Category: Sport

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – New England Patriots quarterback Cam Newton admitted he didn’t play as well as he had hoped for 2020 but said on Monday that he had “a lot of football left” with coach Bill Belichick Option left open Enter Jarrett Stidham playing time with the team from playoff competition.

“I’ll leave it to the people I’ve left it to since day one. I won’t go into that,” Newton said in his weekly interview on WEEI sports radio when asked if he still expects to be the starter . “I’m still in an interview to be honest.”

Newton, 31, revealed how much he enjoyed playing for the Patriots (6-8) as experience has shown him how much better he can be as a player.

Newton was selected to replace Tom Brady after signing a one-year contract on July 8, and is a post-season free agent. He plans to continue playing in 2021. He stated that one of his goals for 2020 would be to get through the season healthy after previously sidelining with shoulder and foot injuries.

“I still have a lot of football left. I still want to play football. I feel the need to get better,” Newton said when asked if he would be retiring. “After I released this movie? Hey, come on. I can’t go out like this. I definitely can’t go out like this.”

In 13 games, Newton is 216-for-328 for 2,381 yards, with five touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He has added 489 rushing yards on 122 carry and 11 touchdowns.

To do Newton justice, the patriots did not surround him with a multitude of high-ranking recipients and narrow ends. No team has had such limited pass-catch production from tight ends in the entire NFL.

Even so, Newton was a sharp self-critic.

“You have to be your best self when your best self is needed. That is a famous quote from John Wooden [quarterbacks] Trainer Jedd [Fisch] somehow implemented it to remind us. That’s the thing I haven’t done enough this year, “Newton said.

Whether Newton will have a chance in the last two games of the season – on Monday evening on December 28 at home against AFC East champions Buffalo Bills (ESPN, 8:15 p.m. ET) and then in the final against the visiting New York Jets – remains to be seen after the Patriots officially eliminated from the postseason game on Sunday.

After Belichick declared “Cam’s our quarterback” after losing to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 14, he appeared to be slacking off on Monday morning.

When asked if he could use the last two games to give some players a longer look into the future, Belichick said, “We can evaluate the odds. We will continue to prepare and try to play as well as we can . ” Monday evening. But we’ll see how it all slips off. In certain situations it could be a possibility. “

Asked specifically if quarterback could be one of those situations by giving Stidham an expanded look. Belichick said, “We shall see.”

When asked what he saw of Newton to justify the possibility of staying with him, Belichick declined.

“Really, we have a lot of team questions to answer. I think that will be the most important thing. We will talk about it today, tomorrow – we have an extra day this week – and see how things start from a bigger point of view off, “he said.

“Obviously [we] I haven’t played the run well in the past two weeks and haven’t scored a touchdown in the past two weeks. I don’t think it’s a person. “

Baker Mayfield and the 2020 Browns are close to the franchise’s first AFC playoff spot in 18 years and are close to their best record since returning to the NFL in 1999. Sunday night’s win over the Giants in Week 15 earned them much closer.

Cleveland (10-4) comes from week 15 as the number 5 and top wild card in the AFC. Even after losing to Baltimore (9-5) in Week 14, the Browns stay there because they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the No. 6 Colts (also 10-4). The Browns also stayed one game ahead of the No. 7 Dolphins (9-5) and No. 8 Ravens.

MORE: Best Browns season in ten years by the numbers

With the chance of a free fall to 9: 7, the Browns are close to the playoff spot. Not only do you have a valuable tiebreaker over the Colts, but they also have a valuable tiebreaker over the AFC South-leading Titans. Their loss to the Raiders is irrevocable as Las Vegas is now three games behind the Browns and two weeks left.

Here are the three remaining results for the Browns and what all of these scenarios can mean:

MORE: Complete the NFL playoff picture for Week 15

Browns go 2-0 and finish 12-4

The Browns will play in the playoffs this way no matter what the Titans, Colts, Ravens or Dolphins do. They would be guaranteed to finish second in the AFC Nord and have a seed no lower than their current No. 5.

A win means the Browns would beat the Steelers in week 17. But the Browns can’t win the division due to a division record difference unless the Steelers also lose to the Bengals on Monday night and the Colts next week.

Should the Browns win AFC North 12-4, the Bills would have to lose and fall to 11-5 to move up to second place. However, due to victories, they would not be lower than 3rd place over the Colts and Titans.

Browns go 1-1 and finish 11-5

This is a more reasonable scenario as the Browns lost to the Ravens as slight underdogs in week 14 and will have a similar status to the Steelers in week 17. However, in week 16 they are heavily favored for beating the Jets (1-) 13) on the go.

It’s unlikely that both the Titans and Colts will win 4-12, taking away the Browns’ tiebreaker against the AFC South leaders. There’s a better chance both of them are 11-5. The dolphins have a slim chance of running the table and reaching 11-5.

That leaves the Ravens, who would have a very good shot to 11: 5 with two very cheap games. Here the Browns see a worst-case three-way tie between them, the Ravens, and AFC South runner-up.

The Titans are a good bet to finish 8-4 in the AFC game. The Colts would be looking at a 7-5 conference record if they finished 11-5. The Browns finished 7-5 in the conference with a loss. The Ravens would also have a 7-5 conference record from their victory.

If the Titans and Colts both finish 4-12, the Titans will need to hold the division-record tiebreaker to win the South. In sweeping the Browns, the Ravens have the head-to-head tiebreaker over them, and like the Browns they have the tiebreaker over the Colts. The Ravens, who also defeated the Colts, would jump to 5th place with a sweep of the other two teams. The Browns would come next in the pecking order, finishing sixth ahead of the Colts.

Browns go 0-2 and finish 10-6

The Browns shouldn’t take the Jets lightly, but this team is suddenly confident after deeply angering the Rams in Los Angeles. Then come the Steelers. With 10: 6 the Browns would certainly end up behind the runner-up of the AFC South and the Ravens.

So the question is, could the Browns hold the playoff spot above the Dolphins? The dolphins that hit 10-6 would give them a conference record of 7-5. The Browns would have a 6-6 mark with losses to the Jets and Steelers.

The Browns will be in great shape if they win at least once in the last two weeks. When it gets cold in late December / early January, there is a slim chance of missing the playoffs.

WWE’s final pay-per-view event of the year is TLC: Tables, Ladders, and Chairs. Drew McIntyre plans to continue his WWE Championship until 2021 when he defends against AJ Styles for the first time in a TLC format. Kevin Owens gets his first shot at the Universal Championship since losing that title three and a half years ago when he challenged Roman Reigns – a match that TLC rules say should also be played.

One of the rarest match types in WWE history also returns when “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt takes on Randy Orton in a “Firefly” inferno match. Kane was involved in all five previous iterations, starting with a 1998 game against The Undertaker. In the first four games, the win condition was to set your opponent on fire. In the latest version with Kane vs. Wyatt at SummerSlam 2013, which was referred to as the “Ring of Fire” match, it was contested as a standard no-DQ match with flames around the ring.

Three title fights round off the map. Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler will defend the women’s tag team titles against Asuka and a partner of their choice after Lana was removed from the game on Monday night. Sasha Banks brings her SmackDown Women’s Championship on the line for the second time in a week and a half against Carmella. Eventually, The New Day will defend the Raw Tag Team titles against Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin of The Hurt Business.

Follow us all night as Tim Fiorvanti cuts off all action on TLC as it happens.

Game is underway: SmackDown Women’s Championship: Sasha Banks (c) def. Carmella

Sasha Banks blocked the bank statement to force a tap on Carmella. Complete summary to come.

Results

TLC match for the WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre (c) def. AJ Styles and The Miz

Drew McIntyre was one of the rocks WWE held its own on in 2020, and it is only fitting that McIntyre will continue to hold the most iconic title in pro-wrestling as the 2020-2021 calendar moves.

The twists and turns on the way on Sunday night in the TLC pay-per-view opening game seemed to question that possibility, but McIntyre insisted, defeating both his planned opponent AJ Styles and The Miz, who made money in the bank’s briefcase late in the game to further dramatize the proceedings.

It was a brutal, violent game from start to finish. From the moment McIntyre Styles sent a blistering, open-handed blow that sent him tumbling outward from the top turnbuckle, the tone was set. Tables, ladders, and chairs were used to accentuate the violence, and even when certain weapon-based movements failed, such as when Styles tried to hit a Styles clash on a ladder, McIntyre increased the stakes with a Future Shock DDT.

However, Styles sure did manage to target McIntyre’s leg over the course of the game and further damage it with two calf breaker submissions – one with a ladder and one with a chair. McIntyre returned to the game by throwing a chair in Styles’ face as he leapt from the top turnbuckle toward him.

McIntyre had apparently won the match when he snatched Styles halfway up the ladder and pushed him out of the ring through an outside table. But then The Miz and John Morrison made their move. Miz bombed McIntyre, cashed his briefcase, and made it a triple threat match.

But even if Styles and McIntyre were out, Styles’ equalizer, the giant Omos, came in.

When Miz climbed the ladder with a grin on his face, Omos reached up, snatched Miz off the ladder and carried him to the top rope like a small child before throwing Miz out of the ring and through his own table. When Morrison tried to get revenge, he broke a steel chair over Omos’ back and Omos did not flinch. Omos chased Morrison up the ramp and took them both out of the game.

Now that Miz was gone, Styles and McIntyre fought on a ladder for a few minutes. In the final fight, Miz set up a second ladder and a three-way war in the sky began. Styles fell, Miz was pushed off a ladder, Styles jumped back on the ladder, Styles forearm shots dropped McIntyre to the ground.

The Miz stopped Styles from taking the title just long enough for McIntyre to use one ladder to push the other ladder (and both men) up, with Styles falling out over the top rope. A claymore to The Miz, and McIntyre climbed the ladder on one leg to keep his title.

What’s next: It’s easy to be frustrated that the money in the bank’s briefcase is going to be wasted this year, but a few more losses on the balance sheet make cash-ins less secure going forward, which is likely a positive shift.

McIntyre and Roman Reigns are unlikely to lose their respective titles anytime soon, so this is taken into account as well. McIntyre and Styles may have one more chapter where The Miz gets involved in this particular fight. The Miz and Morrison is unfortunately back in first place.

Big E, Daniel Bryan, Chad Gable and Otis def. King Corbin, Shinsuke Nakamura, Cesaro and Sami Zayn

Big E overwhelmed Sami Zayn by leading his teammates Chad Gable, Otis and Daniel Bryan to an eight-man tag team victory. WWE

Any match that brings together six of the best bell-to-bell wrestlers in the world is a good thing, and while it happened in a preshow eight-man tag team match, it was still fun to do see. It was hard not to imagine a real-life match between a combination of Daniel Bryan, Big E, Cesaro, Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura and Chad Gable, but that’s a discussion for another day.

The highlight of the game may have been Gable’s slower, deadlift-roll-through German suplex on Cesaro, but the main driving force of the game was Big E and Zayn’s conflict for the Intercontinental Championship. Big E eventually grabbed the Pinfall win over Zayn and set him up for a real title shot in the near future.

What’s next: Outside of the Intercontinental Championship game, Otis and Gable’s team is picking up speed. After a rocky year for Otis, something fresh is good news.

Still to come:

TLC match for the Universal Championship: Roman Reigns (c) versus Kevin Owens

Firefly Inferno Match: “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt versus Randy Orton

Women’s Tag Team Championships: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler (c) against Asuka and TBD

Raw Tag Team Championships: The New Day (Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston) (c) versus the injured business (Cedric Alexander & Shelton Benjamin)

Bowl season begins before the 2020 college football season ends.

That goes without saying for an unprecedented season of college football played out by the COVID-19 pandemic. Several teams have accepted bowl bids, and SMU will play UTSA in the Tropical Care Smoothie Bowl on Saturday.

MORE: Eight College Football Playoff Scenarios

This marks the start of a bowl season where teams will sign out and bowl ties will be tested from now until the College Football Playoff Championship game. Brett McMurphy of the stadium first covered some of the early bowl matchups.

This season’s semifinals is slated for January 1 at the Rose Bowl Game, which has been relocated to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas and the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. The championship playoff game will take place on January 11th at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Sporting News is keeping track of the 2020-21 college football bidding here.

College Football Bowl Schedule 2020-21

Monday December 21st

Myrtle Beach Bowl

North Texas versus Appalachian State

2:30 p.m. ET

ESPN

Tuesday December 22nd

Famous Idaho potato peel	Nevada versus Tulane	3:30 p.m. ET	ESPN
Boca Raton bowl	UCF versus BYU	7 p.m. ET	ESPN

Wednesday December 23rd

R + L carrier New Orleans Bowl	Georgia Southern v Louisiana Tech	3 p.m. ET	ESPN
Montgomery Bowl *	Memphis versus FAU	7 p.m. ET	ESPN / ESPN2

Thursday December 24th

New Mexico Bowl

Hawaii versus Houston

3:30 p.m. ET

ESPN

Friday December 25th

Camellia bowl

TBA versus TBA

2:30 p.m. ET

ESPN

Saturday December 26th

Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl	TBA vs. TBA	12 p.m. ET	ABC
Cure Bowl	TBA versus TBA	12 p.m. ET	ESPN
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl	UTSA vs. TBD	3:30 p.m. ET	ABC
Lending Tree Bowl	Georgia State versus Western Kentucky	3:30 p.m. ET	ESPN
Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl	Army against TBA	7 p.m. ET	ESPN
Guaranteed Rate Bowl	TBA vs. TBA	10:15 p.m. ET	ESPN

Monday December 28th

Military shell

TBA versus TBA

2:30 p.m. ET

ESPN

Tuesday December 29th

Cheez-It Bowl	TBA versus TBA	5:30 p.m. ET	ESPN
Valero Alamo bowl	TBA versus TBA	9 p.m. ET	ESPN

Wednesday December 30th

TransPerfect Music City Bowl

TBA versus TBA

3:30 p.m. ET

ESPN

Thursday December 31st

Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl	TBA versus TBA	12 p.m. ET	ESPN
AutoZone Liberty Bowl	TBA versus TBA	4 p.m. ET	ESPN
Arizona Bowl	San Jose State versus TBA	4 p.m. ET	CBSSN
Texas Bowl	TBA versus TBA	8 p.m. ET	ESPN

Friday 1st January

TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl	TBA versus TBA	12 p.m. ET	ESPN2
Vrbo Citrus Bowl	TBA versus TBA	1 PM ET	ABC

Saturday January 2nd

TaxSlayer Gator Bowl	TBA versus TBA	12 p.m. ET	ESPN
Outback Bowl	TBA versus TBA	12:30 p.m. ET	ABC

New year six bowls

DATE	BOWL GAMES	TEAMS	TIME	TV
30th of December	Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic	TBA versus TBA	7:15 p.m. ET	ESPN
January 1st	Chick-Fil-A peach peel	TBA versus TBA	12:30 p.m. ET	ESPN
January 2nd	PlayStation Fiesta Bowl	TBA versus TBA	4 p.m. ET	ESPN
January 2nd	Capital One Orange Bowl	TBA versus TBA	8 p.m. ET	ESPN

College Football Playoff Schedule

DATE	BOWL GAMES	TEAMS	TIME
January 1st	Rose Bowl Game (CFP Semi-Finals)	TBA versus TBA	5 p.m. ET
January 1st	Allstate Sugar Bowl (CFP Semi-Finals)	TBA versus TBA	8:45 p.m. ET
11th January	CFP National Championship	TBA versus TBA	8 p.m. ET

In college football, it’s best to enjoy the journey. The ending? Well, those tend to be pretty predictable.

On Saturday, Alabama topped Florida and was crowned champion of the SEC again, the fifth time in seven years of the College Football Playoff. The Tide’s trio of offensive superstars took turns making their respective Heisman cases, with Mac Jones throwing for 418 yards and five TDs, Najee Harris rushing for 178 yards and DeVonta Smith catching 15 passes — 16 if you count fielding Florida’s final on-side kick try. Still, the Gators fought back, over and over, getting up off the floor to deliver one more blow before the clock finally ran out.

“It was probably good for us to be in a dog fight,” Nick Saban said afterward, “and we were definitely in one tonight.”

Clemson also claimed its sixth straight ACC title with a blowout win over Notre Dame. This one, however, was different. This was a rematch and a chance for revenge. Seven weeks ago, the Irish handed Clemson its first regular-season loss since 2017, a game played without Trevor Lawrence or Tyler Davis or James Skalski. And if Notre Dame was happy with the win, that was all the motivation the Tigers needed to dismiss with the Irish in emphatic fashion in the ACC championship game.

“When you listened to some of the things they said,” Skalski offered after the game, “they definitely pushed some buttons they probably wish they hadn’t pushed.”

The Tigers won their sixth straight ACC title behind Trevor Lawrence’s 412 yards of offense and three touchdowns. AP Photo/Brian Blanco

Ohio State, meanwhile, won its fourth straight Big Ten title, a win that came after the Buckeyes’ season was canceled, then revived, then extinguished when their arch rival canceled a game, then revived again when the Big Ten changed its rules. Even still, Ohio State trailed at the half against Northwestern. But like a horror movie villain, the Buckeyes were resurrected via the magic of RB Trey Sermon, who ran for 331 yards in a 22-10 win.

Oklahoma won the Big 12 for fifth straight time, but this year, it never sniffed the playoff. At least we didn’t need to hear Lincoln Riley’s campaign speech for an invitation, too.

Oregon won the Pac-12 for the third time in the playoff era, but this year it only happened after Washington was forced to opt out of the league’s title game due to COVID-19.

And the Group of Five has a worthy representative for the playoff, too. Heck, it’s got two of them. Coastal Carolina couldn’t play Saturday, but Cincinnati finished off a hard-fought win over Tulsa to end the regular season without a loss. But, of course, the journey is one thing, and the destination is another. In college football, the destination for the Group of Five is never the playoff.

It’s been as strange a year as the sport has ever endured, and yet here we are, two weeks later than we normally tally up the results, and we’ve got a familiar refrain: Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Oregon are your Power 5 champions.

Those five teams have won 25 of the 35 possible conference titles in the six-year playoff era.

2 Related

The playoff participants will remain a mystery until Sunday afternoon, when the committee offers its rulings. Texas A&M beat Tennessee on Saturday, giving Jimbo Fisher plenty of reasons to make his case, while Ohio State’s limited schedule and Notre Dame’s loss inject at least a small amount of drama. More than likely, however, it’ll be Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Notre Dame — four teams that now have 18 playoff berths between them.

For Alabama, the road to get here included a new star QB emerging, a head-spinning win over the hated Lane Kiffin, two positive COVID-19 tests for Saban (one false positive, one legit) and a final, dizzying showdown with the Gators. Who’s picking against Alabama now? Oh, sure, the defense left a bit to be desired. That might be a red flag if Jones, Harris and Smith weren’t so ridiculously good on the other side of the ball.

For Clemson, the season felt like a series of false starts — a few big steps forward, a few other steps back. The first game against Notre Dame seemed to expose many of the Tigers’ potential flaws — a new-look O-line, a lack of an outside receiver, a defense that couldn’t stay healthy — but as Dabo Swinney told his team afterward, “they didn’t hand out any trophies” in South Bend. Instead, the Tigers played their best game of the year Saturday.

“Everything we didn’t do in South Bend [in the first game],” Swinney said, “we did tonight.”

For Ohio State, Saturday’s win was probably the last piece needed to convince a committee already hell bent on giving the Buckeyes every benefit of the doubt, but the overall performance came with some red flags. Justin Fields, with an injured thumb, struggled to throw the football, and it remains to be seen if the Big Ten will once again tweak its COVID-19 rules to allow several key Buckeyes to return from quarantine before a potential semifinal.

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1:34

Trey Sermon scores two touchdowns and runs for a school-record 331 yards as Ohio State beats Northwestern 22-10.

For Notre Dame, the luster of November’s win over Clemson is gone. It was left to Brian Kelly to make his case to the committee after Saturday’s 34-10 drubbing, a stark contrast from his idle threat just a day earlier that Notre Dame might boycott the playoff altogether if families weren’t allowed to attend the the Rose Bowl.

Or perhaps the committee should look at Clemson’s throttling of Notre Dame on Saturday, weigh it against Alabama’s dominance against Texas A&M back in October, and decide, instead, it’s time to give someone else a shot at the crown. But, even in 2020, some things remain entirely impossible. Sorry, Coastal Carolina. A crown doesn’t look right on top of a mullet, anyway.

Still, Fisher and Kelly and Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell all made their cases in the aftermath of Saturday’s games. Perhaps this is the beauty of the playoff. The committee is here to make us all wonder about what the future holds, to guess at the thinking of 13 folks apt to decide just about anything, even if it’s unlikely to be a surprise. Because the reality is, as winding as this year’s path might’ve been, we should have all seen where the road was taking us.

Don’t forget the champs

LSU’s championship defense officially came to a close Saturday, but the Bayou Bengals went out in style.

With NCAA sanctions potentially looming, LSU opted out of a bowl game, which as it turns out, might have finally taken all the pressure off the roster. A week after its stunning upset of Florida, LSU managed to steal the show on Championship Saturday, too, coming back to beat Ole Miss 53-48 in the final two minutes.

LSU lost its starting QB early in the year, but by Saturday, it was clear the Tigers had an emerging star in Max Johnson, who accounted for 470 yards of offense.

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1:04

Kayshon Boutte scores his third touchdown of the day in style, spinning out of one tackle and carrying two more defenders into the end zone for a go-ahead score.

Every receiver since Dwayne Bowe opted out this year, but that only cleared room for Kayshon Boutte to emerge, and he hauled in 14 catches for 308 yards and three touchdowns Saturday.

Bo Pelini’s defense was roundly criticized on a near-daily basis after getting scorched by Mississippi State in the opener, and … well, OK, that part is still a problem.

Of course, that’s also what made Saturday’s affair so much fun. The two teams combined for 101 points, 1,151 yards and 54 first downs.

Third school’s the charm

Nick Starkel was once a promising QB prospect at Texas A&M, but that didn’t work out.

Then he transferred to Arkansas, where he was installed as the starter in 2019, but that didn’t work out, either.

So Starkel transferred to San Jose State, and that has turned out to be a really nice fit.

He threw for 453 yards and three touchdowns in a 34-20 win over Boise State on Saturday, and in seven games, Starkel has thrown 18 touchdown passes — just four shy of his career total entering 2020.

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1:02

Nick Starkel throws for 453 yards and three touchdowns as San Jose State defeats Boise State 34-20 to capture the Mountain West championship.

Heisman Five

After winning the ACC championship, Dabo Swinney didn’t simply say his QB was deserving of the Heisman. He said the award might not be deserving of Trevor Lawrence.

Swinney called it “a stats award,” which, of course, it is, but the question is whether it should also be worth more than that. Swinney’s case for Lawrence, who does not have the best stats, is that the Clemson QB offers something that can’t be captured by numbers alone. There’s no concise metric to showcase that, but he was the top recruit when he arrived, and he’ll leave as the No. 1 overall draft pick, so logic — and any viewing of his performance Saturday — suggests that he’s been the best in the interim, too.

But Heisman voters have to prioritize what actually happened on the field over what they *think* deep down in their guts.

1. Alabama WR DeVonta Smith

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2:36

Alabama senior DeVonta Smith details the trust between he and Mac Jones after winning the SEC Championship.

Take Swinney’s argument at face value: It’s a stats award, but it should be about the best player. Well, let’s blend those two perspectives and ask, of the most talented players in college football, who had the best stats? The answer is Smith. In a normal year, where he’d have gotten to pad some stats against non-conference opponents, he might have had a shot at the FBS record for receiving yards. But that’s just the thing. Smith didn’t pad his stats anywhere. Some of his biggest games — 167 yards vs. Georgia, 203 vs. Mississippi State, 144 vs. Kentucky, 171 against Auburn — were against the best competition.

2. Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence

If he had played against BC and the first showdown with Notre Dame, he might have had the numbers to put him over the top. But to give Lawrence credit for the games he didn’t play would undermine the impact of what Mac Jones and others actually did on the field. And so, instead, he’ll join Deshaun Watson on the list of Clemson QBs who probably should have won, but didn’t.

3. Alabama QB Mac Jones

It’s nearly impossible to separate Jones’ success from Smith’s, and both are worthy of the award. But here’s the question it came down to for us: Did Smith elevate Jones’ game or the other way around? There is perhaps a good argument to be made on both sides, but watching Alabama play, it was hard not to think about how much easier Jones’ life was because of Smith.

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4. Florida QB Kyle Trask

Trask picked the wrong time for a two-game losing streak. Sure, it’s not his fault the Florida defense couldn’t hold, and his numbers against LSU and Alabama weren’t awful, but when the competition is this tight, there needs to be a little something extra, and for all of Trask’s success, it wasn’t enough to elevate the Gators when it mattered most.

5. BYU QB Zach Wilson

Wilson was always playing to an inside straight, and the loss to Coastal Carolina was his ultimate doom. But his season was special, and his stat line — 30 TD passes, 3 INT — should earn him a spot as a finalist.

Big bets and bad beats

• There’s nothing quite like betting an over and being able to relax throughout the second half. That’s what happened in the Illinois-Penn State game, where the total was set at 55, and the two teams topped that with 5:32 left in the second quarter. As bad as things looked for Penn State after an 0-5 start, the Nittany Lions finished with a four-game winning streak and 580 yards of offense.

College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T
Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Gardens, Florida)
Jan. 11: 8 p.m. ET on ESPN and the ESPN App

College Football Playoff Semifinal at The Rose Bowl Game
AT&T Stadium (Dallas)
Jan. 1: 5 p.m. ET on ESPN and the ESPN App

College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl
Mercedes-Benz Superdome (New Orleans)
Jan. 1: 8:45 p.m. ET on ESPN and the ESPN App

• Notre Dame closed as a 10.5-point underdog in its rematch with Clemson on Saturday. According to ESPN Stats and Information, Notre Dame was the first team 10-0 or better to enter a game as a double-digit underdog since — well, Notre Dame, which also had that happened back in 2018 against — well, Clemson. The Tigers won in a rout both times.

• If you played a drinking game and had a beer for each touchdown in the Army-Air Force game, you were pretty thirsty at the end. The Black Knights came from behind to win 10-7 in a game where the under was safe virtually from the opening kickoff. The total closed at 37.5, which was only a low number if you’ve been unaware of the history when two service academies face off. The under is now 37-9-1 in such games dating back to 2005.

• San Jose State won the Mountain West title after toppling Boise State 34-20 on Saturday. How stunning was the Trojans’ emergence? Caesars Sportsbook by William Hill had San Jose State at +2500 odds to win the league back on Nov. 5 — meaning a $100 bet on the Trojans would’ve paid out $2,500 on Saturday.

• Friday night’s championship action was a good night for the dogs. All three underdogs in title games won, with UAB (+175) beating Marshall for the Conference USA title, Ball State (+400) toppling Buffalo in the MAC and Oregon (+130) ending USC’s season in the Pac-12. If you laid down a $100 parlay bet on all three, according to ESPN Stats and Information, you’d have pocketed a cool $3,062.50.

Like father, like son.

Tiger Woods has the chance to play golf with 11-year-old son Charlie this weekend at the PNC Championship, an annual father-son pairing event. It’s the first year Charlie has played with Tiger at the event, and the boy wasted no time playing a precise shot to set up an eagle for mating.

On the par 5 third hole at the Ritz Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Florida, Charlie was standing over the second shot with a tree line right in front of him. It would take a tie to find the green behind the trees. Charlie took out his 5 wood and let it fly. The ball trickled within two feet of the hole.

MORE: Charlie Woods deserves tiger stripes playing alongside champion dad

As it turned out, the scramble format allowed the Woods duo to use Charlie’s ball for all three hits on the third hole. Charlie played from closer tees and sent his drive down the left side of the fairway. Then he chose the 5 wood on the green. And Charlie putted to finish off the eagle too, essentially putting the score together himself.

Tiger smiled broadly after Charlie finished off the eagle, and you can hear him say to his son, “This is your first eagle!”

Father and son Woods played in matching purple shirts with black shorts, and the Eagle pushed them through three holes to 3 under par. They made it into the top 10 of the tournament for much of Saturday, with the second and final round scheduled for Sunday was. We hope that Tiger and Charlie Woods Tiger’s “Sunday Red” break out.

Ferrari Formula 1 boss Mattia Binotto says he still enjoys the full support of his superiors after the team’s worst season in 40 years and is aiming for a return to the top three next year.

1 relatives

The oldest and most successful team in the sport finished sixth overall without a race win in the 2020 constructors’ championship.

Board chairman Louis Camilleri, a strong supporter of Binotto, announced his surprise resignation last week, with chairman John Elkann temporarily taking over the office.

Binotto told reporters on Friday, in a video call replacing the traditional pre-Christmas media dinner in Maranello due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that he had “the full confidence and support” of Elkann and Vice President Piero Ferrari.

“There are no changes in our plans, no changes in our future,” he said when asked how Camillini’s departure could affect the team.

However, he realized that his job could be at risk without apparent progress.

“I know that my time is certainly not infinite,” he added. “I’m pretty aware that … we have to do well as a team and myself and the headmaster to do well in the next few seasons.”

Binotto said Ferrari can hope for a much better year in 2021, even if the gap to champions Mercedes is still too big.

“I’m pretty sure this year will make us stronger for the future,” he said.

“Third place is not impossible. I think that should be our minimum goal for next season.”

Binotto said it wasn’t easy, but Ferrari had made progress on a new engine that ran well on the dyno and showed significant improvements.

“I think we will be competitive again as an engine. We will not be the lowest in the field,” he said.

Ferrari has a new driver line-up next year. Carlos Sainz changes from McLaren next to the Monegasque Charles Leclerc, while the four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel has left.

Sainz spent his first day in Ferrari Red at the factory on Friday, which Binotto said was more of a tourist tour before the real work begins in the New Year.

“It’s a special day for me that I will probably never forget,” said the Spaniard.

The 2021 car will be called SF21, Binotto said. This year’s was the SF1000, a tribute to the team’s 1000th Grand Prix of the World Championship that year.

Es sieht so aus, als ob die NHL-Saison 2021 auf Hochtouren läuft. Der stellvertretende Kommissar Bill Daly sagte am Abend des 18. Dezember (laut Pierre LeBrun von TSN), dass die NHL und der NHL Players ‘Association eine vorläufige Einigung über die Saison erzielt hätten.

Anfangs war Kommissar Gary Bettman optimistisch, dass die neue Saison am 1. Januar beginnen würde, aber es gab ein paar Probleme (ähm, Finanzen) auf dem Weg, die gelöst werden mussten. Jetzt, da die meisten Probleme im Rückspiegel auftreten, gibt es eine neue Zeitleiste, und wir werden den Puck möglicherweise in ein paar Wochen fallen sehen.

Hier finden Sie eine Aufschlüsselung aller uns bekannten Informationen zur Rückkehr der NHL, bis die Vereinbarung genehmigt wurde.

Wann beginnt die NHL-Saison 2021?

• Startdatum des Trainingslagers (sieben Nicht-Bubble-Teams): 31. Dezember
• Startdatum des Trainingslagers (verbleibende Teams): 3. Januar
• Startdatum der NHL-Saison (gemeldet): 13. Januar

Am 7. Dezember wurde berichtet, dass die NHL um den 13. Januar einen großen Rotstiftkreis aufstellte. Jetzt sieht es so aus, als ob dieses Datum (solange beide Seiten zustimmen) in Tinte geschrieben werden kann.

Die verbleibenden 24 Teams werden am 3. Januar eröffnet. Angesichts der Tatsache, dass einige Spieler begonnen haben, die Beziehungen zu ihren europäischen Vereinen zu kappen oder ihre Häuser außerhalb der Saison zu packen, um in ihre NHL-Städte zurückzukehren, ist das Timing sinnvoll.

Auf seinem Instagram sieht es so aus, als würde der Flügelspieler von Calgary Flames (und Torschützenkönig der letzten Saison) Matthew Tkachuk in Vorbereitung auf ein potenzielles NHL-Trainingslager pic.twitter.com/ZXtHBPf0qb in die Stadt zurückkehren, um sich unter Quarantäne zu stellen

– Salim Nadim Valji (@salimvalji), 17. Dezember 2020

Es sollte beachtet werden, dass diese Daten vorläufig sind und aus unzähligen Gründen wie der COVID-19-Pandemie angepasst werden können.

Wie viele Spiele werden gespielt?

Jemand muss Bill Foley sagen, dass er Lotto spielen soll. Der Besitzer der Golden Knights bemerkte in einem Radiointerview im Oktober, dass die NHL eine Saison mit 56 Spielen anstrebe, und traf den Nagel auf den Kopf.

“Wenn wir in vier Monaten 56 Spiele spielen, sind das viele Spiele”, sagte er, als er diskutierte, warum er die Nr. 1-Torhüter Robin Lehner und Marc-Andre Fleury in Vegas behielt. “Es wird keine Pause geben. Es wird viele Rücken an Rücken geben. Theoretisch werden wir vier Spiele pro Woche spielen, um diese Saison zu beenden. Vielleicht sogar mehr – fünf Spiele pro Woche. “”

Das macht Sinn, denn NBC ist nicht nur die Heimat der NHL-Nachsaison, sondern auch der Olympischen Spiele, die Ende Juli stattfinden sollen.

Bettman bemerkte im November auch, dass ein Ziel der Liga “darin besteht, wieder zu einem normalen Zeitplan zurückzukehren [next] fallen und längerfristig vor Juli durchgeführt werden. Das ist das Ziel. “

Grundsätzlich ist geplant, dieses Jahr das Sommerhockey zu vermeiden.

Wie werden Spiele funktionieren?

Erstens wird es Berichten zufolge keine Ausstellungsspiele geben. Es geht direkt um Spiele, die zählen.

Wie diese Wettbewerbe tatsächlich gespielt werden, ist eines klar: Es wird keine Saisonblase geben. Der Tribut, während der Stanley Cup-Playoffs wochen- bis monatelang isoliert zu sein, wurde von Spielern und Trainern gleichermaßen deutlich gemacht, je nachdem, wie tief die Mannschaft war. Weder sie noch die NHL tauchen dafür wieder auf.

Die Gespräche reichten von der Durchführung von Spielen wie gewohnt bis zum Hosting von Spielen in kurzfristigen Hubs, einem Hybridsystem aus beiden oder sogar gemäß Wyshynski und Emily Kaplan von ESPN, einer MLB-ähnlichen Serie von drei bis vier Spielen gleichzeitig. Friedman berichtete am 16. Dezember, dass Columbus; Newark, NJ; Las Vegas und Edmonton / Toronto wurden als Standorte für diese Hubs erörtert.

“Sie werden 10 bis 12 Tage spielen”, sagte Bettman am 10. November auf dem Paley International Council Summit 2020. “Sie werden eine Reihe von Spielen spielen, ohne zu reisen. Sie werden zurückkehren, eine Woche nach Hause gehen, mit Ihrer Familie zusammen sein. Wir werden unsere Testprotokolle und alle anderen Dinge haben, die Sie brauchen.

“Es wird nicht ganz so effektiv sein wie eine Blase, aber wir glauben, dass wir, wenn wir diesen Weg gehen, die Risiken so weit wie möglich und sinnvoll minimieren können. Und das ist eines der Dinge, über die wir sprechen.”

Es gibt auch das Problem der COVID-19-Beschränkungen in Kalifornien und Manitoba, die sich auf die Enten, Könige, Haie und Jets auswirken könnten. Sie müssen möglicherweise in einen anderen Staat reisen, um Heimspiele zu spielen, a la the 49ers der NFL, die jetzt Arizona zu Hause anrufen. Kevin Kurz vom Athletic bemerkte, dass die Sharks wahrscheinlich irgendwo in der Gegend von Phoenix ein Trainingslager abhalten werden.

Die große Frage ist – und worüber #NHLPA heute Abend beim Aufruf des Exekutivrats sprechen wird -, was passiert, wenn die kanadischen Gesundheitsbehörden die Protokolle zum Spielen nicht abzeichnen?

Optionen sind Edmonton Hub oder alle 7 Teams ziehen für die Saison nach 🇺🇸. Die Spieler scheinen auch nicht wild zu sein.

– Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli), 19. Dezember 2020

Dann gibt es die neueste Falte aus Kanada. Am 17. Dezember berichtete Chris Johnston von Sportsnet, dass die sieben kanadischen Vereine der NHL möglicherweise gezwungen sind, südlich der Grenze zu spielen. Johnston erklärte, dass die Provinzregierungen in Kanada Blasen bevorzugen, die dem Sommerhockey ähneln, während die NHL es vorziehen würde, diesen Weg nicht zu gehen. Die Blue Jays von MLB mussten und die Raptors der NBA Heimspiele in den USA bestreiten. Dies schien jedoch eher mit grenzüberschreitenden Reisen zu tun zu haben, und die NHL strebte eine rein kanadische Division an.

TSN berichtete am 18. Dezember, dass einige Spieler in kanadischen Teams nicht die gesamte Saison südlich der Grenze spielen wollen.

Unser @mike_p_johnson sagt uns, dass er mit einer Reihe von Spielern in kanadischen Teams gesprochen hat, die der Meinung waren, dass das Spielen ihrer gesamten Saison in den USA kein Starter war. Wir wissen, dass sie für die gesamte Saison keine Blase akzeptieren werden. Vielleicht beginnen die Dinge in einem Hub und entwickeln sich von dort aus. https://t.co/MdHgQWtje7

– Gino Reda (@GinoRedaTSN), 19. Dezember 2020

LeBrun berichtete am 18. Dezember, dass geplant sei, die Gesundheitsprotokolle mit den Provinzen bis zum 21. Dezember zu klären.

Ich erhielt diese Antwort von einem Sprecher der Canada Public Health Agency: “Die kanadische Regierung hat Priorität, die Gesundheit und Sicherheit der Kanadier zu schützen.”

– Ken Campbell (@THNKenCampbell), 17. Dezember 2020

Wie wird die Liga-Ausrichtung aussehen?

Hier wird es angeblich schwierig. Es besteht eine gute Chance, dass Sie sich von den Konferenz- und Abteilungsausrichtungen verabschieden, für deren Auswendiglernen Sie Jahre gebraucht haben – zumindest für die Saison 2021. David Pagnotta, Herausgeber von The Fourth Period, berichtete am 18. Dezember nach Daly’s Ankündigung über dieses Setup:

Bis zur Freigabe durch die Provinzen werden die 4 NHL-Divisionen in dieser Saison:

Kanadisch: CGY, EDM, MTL, OTT, OTT, VAN, WPG
Atlantik: BOS, BUF, NJ, NYI, NYR, PHI, PIT, WAS
Zentral: AUTO, CBJ, DET, CHI, DAL, FLA, NAS, TB
Pazifik: ANA, AZ, COL, LA, MIN, SJ, STL, VGK

– David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod), 19. Dezember 2020

Die Teams müssen aus einer Reihe von Gründen versetzt werden, darunter Reisen, staatliche Quarantänebeschränkungen und möglicherweise geschlossene Grenzen zwischen Kanada und den Vereinigten Staaten. Die Grenze ist vorerst bis zum 21. Januar geschlossen; Das Datum wurde jedoch seit Beginn der Pandemie mehrfach verschoben, und die Schließung wird voraussichtlich verlängert.

“In Bezug auf das Reiseproblem, das offensichtlich das große Unbekannte ist, müssen wir uns möglicherweise vorübergehend neu ausrichten, um mit der Geografie fertig zu werden, und das kann sinnvoll sein, da einige unserer Teams möglicherweise nicht von Florida nach Kalifornien reisen.” Sagte Bettman.

“Es kann sein, dass wir besser dran sind, insbesondere wenn wir einen reduzierten Zeitplan spielen, über den wir nachdenken, ihn geografisch zentriert, abteilungsbasierter halten und uns erneut vorübergehend neu ausrichten, um die Reise zu bewältigen.” Probleme.”

Während die All-Canada-Division das am schlechtesten gehütete Geheimnis der NHL war – Foley hat es tatsächlich während des Radioauftritts im Oktober angesprochen, als er gefragt wurde, ob er gegen den kürzlich gehandelten Nate Schmidt spielen möchte -, liegt dies jetzt in der Luft, während die Provinzen Gesundheitsprotokolle ausarbeiten . Es gab eine Diskussion, dass alle 31 Teams im Jahr 2021 in den Vereinigten Staaten spielen könnten.

Vorausgesetzt, die rein kanadische Division ist ein Erfolg, ist Sporting News der Ansicht, dass die Dinge aufgrund der aktuellen Beschränkungen derzeit ins Wanken geraten könnten.

Abteilung A.

Wie Sporting News am 10. November erwähnte, wie wäre es, für diese eine Saison zur alten Adams Division zurückzukehren?

Boston Bruins	Buffalo Sabres
New Jersey Devils	New York Islanders
New York Rangers	Philadelphia Flyer
Pittsburgh Pinguine	Washington Capitals

Abteilung B.

Oder Norris Division?

Carolina Hurricanes	Chicago Blackhawks
Columbus Blue Jackets	Detroit Red Wings
Florida Panthers	Nashville Predators
St. Louis Blues	Tampa Bay Blitz

Abteilung C.

Smythe Division, jemand?

Anaheim Enten	Arizona Coyotes
Colorado Lawine	Dallas Stars
Los Angeles Kings	Minnesota Wild
San Jose Sharks	Vegas Golden Knights

Kanada Division

Zu guter Letzt Patrick Division?

Calgary Flames	Edmonton Oilers
Montreal Canadiens	Senatoren von Ottawa
Toronto Maple Leafs	Vancouver Canucks
Winnipeg Jets

Wie werden die Playoffs funktionieren?

Es ist noch viel zu entscheiden und es sind noch einige Monate bis dahin, aber Friedman berichtete, dass ein kanadisches Team definitiv im sogenannten Stanley Cup-Halbfinale als Teil eines 16-Team-Formats sein wird.

Playoffs werden in jeder Division unter den ersten vier sein – jede Division bringt einen Champion für das Stanley Cup-Halbfinale hervor

– Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC), 19. Dezember 2020

Werden die Dienstpläne erweitert?

Wie in der NHL-Blase wird erwartet, dass die Dienstpläne für die Saison 2021 erweitert werden. Laut Seravalli, der am 8. Dezember erstmals über die Erweiterung des Dienstplans berichtete, werden in den NHL-Dienstplänen 23 Spieler mit vier bis sechs zusätzlichen Spielern in einem Taxikader vertreten sein. Die Gehaltsobergrenze wird weiterhin bei 81,5 Millionen US-Dollar liegen, wobei die Spieler des Taxikaders die vollen AHL-Gehälter erhalten, da sie alle reisen werden.

Wie im Insiderhandel auf @SportsCentre berichtet, planen CGY, EDM und VAN, ihre AHL-Teams für die Saison 20-21 in 🇺🇸 zu verlassen, was zusätzliche grenzüberschreitende Einsätze ziemlich schwierig macht.

Manitoba, Toronto, Laval und Belleville planen, in AHLs All-Div zu spielen.

Vorläufiger Start der AHL am 5. Februar

– Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli), 9. Dezember 2020

Es wurde berichtet, dass die kanadischen NHL-Teams mit AHL-Tochtergesellschaften in den USA (Calgary-Stockton, Kalifornien; Edmonton-Bakersfield, Kalifornien; Vancouver-Utica, NY) ihre Babyclubs im Süden halten werden. Dies macht die Sache interessant, wenn Rückrufe erforderlich sind.

MEHR: Wann wird die AHL zurückkehren? Schlüsseldaten, NHL-Auswirkungen für die Saison 2021

Können Spieler das Spielen im Jahr 2021 ablehnen?

Ja. Laut Seravalli gibt es eine Opt-out-Option, wenn ein Spieler oder ein Familienmitglied als risikoreich eingestuft wird. Einige Spieler haben sich vom Bubble Hockey abgemeldet, darunter Travis Hamonic (Flames) und Mike Green (Oilers).

Warum hat das so lange gedauert?

Ein Wort: Geld.

Mitte November wurde berichtet, dass die NHL das Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), mit dem der Tarifvertrag (CBA) im Juli verlängert wurde, optimieren wollte, und die Spieler waren darüber nicht allzu glücklich.

Quellen sagen, dass es keine Diskussionen mehr über vorgeschlagene finanzielle Änderungen der Absichtserklärung geben wird, in denen die Bedingungen der CBA dargelegt werden. Am Sonntag schlug die NHLPA mehr aufgeschobene Gelder vor, beinhaltete jedoch zu keinem Zeitpunkt eine Erhöhung des Treuhandprozentsatzes. Konzentrieren Sie sich jetzt auf einen Saisonstart Mitte Januar.

– Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger), 8. Dezember 2020

Laut Friedman hat die NHL der NHL Players ‘Association zwei Vorschläge bezüglich Treuhand- und Zahlungsaufschub übermittelt. Am Ende hielt die NHLPA fest und die NHL entfernte die Anfrage.

MEHR: Erklären Sie Treuhandkonto, Zahlungsaufschub und wie sich dies auf die kommende Saison auswirken kann

Wird es Fans geben?

Immer noch kein Update dazu im großen Stil. Ab sofort hat jeder Staat oder jede Provinz ihre eigenen Richtlinien für soziale Einstellungen und Gruppen, sodass dies möglicherweise für eine Weile nicht bekannt ist. Bettman sagte während seiner jährlichen Pressekonferenz zum Stanley Cup-Finale im September, dass es eine fließende Situation ist, Fans zuzulassen.

“Ich werfe es nur als zufälligen Gedanken raus: Es ist denkbar, dass wir ohne Fans anfangen, dass wir irgendwann zu sozial entfernten Fans wechseln und zu einem bestimmten Zeitpunkt vielleicht unsere Gebäude offen sind”, sagte er. “Ich sage nicht, dass dies der Fall ist, aber wenn Sie alle denkbaren Möglichkeiten durchdenken – es ist voll, es ist leer, es gibt eine Kombination – und wie wir anfangen, bedeutet nicht unbedingt, dass wir so enden müssen . “

Florida Gators basketball star Keyontae Johnson, who collapsed on the court during a game on Saturday, was the subject of congratulations and was recovering from second grade students at a Florida elementary school. Johnson was placed in a medically induced coma but is currently in a stable condition and breathing on his own.

Kaitlyn Day, a teacher at Meadowbrook Elementary in Gainesville, Florida, was ready to teach on Monday when the subject of Johnson’s health emerged.

“We were talking about Florida sports in my class and one of my students was confused as to why the soccer players were [at Florida’s game vs. LSU this past weekend] wore a different number and why we took a moment to be silent, “Day told ESPN.” We then talked about it and one of my students wanted to write to Keyontae so that I would let him. “

Sports at the University of Florida is often a hot topic in the classroom as many of the students are fans. Day has a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Florida and is still enrolled in college to work on her PhD.

After the letters were finished, Day tweeted pictures of the students’ efforts on Wednesday.

If your second grade wants @Keyontae to feel better, take them all notes! Hope this mail makes you smile – get well soon! @MikeWhiteUF @espn @GatorsMBK pic.twitter.com/obj9PiC74h

– Kaitlyn (@ kaitlynday03) December 16, 2020

“I’ve never seen a game [but] I want you to be better so I can see the Gators win. [Love] Parker, “wrote a letter.

“You are the best player I have ever known,” wrote another with a drawing of a smiling Johnson holding a basketball with fans in his hand and yelling: “He’s the best!” and “look at him!”

For their part, the Florida Gators responded to Day’s tweet, saying they would make sure Johnson saw the letters.

Day says she is excited about what the students have come up with.

“I couldn’t be more proud of her,” said Day. “They took very vague directions and made them into something that mattered to them. Their work is real and sentimental to them and they were so excited to put a smile on someone’s face. Students really learned to care caring for someone and being allowed to do something for someone’s day, even without knowing them. “

Johnson has received a ton of congratulations and support on social media. The Gators’ top scorer has shown progress in recovery and is awake, sitting up and talking to his doctors and teammates, according to the University of Florida. The Gators have decided to postpone upcoming games, including December 19th against Florida Atlantic, December 20th against Florida A&M and December 22nd against James Madison.

MLB announced on Wednesday morning that seven different Negro leagues will receive official major league status, a long overdue correction related to the leagues that have produced some of baseball’s greatest hall of famers.

As part of this announcement, MLB announced that “these players’ stats and records will become part of the history of Major League Baseball.” It remains to be seen how exactly that will be dealt with, but players who have played in both organizations will get a bump in their official stats.

MORE: Why “Indians” should be a passing name for Cleveland’s baseball team

Here are five players who played in the Negro leagues for at least a couple of years before playing in either the American League or the National League in the years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier.

This is what the combined Major League stats look like now. All of the Negro League stats come from the Seamheads Negro League database, the website that was specifically mentioned in the MLB release as the driving force behind this decision. The numbers we’ve used refer to Negro League games, not games against Latin American leagues or any other league.

Monte Irvin

Elected to the Hall of Fame: 1973

Have to know: Irvin made his Negro League debut in 1938 at the age of 19 and quickly became one of the Newark Eagles’ finest players. He hit with 371 in 1940, 395 in 1941, and 412 in 1942. He was 30 when he made his MLB debut for the Giants – integrating the club on the same day as Hank Thompson in 1949 – and quickly becoming a star in the National League . Irvin finished third in the NL MVP race in 1951 and All-Star in 1952.

Negro Leagues Statistics: 286 G, 1,189 PA, 0.335 average 214 runs, 51 2B, 13 3B, 41 HR, 259 RBI, 26 SB
National League Statistics: 764 G, 2,893 PA, 293 average, 366 runs, 97 2B, 31 3B, 99 HR, 443 RBI, 28 SB
Main league combined statistics: 1,050 G, 4,082 PA, .305 average, 580 runs, 148 2B, 44 3B, 140 HR, 702 RBI, 54 SB

Larry Doby

Elected to the Hall of Fame: 1998

Have to know: As you can see from the numbers, Doby hit the jackpot in his three seasons in the Negro National League, and he was only 23 when he broke the color barrier in the American League on his debut with the Cleveland Indians in July 1947, and hit Doby in his first full season with Cleveland .301 and made the All-Star Team seven years in a row, from 1949 to 1951.

Negro Leagues Statistics: 144 G, 642 PA, 0.327 average, 125 runs, 35 2B, 18 3B, 21 HR, 130 RBI, 20 SB
American League Statistics: 1.533 G, 6.302 PA, 0.283 average, 960 runs, 243 2B, 52 3B, 253 HR, 970 RBI, 47 SB
Main league combined statistics: 1,677 G, 6,944 PA, .287 average, 1,085 runs, 278 2B, 70 3B, 274 HR, 1,100 RBI, 67 SB

Satchel Paige

Elected to the Hall of Fame: 1971

Have to know: The biggest pitcher who had his heyday in the pre-integration era was two days after his 42nd birthday when he made his debut as Dobby’s teammate at the Cleveland Club. That did not prevent him from being an effective helper until the 1953 season, when he was 47 years old. And Paige returned to play for the Kansas City Athletics in 1965 – he played for the Kansas City Monarchs in his prime when he was 59 years old. He pitched three goalless innings, allowing only one hit and even knocking out a stroke.

Negro Leagues Statistics: 265 G, 1.521 IP, 2.36 ERA, 112-60, 1.235 H, 22 HR, 344 BB, 1.469 K.
American League Statistics: 179 G, 476 IP, 3.29 ERA, 28-31, 429 H, 29 HR, 180 BB, 288 K.
Main league combined statistics: 444 G, 1.997 IP, 2.58 ERA, 1.664 H, 51 HR, 524 BB, 1.757 K.

Roy Campanella

Elected to the Hall of Fame: 1969

Have to know: The great Campy made his debut in the Negro National League in 1937 when he was only 15 years old. He won three National League MVP awards, made the NL All-Star Team eight seasons in a row, and led the Brooklyn Dodgers to the 1955 World Series title. However, in January 1958, Campanella was in a car accident and the injuries he sustained left him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He was 36 years old at the time of the incident.

Negro Leagues Statistics: 225 G, 868 PA, 0.323 average, 150 runs, 44 2B, 12 3B, 19 HR, 171 RBI
National League Statistics: 1.215 G, 4.816 PA, 0.276 avg, 627 runs, 178 2B, 18 3B, 242 HR, 856 RBI
Main league combined statistics: 1,440 G, 5,684 PA, 0.284 average, 777 runs, 222 2B, 30 3B, 261 HR, 1,027 RBI

Minnie Minoso

Elected to the Hall of Fame: Not yet

Have to know: Perhaps it is this long overdue decision that gets Miñoso into the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. His career spanned decades, plural, and the bold / italic numbers – which indicate the league’s leading stats – can be found on his baseball reference page. How many players ran a league in stolen bases (three times) AND total bases (once)?

Negro Leagues Statistics: 120 G, 550 PA, 0.314 average, 94 runs, 32 2B, 12 3B, 9 HR, 70 RBI, 11 SB
American League Statistics: 1,835 G, 7,713 PA, 298 average, 1,136 runs, 336 2B, 83 3B, 186 HR, 1,023 RBI, 205 SB
Main league combined statistics: 1,955 G, 8,263 PA, 300 average, 1,230 runs, 368 2B, 95 3B, 195 HR, 1,093 RBI, 216 SB