018, and he will receive exactly none of that money. Brady was in line to receive $1 million for finishing in the top five in the league in each of passer rating, completion percentage, yards per attempt, touchdown passes and passing yards, according to contract data from Spotrac.com. He failed to accomplish any of those.

<p>INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Tyler Trent, a former Purdue University student and enthusiastic college football fan who inspired many with his battle against cancer, has died. He was 20.</p> <p>His family confirmed to The Indianapolis Star that he died Tuesday.</p> <p>Trent had wanted to be a sportswriter and was determined to attend Purdue despite suffering three bouts with a rare bone cancer.</p>

Tensions are always high at the highly anticipated Sugar Bowl football game and this year even the college mascots joined the fight. The University of Texas mascot Bevo XV the bull was meant to pose for pictures with opponent Uga X the bulldog from the University of Georgia on Sunday at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. But the feisty 1,600-pound bull quickly got heated and charged towards the tiny bulldog on the field, throwing photographers out of the way.

Stop us if you’ve heard this before, the Alabama Crimson Tide and Clemson Tigers are meeting in the College Football Playoff. For the 4th straight season, the two powerhouse programs will meet in the playoffs – third time in the CFP Finals. Alabama has a 2-1 edge and is 1-1 in the championship game. They defeated Clemson for the title in 2015, before the Tigers returned the favor the following year. This time around, Alabama (13-0) is favored against Clemson (13-0) at Levi’s Stadium on Monday (January 7, 2019, 20:00ET). The spread opened at -6.0 points for the Crimson Tide....

... Four black coaches were fired Sunday or Monday, including the Jets’ Todd Bowles, who was let go shortly after his team’s final loss Sunday. The Jets had a 14-34 record in the last three seasons under Bowles. Marvin Lewis, who had been at the helm of the Cincinnati Bengals since 2003, was fired Monday. Though he had resurrected the moribund Bengals and took them to the playoffs multiple times, he never won a playoff game and this season was Cincinnati’s third consecutive one with a losing record. Also fired Monday was Denver Broncos Coach Vance Joseph, who had presided...

Gabrielle McMillen Omnisport @GabbyMcMillen Updated at 9:50 a.m. ET Patrick Mahomes made history Sunday when he became the second NFL player to ever throw for 50 touchdowns and 5,000 passing yards in a single season. The only other player to have 50 touchdowns and more than 5,000 passing yards in a year is Peyton Manning, who did so at age 37 in 2013.

The Broncos relieved head coach Vance Joseph of his duties on Monday after two seasons on the job, and three seasons removed from the franchise’s third Super Bowl victory. After losing Sunday to the Chargers, Joseph leaves Denver with an 11–21 record, having been unable to revive an offense that set franchise records for passing with Peyton Manning in 2014 but has seen four different quarterbacks play meaningful snaps since his retirement a year later. Joseph endured criticism for being at times too aggressive in playcalling and down management, and not being aggressive enough, with his doubters reaching a crescendo...

Quarterbacks get too much credit, and too much blame. The beauty of football is it’s a team game, but too often we can’t see past quarterbacks. Yet, there’s a reason the quarterback gets paid more than everyone else and we pay attention to their every move. That’s why it will be a long offseason for Kirk Cousins.

Far above the field at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday night, the last truly legendary Alabama quarterback rooted vociferously for the next one. Joe Namath, who for generations has been the standard for Tide quarterbacks, watched Tua Tagovailoa surgically pick apart the Oklahoma defense with his mouth agape. “He was raving about Tua’s ability,” Crimson Tide athletic director Greg Byrne told Yahoo Sports, “to throw the ball and manage the game.” We are about 51 weeks into the full Tua Tagovailoa experience, a run so surreal that nothing is surprising anymore. He’s bookended a calendar year that began with an...

Rex Ryan chuckled as he spoke, but the former NFL coach was far from kidding. I asked him during a recent interview, “How difficult is it to change a losing culture?” And, as always, Ryan’s response didn’t disappoint. “Well, I did it in about 15 minutes with the Jets. And that’s the truth,” the ESPN analyst said nonchalantly, as we continued chatting about his friend and former assistant, Anthony Lynn.

In Saturday’s first 17 minutes of game time, Alabama reeled off 28 straight points to knock down Oklahoma before anyone at the Orange Bowl had a chance to buy a second beer. That early lead proved to be the cushion Alabama needed to coast to an easy, if not entirely calm, victory in Miami. The final score flatters the Sooners a bit, since the Crimson Tide ended up winning by only 11 points, with a final score of 45-34. The early barrage was a prime example of what Alabama does to pretty much anyone not named Georgia or Clemson; they...

Alabama and Clemson will meet in the CFP National Championship for the third time in the past four years, and the Crimson Tide are again the favorites. Alabama has been installed as a six-point favorite over Clemson in the championship game on Jan. 7 (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET) in Santa Clara, California.

Alabama and Clemson will meet in the CFP National Championship for the third time in the last four years -- and the Crimson Tide are once again the favorites. Alabama has been installed as a six-point favorite over Clemson for in the championship game on Jan. 7 (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET) in Santa Clara, California. Alabama handled Oklahoma and will face Clemson again for the College Football Playoff championship. College football's top two programs will once again meet to decide the national championship next Monday after No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Clemson both easily dispatched with their semifinal opponents...

The Alabama Crimson Tide are oddsmakers' prohibitive favorites to win the 2018 College Football Playoff ahead of Saturday's semifinal games. Updated betting lines showed the Tide followed by the Clemson Tigers, Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Oklahoma Sooners: Alabama enters the playoff undefeated after a thrilling come-from-behind victory over the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship Game (see highlights linked below) ). The Tide scored 21 unanswered points over the game's final 19 minutes to overcome a 28-14 deficit and capture their 27th SEC title. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa will return to lead the Alabama offense after he left the clash...