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UCF inquires about USC coach Lincoln Riley: Sources

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UCF inquires about USC coach Lincoln Riley: Sources

By Bruce Feldman, Antonio Morales and Ralph Russo

UCF has inquired about the availability of USC coach Lincoln Riley as it searches for a replacement for Gus Malzahn, three people who have been privy to those conversations told The Athletic on Wednesday.

There has been no indication Riley is interested in making the move, the people said. He is three seasons into a reported 10-year contract that pays him about $10 million per year.

The people spoke to The Athletic on condition of anonymity because all the discussions were private and UCF was not publicly revealing details of its coaching search.

Riley’s contract is not publicly available because USC is a private school, but extracting him from Southern California — if he wanted to leave — would likely cost tens of millions of dollars for either the Trojans or the school looking to hire him away.

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Representatives from UCF reached out to Riley’s representatives last weekend to inquire about his interest in making a move across the country, one source said. Any discussions about adjusting the terms of Riley’s contract would be between him and USC, sources said.

The first source added that UCF has not received any word from Riley’s camp that he is interested in leaving USC, and the school is still looking at multiple candidates to fill its head coaching vacancy.

Firing Riley, whose win total with the Trojans has decreased in each of his three seasons, would cost USC about $90 million, according to one of the sources. If Riley were to leave for another school, he would owe USC nothing. But UCF is not in position to replicate the deal Riley has at USC. Malzahn made $4 million in 2024 at UCF.

Two sources said even if Riley had an interest in making the move, it would require some payout of his current deal with USC to make up for what he would be giving up in the transition — like a professional sports trade where one team pays a chunk of a player’s remaining salary on a large contract and the receiving team picks up the rest.

Riley was hired at USC by former athletic director Mike Bohn, who resigned amid controversy in the spring of 2023. University president Carol Folt oversaw the hire as well and will retire this summer, which means two of the main parties involved in bringing Riley to USC will be gone.

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Jen Cohen, the former Washington athletic director, was hired in August 2023 to lead the athletic department. She inherited Riley and his contract.

She’s in the unenviable position of having an underperforming football program but a coach who is too expensive to move on from. In the spring, Cohen navigated a delicate situation with men’s basketball coach Andy Enfield, whose tenure had run its course but his track record was too good to justify a firing. He eventually took the SMU job, and Cohen hired Eric Musselman from Arkansas to replace him.

Even with a suitor for Riley, getting out from under his deal looks more difficult.

Malzahn left UCF after four seasons as head coach to become offensive coordinator at Florida State. The Knights have gone 10-15 overall and 5-13 in league play in their first two seasons in the Big 12 after making the move from the American Athletic Conference. UCF received only a partial share of Big 12 revenue last year, about $18 million, and is scheduled to receive about $19 million for the 2024-25 fiscal year.

The number jumps to a full share in 2025-26, which should be about double those figures.

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Riley is 25-14 at USC since being lured to Los Angeles from Oklahoma after the 2021 regular season. It was a seismic move for the Trojans, swiping away a coach who had a 55-10 record in Norman and two Heisman Trophy winners in Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray.

The Trojans went 11-3 in Riley’s first season with another Heisman winner in Caleb Williams, the star quarterback who followed the coach from Oklahoma to USC. But the results have been trending in the wrong direction since.

USC went 8-5 in 2023, its final season in the Pac-12, and wrapped up its first regular season in the Big Ten with a 6-6 overall record (4-5 in league play).

After the 2023 season, Riley told The Athletic that he “didn’t come here (USC) for some short-term thing and as long as SC continues to give us the support and the things we need to continue to build this, this was not a two-year rebuild.”

Recruiting hasn’t lived up to the high expectations that came with Riley’s hire. USC continues to regress on the field each season, and the program doesn’t appear to have much direction moving forward, making the outlook for Riley look hazy at best.

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(Photo: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)

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Juan Soto bidding reaches $600M, MLB sources say; process of eliminating teams underway

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Juan Soto bidding reaches 0M, MLB sources say; process of eliminating teams underway

By Ken Rosenthal, Evan Drellich and Brendan Kuty

LOS ANGELES — The floor for Juan Soto is $600 million.

The bidding for the free-agent MLB outfielder has surpassed that amount, according to two people briefed on the negotiations who were not authorized to speak publicly.

Agent Scott Boras said Tuesday at Dodger Stadium that Soto has started the process of eliminating potential landing spots, but did not specify which ones.

The clubs publicly known to be most serious about Soto are the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers. The two people briefed on the negotiations said that all remaining contenders have made offers above $600 million.

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The expectation within the industry is that Soto will make his decision by the end of the Winter Meetings, which begin in Dallas on Sunday, and possibly even before the meetings kick off. But Boras said he doesn’t expect an “imminent” decision.

“When you’re going through these things, he’s just got a lot of information to meld through,” Boras said Tuesday. “We’ve had meetings with a number of franchises. He’s begun the process of eliminating teams and doing things. Juan is a very methodical thinker, so we’ll see, but I don’t think anything is imminent in the near future.”

Soto, 26, is on the verge of a landmark contract for two reasons: He is young for a free agent, and teams consider him a once-in-a-generation offensive talent.

His deal is expected to be for at least 12 years, and its present-day value almost certainly will beat the record Shohei Ohtani set with the Dodgers last offseason when he signed a heavily deferred 10-year, $700 million contract. Ohtani’s deal was valued at $460 million for luxury tax purposes, and $438 million by the players’ union.

Soto, in his first season with the Yankees, batted .288 with a career high 41 homers. His .989 OPS ranked third in the majors behind Aaron Judge and Ohtani, and he finished third in American League MVP voting

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The Mets are widely regarded as the favorite for Soto, with many in the industry believing the team’s owner, Steve Cohen, will top any rival bid. But the Yankees desperately want to keep Soto as a complement to Judge, and the Red Sox have emerged as a surprising force in the negotiations. The Blue Jays and Dodgers are considered longer shots, though the Jays were willing to match the Dodgers’ bid for Ohtani last offseason, and seem to be just as intently focused on Soto.

That said, Boras was at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday for the introduction of a different client, left-hander Blake Snell, who signed a five-year deal for $182 million. Snell settled for a short-term contract last offseason, which moved slower than this year’s.

“Clubs weren’t interested. They just didn’t call,” Boras said. “The market for free agents last year started maybe in the middle of February, it was that different. People like to register that it has something to do with me — I’m just a functionary of the system. We’ve signed six, seven players already this year. These are the processes of demand and when teams and ownerships choose to move in the marketplace.”

Boras said he wasn’t sure why teams were moving faster this year, but pointed to MLB’s future plans for local media rights as one reason.

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“I wish I could answer those questions, I do,” Boras said. “I think a lot of it has to do with media certainty. … This streaming thing that they have going on is very viable, very profitable. I don’t think they like to say that, but obviously the markets indicate that there is a different attitude about what it is.

“Who’s in the market has a lot to do with things too. You have major-market franchises, you have a generational talent in the market (in Soto).”

The Dodgers’ payroll, including luxury tax projections, is around $310 million for 2025, per Cot’s Contracts. Boras was asked whether the Dodgers are attempting to buy championships, and he invoked the team Soto played for last season, the Yankees.

“I would say that, as George … Steinbrenner said, whatever you do to compete, the fact that I can compete in a different way than others, so be it,” Boras said. “I don’t think that has anything to do with the number of trophies that hang over your stadium, I don’t think fans remember that.”

(Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)

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Miami AD, ACC commissioner sound off on Canes’ exclusion from CFP field in favor of Alabama

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Miami AD, ACC commissioner sound off on Canes’ exclusion from CFP field in favor of Alabama

University of Miami athletic director Dan Radakovich did not hold back his disappointment upon learning that his Hurricanes were ranked No. 12 in Tuesday’s latest College Football Playoff rankings, and thus out of the 12-team field in favor of No. 11 Alabama, who earned the last at-large bid in this iteration.

Michigan AD Warde Manuel, the chair of the College Football Playoff selection committee, explained the reason Alabama was ranked ahead of Miami: The Tide are 3-1 against current Top 25 teams and Miami is 0-1. Warde also noted that Alabama is 6-1 against teams above .500 and Miami is 4-2.

“Really ??” Radakovich said on X on Tuesday. “What put Bama over the top of Miami for the last spot in is that Miami went 1-2 in their last 3 games (by an average of 4.5 pts, to a ranked Syracuse and (Georgia Tech) team that just took (Georgia) to 8OT). Bama went 2-1 (to 5-7 Auburn, destroyed by (Oklahoma), and beat FCS Mercer).”

Radakovich and football coach Mario Cristobal both pitched for the Canes’ inclusion in the 12-team field earlier Tuesday.

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ACC commissioner Jim Phillips also came to Miami’s defense: “We are certainly pleased that SMU moved up in the rankings and that the Committee continued to recognize the Mustangs’ incredible season, which should unequivocally earn them a Playoff spot, regardless of this weekend’s outcome. With that said, we are also incredibly shocked and disappointed that Miami dropped six spots to No. 12.

“Miami has more wins and fewer losses than the team directly ahead of them and a dominant victory over an SEC team whose late-season surge includes a win over No. 13 Ole Miss. Moreover, with two losses by a combined nine points — to a ranked Syracuse team and a Georgia Tech team that just took No. 5 Georgia to eight overtimes. Miami absolutely deserves better from the Committee.

“As we look ahead to the final rankings, we hope the Committee will reconsider and put a deserving Miami in the field. We will continue to look forward to this weekend, when Clemson and SMU have an opportunity to earn an ACC championship and represent the conference in the CFP.”

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Miami is now projected to play against BYU in the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Dec. 28. According to The Athletic’s latest projections, the Hurricanes have only an eight percent chance to make the Playoff. The field will be finalized Sunday, Dec. 8 after the FBS conference championship games.

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The case for Miami

Miami had a strong case to finish ahead of the Crimson Tide. Where Manuel and the selection committee missed the boat is by dismissing the fact that Miami’s two losses were to quality opponents. Georgia Tech finished 7-5 but took Georgia, a Playoff team and SEC finalist, to eight overtimes. Syracuse is 9-3 and No. 22 in the CFP rankings.

Two of Alabama’s three losses were to Vanderbilt (6-6) and Oklahoma (6-6). The loss to the Sooners happened just two weeks ago and was by 21 points. — Manny Navarro, Miami beat writer

The case against Miami

Miami being eliminated from CFP contention came off as a pleasant surprise after several weeks of overrating the Canes, and after Manuel seemed to telegraph that the relative weakness of Miami’s profile would not count against it.

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“Teams can only play the (conference) schedule that’s in front of them,” Manuel said after last week’s rankings. “They can only play the opponents that they have. So we take the stance that we’re going to really look at these games, we’re going to look at the stats, we’re going to look at the strength of schedule, but we’re also going to look at how teams are performing against the competition that they have. From our perspective, if it was just about strength of schedule, we wouldn’t be needed.”

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In penalizing Miami, the committee thought beyond the simplicity of counting loss totals, valued good wins over “good losses” and ejected a team with a poor strength of schedule and no ranked wins. It’s not Miami’s fault that it didn’t play Clemson and SMU this season, but it’s not to Miami’s credit, either. — Joe Rexrode, college sports columnist

(Photo: Al Diaz / Miami Herald / Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

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The Jameis Winston roller coaster was on full display in Browns’ loss to Broncos

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The Jameis Winston roller coaster was on full display in Browns’ loss to Broncos

DENVER — Jerry Jeudy almost got to be homecoming king.

He only slowed down Monday night to soak up the jeers of fans who once rooted for him, but the Jameis Winston roller coaster fell off the tracks with two picks in the final two minutes.

The Cleveland Browns rewrote some records but not the overall story of their disappointing season, as Winston threw for a franchise-best 497 yards and four touchdowns but also had a pair of interceptions that the host Denver Broncos returned for scores.

The Browns, no longer boring but still bad, couldn’t overcome their sloppiness and Winston’s three turnovers. Broncos cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian’s 44-yard interception return with 1:48 remaining came when the Browns were driving to set up a potential go-ahead field goal attempt.

But that Winston whiplash only led to more disappointment as the Broncos scored the final 10 points to secure a 41-32 win in a game that featured five lead changes and 163 yards worth of touchdown passes in 11 seconds in the third quarter.

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The Broncos improved to 8-5 and moved a step closer to securing a playoff berth. The Browns suffered their fifth straight road loss and fell to 3-9.

“I messed it up for us in front of the whole wide world,” Winston said.

Jeudy had nine receptions for 235 yards, the most yards by a receiver facing his former team in NFL history. He repeatedly sprinted past the Broncos’ secondary and also blew past his previous career-best game of 154 receiving yards in the 2022 season finale.

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Winston and Jeudy connected on a 70-yard touchdown early in the third quarter to get Cleveland within three. In the fourth quarter, Jeudy joined Cincinnati Bengals star Ja’Marr Chase as the only players to post 200-yard receiving games this season. Winston bested his single-game record of 458 passing yards in 2019 and Josh McCown’s Browns record of 457 in 2015. But after the Broncos settled for a field goal and a two-point lead inside the final three minutes, the McMillian interception on a sideline route essentially ended the chances of Winston leading a comeback on his big night.

“Bad throw,” Winston said, making it clear he didn’t want to get into further details.

Despite Jeudy’s domination of multiple Denver coverages, Cleveland didn’t have him on the field when McMillian made the interception. Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said Jeudy was taking a play to rest. Maybe it wouldn’t have mattered, but that’s the kind of strange decision — the pick occurred on the first play out of the two-minute warning — that’s been tied to this Browns team all year. In early October, Stefanski said multiple times that Deshaun Watson gave them the best chance to win, and he stuck with Watson despite the quarterback never throwing for 200 yards in a game and Cleveland never reaching 20 points in his seven starts.

Watson only threw for 421 total yards over his last three starts and only had five touchdown passes all season. Winston was a couple of decisions away from surpassing that touchdown total in one game Monday night.

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Jeudy backed up his previous statement that he’s “been open my entire career” with another explosive performance against the team that traded him to Cleveland in March.

He had just one reception in each of Watson’s last three starts. Elijah Moore and Cedric Tillman have become playmakers in the Winston-led offense, too. It’s clear that the hesitance to change quarterbacks ended any chance of the Browns salvaging this season, and what was a joyless and relatively hopeless offensive operation had its best showing Monday night with 552 yards and 28 first downs before the fun ended with Winston’s late interceptions.

The Browns got to the 2-yard line while trailing by two scores with 44 seconds remaining before Winston threw into traffic and was intercepted a third time by Cody Barton.

“I think we played our butts off all around,” Jeudy said. “We just couldn’t finish how we were supposed to. That was a great team we faced. We just got to find a way to finish.”

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Moore, the intended receiver on the McMillian interception, said the Broncos cornerback undercut the route. Moore blamed himself for hesitating and not making sure he touched McMillian immediately afterward, which allowed McMillian to return to his feet and sprint for the touchdown.

Late in the first half, Nik Bonitto read Winston’s eyes on a pass that he stepped in front of and returned for a 71-yard score.

“I’m just praying for the Lord to deliver me from pick sixes,” Winston said.

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Yes, he really said that. He really did all that, too, releasing six passes that resulted in touchdowns — four to his team and two to the Broncos. He went to Jeudy on the Browns’ first play of the night for a gain of 44 and wisely kept going back. Jeudy encouraged the home crowd to boo louder after his first reception, and after his touchdown and ensuing two-point conversion, he posed and invited the hate.

“They only boo when they know there’s something great in you,” Jeudy said.

Entering Monday night, Jeudy was 29th in the NFL with 645 receiving yards and tied for 25th at 14.3 yards per reception. Now, he’s tied with CeeDee Lamb of the Dallas Cowboys for fifth with 880 receiving yards and ninth at 16.3 yards per reception.

For much of the night, it looked like Winston would also take a leap — and maybe even into Cleveland’s future plans. He carried a perfect passer rating into the second quarter. On his first two touchdowns, he showed some touch in placing the ball to different parts of the end zone where only David Njoku could get it. The second one to Njoku came late in the first half and followed Bonitto’s interception, allowing the Browns to keep it a one-score game.

Early in the third quarter, Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix threw a 93-yard touchdown strike to Marvin Mims Jr. The Browns answered on the next play with the 70-yarder from Winston to Jeudy.

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Ultimately, though, keeping it close — and Winston being close to a night for the ages — ended with Cleveland doing the best it could. Even with the defense twice forcing the Broncos into second-half field goals and twice intercepting Nix, Denver got its defenders into the right places at the most crucial times.

“The team doesn’t deserve that,” Winston said. “Bad throws. I have to be better.”

(Photo: David Zalubowski / Associated Press)

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