The Bulletin. (Bend, OR) 1963-current, January 12, 2021, Page 6, Image 6

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    A6 THE BULLETIN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2021
ON THE AIR
SCOREBOARD
TUESDAY
BASKETBALL
Men’s College, Miami (Ohio) at Ohio
Men’s College, Wisconsin at Michigan
Men’s College, Tennessee at South Carolina
Men’s College, Miami at Boston College
Men’s College, Ole Miss at Florida
Men’s College, Butler at St. John’s
Men’s College, Alabama at Kentucky
Men’s College, West Virginia at Baylor
Men’s College, Teams TBA
Men’s College, Vanderbilt at Missouri
Men’s College, Providence at Marquette
SOCCER
Premier League, Burnley vs Manchester United
Time
4 p.m.
4 p.m.
4 p.m.
4 p.m.
4 p.m.
4 p.m.
6 p.m.
6 p.m.
6 p.m.
6 p.m.
6 p.m.
TV
CBSSN
ESPN
ESPN2
ROOT
SEC
FS1
ESPN
ESPN2
PAC12
SEC
FS1
12:10 p.m. NBCSN
College
FOOTBALL
NFL Playoffs
DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS
Saturday, Jan. 16
Los Angeles Rams at Green Bay, 1:35 p.m.
Baltimore at Buffalo, 5:15 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 17
Cleveland at Kansas City, 12:05 p.m.
Tampa Bay at New Orleans, 3:40 p.m.
College
COLLEGE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Monday at Miami Gardens, Fla.
No. 1 Alabama 52, No. 3 Ohio St. 24
BASKETBALL
WEDNESDAY
BASKETBALL
Women’s College, Ohio State at Iowa
Men’s College, Northwestern at Ohio State
Men’s College, Duquesne at Dayton
Men’s College, Arkansas at LSU
Men’s College, Iowa State at Kansas State
Men’s College, Auburn at Georgia
Women’s College, St. John’s at DePaul
NBA, Brooklyn Nets at New York Knicks
Men’s College, DePaul at Georgetown
Men’s College, Illinois at Nebraska
Men’s College, Boise State at Wyoming
Men’s College, Texas Tech at Texas
Men’s College, Texas A&M at Mississippi State
NBA, New Orleans Pelicans at Los Angeles Clippers
NBA, Portland Trail Blazers at Sacramento Kings
HOCKEY
NHL, Pittsburgh Penguins at Philadelphia Flyers
NHL, Chicago Blackhawks at Tampa Bay Lightning
NHL, St. Louis Blues at Colorado Avalanche
SOCCER
Premier League,
Manchester City vs Brighton & Hove Albion
Premier League, Aston Villa vs Tottenham Hotspur
Time
TV
1 p.m.
BIG10
4 p.m.
BIG10
4 p.m.
CBSSN
4 p.m.
ESPN2
4 p.m.
ESPNU
4 p.m.
SEC
4 p.m.
FS2
4:30 p.m.
ESPN
5:30 p.m.
FS1
6 p.m.
BIG10
6 p.m.
CBSSN
6 p.m.
ESPN2
6 p.m.
SEC
7 p.m.
ESPN
7 p.m. NBCSNW
2:15 p.m.
5 p.m.
7:30 p.m.
NBCSN
NBCSN
NBCSN
9:55 a.m. NBCSN
12:10 p.m. NBCSN
Listings are the most accurate available.
SPORTS BRIEFING
OLYMPICS
Survey shows many Japanese believe Tokyo Games
should be canceled or postponed — More than 80% of
people in Japan who were surveyed in two polls in the last
few days say the Tokyo Olympics should be canceled or post-
poned, or say they believe the Olympics will not take place.
The polls were conducted by the Japanese news agency Kyodo
and TBS — the Tokyo Broadcasting System. The results are
bad news for Tokyo organizers and the International Olympic
Committee as they continue to say the postponed Olympics
will open on July 23. Tokyo is battling a surge of COVID-19
cases that prompted the national government last week to
call a state of emergency. In declaring the emergency, Prime
Minister Yoshihide Suga said he was confident the Olympics
would be held. Japan has controlled the virus relatively well
but the surge has heightened skepticism about the need for
the Olympics and the danger of potentially bringing 15,000
Olympic and Paralympic athletes into the country.
NBA
EASTERN CONFERENCE
W
L
Pct
Boston
7
3
.700
Indiana
6
3
.667
Milwaukee
7
4
.636
Phila.
7
4
.636
Orlando
6
5
.545
Charlotte
6
5
.545
Miami
4
4
.500
Atlanta
5
5
.500
New York
5
6
.455
Brooklyn
5
6
.455
Cleveland
5
6
.455
Chicago
4
7
.364
Washington
3
8
.273
Toronto
2
7
.222
Detroit
2
8
.200
WESTERN CONFERENCE
W
L
Pct
L.A. Lakers
8
3
.727
L.A. Clippers
7
4
.636
Phoenix
7
4
.636
Utah
6
4
.600
Golden State
6
4
.600
Dallas
5
4
.556
Portland
5
4
.556
Oklahoma City
5
4
.556
Denver
5
5
.500
San Antonio
5
5
.500
New Orleans
4
5
.444
Sacramento
4
6
.400
Memphis
4
6
.400
Houston
3
5
.375
Minnesota
3
7
.300
Monday’s Games
Milwaukee 121, Orlando 99
Charlotte 109, New York 88
Washington 128, Phoenix 107
Memphis 101, Cleveland 91
Atlanta 112, Phila. 94
New Orleans at Dallas, ppd
Indiana at Sacramento, late
Toronto at Portland, late
Tuesday’s Games
Miami at Phila., 4 p.m.
Denver at Brooklyn, 4:30 p.m.
Utah at Cleveland, 4:30 p.m.
Boston at Chicago, ppd
L.A. Lakers at Houston, 5 p.m.
San Antonio at Oklahoma City, 5 p.m.
Indiana at Golden State, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday’s Games
Dallas at Charlotte, 4 p.m.
Milwaukee at Detroit, 4 p.m.
Utah at Washington, 4 p.m.
Brooklyn at New York, 4:30 p.m.
Orlando at Boston, 4:30 p.m.
L.A. Lakers at Oklahoma City, 5 p.m.
Memphis at Minnesota, 5 p.m.
Atlanta at Phoenix, 6 p.m.
New Orleans at L.A. Clippers, 7 p.m.
Portland at Sacramento, 7 p.m.
Thursday’s Games
Charlotte at Toronto, 4:30 p.m.
Miami at Phila., 4:30 p.m.
Houston at San Antonio, 5:30 p.m.
Golden State at Denver, 7 p.m.
Indiana at Portland, 7 p.m.
GB
—
½
½
½
1½
1½
2
2
2½
2½
2½
3½
4½
4½
5
GB
—
1
1
1½
1½
2
2
2
2½
2½
3
3½
3½
3½
4½
THE AP TOP 25
Record
Pts
Prv
1. Gonzaga (63)
12-0
1599
1
2. Baylor (1)
11-0
1536
2
3. Villanova
8-1
1436
3
4. Texas
10-1
1422
4
5. Iowa
11-2
1322
5
6. Kansas
10-2
1220
6
7. Michigan
10-0
1161
10
8. Creighton
10-2
1151
7
9. Wisconsin
10-2
1110
8
10. Tennessee
9-1
1093
9
11. Houston
10-1
993
11
12. Clemson
9-1
747
19
13. West Virginia
9-4
701
14
14. Illinois
9-4
694
12
15. Texas Tech
10-3
689
18
16. Louisville
8-1
464
-
17. Missouri
7-2
436
13
18. Virginia
7-2
403
22
19. Duke
5-2
397
21
20. Virginia Tech
9-2
286
19
21. Ohio State
9-3
280
-
22. Oregon
9-2
264
17
23. Minnesota
10-4
233
16
24. Saint Louis
7-1
220
23
25. Connecticut
6-1
181
-
Others receiving votes: Alabama 173, UCLA 137, Colo-
rado 96, Florida State 74, Southern California 48, Rutgers
46, Drake 42, Michigan State 34, Oklahoma State 28, Ar-
kansas 24, San Diego State 10, Boise State 8, Florida 7,
Xavier 7, LSU 7, Northwestern 6, Tulsa 5, North Carolina
State 5, Indiana 2, Winthrop 2, Belmont 1.
COACHES POLL
Record
Pts
Prv
1. Gonzaga (29)
12-0
797
1
2. Baylor (3)
11-0
771
2
3. Villanova
8-1
722
3
4. Texas
10-1
703
4
5. Michigan
10-0
599
9
6. Creighton
10-2
597
5
7. Kansas
10-2
587
6
8. Iowa
11-2
586
7
9. Wisconsin
10-2
556
10
10. Tennessee
9-1
535
8
11. Houston
10-1
496
11
12. Clemson
9-1
374
18
13. Illinois
7-2
347
12
14. West Virginia
9-4
272
16
15. Texas Tech
9-4
255
19
16. Missouri
7-2
243
13
17. Oregon
9-2
205
15
18. Louisvile
8-1
192
25
19. Minnesota
10-4
166
17
20. Virginia Tech
9-2
162
20
21. UCLA
9-2
148
NR
22. Virginia
7-2
147
21
23. Duke
5-2
124
24
24. Saint Louis
7-1
114
23
25. Alabama
9-3
114
NR
Dropped out: No. 14 Rutgers (7-4); No. 22 Florida State
(5-2). Others receiving votes: Ohio State (9-3) 112; Con-
necticut (6-1) 91; Rutgers (7-4) 68; Florida State (5-2) 67;
Southern California (8-2) 44; Colorado (8-3) 37; Xavier
(10-2) 31; Drake (13-0) 29; Boise State (10-1) 29; San
Diego State (9-2) 22; Stanford (8-3) 18; Oklahoma State
(8-3) 16; Michigan State (8-4) 13; Arkansas (10-2) 8; Rich-
mond (9-3) 2; Seton Hall (9-5) 1.
PACIFIC-12 CONFERENCE
Conference
All Games
W L
Pct W L Pct
UCLA
5 0 1.000 9 2 .818
Oregon
4 1
.800 9 2 .818
Stanford
4 1
.800 8 3 .727
Southern Cal
3 1
.750 8 2 .800
Colorado
3 2
.600 9 3 .750
Arizona
3 3
.500 9 3 .750
Washington St. 2 2
.500 9 2 .818
Oregon St.
1 2
.333 5 4 .556
Arizona St.
1 2
.333 4 5 .444
Utah
1 4
.200 4 5 .444
California
1 5
.167 6 7 .462
Washington
0 5
.000 1 9 .100
Monday’s Game
Colorado 65, Utah 58
Tuesday’s Game
UC Riverside at Southern Cal, 6 p.m.
Wednesday’s Game
California at Colorado, 6 p.m.
Thursday’s Games
Stanford at Utah, 2 p.m.
Washington St. at UCLA, 2 p.m.
Washington, at Southern Cal, 5:30 p.m.
Arizona St. at Oregon, 6 p.m.
Arizona at Oregon St., 8 p.m.
SCORES
Monday’s Games
AP TOP 25
No. 25 UConn (7-1) beat DePaul 60-53.
MIDWEST
Bradley 75, N. Iowa 73
Loyola of Chicago 58, Indiana St. 48
UConn 60, DePaul 53
SOUTHWEST
Prairie View 73, Texas Southern 67
SMU 79, Temple 68
FAR WEST
Boise St. 83, Wyoming 60
Colorado 65, Utah 58
Women’s college
THE AP TOP 25
Record
Pts Prv
1. Stanford (29)
10-0 747
1
2. Louisville
10-0 696
2
3. North Carolina State (1)
10-0 680
3
4. Connecticut
7-0 678
3
5. South Carolina
8-1 647
5
6. Baylor
8-1 589
6
7. Texas A&M
12-0 580
8
8. UCLA
7-2 532
9
9. Maryland
9-1 479
12
10. Oregon
9-2 454
11
11. Arizona
8-2 437
7
12. Kentucky
9-3 417
10
13. Michigan
9-0 400
15
14. Mississippi State
8-2 386
14
15. Ohio State
6-0 297
16
16. South Florida
9-1 270
18
17. Arkansas
10-4 253
13
18. Indiana
7-3 192
19
19. DePaul
6-3 190
20
20. Gonzaga
10-2 139
21
21. Texas
8-2 125
17
22. Northwestern
6-2 108
22
23. Tennessee
8-1
90
-
24. Syracuse
5-1
77
24
25. Washington State
7-1
73
-
Others receiving votes: Missouri State 61, Georgia 51,
South Dakota State 39, West Virginia 15, Michigan State
15, Alabama 14, Arizona State 7, Rice 5, Iowa 5, North
Carolina 1, IUPUI 1.
PAC-12 CONFERENCE
Conference
All Games
W L
Pct W L Pct
Stanford
7 0 1.000 10 0 1.000
Washington St. 5 1
.833 7 1 .875
Oregon
7 2
.778 9 2 .818
Arizona
6 2
.750 8 2 .800
UCLA
5 2
.714 7 2 .778
Southern Cal
3 5
.375 5 5 .500
Arizona St.
2 4
.333 6 4 .600
Utah
3 6
.333 4 6 .400
Colorado
2 5
.286 4 6 .400
Oregon St.
1 3
.250 3 3 .500
Washington
1 5
.167 4 5 .444
California
0 7
.000 0 10 .000
Monday’s Game
Southern Cal 56, Colorado 52
Thursday’s Game
No. 10 Oregon at No. 11 Arizona, 4 p.m.
SCORES
Monday’s Games
EAST
Binghamton 58, New Hampshire 56
Lehigh 89, American U. 71
SOUTH
Jackson St. 62, Southern U. 42
Murray St. 69, Morehead St. 62
MIDWEST
E. Illinois 77, SIU-Edwardsville 65
Seton Hall 79, Butler 64
SOUTHWEST
Alabama A&M 57, Ark.-Pine Bluff 47
Texas Southern 79, Prairie View 76
FAR WEST
Boise St. 68, Wyoming 61
Southern Cal 56, Colorado 52
DEALS
Transactions
BASEBALL
Major League Baseball
American League
SEATTLE MARINERS — Named Charles Johnson vice
president of corporate partnerships.
National League
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES — Named Dave Lundquist
assistant pitching coach and Mike Calitri quality as-
surance coach.
Minor League Baseball
Frontier League
GATEWAY GRIZZLIES — Signed C/1B Chase Vallot.
SUSSEX COUNTY MINERS — Signed SS Nilo Rijo. Traded
RHP Michael Hope to the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks
of the American Association of Professional Baseball
for INF Trey Hair.
Texas League
FRISCO ROUGHRIDERS — Agreed to terms with Victor
Rojas on a multiyear contract to become president and
general manager.
BASKETBALL
National Basketball Association
NBA — Fined Philadelphia $25,000 for violating the
injury reporting rules.
NBA G League
MEMPHIS HUSTLE — Acquired a No. 2 overall pick in the
2020-2021 draft from Erie in exchange for the return-
ing player rights to F Jarrod Uthoff. Acquired returning
player rights to David Stockton from South Bay in ex-
change for the returning player rights to Dusty Hannahs.
FOOTBALL
National Football League
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS — Signed T Casey Tucker to a
reserve/futures contract.
NEW YORK GIANTS — Signed TE Nakia Griffin-Stew-
art and TE Nate Wieting to a reserve/futures contracts.
TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS — Activated DT Steve McLen-
don and LB Devin White from the reserve/COVID-19 list.
Placed LB Kevin Minter on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
TENNESSEE TITANS — Signed Ts Paul Adams and Bran-
don Kemp, WRs Rashard Davis, Cody Hollister and Ches-
ter Rodgers, TEs Parker Hesse and Tommy Hudson, LBs
Jan Johnson and Tuzar Skipper, QB DeShone Kizer, K
Tucker McCann, C Daniel Munyer, DE Nate Orchard and
LS Matt Orzech to reserve/futures contracts.
WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM — Signed DTs David
Bada and Devaroe Lawrence, WRs Jeff Badet, Tony Brown
and Trevor Davis, DB Jordan Brown, TEs Dylan Cantrell
and Dylan Cantrell, DE Jalen Jelks, RBs Javon Leake and
Jonathan Williams, T Rick Leonard and K Kaare Vedvik to
reserve/futures contracts.
Canadian Football League
WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS — Agreed to terms with
S Brandon Alexander on a one-year contract exten-
sion. Signed WR Macho Bockru and DT Zach Houghron.
HOCKEY
National Hockey League
ARIZONA COYOTES — Signed C Frederik Gauthier to a
one-year contract.
BUFFALO SABRES — Assigned Fs Brandon Biro, Steven
Fogarty, Brett Murray and C.J. Smith to the Rochester
Americans (AHL).
NEW JERSEY DEVILS — Placed Fs Brandon Gignac, Nick
Merkley and Ben Street and Ds Josh Jacobs and Colton
White on waivers. Assigned Fs Nate Schnarr and Brett
Seney and Ds Kevin Bahl, Nikita Okhotiuk and Reilly
Walsh and G Evan Cormier to Binghamton (AHL).
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS — Designated Gs Maxime
Lagace and Alex D’Orio, D Pierre-0liver Joseph, LWs
Drew O’Connor and Sam Poulin, RW Anthony Angello
and C Frederick Gaudreau for assignment/taxi squad.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS — Sent Ds Teemu Kivihalme,
Mac Hollowell and Timothy Liljegren, LW Pierre Engvall
and RW Joey Anderson to Toronto (AHL).
VANCOUVER CANUCKS — Waived Ds Ashton Sautner
and Guillaume Brisebois, C Tyler Graovac, RWs Loui Eriks-
son and Justin Bailey and LW Sven Baertschi.
VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS — Sent Ds Kaedan Korcazak,
Connor Corcoran, Brayden Pachal and Jimmy Schuldt,
Cs Peryton Krebs, Ben Jones, Lucas Elvenes and Jake
Leschyshyn, LW Jack Dugan and Gs Dylan Ferguson and
Logan Thompson to Henderson (AHL).
WASHINGTON CAPITOLS — Sent RWs Kody Clark and
Brett Leason, C Garrett Pilon and LW Joe Snivley to Her-
shey (AHL).
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
FOOTBALL
No. 25 WSU earns 1st ranking in AP Top 25
Eagles fire Pederson — The Philadelphia Eagles have fired
BY DOUG FEINBERG
AP Basketball Writer
coach Doug Pederson, less than three years after he led them
to the franchise’s only Super Bowl title. Pederson was 42-37-1
in five seasons. He led the Eagles to two division titles and
three playoff appearances before going 4-11-1 in 2020. Peder-
son met with owner Jeffrey Lurie last week and again Mon-
day. Pederson’s loyalty to his coaching staff and frustration
with the front office’s interference was a major issue, accord-
ing to a person familiar with the decision. The person said
Pederson and general manager Howie Roseman weren’t on
the same page regarding many personnel moves. Ultimately,
Lurie chose Roseman over Pederson. Pederson benched Car-
son Wentz for the final four games after the quarterback had
the worst season of his career and started rookie Jalen Hurts.
BASKETBALL
Oregon State, Oregon women’s games at ASU post-
poned — The women’s basketball program at Oregon State is
back to full practice sessions after nearly three weeks of pause
due to COVID-19 testing and contact tracing protocol. Play-
ing games, however, must wait. The Beavers’ upcoming oppo-
nent, Arizona State, continues to have its program on pause
due to a COVID-19 outbreak. The OSU-Arizona State game
on Friday in Tempe is postponed. It is Oregon State’s sixth
consecutive game that has been postponed. Oregon State’s
next game is 1 p.m. Sunday against Arizona in Tucson. The
Oregon women’s basketball team’s game in Tempe this Sun-
day has also been postponed. No. 10 Oregon will face No. 11
Arizona on Thursday at 4 p.m. in Tucson. The game will be
nationally televised on ESPN.
NBA calls off 2 more games over virus-related concerns
— The NBA called off two more games because of COVID-re-
lated and contact tracing issues on Monday, and a person with
knowledge of the situation said the Miami Heat were preparing
to be without “at least five” players for the next several days be-
cause of possible exposure to the coronavirus. Monday’s game
in Dallas between the Mavericks and the New Orleans Pelicans
was postponed by the league, as well as Tuesday’s matchup in
Chicago between the Bulls and the Boston Celtics. The league’s
general managers were meeting Monday to discuss the league’s
current virus situation, with involvement from the National
Basketball Players Association. The NBA’s board of governors
will meet Tuesday on the topic. The latest postponements come
one day after Miami’s game in Boston was called off because of
contact-tracing issues within the Heat.
—Bulletin wire reports
MEGABUCKS
The numbers drawn Monday night are:
23 26 31 38 43 48
Oregon
Lottery
results
The estimated jackpot is now $7 million.
As listed at www.oregonlottery.org and individual lottery websites
Kamie Ethridge was sur-
prised to hear that Washington
State had never been ranked
before.
Now the Cougars coach can
add that to the team’s list of ac-
complishments: They entered
The Associated Press women’s
college basketball poll at No. 25
on Monday.
“I honestly didn’t know we’d
never been ranked,” Ethridge
said. “I heard a lot about the
lows we’ve experienced and
talked to our team about the
fact we have no banners. We
have one NCAA Tournament
appearance in the history of
the NCAAs. A big part of our
recruiting players was about
hanging the first banner and
being a first. How exciting it is
to be on the way up.”
The ranking comes a day
after Washington State beat
then-No. 7 Arizona 71-69 in
overtime on a buzzer-beating
layup by freshman Charlisse
Leger-Walker. Washington State
(7-1) has won five of its first six
Pac-12 games for the first time
since the 2013-14 season.
“We’re enjoying the process
Bama
Continued from A5
Whether Fields was 100%
after taking a brutal hit to the
side during his brilliant semifi-
nal performance against Clem-
son was hard to know for sure.
On the Buckeyes’ first drive,
they lost star running back Trey
Sermon to an injury and in a
game they needed to be run-
ning at top speed, facing one of
great offenses in recent history,
they sputtered too much. Ohio
State has never allowed more
points in a bowl game.
Fans can debate which team
in the Saban dynasty is best,
but none will be more memo-
rable than this group. The Tide
right now,” said Ethridge, who
took over the program in 2018.
“The team has had a lot of firsts
and this is another one of those.
We’ll celebrate and acknowl-
edge and enjoy the feeling.”
While Washington State was
enjoying its first ranking, Stan-
ford tightened its grip on the
No. 1 spot in the poll. The Car-
dinal received 29 of the 30 first-
place votes from a national me-
dia panel. They were followed
by Louisville, North Carolina
State, UConn and South Caro-
lina. The Wolfpack received the
other No. 1 vote.
Not much was expected from
the Cougars this season, who
were picked last in the Pac-12
preseason polls by the media
and coaches.
“The team grabbed hold of
being picked 12th and carried
that with a big fat chip on their
shoulder,” Ethridge said. “They
don’t verbalize a lot. ... They
have a lot of pride about what
they can do with this program.”
They’ve definitely opened
some eyes with two victo-
ries over Top 25 teams after
also beating Oregon State last
month. It’s the first time since
the 2014-15 season that they
have two wins over ranked op-
ponents. The lone loss came by
four points to Oregon.
Ethridge hopes to guide the
team to its first NCAA Tourna-
ment appearance since 1991.
The schedule doesn’t get
easier for the Cougars, with
four straight road games, start-
ing with a trip to Los Angeles
this weekend to face USC and
No. 8 UCLA. The Cougars
don’t return home until Jan. 27
when they have back-to-back
games against No. 1 Stanford.
The Cardinal continued their
winning ways this week, beat-
ing then-No. 11 Oregon. The
Ducks moved up one spot to
10th.
No. 6 Baylor, Texas A&M,
UCLA and Maryland round
out the other teams in the top
10.
Fresh off a victory over
then-No. 13 Arkansas, Tennes-
see earned its first ranking of
the season, coming in at No. 23.
Missouri State and Michigan
State fell out of the poll.
finished perfect during a sea-
son that could not have been
further from it as COVID-19
forced teams into quarantines
and endless testing and uncer-
tainty every single week with
games played in mostly empty
stadiums.
Only about 15,000 fans were
at Hard Rock Stadium, capacity
65,326, to see the last magnif-
icent performance of Smith’s
college career.
The Heisman Trophy winner
had 12 catches for 215 yards
and three touchdowns, all in
the first half as the Crimson
Tide bolted out to a 35-17 lead.
Using an array of motions
and misdirections, outgoing
offensive coordinator Steve
Sarkisian had Ohio State heads
spinning trying to track down
Smith.
Sometimes it was simpler
than that. On Smith’s third
touchdown, he lined up in the
slot, the closest to the line of
three receivers on the left side.
Smith cut quickly to the mid-
dle of the field and suddenly
was matched up against a line-
backer, whom he left in the dust
for a 42-yard score with 41 sec-
onds left in the second quarter.
Smith, who finished his
freshman season by catching
the 2017 national champion-
ship winning touchdown pass
from Tua Tagovailoa, ended his
Alabama career as the leading
career receiver in Southeast-
ern Conference history. He was
the offensive player of Monday
night’s game.
As for Sarkisian, he is on his
way to Texas as the head coach.
Longhorns fans had to have
liked what they saw from their
new playcaller. If only he could
bring Smith and his fellow
Heisman contenders to Austin.
Jones, who finished third in
the Heisman voting, was 36 for
45 for a CFP championship-re-
cord 464 yards and five touch-
downs, operating behind a
line that had him rarely feeling
rushed. Harris had 158 yards
from scrimmage on 29 touches,
scoring three times to give him
an SEC record 30 touchdowns
this season.
Collin Andrew/AP
Washington State head coach Kamie Ethridge has led the Cougars to
their first ever ranking in The Associated Press women’s college basket-
ball poll, entering at No. 25 on Monday.