— Miami 31, Ole Miss 27
Miami drove 75 yards, scored game-winning TD with 0:18 left.
Hurricanes ran 88 plays from scrimmage, Ole Miss 60.
Miami converted 11-19 third down plays, Rebels 2-10.
Miami will play the Indiana-Oregon winner for the national title January 19.
— All four semi-final teams in the College Football Playoff have Australian punters.
— Miami Dolphins fired coach Mike McDaniel, who was 35-35 in four years coaching the Dolphins- he went 20-16 the first two years, 15-19 the last two, missing playoffs the last two seasons. Curious to see who they hire as their next coach; that person will be Miami’s ninth head coach since the last time they won a playoff game, in 2000.
QB Tua Tagovailoa is a $$$ problem; Miami can’t cut him this year, or he would be a $99.2 dead cap hit, a huge number, so they’ll have to keep him, at least for another year.
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers kept head coach Todd Bowles, but they fired seven assistant coaches, which means that next year, Baker Mayfield will have his sixth different offensive coordinator in the last six years.
— Miami Marlins traded P Edward Cabrera to the Cubs, for OF prospect Owen Caissie and two lesser outfield prospects. Cabrera was 8-7, 3.53 in 26 starts for the Marlins last year.
— In the NBA, Atlanta Hawks traded G Trae Young to Washington Wizards, for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert. Young is averaging 19.3 ppg this year, first time in the last seven years he is scoring less than 20 points/game.
— Random trivia; Jets were the only NFL team this season to start the same five offensive linemen in every game.
— Famous birthdays, January 9th
ML Carr, 75
JK Simmons, 71
Otis Nixon, 67
Stan Javier, 62
Joely Richardson, 61
David Costabile, 59
Chad Johnson, 48
Michael Beasley, 37
Marcus Peters, 33
Kerris Dorsey, 29
— Cal-Davis 93, UCSB 86
Gauchos led 33-15 midway thru the first half.
Cal-Davis shot 65.4% inside arc, scored 1.31 ppp
6 of the 8 guys who played for Cal-Davis scored in double figures.
— Gonzaga 89, Santa Clara 77
Game was tied 37-37 at halftime.
Graham Ike scored 34 points, had 11 rebounds.
Gonzaga shot 65.1% inside the arc.
Zags won 52 of their last 56 games against Santa Clara.
— Northridge 95, Cal Poly 90
Cal Poly led by 14 with 12:49 left in the game.
Matadors’ PG Davis scored 23 points, had 15 assists.
Cal Poly shot 16-44 on arc, 13-26 inside arc.
— Portland 90, Pacific 89 OT
Portland outscored Pacific 9-3 in last 0:22 of overtime.
Pilots shot 13-23 outside the arc.
First win in five WCC games for Portland.
— LMU 84, San Francisco 82, 2OT
McBride had 18 points in 38:00 for LMU; he didn’t start.
LMU had 50 points in paint, San Francisco had 26.
Ryan Beasley scored 32 points for USF.
— Tennessee-Martin 76, Morehead State 68
Morehead led by 16 late in the first half.
Tennessee-Martin shot 58.6% inside the arc.
Skyhawks are 12-4, with wins at Bradley, at UNLV
— Ohio State 72, Oregon 62
All five OSU starters scored between 10-14 points.
Buckeyes are shooting 61% inside the arc (#9) this year.
Ducks are struggling, off to an 8-8 start, 1-4 in the league.
— In the NBA, Bulls-Heat game was postponed because of condensation on the floor; it will be made up down the road. During the delay before they postponed the game, the Bulls’ mascot stood at half court, flung the ball over his head with his back to the basket and swished it. Pretty impressive.
