#college-football-playoff

#college-football-playoff

Diaz said Sunday that Duke "absolutely" belongs in the title game thanks to a 6-2 conference record and that, if the Blue Devils win Saturday, they should one of the five highest-ranked conference champions and receive a berth in the playoff.

"Vince Young was high-fiving me," Sarkisian said of the legendary Longhorns quarterback. "He said, 'Man, I wish I would've had that play.'"

Baylor is expected to announce the departure of athletic director Mack Rhoades in the near future, sources told ESPN on Thursday. Rhoades, who has been the athletic director at Baylor since July of 2016, suddenly took a leave of absence from the position for personal reasons last week, and the sides are planning to announce he's stepping away. Baylor didn't identify the reason for Rhoades' leave, other than to say it was for personal reasons.

The third week of playoff rankings have been released and the wildest thing is North Texas is sitting -115 both ways to make or miss the playoff ... while not even being ranked. Tulane is the only AAC team the committee is willing to acknowledge, and Navy isn't in the Top 25 either. Yet the books hung a number that basically says: this is the team the market expects to rise.

With only three Saturdays remaining before Selection Day, the College Football Playoff field includes 19 Power 4 teams still in contention to compete for their respective conference titles ahead of the committee's third of six rankings on Tuesday night (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). Six teams (Virginia, Georgia Tech, SMU, Miami, Duke and Pitt) are still alive in the ACC race. Four teams (Alabama, Georgia, Texas A&M and Ole Miss) are still eligible to reach the SEC championship game -- and there are no SEC clinching scenarios in Week 13, according to ESPN Research.

"Look at the urgency he has when he drops back," Narduzzi said.

Baylor athletic director and College Football Playoff chairman Mack Rhoades is taking a leave of absence from his position at the school for personal reasons, he told ESPN on Thursday. Rhoades told ESPN that he initiated the leave but declined to explain why. Baylor also released a statement acknowledging Rhoades was on leave but declined to comment further.

Cal storylines: The Bears face their second straight AP Top 25 opponent, having lost 31-21 to then-No. 15 Virginia last week at home . . . Cal has dropped 14 consecutive games to Top 25 opponents, dating back to a 21-17 home victory over No. 21 Oregon in the COVID-shortened 2020 season . . . A loser in back-to-back games for the first time this season, Cal needs one victory in its final three games to secure bowl eligibility . . .

The first round of the 12-team College Football Playoff will start at 8 p.m. ET on Dec. 19 on ABC and ESPN, followed by a tripleheader Dec. 20 that starts at noon, the CFP, ESPN and TNT announced Tuesday. ESPN, which has owned the exclusive rights to the playoff since its inception in 2015, is in the second year of its current expanded package, which includes all four games of the CFP first round with two of the games sublicensed to TNT Sports.

It's not supposed to care that Vanderbilt hasn't been 7-1 in 84 years. The 12 people in that room will absolutely care, though, that Vanderbilt is 7-1 now -- with back-to-back wins against ranked SEC opponents LSU and Missouri. Vanderbilt -- the story of the season so far -- is on the brink of making its first appearance in any CFP ranking during the playoff era.