Bielema to coach Illinois football
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Bret Bielema, who led Wisconsin football to three conference championships before a disappointing run at Arkansas, is replacing the fired Lovie Smith at Illinois.
A native of western Illinois, Bielema went 68-24 with Wisconsin from 2006 to 2012, and 29-34 at Arkansas before he was fired in November 2017.
He has spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach in the NFL, first with the Patriots and then as outside linebackers coach/senior assistant with the New York Giants.
NFL: The New Orleans Saints placed receiver Michael Thomas on injured reserve on Saturday. Thomas, the 2019 AP Offensive Player of the Year, has been bothered by an ankle injury since Week 1 of the season and already had been ruled out on Friday for Sunday’s game against the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs. It will be the seventh time this season Thomas had been scratched from the lineup. ... Quarterback Brandon Allen (knee) is out for the Monday night game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Cincinnati Bengals said Saturday. Ryan Finley is expected to start in his place of Allen, 0-3 as a starter since rookie Joe Burrow suffered a season-ending injury.
Skiing: Defending overall World Cup champion Aleksander
Aamodt Kilde won the Saslong downhill on Saturday in Val Gardena, Italy, his second win in two days. After winning Friday’s super-g, the Norwegian finished the downhill 0.22 seconds ahead of Ryan Cochran-siegle. ... Olympic champion Sofia Goggia won a World Cup downhill in Val d’isere, France, for her first victory in the discipline since winning in St. Moritz, Switzerland, in February 2019.
Yachting: The 2020 Sydney to Hobart race — scheduled for Dec. 26-31 — has been canceled for the first time in 76 yards, following a recent surge in coronavirus cases on Sydney’s northern beaches.