New 7-year deal for Malzahn
Gus Malzahn is staying at Auburn, putting an end to the questions about his future. The Tigers football coach has agreed to a new seven-year deal to remain at the school after a strong lateseason rebound, said a person with knowledge of the situation.
Complete financial details were not immediately available but the person said Malzahn will make more than $7 million in the final year of the contract. The person spoke with The Associated Press Sunday on condition of anonymity because Auburn had not announced the new deal.
Malzahn led the seventhranked Tigers into the Southeastern Conference championship game but had faced repeated questions about whether he was interested in the vacant Arkansas job in his home state.
The coach received a oneyear extension but no raise after last season. He was making about $4.725 million annually in a deal running through 2020.
The Big 12 will have quite a bowl bonanza, led by Oklahoma going to the Rose Bowl as part of the College Football Playoff. The smallest of the 10 Division I conferences will have the highest percentage of bowl teams.
Eight of the Big 12’s 10 teams — or 80 percent — will be going to a bowl game. Only Kansas and Baylor, both 1-11, failed to qualify. The league that can get the closest to that is the Pac-12, with nine of its 12 teams — or 75 percent — reaching the six wins needed for bowl eligibility. Kelly Bryant ran for a touchdown, threw for another and passed for 252 yards to help top-ranked Clemson claim its spot atop the College Football Playoff poll with a 38-3 victory over Miami in the ACC Championship Game in Charlotte. Against the Hurricanes, Bryant set a championshipgame record by completing his first 15 passes . ... Six days after undergoing surgery on his right knee, quarterback J.T. Barrett started the game, threw two touchdown passes, ran for another and led Ohio State to a 27-21 victory over previously unbeaten Wisconsin for the Buckeyes' first Big Ten title since their 2014 national championship run . ... Brett Rypien threw for 246 yards and engineered a 90-yard scoring drive late in the fourth quarter to help Boise State upend No. 25 Fresno State 17-14 to win the Mountain West Conference championship.