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The final Champions League matchweek of 2025 has wrapped up and it ended with a major headline-grabbing fixture as Manchester City won 2-1 against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. For Pep Guardiola, it’s a great victory that sends his side to fourth in the League Phase table while for Xabi Alonso, the loss marks a second straight in all competitions, with just two victories from the last eight matches.

The game, which is nowadays considered somewhat of an intercontinental clásico, started with fireworks and an aggressive intent from Los Blancos as they wanted to make a statement.

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Alonso is currently going through somewhat of a mini-turmoil in his first season as club manager with reports of discontent within the dressing room. Things have not gone well on the pitch either after a 2-0 loss to Celta Vigo this past weekend that now has Real Madrid four points behind league leader Barcelona in La Liga.

So, the game against Man City was very important.

Kylian Mbappé, dealing with a muscular problem, missed the match and though Rodrygo ended a 32-match goal drought to give them the early lead, Man City quickly turned things around with goals from Nico O’Reilly and an Erling Haaland penalty, holding on despite Thibaut Courtois’ heroics to win in the Spanish capital.

In other matches Wednesday, Noni Madueke scored a wonderful brace while Gabriel Martinelli scored a beautiful third goal as Arsenal won 3-0 against Club Brugge thus ending the year at the top of the table and making history in the competition by winning its first six games. PSG drew with Athletic de Bilbao and it was a World Cup host theme for Juventus as USMNT’s Weston McKennie and Canada’s Jonathan David scored for Juventus in the team’s 2-0 win over Pafos.

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Meanwhile on Tuesday, Liverpool earned an important, morale-boosting 1-0 victory against Internazionale, Chelsea’s winless run continues with a 2-1 loss to Atalanta whilst Bayern Munich’s young prodigious talent Lennart Karl made Champions League history in the Bavarians’ 3-1 win over Sporting.

The League Phase won’t return until Jan. 20 and it will come back with two remaining matchweeks, but let me stress: the race for the automatic top eight spots remains extremely competitive.

Winners

Pep Guardiola

The Catalan manager entered enemy territory in Madrid and led his team to an impressive, resilient victory over Real Madrid. He gambled on a few substitutions in the second half but in the end, thanks to his management, City won and ended the year in fourth of the League Phase table.

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Arsenal’s Noni Madueke

After losing to Aston Villa last weekend, Arsenal returned to winning ways with a 3-0 victory over Club Brugge and alongside Gabriel Martinelli’s fantastic third goal, it was Noni Madueke who stole the show with a great double over the Belgian side. His opener was a magnificent left-footed thunderbolt from outside the box that sent the Gunners into a rhythm, prompting them to three points and the top of the League Phase table.

This is why Madueke came to Arsenal from Chelsea last summer, so he could become an alternative on the right hand side and allow Bukayo Saka to rest in matches that allow him to do so. Depth is key in title-winning campaigns and Mikel Arteta knows that if there is silverware to be won, players like Madueke will be key.

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Bayern Munich’s Lennart Karl

The 17-year-old attacker became the youngest player in Champions League history to score for the third straight game as Bayern Munich came from behind to win 3-1 against Sporting and conclude 2025 in second place and three points behind Arsenal. There’s no denying his talents and not since Thomas Müller have the Bavarians enjoyed the star-driven inception of an academy product in the starting XI.

At 5-foot-6 with a very strong center of gravity, it’s very difficult to not see that his game is similar to a certain Argentine World Cup star. Whether his career comes even close to Lionel Messi’s is another question but one thing is for sure, Lenny Karl is a magnificent talent and Bayern Munich is very lucky to have him.

Losers

Xabi Alonso

After losing to Man City, the Real Madrid manager is now in an extremely fragile situation at a club, a club by the way that demands so much, where perfection is almost a necessity. So now, Madrid has won only twice in the last eight matches and finds itself in seventh place in the League Phase table and four points from Barcelona in La Liga. If the club loses against Alaves on Sunday, or even draw — Florentino Perez’s patience will be close to the finish line.

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Chelsea

Despite taking the lead, Enzo Maresca’s side lost 2-1 to Atalanta and with two matches remaining in the League Phase, it most likely seems that the Blues will need two wins from two in order to hopefully secure a top-eight automatic spot.

After the game, Maresca said that his team “lost control” of the situation once they conceded the equalizer and to be honest, “losing control” is pretty much within Chelsea’s DNA. At its best, it embraces the chaos but is still able to hold the defensive line. And in fact, even after 1-1, Chelsea should have scored a few more times.

But when things are not going its way, cracks begin to open and that’s what happened on Tuesday in Bergamo, especially once Enzo Fernandez and Trevoh Chalobah were replaced at the break. Outside of the box became much more inviting and Atalanta’s Charles De Ketelaere, who was very impressive, took full advantage setting up for the opener and scoring the winner.

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As far as Chelsea is concerned, it is now going through two straight loses and four without a win in all competitions. Maresca knows that things need to be tightened up.

Former ESPN anchor Trey Wingo recently discussed the criticism that his former colleague, Stuart Scott, experienced from management during his time with the company. Wingo appeared on the “Hoodie Chroniclez” podcast and gave his take ahead of the “30 for 30” documentary about Scott.

ESPN will premiere the documentary, “Boo-Yah: A Portrait of Stuart Scott,” on Wednesday night. However, before the documentary debuts, Wingo kept it real in giving his assessment on what it was truly like for Scott at ESPN and highlighted the level of scrutiny he faced because of his unique style and approach at the SportsCenter anchor desk.

“Stuart was such an innovator,” Wingo said. “I’ll tell you one of the things that no one ever knows about Stuart, and maybe some people know this, but he was under a lot of scrutiny by management at ESPN. They didn’t like his style, which is interesting now because all they care about is style, for the most part. And they wanted to make sure, if you’re going to do that, back it up with information.”

Scott was innovative as a broadcaster, but spent much of his time employed at ESPN being scrutinized for being different, when that was why he succeeded at the company. Leadership at the network seemingly wanted the watered-down version of Scott. Scott’s sister, Susan, shared a story about how former ESPN executive Norby Williamson would challenge his scripts and had written him up.

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Unlike most people, Scott didn’t back down or fold under the pressure of management leaning on him. Instead of buckling and giving ESPN the vanilla version they apparently craved, Scott chose to take it up another notch, but also go even deeper with substantial information highlights.

“If you go back and watch Stuart at his heyday, he was presenting himself in a way, ‘Cool as the other side of the pillow,’ all that kind of stuff, but then you would listen to him, he would drop more facts and more knowledge in one of those SportsCenter episodes than anyone else,” Wingo continued. “Basically, he was like, ‘Really? You’re going to mess with me? Alright, I’m gonna do my thing, and then I’m going to show you how much of your s*** I can put in there as well.’”

From his catchphrases and style to his unique approach to sports broadcasting, Stuart Scott was and always will be an innovator. ESPN 30 for 30 “Boo-Yah: A Portrait of Stuart Scott” will air Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. ET.

The more Notre Dame squawks and threatens like a 7-year-old mad at their parents because they didn’t get a stuffed animal at the state fair, the more reasonable it is to wonder whether there’s something more going on besides frustration over a College Football Playoff snub.

Long-simmering complaints on both sides of the Notre Dame-ACC relationship have started to spill into the public discourse since Sunday, when the College Football Playoff selection committee surprisingly elevated Miami over the Irish for the final at-large spot in the 12-team field.

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Issues that have been brewing under the surface for a couple years — largely tied which football games the ACC owes Notre Dame in its unique scheduling arrangement and when they’re played — have erupted like a pimple under a hot compress. Combined with the Florida State/Clemson settlement earlier this year that set exit fees at a manageable $75 million in 2030-31, it’s hard to escape the feeling that the clock is ticking both for the ACC and Notre Dame’s place in it.

But as Notre Dame’s athletics director Pete Bevacqua has made the media rounds since Sunday night in a Festivus-come-early airing of grievances that included phrases like “permanent damage” to its ACC relationship he has done three things:

• First, he has reinforced every negative Notre Dame stereotype for so many administrators across college athletics who had largely forgotten how little use they have for the Irish’s addiction to special treatment. Whereas former athletics director Jack Swarbrick wielded a hammer with a hint of charm and a deft touch, it seems Bevacqua’s way of doing business combines Tony Soprano’s hair-trigger temper with Baron Munchausen’s talent for exaggeration. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark’s strong rebuttal this week was only a taste of what’s being said behind the scenes by people who have long memories and could one day be on a CFP committee themselves.

• Second, he’s clarified how much things have changed in the ACC from the time Notre Dame signed its one-foot-in, one-foot-out agreement in 2012. It’s easy to forget, but at the time, the ACC was a predator, not prey. There was even talk that if the Big 12 blew up, it might be a landing spot for Texas. Obviously, things have changed. Notre Dame didn’t sign up for the ACC as it exists now, and it certainly didn’t envision being attached to a league where Florida State and Clemson — two of the three biggest football brands — are now in a state of disrepair.

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• Third and most important, Bevacqua’s saber-rattling has laid bare that Notre Dame, at least internally, has determined its football program needs something other than what the ACC is currently providing as the sport’s structure continues to evolve. It’s simply hard to believe that Bevacqua, an experienced executive at the USGA, CAA Sports and NBC Sports who has seen a whole bunch of stuff in his career, emotionally ruptured because a 10-2 football team with a mediocre résumé got left out of the CFP or because some ACC staffers got a little too spicy for his taste on social media in their promotion of Miami.

Instead, as soon as Bevacqua’s tantrum stretched into multiple days, the entire act took on the whiff of a Starbucks customer demanding to see the manager because their coffee was hot.

Given that Notre Dame’s institutional anger ultimately translates into a big bunch of nothing as it relates to this year’s CFP, the only reasonable conclusion to draw is that they were already looking for a fight.

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The question is to what end.

Here’s a theory to consider:

Despite Notre Dame’s public insistence that remaining independent is of utmost importance, the school’s decision-makers are not dummies. They know which way the wind is blowing in college athletics, and 2025 was proof of concept that Notre Dame’s current arrangement is going to be difficult to sustain.

Perhaps things would have been different if Southern Cal was a little better or Syracuse hadn’t fallen apart or Purdue was further along in its rebuild. But no program, even Notre Dame, can truly position itself to win a national championship in this playoff era with two or three decent games a year, most of them early in the season.

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By the way, Notre Dame’s 2026 schedule isn’t shaping up much better. Maybe Wisconsin, Michigan State, Stanford or North Carolina will get their act together. But aside from a home game against Miami and a trip to Southern Cal, it’s not good.

And it’s probably going to get worse, especially if Notre Dame can’t come to an agreement with USC to extend their longstanding rivalry. Texas, also smarting from missing the CFP, has made noise about canceling its series with Notre Dame in 2028-29. Athletic directors in other leagues, who learned from Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger on Sunday about the memorandum of understanding that grants Notre Dame preferential playoff access, are threatening to freeze them out of future schedules. (Who knows if they’ll follow through. For all its issues, Notre Dame fills stadiums and drives TV ratings.)

Put that nugget aside for a moment. Scheduling has always been hard for Notre Dame. And just for the fact that every league is headed to nine conference games, it’s only going to get harder.

So it’s worth asking: How wedded to independence is Notre Dame really? So much so that it’s going to tank their CFP hopes if they lose a couple games?

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Notre Dame is too smart for that.

At some point, the Venn diagram of administrators across college sports who think Notre Dame needs to be in a conference and people at Notre Dame realizing they need to be in a conference to avoid getting left behind is going to overlap.

But Notre Dame is not going to be forced at the point of a bayonet to join some league. They’re going to do it on their terms and their timetable. There’s one issue with that, however. As part of the ACC’s grant of rights, Notre Dame is obligated to join the ACC as a full member if it joins a conference.

Which makes the timing of all this quite interesting. Remember, earlier this year, the Clemson/FSU settlement set a schedule for exit fees to get out of the grant of rights before it expires in 2036. It’ll be several years before most members can afford it, but since Notre Dame isn’t part of the league’s TV deal for football in the first place, it would almost certainly be a considerably smaller number.

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That’s Step 1.

As far as Step 2, pick your own adventure. It’s hard to believe the Big Ten would give Notre Dame a sweetheart deal like the Irish have with the ACC. They’d want all or nothing. The SEC might be more inclined to do something with Notre Dame, but they don’t need the aggravation (or another good team on the schedule). Perhaps Notre Dame waits for the ACC to crumble, picks off the handful of schools that it wants and perhaps even convinces USC and UCLA to reconsider their Big Ten affiliation.

In the end, Notre Dame has options. And if you read the histrionics that began Sunday afternoon as the first salvo in exploring them, it makes a lot more sense than an outburst about the ACC’s social media strategy.

Notre Dame may well be itching to start a fight with implications well beyond the ACC. But with the rest of college athletics declining to join their pity party over the last three days, they better have a good plan to finish it.

NFL officiating is a weekly talking point. It has been for years, mostly because of its continued shortcomings that are consistently magnified on social media.

Bridging the gap between the level of on-field play and the level of refereeing remains a priority.

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The league is pushing for a performance-based officiating model, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, who, along with ESPN’s Adam Schefter, reported that NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent informed teams Wednesday that the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFL Referees Association ends in May.

Pelissero noted the date of expiration as May 31 and the date of the next negotiating session as Dec. 30. He also said that Vincent told owners that talks on a new deal have been unsuccessful to this point.

Both Pelissero and Schefter reported that the league sees this negotiation period as an opportunity to improve officiating, including through increased accessibility and accountability, pending union agreement.

Pelissero outlined the the NFL’s areas of focus in a new CBA with officials:

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• Tying compensation to performance

• Greater flexibility giving the best-performing officials postseason assignments

• Access to more practice reps

• Extended probationary period to assess new game officials and flexibility to remove those who are underperforming

• Shortening the “dead period” that currently runs from the Super Bowl through May 15

• Increasing the number of game officials to develop a deeper bench

As for that dead period, Schefter explained that, at the moment, the NFL can’t speak to officials from the day after the Super Bowl until May 15.

The league is looking for year-round access to referees, per Schefter.

While it appears as if the NFL will keep its foot on the gas, there’s also the importance of coming to some kind of agreement before the start of next season.

After all, the league doesn’t want another replacement refs situation. The most recent one occurred in 2012 when the lockout of NFL officials followed the previous season’s lockout of NFL players.

In that instance, the replacement refs were used for three weeks of the regular season, a stretch that culminated with the infamous “Fail Mary,” the ruling on which incorrectly rewarded the Seattle Seahawks with a game-winning touchdown reception against the Green Bay Packers on “Monday Night Football.”

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Pelissero relayed a statement Wednesday evening from NFL Referees Association executive director Scott Green.

“Our union’s negotiating committee is working diligently on behalf of members, and we will continue to respect that process,” Green said in the statement, per Pelissero. “We look forward to our continued conversations with the league as we make progress towards a new CBA.”

ORLANDO, Fla. — Roughly 24 hours after Kyle Schwarber’s return to Philadelphia and Edwin Diaz’s deal with the Dodgers rocked the winter meetings, another titanic transaction hit the timeline Wednesday, with the reports of first baseman Pete Alonso agreeing to a five-year, $155 million deal with the Baltimore Orioles.

Last offseason, Alonso lingered on the open market for months, a sobering first journey through free agency that concluded in February with a two-year, $54 million deal to stay in Queens. Importantly, the pact featured an opt-out that enabled Alonso to hit free agency again after the 2025 season. He proceeded to have one of his best seasons as a big leaguer, helping to squander some of the doubts that surfaced about his trajectory after an underwhelming 2024 and reassert his status as one of the most reliable sluggers in the sport.

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Alonso’s bounce-back made reentering the market an obvious choice, but it still wasn’t clear how eager clubs would be to invest in him, considering the unsexy nature of his profile — a right-handed-hitting first baseman in his 30s with little-to-no defensive value — hadn’t changed. While Alonso had done his part to rejuvenate his production to something more closely resembling a true star position player, whether he warranted the nine-figure commitment that he and his agent, Scott Boras, sought remained an open question.

Enter the Orioles, an intriguing club this offseason considering their lackluster showing in 2025 amid an otherwise encouraging trajectory as a franchise over the past half-decade. Baltimore had already made two major moves to address some of the deficiencies on its roster, swinging a trade with the Angels to acquire outfielder Taylor Ward to strengthen the lineup and signing hard-throwing righty Ryan Helsley to be the new closer.

With the relatively crowded state of the O’s position-player group following the Ward acquisition, it stood to reason that Ward on his own could fulfill Baltimore’s stated goal of adding a right-handed bat to complement a lineup that leaned pretty heavily left-handed. And with two right-handed first basemen already on the roster in veteran Ryan Mountcastle and 24-year-old Coby Mayo — plus two catchers who project to rotate through the DH spot in Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo — Alonso wasn’t an obvious fit on paper for Baltimore, at least not relative to some of the other potential suitors with more glaring holes at first or DH.

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Evidently, the Orioles — amid their reported pursuits of sorely needed rotation upgrades — viewed adding Alonso as a worthwhile endeavor anyway, demonstrating a level of aggressiveness in free agency that has not been on display in Baltimore in quite some time. Although Alonso might not fit seamlessly with the current roster, he represents a definite upgrade over in-house options Mountcastle and Mayo, who now become trade chips (if they weren’t already). And rather than settling for Ward as their most prominent offensive upgrade of the offseason, the Orioles have acquired a pair of the most prolific right-handed home run hitters in baseball: Among all righty bats, only Aaron Judge (53), Eugenio Suarez (49) and Junior Caminero (45) hit more homers than Alonso (38) and Ward (36) in 2025.

For as discombobulated as things got on the mound for the Orioles in 2025, a big element of the team’s step back was that the lineup’s production did not remotely reflect the reputations and expected upward trajectories of the hitters involved. A position-player core that looked to be quickly trending toward being one of baseball’s best suddenly didn’t seem like much of a no-doubt strength outside of shortstop Gunnar Henderson. There was still plenty of talent to warrant optimism moving forward, but not many players whose production could be counted on.

[Get more Baltimore news: Orioles team feed] 

This is why a player such as Alonso, whose combination of durability and consistent power production is nearly unrivaled across the league, would appeal to a team such as Baltimore. No, paying a right-handed first baseman $31 million per year into his mid-30s is not an especially enticing proposition, but what Alonso can give Baltimore right away — a middle-of-the-order slugger whom new manager Craig Albernaz can confidently write into his lineup every day (Alonso played 162 games each of the past two seasons) — is exactly the kind of impact talent that a team with ambitions of returning to October should be chasing. And in order to secure a premium free agent’s productive, short-term present, teams often need to pay for his unflattering long-term future.

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In tandem with Ward, Alonso fortifies an Orioles lineup that could be one of the AL’s deepest and most dangerous if enough of the younger core hitters can bounce back (Rutschman, Colton Cowser) or take a meaningful step forward (Jackson Holliday, Basallo, Dylan Beavers). But for as exciting of a splash as Alonso is on the offensive side, Baltimore’s prospects of being taken seriously as a contender in the AL East are largely predicated on how much the Orioles are able to improve their pitching staff between now and Opening Day.

Does Baltimore have more financial flexibility to chase a top-end free-agent arm such as Framber Valdez or Tatsuya Imai — or even the next tier with Michael King or Zac Gallen? Or will president of baseball operations Mike Elias prefer to cash in some prospect capital in a trade for an available impact arm such as MacKenzie Gore or Edward Cabrera? Whether upgrades come via free agency or trade remains to be seen, but that is the crucial work that lies ahead for Elias and his front office if they are to succeed in restoring the Orioles to legitimate contender status.

Wednesday brought a new development in the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade rumors.

Whispers around the Milwaukee Bucks star have been swirling for a week now, since it was reported that the player and team were having conversations about his future with the franchise. The Bucks strongly denied that report, but it was still a noticeable bit of smoke in an area where some think there’s fire.

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Antetokounmpo has been out since Wednesday, when he sustained a non-contact calf strain and is reportedly expected to miss around four weeks. In the meantime, NBA TV’s Chris Haynes reported Tuesday that Antetokounmpo “addressed some of his teammates recently to stress the importance of focusing on basketball and not to allow outside distractions to interfere with the process at hand.”

That was somewhat notable, though it was hardly a tell in either way when it came to Antetokounmpo’s intentions. What was interesting, however, was two of Antetokounmpo’s teammates bluntly shooting the report down.

Asked Wednesday about the reported meeting, Kyle Kuzma said he didn’t remember any such meeting:

“I don’t really know, honestly. I don’t really remember a time he met with us. Yeah, he didn’t sit us down like ‘The Apprentice.’ It didn’t go down like that.”

Kevin Porter Jr. was even firmer, blasting the report as false information and saying everyone needs to wait until Antetokounmpo himself says something:

“Did that actually happen? Are you asking me? I mean, no. This is the last thing I’m gonna say about anything regarding false information. At the end of the day, everyone needs to wait until Giannis says something. Because all of this is just he say, she say and I guarantee you when we start winning and go 8-0, 9-0, you won’t see nothing about the Bucks. You won’t say, ‘Oh, the Bucks are 8-0, 9-0, they’re flourishing and Giannis is —’ We’re not gonna see that positive news. At least for me, this is the last time I’m going to answer anything false.”

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It’s worth noting that Haynes said Antetokounmpo only met with “some” Bucks players, but if the whole point was to urge the Bucks to stay focused on basketball instead of trade rumors, it would be a curious decision to exclude Kuzma and Porter. Both players are averaging at least 25 minutes per game for Milwaukee and rank second and fourth on the team in points per game.

So there appears to be some confusion on how much Antetokounmpo is even talking to his teammates. For now, the Bucks are 10-15 and have several more games to play before the Greek Freak is healthy again.

The final tally from the Jim Harbaugh era at Michigan includes four straight wins over Ohio State, three Big Ten titles and of course a national championship.

It also includes an NCAA investigation into recruiting violations during COVID, an illegal scouting scandal, and an assistant coach who was indicted on 24 federal charges of hacking into private information and images from the phones of female athletes.

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And now, it includes his former offensive coordinator and successor — Sherrone Moore — being fired and detained by police after a university investigation into an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.

Thanks for the memories, Jimbo. But as Michigan sorts through its latest crisis to reset the football program once again, the school needs to draw a line in the sand.

No more Harbaugh-adjacent coaches. It’s time to cut ties to that era.

For good.

[Get more Wolverines news: Michigan team feed]

Is all that stuff Harbaugh’s fault? Of course not. In particular, you can’t blame the current coach of the Los Angeles Chargers for the Michigan coach making a risky play call on or off the field.

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But the overwhelming theme of the Harbaugh era, extended by surrogate through Moore, was a coaching staff that habitually worked in the gray area and sometimes stepped over the line.

It was part of the culture there. That’s undeniable. And Michigan tolerated one embarrassing headline after another because Harbaugh is a one-of-one genius.

Moore is not.

That’s not to suggest Michigan would have overlooked Moore’s transgressions if he had gotten the Wolverines to the College Football Playoff. There are only a handful of things you just can’t do as a college football coach, and it appears he allegedly did one of them.

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It’s also true that, as Michigan completed its 2023 championship season knowing that Harbaugh was setting up his escape route to the NFL, the school gave the benefit of the doubt to its then-37-year-old assistant who probably wasn’t ready to lead a program of that magnitude. But emotions being what they are, Michigan chose continuity to the Harbaugh era over the risk of a clean sweep.

Now, a mere two years later, it’s blown up in the school’s face.

But in a way, Michigan should be thankful that Moore imploded so quickly rather than watch a multi-year slide into irrelevance. Though the Wolverines finished 9-3 this season, they lost decisively to the only three good teams on their schedule.

Maybe Moore would have learned, adjusted and gotten the program back on track to another title. Young coaches have growing pains, and they are magnified at a place like Michigan. But deep down, as Michigan fans watched this team, it would have been much easier to imagine him in two or three years getting fired for a mediocre on-field product than leading them back to championship glory.

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Obviously, the timing here isn’t ideal. National Signing Day has passed. Most of the coaches whose names popped up in the job carousel either signed extensions or took new jobs. (One wonders what Matt Campbell, who spent a good chunk of his career an hour from Ann Arbor at Toledo, thought when he saw the news just a few days after taking the Penn State job.)

Still, Michigan is an elite job that will attract a good coach. The candidate pool may be smaller than it would have been a month ago, but with all the resources at their disposal, Wolverine fans should not be too concerned. It’ll almost certainly be someone with a longer tracker track record than Moore.

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But it would be a mistake for Michigan to, once again, reach back for more Harbaugh-by-association magic.

Yes, it was a successful era in so many ways. It was also an embarrassment.

At various times, the school’s fans and administration struggled to be clear-eyed about that reality. They blamed the NCAA, they excused Connor Stalions, they invented enemies instead of taking accountability for egregious behavior by their coaches.

They did it in service of Harbaugh, whose immense ability to coach football made everything seem OK. But he’s not coming back, and nobody in his orbit during those Michigan years has a fraction of his talent or juice.

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Moore’s misstep is one scandal too many for a program that needs to reinvent itself once more. It starts with sweeping out the last vestige of the Harbaugh era, turning the page and finding a coach who isn’t going to be a moral, ethical or human resources disaster.

ORLANDO, Fla. — The high-leverage reliever market has moved quickly over the past week, and after the signings of Ryan Helsley, Devin Williams and Edwin Díaz, teams still looking for relief help have been forced to pivot. One of the arms who could benefit from that is right-hander Pete Fairbanks.

Fairbanks has become an intriguing name for teams coming out of this year’s winter meetings. Multiple sources tell Yahoo Sports that the former Rays closer has already received a few offers. While it’s unknown which teams have made those offers to the right-hander, several clubs have shown interest, including the Atlanta Braves, Toronto Blue Jays, Miami Marlins and Pittsburgh Pirates.

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In 2025, Fairbanks went 4-5 with a 2.83 ERA and 27 saves in 61 games. He has recorded 75 saves over the past three seasons. The Rays declined the right-hander’s $11 million club option after the season.

The Braves, who re-signed Raisel Iglesias last month to a one-year, $16 million deal, have been looking to make their bullpen stronger for 2026. According to sources, Atlanta made a late push for Williams before he landed with the New York Mets last week.

Free-agent right-hander Robert Suarez also remains available and is the top unsigned relief arm on Yahoo’s Top 50 free agents lists.

Edward Cabrera’s market heating up, Sandy Alcántara’s not so much

While the starting-pitching market continues to develop, the pitcher who might be the most attractive on the trade market right now is Marlins right-hander Edward Cabrera. According to sources familiar with the situation, Cabrera is not only the most likely starter to be moved but also expected to land the largest return. The 27-year-old right-hander had the best season of his career in 2025, going 8-7 with a 3.53 ERA in a career-high 137 2/3 innings.

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Beyond the electric stuff, what makes Cabrera so attractive to potential suitors is the four years of club control attached. The Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, New York Mets and San Francisco Giants are all in need of starting pitching this winter.

The Marlins have a surplus of starting pitching, which is a huge asset in the trade market, especially this offseason. While Cabrera is generating plenty of interest, former NL Cy Young Award winner Sandy Alcántara, sources tell Yahoo Sports, has not garnered as much attention as some might have expected.

Alcántara struggled in 2025 in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery, going 11-12 with a 5.36 ERA in 31 starts. We can’t rule it out, but at this point, it seems highly unlikely that the 30-year-old right-hander will be moved this winter. Alcántara is set to make $17.3 million in 2026 and has a $21 million club option for 2027.

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Nats listening on Abrams, but positional questions remain

The Nationals have made it clear to teams that they’re willing to listen to offers on shortstop CJ Abrams this offseason. While the asking price is said to be high, the lack of shortstops on the free-agent market increases the demand. According to sources, there’s some debate within the industry about where the 2024 All-Star would play long-term if the Nationals trade him.

While some believe Abrams has the ability to continue to be an every-day shortstop, others think he’d be better suited as a second baseman. Then there’s a contingent of people who believe that with his athleticism, a move to center field might be in Abrams’ future.

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What makes the 25-year-old such an interesting trade candidate is that there are plenty of tools. In 2025, he hit .258 with 19 homers, 31 stolen bases and career highs in doubles, hits and runs scored. But things were not as promising with his glove, as the shortstop carried a minus-6 defensive runs saved and a minus-11 outs above average, thus the question about his future positional home.

Wherever he plays, Abrams has four more years of club control.

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What should our expectations be for 44-year-old Philip Rivers if he suits up on Sunday for the Indianapolis Colts? Yahoo Sports’ Andrew Siciliano, Jori Epstein and Charles Robinson look at the possible scenarios for the QB’s potential return to the field. Later, Andrew sits down with NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah to discuss Rivers, the 2026 NFL Draft class and more. After that, the Inside Coverage crew breaks down Travis Kelce‘s frustration with the Kansas City Chiefs‘ season. They also take a look at Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson’s comments ahead of their game against the Cleveland Browns and discuss the possibility of Jalen Hurts being benched, before sharing their “One More Thing.”

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(0:34) – Managing expectations for Philip Rivers

(19:01) – Daniel Jeremiah joins the show!

(40:23) – Travis Kelce voices frustrations with season

(48:22) – Ben Johnson desperate to beat the Browns

(54:11) – Nick Sirianni denies Hurts benching rumors

(55:53) – One More Thing

🖥️ Watch this full episode on YouTube

Check out the rest of the Yahoo Sports podcast family at https://apple.co/3zEuTQj or at Yahoo Sports Podcasts

LAS VEGAS — Jim Phillips didn’t hesitate in his answer to the question.

Should this year’s College Football Playoff selections trigger expansion to the postseason field?

“Absolutely,” the ACC commissioner said Wednesday morning from the Sports Business Journal’s annual college athletics forum at the Aria Casino. “If you’re leaving teams out of the playoff that could win a national championship, then you don’t have the right number.”

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About 24 hours prior to Phillips’ comments, somewhere within a conference room at the nearby Bellagio Casino, three of the power conference commissioners — Phillips, Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark and the SEC’s Greg Sankey — gathered in person, with a fourth joining virtually (Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti), to discuss exactly that: expanding the playoff field.

College leaders didn’t arrive at any formal decision, but out of the gathering came a clear direction and more momentum toward expanding the field from 12 to 16 teams — perhaps sooner rather than later. The commissioners are expected to meet again soon and, at some point, present a model or models to the full playoff governing board, the CFP Management Committee, made up of the 10 FBS conference commissioners and Notre Dame’s athletic director.

If expansion is to happen by next season, they must make a decision by Jan. 23, a deadline set by ESPN that’s been moved from an original date of Dec. 1.

On Wednesday, Phillips says he “prefers” expansion to happen by next season. Other commissioners have voiced a similar message. While an immediate expansion of the field for next season at first seemed unlikely — even Yormark said so earlier this fall — the extension of the deadline provided a path for such a move.

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Still, there are hurdles.

Petitti and Big Ten officials, long critical of the selection committee’s subjectivity, have proposed a 24-team format with four automatic qualifiers designated for each of the four power leagues, plus two spots for the highest-ranked non-power league champions and six at-large. Big Ten leadership delivered the 24-team presentation to the other three commissioners last month in Charlotte — a format that would trigger a wholesale change to college football’s postseason structure, including the likely elimination of championship games.

Despite some athletic administrators interested in such a format, commissioners — even those from the non-power conferences — have aligned behind a 16-team format with five automatic qualifiers and 11 at-large bids. That includes the SEC. The SEC and Big Ten must agree on a format for it to be adopted, according to a memorandum of understanding that commissioners entered into last spring granting the two leagues authority.

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A move to 16 teams is seen by some as the next step in the evolution of the playoff that, perhaps one day, will grow to more than 20 teams — a compromise of sorts for the Big Ten leaders.

Phillips even hinted at such Wednesday. Asked here about an expansion to 16, Phillips said, “you may need to look a little bit more than that.” He called the meeting Tuesday among the commissioners as “a great session.”

Three non-power league commissioners present here in Vegas told Yahoo Sports that they remain committed to the “5+11” 16-team format, including American commissioner Tim Pernetti.

“The fan response to teams being left out is understandable and the teams in the CFP are championship-level programs,” he told Yahoo Sports on Tuesday. “There is no magic number, and we believe expansion to a 5+11 model, without automatic qualifiers, and a protected window for the Army-Navy game, protects the integrity of a true playoff model and provides a path for the most deserving programs.”

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MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher says he’s been a proponent of a 16-team field, “but I also think 12 works pretty darn well. Doesn’t matter where we draw the line, there’s going to be people on the outside who are going to be pretty upset,” he said.

“I think a 16-team format makes a lot of sense with the five highest-ranked conference champions and a bunch of at-larges to allow teams to compete,” Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould said.

While the debate over expansion marches forward, a new debate has surfaced: a change to the public CFP selection process.

Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, whose team was the first out of the field, told Yahoo Sports on Sunday that he supports the elimination of the five weekly ranking shows televised on ESPN as they are a “farce,” “absolute joke” and “waste of time.” They leave schools, like Notre Dame, with a false sense of hope, he said. The Irish, ranked ahead of Miami for the final five weeks of the regular season, slipped behind the Hurricanes in the final poll.

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Others are now publicly supporting Bevacqua, including Phillips, who described the rankings shows on Wednesday as “incredibly disruptive” and believes they cause “stress and friction” to the process.

“I understand why they do the shows and it’s part of the agreement with ESPN, but it causes great anxiety throughout,” he said. “We have to find a better way moving forward.”

Steinbrecher says that commissioners have for years privately held discussions about limiting the shows.

“They are maybe not the best thing for the enterprise itself,” Steinbrecher says of the shows. “I think it’s a subject we should revisit and have a very direct conversation with our TV partner.”

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Former Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby once told Yahoo Sports that, years ago, he suggested holding just two shows rather than six — one in early-to-mid November, and a final show after the championship games. “But ESPN would flip out,” he said.

Under the new CFP television contract agreed to last spring, ESPN pays the conferences more than $1 billion annually for the right to the playoff. That includes six rankings shows in which the latest rankings are revealed, followed by a news conference with the chair.

“There’s two ways of looking at that,” Gould said. “On one hand, it creates a somewhat premature expectation about where teams are sitting. However, the positive is, we are trying to grow college football’s brand. The fan engagement and interest and eyeballs, [the shows] do that. People watch it.”

ESPN declined comment on the issue when Yahoo Sports reached out earlier this week.

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Even if the shows were no longer held, the 13-member CFP selection committee would likely continue its current method of discussing the teams and ranking them ahead of the final poll.

Expansion of the playoff is another topic entirely.

If the playoff expands beyond 14 teams, a new renegotiated deal with ESPN likely needs to be struck. The CFP’s MOU last spring covers playoff fields of only 12-14 teams. While the core tenants of the agreement may remain the same, the financial components will need changing with four more teams and two more games.

How expansion beyond 14 teams impacts other concepts in the MOU, such as guarantees for Notre Dame and the five highest-ranked conference champions, is not clear. Bevacqua revealed on Sunday that, as part of the MOU, Notre Dame is assured of making the playoffs if it is ranked in the the top 12 starting next year.

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For instance, if this year’s circumstances unfold next year, the final at-large team (Miami) would have gotten automatically bumped from the field for No. 11 Notre Dame. If the playoff is expanded to 14 teams and there are more at-large berths added to the field (from seven to nine), Notre Dame is guaranteed into the field if it is ranked No. 13 or better, according to the MOU, Bevacqua said.

While the Irish missing the field has resulted in criticism toward the CFP process, the real culprit may have been the ACC’s tiebreaker situation, which sent Duke to the league championship game instead of Miami, the higher-ranked team in the CFP poll. Duke’s upset of Virginia put a second non-power league champion, JMU (Sun Belt), into the field as the fifth highest-ranked conference champ.

On Wednesday, Phillips said the league is exploring a change to the tiebreakers that may include a “CFP component.” He also suggested that all conferences align with standardized tiebreakers.

“We are all going to nine [conference] games and have 16 or 18 [teams],” he said. “Maybe there is something that allows less confusion about what everybody’s tiebreaker is in college football.”