1/21/25 Hometown Broadcasting Sports Tuesday
21 January 2025 Sports
Fifty-one days after suffering the worst loss of his career, Ryan Day guided the No. 8-seeded Buckeyes to their first national championship in 10 years with a 34-23 victory over seventh-seeded Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff National Championship game presented by AT&T on Monday night.
The Buckeyes led 31-7 midway through the third quarter, but the Fighting Irish trimmed their deficit to eight points with a little more than four minutes remaining in the contest.
Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jaden Greathouse with 3:03 left in the third and tossed a 2-point conversion to tailback Jeremiya Love to make it 31-15. After a late defensive stop, Leonard then found Greathouse again for a 30-yard touchdown, and Beau Colliins converted the 2-point attempt on a throw from fellow wideout Jordan Faison to make it 31-23 with 4:15 left.
The Buckeyes finally put away the Irish when quarterback Will Howard threw a deep ball to freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, who beat cornerback Christian Gray for a 56-yard gain to the Irish’s 10-yard line. That led to Jayden Fielding’s ‘s 33-yard field goal, putting the Buckeyes up by 11 points with 26 seconds remaining.
The victory was redemption for Day, whose team fell to rival Michigan, the so-called “School Up North,” for the fourth straight time in a stunning 13-10 defeat at home on Nov. 30. That loss, in which the Buckeyes were 21-point favorites, knocked Ohio State out of the Big Ten championship game.
That defeat didn’t eliminate Ohio State from the first 12-team CFP. The Buckeyes took down No. 9-seeded Tennessee in the first round, top-seeded Ordgon in the quarterfinals and 5-seed Texas in the semis before beating Notre Dame in their 16th game of the season.
A wild week of upsets and a massive shakeup in the AP Top 25. But, there was one constant: Auburn.
The Tigers were the unanimous pick at No. 1 in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll released on Monday, holding on to the top spot following a week in which 19 ranked teams lost at least once — including seven teams in the top 10.
Auburn claimed the program’s second No. 1 ranking last week and won both its games despite playing without injured big man Johni Broome. The Tigers rolled over No. 14 Mississippi State 88-66 and survived a late comeback to beat then-No. 19 Georgia 70-68.
No. 2 Duke moved up a spot after winning both of its games last week and swapped places with No. 3 Iowa State, which blew out No. 12 Kansas but lost to No. 23 West Virginia. Alabama and Florida rounded out the top five despite each losing a game last week.
Only three teams — Alabama, Florida and No. 6 Tennessee — held the same spot from a week ago. The chaotic week allowed No. 8 Michigan State to move into the top 10 for the first time this season and No. 22 Missouri into the poll for the first time since 2022-23. Marquette dropped three spots to 10th.
Marquette dropped three spots to No. 10.
No. 11 Purdue and No. 18 Wisconsin had the biggest jump among the teams in the poll, each climbing six spots. No. 16 Ole Miss is up five places after splitting games against No. 4 Alabama and No. 14 Mississippi State.
No. 24 Memphis had the week’s biggest drop, losing six places after losing to Temple and beating Charlotte. Two-time NCAA champion UConn lost five places to No. 19 after seeing its 28-game home winning streak end in a 68-63 loss to Creighton. Marquette fell three places to No. 10.
#18Wisconsin plays its second game on the west coast tonight as they play UCLA. The Badgers (15-3, 5-2) beat USC Saturday 84-69 to extend its winning streak to seven games. John Blackwell led Wisconsin with 28 points, his third straight game he scored 20 or more points. Max Klesmit added 18 points and Nolan Winter had 13. Tipoff tonight is at 8:30 CT.
#10 Marquette is also back in action tonight at Seton Hall. The Golden Eagles (15-3, 6-1) lost at home to Xavier Saturday, 59-57, snapping their six game winning streak. David Joplin scored 17 points to lead Marquette. Tonight’s tipoff is at 7:00.
Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson has agreed to become the Chicago Bears head coach, a person familiar with the situation told the Associated Press on Monday.
The person spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because the contract was being finalized.
Johnson spent three years as Detroit’s offensive coordinator under Dan Campbell and was widely considered the top head coaching candidate on the market.
The Lions earned the top seed in the NFC at 15-2 before getting stunned by Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders in a divisional playoff game on Saturday. Detroit led the league in points per game and finished second in yards passing and total yards per game during the regular season.
The Bears fired Matt Eberflus on Nov. 29 and replaced him on an interim basis with Thomas Brown. Chicago finished last in the NFC North at 5-12 and lost 10 in a row before closing the season with a win at Green Bay.
Marcus Theatres is paying homage to Wisconsin’s beloved Bob Uecker by celebrating two of his claims to fame: baseball and acting.
The 1989 comedy classic Major League will be screened daily at select Marcus Theatres locations from Jan. 24-30 in honor of Uecker, who died of cancer last week at the age of 90.
Uecker portrays Harry Doyle, the Cleveland Indians’ play-by-play announcer, in the movie — which was filmed in Milwaukee and County Stadium. Some of Doyle’s best lines were ad-libbed by Uecker, including his iconic call of an extremely wild pitch as “Juuuuuust a bit outside!”
Moviegoers can catch the show for a special admission of $5.40 — a nod to each of the 54 years “Mr. Baseball” served as the radio voice of the Milwaukee Brewers.
A portion of the proceeds raised during Marcus Theatres’ week-long cinematic tribute will go to the Milwaukee Brewers Foundation, which aids various nonprofit programs and initiatives.
Theaters participating in the “Major League” screenings include Bay Park in Ashwaubenon; Green Bay East Cinema; Hollywood Cinema and Valley Grand Cinema in Appleton; Oshkosh Cinema and Sheboygan Cinema.
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