Miami, SMU rise in CFP Rankings; UConn stumbles again; Dodgers acquire Blake Snell

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Good morning to all, but especially to …

THE NO. 6 MIAMI HURRICANES AND THE NO. 9 SMU MUSTANGS

The fourth College Football Playoff Rankings and bracket of the season were unveiled last night, and a couple of ACC teams are now sitting pretty with just a couple of weeks until the final bracket. Here’s the top 16:

1. Oregon (11-0) | Projected No. 1 seed
2. Ohio State (10-1) | Projected No. 5 seed
3. Texas (10-1) | Projected No. 2 seed
4. Penn State (10-1) | Projected No. 6 seed
5. Notre Dame (10-1) | Projected No. 7 seed
6. Miami (FL) (10-1) | Projected No. 3 seed
7. Georgia (9-2) | Projected No. 8 seed
8. Tennessee (9-2) | Projected No. 9 seed
9. SMU (10-1) | Projected No. 10 seed
10. Indiana (10-1) | Projected No. 11 seed
11. Boise State (10-1) | Projected No. 4 seed
12. Clemson (9-2)
13. Alabama (8-3)
14. Ole Miss (8-3)
15. South Carolina (8-3)
16. Arizona State (9-2) | Projected No. 12 seed

Remember, rankings do not equal seed. The four highest-ranked conference champions (out of the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, SEC and the Group of Five conferences) get the four top seeds and the accompanying first-round bye. As such, this is what the bracket would look like:

Here’s the first round:

• BYES: No. 1 Oregon, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Miami, No. 4 Boise State
• No. 12 Arizona State at No. 5 Ohio State
• No. 11 Indiana at No. 6 Penn State
• No. 10 SMU at No. 7 Notre Dame
• No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Georgia

There was a lot of shake-up throughout the rankings after a weekend of chaos in college football. Alabama, BYU and Ole Miss all dropped out of the projected playoff following upset losses. Indiana also sank five spots after its loss to Ohio State.

Some of the biggest beneficiaries of the aforementioned calamity were in the ACC. No. 6 Miami, No. 9 SMU and No. 12 Clemson are all in great spots as the finish line approaches, writes our own Shehan Jeyarajah.

• Jeyarajah: “No. 6 Miami and No. 9 SMU are now firmly in the field and should be able to survive an ACC Championship Game loss. No. 12 Clemson exploded up the charts and is suddenly the first team out of the field. If the Tigers beat No. 15 South Carolina this week, they will almost certainly move up. No conference has been a bigger beneficiary of the SEC’s collapse than the ACC.”

While the ACC got a boost this week, things are trending in the opposite direction for the Big 12. The conference’s highest-ranked team is Arizona State at No. 16, and that gets the Big 12 one step closer to its worst-case scenario, writes our own Brandon Marcello.

Honorable mentions

• Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders will play in Colorado’s bowl game.
• CeeDee Lamb is vouching for Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy.
• The Bulls might be getting Lonzo Ball back in the near future.
• Houston landed a commitment from 5-star big man Chris Cenac Jr.
• The Chargers are still in good shape in the AFC wild card race.
• Free agency offers are rolling in for MLB star Juan Soto.
• The Mets are among the possible landing spots for Nolan Arenado.
• Ryan Day has been rewarded for his offseason tweaks at Ohio State.

And not such a good morning for …

THE UCONN HUSKIES

Hawaii for the holidays sounds nice, unless you’re the soon-to-be-former second-ranked college basketball team in the country.

Following a 73-72 loss to Colorado, No. 2 UConn has now lost two straight games to start the Maui Invitational. In the spirit of the holidays, the Huskies have been quite generous, blowing double-digit leads in each game.

These struggles are unfamiliar territory for the back-to-back national champions. Prior to this week, UConn had been rolling for the better part of two years.

• Prior to these losses, UConn was 47-3 in its last 50 games.
• The Huskies hadn’t lost back-to-back games since January 2023.
• UConn gave Colorado its third win over a top-two team in program history.

Last season, UConn steamrolled its opponents, even in the NCAA Tournament. As our own Matt Norlander points out, the Huskies might have to learn to win in a variety of ways if they want to make it three straight national titles.

• Norlander: “UConn’s got so used to rolling opponents that it’s struggling to finish out close tilts. With a lot of new faces in prominent roles, this isn’t surprising, despite Hurley’s standard. But consider this: Colorado lost its top five scorers from a season ago. That didn’t hold Boyle’s Buffs back, you know?”

With the losses piling up in paradise, UConn continues to plummet in the Top 25 and 1. Now can the Huskies have to salvage their trip to Hawaii with a win in the seventh-place game on Wednesday night?

Not so honorable mentions

• The Cowboys are hurting ahead of their Thanksgiving game vs. the Giants.
• Aaron Rodgers‘ NFL future is still very much up in the air.
• The Hawks‘ pockets will be lighter after getting slapped with a $100,000 fine.
• The 49ers have a lot of competition for NFC playoff spots.
• Purdue just keeps “rising” in our college football Bottom 25.
• Severe weather may impact Sunday’s showdown between the Bills and 49ers.

Blake Snell joins juggernaut Dodgers on massive deal

The rich just keep getting richer in Los Angeles. Shortly after winning the World Series, the Dodgers turned the money spigot back on and signed ace Blake Snell to a five-year, $182 million deal.

Our R.J. Anderson listed Snell as the fourth-best free agent available this offseason, and he now joins the reigning champs. What makes this sweeter for the Dodgers is that they plucked Snell from the rival San Francisco Giants after he opted out of the second-year of his contract.

What did the Dodgers get in Snell? A two-time Cy Young Award winner who has shown a penchant for doing his best pitching down the stretch. Last season, Snell posted a 3.12 ERA with 145 strikeouts in 20 starts and 104 innings.

With two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani returning to the mound in 2025, the Dodgers just added to an already loaded rotation. As our own Mike Axisa explains, Los Angeles has an embarrassment of riches on the mound.

• Axisa: “When healthy, a Dodger rotation that now includes Snell features ace-like potential at almost every slot. L.A.’s lineup has long been famous for having an abundance of star power, and now with Snell in the fold and Ohtani set to pitch for the first time as a Dodger you can say the same about the rotation.”

The scary thing for the rest of the league is that the Dodgers might not be done taking big swings. They have reportedly sent an offer to stud outfielder Juan Soto, the biggest free agent prize on the market.

North Carolina fires Mack Brown

The first Power Four job has opened in the college football coaching carousel. North Carolina fired Mack Brown, ending his second stint with the Tar Heels after six seasons.

North Carolina has gone 44-32 in Brown’s second run with the program, but the team is 6-5 (3-4 ACC) this season. Brown announced that he will stay on for the Tar Heels’ season finale against NC State, and he expressed gratitude for his total of 16 seasons with the program.

• Brown: “While this was not the perfect time and way in which I imagined going out, no time will ever be the perfect time. I’ve spent 16 seasons at North Carolina and will always cherish the memories and relationships Sally and I have built while serving as head coach.”

Unfortunately for Brown, he is somewhat familiar with rather unceremonious exits. Most notably, Brown was pushed out at Texas in 2013, just four years after delivering a national championship for the Longhorns.

Brown didn’t reach those heights in either of his stints at North Carolina, but he did elevate the football profile of what many consider to be a “basketball school.” Our own Dennis Dodd lays out exactly what Brown did for the Tar Heels on the gridiron.

• Dodd: “North Carolina was lucky to have him. In two stints as head coach, Brown delivered eight seasons of at least eight wins at a blueblood basketball school. Outside of that, UNC has had only 23 such seasons in its history.”

Looking ahead, North Carolina is now the only Power Four vacancy in college football. That makes it the most appealing job on the market, and it should attract top candidates like Tulane’s Jon Sumrall and UNLV’s Barry Odom.

Sengun lifts Rockets to NBA Cup quarterfinals

On a night filled with key NBA Cup games, the Rockets and Timberwolves played an overtime thriller. Houston punched its ticket to the NBA Cup quarterfinals with a 117-111 win, and Alperen Sengun played the role of hero.

Sengun was all over the place and recorded a triple-double with 22 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Not only was Sengun’s stat line memorable, but so was his “too small” taunt of Rudy Gobert after scoring over him in the post. It was a long night for Gobert, as our own Brad Botkin explains.

• Botkin: “Sengun has been sensational all season and he put a master class on Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert in the post, getting his body into the four-time Defensive Player of the Year time and time again before dropping in all manner of shots. Fade-aways. Jump hooks. Rim rolls.”

Since it was a Tuesday, that means it was an NBA Cup night in the association. Here’s a look at the standings for the league’s in-season tournament. Reminder: Group play continues this Friday and concludes next Tuesday.

UEFA Champions League: Goals galore while Man City’s meltdown continues

Tuesday was a day chock full of goals in the Champions League. The field combined for 40 goals, the second most of any day in Champions League history. Atletico Madrid and Atalanta had six, Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen scored five, all in comfortable wins. American Christian Pulisic also notched his third of the campaign for AC Milan in their victory.

But, by far the biggest stories of the day were the two super teams in trouble. In Germany, Bayern Munich topped PSG, 1-0, which means that despite 24 of the 36 teams moving through to the knock out stage after eight matches, the French super club is currently on the outside looking in. And then there’s Manchester City. The preseason favorites came into their match against Feyenoord on a five-match losing streak across all competitions. For 75 minutes it looked like they had righted the ship, taking a three-goal lead. Then disaster struck, with Feyenoord striking three times in 14 minutes to rescue a draw. The result was so traumatic it left City manager Pep Guardiola clawing at his scalp. Literally. Pardeep Cattry breaks down what’s going wrong in Manchester.

• Cattry: “One can easily trace City’s downward spiral back to September when Ballon d’Or winner Rodri tore his ACL. It had long been clear that the midfielder was the glue binding Pep Guardiola’s tactical strategy together, and it was also obvious that the team would miss him as they looked for a fifth successive Premier League title and their first Champions League title since 2023. Two months since his injury and six games into the longest winless run in Guardiola’s career, though, it is also apparent that their woes are not entirely attached to Rodri’s absence.”
• Here’s how to watch today’s action across Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo Network and CBS Sports Network.

What we’re watching Wednesday

We’re watching the UEFA Champions League. Here’s how.
Louisville vs. No. 14 Indiana (M), 12 p.m. on ESPN
No. 20 NC State vs. No. 7 LSU (W), 1:30 p.m. on FloSports
West Virginia vs. No. 3 Gonzaga (M), 2:30 p.m. on ESPN
UEFA: Liverpool vs. Real Madrid, 3 p.m. on Paramout+
No. 20 Texas A&M vs. No. 21 Creighton (M), 6 p.m. on Max
No. 18 Ole Miss vs. No. 2 UConn (W), 7:30 p.m. on FloSports
Knicks at Mavericks, 7:30 p.m. on ESPN
Capitals at Lightning, 7:30 p.m. on TNT
No. 19 Illinois vs. No. 14 Kentucky (W), 8 p.m. on BallerTV
Michigan vs. No. 22 Xavier (M), 8:30 p.m. on FS1
Thunder at Warriors, 10 p.m. on ESPN
Golden Knights at Avalanche, 10 p.m. on TNT