The final puzzle pieces for the 2023 NFL regular-season schedule are now in place, with plenty of playoff scenarios still to be determined.

On Sunday night, the league revealed times for the Week 18 NFL schedule, which will feature 16 games – all divisional matchups – taking place next weekend.

The slate will kick off with two games on Saturday: the Pittsburgh Steelers facing the top-seeded Baltimore Ravens in the afternoon, followed by the Houston Texans taking on the Indianapolis Colts in what amounts to a win-and-in scenario

Then, the action will wrap up with 14 contests on Sunday, with the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins clashing on ‘Sunday Night Football’ in a winner-take-all battle for the AFC East division crown and No. 2 seed in the conference.

Here’s a full look at the full program for Week 18:

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NFL Week 18 game times, TV info

Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024

Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens, 4:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/ABC

Houston Texans at Indianapolis Colts, 8:15 p.m. ET, ESPN/ABC

Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024

Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Carolina Panthers, 1:00 p.m. ET, FOX

Cleveland Browns at Cincinnati Bengals, 1:00 p.m. ET, CBS

Minnesota Vikings at Detroit Lions, 1:00 p.m. ET, FOX

New York Jets at New England Patriots, 1:00 p.m. ET,  FOX

Atlanta Falcons at New Orleans Saints, 1:00 p.m. ET, CBS

Jacksonville Jaguars at Tennessee Titans, 1:00 p.m. ET, CBS

Seattle Seahawks at Arizona Cardinals, 4:25 p.m. ET, FOX

Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers, 4:25 p.m. ET, CBS

Denver Broncos at Las Vegas Raiders, 4:25 p.m. ET, FOX

Kansas City Chiefs at Los Angeles Chargers, 4:25 p.m. ET, CBS

Philadelphia Eagles at New York Giants, 4:25 p.m. ET, CBS

Los Angeles Rams at San Francisco 49ers, 4:25 p.m. ET, FOX

Dallas Cowboys at Washington Commanders, 4:25 p.m. ET, FOX

Buffalo Bills at Miami Dolphins, 8:20 p.m. ET, NBC

The 32 things we learned from Week 17 of the 2023 NFL season:

1. The final day of calendar year 2023 provided a lot of information regarding what will happen early in 2024, at least as it pertains to the NFL. Six days after their heavyweight battle on Christmas night, the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers both locked down the top seeds in the AFC and NFC, respectively, ensuring both squads will get wild-card weekend off and will play their subsequent postseason games at home … at least before Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas.

2. And though the Ravens handled the Niners in Week 16 – and 11 years ago in Super Bowl 47, when Joe Flacco was the game’s MVP – a rematch seems like the optimal outcome given Baltimore and San Francisco are almost undoubtedly the league’s two best teams. And if that occurs six weeks from now, you’d hope RB Christian McCaffrey, S Kyle Hamilton, TE Mark Andrews, DL Arik Armstead, G Kevin Zeitler and the rest of those teams’ respective mainstays are able to play at something close to 100%.

3. Statistically, Baltimore QB Lamar Jackson’s season doesn’t compare to his 2019 MVP performance. But with a closing argument that included a defeat of the 49ers followed by five TD passes against the Miami Dolphins to lock down the AFC’s top seed, hard to believe Jackson won’t soon be a two-time MVP given the relative lack of serious competition this season.

3a. Jackson’s 158.3 passer rating Sunday was the third perfect score of his career, tying the NFL’s all-time record, the other two occurring – naturally – in 2019.

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3b. He also topped 800 rushing yards for the third time, becoming the first quarterback ever to do so.

4. Speaking of Flacco – just awesome. The 38-year-old retread probably hasn’t played this well since he was 28, and he couldn’t be having more fun. Despite all their major injuries, Flacco’s Cleveland Browns – now locked into the fifth seed, meaning they’ll likely open the postseason at the AFC South champion – are legit Super Bowl contenders, thanks primarily to their swarming defense and their new quarterback’s fearless play.

4a. In his past two New York Jets-Browns games in Cleveland, Flacco has passed for 616 yards and seven TDs with a QB rating of 114.9.

4b. Even better, Flacco is undefeated in those games, getting a win for both the NYJ (2022) and Browns (2023).

4c. Flacco has thrown for at least 300 yards in his past four starts, all of them wins. A first-round pick of the Ravens in 2008, he had never had a 300-yard streak of more than two games prior to this year.

4d. Flacco also became the first quarterback to pass for 300 yards against the Jets in two years. The last to do it? Thomas Edward Patrick Brady, Tampa Bay Buccaneers version.

5. This is the first time since 1953 – seven decades ago – that both the Browns and Detroit Lions had double-digit wins.

6. Incidentally, the Lions beat the Browns 17-16 to win the 1953 league championship.

6a. Incidentally, the Lions and Browns are two of the league’s four teams that have never reached the Super Bowl and certainly its two oldest. (The Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars are the others, though both of them might qualify for the playoffs, too.)

7. 49ers QB Brock Purdy bowed out of the MVP conversation after getting thoroughly outplayed by Jackson last week. But – maybe a bit surprisingly? – he claimed San Francisco’s single-season passing yardage record by getting to the relatively modest figure of 4,280.

8. Perhaps more surprising, Purdy topped the mark (4,278) previously held by … Jeff Garcia.

9. Niners RB Christian McCaffrey’s day was abbreviated by a calf injury but not before he collected 91 total yards and locking up his first league rushing title.

10. CMC also joined Hall of Famers Eric Dickerson and Marshall Faulk as the only players to pile up 2,000 yards from scrimmage in a season for multiple franchises.

11. Not only were both No. 1 seeds put to bed, three other teams (Browns, Los Angeles Rams, Kansas City Chiefs) sewed up playoff spots in Week 17.

12. The Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos and Las Vegas Raiders were all eliminated Sunday with the Chicago Bears likely to follow by night’s end (unless the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings tie).

13. That means 20 of the league’s 32 teams are likely to be viable entering Week 18, though several already assured of playoff spots (49ers, Ravens, Browns, Chiefs) cannot improve their postseason position on the final weekend of the regular season.

14. And the Bears hardly ended Sunday empty-handed, now official owners of the top pick of the 2024 NFL draft, a selection acquired from Carolina after Chicago sent the Panthers the No. 1 selection of the 2023 draft.

15. How ’bout them … Chiefs. Their string of divisional titles under HC Andy Reid reached eight Sunday, the second-longest run in NFL history behind the New England Patriots (2009-19).

16. Though the Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, Super Bowl participants last season, certainly aren’t playing like they want to reach Las Vegas in February.

17. How about Mike Tomlin? The Pittsburgh Steelers coach watched his team keep its playoff hopes alive by beating the Seattle Seahawks at imposing Lumen Field. The victory also assured Tomlin, now in his 17th season at the helm, still has never endured a sub-.500 season. No other head coach has started his NFL career with a longer streak than Tomlin’s.

18. Only the Dallas Cowboys’ Tom Landry (21 seasons) and Patriots’ Bill Belichick (19 seasons) have longer streaks at any point in league history.

19. How about those South divisions? Both the AFC and NFC South could still be won by as many three teams going into Week 18, only the Panthers and Tennessee Titans on the outside looking in.

20. Next weekend’s game between the Texans and Indianapolis Colts is a de facto playoff game, the winner definitely advancing to the official postseason. Who didn’t see that coming?

21. How about the NFC East? The Cowboys are suddenly in command of the division after winning Saturday night and benefitting from another loss by the Eagles – to the struggling Arizona Cardinals – at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday. Should America’s Team finish in first place, the NFC East still will not have had a repeat champion since Philly won it four consecutive seasons from 2001 to 2004.

22. However Eagles fans and Lions fans – Detroit seeming to knock off the Cowboys in North Texas on Saturday with a sweet fake on a two-point conversion that would have kept the NFC North champs in the race for home-field advantage – certainly feel a certain way today about how referee Brad Allen and his crew legislated the end of that game.

23. But the Cowboys do love some home cooking, now winners of 16 straight at AT&T Stadium after completing their first perfect regular season at home since 1981, when they played at Texas Stadium.

24. Shoutout also to Dallas’ CeeDee Lamb, who’s put together the greatest receiving season ever by a Cowboys player. After a 13-catch, 227-yard outing Saturday, Lamb has 122 receptions for 1,651 yards, surpassing Hall of Famer Michael Irvin’s 28-year-old marks.

25. Lamb’s 92-yard TD catch from QB Dak Prescott on a busted play was the longest from scrimmage league-wide in 2023.

26. Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill probably won’t sniff 2,000 receiving yards now. But he is the first player in league history with multiple 1,700-yard seasons.

27. He also joined Wes Welker and Antonio Brown as the only players with three consecutive seasons of at least 110 receptions.

28. Still, Hill’s late-season descent has mirrored that of the Fins, who will be relegated to wild-card status with a Week 18 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

29. And how about those Cardinals? Already set up to be one of this offseason’s most active clubs, they went 2-0 in Pennsylvania this month, serving what might ultimately come into focus as near-fatal blows to the playoff aspirations of the Eagles and Steelers.

30. Second-favorite viral moment from Sunday? Los Angeles Angels star Mike Trout and his son suffering though another loss from their beloved Eagles.

31. Favorite viral moment from Sunday? Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk Cousins and his son cheering on dad’s team.

32. Happy New Year to all, especially to the Jets, Chargers, Raiders, Bengals, Broncos, Titans and Patriots, Giants, Commanders, Cardinals and Panthers – and their collective fan bases – who can’t wait for a fresh start in 2024.

***

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on X, formerly Twitter @ByNateDavis.

The Green Bay Packers took the fight to the Minnesota Vikings in the ‘Sunday Night Football’ game at U.S. Bank Stadium.

Jordan Love put forth a dominant performance and Joe Barry’s much-maligned defense came through with two takeaways in the Packers’ 33-10 win, smothering the Vikings’ pair of quarterbacks all night.

As the teams were shaking hands postgame a scuffle broke out.

The NBC broadcast caught the end of it with Packers running back Aaron Jones coming in to break it up. Video catches Vikings cornerback Andrew Booth Jr. having some words with an inactive Packers player and got in his face.

A shove occurred as things got even more heated and Jones, who wasn’t initially involved, took a punch to the face at one point. It’s not clear who hit him during the skirmish but it appeared it could have been from someone on the Packers.

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Jones, who rushed 20 times for 120 yards, told sideline reporter Melissa Stark that his goal was to calm everyone down.

‘I see one of our players having an interaction and they start shoving,’ Jones said. ‘I start to deescalate.’

It wasn’t clear what led to the fight, but it could have been the fact that the Packers threw a 37-yard pass late in the game with backup quarterback Sean Clifford after the rookie relieved Love.

Cooler heads eventually prevailed and Jones went on to have a champagne celebration with Love in the postgame interview on the field.

It will be flaming inside State Farm Stadium on New Year’s Day, as the Liberty Flames will make program history in the 2024 Fiesta Bowl against the Oregon Ducks.

The undefeated Conference USA champion, Liberty finished the regular season as the highest ranked Group of Five team in the final College Football Playoff rankings, allowing the Flames to play in their first New Year’s Six bowl game, and arguably biggest game in program history.

But the Fiesta Bowl might be the first time several college football fans will be watching Liberty this season, or at all. Here’s what to know about the Flames ahead of kickoff:

Where is Liberty?

Liberty University is located in Lynchburg, Virginia. The school was founded in 1971, and the football team began in 1973.

Who is the Liberty head coach?

The head coach of the Flames is Jamey Chadwell, who is in his first season at the helm. He was previously the head coach of Coastal Carolina.

Why is Liberty called the Flames?

Being a private Christian university, Liberty’s nickname has religious ties.

Liberty’s motto is ‘Knowledge aflame,’ which the university says represents ‘the light of the Gospel that Liberty students take with them out into the world.’ The name was voted upon by students in 1974.

‘This light is so central to Liberty’s identity that its sports teams bear the name, ‘the Liberty Flames,” according to the university.

Liberty’s mascot is an eagle named Sparky. An eagle was decided in 1980 because ‘of the patriotic symbolism connected with the school’s name,’ according to the university, while the name Sparky matches the Flames theme.

Why is Liberty in the Fiesta Bowl?

Liberty was selected to the Fiesta Bowl because it finished as the highest ranked Group of Five team in the final College Football Playoff rankings. As the highest ranked Group of Five team, Liberty was to be placed in one of the New Year’s Six bowls, and with no conference tie-in, the Fiesta Bowl was chosen as the destination for the Flames.

Liberty 2023 season

The 2023 season was the most successful season in Liberty history, achieving its first perfect regular season at 13-0. In its first season in Conference USA, Liberty dominated most of its opponents, winning 11 of its 13 games by double-digits, including the Conference USA Championship Game against New Mexico State.

Liberty features one of the most high powered offenses in the country, as its 514.9 yards per games is third in the country and its 40.8 points per game ranks fifth. Liberty does most of its damage on the ground, with its 302.9 rushing yards per game ranking first in the country. On the defensive side, the Flames are one of the best ball-hawking groups in the country with their 21 interceptions the highest in the country.

While Liberty is one of three undefeated teams, along with No. 1 Michigan and No. 2 Washington, it certainly benefited from an easy schedule this season. The Flames strength of schedule ranked last in all of FBS.

Liberty football players to watch

RB Quinton Cooley: The leader of the best rushing attack in FBS, Cooley has 1,322 rushing yards this season, which was ninth-most in the regular season. The Wake Forest-transfer also had 16 rushing touchdowns on the year.

QB Kaidon Salter: The sophomore signal-caller is having one of the best quarterback seasons in Liberty history, holding the single-season record for passing touchdowns (31) and touchdowns responsible for (43). Salter has thrown for 2,750 passing yards this season with 31 touchdowns and five interceptions, as well as 1,064 rushing yards, the second most by a quarterback this season behind Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels.

WR CJ Daniels: By far the top target of Salter, Daniels hauled in 47 receptions this season for 988 yards and 10 touchdowns. He had six games of at least 100 receiving yards, including a career-high with 157 yards in the conference title game.

S Brylan Green and CB Kobe Singleton: Two of the best defenders on the team, Green leads the team in interceptions with five, tied for the fifth most in the FBS. Singleton is not far behind with four passes picked off this season.

Liberty’s short time in FBS

The Fiesta Bowl appearance is a great achievement considering Liberty is only a few years into its time as an FBS school.

Liberty transitioned from the Big South in the FCS to an FBS independent in 2018, and gained full bowl eligibility status in 2019. Since becoming an FBS member, Liberty has been one of the most successful football teams in the country with a 53-22 record − the 13th most wins since 2018 − all while never having a losing record.

The Flames made their first appearance in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches’ Poll in 2020, and this season was the first time they were ranked in the College Football Playoff poll. Liberty will be playing in a New Year’s Six bowl in just its sixth FBS season, the quickest in the CFP era.

Liberty bowl history

The Fiesta Bowl will be Liberty’s fifth bowl game in team history. The Flames have enjoyed success in the postseason with a 3-1 record. Here is the bowl history of Liberty:

2019 Cure Bowl: Win vs. Georgia Southern, 23-162020 Cure Bowl: Win vs. Coastal Carolina, 37-342021 LendingTree Bowl: Win vs. Eastern Michigan, 56-202022 Boca Raton Bowl: Loss vs. Toledo, 21-19

NFL scouts and talent evaluators will be watching and taking notes on the best prospects playing in this year’s College Football Playoff.

They’ll have plenty to choose from. The four playoff teams − Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama − are loaded with first-round potential, which might explain why, you know, these are the four teams set to compete for the national championship.

There’s an interesting subplot involving Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, who is draft eligible as a third-year sophomore and could be pushed off the fence and into April’s draft with two solid games to end the year.

But based on the players who have exhausted eligibility or seem favored to enter the draft, these are the playoff’s 10 best NFL prospects:

Texas WR Xavier Worthy

Worthy has been a stalwart for Texas since his freshman season in 2021, but his development into one of the top receivers in the draft mirrors the Longhorns’ growth into a championship contender. He had 73 receptions for 969 yards during the regular season with a high of 10 receptions for 137 yards against TCU on Nov. 11.

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Texas DT T’Vondre Sweat

Look beyond the box score to find Sweat’s impact. The fifth-year interior lineman swallows up running backs and game plans as the anchor of one of the Bowl Subdivision’s best run defenses. What Sweat does for Texas is allow for fewer players inside the box, a big deal in the Sugar Bowl given Washington’s powerful passing game and wealth of receiving options.

Washington DE Bralen Trice

Trice is a rock-solid anchor at end who can bulldoze edge blockers and cause real problems for the Longhorns’ running game. He leads the Huskies with 8½ tackles for loss after doing the same with 12 a year ago. Trice went No. 28 overall to the Detroit Lions in USA TODAY Sports’ most recent NFL mock draft.

Washington QB Michael Penix Jr.

Penix is a case study in perseverance after suffering season-ending injuries in each of his four years at Indiana. He’s remained healthy since joining the Huskies in 2022 and made a serious run at this year’s Heisman Trophy before finishing second to LSU’s Jayden Daniels. Injury concerns could lead Penix to drop a bit come April, but he shouldn’t fall far.

Washington WR Rome Odunze

Odunze earned All-America honors after posting 81 grabs for 1,428 yards and 13 touchdowns during the regular season, giving him 156 catches and 2,573 yards with 20 scores across the past two years. He went No. 17 to Cincinnati in USA TODAY’s mock draft as one of the first receivers off the board.

Washington OT Troy Fautanu

Fautanu is a two-time first-team all-league pick after moving into the starting lineup last season. While a left tackle for the Huskies, he’s expected to move inside as a pro. Fautanu went to Dallas at No. 27 in our mock but could inch up the ladder by excelling against maybe the top defensive line in the country in the Sugar Bowl.

Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy

McCarthy might be a first-round pick this spring but would be in contention to be the first quarterback off the board if he delays that draft decision another year, so the true junior will have a difficult decision to make after the playoff. He’s agile, careful with the football and perhaps a little constrained by the Wolverines’ offensive scheme, so McCarthy’s best ball could ahead of him.

Alabama LB Dallas Turner

Turner replaced Will Anderson as Alabama’s latest elite edge rusher. After leading the Crimson Tide in tackles for loss (13½) and sacks (9) during the regular season, there’s no doubt Turner lands in the first round. He went 14th overall to Denver in our mock.

Alabama OT JC Latham

Latham might be the strongest and most physical lineman in college football; he can lock down on linemen and move them at will, making him a perfect fit the past two years in Alabama’s run game. He’s been tested by some of the best defenders in the country in SEC play and developed into an elite tackle prospect with ample potential. USA TODAY Sports has him going No. 6 to the New York Jets.

Alabama CB Terrion Arnold

Arnold’s another Alabama standout with ridiculous growth potential after making the move over to cornerback from safety and flourishing in the position. He leads the Tide with five interceptions and is tied for sixth nationally with 16 pass breakups. Should Alabama and Washington advance past the semifinals, watching Arnold go against the Huskies’ receivers will be worth the price of admission. He went 23rd to Pittsburgh in our recent mock.

Alabama CB Kool-Aid McKinstry

But Arnold isn’t even the top prospect in his own secondary. Typical Alabama. McKinstry has more than lived up to the hype as a five-star prospect with the greatest name in college football by developing into a lockdown defender. Our latest mock had him going No. 11 to Las Vegas.

There will be plenty of quarterback-needy teams in the NFL once the draft rolls around in April and LSU senior quarterback Jayden Daniels is expected to be one of the top prizes.

After being a top-10 preseason pick, the Heisman Trophy winner led the Tigers to a 9-3 season and the Tigers take on Wisconsin in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Jan. 1. Like many players who are not in the College Football playoffs and are projected to be high draft picks, Daniels will end his collegiate eligibility and won’t be spending a sixth year in school.

Here is more information about why Daniels opted out of the matchup between LSU and Wisconsin:

Why isn’t Jayden Daniels playing in the ReliaQuest Bowl?

Daniels’ decision to skip a bowl game is uncommon for a Heisman Trophy winner, especially in the playoff era.

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Since the college football playoffs began in 2014, seven of the previous Heisman winners have appeared in the playoff the year they won the award. Lamar Jackson in 2016 and 2022 winner Caleb Williams played in non-playoff bowl games after winning the Heisman.

‘I want to say thank you to everyone who made this happen, but all great things must come to an end,’ Daniels said in a video announcing his decision. ‘I feel better about the state of the program with the quarterback moving forward. No matter what, I promise this will not be the last time y’all see That Kid around, because this is my city and my second home.’

The 23-year-old Daniels is expected to not make it out of the first round in April’s NFL draft and teams will be evaluating his stock along with Williams and North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye.

Backup Garrett Nussmeier got the nod against Wisconsin and Daniels was in attendance to support his team, signing autographs for fans before the game.

Nussmeier threw for 395 yards and three touchdowns in leading LSU to a 35-31 victory. His 4-yard touchdown pass to Brian Thomas Jr. late in the fourth quarter was the game-winner for the Tigers.

Jayden Daniels stats

After three seasons at Arizona State, Daniels spent his final two years at LSU and in 2023, had one of the best seasons in college football history.

Daniels completed 72.2 percent of his passes for 3,812 yards with 40 touchdowns and four interceptions, leading the nation in total offense, passing efficiency, points responsible for, and rushing yards per carry.

He became the second player in SEC history to pass for 3,500 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in a single season, joining Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel, who accomplished the feat during his Heisman-winning season in 2012.

In a Nov. 11 game against Florida, he became the first player in FBS history to throw for 350 yards and rush for over 200 yards in a single game. He finished with 606 (372 passing, 234 rushing) of LSU’s 701 total yards in a 52-35 victory.

The very next week against Georgia State, he had six passing touchdowns and two rushing scores, tying a school record.

Daniels also picked up his share of hardware, winning the Davey O’Brien Award, Walter Camp Player of the Year and Associated Press Player of the Year awards.

There will likely be consequences for the officiating crew responsible for the controversial call at the end of the Detroit Lions’ 20-19 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

While appearing on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Sunday, reporter Adam Schefter said many of the officials on head referee Brad Allen’s crew will be ‘downgraded’ for the fiasco on Saturday and likely won’t be involved in postseason games.

‘Basically, I can tell you this, in the postseason, it’s going to be mixed crews, a large part of Brad Allen’s crew is not going to be officiating, they’re going to get downgraded,’ Schefter said.

The controversial call in question happened when the Lions went for a 2-point conversion with 23 seconds left in the game to take the lead. At first, all seemed fine and good when quarterback Jared Goff found left tackle Taylor Decker open in the end zone to take the lead. However, after a brief celebration, there was a flag thrown, and Allen announced an illegal touching penalty on the Lions because Decker did not report as an eligible receiver.

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The Lions ultimately were unsuccessful in two more attempts, and lost the game, 20-19.

This is not the first controversy Allen’s crew has been involved in, as Schefter pointed out. In a Week 13 game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football, Allen’s crew did not call a pass interference on a deep pass to Marquez Valdes-Scantling when it looked like he was clearly interfered with, and the Chiefs ended up losing the game.

With the latest blunder, again coming in front of a nationally televised audience, Schefter said there will be consequences.

‘The league has a huge issue here, where there’s a controversy over officiating,’ Schefter said. ‘No matter who is right and who is wrong, it’s Sunday morning of Week 17 and we’re talking about whether the officials got a call right that threatens to impact the entire playoff picture. It’s ridiculous!’

LOS ANGELES — Jim Harbaugh had that familiar glazed-over look on his face that he often gets when processing a question he doesn’t want to engage.  

‘Big picture? Day before the game? State of the union? Can we address some of those things after the game?’ he said.

‘I think it’s a great question,’ he said. ‘It would be a really, really good discussion to have at some point in time. I don’t think sitting up here today is the right time to do it.’

They had been asked about what college football is going to look like in the next few years, where it’s going – which isn’t merely a relevant question these days, it’s the question consuming the sport. 

Just look around. There was Georgia coach Kirby Smart at the Orange Bowl on Saturday night demanding that, ‘People need to see what happened tonight and they need to fix this!’ after his team embarrassed Florida State’s decimated roster 63-3.

There was Penn State’s James Franklin, a man working on a 10-year, $70 million contract, calling this ‘one of the most challenging times in college athletics and specifically football,’ right before the Peach Bowl.

And finally there was Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz bringing the dark clouds to sunny Orlando prior to the Citrus Bowl, saying, ‘We, the adults, have done a lot to really screw this thing up.’

Really gets you pumped up to watch some New Year’s Day football, doesn’t it? 

So it’s a welcome respite from all the doomsaying these days that Harbaugh and Saban chose to delay their airing of grievances and keep focus on the Rose Bowl and what should be an all-time College Football Playoff. Because what’s going to happen Monday really should be great, maybe historically great.

And when this dream set of semifinals ends – Michigan vs. Alabama, Texas vs. Washington – the sport is never going to be the same. It will change for the better, and also for the worse. Either way, if you think college football has gotten hard to recognize over the last decade or so, here’s a hard and important truth: You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

‘Things are changing rapidly,’ Saban said this week. ‘I mean, they’re changing in business. AI is changing things. If you look at the changes in college football in the last three to five years, it’s probably changed more than it did in the 50 years prior to that.’

So buckle up, but also soak in and appreciate what’s about to happen as the four-team playoff era comes to an end.

After a decade full of bad matchups and games that did not deliver either the television ratings or the cultural impact they were supposed to, the CFP is finally going to look as it was intended. In fact, had we been given more of this – a pair of games that seem dead-even on paper, with any of the four teams having a legit chance to win the national title – there may not have been such a thirst to blow up the entire sport.

Next season, Rutgers at Southern California will be a Big Ten game. Cal at SMU will be an ACC game. Oklahoma at Missouri will be an SEC game. The Pac-12 will no longer exist. 

If someone had gone around the Rose Bowl parking lot on Jan. 7, 2010 – the morning of Alabama’s last appearance in the venerable old stadium – telling people this is what college football’s future would look like, they’d have immediately cut off that person’s access to alcoholic beverages. You’d have also needed to explain the following phrases that are now ubiquitous in the college football lexicon: Opt-out, transfer portal, NIL, collective and probably a few more. 

But this is now what college football is about, and despite huge television ratings this season, massive amounts of money flowing through the system and full stadiums from coast to coast, it doesn’t seem like anyone involved in the sport is real happy with the way it turned out.

‘Somebody has to grab ahold of the reins and take it in the right direction,’ Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said.

A couple days after the CFP championship game in Houston on Jan. 8, many of the sport’s power brokers will migrate directly to Phoenix for the annual NCAA convention. They undoubtedly have a lot to discuss.

Much of the focus there will be on a proposal from relatively new NCAA president Charlie Baker that sent shockwaves through college sports when he unveiled it in December. It calls for the creation of a new division that would require schools at the top level to put a minimum of $30,000 per year into a trust fund for at least half of its scholarship athletes. There’s a long way to go before anything would be adopted, but it’s a starting point for a model where colleges will be able to directly pay players, officially ending the NCAA’s long-held devotion to amateurism. 

And it was telling that the first reaction of so many veteran administrators, including SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, was to complain that the conference commissioners weren’t kept in the loop.

Baker, the former governor of Massachusetts, is a smart politician. He’s trying to make a deal with Congress to get a law passed that would include favorable antitrust protections for the NCAA, and he knows it’s going to require some concessions to benefit athletes.

There’s a long way to go before any proposal gets passed, but he’s taking a first step toward solutions that are long overdue – and not waiting for a series of NCAA subcommittees to spend months debating general concepts before everyone loses interest in passing something meaningful and kicks the can down the road for another couple years. 

That’s the NCAA culture Sankey and his colleagues come from: debate, delay and ultimately do nothing. Then changes such as NIL, unfettered transfers and ridiculous conference alignments get forced on them while they’re flat-footed with no ability to regulate their own sport. Is it any wonder college football looks like such a mess?

Now, there are no easy answers. The hole is deep, and it’s going to take significant trade-offs to climb out of it. But college sports doesn’t do very well with trade-offs. It’s time to accept that choices will need to be made, that you have to give something to get something. 

There may never be a perfect system, but unless you start with the goal of creating a win-win for everyone – including a recognition that players are indispensable cogs in the multibillion dollar business they’ve created – it will continue to be an ungovernable disaster.

But as Harbaugh and Saban said, that’s a topic for another day. In fact, it’s going to be the only story that matters for the next couple hundred days before the 2024 season kicks off. 

So let’s put the angst aside and enjoy this one, last uncomplicated day of a sport that at its best can deliver simplicity, pageantry and beauty. The politics around college football will probably get worse before they get better, but Monday’s semifinals hold the promise of why this sport is worth preserving in the first place.

PASADENA, Calif. — Inside a tent near the Rose Bowl, 72-year-old Nick Saban stood in front the media last week and occasionally leaned forward to better hear questions.

Is Saban past his prime?

‘I think when you get my age, everybody is waiting for you to lose a step,’ he said with a grin.

There were reasons to wonder about the future of Saban, the second-oldest head coach in college football (two months younger than North Carolina’s Mack Brown).

Of course that might sound silly now, with Alabama (12-1) set to play Michigan (13-0) on Monday in the Rose Bowl in the College Football Playoff semifinals. With Saban two victories away from an eighth national championship.

The man started coaching football 50 years ago, and apparently the secret to his ongoing success dates back even further.

‘You have to be able to adapt,’ Saban said. ‘I always say dinosaurs couldn’t adapt and they’re not around anymore.’

Nick Saban adapts to modern-day recruits

In 2010, Greg McElroy was the starting quarterback on Saban’s first national championship team at Alabama. Now he is an analyst at ESPN and marvels at the changes.

Not with Alabama’s offense, which Saban brought into the 21st Century a few years after McElroy graduated. But rather with photos on social media showing recruits wearing Crimson Tide jerseys during official visits to the school in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

‘In a million years, I never would have imagined coach Saban allowing a photo shoot on an official visit for a recruit,’ McElroy said. ‘Back in the day, if you asked to put on a jersey to take pictures for your social media, he would have gone on a rant about nobody cares about your vanity. But that’s what the modern players are into, so he’s now totally cool with it.’

Saban has adapted because it’s essential for recruiting, according to McElroy, who was a redshirt freshman when Saban took over as Alabama’s head coach in 2007.

‘Back in the day, if he told us to run and jump off the closest bridge, I would say, ‘OK, when? Let’s go.’’ McElroy said. ‘The modern day player asks, ‘Why?’ And that’s OK, there’s nothing wrong with that.

‘I think you kind of have to meet the modern-day player where they are more so than you did the players of yesterday.’

Nick Saban has traits for adaptation

Curt Cignetti, the new head football coach at Indiana, said he saw Saban’s ability to adapt long before major changes even surfaced.

Cignetti was a member of Saban’s first coaching staff at Alabama. As a wide receiver coach and recruiting coordinator from 2007 to 2010, he watched Saban work his magic.

‘Adjusting  to change,’ Cignetti said. ‘Managing uncertainty. Thriving in chaos. … I mean, he’s had to do it his whole life to get to where he’s been.’

From afar, Cignetti said, he sees those same traits serving Saban well as he adapts to a landscape where top recruits expect lucrative NIL deal and the transfer portal is a constant threat − and opportunity.

‘It’s chaos,’ Cignetti said. ‘A lot of variables. But he thrives in those types of situations. You’ve got to be light on your feet, you’ve got to be smart and quick thinker and a deep thinker. And he’s all of those.’

How players see Nick Saban

This season, for example, Saban has listened to members of the players’ leadership council rather than simply expect them to carry out his orders, according to McClellan.

‘He tells us stuff, then he listens to what we want from him, what we want to see,’ said McClellan, also noting changes in Saban’s coaching style this season. ‘People who know him, seeing the video clips of him being tense in practice pretty much. He hasn’t been kind of like that this year.’

It’s probably no surprise to Saban that his team has met his expectations despite the absence of more regular eruptions.

‘He jokes and stuff,’ McClellan said. ‘… I feel like he’s truly trying to connect with us.’

‘I don’t know what that secret formula is, but he’s something different,’ Milroe said, ‘and he’s separated himself from other coaches, for sure.’

What Nick Saban learned from COVID-19

Back inside that tent near the Rose Bowl stadium, Saban, ever mindful of the missing dinosaurs, was talking about adapting to a ‘constantly changing world.’

Take the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, for example.

‘I mean, when they told us on March 13th on Friday that everybody had to go home, that was supposedly our first day of spring practice, my first thing was how are we going to adapt,’ he told Dan Wolken of USA TODAY Sports.

‘So we bought everybody an Apple watch and scale and gave them a workout program and sent them home. But the fact that we did that and we stayed in touch and we had Zooms with the players, we ended up winning the national championship, and I think it was because of the way we managed all the challenges that COVID created.’

But it was about more than COVID.

‘That kind of made me realize, wow, when something comes up, you’d better be one step ahead of the problem so you can adapt to those situations,’ he said. ‘… Our players handled it well, and I told the players, I said, ‘whoever handles this disruption the best will have the best opportunity to be successful when we do play.’ They did it.’

Indeed, they did, with their old coach leading the way.