College Football Playoff will expand to a 12-team format
The university presidents who oversee the College Football Playoff voted Friday to expand the postseason model for determining a national champion from four to 12 teams no later than the 2026 season.
The university leaders who make up the CFP’s Board of Managers would like to have the new format in place as soon as the 2024 season, if possible.
In a unanimous vote, the presidents approved the original 12-team proposal that called for the six highest-ranked conference champions and six at-large picks, as determined by a selection committee, to make the playoff.
The top four seeds would be conference champions and receive byes into the second round. First-round games would be played on campus and the rest at bowl sites.
A 12-team, 11-game postseason system to crown a champion could be worth as much as $2 billion in media rights to the conferences that play major college football, starting in 2026.
If the new format can be implemented before the current 12-year contract with ESPN expires after the 2025 season, the conferences could make an additional $450 million over the final two years.
Payton Thorne capped three straight drives with touchdown passes in the first half and threw for a fourth score in the final quarter to help No. 15 Michigan State beat visiting Western Michigan 35-13 . ... Texas Christian ran for 275 yards and four touchdowns to overpower host Colorado 38-13 . ... Blake Watson scored on a one-yard run with 33 seconds to play and Old Dominion beat host Virginia Tech 20-17.
Celtics’ Gallinari suffers torn ACL
The Boston Celtics said that Danilo Gallinari tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee while playing for Italy during a FIBA World Cup qualifier against Georgia last month.
Gallinari tore the same ligament in 2013. The Celtics didn’t provide a timeline for the forward’s return. .
The Tennessee Titans put linebacker Harold Landry III on injured reserve. A person with direct knowledge of the injury confirmed reports that Landry tore an ACL in practice Wednesday. Tennessee also claimed linebacker
Derrek Tuszka . ... Chicago Bears President and Chief Executive Ted Phillips will retire at the end of the season after nearly 40 years with the franchise.
Matthew Wolff became a footnote in LIV Golf history with the first ace, which carried him to a seven-under 63 and a one-shot lead over two newcomers in the LIV Golf Invitational-Boston. One of those newcomers was British Open champion Cameron Smith, among six players who recently joined the Saudi-funded league, after Smith finished with a 45-foot eagle putt for a 64 . ... Lucy Li had five birdies in a seven-hole stretch on the back nine and kept bogeys off her card the rest of the way for a sevenunder 64 that gave her a twoshot lead in the LPGA’s Dana Open in Sylvania, Ohio . ... Ross McGowan sunk a 12foot birdie putt on the last hole to take a one-stroke lead into the weekend at the European Tour’s Made in HimmerLand in Denmark.
South Carolina and women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley have canceled a homeand-home series with Brigham Young over a recent racial incident in which a Cougars fan yelled slurs at a Duke volleyball player . ... Paige Bueckers intends to play basketball in the 2023-24 season for Connecticut after recovering from an ACL injury that’s sidelined her this season, saying she will not enter the 2023 WNBA draft.
Greek soccer club Olympiakos signed Brazilian star Marcelo, who spent the last 16 seasons with Real Madrid.
The Vancouver Canucks signed forward J.T. Miller to a seven-year, $56-million contract.
Josef Newgarden was penalized six spots on the starting grid of Sunday’s race at Portland (Ore.) International Raceway because Team Penske changed his engine ahead of the Portland Grand Prix . ... Oscar Piastri will join McLaren on a multiyear deal in 2023 after Formula One’s contracts board ruled in his favor and against Alpine . ...
Justin Ashley led top fuel qualifying in the NHRA U.S. Nationals with a 3.716-second pass at 330.23 mph in Indianapolis. Robert Hight topped the funny car field and
Erica Enders led pro stock.
Earnie Shavers, whose thunderous punches stopped 68 fighters and earned him heavyweight title fights with Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes, has died. He was 78.