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🚨 Headlines

🏈 Sitake stays put: BYU’s Kalani Sitake, whom Penn State was reportedly targeting to be their next head coach, has instead signed an extension to remain in Provo. Great news for the Cougars (11-1), who are about to play in the Big 12 championship for a spot in the CFP.

🏀 Clips part ways with CP3: The Clippers sent Chris Paul home in the middle of their road trip, parting ways with the future Hall of Famer in the middle of his 21st and final NBA season. Specifics of the split are not yet known.

⚽️ U.S. books elite matchups: The USMNT will face Belgium, Portugal and Germany in friendlies next year during their two international windows (March and June) ahead of the World Cup. All three teams are currently ranked in the top 10, with a fourth opponent still to be determined.

🏎️ Max’s new teammate: Red Bull is promoting Isack Hadjar to be their second driver next season in place of Yuki Tsunoda. Hadjar will be Max Verstappen’s fourth teammate in the past three years, as Red Bull searches for some stability alongside their four-time defending champ.

🏀 Thrilling night of college hoops: Unranked Syracuse stunned No. 13 Tennessee, 62-60; No. 4 Duke held off No. 15 Florida’s furious rally for a 67-66 win; No. 16 North Carolina (over No. 18 Kentucky) and No. 5 UConn (over No. 21 Kansas) both picked up narrow road victories.

💬 Words to live by

Oregon State’s new head football coach, JaMarcus Shephard, shared some powerful words on Tuesday. So powerful, in fact, that I decided to start today’s edition with them. Amid constant headlines about coaching salaries, NIL payments and CFP predictions, this is the stuff that really matters.

JaMarcus Shephard:

I think that each and every one of us approaches each day with a little bit of brokenness inside of us. Everyone has a little bit of brokenness inside of them, regardless of how you grew up, regardless of what your home environment was. Everybody has a little bit of brokenness and a will to win.

I want everyone to know that you can still achieve the level of success that you want, regardless of the brokenness that you have inside. These young men walking around here, they have issues that you would never know. I’ve been in this position, l’ve been in this office now for just over 24 hours and I already had a young man break down crying in my office.

All of them are walking around with a little bit of brokenness, and I just wanted to help reinforce in them that, no, you could have the type of success that you want to have regardless of that. So, that inspires me every day.

It’s funny, my wife gotta listen some days. I get up in the morning, I look in the mirror, and I say to myself, “There’s someone who needs you today, big dog. They need you. They need you now. They don’t need you a week from now. They don’t need you a month from now. They need you today. I don’t care what’s going on in your life right now. Go help them.” And that is what my life is all about. It’s about helping people.

🏈 CFP: Could Notre Dame fall out?

Did the College Football Playoff Committee just set a trapdoor for Notre Dame to fall right out of the field and be replaced by Miami?

From Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wolken:

After weeks of propping up Notre Dame’s feeble résumé to make it seem like the Irish were a lock for the 12-team field as long as they finished 10-2, there is legitimate drama surrounding the playoff’s most divisive contender as we head into the final weekend.

In a surprise Tuesday night during the penultimate ranking show on ESPN, the committee moved Alabama up to No. 9 and dropped Notre Dame to No. 10.

That’s crucial because, with the ACC and American Conference champions almost certainly finishing outside of the top-12, the last at-large spot will go to the team ranked No. 10.

Why is that potentially bad news for Notre Dame? It all comes down to, of all things, the Big 12 championship game between Texas Tech and BYU.

The Red Raiders are ranked No. 4 and seem to be a playoff lock regardless of what happens. BYU is No. 11 and would get an automatic bid with a win, giving the Big 12 a second playoff team — and knocking Notre Dame out of playoff position.

But here’s where it gets really interesting.

Say Texas Tech wins, as expected. That would presumably knock the Cougars down in the rankings among other two-loss teams. And if the committee’s ordering of the two-loss teams looks like it did this week, that means the final two teams to evaluate for the last spot would be either Notre Dame or … Miami.

So far, the selection committee has resisted a direct either/or comparison between Notre Dame and Miami because the Irish have been ranked several spots ahead.

But if that becomes the inevitable choice for the final playoff spot, would the committee not have to default to Miami’s 27-24 win over Notre Dame in Week 1 as the tiebreaker to jump the Hurricanes into the final at-large spot?

“The head-to-head is one data point the committee will use,” selection committee chairman Hunter Yurachek said Tuesday. “It’s obviously easier to use when the teams are back-to-back [in the rankings] as opposed to when they’re separated by a team or two or three as has been the case.”

Uh, oh, Irish. At the very least, the committee understands the theatrical aspect of what it just did. One way or another, Notre Dame vs. Miami for the final spot would be the most explosive controversy in the 12-year history of the CFP.

Keep reading.

💯 Big numbers

⚽️ 100 goals

Manchester City’s Erling Haaland scored his 100th Premier League goal in his 111th match on Tuesday, making him the fastest player to reach the century mark. The previous record of 124 matches, held by Alan Shearer, stood for 30 years.

Fastest to 100 goals: Haaland (111 matches), Shearer (124), Harry Kane (141), Sergio Agüero (147), Thierry Henry (160), Mohamed Salah (162), Ian Wright (173), Robbie Fowler (175), Les Ferdinand (178), Michael Owen (185), Andy Cole (185).

🏀 116.8 points

NBA teams are scoring at a historic clip to start the season, averaging 116.8 points per game through November. That’s the third-highest mark entering December since the early 1960s, trailing only the 1961-62 season (118.1 ppg) and 1960-61 season (117.4 ppg), back when legends like Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain were at the height of their powers.

The game has changed: Back in 1961-62, NBA teams attempted 108 field goals (none of which were threes) and 37 free throws per game. This season, they’re attempting 89 field goals (37 of which are threes) and 25 free throws per game. The final scores may look the same, but it’s a completely different sport.

🏈 $3.3 million

One bettor at BetMGM put $50,000 on the Bears earlier this season to win the Super Bowl at 66-1 odds. The bet would win $3.3 million, which is currently the largest reported futures bet for Super Bowl LX at any legal U.S. sportsbook.

🏀 45.3% of games

Zion Williamson, already limited to just 10 games this season due to injury, will now miss “extended time” with an adductor strain. Since entering the league in 2019, the Pelicans star has played in just 224 of a possible 494 regular-season games. That’s a 45.3% availability rate.

Dark days in New Orleans: Though it’s still early, this is looking like it may be another lost season for the Pelicans, who have the worst record in the NBA (3-19) and fired their head coach last month. Now their best player is back in street clothes… again.

🏈 $228 million

Total buyouts for 15 fired FBS coaches in 2025 has reached $228 million, which is a record by nearly $100 million.

The biggest buyouts: LSU’s Brian Kelly ($54 million), Kentucky’s Mark Stoops ($38 million), Michigan State’s Jonathan Smith ($33.5 million), Florida’s Billy Napier ($21 million), Auburn’s Hugh Freeze ($15.8 million) and Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy ($15 million).

🏒 38 years old

Sidney Crosby is defying Father Time in his age-38 season, fueling the Penguins’ surprise start (13-7-5) and ranking third in the NHL with 18 goals. The ages of the other players in the top five: 20, 27, 28 and 30.

🏈 NFL playoff picture

With five weeks left in the regular season, just 10 teams in each conference still have a realistic shot of making the playoffs.

NFC: The Bears are No. 1 in the NFC entering December for the first time since 2006, which is also the last time they reached the Super Bowl. It hasn’t always been pretty, as evidenced by their +6 scoring differential (eighth-best in the conference), but wins are wins.

1. Bears (9-3)

2. Rams (9-3)

3. Eagles (8-4)

4. Buccaneers (7-5)

5. Seahawks (9-3)

6. Packers (8-3-1)

7. 49ers (9-4)

…

• In the hunt: Lions (7-5), Cowboys (6-5-1), Panthers (7-6)

• Highly unlikely: Falcons (4-8), Vikings (4-8), Commanders (3-9)

• Eliminated: Cardinals (3-9), Saints (2-10), Giants (2-11)

Games of the week: Cowboys at Lions (Thursday night), Bears at Packers, Eagles at Chargers (Monday night)

AFC: The Chiefs have made at least the Conference Championship in all seven seasons of the Patrick Mahomes era. In Year 8, they may need to run the table to even reach the postseason.

1. Patriots (11-2)

2. Broncos (10-2)

3. Jaguars (8-4)

4. Ravens (6-6)

5. Chargers (8-4)

6. Colts (8-4)

7. Bills (8-4)

…

• In the hunt: Texans (7-5), Steelers (6-6), Chiefs (6-6),

• Highly unlikely: Dolphins (5-7), Bengals* (4-8), Jets (3-9), Browns (3-9)

• Eliminated: Raiders (2-10), Titans (1-11)

Games of the week: Colts at Jaguars, Steelers at Ravens, Texans at Chiefs (Sunday night), Bengals at Bills

Go deeper:Week 14 power rankings(Frank Schwab, Yahoo Sports)

*Could Cincy pull off a stunner? The wild card is out of the question for the 4-8 Bengals, but they’re just two games behind the division-leading Ravens and Steelers (both 6-6) with five games to play.

📺 Watchlist: Wednesday, Dec. 3

🏀 Heat at Mavericks

Dallas — which has won two straight for the first time all season — hosts Miami (8:30pm ET, NBA) as the Mavs seek another victory behind rookie Cooper Flagg, who appears to have put his slow start behind him.

Heating up: In the past week, 18-year-old Flagg has become the youngest player in NBA history to score 35+ points in a game and the youngest to dish out 10+ assists. After averaging 13.9 points on 40.3% FG in his first 10 games, Flagg has averaged 19.9 points on 51.5% FG in his last 11.

⚽️ Premier League, Week 14

A trio of top-12 matchups headline today’s six-game slate. First-place Arsenal hosts 12th-place Brentford (2:30pm, USA), fifth-place Brighton hosts fourth-place Aston Villa (2:30pm, Peacock) and eighth-place Liverpool hosts sixth-place Sunderland (3:15pm, Peacock).

More to watch:

• 🏒 NHL: Sabres at Flyers (7:30pm); Mammoth at Ducks (10pm) … Anaheim (16-9-1) sits in first place in the Pacific.

• 🏀 NCAAM: No. 6 Louisville at No. 25 Arkansas (7:15pm, ESPN); Clemson at No. 12 Alabama (7:15pm, ESPNU); SMU at No. 17 Vanderbilt (9:15pm, SEC) … Vandy is off to its first 8-0 start since 2007-08 behind the nation’s second-best offense (97.9 ppg).

• 🏀 NCAAW: No. 17 Kentucky at Miami (5pm, ESPN2); Virginia at No. 15 Vanderbilt (5pm, SEC); NC State at No. 9 Oklahoma (7pm, ESPN2); No. 19 Tennessee at Stanford (9:15pm, ESPN2) … The Vandy women are also off to an 8-0 start, their first since 2011-12.

Today’s full slate.

🏀 NBA trivia

The top four betting favorites for NBA MVP are all international players:

1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

2. Nikola Jokić

3. Luka Dončić

4. Giannis Antetokounmpo

Question: Can you name the countries all four were born in?

Answer at the bottom.

🏀 LSU won’t stop scoring

Fifth-ranked LSU isn’t just off to an undefeated start — they’ve accomplished something no other team in the history of the sport has ever done before.

Keep it 100: The scorching-hot Tigers (8-0) have scored 100 points in all eight games so far, breaking a 43-year-old NCAA record for the longest streak of 100-point games at any point in a season.

• LSU 108, Houston Christian 55

• LSU 115, SE Louisiana 26

• LSU 118, Georgia Southern 70

• LSU 117, Charlotte 59

• LSU 101, Tulane 71

• LSU 112, Alcorn State 49

• LSU 113, Marist 53

• LSU 112, Washington State 35

Flashback: The previous record was held by Louisiana Tech, which scored 100+ in six straight games in February 1982 before winning the inaugural NCAA women’s basketball championship that March. Here’s the kicker: The same woman had a hand in both streaks. In 1982, Kim Mulkey was Tech’s All-American starting point guard. 43 years later, she’s LSU’s head coach.

Trivia answer: Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada), Jokić (Serbia), Dončić (Slovenia), Antetokounmpo (Greece)

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