NCAA

With Michigan back in the College Football Playoff, there have been questions about head coach Jim Harbaugh's future with the team as NFL clubs could come knocking at his door this offseason.

However, Harbaugh shut down rumors of a potential departure from Michigan on Sunday, telling reporters that he would return to the Wolverines in 2023, via ESPN's Tom VanHaaren:

"That time of the year type of speculation, but I think no man knows the future. But I think that people that think we've done a good job and are pleased with the job that we've done here at Michigan, they're going to be very happy to learn that we will be back enthusiastically coaching the Wolverines in 2023. And for those people that don't approve of the job we've done or would rather see somebody else coaching here, I think they'll be most likely disappointed to learn we'll be back coaching the Wolverines and in 2023."

Harbaugh's comments come after NFL Network's Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport reported that "multiple NFL teams have been doing background work recently" on the Michigan head coach.

Pelissero and Rapoport wrote:

"One NFL source plugged into the situation said they believe Harbaugh would consider a return to the NFL, and a source with another team that could be running a head-coaching search said they believe Harbaugh would discuss an opening if asked and weigh the right situation."

Harbaugh has been head coach of the Michigan Wolverines since 2015. In his eight years at the helm, he is 75-24 and has now led the team to back-to-back appearances in the College Football Playoff.

Last season, Michigan finished 12-2, falling to Georgia in the CFP semifinals. This year, the Wolverines are 13-0 and set to face the TCU Horned Frogs in the CFP semifinals on Dec. 31.

Harbaugh's college success isn't the only reason why he's drawing interest from NFL teams. He previously coached the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 to 2014, going 44-19-1 and leading the team to the NFC Championship Game three times and an appearance in the Super Bowl.

The 58-year-old flirted with an NFL return after the 2021 season, interviewing for the Minnesota Vikings' head coaching vacancy, though they never offered him the job instead hiring Kevin O'Connell.

Harbaugh is under contract with Michigan through 2026 after agreeing to a five-year, $36.7 million contract with the Wolverines in February.

Deion Sanders was officially introduced as head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes on Sunday, and we now know what the former Jackson State bench boss will earn in his new role.

Sanders agreed to a five-year, $29.5 million deal with Colorado, according to Brian Howell of the Boulder Daily Camera.

Full details:

Sanders coached Jackson State over the last three seasons, amassing a 27-5 record while leading the Tigers into the national spotlight during his tenure.

Jackson State put together its first undefeated season in program history in 2022, finishing 12-0. The Tigers won the SWAC title Saturday with a 43-24 win over the Southern Jaguars and will take on the North Carolina Central Eagles in the Celebration Bowl on Dec. 17.

During his introductory press conference in Colorado, Sanders expressed his desire to rebuild a Buffaloes squad that finished last in the Pac-12 this year with a 1-11 record.

Sanders said, via Zach Koons of Sports Illustrated:

“Now that I’ve gotten here and I see and I can understand it and I can grasp it, and I can feel it and I can touch it and I can taste it. I truly understand what you want. All you want is an opportunity to win. To compete, to dominate. To be among the elite, to be among the best. And darn it, I’m gonna give you that.

“We’re not here to compete but to win. Not to show up but to show out. Not to be among the rest but to be the absolute best. We’re coming to work, not to play. We’re coming to kill, not to kick it. Baby, I got to believe that we’re coming.”

The Buffaloes fired head coach Karl Dorrell following an 0-5 start to the 2022 season and replaced him with interim head coach Mike Sanford. Dorrell had been the coach at Colorado since 2020.

Sanders will be tasked with leading Colorado to its first winning season since 2016 when his team hits the field in 2023. While that could be a difficult task, the Buffaloes are expected to receive commitments from some top recruits with Sanders aboard.

Colorado already landed a commitment from five-star wide receiver Winston Watkins Jr. on Sunday. Additionally, Sanders hinted at his son, Shedeur Sanders, transferring from Jackson State to Colorado for the 2023 season:

During the 2022 season with the Tigers, Shedeur Sanders completed 70.2 percent of his passes for 3,383 yards and 36 touchdowns against six interceptions, in addition to rushing for 174 yards and five scores.

Sanders spent 14 seasons in the NFL and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He won two Super Bowl titles and the 1994 Defensive Player of the Year award. Additionally, he was a six-time All-Pro and eight-time Pro Bowler.

USC quarterback Caleb Williams suffered a "significant" hamstring injury in Saturday's 47-24 loss to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship Game, Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley told reporters Sunday.

"It's probably good we're not playing for the next 2-3 weeks," Riley said. "We'll rehab him hard and hope to have him available."

Riley told reporters after Saturday's game that Williams suffered the injury on a 59-yard run in the first quarter.

"He was not even 50 percent," Riley said, per The Athletic's Stewart Mandel. "I thought about taking him out but he wouldn't let me ... maybe the gutsiest performance (at that position) I've ever seen."

Williams was a bit more candid when explaining his injury.

"You ever have an old rubber band? That’s kind of what it felt like," Williams said, per Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde.

Williams, who was seen limping by the start of the third quarter, played through the injury, completing 28-of-41 passes for 363 yards and three touchdowns against one interception in the loss. He also rushed for 21 yards on 12 carries.

The 20-year-old entered the Pac-12 Championship Game as the Heisman Trophy favorite, and he's likely still the front-runner. In 13 games this season, he has completed 66.1 percent of his passes for 4,075 yards and 37 touchdowns against four interceptions, in addition to rushing for 372 yards and 10 scores.

Williams followed Riley to USC after beginning his collegiate career as a freshman at Oklahoma, where Riley had been the head coach before accepting a deal to join the Trojans.

With a win in Saturday's championship game, USC might have been selected for the College Football Playoff. Instead, they dropped to 11-2 on the season and watched as the 11-1 Ohio State Buckeyes were picked for the four-team playoff.

Despite not being selected for the CFP, USC will face Tulane in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 2. If Williams is unable to play, Miller Moss would be in line to suit up.

TCU still deserves a shot in the College Football Playoff despite losing in the Big 12 Championship Game—at least according to Associated Press voters.

The Horned Frogs came in at No. 3 in the final AP rankings before the playoff as they await word from the CFP committee. Georgia remained the nation's top-ranked team, followed by Michigan. Ohio State slides in at No. 4 while Alabama is on the outside looking in at No. 5.

Here is a look at how the entire poll played out:

1. Georgia
2. Michigan
3. TCU
4. Ohio State
5. Alabama
6. Tennessee
7. Utah
8. USC
9. Penn State
10. Clemson
11. Kansas State
12. Washington
13. Florida State
14. Tulane
15. Oregon
16. LSU
17. Oregon State
18. UCLA
19. Notre Dame
20. South Carolina
21. Texas
22. UTSA
23. Troy
24. Mississippi State
25. North Carolina State

College football came into the weekend with a very straightforward outlook. Georgia and Michigan were locks for the playoff regardless of how their conference title games played out, while TCU and USC were locked in if they were able to win their respective championships.

Neither of them got the job done.

USC played itself out of playoff contention in a 47-24 blowout loss to Utah. The Trojans were outscored 44-7 after holding a 17-3 lead, with the defense completely imploding while Heisman favorite Caleb Williams struggled with a hamstring injury.

TCU got more benefit of the doubt after losing a 31-28 overtime thriller to Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship Game. The Horned Frogs came back from 11 points down in the last 10 minutes, scoring a touchdown and game-tying two-point conversion with 1:51 remaining before falling in the extra period.

Losses by USC and TCU opened the door for Alabama, and coach Nick Saban publicly tried knocking it down during an appearance on ESPN's The College Football Show on Saturday.

"We lost two games on the road to one Top Five team, one Top 10 team on the last play of the game," Saban said. "But now that [quarterback Bryce Young is] healthier and he's able to practice, I think we're a different team, and I think you should look at the circumstances around a two-loss team versus a one-loss team and how are they playing at the end of the season? How are they playing at the present?"

Despite Alabama being a more talented team than TCU, the AP voters somewhat surprisingly kept the Horned Frogs at No. 3. We'll have to see if the committee follows suit.

Wide receiver Robert Lockhart III, offensive tackle Jordan Hall and defensive back Twan Wilson announced they have decommitted from Jackson State amid news of Deion Sanders taking the head-coaching position at Colorado.

All three players made their announcements on social media:

Sanders closed out an undefeated 2022 season Saturday with a SWAC Championship Game win over Southern and was then almost immediately introduced as Colorado's next coach. The Hall of Fame cornerback went 27-5 over three seasons at Jackson State while bringing national media attention to football at historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

The national cache helped Sanders land a number of high-profile recruits who otherwise would have attended FBS powers. 5-star cornerback Travis Hunter committed to Sanders and was dominant in his freshman season at Jackson State. It seems likely Hunter and quarterback Shedeur Sanders, Deion's son, will lead a class of players who will follow Coach Prime from Jackson State to Colorado.

Wide receivers Kevin Coleman Jr. and Quaydarius Davis, defensive lineman KaTron Evans and cornerback De'Jahn Warren are among the other high-profile names currently on the Jackson State roster who could become notable transfers.

Sanders had not locked in a single 4-star or better recruit in his 2023 class, but that will likely soon change as he makes the transition to the Pac-12.

Wide receiver Isiah Kendall and linebackers Kofi Taylor-Barrocks and Jace Ward are the top players remaining in Jackson State's 2023 class at the moment.

Stanford is reportedly targeting Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman to replace David Shaw as the Cardinal's next head football coach.

Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported there is "mutual interest" between the two parties, and Roman has emerged as the vacancy's top candidate.

The 50-year-old has been an NFL offensive assistant for nearly a quarter-century after beginning his career with the Carolina Panthers in 1995. His only collegiate experience came at Stanford during the 2009 and 2010 seasons, when he served as a tight ends and offensive tackles coach under Jim Harbaugh.

When Harbaugh took the San Francisco 49ers' head coaching job in 2011, Shaw was promoted to Stanford's head coach and Roman followed Harbaugh to San Francisco. Roman has served as the offensive coordinator for the 49ers, Buffalo Bills and Ravens over the course of his career.

Baltimore promoted Roman to offensive coordinator in 2019, lining him up with Lamar Jackson's full-time takeover as the team's starting quarterback. Jackson won an MVP during his first season under Roman's tutelage and has made two of the last three Pro Bowls.

There has been some criticism of Roman's offensive philosophy, leading to speculation about his job security after last season, but he would be a solid hire for a Stanford program in desperate need of a revamp.

The Cardinal were 14-28 during Shaw's final four seasons, with his tenure concluding with back-to-back 3-9 campaigns. Stanford has struggled to keep up in the increasingly competitive college recruitment rat race, with NIL money and the ability of players to transfer more freely creating a difficult environment.

Roman has no head-coaching experience but brings an NFL cache that could create an energy that was lacking late in Shaw's tenure.

Deion Sanders is heading to Colorado.

The University of Colorado athletic director Rick George announced Sanders will be the next head football coach for the program.

Per The Athletic's Bruce Feldman, Sanders told his Jackson State players after their victory over Southern in the SWAC Championship Game on Saturday he was leaving for the new job.

Sanders did say during his address to the Tigers he will "finish what we started," which would seem to indicate he will remain with the team through the Celebration Bowl against North Carolina Central on Dec. 17 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

The move has been rumored for most of the week leading up to Saturday's game. Sanders even confirmed he had been offered the Colorado job on Monday during a teleconference call with reporters.

Sanders also said other programs had contacted him to express their interest, but he declined to name them.

Per ESPN's Pete Thamel, Sanders spent most of this week "making inquiries to both potential members of his on-field staff and support staff at Colorado" about joining him at his new job.

Thamel also noted Sanders placed a call to a "prominent player in the NCAA transfer portal" and encouraged him not to make any decision until Sanders could recruit him to Colorado.

Getting Sanders is a huge boon for a program that has had five head coaches since 2018. Mike MacIntyre was fired after a six-game losing streak after starting the 2018 campaign 5-0. Quarterbacks coach Kurt Roper served as interim head coach for the final game of the year.

Mel Tucker went 5-7 in his lone season at Colorado in 2019 before resigning to take the same position at Michigan State. Karl Dorrell made it through two full seasons before being fired this past October after an 0-5 start.

Mike Sanford replaced Dorrell on an interim basis for the final seven games in 2022. The Buffaloes finished this season 1-11, tied for the worst single-season record in program history.

Colorado has only made two bowl appearances since 2008. It has only played for a Pac-12 title once since moving to the conference in 2011.

Sanders is wrapping up a successful three-season run at Jackson State University. He was hired by the program in September 2020 and has led it to a 27-5 record with back-to-back SWAC championships.

The Tigers' 12 wins this season broke the previous record of 11, set in 2021 (11-2). They can complete the first perfect season in program history with a win in the Celebration Bowl.

The University of South Florida is finalizing a deal to make Tennessee offensive coordinator Alex Golesh its next head coach, per ESPN's Pete Thamel.

USF also pursued reportedly Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders for the vacancy before deciding to hire Golesh.

Golesh has spent the last two seasons as Tennessee's offensive coordinator under head coach Josh Heupel. He followed Heupel to Volunteer country from UCF, and also spent time as an assistant at Iowa State, Illinois, Toledo and Oklahoma State during his career.

As offensive coordinator of the Volunteers, Golesh led one of the most prolific offenses in the country this season, so it's no surprise USF pursued him for its head coaching vacancy.

Tennessee averaged 538.1 total yards and 47.3 points per game, which ranks first in the nation. The Vols had the country's third-best passing offense, averaging 332.3 yards per game, and they averaged 205.8 yards per game on the ground.

Because of his success running the Tennessee offense, Golesh is a finalist for the 2022 Broyles Award, which is given to the country's top assistant coach.

Golesh takes over a USF program that finished last in the American Athletic Conference this season with a 1-11 record. It was one of the worst seasons in team history, and Golesh will be tasked with rebuilding a Bulls program that hasn't posted a winning season since 2018.

USF fired Jeff Scott in November after he led the Bulls to a 4-26 record in his three seasons at the helm. He was replaced by Daniel Da Prato, who was named interim head coach for the remainder of the 2022 campaign.

As for Tennessee, Heupel will now have to replace Golesh in Rocky Top. It will be interesting to see how quickly he fills the position, with the early signing period for prospective student-athletes set to begin on Dec. 21.