Knights open as 10.5-point favorite
COLLEGE FOOTBALL: UCLA fired coach Jim Mora one day after the Bruins lost to rival USC for the fourth straight year. Athletic director Dan Guerrero announced the move Sunday. Mora had a 46-30 record in six seasons with the Bruins but has gone just 10-17 since late in the 2015 season. UCLA must pay more than $12 million to buy out the remainder ofMora’s contract, which runs through 2021. ... Tennessee Tech fired coach Marcus Satterfield after he led the Golden Eagles to a 6-16 record over the last two seasons. Associate head coach and offensive coordinator Tyree Foreman was named acting head coach. ... Junior WR Justin Motlow on Saturday became the first member of the Seminole Tribe of Florida to score a touchdown for Florida State in the program’s 71-year history. He caught a 12-yard pass from J.J. Cosentino in the fourth quarter of the Seminoles’ 77-6 win over Delaware State.
FOOTBALL: Cody Fajardo scored on a 1-yard run with 23 seconds left and the Toronto Argonauts advanced to the Grey Cup, beating the Saskatchewan Roughriders 25-21 in the Canadian Football League’s East Division final. Toronto reached the Grey Cup for the first time since winning the 100th championship game in 2012 at home at Rogers Centre. The Argonauts will face the Calgary Stampeders, a 32-28 winner over the Edmonton Eskimos in the West final, in the championship game Sunday inOttawa.
GOLF: Rookie Austin Cook won the RSM Classic without being seriously challenged, closing with two birdies for a 3-under 67 and a four-shot victory in St. Simons Island, Ga. The win at Sea Island Golf Club in the final PGA Tour event of the calendar year gives Cook a spot in the 2018 Masters. J.J. Spaun closed with a 66 andwas runner-up. ... Ariya Jutanugarn, one of four players tied for the lead after three rounds, birdied the final two holes at Tiburon Golf Club to earn a one-shot victory over Lexi Thompson in theCMEGroupTour Championship in Naples, Fla. Thompson held a one-shot lead after 17 holes but bogeyed 18. ... Jon Rahm fired a final-round 67 and finished with a 19-under 269 to capture the European Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship in Dubai. He was one shot ahead of Shane Lowry and Kiradech Aphibarnrat.
OLYMPICS: JohnShuster earned a fourth trip to the Olympics on Saturday night, becoming the first male American curler to ever do so, by leading his team to a 7-5 victory over Heath McCormick’s team in the U.S. curling trials in Omaha, Neb. Shuster’s teammateswereMattHamilton, Tyler George and John Landsteiner, who was on the U.S. team that finished ninth at the 2014 Games in Sochi.
TENNIS: Grigor Dimitrov claimed the biggest title of his career at the seasonending ATP Finals at O2 Arena in London, prevailing on his fifth match point to beat David Goffin 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. Dimitrov became the first player since Alex Corretja in 1998 to win the event in his debut. ... Pancho Segura, who rose from poverty to win six U.S. Pro singles and doubles championships and was one of the world’s top professionals in the 1950s, died Saturday from complications of Parkinson’s disease. Hewas 96.
No. 15 UCF opened as a 10.5-point favorite USF Friday, according toVegasInsiders.com.
The Knights are fired up to take on the Bulls in arguably the most important showdown of their rivalry series.
The winner will clinch a spot in the American Athletic Conference title game.
For the Knights, a win also extends a perfect season and keeps them in contention for a coveted spot in the Peach Bowl.
UCF (10-0) was rankedNo. 13 in the latest AP top 25 poll released Sunday, moving up one spot. USF (9-1) isNo. 22. As a result, the Knights andBulls enter their rivalry showdown ranked in the AP poll for the first time.
“Can’t wait. Everyone is excited,” UCF linebacker Pat Jasinski said of playing USF. “Obviously, this isn’t a hard gameto getpumpedupandhypedupfor so I thinkwe’re all just ready and we’re all going to be real focused come tomorrowonUSF and be ready to go.”
Though most coaches prefer to insulate themselves from cyberspace during the season, USF offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert clearly has caught wind of the criticism heaped on his power-based, push-the-tempo system.
USF has failed to match the record-setting numbers the Bulls put up regularly under former coachWillie Taggart last season.
“I just think that everyone, except us in this building and on this field, forgets this is a new offense, OK?” Gilbert said. “It’s a new offense. Things are new, things are different.”
Next game: No. 15UCF vs. USF, Friday, 3:30 p.m., ABC
Staff and wire report to beat rival