In a most unusual college football season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, at least one thing returned to normal: Alabama is back in the College Football Playoff. After a one-year sojourn, the Crimson Tide returned to the CFP following an undefeated season, marking the sixth time in seven editions of the current selection system Alabama will compete for the national championship.
Alabama finished with the joint best record in college football at 11-0 and went wire to wire as CFP’s top-ranked team, capping their impressive season with a 52-46 win over the Florida Gators in the SEC Championship.
Watch No. 1 Alabama take on No. 4 Notre Dame in the Rose Bowl live Friday on TSN1/4/5, TSN Direct and the TSN App beginning at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT
Other impressive wins on Alabama’s resume include early season routs over then-No. 13 Texas A&M (52-24), and then-No. 3 Georgia (41-24), and big wins later in the season over rivals Auburn (42-13) and LSU (55-17).
The Crimson Tide now have their sights on the CFP National Championship and to get there they’ll have to go through the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Notre Dame held on to their spot in the Playoff despite a lopsided 34-10 loss to Clemson in the ACC Championship to end their regular season.
The Fighting Irish had orchestrated a very successful season up until that point, going undefeated in their first 10 games including wins over ranked opponents North Carolina (31-17), and Clemson (47-40, albeit a COVID-19 depleted Tigers team that was missing quarterback and Heisman finalist Trevor Lawrence for the game.
Players to watch
Alabama: Let’s start with the Canadian, receiver John Metchie III. The sophomore from Brampton, ON finished the regular season with 44 receptions for 782 yards and six touchdowns, good for second on the team in receiving.
Metchie’s running mate in the receiving corps, DeVonta Smith, is one of two Heisman finalists on Alabama, alongside QB Mac Jones. Smith led the country in receiving with 98 receptions and 1,511 yards, and was second in touchdowns with 17. Jones was second in country in passing yards with 3,739 and also finished with 32 touchdowns and just four interceptions. If Smith of Jones wins, they would be just the third Crimson Tide player to capture the Heisman after running backs Mark Ingram and Derrick Henry, and Smith would be the first receiver to earn college football’s most prestigious individual award since Desmond Howard in 1991, who also earned the honour for his kick returning.
Other Crimson Tide players named first team All-Americans include running back Najee Harris, offensive lineman Alex Leatherwood and Landon Dickerson, and cornerback Patrick Surtain.
Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish are led by senior QB Ian Book. Book finished the year with 2,600 passing yards, 15 touchdowns, and two interceptions, adding another 430 yards and eight scores on the ground.
Notre Dame also finished the year with two first team All-Americans: offensive guard Aaron Brooks and linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.
Michael Simmons’ TSN Edge outlook
Spread: Alabama -19.5
Total: 65.5
Alabama is an offensive machine once again this season. Mac Jones, Devonta Smith and Najee Harris are three of the best at their positions in all of college football, while John Metchie is no slouch either. Nobody has managed to stop or even slow down this offence. While Notre Dame has played some good defence overall, they did struggle in both games against Clemson when the level of competition increased. The Irish do have a good running game though and Ian Book can make some plays down the field against an Alabama secondary that has some holes in it. As much as there is a chance Alabama just rolls here, 19.5 points is a lot for a playoff game, so I’m just going to take the over here as well as the Alabama team total over.
The Pick: Over 65.5 and Alabama over 42.5
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VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Canucks announced Tuesday that defenceman Alex Edler will sign a one-day contract in order to officially retire as a member of the NHL team.
The signing will be part of a celebration of Edler’s career held Oct. 11 when the Canucks host the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Canucks selected Edler, from Ostersund, Sweden, in the third round (91st overall) of the 2004 NHL draft.
He played in 925 career games for the Canucks between the 2006-07 and 2020-21 seasons, ranking fourth in franchise history and first among defencemen.
The 38-year-old leads all Vancouver defencemen with 99 goals, 310 assists and 177 power-play points with the team.
Edler also appeared in 82 career post-season contests with Vancouver and was an integral part of the Canucks’ run to the 2011 Stanley Cup final, putting up 11 points (2-9-11) across 25 games.
“I am humbled and honoured to officially end my career and retire as a member of the Vancouver Canucks,” Edler said in a release. “I consider myself lucky to have started my career with such an outstanding organization, in this amazing city, with the best fans in the NHL. Finishing my NHL career where it all began is something very special for myself and my family.”
Edler played two seasons for Los Angeles in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He did not play in the NHL last season.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The sixth-ranked Canadian women will face World Cup champion Spain in an international friendly next month.
Third-ranked Spain will host Canada on Oct. 25 at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.
The game will be the first for the Canadian women since the Paris Olympics, where they lost to Germany in a quarterfinal penalty shootout after coach Bev Priestman was sent home and later suspended for a year by FIFA over her part in Canada’s drone-spying scandal.
In announcing the Spain friendly, Canada Soccer said more information on the interim women’s coaching staff for the October window will come later. Assistant coach Andy Spence took charge of the team in Priestman’s absence at the Olympics.
Spain finished fourth in Paris, beaten 1-0 by Germany in the bronze-medal match.
Canada is winless in three previous meetings (0-2-1) with Spain, most recently losing 1-0 at the Arnold Clark Cup in England in February 2022.
The teams played to a scoreless draw in May 2019 in Logroñés, Spain in a warm-up for the 2019 World Cup. Spain won 1-0 in March 2019 at the Algarve Cup in São João da Venda, Portugal.
Spain is a powerhouse in the women’s game these days.
It won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2022 and was runner-up in 2018. And it ousted Canada 2-1 in the round of 16 of the current U-20 tournament earlier this month in Colombia before falling 1-0 to Japan after extra time in the quarterfinal.
Spain won the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 2018 and 2022 and has finished on the podium on three other occasions.
FC Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati (2023) and Alexia Putellas (2021 and ’22) have combined to win the last three Women’s Ballon d’Or awards.
And Barcelona has won three of the last four UEFA Women’s Champions League titles.
“We continue to strive to diversify our opponent pool while maintaining a high level of competition.” Daniel Michelucci, Canada Soccer’s director of national team operations, said in a statement. “We anticipate a thrilling encounter, showcasing two of the world’s top-ranked teams.”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024
TORONTO – The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced cookie brand Oreo as the team’s helmet sponsor for the upcoming NHL season.
The new helmet will debut Sunday when Toronto opens its 2024-25 pre-season against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Arena.
The Oreo logo replaces Canadian restaurant chain Pizza Pizza, which was the Leafs’ helmet sponsor last season.
Previously, social media platform TikTok sponsored Toronto starting in the 2021-22 regular season when the league began allowing teams to sell advertising space on helmets.
The Oreo cookie consists of two chocolate biscuits around a white icing filling and is often dipped in milk.
Fittingly, the Leafs wear the Dairy Farmers of Ontario’s “Milk” logo on their jerseys.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
