INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Stetson Bennett threw two touchdown passes and ran for two scores in the first half as No. 1 Georgia demolished No. 3 TCU 65-7 to become the first team to win consecutive College Football Playoff national championships. The Bulldogs became the first repeat champs since Alabama went back-to-back a decade ago and left no doubt that they have replaced the Crimson Tide as the new bullies on the block. TCU, the first Cinderella team of the CFP era, never had a chance against the Georgia juggernaut and suffered the most lopsided loss in a national title game dating to the start of the BCS in 1998.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Georgia is No. 1 in the final Associated Press college football poll, becoming the 12th back-to-back national champion in the history of the rankings after routing TCU. The Horned Frogs were No. 2, their best final rankings since the 2010 season. Michigan was No. 3, followed by Ohio State and Alabama. The Bulldogs won the College Football Playoff national championship game 65-7 to secure their third AP title overall. Their first came in 1980. Georgia also became the 14th school with as many as three AP national titles.
KANSAS CITY, MO. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs worked hard to get the AFC’s top seed, but might not get the coveted home-field advantage in the conference championship that comes with being No. 1. The Chiefs made sure to take care of the business of capturing the No. 1 seed with the 31-13 victory at Las Vegas. If Kansas City faces the Bills in the AFC championship, that game will be played at a neutral site because Buffalo’s game at Cincinnati on Jan. 2 was declared a no-contest.
UNDATED (AP) — Seven of the 14 teams in this year’s playoffs didn’t make the field last season, giving the NFL’s upcoming wild-card weekend a mix of traditional powerhouses and underdogs. Tom Brady begins his quest for an unprecedented eighth Super Bowl title when his Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the Dallas Cowboys next Monday night. Meanwhile, Jacksonville second-year standout Trevor Lawrence and Seattle veteran Geno Smith will be among at least five quarterbacks making their playoff debuts. The Seahawks were the last team to make the playoffs when they got the help they needed from the Detroit Lions, who beat Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.
DENVER (AP) — The Chargers didn't play it safe ahead of third-year pro Justin Herbert's first playoff appearance. Knowing they were locked into the AFC's fifth seed and a first-round game at Jacksonville, Chargers coach Brandon Staley decided to play most of his starters for most of the fineale at Denver. The decision may prove costly because receiver Mike Allen was carted off with a back injury, linebacker Kenneth Murray Jr. left with a stinger and star Joey Bosa was limping around after a cameo. Staley chose to keep his team sharp for the playoffs rather than rested and out of harm's way.
UNDATED (AP) — No. 11 Kansas State has made quick gains under new coach Jerome Tang. The Wildcats went from unranked to the verge of the top 10 in Monday's latest AP Top 25 men's college basketball poll. Kansas State is ranked for the first time since the 2018-19 season entering Tuesday's game against Oklahoma State and Saturday's game against No. 17 TCU. The national schedule includes multiple matchups of ranked teams. That includes No. 2 Kansas meeting No. 14 Iowa State in the Big 12 and No. 4 Alabama facing No. 15 Arkansas in the Southeastern Conference.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas basketball players say they won’t let their season be derailed after the mid-season firing of coach Chris Beard following his arrest on a felony domestic violence charge. A group of senior players met with reporters Monday to talk about Beard's abrupt suspension on Dec. 12 and his firing last week. They described the initial shock of Beard's arrest and gathering the team's younger players to focus on basketball and not Beard's legal case. Interim coach Rodney Terry now has a chance to make as a candidate for the job full time.
UNDATED (AP) — Reggie Bush, whose Heisman Trophy victory for Southern California in 2005 was later vacated because of NCAA violations, is among 18 players in the latest College Football Hall of Fame class. Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, who won the Heisman in 2007, was also elected to the Hall by the National Football Foundation, along with Dwight Freeney of Syracuse; Luke Kuechly of Boston College; LaMichael James of Oregon and Michael Bishop of Kansas State. Bush played on two national championship teams with USC and led the Trojans to another title game in 2005.
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Doctors who treated Damar Hamlin say the Bills safety was moved to a hospital in Buffalo to continue his recovery. It's an uplifting sign of the remarkable progress Hamlin has made a week after going into cardiac arrest and having to be resuscitated on the field during a game in Cincinnati. Hamlin was discharged from the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in the morning and flown to Buffalo, where Dr. William Knight said he was "doing well.” Hamlin’s return comes a day after he cheered on the Bills from his hospital bed during their 35-23 win over the New England Patriots. The game proved to be a cathartic outpouring of support for the Bills and Hamlin.
KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia (AP) — Staying awake might be Mikaela Shiffrin’s biggest challenge as she prepares to try to set a record for women’s World Cup skiing victories. Shiffrin poured out her emotions after matching Lindsey Vonn with career win No. 82 in an early morning giant slalom in Slovenia on Sunday and now needs to refocus and shift her sleeping patterns in time for a slalom to be held under the lights in Austria on Tuesday. She noted that "if I have a good first run then I don’t start until 9:45 in the second run and normally I’m well asleep by then. So we have to change the whole rhythm again.”
MONDAY SCORES
TOP-25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Final (1)Georgia 65 (3)TCU 7
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final New Orleans 132 Washington 112
Final Boston 107 Chicago 99
Final Milwaukee 111 New York 107
Final Memphis 121 San Antonio 113
Final Denver 122 L.A. Lakers 109
Final Sacramento 136 Orlando 111
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final Philadelphia 4 Buffalo 0
Final Seattle 4 Montreal 0
Final Nashville 3 Ottawa 0
Final Los Angeles 6 Edmonton 3