The Tuscaloosa News reported that Alabama had granted the release to Smith, who graduated last Saturday. MORE: ‘Bama deserves No. 1 until someone can dethrone the Tide Smith has made it clear he would like to transfer to Georgia to play for Kirby Smart, his former defensive coordinator with the Crimson Tide, and Mel Tucker, his former position coach. However, SEC rules prevent players who are released from transferring to other schools within the conference....

Alabama coach Nick Saban on Saturday addressed rumors that he offered the former Buckeyes receivers coach a position as Alabama’s passing game coordinator/receivers coach sometime in January 2018. While Saban said he did interview Zach Smith, he said he decided to move on to a different candidate after a background check. “We talk to a lot of coaches about a lot of things, I really never did ever offer this guy a job,” Saban said on Saturday....

The 2020 season looked like it might have never kicked off with the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the country. The first Power 5 conference that said it would postpone its season was the Big Ten, and the conference that held pat and said it would play was the SEC. All Power 5 conferences eventually played, and it’s a team from the Big Ten now playing a team from the SEC for the title....

We finally got the answer Monday night as Alabama’s talented defense couldn’t stop Heisman finalist Deshaun Watson and the Tigers when it mattered most. Watson hit Hunter Renfrow with only one second remaining for a game-winning touchdown, giving Clemson the national championship in a 35-31 win. MORE: Alabama-Clemson box score | Officials miss targeting calls? Sporting News provided updates all night long, so check out everything that happened below from this instant classic....

The top-ranked Tide (13-0) scored a dominant victory over Ryan Day and No. 3 Ohio State (7-1), beating the Buckeyes 52-24 for Nick Saban’s seventh national title and sixth at Alabama. Even as Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith exited the game early in the third quarter, Alabama up put up 17 second-half points and never let Ohio State get closer than arm’s length. Smith finished with a College Football Playoff championship game-record 215 yards and three touchdowns....

“We went to the SEC championship, again. We won it, again. We’re going to the College Football Playoff, again. We’ll be the No. 1 seed, again.” And it seems like the Crimson Tide will have another Heisman Trophy winner, again. One year after the school’s first wide receiver won college football’s most-coveted individual award, its first quarterback now seems poised to win it. Alabama quarterback Bryce Young has done pretty much did what it takes to win the award....

The “special surprise” Alaska Airlines — a University of Washington athletics sponsor — tweeted about included not only a purple-and-gold pom-pom and UW wristband, but also a free pair of tickets to Friday night’s Pac-12 championship football game between the Huskies and Colorado in Santa Clara. MORE: Nine ways the playoff picture can unfold While the giveaway isn’t necessarily a positive indicator about ticket demand for the conference title game, for football fans who happened to be on the flight and didn’t have tickets yet, what a deal!...

In a career that took a dramatic turn when she was studying engineering at the University of Puerto Rico, Colon spent 23 years at General Motors before signing on as director of competition systems at Hendrick Motorsports this year. “I wanted to emulate Sally Ride, the first female U.S. astronaut,” Colon acknowledged in an exclusive interview with the NASCAR Wire Service. “I wanted to be the first Puerto Rican astronaut and the first female Puerto Rican astronaut....

The Spain international moved to Camp Nou in the summer of 2016 aware of the situation he was getting himself into. Starting berths were always going to be hard to come by in a star-studded squad, with Alcacer acknowledging that his team-mates are among the finest on the planet. ‘Messi will retire at Barcelona’ He told Marca: “I have the best striker in the world ahead of me, to the right the best player in the world and on the left the best in the near future....

Especially in extra innings. Gordon hit a tiebreaking homer in the 10th inning, Mike Moustakas added a two-run shot and the Royals defeated the Baltimore Orioles 8-6 Friday night in the opener of the AL Championship Series. Earlier, Gordon doubled in three runs, was picked off first base, made a great catch in left field and got hit in the neck with a pitch. But his most memorable moment came when he lined a pitch from Darren O’Day into the right-field seats....

The Hello, Love, Goodbye actor nabbed the Asian Star Prize—only the third Filipino to do so in the history of the awards. “As a Filipino, I am very humbled and grateful to be recognized in the international scene, along with so many amazing and talented artists here tonight,” the Kapuso star said in his acceptance speech. Richards went on to address the political significance of his win, saying “This award is extra special because it comes at a time when we are celebrating 70 years of friendship between the Philippines and South Korea....

Moustakas hit the first extra-inning homer in postseason history for the Royals, a high shot off Fernando Salas that barely reached the elevated right-field stands at Angel Stadium. Alcides Escobar had an early RBI double for the Royals, and their bullpen repeatedly escaped trouble in Kansas City’s first game since that spectacular, 12-inning comeback victory over Oakland in the wild-card playoff Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium. “This is unbelievable. Having a lot of fun in our first postseason....

That’s the number of outs Joe Girardi required from his bullpen Tuesday night against the Twins in the Wild Card game. Yankees ace Luis Severino, pitching in his first postseason start at just 23 years old, gave up two homers and three runs in the first inning before his skipper removed him. With New York’s season on the line, Girardi wasn’t taking any chances. RIVERA: Yankees’ season a success, no matter the outcome...

The episode’s cold open began with a parody of CNN’s election coverage, showing Beck Bennett as an exhausted Wolf Blitzer and Alex Moffat portraying John King, whose fingers have been worn down to nubs from operating touchscreen maps for 85 hours. Jim Carrey then takes the stage as President-elect Joe Biden before he is joined by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, portrayed by Maya Rudolph. “Thank you very much America. We did it!...

Dave Halls handed Alec Baldwin the gun that accidentally killed the 42-year-old but hasn’t spoken publicly on the tragedy until now. The AD has now called for Hollywood to “reevaluate” its values following the tragedy. Halls is widely reported to have shouted “cold gun” to indicate the prop firearm was safe for the actor to fire on the set of the Western film which was being produced in Santa Fe, New Mexico....

On October 21, 2021 Baldwin was holding a gun on the New Mexico set that discharged, leading to the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and the injury of writer-director Joel Souza. As part of the investigation, police in New Mexico filed a search warrant and affidavit in Santa Fe Magistrate Court on December 16, 2021 seeking access to Baldwin’s phone. However, on Thursday, authorities said that Baldwin—who also served as a producer on Rust—had not yet surrendered his device to investigators....

“I’ll find you Mike,” Baldwin wrote in his now deleted tweet. The written confrontation came after the Twitter user @mwreyes replied to Baldwin with a joke about the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Despite the fact that Baldwin took his comment down, the tweet was widely shared and distributed across social media. The incident occurred on Wednesday when Baldwin tweeted out criticism of former President Donald Trump. “Trump tried to choke a Secret Service agent....

On Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday, Friedman was discussing the Penguins and mentioned that they are shopping the 25-year-old forward. “The Penguins are looking around to see what fits there might be for him,” Friedman said on the show. “I do think Buffalo is one of the teams who has looked at him, but Galchenyuk is someone who could find a new home.” RELATED: Colorado Avalanche favorites to acquire Taylor Hall...

Despite the many efforts by the NHL to prevent players from participating in the Olympics, Ovechkin was willing to defy the NHL for another chance to represent his home country of Russia. On Sept. 12, the International Ice Hockey Federation said that a deal to allow NHL to participate was ‘gone’ and that it will shift its focus to the future of international competition. Ovechkin released a statement via the Washington Capitals: My mom was a two-time Olympic champion and when I start to play hockey I dream that if I have chance to play for my country I will do it every time they ask me....