Army replaces Tennessee in bowl

Army went from left out of the bowls to replacing Tennessee in the Liberty Bowl on Monday night, hours after the Volunteers withdrew because of COVID-19 test results.

The 9-2 Black Knights were left without a bowl Sunday night after a nearly two-month-long commitment to the Independence Bowl when the Dec. 26 game in Louisiana was called off without an available team to play.

A spot became available Monday when Tennessee became the first team to back out since bowl berths were announced and paused all football activities after receiving the results of Sunday’s testing.

Army will face West Virginia, the other original team in the game scheduled for Dec. 31 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Third-year coach Jeremy Pruitt is among those who tested positive. Pruitt said he was informed earlier Monday that he had tested positive and began isolating at home.

Camerun Peoples ran for a bowl-record 319 yards and tied a record with five rushing TDs as Appalachian State beat North Texas 56-28 in the Myrtle Beach Bowl to start the pandemic-affected bowl season. Peoples, a sophomore, surpassed the 307 yards rushing of Georgia Tech’s PJ Daniels in the 2004 Humanitarian Bowl. Peoples also became the seventh player to run for that many scores in a bowl game. The Mountaineers (9-3) remained perfect in bowls since joining the Sun Belt Conference in 2014. North Texas (4-6) of Conference USA fell behind 28-7 and had no answer for Peoples or the App State rushing game, which finished with 508 yards.

College basketball:

Memphis coach Penny Hardaway agreed to a five-year contract extension through the 2025-26 season. The extension is worth $12.25 million over the five years. Hardaway, a Memphis alum and native who was a high school and AAU coach in the area for several years after his retirement from the NBA, was hired in 2018.

NBA:

The Raptors signed F OG Anunoby to a four-year, $72 million extension.

NFL:

The Chiefs, Packers, Ravens and Seahawks each had a league-high seven players selected to the Pro Bowl. The Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and Packers’ Aaron Rodgers were designated as the starting QBs. There will be no actual game this season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, players will be celebrated Jan. 31 during two Pro Bowl-themed shows airing on an ESPN/ABC simulcast, with a virtual Pro Bowl experience within the Madden NFL 21 video game.

Soccer:

U.S. women’s star Alex Morgan will return to the Orlando Pride of the NWSL in 2021 after spending the first half of the 2020-21 season with Tottenham Hotspur in the Women’s Super League. ... Real Salt Lake icon and longtime U.S. men’s midfielder Kyle Beckerman retired after a 21-year pro career. Beckerman, 38, was a ninetime MLS All-Star who played 14 of his 21 seasons with Real Salt Lake (2007-20) and steps away as the league’s all-time leader in regular-season games played (498), games started (461) and minutes played (41,164) among field players. He also earned 58 caps with the U.S. team.