college-football-playoff Page 13 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Officials' Timing Blunder Hurts Clemson; FG Attempt Falls Short
Greg Huegel’s 44-yard field goal attempt fell short after Clemson found themselves without a chance to run an additional play when officials allowed several seconds to run off the clock after a first down late in the first half of tonight’s national championship....

The College Football Playoff's Idiotic Scheduling Is Screwing Over ESPN
ESPN, just like everyone else, knew the TV ratings for this year’s College Football Playoff semifinal games would be down from last year’s. But ESPN was still way too optimistic—the games didn’t come close to the numbers they promised advertisers, and now ESPN owes tens of millions of dollars in fre...
![Reports: ESPN College Football Playoff Game Ratings Went Into Toilet [UPDATES]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/kmb10u6hurewxtk5ofve.jpg)
Reports: ESPN College Football Playoff Game Ratings Went Into Toilet [UPDATES]
Three months of annoying, Kimmel-led promos and awkward corporate tie-ins weren’t enough to keep ESPN’s college football playoff semifinal TV ratings from plummeting on a New Year’s Eve, the traditions of which have never featured watching college football at home....

This Has Been Your 2015
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Cyrus Jones Takes Punt 57 Yards, Extends Alabama Lead To 24-0
Alabama’s Cyrus Jones increased an already big Crimson Tide lead to 24 with this 57-yard punt return. Above is the ESPN Deportes call; here’s how it sounded on Alabama’s Crimson Tide Sports Network:...

Mark Dantonio Doesn't Have Time For Your Stupid Questions
Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio wasn’t about to suffer multiple questions from ESPN’s Heather Cox before tonight’s Cotton Bowl playoff matchup against Alabama, so the Michigan State head coach went full Popovich and walked away. Maybe he heard about this....

ESPN Promo For Cotton Bowl Semifinal Features Michigan, Not Michigan State
ESPN has gone all-in on its Latin American programming strategy, with today’s college football semifinals airing on ESPN Deportes, a Deportes simulcast on ESPN2, and on the main ESPN in Mexico. Unfortunately, some confusion still reigns as you can see in this promo that ran on Deportes (and ESPN2) d...

Clemson Fake Punt Sets Up Go-Ahead Touchdown
Clemson punter Andy Teasdall connected with Christian Wilkins for 31 yards and a first down as Dabo Swinney used some trickery to get the Tigers inside Oklahoma’s 15-yard line. Two plays later, Deshaun Watson found the end zone to put Clemson up 10-7 in today’s first college football playoff semifin...

Even Disney Jr. Can't Escape The College Football Playoff Cross-Branding
We noted last night that ESPN corporate parent Disney shoved a bunch of hilariously bad references to the college football playoff games on New Year’s Eve into yesterday’s episode of General Hospital. Commenter JortReform noted that even Disney Jr. had been running tie-in promos, and we caught one o...

Disney Inundates <i>General Hospital</i> Episode With References To New Year's Eve College Football Playoff Games
ESPN says it isn’t worried about viewership for tomorrow’s college football playoff games on New Year’s Eve, but the degree to which TV viewers have been choked to death by promos for the two games—which were played on New Year’s Day last year—has left many never wanting to hear “Auld Lang Syne” eve...

Report: Three Clemson Players Suspended From Orange Bowl For Failing Drug Tests
According to a report from Price Atkinson of ESPN Greenville and later confirmed by others, Clemson’s Deon Cain, Ammon Lakip, and Jay Jay McCullough are going to be suspended from the team’s College Football Playoff/Orange Bowl matchup with Oklahoma on Thursday for a violation of team rules. The Cle...

Here Are Your College Football Playoff Matchups
ESPN just revealed the matchups for the second annual College Football Playoff. #1 Clemson will take on #4 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, and #2 Alabama has #3 Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl. Both games will be played on December 31, with the final on January 11 in Arizona. ...

The College Football Playoff Generated So Much Goddamn Money
If you want to judge college football’s first season that decided a national champion via a four-team playoff based on how much revenue the new system produced for the schools and conferences that participated in it, then the whole thing was an astronomical success. ...


The NFL Wants Monday Playoff Games
NFL playoff expansion is coming, and probably within the next couple of years—there's too much money in it for it not to happen, once the league and the union can figure out how to split up the take. But more playoff teams means more games, and that means the weekends simply won't be big enough to c...

Let's Look At All The Shitheads Who Thought A Playoff Was A Bad Idea
We'll start with the obvious, which is that the college football playoff was fucking awesome and I am happy that it finally exists. It returned meaningful football games to New Year's Day, which I had missed dearly. It amplified the importance of regular season games, rather than diluting them. I...

Police Use Tear Gas, Pepper Spray To Break Up OSU Celebrations
As soon as the Buckeyes finished off their championship, fans and students flooded the streets on and around Ohio State's campus. They were largely well-behaved, but it didn't matter: after about 90 minutes, authorities cleared out the area with mounted police, riot cops, liberal use of pepper spray...

Sick SEC Burn, Danny Kanell
OK, maybe Seminoles alum and ESPN analyst Danny Kanell has been stanning for FSU long enough and hard enough that everything he has to say should be discounted—he's certainly catching enough crap for it. But what is college football for if not reveling in the misery of others to make yourself feel b...

Jameis Winston Falls Down, Throws Ball Backward, Gives Up Touchdown
Florida State is now down 45-20 to Oregon after Jameis Winston performed one of the most glorious and hilarious plays in college football history. The play features a referee eating it, too! The New York Jets only wish they could execute this perfectly. Here's how it sounded on ESPN Deportes:...

Your 2015 College Football Playoff Cheat Sheet
College football begins a new era today. After years of frustration with the Bowl Championship Series, there's finally a playoff to crown a national champion. If you haven't followed the season closely to this point but want to follow along, here's a quick rundown of what you should know about each...