Whenever Tulane’s run in the College Football Playoff comes to an end, so too will Jon Sumrall’s time at the school, with the second-year Green Wave coach headed to Florida.

Before he departs, though, he’ll be leaving something behind for his soon-to-be-former employer.

Sumrall and his wife, Ginny, are making a $100,000 donation to the Green Wave Talent Fund, a university initiative to expand NIL opportunities for Tulane athletes, the school announced on Monday, Dec. 15.

In two seasons with the Green Wave, Sumrall went 20-7, including an 11-2 mark this year that helped them win the American Conference and earn a spot in the playoff, where they’ll take on Ole Miss in the first round on Saturday, Dec. 20.

Though he was hired away by Florida late last month, he’ll be coaching Tulane throughout the playoff. That transition has been aided by the Green Wave hiring one of Sumrall’s assistants, pass game coordinator Will Hall, as his successor.

‘Tulane University and New Orleans are special to me and my family,’ Sumrall said in a statement. ‘Ginny and I are honored to support the Green Wave Talent Fund because we believe in the vision of Tulane Athletics and want to contribute to the continued success of its student-athletes. The future is incredibly bright, and we are excited for Will Hall and his family to be part of it.

‘Coach Hall possesses a keen understanding of Tulane University and its football program, along with a passion that greatly benefits the Green Wave. As a leader, he cares deeply about helping others reach their full potential and is dedicated to equipping them to achieve that goal in every way possible. He has our family’s full support, and we wish him nothing but success as he leads Tulane Football!’

The money could be useful for Tulane, which has excelled under Sumrall despite losing talented players to bigger programs with more NIL resources. After the 2024 season, the Green Wave lost starting quarterback Darian Mensah and leading rusher Makhi Hughes to Duke and Oregon, respectively, with Mensah signing a deal worth a reported $8 million.

Since accepting the position at Florida, Sumrall has joked about balancing two FBS head-coaching jobs at once. His profile photo on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, is a picture of him in half Florida attire and half Tulane attire. In a post last week, he wrote that “I’ve got 2 Phones, 2 Jobs & 2 hours of sleep.”

In four years as a head coach, Sumrall is 43-11. Prior to Tulane, he spent two years at Troy, where he went 23-4 and won a pair of Sun Belt championships. At Florida, he’ll take over a struggling program that has finished with a losing record in four of the past five seasons.

The Blackhawks placed Bedard on the injured list retroactive to Dec 12 with an upper-body injury. He won’t need surgery and will be re-evaluated in January, coach Jeff Blashill told reporters.

Bedard, the No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, was injured on Dec. 12 when he was checked by the St. Louis Blues’ Brayden Schenn on a last-second faceoff and hit the ice. He was grabbing his shoulder as he skated to the dressing room in obvious pain.

Bedard ranks fourth in the NHL with 44 points in 31 games, a strong start that put him in consideration for the Canadian Olympic team.

Connor Bedard injury update

The Blackhawks placed Bedard on the injured list and said he would be re-evaluated in January.

He leads the Blackhawks with 19 goals, 25 assists and 44 points in 31 games.

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Give Bo Nix a standing O.

The Denver Broncos won their 11th consecutive game, clinched a playoff berth, and became the first team in the NFL this season to post 12 victories with an inspiring triumph at Empower Field on Sunday.

And it was not in spite of their embattled young quarterback.

It was largely because of their scrappy young field general.

Sure, the Broncos defense showed up again as one of best units in the NFL, with reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Surtain II instantly flipping the momentum like that in the third quarter with one of the most breathtaking interceptions you’ll ever see.

Yet for all of the heat (and three more sacks) the Broncos put on Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love, and for the problem Denver’s D had in containing Josh Jacobs (14-yard TD catch, 40-yard TD run), the 34-26 outcome begged for a different type of pressure.

Ultimately, in a game that featured six lead changes, the Broncos had to prove that they could not only keep up with the Packers, but one-up them, too.

Enter standing ovation. It wasn’t too long ago, like on a Thursday night in November with the Las Vegas Raiders in town, that they booed Nix at the Broncos home park as the offense struggled like something awful. Cool thing. He never flinched. Nix won the game, gave his defense props, grinned and said something witty.

‘I’ve been booed before and I’ll be booed again,’ he said on that night.

Look at him now. Talk about changing a narrative.

Nix was fabulous on Sunday, passing for 302 yards and 4 TDs, without a pick. The second-year pro had the third-highest passer rating of his career (134.7). And even better than the numbers: the presence.

Whatever you thought about Nix before Sunday – the Broncos won their previous five games by a combined total of 17 points – needs to be adjusted with Denver currently holding the No. 1 seed on the AFC side of the playoffs.

Sure, Sean Payton’s team has won so many close ones, when the defense kept the game close with shut-down action or, big-time splash plays. The previous Sunday at Washington, Nik Bonnito closed out the overtime win with a magnificent deflection as he rushed Marcus Mariota.

No, you don’t want to go into January without a championship defense. And the Broncos unit, coordinated by Vance Joseph, is exactly that.

Yet winning big in the NFL also involves having a balanced team, where a capable offense and special teams can complement an outstanding defense. And vice versa.

There’s also the notion that to win a big game against top competition, at some point the quarterback must make a big-time throw. And Nix, growing up before our eyes on a huge stage, didn’t just make a throw in getting the best of Green Bay.

He made a throw. Then another one. And another one. Then another…

He used his feet, too, to avoid sacks (zero sacks), buy time and set up big plays.

‘There’s so many plays to reference,’ Payton said during his postgame press conference.

Three that screamed wow:

– In the second quarter, Nix fired a bullet through a tight window to Lil’Jordan Humphrey for a five-yard touchdown. Humphrey was low to the ground, just across goal line, and there were multiple defenders invading his space. But the throw was perfect. Like something we saw in the World Series from LA Dodgers MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

– At the end of the third quarter, Nix threw a strike over the middle to Troy Franklin, his former Oregon teammate, for a 23-yard touchdown. Again, perfect throw at the right time. It capped the longest drive of the night (11 plays, 75 yards) and put the Broncos back on top – for good.

– Early in the fourth quarter, with Denver clinging to a 27-26 lead and facing a fourth-and-2 from the Green Bay 41-yard line, Payton went for broke. As he explained his guts afterward, Payton insisted that his decision was not about analytics. I believe him for a couple of reasons, one being Nix was on fire. Payton dialed up a sideline streak for Courtland Sutton, similar to the route they missed with on the previous play.

Sutton stretched to haul in a rainbow throw for 26 yards. One replay review and three plays later, they scored again as rookie running back RJ Harvey ran it in for a 4-yard TD that provided the final margin.

Yet it was also evident in that sequence that Payton has some serious trust in his young quarterback. Maybe the options in that situation were limited, but not unrealistic as a field goal try from nearly 60 yards would have had a Mile High boost. Yet Payton not only had the faith to go for it, he put the onus on Nix to make that throw. After all, it wasn’t Drew Brees, who will likely be revealed as a first-ballot Hall of Fame finalist in the coming weeks, slinging it on Sunday. It was the quarterback they booed a few weeks ago.

Done.

‘It’s not easy for him after so long with one consistent quarterback, who was absolutely dominant in this league, to take a younger guy and trust him,’ Nix said. ‘I really appreciate that.’

Nix has surely demonstrated that his temperament is built for dealing with adversity and thriving under pressure. And he is undoubtedly gaining more confidence with each success, which is compounded by the trust that teammates – and that goes for defensive players, too – have developed with Nix.

Payton, mindful of the series of crunch time heroics (including the crazy comeback against the New York Giants in Week 7, when Denver won 33-32 with a 33-point fourth quarter) has been around long enough to realize what they can do for psyche.

As they went back and forth on Sunday, Payton insists there was no panic.

‘That’s the habitat we’ve been living in,’ he said. ‘And so, when you get comfortable operating in those games, you don’t think anything of it.’

Nix realizes that progress is a breathing testament to the synergy with Payton. The son of a coach, Nix praises Payton for allowing him to be his “authentic self” and connecting their competitive vibes.

‘I can tell by the way he’s calling it,’ Nix said of the strategy. ‘Then my job is to turn around and protect him, keep his calls safe.’

Now that’s synergy. Nix knows. In many corners outside the Broncos headquarters, the expectations have been rather reserved, despite the NFL’s longest winning streak. Never mind that Denver had won 10 games in a row and 11 straight at Empower Field. They still entered the game on Sunday as a home underdog.

During the week, when someone asked about apparent slight, Nix quipped, ‘My mom thinks we’ll win, so that’s all that matters.’

Turns out, Nix’s mom was correct.

No, her son doesn’t have the resume that Hall of Famers John Elway and Peyton Manning built, including their Super Bowl titles with the Broncos. But Nix’s mom can surely envision the potential of winning a championship.

And not because Bo Nix would just be going along for the ride.

Contact Jarrett Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow on  X: @JarrettBell

DJ Lagway was a source of hope for Florida football entering the 2025 season, a potentially transformative quarterback who fans dreamed of leading the Gators back to national prominence.

More than three months after his team’s season opener, the former five-star recruit is now headed elsewhere.

Lagway announced on Monday, Dec. 15 that he intends to enter the transfer portal, with his decision coming two months after Florida coach Billy Napier was fired seven games into his fourth season at the school.

Lagway said in a message posted to social media that he made the decision to leave after “much prayer, reflection, and thoughtful consideration.”

After taking over as the team’s full-time starter as a freshman during the 2024 season, Lagway rallied the Gators to wins in their final four games to salvage an 8-5 record and help Napier keep his job.

The promise he showed as a freshman didn’t translate to a breakthrough sophomore season. Lagway dealt with injuries for much of the spring and summer, which slowed his development and preparation heading into his second college season. He struggled for large stretches of the 2025 season, throwing for 16 touchdowns and 14 interceptions for a Florida team that finished 4-8 and fired Napier after a 3-4 start.

Coming out of Willis High School outside of Houston, Lagway was the No. 7 overall player and No. 2 quarterback in the 2024 recruiting class, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings. He chose the Gators over USC, Baylor, Clemson and Texas A&M.

After missing out on Lane Kiffin, who opted instead to go to LSU, Florida hired Tulane’s Jon Sumrall as its next coach. Napier, meanwhile, was hired as the head coach at James Madison.

Despite his inconsistent play last season, the 6-foot-3, 247-pound Lagway will likely be one of the most coveted quarterbacks in the portal due to his physical attributes, high ceiling and flashes of production he has shown in his brief college career.

The College Football Playoff committee’s job used to be to select the four best teams for the bracket. No automatic bids, although conference championship games provided a useful data point.

Then came the 12-team playoff, and five automatic bids barged their way into the bracket. A worthy idea, but realignment and bloated conferences damaged this concept. The CFP format probably requires fine-tuning after seeing Tulane and James Madison clog the first round.

I’m all ears for the burgeoning idea the 12-team playoff ought to be an attempt to gather the 12 best teams. No auto bids. No conferences are guaranteed a spot. And, if I might be so bold, no athletic directors involved in choosing the 12 best teams.

Here’s my 12-team playoff bracket, with seeding, for this season. No ADs or television executives were consulted in the compiling of these picks:

What my 12 best teams CFP bracket would look like

1. Indiana: The nation’s only undefeated team possesses only strengths, no weaknesses.
2. Georgia: The Bulldogs are peaking as the postseason arrives, and they have a better collection of wins than Ohio State.
3. Ohio State: The defense remains as good as any. Questions center on the offense, as coordinator Brian Hartline juggles double duty with OSU and USF, his new job.
4. Texas Tech: Never mind the Big 12 jersey patch. This defense could wreak havoc in the SEC or Big Ten. Quarterback Behren Morton would thrive in any conference, too.
5. Oregon: The Ducks weren’t on Indiana’s level in a midseason loss, but being one step below the Hoosiers is still pretty good.
6. Ole Miss: The offense performs as well as any in the bracket, and keeping coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. for the playoff was key. Ole Miss is a defense away from being elite.
7. Texas A&M: The Aggies appear to be on the downslope of their peak. Texas A&M is good in a lot of areas, great in none, but you can’t deny their 11 wins.
8. Notre Dame: Twelve best teams means the Irish are not only in the bracket, but hosting in Round 1. My eyes detect vast improvement from Notre Dame since Week 1.
9. Oklahoma: The Sooners are the opposite of Ole Miss, with an elite defense that gives them a chance against anyone, but a suspect offense that says they won’t last ‘til the end.
10. Miami: When we see the best of Carson Beck, we see a team nobody in this bracket would wish to face. The Hurricanes played well in November. Just keep Beck hot.
11. Alabama: The Crimson Tide peaked in October. They lack a run game. Quarterback Ty Simpson’s performance is slipping. A respectable defense supplies what’s left of Alabama’s engine.
12. Texas: Three losses shouldn’t be ignored. Three wins against top-15 opponents should not be ignored, either. Pair them together, and out pops a 12-seed.

Four-team college football NIT

Anyone up for a college football NIT?

You’re probably thinking, “What’s the point?” Well, what’s the point of bowl games? What’s the point of the basketball NIT? Programming!

I’m elevating four teams up from bowl games and into a mini tournament for the right to declare, “We’re No. 13.”

My first-round NIT games will be played Dec. 13 at a pair of sunny bowl venues. Put the NIT title game at 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 31, as a prequel to the playoff quarterfinal game that evening. NIT title to be played at an even sunnier bowl venue.

Here’s my NIT:

1. BYU: The billionaire oil tycoon that keeps going on your TV and telling you college sports are broken and only he can fix them stood between BYU and a Big 12 title. Fair enough, but the Cougars achieved enough without Big Oil’s help for an NIT No. 1 seed.
2. Vanderbilt: Before you mercilessly mock my idea of a four-team NIT, consider I’m giving you up to two more opportunities to watch Diego Pavia, instead of a single bowl game.
3. Utah: Kyle Whittingham is stepping down after a good, long ride at Utah. Let’s give him his “Last Dance,” in the NIT.
4. Tulane: Can’t spare room in my 12-best-teams playoff bracket for the Group of Five this year, but there’s room in the NIT for a Tulane team that beat the ACC’s champion.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

Former Pro Bowl defensive lineman Paul Wiggin, who played 11 seasons for the Cleveland Browns before going on to a lengthy coaching career in college and the NFL, has died at the age of 91.

Wiggin had a short-lived stint as an NFL head coach, replacing a legend in Kansas City. He later returned to the college ranks, where he coached star quarterback John Elway at Stanford and was on the losing end of ‘The Play’ in 1982.

A two-time All-American at Stanford, Wiggin was a member of the Browns’ 1964 NFL championship squad. After retiring as a player in 1967, he joined the San Francisco 49ers coaching staff. He spent seven seasons as an assistant before being named to succeed Hank Stram as the head coach of the Chiefs in 1975.

But perhaps his greatest legacy came later after he was fired by the Chiefs and eventually returned to Stanford. Wiggin was on the sideline for one of the craziest endings in college football history − a 25-20 loss to rival Cal in which the Bears scored winning touchdown on a series of laterals as time expired with the Stanford band prematurely on the field.

‘I think it’s tragic that a Cal-Stanford game had to come down to this,’ Wiggin said at the time. ‘In our hearts and our minds, we won the game. We know we won the game.’

Wiggin also served as defensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints and defensive line coach for the Minnesota Vikings before moving to the Vikings front office and remaining with the franchise for nearly 40 years.

In 2005, he was named to the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame, where he was its fourth-oldest living member at the time of his death.

‘Paul Wiggin represented everything the NFF College Football Hall of Fame aspires to honor, specifically excellence on the field, leadership on the sidelines, and a lifelong commitment to the game,’ NFF Chairman Archie Manning said. ‘His impact on college football spanned generations, and he leaves behind a legacy that will long be remembered. We are deeply saddened to learn of his passing.’

You’ve heard of love at first sight.

For Quinn Hughes, who made his Minnesota Wild debut on Sunday, this was love from first time on the ice.

Two days after acquiring the 2024 Norris Trophy-winning defenseman in a blockbuster trade from the Vancouver Canucks, the Minnesota crowd showed Hughes why it is known as the State of Hockey. Hughes was cheered from the moment he skated out for warm-ups. Each time he touched the puck, the crowd roared with applause.

It was the kind of reception that could go a long way in convincing Hughes to make Minnesota his permanent home.

‘That was pretty special, honestly,’ Hughes told reporters. ‘I wasn’t expecting that. It was very cool. I know it’s a hockey market, but that was exciting.’

Hughes has made no secret that he hopes to play on a team with his two younger brothers one day. But after a 6-2 win against the Boston Bruins, the newest member of the Wild opened the door on potentially signing a long-term extension to stay in Minnesota when he becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2027.

‘I mean, extremely open minded,’ Hughes said. ‘They have an amazing core. I’ve only been here four hours, but getting to know some of the guys and how energetic and positive some of the guys are. And then Minnesota being so close to Michigan (where Hughes grew up) and the state of hockey and the passion here. Just seeing how the fans reacted to me as well in warm-ups. And then obviously, I have a lot of time for Billy (Guerin, the Wild’s GM) for ‘sacking up’ and making the deal like he did and how he valued me.’

In other words, don’t plan a 2027 reunion party in New Jersey, where brothers Luke and Jack play, just yet.

Part of the reason why there was talk of Hughes wanting to play with his brothers was because he wanted to get out of the mess that has engulfed Vancouver for the past two seasons. Given the choice, Hughes probably would have preferred to join his brothers in New Jersey. But on Friday, the Devils were not willing to give up the kind of assets needed to acquire Hughes.

Instead, the Wild sent a hefty package that included a Zeev Buuim, Marco Rossi and a first-round pick for the 26-year-old.

‘Billy was full in,’ said Hughes. ‘There were other teams that could have probably have thrown in certain packages too, but at the end of the day they didn’t want to do that … I’ll remember that Billy did that. I think that was his first offer. Obviously, I want to do what I can here and prove him right. With how he handled me with the four nations last year too gave me a glimpse of what a good person he is. He was a big reason why I wanted to come here.’

One game in, Hughes is already making Guerin’s big gamble look good. Hughes had a goal and three shots in a 6-2 win against the Bruins on Sunday. Taking a pace in the slot from Ryan Hartman, Hughes snuck a wrist shot through the five-hole for his first goal in a Wild uniform.

‘The crowd was electric from warm-ups to the introduction and then throughout the game,’ coach John Hynes said.

‘Warm-ups was the loudest I’ve ever heard it since I’ve played here,’ defenseman Brock Faber said. ‘Obviously everyone’s excited. The state of Minnesota is excited.’

Equally exciting is the impact that Hughes has made on an up-and-coming team that seems ready to pop. The Wild went all-in during the summer when they signed Kirill Kaprizov to an NHL record extension that carries a $17 million cap hit. But this trade made it clear that they have a championship on their minds, despite being in a competitive Central Division where Colorado and Dallas are the top-two teams.

‘I think it’s going to take, four, five, six games, but once we get rolling, we’re going to be hard to beat,’ said Hughes, who was paired with Faber. 

If you didn’t think the Wild were a Stanley Cup contender before, you certainly did now that they have one of the best defenseman on the planet. And they better. After all, the Wild have two seasons to prove to Hughes that this could permanent home for him.

Already, he seems to be warming up to the idea of staying around.

‘Honestly, I couldn’t be more excited for this chapter,’ said Hughes, who admitted he doesn’t have the proper winter attire for Minnesota winters. ‘Definitely have some shopping to do.’

Mariah Carey is going to the Olympics.

The Grammy-winning superstar will perform at the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina Olympics, organizers announced Monday, Nov. 15. The opening ceremony will be Feb. 6 at the San Siro Stadium in Milan.

‘Ciao! Get ready for Milano Cortina 2026. See you at the Stadio San Siro on the sixth of February for the Olympic Opening Ceremony,’ Carey said on Instagram.

Carey is the first performer at the Opening Ceremony to be announced. The ceremony is being produced by Balich Wonder Studio, with organizers saying it will combine ‘Italian spirit, innovation (and) emotion.’

‘Together, music and sport will give life to an Olympic Opening Ceremony where Harmony becomes an expression of collective energy, a symbolic space where communities come together, transcend boundaries and recognize themselves as part of the same vibrant momentum of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. Mariah Carey’s participation further underscores the international breadth of the Ceremony and its messages,’ organizers said.

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