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Four drivers chase NASCAR championship as possible format changes loom

Four drivers from two teams, Joe Gibbs Racing and Hendrick Motorsports, will compete for the NASCAR Cup Series title.
The championship contenders are Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Kyle Larson, and William Byron.
This season finale could be the last to use the current one-race, winner-take-all playoff format.

Four drivers, two teams, one championship.

Following 35 races, the NASCAR Cup Series is set to crown a champion in the season finale Nov. 2 in Avondale, Arizona, when Phoenix Raceway hosts the 2025 championship race in what could be the final iteration of the current playoff format.

Two drivers from Joe Gibbs Racing – Denny Hamlin and Chase Briscoe – and two drivers from Hendrick Motorsports – Kyle Larson and William Byron – will race against each other and a full field of cars with one goal in mind: finish better than the other three contenders and celebrate with the championship trophy.

It’s a format and a situation that is unique to NASCAR. On the one hand, you have two titans of the sport – team owners Joe Gibbs and Rick Hendrick – each with a 50% chance of claiming a title. The owners also happen to be good friends.

‘To get to the Final 4 is just so hard. So now we got one race,’ Gibbs said this week. ‘We know what we’re up against, somebody that’s really, really good. Two cars in there for them. Two for us.’

The drivers, on the other hand, not only have to compete against two racers from another team but also against a teammate to realize their championship dreams.

‘It’s going to be an epic battle,’ said vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports Jeff Gordon, who won four NASCAR championships as a driver. ‘You got four cars, two organizations, that are going to give it everything. It’s going to be (a) fascinating week of preparation, seeing how it unfolds at the racetrack in Phoenix.’

Final four worthy

The four championship contenders enter the finale with impressive season statistics. Hamlin has the most wins in 2025, Briscoe the most pole positions and top-five finishes, Byron the most laps led and Larson the second-most top 10s and the second-most laps led.

‘Denny, Chase, Kyle are amazing competitors. We’re going to have to do everything we can do (at Phoenix) to win that one, too,’ Byron said after his victory at Martinsville Speedway to clinch his berth in the Championship 4.

Each of the four also brings a unique storyline to the finale.

Larson, 33, is the only driver among the four to have won a Cup Series championship (2021), and a second would put him in elite company. He could join Hall of Famers Gordon (four championships) and Jimmie Johnson (seven) as the third driver to win multiple Cup titles for Hendrick.

The 27-year-old Byron, who drives the No. 24 Chevrolet made famous by Gordon, could become just the sixth driver and the first since Johnson in 2013 to win the Daytona 500 and the NASCAR Cup Series championship in the same year. The others: Hall of Famers Lee Petty, Richard Petty, Cale Yarborough and Gordon.

Briscoe, 30, made the championship in his first year at Joe Gibbs Racing after taking over the No. 19 Toyota following the retirement of 2017 Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. Briscoe had an up-and-down first half of the season as he adjusted to a new car and team, but he was arguably the best driver in the second half, recording three wins and 10 top-five finishes and capturing six of his series-high seven poles.

And then there is the veteran, Denny Hamlin, who is seeking to add the one thing missing from his Hall-of-Fame resume: a NASCAR championship. The 44-year-old has won 60 races during his Cup career – tied for 10th on the all-time list – and, despite the fact that he is more than a decade older than any of the other final four drivers, he led the series with six victories in 2025.

Yet, it’s fair to wonder if this is Hamlin’s best and final chance to remove the moniker, ‘Best driver to never win a championship.’

‘Is this my last chance to do it? Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t,’ Hamlin expressed after earning win No. 60 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. ‘I just know I’m going to do the work, and I hope it works out. If it doesn’t, I’m going to be OK with it. I’ve had a season that far exceeded what I thought it would.’

Change on the horizon?

This also might be the end of the one-race championship and possibly the 10-race playoffs. NASCAR has formed a committee with its stakeholders to examine the current format and explore changes or perhaps a massive overhaul of the system following complaints for years from both drivers and fans.

NASCAR’s goal when it introduced the current format in 2014 was to provide ‘Game 7’ moments comparable to the big team sports. And while there has certainly been plenty of on-track excitement in the past decade as four drivers duked it out for a title each year, the counterargument has been that a winner-take-all race not only dilutes the full 35 races that came before it but even the nine playoff races that precede the championship race.

So, as these drivers seek to etch their name in history with a Cup Series title, one could make history in another way: the last driver to win a championship in this format.

‘A lot of real bright people are thinking about our playoffs and is this the right format for us going forward,’ Gibbs said this week. ‘The one thing I would say, one race, man, it is tough because things can happen to you that are out of your control in that one race.

‘We got two cars in it. This is a thrill when we get here because it is exciting. You got one race to make it happen. That’s the way I look at it, so we got to find a way. I’m sure Rick (Hendrick) is thinking the same thing.’

This post appeared first on USA TODAY
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Red Cross receives two coffins of deceased hostages in Gaza Strip, IDF says

Israel said Thursday that the Red Cross provided information indicating ‘two coffins of deceased hostages have been transferred into their custody and are on their way to IDF troops in the Gaza Strip.’

In its announcement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) repeated its demand that Hamas hand over the remains of all the deceased hostages.

Israel said earlier Thursday that it had received information indicating that the Red Cross is on its way to a meeting point in the central Gaza Strip to retrieve coffins containing the remains of deceased hostages from Hamas. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed that the coffins were on their way to Israel saying that ‘All of the hostages’ families have been updated accordingly, and our hearts are with them in this difficult hour. The effort to return our hostages is ongoing and will not cease until the last hostage is returned.’

Netanyahu’s office said it would continue to provide updates ‘as necessary.’

On Tuesday, Fox News learned that a coffin handed over to Israel was assessed to contain the remains of a hostage whose body was already brought back to Israel for burial. The remains were later determined to be those of Ofir Tzarfati, whose body was first recovered in 2023.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said that some of Tzarfati’s remains were returned in March 2024 and that in August 2024, Hamas published a photo of his body.

‘This is the third time we have been forced to open Ofir’s grave and rebury our son,’ Tzarfati’s family said in a statement. ‘The circle supposedly ‘closed’ back in December 2023, but it never truly closes. Since then, we have lived with a wound that constantly reopens, between memory and longing, between bereavement and mission.’

If the two coffins are confirmed to remain deceased hostages, there will still be another 11 whose remains are still in Gaza, possibly including two U.S. citizens, Itay Chen and Omer Neutra. So far, Israel has received the remains of 15 of the 28 deceased hostages.

The hostages whose remains have been returned include Aryeh Zalmanovich, Master Sergeant (Res.) Tamir Adar, Staff Sgt. Tal Haimi, Suntaya Akrasi, Ronen Tommy Engel, Eliyahu Margalit, Uriel Baruch, Staff Sgt. Tamir Nimrodi, Eitan Levi, Daniel Peretz, Yossi Sharabi, Guy Illuz, Bipin Joshi, Inbar Hayman and Sergeant Major Muhammad Al-Atresh.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS
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Trump surgeon general nominee confirmation hearing postponed as she goes into labor

A virtual confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump’s surgeon general pick Dr. Casey Means has been postponed because she went into labor.

Means, 38, was appearing remotely because she was nine months pregnant with her first child.

Her opening remarks for the hearing expected on Thursday had been prewritten.

‘Our nation is angry, exhausted, and hurting from preventable disease. Rates of high blood pressure, many cancers, autoimmune conditions, type 2 diabetes, mental health disorders, dementia, neurodevelopmental challenges, and youth suicide have all increased in the past two decades,’ the prepared remarks, obtained by Fox News, said.

‘This public-health crisis is touching every American family. It is robbing our children of possibility, our workforce of productivity, and our nation of security. It strains our federal budget and dims hope for millions,’ she planned to say.

As the nation’s doctor, the surgeon general is a leader for Americans and health officials on public health issues. If confirmed, Means will represent an administration that has already transformed the public health landscape by calling for increased scrutiny of vaccines, the nation’s food supply, pesticides and prescription drugs.

Means, a Stanford-educated physician who rose to popularity as a wellness influencer after becoming disillusioned with traditional medicine, was expected to share a vision for ending chronic disease by targeting its root causes, an idea that aligns with the Make America Healthy Again message of her close ally Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

She has no government experience, and her license to practice as a physician is inactive, The Associated Press reported, adding that it was not immediately clear when the hearing would be rescheduled.

‘Everyone’s happy for Dr. Means and her family,’ said Emily Hilliard, deputy press secretary for the Health and Human Services Department. ‘This is one of the few times in life it’s easy to ask to move a Senate hearing.’

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Vance to meet with Duffy, aviation leaders as shutdown ‘gravely’ impacts crucial industry

Another aviation-related union is demanding lawmakers reopen the government as Vice President JD Vance prepares to hold a roundtable with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and airline industry leaders Thursday as shutdown woes mount, Fox News Digital learned. 

The roundtable will be held at the White House Thursday afternoon, and will include Airlines for America CEO and former New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu and other airline leaders, a White House official told Fox News Digital. 

The roundtable comes as the ‘Democrat Shutdown’ has ‘gravely’ impacted the aviation industry, according to the White House official, including air traffic controllers officially missing their first full paycheck, and unions calling on lawmakers to pass a clean continuing resolution. 

Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, an independent union representing aircraft maintenance technicians and other related employees, called on lawmakers on Wednesday to pass a ‘clean continuing resolution’ and reopen the government. 

‘On behalf of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) and our 4,400 members in the Unites States representing the aircraft maintenance technicians at Alaska Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Horizon Air, Spirit Airlines, and Sun Country Airlines, we urge Congress to end the government shutdown by passing a clean Continuing Resolution,’ AMFA National President Bret Oestreich said in a press release published Wednesday. 

‘We stand with our brothers and sisters in air traffic control and TSA who continue to ensure the safety of the flying public while working for no pay,’ he continued. ‘It’s time for Congress to reconvene in a bipartisan manner to pass a clean CR and support all the men and women in aviation who contribute to the safest National Airspace System for us all to travel.’ 

The government shutdown has persisted since Oct. 1, when Senate lawmakers failed to reach a funding agreement before a midnight deadline. The Trump administration and Republicans have since pinned blame for the shutdown on Democrats, claiming they worked to include taxpayer-funded medical benefits for illegal immigrants. Democrats have denied the claims and argue that Republicans refused to negotiate on healthcare demands. 

‘We need to end this shutdown as soon as possible,’ Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in floor remarks Oct. 9. ‘Every day that Republicans refuse to negotiate to end this shutdown the worse it gets for Americans, and the clearer it becomes who’s fighting for them.’ 

Vance has hammered the argument that Democrats are to blame for the shutdown, including during his remarks at a Turning Point USA event Wednesday at the University of Mississippi. 

‘The reality here is that there’s a very simple bill that just reopens the government,’ he said. ‘It does it through pretty much the end of the year. That got every single Republican in the House of Representatives to support it, and then it got 52 Republicans in the Senate and three Democrats in the Senate to support it. But because of weird Senate procedural rules, it requires a 60 vote threshold.’ 

‘When you have every single Republican with like two exceptions in both houses of Congress, I feel pretty confident. I know that I’m partisan,’ he added. ‘I know I have an R next to my name, but I feel pretty damn good saying the shutdown is the Democrats’ fault because we voted again and again to open.’ 

The shutdown comes as Americans prepare to travel for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, with the White House previously telling Fox News Digital that as the shutdown continues it ‘threatens to ruin the holidays.’

The Air Line Pilots Association, the world’s largest airline pilot union, called on lawmakers to reopen the government earlier in October. The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association issued a similar statement later in October, urging lawmakers to pass a ‘clean Continuing Resolution’ and reopen the federal government while pointing to the state of air traffic controllers during a shutdown. 

The shutdown has rocked families as they prepare to temporarily lose federal food assistance, while small business owners are losing out on billions in Small Business Administration-backed funding, and an estimated 750,000 federal employees have been furloughed. 

As for air travel, massive hubs such as Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Newark, New Jersey, have seen delays in recent weeks, as air traffic controllers, who are employed by the Federal Aviation Administration, cope with staffing shortages. 

Air traffic controllers lost their first full paychecks beginning Tuesday. 

‘I’ve made clear to our air traffic controllers: they need to show up for work. They do really important work for our country, and they need to show up. But I’m not going to lie to anybody to not say that they’re not feeling the stress,’ Transportation chief Duffy said during a press conference at LaGuardia Airport in New York City Tuesday. ‘The fact that they are working, and oftentimes, they are head of households, they’re the only income earners in their homes, and they have families, and they’re having a hard time paying their bills.’

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Once a trade war weapon, US soybeans return to China’s shopping list

On the heels of President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Beijing has agreed to restart its purchases of U.S. soybeans, a $30 billion cornerstone of American agriculture that was once wielded as a weapon in the battle for global trade leverage.

Once a quiet export success story, America’s humble soybean became a political flashpoint after Beijing halted imports in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods. China’s shift to suppliers in Brazil and Argentina exposed how quickly global trade flows can realign and how vulnerable U.S. farmers remain to diplomatic friction.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that China will buy 12 million metric tons of American soybeans during the current season through January and has committed to buying another 25 million tons annually for the next three years as part of a larger trade deal.

In an interview with Fox Business’ ‘Mornings with Maria,’ Bessent added that several Southeast Asian nations have also agreed to buy a combined 19 million tons of U.S. soybeans, though he did not specify a timeframe for those purchases.

‘So our great soybean farmers, who the Chinese used as political pawns, that’s off the table, and they should prosper in the years to come,’ Bessent said.

What began as tit-for-tat posturing between the world’s two largest economies evolved into both a symbolic and economic gut punch for Trump’s rural base, whose livelihoods depend on the very trade ties now caught in the crossfire.

According to the American Soybean Association, the U.S. has traditionally served as China’s leading soybean source. Prior to the 2018 trade conflict, roughly 28% of U.S. soybean production was exported to China. Those crop exports fell sharply to 11% in 2018 and 2019, recovered to 31% by 2021 amid pandemic-era demand and eased back to 22% in 2024.

But some policy experts argue that China’s shift away from U.S. soybeans was already underway.

‘China was always going to reduce its reliance on the United States for food security,’ Bryan Burack, a senior policy advisor for China and the Indo-Pacific at the Heritage Foundation told Fox News Digital. ‘China started signing purchase agreements with other countries for soybeans well before President Trump took office.’ 

He added that Beijing has ‘been decoupling from the U.S. for a long time.’

‘Unfortunately, the only way for us to respond is to do the same, and that process is painful and excruciating,’ Burack said.

But for farmers thousands of miles from Washington and Beijing, those policy shifts translate into shrinking markets and tighter margins.

‘We rely on trade with other countries, specifically China, to buy our soybeans,’ Brad Arnold, a multigenerational soybean farmer in southwestern Missouri, told FOX Business ahead of Trump’s bilateral meeting with Xi. He said China’s decision to boycott U.S. soybean purchases ‘has huge impacts on our business and our bottom line.’

‘There are domestic uses for soybeans, looking at renewable diesel, biodiesel specifically produced from soybeans,’ Arnold said. 

‘In the grand scheme of things, that’s such a small percentage currently, you know it’s going to take a customer like China to buy beans to make a noticeable impact. You can’t take our No. 1 customer, shut them off and just overnight find a replacement.’

Whether China’s new purchases signal a genuine thaw in U.S.–China trade relations or just a temporary reprieve, the deal underscores how closely diplomacy and agriculture remain intertwined.

Fox Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.

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Republican senators blast FDA for expanding abortion pill access

Republican senators on Wednesday urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to tighten safety standards and reconsider partnerships tied to abortion pills, accusing the agency of expanding access without adequate oversight.

On the call, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo, and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., expressed frustration that the agency hadn’t already overhauled safety parameters around abortion pills — and that it had instead expanded its partnerships with producers of the drugs that make chemical abortions available.

‘My plea to the FDA is to follow the science to put back safety guardrails,’ Hawley said. ‘I’ve called on the director of the FDA to take these steps. The public deserves to have answers.’

The press conference held by the senators indicates that abortion policy is still a mainstay priority for some Republican lawmakers — even as President Donald Trump has previously signaled contentment with leaving questions about abortion policy at the state level. Hawley and Cassidy both questioned the safety of chemical abortions and their proliferation.

Notably, Republicans passed a short-term prohibition of Medicaid funding from going to nonprofit organizations that provide abortions as part of its One, Big Beautiful Bill Act that became law earlier this year.

But that change hasn’t stopped Hawley and other lawmakers from torching the FDA for announcing a partnership with Evita Solutions, looking to create a new version of the key abortion drug, mifepristone.

‘When I heard the FDA approved another generic form of misoprostol, I was upset,’ Sen. Cassidy said, referring to the drug often used in conjunction with mifepristone. ‘I call them up, ‘Why are you doing this?’’ 

Cassidy joined 17 other Republican senators in sending a letter to the FDA earlier this month, demanding to know why the agency had approved a new form of the abortion drug. They asked for an answer by Oct. 30.

Cassidy said the group has not received anything from the agency.

‘They have not responded, but the government’s been shut down, and so I’m sure they would say, ‘Well, we can’t respond,’ but we will have the FDA commissioner to come in and speak to FDA issues.’ 

Without mifepristone and misoprostol, most of the country’s abortions would be impossible. 

The pair of compounds undermine the vitality of a pregnancy and prompt the body to expel pregnancy tissue. According to the Guttmacher Institute, a sexual health and reproductive rights organization, mifepristone was used to induce 63% of all U.S. abortions in 2023. 

‘This is shocking,’ Hawley said in a post to X earlier this month. ‘FDA just approved ANOTHER chemical abortion drug, when evidence shows chemical abortion drugs are dangerous and even deadly for the mother. And of course, 100% lethal to the child.’

Hawley claimed on Wednesday that 11% of women who use a chemical abortion experience some sort of adverse health event.

‘The science is really quite significant. We’ve just had one of the largest studies ever performed of claims relating to chemical abortions based on insurance data. It came out this summer — 865,000 insurance claims that were made and analyzed,’ Hawley said. 

The Ethics & Public Policy Center published findings in April that evaluated 865,000 medical abortions prescribed between 2017–2023. It concluded that the rate of serious side effects was 22 times higher than indicated by the FDA label.  

‘That’s a sanitized way of saying they’re in very serious danger,’ Hawley said.

Critics of the study have said it lacks context and may overlook unrelated, complicating factors. 

Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, an anti-abortion advocacy group, shares Hawley’s concern about the pill’s safety. She also believes abortion pills are an easy way for women to access abortion — even in states that have passed restrictions on them.

‘This abortion pill is an instrument of beating back [state] sovereignty. State laws are being undermined. The abortion rate overall in this nation has gone up since Dobbs because of the abortion pill,’ Dannenfelser said, referring to the landmark 2022 case Dobbs v. Jackson that overturned a federal right to an abortion.

Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America was one of the key groups calling on Republicans to cut Medicaid funding for abortions through Trump’s One, Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Anti-abortion advocates have zeroed in on access to mifepristone as a way to continue pushing back against abortion access — especially since the FDA approved remote prescriptions of the drug in the wake of COVID-19.

In June, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge brought by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (AHM), arguing that the FDA had improperly approved mifepristone for use back in 2001, skirting safety requirements. 

Since then, mifepristone has remained widely available, but the Supreme Court’s ruling left the door open to future challenges to the FDA’s certification of the drug.

Like other critics of chemical abortions, Hawley has urged the FDA to undergo its own evaluation of whether abortion pills are safe, reliable products — a priority shared with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

‘We need to have a full and thorough review of the data related to mifepristone [and] the health risks related to mifepristone. We need to see the reinstatement of safety guardrails that have historically accompanied this drug,’ Hawley said.

The FDA did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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Ravens-Dolphins preview: 3 things to know ahead of ‘TNF’ matchup

Week 9 of the 2025 NFL schedule kicks off Thursday night with the Miami Dolphins hosting the Baltimore Ravens (8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video) at Hard Rock Stadium.

At first blush, it’s not all that compelling a matchup − two disappointing teams entering the contest with two wins apiece as the season nears its halfway point. And even despite that, oddsmakers aren’t expecting a whole lot, either − BetMGM installing the Ravens as 7½-point favorites.

That doesn’t mean it won’t be a consequential game, perhaps on multiple levels.

What should you be looking for? Let’s go three and out ahead of this week’s ‘TNF’ installment:

Lamar Jackson is back

The two-time league MVP will be behind center for the Ravens for the first time since injuring his hamstring in Week 4. Up to that point, Jackson had been his typical spectacular self, and his 130.5 quarterback rating easily paces the NFL − and would smash the single-season record set by Aaron Rodgers (122.5 in 2011) if he can somehow maintain it. After some oddities last week, when Jackson practiced but was eventually ruled out of Baltimore’s game against the Chicago Bears, he was a full participant this entire week and doesn’t carry any kind of injury designation going into Thursday.

“I am extremely excited,’ Jackson, a native of South Florida, said Tuesday. ‘I can’t wait to touch the grass with my guys; it’s been a while.” 

Saying he’s back to 100%, expect Jackson and backfield mate Derrick Henry to take aim at a Miami defense that currently ranks as the league’s fifth-worst against the run and surrenders 5.0 yards per carry.

Ravens about to roll?

Even without Jackson, the Ravens handled the Bears 30-16 on Sunday and wound up as the only AFC North team with a victory in Week 8. Though Baltimore, a popular preseason pick to win Super Bowl 60, is currently in 12th place in the 16-team conference, a squad that’s won its division the past two seasons appears set to go on a heater with Jackson and several other injured players returning to the lineup. Based on opponents’ collective winning percentages, the Ravens have the league’s fifth-easiest schedule the rest of the way and their next five games come against teams currently sporting sub-.500 records. After that, they face the division-leading Pittsburgh Steelers, who are only two games up on Baltimore in the standings.

‘Each and every game is going to be like a ‘win or go home game,’’ said Jackson.

‘This is the first season ever (that we’re) starting off this slow. So, it’s do or die right now, each and every week.” 

Trade deadline showcase for Dolphins?

While Miami’s 2-6 record is comparable to Baltimore’s 2-5 on the surface, the Fins’ talent quotient can’t touch the Ravens’. The vibes in South Florida haven’t been great going back to the offseason, and questions about the job security of head coach Mike McDaniel and GM Chris Grier persist.

Even coming off a 34-10 shellacking of the Falcons in Atlanta, the main focus on the Dolphins right now pertains to next Tuesday’s trade deadline − and which players might get offloaded. And while dealing wideout Jaylen Waddle seems like a long shot, especially with Tyreek Hill out for the rest of the year and possibly at the end of his tenure with the Dolphins, pass rushers Jaelan Phillips, Bradley Chubb and Matt Judon could all be available. A strong showing by any of them against Jackson and Co. could drive up their price tags while fueling interest heading into the weekend.

Not that Miami’s players are focused on such outside narratives.

“We look at it like there’s still a lot of ball left. We just want to be 1-0 every week. We believe in the process for sure,’ said Dolphins defensive lineman Benito Jones.

‘Wins and losses, they happen but we always want to win more than we lose. That’s why we come to work every day to try to get better.”

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Final Four stars lead women’s college basketball All-America team

Experienced stars are expected to shine in women’s college basketball with UCLA center Lauren Betts and Connecticut forward Sarah Strong leading the USA TODAY Sports preseason All-America team.

The two frontcourt stars were unanimous selections on teams that feature several players that played in the 2025 Final Four and are on teams expected to reach Arizona in 2026 for the chance to win a title. Betts was a dominant force in leading the Bruins to its first Final Four appearance in NCAA history, and Strong was excellent in her freshman season as the Huskies won the national championship.

Strong is one of two players from Connecticut – this year’s preseason No. 1 – to make the first or second team, with South Carolina the only other program to have multiple selections. All established players headline the team with no freshman named.

All-America first team

G Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame

A certified bucket-getter, Hidalgo is coming off a campaign where she averaged 23.8 points per game, fifth-most in the NCAA and a Notre Dame single-season record. While her offense is what makes headlines, her defense is just as good. She had 119 steals in the 2024-25 season, fifth-most in the country, which helped her earn ACC defensive player of the year honors. Hidalgo will be the focal point of the Fighting Irish’s success.

G Ta’Niya Latson, South Carolina

Dawn Staley got a gem in the transfer portal with the addition of Latson from Florida State. She was the nation’s leading scorer with 25.2 points per game, leading to Seminoles as they lead the country at 86.9 points a game. Latson had more games scoring at least 30 points (eight) than less than 10 points (two). She was a major reason why Florida State won its first tournament game since 2019, and becomes the top scoring option for South Carolina.

F Sarah Strong, Connecticut

Strong is indeed the best way to describe the forward, smashing the freshman program record for rebounds in a season (356) and joining Maya Moore as the only Huskies to score at least 600 points in their first season. The WBCA freshman of the year started all 40 games and stepped up her play in the tournament, averaging 19 points and 11.7 rebounds per game in the big dance. She becomes the leader for Geno Auriemma’s team aiming for back-to-back titles.

F Madison Booker, Texas

Booker is one of the most versatile threats in the country, able to have an impact anywhere on the court. The reigning SEC player of the year had no problem playing in a new conference, leading Texas with 16.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game. She was great behind the arc, as her 40.3% mark would be among the best forwards in the country if she qualified. She has proven to be the best small forward in the sport by winning back-to-back Cheryl Miller Awards.

C Lauren Betts, UCLA

Standing at 6-foot-7-inches, Betts commands the interior for UCLA and is nearly unstoppable. The WBCA defensive player of the year was just as good on offense, leading the Bruins with 20.2 points and 9.5 rebounds per game. Her 100 blocks were also fifth-most in the country. She added a jump shot heading into her final season, making her an even more dangerous threat for a Bruins team that is expected to return to the Final Four. Betts is the heavy favorite to be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 WNBA draft.

All-America second team

G Azzi Fudd, Connecticut

Fudd bounced back from her ACL injury, averaging 13.6 points per game in her junior season and getting better as the year went along. She is one of the best shooters in the country, making 3-point attempts at a 43.6% clip. Fudd, however, really solidified herself as an all-around star for the Huskies in the Final Four, when she put up a magical performance in the title game that earned her Final Four Most Outstanding Player. She’ll now command the back court for Connecticut with a fully healthy offseason.

G Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt

Despite the SEC getting tougher with expansion, Vanderbilt held its own thanks to the play of Blakes. She was great at the start of the season, but turned it up in conference play, which included a 53-point game against Florida and a 55-point showing at Auburn. Her 23.3 points per game were the most for a freshman last year. Now Blakes tries to build upon that stellar start and lead the Commodores back to the tournament.

F Joyce Edwards, South Carolina

The South Carolina-native made an immediate impact in her freshman season with the Gamecocks, leading the team with 12.7 points per game. What was really encouraging was she improved as the season went on, as her 57.2% field goal percentage was second-best in the SEC. It only carried into the tournament as she was stuffing the stat sheet in the postseason. She will be heavily relied on to command the interior for Dawn Staley’s club.

F Toby Fournier, Duke

The Canada-native took Duke to new heights in her first college season. Not only did she lead the Blue Devils in almost every statistical category, including scoring (13.4) and field goal percentage (52.6%), but she did it all while coming off the bench. She earned ACC rookie of the year and led Duke to its first ACC tournament title and Elite Eight appearance since 2013. Fournier can now have more expanded role on a Duke team picked to win the conference again.

C Raegan Beers, Oklahoma

There was no letdown from Oregon State transfer in her first season with the Sooners. Beers averaged 17.3 points and 9.4 rebounds per game while leading the SEC in player efficiency rating (35.9). Beers was the model of consistency, finding any way to affect the game. She propelled Oklahoma to its first Sweet 16 since 2013 and has generated more hype in her final college season with the Sooners starting 2025-26 in the top 10 of the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.

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Lane Kiffin, CFP and Heisman races lead November storylines

Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin is a top target for both LSU and Florida, creating a major off-field storyline.
Several teams, including Ohio State and Indiana, are in a strong position to make the College Football Playoff.
The Heisman Trophy race remains wide open, with several quarterbacks emerging as leading candidates.

Drama, debate, controversy, madness, chaos: November will have it all.

College football’s regular season rounds the corner and heads toward the finish line with heavy focus on the College Football Playoff. While two teams have separated themselves from the pack in the Big Ten, races in the ACC, Big 12 and SEC could come down to the final weekend of the month and rivalry games that may decide who gets seated and where in the 12-team bracket.

Another major theme in November will be the direction of high-profile coaching searches at LSU, Florida and Penn State. While the Nittany Lions’ search has cast a wider net, the Tigers and Gators have zeroed in on Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin.

The playoff, a potentially wild coaching cycle and a very open-ended Heisman Trophy race are among the storylines to watch across the final month of the regular season:

Where will Lane Kiffin land?

There’s always a chance Kiffin opts to stay at No. 8 Mississippi and retains ownership of a program he’s built into one of the best in the SEC. While NIL and the transfer portal have trimmed the resource gap separating traditional SEC powers from the rest of the pack, there are still better odds he lands at one of LSU or Florida, rivals set to duel for Kiffin’s signature in November’s defining off-field storyline.

Meanwhile, Kiffin will look to land the Rebels’ plane in the playoff — or maybe the conference championship game, though that’s less likely — against a four-game stretch of South Carolina, The Citadel, Florida and Mississippi State. While this is a smooth run by SEC standards, the Rebels haven’t made things easy all season: Six of their past seven games have been decided by a single possession, including a puzzling nail-biter against Washington State.

Not even a bellyflop in November could derail Kiffin’s candidacy for these two positions, though. Should the Rebels take care of business, in fact, Kiffin could become a case study for coaches who have teams in the playoff mix while negotiating for another opening.

Would he leave for another SEC program before the postseason? Could he simultaneously balance coaching one team while recruiting for another? Would Florida and LSU be willing to wait until January to make the hire official, potentially losing a chunk of their rosters while missing out on the transfer-portal window? What Kiffin decides could set a precedent.

Will the Big Ten get a fourth playoff team?

No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Indiana are currently the safest bets in the Power Four to make the playoff. No. 6 Oregon is in good shape with only a loss to the Hoosiers in hand, though the Ducks have to get back in gear before taking on Iowa, Southern California and Washington.

After sending four teams into last year’s bracket, the Big Ten may be capped at three playoff teams given the ridiculous depth in the SEC — the league has nine teams in the US LBM Coaches Poll — and the number of potential one- and two-loss teams in the Big 12 and ACC. Given the wealth of contenders, it’s reasonable to expect that a three-loss Big Ten team would be squeezed out of the field.

Based on that condition, there are five Big Ten teams in the mix for this fourth spot: No. 21 Michigan, Iowa, Southern California, Washington and Nebraska. One of the Trojans and Cornhuskers will be eliminated after Saturday night’s matchup in Lincoln. USC then hosts Iowa on Nov. 15 and heads to Autzen Stadium a week later.

The race could come down to the final weekend of November, when the Hawkeyes travel to Lincoln and Michigan hosts the Buckeyes. The Wolverines could shake up the entire playoff picture by beating OSU to reach the Big Ten championship game.

Can Vanderbilt lock down an at-large berth?

The No. 11 Commodores will be impossible to keep out of the field with road wins this month against No. 19 Texas and No. 14 Tennessee.

But there will be almost no room for error in November. A loss in Austin this weekend would hand the Longhorns a potentially huge head-to-head tiebreaker. Dropping one of Auburn and Kentucky at home would be devastating. And with the Volunteers favored to beat No. 18 Oklahoma, New Mexico State and Florida, the season finale in Knoxville could be a win-or-go-home eliminator for the final at-large SEC berth.

Beating elite opponents on the road is the last hurdle for Clark Lea’s program, which is just 4-13 away from home since he took over in 2021. While Vanderbilt topped then-No. 10 South Carolina in Columbia back in September, the Commodores haven’t earned a road win against an SEC opponent that finished the season ranked since Alabama in 1950.

What teams are in the best shape?

Five teams hold the pole position for the playoff heading into November:

Ohio State could lose twice and still earn an at-large berth, though even one loss — to Michigan or to a shared opponent with Oregon — could once again hold the Buckeyes out of the Big Ten championship game.
Indiana will be expected to steamroll Maryland, Penn State, Wisconsin and Purdue; even a loss wouldn’t prevent the Hoosiers from reaching Indianapolis thanks to the tiebreaker against the Ducks.
No. 3 Texas A&M has an excellent road win against No. 12 Notre Dame and will be a playoff lock with a win against Missouri on Nov. 8 or the Longhorns on Black Friday.
As noted, Mississippi’s remaining schedule should grease the Rebels’ path to the playoff amid the high likelihood of off-field drama.
And after dropping games to No. 9 Miami and A&M by a combined four points, Notre Dame will not be held out of the field by closing with wins against Boston College, No. 23 Navy, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Stanford.

Oregon doesn’t make the list because of those three difficult Big Ten games, two coming on the road. While there’s a case for No. 7 Georgia Tech, the unbeaten Yellow Jackets could get squeezed out of an at-large bid by losing once in ACC play, dropping the rivalry against No. 5 Georgia and then losing in the ACC championship game.

Who wins the Heisman Trophy?

Few Heisman races in recent history have been this uncertain and unsettled heading into November. That raises the possibility of a contender coming out of relative anonymity this month, such as Georgia Tech’s Haynes King or Cincinnati’s Brendan Sorsby.

But the conversation has coalesced around four quarterbacks. Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza is the current favorite thanks to his 1,932 passing yards and 24 touchdowns. He’s followed by Alabama’s Ty Simpson, who has been spectacular during the Crimson Tide’s seven-game winning streak and has just one interception in 261 attempts.

Just behind this pair is Ohio State’s Julian Sayin, who has hit on 80.6% of his attempts with 11 touchdowns and no turnovers in Big Ten play. Then comes Texas A&M sophomore Marcel Reed, last seen putting on a clinic in the second half against LSU, and Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia.

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Could a Blue Jays World Series championship reshape MLB?

LOS ANGELES — No one was in Toronto to see it, with most not even born yet, but those magical enchanted images remain etched in their mind.

Joe Carter dancing around the bases.

The menacing glare of Dave Stewart on the mound.

The powerful bat of DH Paul Molitor and the grace of second baseman Roberto Alomar.

Now, for the first time in 32 years, the Toronto Blue Jays have a chance to create their own history, leaving memories for the next generation of Blue Jays’ fans and assuring they will be forever remembered for pulling off one of the greatest upsets in World Series history.

‘No one gave us a chance all year, so nothing’s changed,’ Blue Jays veteran pitcher Kevin Gausman told USA TODAY Sports. ‘We’ve learned to kind of block out what people think about us, good bad or whatever. What people write about us, what people say about it, it doesn’t really matter.

‘We’ll see what people are saying when it’s over.’

The Blue Jays, who only 48 hours earlier suffered one of the most gut-wrenching World Series defeats in history, waltzed out of the visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday night, never so eager to take a six-hour flight back home to Toronto in their lives.

The Blue Jays, after stifling the Los Angeles Dodgers, 6-1, behind a 22-year-old pitcher and a relentless offense, are now just one victory away from becoming World Series champions.

The Blue Jays, after winning back-to-back games in Los Angeles to take a 3-2 series lead over the defending champion – and heavily-favored – Dodgers, will now be playing their first Game 6 at the Rogers Centre since that glorious Oct. 23, 1993 evening of Carter’s game-winning World Series’ clinching home run that reverberated ‘round Canada.

‘I’ve seen it a thousand times,’ Blue Jays outfielder Daulton Varsho said. ‘But Joe has even told us, ‘Go out there and win, so I don’t have to keep coming here and doing this stuff.’ It was kind of funny.

‘Obviously, he’s enjoyed the moment, enjoyed everything, but now is our time.’

It’s unfathomable to think that it was about 44½ hours earlier, when the Blue Jays sat slumped in their chairs, losing a heartbreaking 18-inning, 6½-hour Game 3, with the Dodgers leading 2-games-to-1 with visions of winning their first championship at Dodger Stadium since 1963.

Well, in back-to-back nights, the Blue Jays bludgeoned the Dodgers, winning by a combined score of 12-3, with the Dodgers offense shut down one night by veteran Shane Bieber, and the next by rookie Trey Yesavage, who opened the season pitching at Class A.

‘Baseball is a game of failure; you know you’re going to fail at some point,’ Blue Jays reliever Eric Lauer said. ‘It’s all about how well you can respond after getting punched in the mouth. We took a punch. And we punched right back.’

Yesavage was the one who threw most of the blows, striking out 12 batters in seven innings, the most by a pitcher 22 years old or younger in World Series history, surpassing Smokey Joe Wood in the 1912 World Series, and the most by anyone of any age since Orlando ‘El Duque: Hernandez in 2000.

The Dodgers struck out 15 times Wednesday with only one walk, four hits, and they are now batting .164 without a single hit with a runner in scoring position since their 18-inning victory.

‘It seems like at-bats are snowballing on us right now,’ said Dodgers outfielder Kiké Hernandez, whose third-inning home run provided L.A.’s lone run.

The Blue Jays, who won the AL East on a final day tiebreaker and avoided elimination twice to beat the Seattle Mariners for the American League pennant, have suddenly turned this World Series upside down.

It’s the Dodgers who are desperately shuffling their lineup, trying to find a cure.

It’s the Dodgers and their four future Hall of Famers who suddenly are mumbling to themselves wondering what has happened.

And it’s the Blue Jays, those lovable characters north of the border, who are about to turn Toronto into baseball utopia.

They live close to one another in the city by Rogers Centre, their families hang out together off the field, and they have insisted all year they believe in one another.

Now, they’ve got the whole baseball universe believing.

Just when you thought their 18-inning defeat would break them, it only united them, saying they couldn’t have possibly played worse, and they still hung with the Dodgers for 6½-grueling hours.

‘I mean at the end of the day, it was just a loss,’ Blue Jays DH Bo Bichette said. ‘I mean, there was no other option but to turn the page.’

Said Blue Jays veteran starter Max Scherzer: ‘As tough as it was, we were also proud of each other. We stood toe-to-toe with them for 18 innings. Everybody poured their heart into that. We knew if we could just come back, played our game, we could win.’

Says Varsho: ‘We didn’t play good at all, but we grinded them out all day and night. They came out on top, but you know, we actually felt good about it. We played terrible, and hung right there with them.’

Now, 48 hours later, they feel on top of the world, convinced they are the best team in North America, and plan to prove it.

‘It’s just the way our team is,’ Blue Jays veteran pitcher Chris Bassitt said. ‘We’re able to flush wins, we’re able to flush losses, and we’re able to move on. We’ve done that all year. Just move on. We’re not going to ride the crazy highs and the lows. It’s just a brand of baseball that we’ve taken a lot of pride in and we’re focusing on keeping that brand every day.’

They lose George Springer, their most productive bat, to a mild strained oblique, and Davis Schneider steps up and hits the first pitch of the game for a home run. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, playing second base only because of Bichette’s bruised knee, plays flawless defense and drives in a ninth-inning run.

‘I don’t think it’s too complicated,’ Bichette said. ‘It was just believe in ourselves, believe in each other, and go out and give everything we have.’

And, of course, there’s the kid, Yesavage, who was in the minor leagues three weeks before the playoffs, earning a spot in the rotation and now looking like the second coming of Bob Gibson.

‘When he’s on,’ says Scherzer, 41, nearly old enough to be Yesavage’s father, ‘he’s going to make anybody in the game look stupid.’

Yep, just like those who believed the Blue Jays had no chance against the Dodgers, who were talking about a dynasty before the World Series, and now are trying to figure out what hit them.

This blue-collar bunch doesn’t have a household name besides Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Their ace (Shane Bieber) was acquired at the trade deadline while still recovering from Tommy John surgery. And their closer (Jeff Hoffman) flunked two physicals in the offseason before signing with the Blue Jays.

Somehow, someway, manager John Schneider has made all of these pieces fit together.

‘I don’t know, it’s a weird thing,’ Bichette says. ‘No matter who steps in this locker room, everyone believes in them. I don’t know how I can even explain it.

‘Really, who can?’

Well, Lauer decided to give it a try.

‘Everybody’s just going out there, doing their jobs, making sure they’re putting forth their best effort every day,’ Lauer said, ‘and really just playing for your brothers out there. I think that’s one of the coolest things about this team is like everybody can just feel it.

‘You can feel everybody in the clubhouse, everybody on the field, really pulling for you and making sure that they’re keeping you accountable.

‘What can I say, we love hanging out together.’

Toronto has always been one of the most beautiful cities in North America, and a franchise loaded with cash and luxurious facilities. But for years they always were the bridesmaids in free agency. Shohei Ohtani left them jilted at the alter. So did Yoshinobu Yamamoto. And Roki Sasaki. And Pete Alonso. The list is endless.

Now, if they have a World Series championship flag hanging in the rafters, and a World Series trophy at their entrance, Toronto could be the place for free agents clamoring to play for a winner.

‘We’ve been in the mix with just about everybody the last five years,’ Gausman said. ‘We’ve been in on every big-name guy since I’ve been here. So, I hope everybody’s watching us now.

‘This series has been great for baseball. Toronto’s an unbelievable market. It’s an unbelievable place to play. And as you’ve seen our last couple of games there, it’s a crazy environment.

‘So, why wouldn’t you want to play there, too?’

Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale

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