Hakaraia Wilson, a mixed martial arts fighter from New Zealand, has died at age 26, according to numerous news outlets.

No cause of death has been listed or reported for Wilson.

Wilson was in Gisborne to attend the Rhythm and Vines Festival, which took place from Dec. 29 to Dec. 31. 

‘Haks, your legacy will live on in each of us—your smile, your laughter, your warmth, and your warrior spirit. Rest easy, knowing your time here, though far too short, left a mark that will never fade,’ Oliver MMA and Fitness Gym, a New Zealand combat sports academy, said on social media.

Wilson had a 4-3 record as an MMA fighter in the welterweight division and last fought in October, scoring a first round KO/TKO over Mark Alcoba at Canggu Fight Night 32 in Bali, Indonesia.

Former Princeton football player Martin ‘Tiger’ Bech was one of at least 15 people killed when an attacker drove a pickup truck into a crowd in New Orleans’ French Quarters during the early hours of New Year’s Day.

Bech, a native of Lafayette, Louisiana, graduated from Princeton in 2021 and was working as a stockbroker in New York City and was visiting New Orleans for the holidays when he was reportedly killed while returning to his hotel with a friend. According to his sister, Bech died from internal injuries, including head trauma, several hours after the attack.

Bech played football at the Ivy League school from 2017 to 2019. His younger brother, Jack Bech, currently plays for the TCU Horned Frogs and confirmed on X that his brother was one of the victims.

‘Love you always brother!’ Jack Bech wrote. ‘You inspired me everyday now you get to be with me in every moment. I got this family T, don’t worry. This is for us.’

A GoFundMe campaign has been established to raise funds for Bech’s funeral and to cover the medical expenses of his friend, Ryan Quigley, who was with him during the attack. So far, it has raised over $75,000.

Who is Martin ‘Tiger’ Bech?

Martin ‘Tiger’ Bech was born on January 28, 1997, and his family has deep football roots. Bech’s two uncles played football at Louisiana State University.

Bech played college football at Princeton from 2017 to 2019, where he was a receiver and kick returner. During his time at the Ivy League, he recorded 53 receptions for 825 yards and scored three touchdowns. Additionally, Bech earned two All-Ivy honors for his performance as a return specialist.

‘There was no more appropriate nickname of a Princeton player I coached,’ Princeton football coach Bob Surace said in an announcement.  ‘He was a ‘Tiger’ in every way – a ferocious competitor with endless energy, a beloved teammate and a caring friend. Our last conversation was about how proud I was of the growth he showed during his time at Princeton and the success he was having after graduation. My love goes to the entire Bech family.’

Jack Bech, the younger brother of Bech, played wide receiver for the TCU Horned Frogs and recorded 1,034 yards and nine touchdowns on 62 receptions in the 2024 season. He has since declared for the 2025 NFL Draft.

PASADENA, Calif. – The Ohio State football team may have passed its most important test on the way to a potential national championship.  

No, not the Buckeyes’ 41-21 victory over top-seeded Oregon on Wednesday at the Rose Bowl in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff.

“… the players have stuck together and they’re fighting to stay together,’’ coach Ryan Day said during a postgame news conference.

About 30 minutes earlier, Day beamed as fireworks exploded and confetti fell. The scene served as an astonishing contrast to what transpired in Columbus, Ohio, on Nov. 30. That day, the Buckeyes lost to the Michigan Wolverines for the fourth year in a row – a 13-10 debacle that ended with Day looking shell-shocked and his players fighting the Wolverines at midfield.

So how did we get here? Day was under fire. So were the players, expected to make about $20 million this year in NIL deals and contributions from the school’s collective. Then the Buckeyes responded by beating Tennessee 42-17 in the first round of the playoffs and followed that with the convincing victory over No. 1 Oregon.

“I talked to these guys about it a couple of weeks ago,’’ Day said. “That’s life. And this team is resilient. And when you surround yourself with great people, with great character, you find yourself working through difficult times.’’

Day also said, ‘We’re at a place where you can hear a lot of noise, but they (his players) didn’t do that.”

“Warriors’’ is how he referred to his players, and like warriors is how they’ve played since the dreadful Michigan game.

The Buckeyes racked up 500 yards in total offense against Oregon. It was the same explosive offense that amassed 473 yards against Tennessee. A team that hardly resembled the one that managed just 252 yards against Michigan despite being a 21-point favorite.

Day praised Chip Kelly, Ohio State’s high-priced offensive coordinator, who had also been under fire after the loss to Michigan. ‘Yeah, I thought Chip called a great game,” Day said. ‘I thought the whole offensive staff worked hard to put the plan together.”

Ohio State’s defense showed championship-caliber ability. The Buckeyes held Oregon to minus-23 yards rushing on 28 carries while sacking Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel eight times.

It was the Buckeyes who faced the possibility of being sacked by their own fan base. How did they avoid it? Ohio State linebacker Cody Simon, a team captain, offered insight when he said, “That’s probably the biggest part about football: It’s a game about getting your body, mind and spirit right.’’

There’s also the issue of trust, as quarterback Will Howard connected with star freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith for seven receptions, 187 yards and two touchdowns.

“Will does a great job in practice just trusting us, just throwing the ball out there,’’ Smith said. “We tell him, just throw it out there. We’ll make a play for you. It don’t matter if it’s a bad ball or not, we’ll make our quarterback look good.’’

The Buckeyes are looking good, all right.

“Obviously,’’ Oregon coach Dan Lanning said, “that’s a team I think that has the ability to go win it all.’’

And the biggest hurdle may be cleared.

(This story was updated with new information.)

Welcome to the day the College Football Playoff grew up. 

And also the day that proved once and for all it needs to kick the bowl games to the curb. 

How great is this sport? So great that an Arizona State team held a nation spellbound for a couple of hours on Wednesday afternoon, bringing a March Madness feel to New Year’s Day for the first time in CFP history. 

How frustrating is this sport? So frustrating that while Arizona State was ultimately coming up one play short against Texas, the Rose Bowl couldn’t see fit to delay the kickoff of Ohio State-Oregon by even a few minutes. And by the time Texas had won its quarterfinal, 39-31 in the second overtime, the Buckeyes were already up 7-0 and had the ball again. 

We know the Rose Bowl loves its sunset over the San Gabriel Mountains at the start of the fourth quarter, but come on. College football is this country’s second-most popular sport. It needs to act like it and not leave its programming schedule to a bunch of freeloading bowl bureaucrats who add nothing to the texture and fabric of the game in 2025. 

College football is so much better than that. The Texas-Arizona State game proved it. 

Where’s your pining for Alabama now? 

After all the agenda-fueled handwringing about the first-round mismatches — led by cranky Kirk Herbstreit, of all people, who chose to be loud and wrong rather than reconsider his biases last week — it’s time to separate fact from fanfic. 

The CFP does not need to be expanded to 14 or 16. Adding more teams would be a cynical money grab, and no Playoff-worthy team is getting left out of a 12-team field.
Despite Lane Kiffin’s social media sour grapes, there was no magic bullet team that could have been plugged in to the CFP to change the one-sided nature of most games that have been played so far. Not Alabama, certainly, after its no-show against Michigan in the ReliaQuest Bowl. Not South Carolina. Not Miami. And not Kiffin’s Ole Miss Rebels. 
The reason we have seen a lot of blowouts in the CFP, even in the four-team format, is that there’s a dividing line in college football between the elite and non-elite. It would be in the best interests of the sport to shrink that gap. How do you do it? By putting a non-traditional team like Arizona State on the national stage and letting them show how good they are. 
And yet college football is so wrapped up in the idea of tradition that it has let bowl operators dictate how to run their business. So we get empty seats at Playoff games because fans can’t budget for three road trips, and we get the Rose Bowl kicking off on an alternate channel because delaying by 15 minutes would be a sunset sacrilege. 

Here’s the point: Nobody likes to complain about college football more than people who love college football, but often their angst is misdirected. 

For all the hate directed at the NIL and transfer portal environment, nothing in the history of college sports has done more to spread out talent and give dozens of programs a chance to compete for something significant. 

Despite all the calls for the CFP to include the ‘best’ teams over the most-deserving — as if Herbstreit or anyone else could accurately define what that means — how do you explain dismissed Big 12 champion Arizona State providing one of the best underdog performances in playoff history when the elitists never wanted the Sun Devils in the first place? 

It’s time to stop nitpicking and let college football do its thing. Does that mean every game is going to be great? Does that mean every underdog is going to look like it belongs? Of course not. 

But if you just let the sport breathe a little bit, the talent gap is going to continue to close and you’re eventually going to get to a place where a game like Texas-Arizona State is more the norm than the exception. Even Boise State kept things interesting Tuesday night, competing credibly with Penn State for a good portion of the game before falling 31-14.

That’s all you can ask for.

Should there be some tweaks? Of course. 

Oregon, as the No. 1 seed and the nation’s only unbeaten team, should not have had to face Ohio State in the quarterfinals. That can be fixed by a small tweak that allows the CFP selection committee to seed the teams by their true rankings rather than giving priority to the top four conference champions. 

There should also be a lengthy conversation about whether quarterfinal games should be on campus rather than neutral sites. But regardless of how that decision goes, it’s time for SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti and their colleagues to make it clear that the bowl games have no leverage anymore over this sport. 

Think about the absurdity of this: Arizona State has a quarterfinal site in its backyard with the Fiesta Bowl but gets shipped to Atlanta to play Texas. Meanwhile, Georgia has a quarterfinal site in its backyard with the Peach Bowl but gets sent to New Orleans to play Notre Dame because of old contracts that tie conferences to particular bowls. 

Meanwhile, because the Rose Bowl apparently has to kick off at 5 p.m. Eastern — and not a minute later — most people wrapped up in a truly great game on Wednesday didn’t even know Ohio State-Oregon had started. Talk about giving the fans a middle finger. 

But for so many years, rather than treating college football like a real sport, the powerbrokers, talking-heads bowl stooges have been in the beauty pageant mentality. It’s all about “creating matchups” and “the brands” rather than, you know, playing games and showcasing new stars like ASU quarterback Sam Leavitt or coach Kenny Dillingham.

And guess what? In a real sport, you just can’t predict when a game is going to be awesome or when it’s going to end up lopsided. Who could have guessed that Arizona State would be Cinderella for a few hours on New Years, while Oregon would fall flat on its face? 

Lessons need to be learned from the Peach Bowl. Yeah, the Big 12 may not have been a great conference this year, but its champion went blow-for-blow with the second-best team in the SEC. And even though college football is never going to have the same upset dynamics as the NCAA basketball tournament, it’s the Arizona States of the world that are going to grow this sport and turn the CFP into something magical — if they’ll just leave it (mostly) alone. 

That’s the potential we saw on Wednesday. That’s the parity the CFP can help grow. That’s the excitement fans yearned for when they finally turned it from an invitational into a real Playoff. 

It’s time for even the skeptics to admit that this thing is working just fine. 

NEW ORLEANS — Silence. 

That’s what strikes you while standing next to Caesars Superdome on a glorious Wednesday afternoon. Silence reaches up and shakes you, suffocates you, reminds you not so subtly that sometimes there are more important matters in this world than four quarters and 60 minutes and a College Football Playoff quarterfinal game. 

They were supposed to play one, a big one, New Year’s Day night at the Superdome between Notre Dame and Georgia. 

Three-plus hours before what would’ve been kickoff, Poydras Street should have been, would have been, a cacophony of crazy. In a good way; in the best of ways. Cars crawling through pregame traffic. Whistles of officers directing vehicles into the proper Superdome garages. Georgia fans decked in red and black and of course, Mardi Gras beads, walking to the Dome. Notre Dame fans sporting blue and gold and, of course, Mardi Gras beads walking to the Dome. 

Everyone, for then, friendly and happy and optimistic that their team would win a football game and see their season extended for another week. 

Instead of any of that, instead of all of that, there was only silence. So few cars. Too few people. No traffic snaking down Poydras to the massive structure that stands for what this city has long been. Resilient. Tough. Strong. 

This city has bounced back before. This city will bounce back again. Not yet. Not Wednesday. Everything was still too raw, too painful, too real to play a game at the Superdome. That’s why it sat silent. It had to sit silent. 

Early that morning a terrorist attack killed at least 14 and wounded dozens nearly a mile away on Bourbon Street. That forced the Sugar Bowl, what has become the city’s annual showcase sporting event, to be postponed to 4 p.m. ET on Thursday. 

At the corner of Poydras and LaSalle Streets, where there should’ve been bumper to bumper street traffic and shoulder to shoulder pedestrian traffic, there were only the flashing blue lights of a parked police car. In the last 12 hours, it had become a common and somewhat unsettling sight in these streets. Nearby was a Jefferson Parrish Sheriff’s Office mobile command center. Above Garage 6, was a drone taking aerial recon of the area. 

It all seemed surreal. 

The show of shear law enforcement force was everywhere. On the ground. In the sky. Along the curbs of the surface streets that surround the dome. City police cars here. A fleet of state police SUVs over there. Unmarked SUVs. 

A New Orleans Tour Bus rolled slowly by the Dome, empty except for the driver. The ride share pickup/drop-off area by the Dome was vacant. Nobody needing a ride; nobody getting a ride. No reason to be around the Dome. Not on this day, which should be the day of all days for sports fans in this city. 

You stand near the Superdome — as close as authorities will let you stand — for five, 10, 15 minutes and don’t see another soul. A car here, a car there. Then, there at the intersection of Poydras and LaSalle, Mike Grace, a 1985 Notre Dame graduate from Macomb, Michigan, and his four sons, all wearing Notre Dame gear, appear. 

They had planned to walk to the game around that time, anyway, so they wandered over from their hotel on Saint Joseph Street just to get out and get a look at the Dome. They looked like pre-teens seeing a roller coaster for the first time. 

“It sure is big.” 

All are long-time Notre Dame fans who have seen their share of Irish home games. Like the Louisville game in September. Wednesday was supposed to be their first bowl game. 

That the men were even in New Orleans was by coincidence. They attended a family wedding in Cleveland the day after the CFP first-round playoff win over Indiana, so the home game in South Bend was out. Grace found tickets, found a flight and found a hotel so it was New Orleans for New Year’s. Love, Santa. 

“I surprised these guys for Christmas,” he said. 

Three of Grace’s four sons drove down from the family home in Michigan. They picked up their brother, who lives in Canton, Ohio, and continued to New Orleans. Grace flew in from Michigan. All five arrived late Tuesday — too late that no one wanted to go out for New Year’s. Not even in New Orleans. Not even to Bourbon Street. 

“We were talking about going out,” Grace said. “They were just too tired. By the grace of God … It’s surreal.” 

Surreal because Grace’s youngest son, Sam, was a sophomore at Michigan State when a shooter opened fire “two buildings” away on Feb. 13, 2023, and took the lives of three students. 

“I,” Sam said, “was stuck in the library for like, seven hours.” 

The Graces didn’t learn what happened on Bourbon Street until about 6:15 a.m. Wednesday when the boys’ mother — Grace’s wife — frantically contacted them. 

“We were shocked,” Grace said. “It was like, ‘Wow. This is crazy.” 

After seeing the Dome, the five hoped to find a place to decompress and eat and maybe have a cold beverage or two and watch the Rose Bowl. They still planned to stay for Thursday’s game but travel plans will have to be altered. Instead of flying home, Grace will hop in the car with his sons for the ultimate father-sons 15-hour road trip back to the Midwest. 

“We’ll do a marathon drive back,” he said. 

Before then, the Sugar Bowl. Maybe Thursday afternoon will look and feel and be different around the Superdome. Maybe the juice of a Sugar Bowl, of a CFP quarterfinal, of college football, will return. Maybe those who didn’t have flights to catch or hotel rooms to vacate would figure out how to stick around another night so they could do something that nobody wanted to do Wednesday. 

Have fun. 

On this afternoon, there was none. Only silence. 

Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com

Longtime PGA Tour writer Steve DiMeglio, whose byline graced the pages of USA TODAY and then Golfweek for decades, has died at his home in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. He was 63.

DiMeglio was diagnosed in 2022 with rectal cancer that had spread to his liver. He was open throughout his treatment, which included dozens of doses of chemotherapy – he kept track of the doses by citing the numbers worn by sports legends.

He often shared his progress and sometimes shared his pain on social media in the hope he might inspire someone to sign up for a cancer screening – or simply to stay in touch with his many friends in the world of golf. The American Cancer Society recently profiled DiMeglio with a video shot at TPC Sawgrass.

A graduate of Mankato West High School in Minnesota and later Minnesota State University, DiMeglio began his professional career as a journalist in 1994 at the Palm Springs Desert Sun. He moved to media company Gannett in 1999, joined USA TODAY in 2000 and a couple of years later took over as the full-time golf beat writer. Gannett acquired Golfweek in 2016, and DiMeglio’s byline began to appear under the Golfweek banner in 2019. He continued to write for Golfweek until 2023. 

‘Steve was a longtime golf reporter at USA TODAY who covered baseball for years before he changed beats. He was incredibly plugged-in, had some of the best sources in the sport and would do anything you asked as an editor,’ said Roxanna Scott, executive editor of USA TODAY Sports. ‘He had a passion for golf that was reflected in his writing and all of the relationships he built through the years.

‘I loved seeing the video of Steve being greeted by Tiger in the Bahamas last month. I’m sure that meant a lot to Steve. We will all miss Steve’s thoughtfulness, his updates on his sports bets and his wonderful storytelling.’

DiMeglio covered all the greats of his era on both the men’s and women’s professional tours. Even during his cancer battle, he stayed in touch with many players, and their support buoyed his spirits. He traveled to a few tournaments over the past year, most recently the Hero World Challenge in December in the Bahamas.

He mentioned on social media that he was thrilled to chat with some of his favorite players, including Tiger Woods, Justin Thomas, Keegan Bradley, Jason Day and caddie Joey LaCava.

“Everybody knows him out here. He’s Mr. Golf, USA Today forever,” four-time PGA Tour winner Billy Andrade said in March after learning he was playing in the PGA Tour Champions’ Cologuard Classic in DiMeglio’s honor. “One of the great guys of all time.”

BRISBANE, Australia — Novak Djokovic’s bid for a 100th ATP Tour title gained momentum on Thursday as the Serb thumped fellow veteran Gael Monfils 6-3 6-3 to reach the Brisbane International quarterfinals.

The 37-year-old, who is looking to join Roger Federer (103) and Jimmy Connors (109) as players who have won at least 100 titles, breezed through the first set on the back of a solitary break in the fourth game.

Djokovic never looked back from there as he powered through the second set to extend his win-loss record against the French player to 20-0, nearly two decades after their first encounter in the opening round of the 2005 U.S. Open.

‘We’ve been playing for many years,’ said Djokovic, who will be gunning for an 11th Australian Open title when the season’s opening Grand Slam begins later this month.

‘I’ve known Gael since I was 15. We played quite a bit at juniors and on Tour and have had a good score against him but we have had some incredible battles. He’s one of the best, if not the best, athlete in our sport over the years.’

Djokovic will step up his preparations for a shot at a 25th Grand Slam title at the Jan. 12-26 Australian Open when he takes on big-serving American Reilly Opelka in the next round.

Opelka got past Matteo Arnaldi 7-6(9) 7-6(4) while Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, another player who can blow away his opponents with booming serves, upset fourth seed Frances Tiafoe 6-4 7-6(4).

Czech 19-year-old Jakub Mensik earlier mowed down Serbian lucky loser Dusan Lajovic 6-3 6-2.

In the women’s event, reigning U.S. Open and Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka endured a stern test in the opening set against Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva before winning 7-6(2) 6-4.

Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, who overcame a shoulder injury that ended her 2024 season early, also dug deep to defeat Armenia’s Elina Avanesyan 6-4 1-6 6-4 and reach her first tour quarter-final since the Berlin Open in June.

It was the end of the road for third seed Daria Kasatkina, who fell to a 1-6 6-2 7-5 defeat against fellow Russian Polina Kudermetova, while their compatriot Mirra Andreeva eased past Linda Noskova 6-3 6-0.

Two times Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka also crashed out after the Belarusian was defeated 6-4 6-4 by Czech Marie Bouzkova.

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The Sugar Bowl game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Georgia Bulldogs will be postponed until Thursday at 4 p.m. ET after an overnight attack in New Orleans’ French Quarter that killed 15 people and injured about 30.

The two teams were scheduled to kick off at 8:45 p.m. ET Wednesday in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Superdome – less than a mile from the site where a man drove a pickup truck into a crowd of New Year’s revelers along Bourbon Street.

Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley said that after consulting with representatives from the two schools, the conferences and ESPN, ‘all parties agreed that it’s in the best interest of everybody and public safety that we postpone the game for 24 hours.’

The FBI identified the suspected driver of the truck as 42-year-old Shamsud Din Bahar Jabbar, and is investigating the attack the agency called ‘an act of terrorism.’

“There’s just too much stuff we don’t know. It’s just not worth it,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said during a news conference with state, city and law enforcement officials addressing the decision to postpone the game.

Louisiana AG supports delaying Sugar Bowl game further

‘Not my decision, but I would like to see it delayed at least another day,’ Murrill told NBC. ‘If they asked my opinion, I would tell them that.’

NBC reported that Murrill does believe ‘the community is safe.’

Superdome goes silent on day it should have hosted Sugar Bowl

NEW ORLEANS — Silence. 

That’s what strikes you while standing next to Caesars Superdome on a glorious Wednesday afternoon. Silence reaches up and shakes you, suffocates you, reminds you not so subtly that sometimes there are more important matters in this world than four quarters and 60 minutes and a College Football Playoff quarterfinal game. 

They were supposed to play one, a big one, New Year’s Day night at the Superdome between Notre Dame and Georgia.

Counterterrorism expert on New Orleans attack, Sugar Bowl

Former senior U.S. counterterrorism official Javed Ali said things can evolve as the FBI investigation unfolds, including scenarios that could potentially impact the Sugar Bowl.

Based on what the FBI and other authorities have made public to date, “This wasn’t just one person acting on their own, and however many other people are involved in this conspiracy, they’re on the loose right now,” said Ali, who is not involved in the investigation but has held senior U.S. intelligence positions across multiple agencies.

Many factors would have to go into whether the game should be held as scheduled, further postponed or even canceled, Ali said. “That’s going to have to be something to figure out from a risk management perspective,” he said.

– Josh Meyer, USA TODAY

What time is the Sugar Bowl?

The rescheduled Sugar Bowl will kick off at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday in New Orleans, officials announced.

Former Princeton WR Tiger Bech killed in New Orleans attack

Former Princeton football player Tiger Bech was killed in the New Orleans truck attack early Wednesday morning, his brother, TCU standout Jack Bech, confirmed on social media.

Jack Bech led the Horned Frogs with 1,039 receiving yards and nine touchdowns this season, emerging as one of the best receivers in the country in 2024. Tiger Bech, 28, was an All-Ivy League performer, spending three seasons at Princeton from 2016-18.

‘Love you always brother,’ Bech wrote on X. ‘You inspired me (every day) now you get to be with me in every moment. I got this family T, don’t worry. This is for us.’

– Austin Curtright, USA TODAY Network

Saints coach Darren Rizzi discusses New Orleans attack

During a news conference Wednesday, Saints coach Darren Rizzi discussed the attack, saying the team prayed together and had a moment of silence for victims during a morning meeting. Rizzi added that it ‘hits home with me personally.

‘I have five children between the ages of 17 and 26. And I can tell you early this morning, the first thing I thought of was my own son was out last night for New Year’s Eve in this community. My daughter was home just last week and was down in the French Quarter … I know there’s a lot of information still coming out, but I want to reiterate how much support and how much thought is coming from the New Orleans Saints.’

The Saints will be on the road this weekend, playing the Buccaneers on Sunday in Tampa.

Georgia’s official traveling party all safe, one student among victims

The University of Georgia athletic department has confirmed that in the wake of Wednesday’s early-morning attack, ‘All team personnel and members of the official team travel party have been accounted for.’

Notre Dame also said that all team personnel had been accounted for.

Georgia’s Redcoat Band also said all its students and staff are safe.

Georgia president Jere W. Morehead did say that one student was critically injured and is currently receiving medical treatment.

Security sweep of Superdome underway

The site of tonight’s Sugar Bowl game is undergoing a full security review following the fatal overnight attack on Bourbon Street.

Officials are conducting a full sweep of the Superdome to make sure there are no security breaches before, during or after the game.

Rose Bowl stands ‘in solidarity’ following Sugar Bowl tragedy

Tournament of Roses and Pasadena city officials have offered their condolences to the people of New Orleans as they look to reassure the public today’s Rose Bowl events will be safe.

“The Tournament of Roses and the City of Pasadena extend our deepest sympathies to the people of Louisiana and the city of New Orleans following this morning’s tragic events,” the officials said in a statement.

“We stand in solidarity with the entire state during this difficult time.

‘The City of Pasadena undergoes months of preparations leading up to the Parade and Game in coordination with our Federal, State, County and Local partners.  We continually train throughout the year with our Tournament of Roses and Rose Bowl Stadium partners for various scenarios.”

Georgia, Notre Dame release statements in wake of attack

Both schools participating in the Sugar Bowl issued statements on social media Wednesday morning.

‘We are horrified and saddened by the senseless act of violence that occurred in the early hours of New Year’s Day in New Orleans,’ said a statement from the University of Georgia. ‘University personnel are working to determine if any UGA students, faculty, staff, alumni or fans were among the victims.’

Meanwhile, Notre Dame said it was ‘working with law enforcement and others to determine the full scope and impact of the tragedy.’

The school also announced that a previously scheduled Mass at the Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel will be held at 11 a.m. and asked those fans not in the area to ‘join us in prayer from wherever you are.’

Georgia fans praying after tragedy

Yellow police tape was hanging and police cars were parked inside and outside that area, some with lights flashing and with officers standing nearby. An Orleans Parrish coroner van was also parked.

“Crazy,” said Iacovazzi, wearing a Georgia cap and hoodie.

Iacovazzi’s hotel was not evacuated, but others in the area were. Iacovazzi’s daughter, a University of Georgia senior, is with him on the trip. She woke him up to tell him about what happened.

“She woke up and heard all that noise, but she didn’t know what happened,” he said. “Her grandparents were calling her all night wondering if we were OK.”

Former Georgia tight end Leonard Pope was sitting in the lobby of the Sheraton New Orleans, across the street from the Marriott.

Pope woke up to the news after going to a concert by rapper Juvenile on New Year’s Eve and then bought some pralines and came back to his room.

“We’re praying for their families and hoping things can get together real soon,” said Pope, who played in the NFL for seven seasons including with the Cardinals and Chiefs. “We’re here supporting the Bulldogs and down here just visiting family as well.”

– Marc Weiszer, Athens Banner-Herald

On scene: South Bend reporter awakens to tragedy

In New Orleans to cover tonight’s Sugar Bowl, South Bend Tribune reporter Tom Noie was stunned to see flashing lights and emergency vehicles outside his hotel room window before sunrise.

‘On a day of football, of new beginnings, of hope, there is only tragedy,’ Noie writes. ‘Sad. Senseless. People lost their lives down there. Others who were down there last night woke up this morning in area hospitals, many possibly fighting to see the rest of 2025 and beyond.’

Now, Noie continues, the all-important playoff game seems much less important.

‘The sight of all those squad cars, all those blue lights flashing quietly in the pre-dawn hours, leaves you shaken. How might Notre Dame’s offensive line handle Georgia’s defense? Will quarterback Riley Leonard make as many plays with his right arm as with his feet? 

‘None of that matters.’

Superdome will be secure, Sen. Cassidy says in interview

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) appeared on CNN on Wednesday morning and was asked about tonight’s game.

‘Extremely confident,’ Cassidy told CNN when asked if the Sugar Bowl would be played later in the evening. ‘The standard operating procedure for a big game like the Sugar Bowl, for a Saints game, for the Super Bowl is to go through the building, make sure there’s nothing there that’s wrong, and then to lock it down. The Sugar Bowl, the Superdome has been locked down. There is going to be no problem there.’ 

In addition to the Sugar Bowl, New Orleans will also play host to Super Bowl 59 on Feb 9.

Former Homeland Security official discusses security plan for New Orleans

“The Sugar Bowl is huge. Lots of people will be watching,” Juliette Kayyem, a former top U.S. Department of Homeland Security official, told CNN.  “It should go on. The police department has lots of resources to draw on. It can protect the investigation and also draw on other local and state resources to protect people going to the bowl.” 

She added: “This is the way that big cities have to work. Unfortunately, we want to provide what might even be security theater at this stage, lots and lots of law enforcement presence to make the city and people attending understand that they are safe, to stop anyone who might want to copycat at this stage, and then you let the investigation and the mourning continue simultaneously. It’s just the nature of how these things happen is that you have both these horrible incidences, and then you have to prepare for the next big event. And this is when we’ve seen in prior instances as well.” 

Sugar Bowl official offers condolences for victims

Less than 12 hours before kickoff, Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley released a statement Wednesday morning in which he expressed sympathy for victims and their families and added: “We are in ongoing discussions with authorities on the local, state, and federal levels and will communicate further details as they become available.”

Notre Dame vs. Georgia preview

Coach Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will meet coach Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs in the Sugar Bowl for the right to advance to the College Football Playoff semifinal.

Quarterback Riley Leonard has completed 217 of 325 pass attempts this season for 2,293 yards, 17 touchdowns and six interceptions. Leonard also rushed for 751 yards and 15 touchdowns for the Irish. Running back Jeremiyah Love had 142 carries for 1,057 yards and 16 touchdowns this season.

Georgia did not play last week after beating Texas to win the SEC Championship game on Dec. 7. For being one of the four highest-ranked conference champions, the Bulldogs earned a first-round bye.

Starting quarterback Carson Beck will not play for the Bulldogs after having surgery for an elbow injury. He declared for the NFL draft on Saturday.

Gunner Stockton is expected to start against Notre Dame. Stockton completed 12 of 16 pass attempts for 71 yards and an interception after replacing Beck in the SEC title game. Running back Trevor Etienne rushed for 94 yards and two touchdowns to help lead Georgia’s offensive attack.

Here’s what you need to know for the Sugar Bowl:

When is Sugar Bowl between Notre Dame and Georgia?

The Sugar Bowl CFP quarterfinal game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Georgia Bulldogs kicks off at 8:45 p.m. at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

How to watch Notre Dame and Georgia in Sugar Bowl

The Sugar Bowl game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Georgia Bulldogs will be televised nationally on ESPN.

Live streaming is available on Fubo, which has a free trial.

Watch Notre Dame take on Georgia with a Fubo subscription

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Aaron Rodgers is aware that his turbulent run with the New York Jets could be coming to a close.

But ahead of the Week 18 finale against the Miami Dolphins, the quarterback said Wednesday that no matter what his future holds, he will view his time with the organization fondly.

‘Gratitude, honestly,’ the four-time NFL MVP said when asked how he viewed this portion of his 20-year career. ‘It’s been the best two years of my life. And that’s a perspective adjustment that happened at some point during the rehab process last year. Just the excitement of falling back in love with the game, getting to know these guys in here, getting to know the great men and women who work here, it’s been a lot of fun.

‘Obviously, on the field has been short of expectations, no doubt. But this game is more than just that.’

After his highly anticipated debut season with the Jets in 2023 was cut short by a torn Achilles suffered four snaps into the opener, Rodgers has experienced plenty of disappointment in his follow-up campaign. The Jets fired coach Robert Saleh after a 2-3 start, and despite the organization trading for Rodgers’ close friend Davante Adams, New York continued its slide and extended the NFL’s longest active playoff drought to 14 seasons.

All things Jets: Latest New York Jets news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.

With the team cleaning house with the firing of general manager Joe Douglas in November, Rodgers has acknowledged that his future is very much in flux. Though he earlier stated he prefers to remain with the franchise, he has acknowledged the possibility that the team will want to move on from the 41-year-old, who does not have any guaranteed money on his contract for 2025. Multiple reports indicated that the Jets are likely to part ways with Rodgers at some point this offseason.

Rodgers also reiterated he was unsure whether he would return to play at all next season or choose to retire. After making a joke about how he wouldn’t go on another darkness retreat, Rodgers said he needed a respite from the physical toll that the last two seasons have taken on him.

‘I need a break, mentally,’ said Rodgers, who added he expected to have clarity on his future before free agency begins in March. ‘I don’t want to make a decision until I’ve been able to rest physically and mentally. … I just need a break mentally to refresh and put my feet in the sand and see where I’m at.’

Interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said the possibility of coaching Rodgers’ final NFL game provided some solid motivation for Sunday.

‘To even be a small part of his story, it’s an honor,’ Ulbrich said. ‘If it happens to be his last game, let’s take him out on the right note.’

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An deadly terrorist attack in New Orleans early on New Year’s Day had an impact on the College Football Playoff schedule. The Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame was to be played Wednesday as the fourth and final quarterfinal. The game has been postponed to Thursday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the rest of the bowl schedule continues on. There was already one game on the Thursday slate, but it’s a well-established name on the New Year’s calendar. Furthermore, the winner will pick up its 10th victory of the campaign, still a notable achievement in the sport even if it doesn’t occur in a playoff setting.

Here’s what you need to know about the contest and its participants.

Sugar Bowl – No. 2 Georgia vs. No. 7 Notre Dame

Time/TV/location: 4 p.m. ET, ESPN, New Orleans.

Why watch: The round of eight concludes with this heavyweight showdown of storied programs. In a first round of dominant performances, the Fighting Irish might have turned in the most impressive of the lot shutting down the high-powered Indiana passing game. The talented back seven led by DB Xavier Watts and LB Jack Kiser now turns its attention to Bulldogs QB Gunner Stockton, who will make his starting debut with the highest of stakes. He will bring an element of mobility to the offense that starter Carson Beck did not, but he might still need to lean on RBs Trevor Etienne and Nate Frazier to limit his risk. Notre Dame QB Riley Leonard is an even more dangerous dual threat, and RB Jeremiyah Love can break off big runs as well. The Georgia front seven has a lot of versatility, but LB Jalon Walker is often a major component of the game plan.

Why it could disappoint: It might turn into a punting duel if the defenses take charge. It might also be challenging for either squad to overcome a multi-score deficit if there are early miscues.

WHO WINS?: Expert picks for the Sugar Bowl between Georgia-Notre Dame

Gator Bowl – Duke vs. No. 15 Mississippi

Time/TV/location: 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, Jacksonville, Fla.

Why watch: One of the SEC’s numerous ranked squads takes on a challenger from the ACC, which so far has had a miserable postseason league-wide. It’s an attractive pairing from a record standpoint, but the Rebels will have a distinct personnel advantage. Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart will be off to the NFL but will suit up one last time for the Rebels, and he should have WRs Cayden Lee and Jordan Watkins available. Blue Devils’ QB Malik Murphy and RB Star Thomas are both transferring out, which will leave the Duke offense in the hands of little-used backup QB Henry Belin IV.

Why it could disappoint: Ole Miss was going to be favored regardless, and Duke’s personnel departures make this an even bigger mismatch. The Rebels haven’t always been the most focused bunch this season, and the Blue Devils must hope that will be the case once again.