Free Republic

NEW YORK – It has been five months since the FBI arrested 10 men in a sweeping federal probe into the underbelly of the basketball world. As the three ongoing criminal cases resulting from the investigation plod along, it’s increasingly unlikely there will be another wave of double-digit arrests. More legal charges still could come, but what’s becoming increasingly clear as the discovery portion of the case comes to a close is that the breadth of potential NCAA rules violations uncovered is wide enough to fundamentally and indelibly alter the sport of college basketball. The soundtrack to the three federal...

Major-college football experienced its largest per-game attendance drop in 34 years and second-largest ever, according to recently released NCAA figures. Attendance among the 129 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams in 2017 was down an average of 1,409 fans per game from 2016. That marked the largest drop since 1983 when average attendance declined 1,527 fans per game from 1982. The 2017 FBS average of 42,203 fans per game is the lowest since 1997. That average attendance drop marked the second-sharpest decline since the NCAA began keeping track of college football attendance in 1948. For the first time in history, average...

Suffice to say, Gene Smith is not a fan of the most recent spiraling upwards of coaching salaries in college football. In prying Jimbo Fisher away from Florida State, Texas A&M is signed their new head coach to a 10-year, $75 million contract. In 2017, Nick Saban was paid $11.2 million, $2 million of which was deferred compensation, on a contract that will pay the future Hall of Famer an average of just over $8.1 annually. Even for a man in charge of one of the most profitable athletic departments in the country, those numbers are unsettling. Or “ridiculous,” in...

The 2017-18 season ended with the College Football Playoff championship game between Alabama and Georgia on Monday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. That doesn't mean it's too early to look ahead to the 2018 college football top 25 rankings. Keep in mind that last year's way-too-early top 25 had all four playoff teams — and four New Year's Day Six teams — in the top 10. With that in mind, here is a look at Sporting News' pre-preseason top 25 rankings for 2018: Preseason college football rankings: Top 25 for 2018:(snip)

Trump attends NCAA football championship game The president stands for national anthem at championship game between Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs.

Any mystery about Alabama's runner-up trophy from last season was answered Thursday. It exists no longer. A video posted from the Instagram account of Crimson Tide receiver Jerry Jeudy shows strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran destroying the hardware. He raised the trophy above his head and threw it to what appears to be the locker room floor. Cochran finished off the remains with a sledgehammer. The language was not suited for all ages. Alabama lost 35-31 to Clemson in last season's national championship game. The Tide plays Georgia on Monday night for this season's title. Watch the full video...

This bowl season was one that Pac-12 teams would not mind forgetting. With three-fourths of the conference headed to bowl games, there was potential for the Pac-12 to have an impressive showing and prove that despite not having a team qualify for the College Football Playoff, it is still one of the better Power-5 conferences. Instead, Utah was the only one of the nine teams to win its bowl game and the Pac-12 ended the bowl season with the worst record ever for a Power-5 Conference for an entire bowl season.

Do you think Georgia fans are excited to be playing for a national championship at home? In the hour after the Bulldogs clinched a spot in next week’s title game in Atlanta, ticket prices on Stubhub skyrocketed. ESPN’s Darren Rovell noted that the Stubhub page for the game actually went offline for about a half hour. When it went back up, tickets were going for obscene prices.

The chant boomed out early in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, and then again late, and a third time even later for good measure. And although it’s enough to trigger a collective gag reflex in 39 states plus several U.S. territories, it’s a fact-based champion’s chant. “S-E-C! S-E-C!” the Alabama fans thundered, when the final score of the Rose Bowl was announced and league brethren Georgia had advanced to the College Football Playoff title game.

The College Football Playoff field is set and there was one controversial decision — the committee took Alabama over Ohio State. While our projection had Alabama in as the fourth team rather easily, many felt that Ohio State had he stronger resume based on bigger wins and the sometimes important conference championship. Playoff committee chairman Kirby Hocutt made it sound like the decision wasn't that hard, calling the Buckeyes' 31-point loss to unranked Iowa "damaging" and noting that the committee felt Alabama was "clearly the No. 4 team in the country.". The decision was also controversial because it means this...

The University of Tennessee's circuitous head-coaching search, which has taken on just about every twist imaginable, is nearing an end, as the Volunteers are finalizing a deal with Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, sources told ESPN. Tennessee expects to announce Pruitt as its football coach on Thursday, and a press conference to introduce him is planned for later in the day. Sources told ESPN that Pruitt plans to stay on as Alabama's defensive coordinator through the College Football Playoff, while pulling double duty as the Vols' head coach and spearheading their recruiting efforts and putting together his staff at Tennessee.

The College Football Playoff committee has spoken and Alabama is in over Ohio State as the fourth team and will play Clemson in the Sugar Bowl semifinal. Bama-vs.-Ohio State was debated heavily following the conference championship games on Saturday. Ohio State had a conference championship and more impressive wins. But they also had something Alabama did not have, a second loss, an ugly 33-point debacle against Iowa. The decision was also controversial because it means this year's playoff will have no teams from the Big Ten and the Pac-12. Instead, it will have two teams from the SEC, including one...

College football’s bowl season is upon us. Between Dec. 16 and Jan. 8, 39 FBS bowl games and the College Football Playoff will get played. That’s in addition to the FCS playoffs and the Celebration Bowl, and it all happens right as the NFL gets into its stretch drive. All of that combines to make this the best time of the year for this sport. Below, we’re keeping track of each bowl game, adding in team names as soon as they’re released. Here’s the 2017-2018 bowl schedule in its entirety. All times are Eastern, and streaming destinations are linked where...

This announcement is being made from a TV broadcast. This is from the National Football Selection Committee.Alabama has been chosen as the 4th team to participate in the 2017 college football playoff.More to follow as soon as it hits the press.

The No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes captured their first Big Ten championship since 2014 thanks to a 27-21 triumph over the No. 4 Wisconsin Badgers at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Saturday night.  The win, which was buoyed by a slew of explosive plays from the Buckeyes' speedy skill position players, figures to incite tremendous debate among the College Football Playoff selection committee in advance of Sunday's final rankings reveal. 

Clemson’s got a chance to usurp Alabama as the best team of college football’s brief playoff era. The No. 1 Tigers are headed to a third-straight playoff after slamming No. 7 Miami 38-3 Saturday night in Charlotte in the ACC Championship Game. Assuming No. 5 Alabama doesn’t make the playoff Sunday afternoon, the Tigers will join the Tide as the only schools with three playoff appearances in four seasons of the championship format.

It's Championship Saturday! One game is in the books at Oklahoma blew out TCU, 41-17. That put the Sooners in the playoff and officially eliminated TCU. That leaves as many as eight teams that could have a case to be included in the playoff's last three spots depending on how the last three major conference championship games play out on Saturday. But in reality, there are five teams that still control their own destiny. Outside of those teams, there are two teams that could have strong cases, including Alabama, who needs some help, and one team that would likely need...

Scott Frost is coming home. Frost, a former quarterback who led the Nebraska Cornhuskers to a share of the 1997 national championship, has been hired as the school's next football coach, it was announced Saturday.

Georgia 28, Auburn 7, final. A total reversal of Round 1. Auburn again missed scoring chances, but they wouldn’t have even mattered. With a 240-yard rushing day against Auburn and an efficient day by Jake Fromm, Georgia again looks like the most complete team in the country, if not necessarily the best. At the moment, I’m projecting UGA to meet Oklahoma in the Rose Bowl. The last two Power 5 title games matter here, though.

The Sooners and TCU squared off with the Sooners looking to win their 11th Big 12 crown in 19 years. Oklahoma received to begin the Big 12 Championship and after converting on one fourth down, the Sooners had to settle for an Austin Seibert 41 yard field goal. Oklahoma took a 3-0 lead.