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ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Left-handed reliever Hoby Milner agreed to a $2.5 million. one-year contract with the Texas Rangers on Friday, joining the team he grew up watching in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and where he still lives.

The sidearm-throwing Milner, who turns 34 next month, can earn $500,000 in performance bonuses for innings: $100,000 each for 35 and 45, and $150,000 apiece for 55 and 65.

Milner has appeared in 201 games the past three seasons for Milwaukee. The only lefty with more games in that span is Tanner Scott, with 213 for Miami and San Diego.

Milner was 5-1 with a 4.73 ERA in 61 games for the Brewers this year. He made the only start of his big league career in an opener role, throwing two innings against Texas on June 25 in Milwaukee.

He has a career record of 10-5 with a 3.82 ERA over nine big league seasons with Philadelphia (2017-18), Tampa Bay (2018-19), the Los Angeles Angels (2020) and Milwaukee (2021-24).

The 6-foot-3 Milner was selected by the Phillies in the seventh round of the 2012 amateur draft after playing two seasons at the University of Texas. He played high school baseball in Fort Worth.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Jaydon Blue had the biggest run in the biggest game of the season so far for Texas. He had to fight through a nagging ankle injury and fumble problems to do it.

Blue ran for 146 yards, dashing 77 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to help the Longhorns beat Clemson 38-24 on Saturday in the first round of the expanded College Football Playoff.

Blue was first thrust into the starting role when training camp injuries knocked out C.J. Baxter and Christian Clark for the season. Blue missed a game with the ankle injury, then saw his carries reduced over several games because of fumble problems.

Texas (12-2), the No. 5 seed, advanced to the Jan. 1 Peach bowl to play Big 12 champion and No. 4 seed Arizona State.

“You can’t win (the championship) if you don’t win the first one,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “We did that.”

Blue already had a 38-yard touchdown earlier in the game. The second one came after Clemson had rallied from down 31-10 to within 31-24 on Cade Klubnik’s third touchdown pass.

Blue scored on 38-yard cut-and-dash burst in the second quarter. On the second touchdown, he dove into the line, shook a tackler, and then outraced three more to the end zone with just 11 minutes left.

He clutched the ball tightly to his chest when a defender tried to rip it away.

“It was a sigh of relief after everything I’ve been going through,” Blue said. “I stayed patient, I saw a crease and it was everything (open) from there.”

Sarkisian said Blue never lost the trust of the team.

“Our staff, his teammates, believed in him,” Sarkisian said. “I just gave him a big hug and told him how proud I was.”

Quintrevion Wisner added 110 yards rushing and two first-half touchdowns for Texas. Quinn Ewers passed for 202 yards and a touchdown.

Klubnik, who grew up in Austin, passed for 336 yards and rallied the Tigers (10-4) in the second half against a Texas defense that had given up just four passing touchdowns all season.

“We just got ourselves in too big a hole in the first half. Everything was uphill.” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “We just put it in Cade’s hands and let it rip.”

The runner-up in the Southeastern Conference, Texas is the only one of last season’s four playoff teams to make the new 12-team field. Clemson won the ACC championship to make the playoff. The Tigers were the No. 12 seed in their first appearance since 2020 and seventh overall.

“It’s not easy to get on this stage (again), and they earned it,” Sarkisian said. “It think college football got this one right. This idea of a home playoff game with a 12-team format was pretty special.”
Takeaways

Clemson: The Tigers had three big fourth-down chances in the fourth quarter. They turned the first one into a touchdown when Klubnik threw to T.J. Moore. But they came up short on the next two. Keith Adams Jr. was stuffed at the Texas 1 and Klubnik pass at the Texas 26 was incomplete with just over a minute left.

“We’ve got big people,” Sarkisian said. “And they know how to play a physical brand of football.”

Texas: The Longhorns had some injury scares that could be worrisome with more games ahead. Wisner, starting offensive tackle Cam Williams and center Jake Majors all left the field in two plays in the second quarter. Sarkisian said the coaching staff opted to keep Wisner and Majors out in the second half. Williams needed help to get off the field and will have tests on his knee overnight.
Receiving record

Texas tight end Gunnar Helm caught six passes for 77 yards, including a 19-yard touchdown that saw him reach high and still get his feet down in the end zone. He has 55 catches on the season, breaking the previous school record for tight ends. The record was 54, set last season by J.T. Sanders.
Up next

Clemson will try to defend its ACC title next season and earn its eighth playoff berth.

Texas moves on to face Arizona State in the next round. The Longhorns left the Big 12 before Arizona State joined that league this season.

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ByADAM SCHEFTER
December 21, 2024, 11:09 AM

Kirk Cousins’ divorce from the Falcons is expected to be finalized before his $10 million roster bonus is due March 17, with executives across the NFL fully expecting Atlanta to release him by then.

The split between Cousins and the Falcons is inevitable at this point, according to multiple sources.

Front office executives observing the situation have pointed out that, due to the no-trade clause in Cousins’ contract, he now has all the leverage. And nobody believes he will do any favors for a Falcons team that surprised him on draft night by selecting another quarterback, Michael Penix Jr., in the first round, then benched him this week in favor of the rookie.

Thus there now is a widespread expectation across the league that the Falcons will not be able to trade Cousins and will have to release him before March 17, when his $10 million roster bonus for the 2026 season comes due. There is no need for the Falcons to absorb any more costs for a quarterback whom they have paid $90 million for 14 games.

Therefore, for the second straight offseason, Cousins is expected to become a free agent, able to choose the team and situation he believes will be best for him.

A Falcons official told ESPN on Saturday morning that it was too early to determine whether the organization would release Cousins. The official added that Penix’s relatively low salary cap number for 2025 ($5.2 million) gives the Falcons the financial flexibility to potentially keep Cousins.

But the expectation around the league remains that the Falcons will release Cousins before the roster bonus is due.

The Denver Broncos were in a similar situation last offseason, when Russell Wilson ultimately was released before his $37 million salary for the 2025 season became fully guaranteed. Wilson’s guarantee was due on March 17, 2024, exactly one year before Cousins’ roster bonus with the Falcons is due.

Wilson signed a one-year deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers worth the veterans minimum at $1.2 million — similar to the type of contract offers Cousins, 36, would field from other teams if he chooses to play in 2025. Any salary Cousins earns in 2025 would be offset by the $27.5 million owed to him by the Falcons, making him a potential bargain option for next season.

Had the situation in Atlanta been handled differently, in the eyes of executives across the league, the Falcons maybe would have had a chance to work with Cousins to facilitate a trade to another team. But considering the history that has unfolded in recent months, that is not expected to be the case.

Cousins was not informed that the Falcons would draft a quarterback until they called the four-time Pro Bowler while they were on the clock for their first-round pick in April.

This caused frustration and confusion from the Cousins camp, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported on draft night, because Atlanta didn’t use the eighth overall pick on a player to support Cousins and make the team better; instead, the Falcons selected a player who could eventually take over for Cousins.

“He got the call on the clock, obviously because of the sensitive time with the issues of what you got going on,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said in April. “It’s never a right time to talk to a quarterback about those things, and reactions are always going to be private when it comes to those things, unless Kirk decides to tell you some of those things that are whatever they may be.

“But he’s a competitor, just like us all. And you can always expect those things to go just like you kind of think.”

The Falcons announced Tuesday that Penix was their starting quarterback “moving forward” with three games remaining this season, sending Cousins to the bench just months after he signed a four-year, $180 million contract that included $100 million guaranteed.

The Falcons might try to see whether there is a way to trade Cousins but would need his cooperation, and nobody across the league expects them to get it, meaning it’s only a matter of time before Atlanta will be left with no choice but to release him.

What also makes the move interesting is the perceived shortage of quality quarterbacks available this offseason. Next year’s draft is not considered as good or deep at the quarterback position as this year’s, and the free agent quarterback class currently is scheduled to include Sam Darnold, Wilson and eventually Cousins.

Teams expected to be in the quarterback market this offseason include the Steelers, Jets, Giants, Raiders, Saints, Browns and Titans. As usual, there aren’t enough quarterbacks for everyone.

Morris said Wednesday that the biggest factor in benching Cousins was his turnovers. Cousins has a league-leading 16 interceptions, and his 12 fumbles is tied for the most in the NFL with Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield.

“There’s a standard that I have for myself, that the team has for me, that, unfortunately, I wasn’t playing up to that standard consistently enough,” Cousins said Wednesday in his first comments since being benched. “And so, it is what it is, and you roll with it and now you still get ready — ‘one play away’ kind of a thing — and support Mike and just try to help our team be able to find a way to win these last three to get in the playoffs, and that’s what it’s all about.”

The Falcons (7-7) are second in the NFC South but own the tiebreaker over the first-place Buccaneers (8-6) and have a 20% chance of making the playoffs, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index projections.

Atlanta hosts the struggling Giants (2-12) on Sunday, when Penix will make his first career start.

Cousins said Wednesday that, despite coming back from a torn Achilles in 2023, he is not injured. As far as beyond this season, he said he will deal with that when the time comes.

“I didn’t forget how to play quarterback,” he said. “Certainly, turnovers were not what you want, but I didn’t forget how to play.”

ESPN’s Marc Raimondi contributed to this report.

ByJOHN KEIM
December 21, 2024, 11:09 AM

A week full of wild swings for the Washington Commanders’ pursuit of a stadium in the District of Columbia ended with another twist — and what one person involved called a Hail Mary — that elevates the likelihood of the team returning to the city.

Early Saturday morning, the U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan bill by unanimous consent that would allow the federal government to lease more than 170 acres of land to the district at the site where RFK Stadium resides. It greatly increases the chances of the Commanders building a new stadium at the site, although more hurdles remain before that’s a reality.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has said the district plans to build more housing and a recreation center on the grounds. She has been aggressive in her pursuit of the Commanders, who have been looking for a new stadium site for several years.

“This is a win for DC, for our region, and for America,” Bowser posted on X. “Everybody loves a good comeback story – and that’s DC’s story. #OurRFK”

The first step to a new stadium in D.C. was having the federal government lease the land back to the city for another 99 years. The district has another 14 years on its current lease, but that was not a long enough time to secure the necessary funding for projects.

On Tuesday, a provision to transfer the land was included in a continuing resolution spending bill before Congress, fueling hopes for Washington to pursue a stadium in the district. Those hopes were dashed when the provision was removed Thursday. Although that bill failed to pass, a new one that still excluded this transfer provision did pass Friday.

That left the Commanders and the district pondering a next step that could have included waiting until Congress returned for a new session. Instead, the Senate passed the bill around 1:15 a.m. Saturday. The bill, which the House passed in February, still must be signed into law by President Joe Biden.

“We are extremely grateful that our elected officials have come together on a bipartisan basis to give Washington D.C. the opportunity to decide on the future of the RFK stadium site,” Commanders owner Josh Harris said in a statement. “This bill will create an equal playing field so that all potential future locations for the home of the Washington Commanders can be fairly considered and give our franchise the opportunity to provide the best experience for all of our fans.”

The NFL called the vote “an important breakthrough” in a statement, adding: “Washington, D.C., will now have a long-overdue seat at the table when it comes to the location of a new Commanders stadium.”

There is no federal funding involved in the bill. On Wednesday, Elon Musk, an adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, reposted misinformation on X that included a headline stating Congress was giving the district $3 billion to build a stadium. That led to a rebuke from Bowser over a bill that was always just about extending the lease.

Now that the provision has passed in the Senate, Bowser can start negotiating with the Commanders about a stadium. Washington played at RFK Stadium from 1961 to 1996 before moving to Maryland.

The organization played in five Super Bowls and won three while playing at the RFK site, fueling an emotional attachment among the fan base that lingers. It has been the preferred destination for the Commanders and Harris, who grew up a fan of the franchise and bought the team from Dan Snyder in July 2023.

Bowser told ESPN earlier this month that “there were a lot of objections raised to the previous ownership and the direction they took the team. That’s almost forgotten, I would say. The spirit of winning is also good.”

Washington has a contract with Maryland to play at Northwest Stadium until early in the 2027 season, but because the team owns the stadium and the land, it can extend the deal until a new stadium is built. Harris has said he would like to have a new stadium by 2030.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has repeatedly stated his desire to have the team stay in Landover, so there’s no guarantee the Commanders will leave — although one source said the odds for the district have greatly increased.

Still, any deal with the city involving public funds must be approved by the D.C. Council, which in the past has been split on the topic.

The Commanders previously provided Maryland’s senators with a written assurance that they would develop the 200 acres of land they own in Landover, Maryland, the site of their current stadium, if they do indeed leave. That helped persuade Maryland’s senators to grant their approval, a necessary step.

The bill was a product of Bowser and Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., working together to garner support.

“The Senate’s passage of the D.C. RFK Stadium Campus Revitalization Act is a historic moment for our nation’s capital,” Comer said in a statement. “If Congress failed to act today, this decaying land in Washington would continue to cost taxpayers a fortune to maintain. Revitalizing this RFK Memorial Stadium site has been a top economic priority for the city, and I am proud to have partnered with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to get this bill across the finish line and to the President’s desk.”

The news continues a season of revitalization for the franchise. The Commanders are 9-5 and currently hold the seventh and final playoff spot in the NFC. They have found a young quarterback in rookie Jayden Daniels to build around with an energetic coach in Dan Quinn and a revamped front office led by general manager Adam Peters.

Indeed, it was Daniels who completed the first Hail Mary for the team this season with a 52-yard throw on the final play of the game against the Chicago Bears in October.

Saturday morning, they received another one.

ByADAM RITTENBERG
December 21, 2024, 11:09 AM

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame players and coaches linked arms in the northeast corner of the field late Friday, waiting to sing the alma mater for the final time at home in 2024.

After a slight delay, coach Marcus Freeman bounded into the group, pumping his first toward the student section before the band began to play. No. 7 Notre Dame had beaten No. 10 Indiana 27-17, using a familiar formula of stifling defense, big-play runs and relentless physicality to overwhelm a lesser opponent, just like the Fighting Irish had done for most of the season.

But Friday’s win and setting was different. A Notre Dame program steeped in history became the first to win a campus College Football Playoff game. The Irish, who had not won a CFP contest before, played their first Friday home game since 1900 before a full-throated crowd, many of whom came to campus on a snowy morning and celebrated throughout the day and night.

Freeman, fresh off a new contract in his third season as Notre Dame’s coach, took a moment to enjoy the scene.

“I’ve never been part of an environment like that,” Freeman said. “Not many times in life you’re the first to do something, and as I told the [team] in there, we were the first to win and play a playoff game in Notre Dame Stadium. That’s historic. Something we’ll cherish for the rest of our lives.”

Defensive coordinator Al Golden, whose group drove Notre Dame into the CFP and overwhelmed Indiana for much of Friday’s game, doesn’t walk around campus or the team’s facility with blinders on. He absorbs the national championship banners and other symbols of the program’s distinct path.

“The lineage is so strong and so storied that it’s hard to come about something that’s the first,” Golden said. “So everybody in that locker room, everybody that’s a part of it, can say that for the rest of their lives.”

Notre Dame ensured that its first home CFP game would not be its last of the season, jumping ahead 14-0 after Jeremiyah Love’s 98-yard touchdown run and a 16-play, 83-yard drive capped by a Riley Leonard pass to Jayden Thomas.

Love’s run through the left side of the line marked the longest play in CFP history, the longest run by an FBS player this season and the longest play Indiana has ever allowed, and it tied for the longest run in Notre Dame history (Josh Adams in 2015 against Wake Forest). The sophomore isn’t fully recovered from a knee injury sustained in the regular-season finale at USC and had been dealing with an illness.

“He is the engine that sparks this thing to go in a real positive direction,” offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock said.

Love said he was “gassed” after crossing the goal line, and after the game his voice sounded weak and could barely be heard as he spoke to reporters. He logged only eight carries in the game but made sure no Indiana defender could chase him down on his most impactful play.

“I was looking up on the videoboard, [and] he wasn’t going to catch me,” Love said. “I slowed down. I knew I was going to score.”

Safety Xavier Watts set up Love’s touchdown with an interception and propelled Notre Dame’s defense with 10 tackles. The Irish kept Indiana’s offense out of the end zone until less than 90 seconds remained and turned away the Hoosiers on 8 of 12 third-down opportunities while racking up three sacks and 10 tackles for loss.

Notre Dame led 17-3 at halftime and 27-3 with 4:50 left before Indiana scored two late touchdowns.

“They pretty much suffocated our offense until the last minute and a half of the game,” Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said.

Leonard rebounded from an interception on his first pass attempt to complete 23 passes for 201 yards and had two total touchdowns in his final game at Notre Dame Stadium. Leonard spread the ball to 10 receivers, including wide receiver Jordan Faison, who set a career high with seven receptions.

A Duke transfer and Alabama native, Leonard will continue his quest closer to home in the CFP quarterfinals against No. 2 seed Georgia at the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Jan. 1. Notre Dame has lost 10 consecutive major bowl games since its last win in a marquee New Year’s Day game, the 1994 Cotton Bowl.

“This is special for us,” Leonard said. “My freshman year, I went 3-9 [at Duke] and was just begging to make a bowl game. To be playing in the Sugar Bowl right now, I’ve got to go full circle. It’s really cool. We’re just staying alive, and we’re just trying to play as many games as we can.”

Notre Dame’s win might have come at a cost, as starting defensive tackle Rylie Mills did not return after sustaining a right leg/knee injury when sacking Indiana’s Kurtis Rourke on the first series of the second half. The Irish also dealt with injuries to offensive lineman Rocco Spindler and defensive lineman Bryce Young.

Freeman told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt that he has “optimism” about Mills, whose injury likely won’t end his season. Mills leads Notre Dame with 7.5 sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss.

“We just got to get him right here in the next 10-11 days and get him ready for this upcoming contest down in New Orleans,” Freeman told Van Pelt.

ByABC News
December 21, 2024, 11:09 AM

President Joe Biden is abandoning his efforts to provide some protections for transgender student-athletes and cancel student loans for more than 38 million Americans, the first steps in an administration-wide plan to jettison pending regulations to prevent President-elect Donald Trump from retooling them to achieve his own aims.

The White House expects to pull back unfinished rules across several agencies if there isn’t enough time to finalize them before Trump takes office. If the proposed regulations were left in their current state, the next administration would be able to rewrite them and advance its agenda more quickly.

As the pending Biden regulations are withdrawn, nothing prevents Trump from pursuing his own regulations on the same issues when he returns to the White House, but he would have to start from scratch in a process that can take months or even years.

For the regulation on transgender students, the Education Department said it was withdrawing the proposal because of ongoing litigation over how Title IX, the landmark law preventing sex discrimination, should handle issues of gender identity. In addition, the department said there were 150,000 public comments with a range of feedback, including suggestions for modifications that needed to be considered.

At this point, the department wrote, “We do not intend for a final rule to be issued.”

Karoline Leavitt, a spokesperson for Trump, accused the White House of “adding more red tape and making it more difficult for him to govern.”

Kate Shaw, who served in the White House counsel’s office under President Barack Obama, said it’s not unusual for administrations to speed up or slow down rulemaking. It’s more typical, she said, for the federal government to race to finalize regulations during a transition period, but that can be difficult when there’s a time crunch.

“If you haven’t started it early enough, you’re not going to be able to wrap it up,” she said.

Biden’s rule on transgender sports was proposed in 2023 but was delayed multiple times. It was supposed to be a follow-up to his broader rule that extended civil rights protections to LGBTQ+ students under Title IX.

The sports rule would have prevented schools from banning transgender athletes outright while allowing limits for certain reasons — for example, if it was a matter of “fairness” in competition or to reduce injury risks.

Biden’s proposal left both sides of the issue asking for more. Advocates said it didn’t go far enough in protecting transgender students from school policies that could unfairly exclude them. Opponents said it fell short of protecting girls and ensuring fairness.

In April, a bill passed the House of Representatives by party-line vote that would have barred transgender athletes whose sex assigned at birth was male from competing on girls’ or women’s sports teams at federally supported schools and colleges. The legislation, pushed through by House Republicans, never advanced further in the currently Democratic-led Senate, and Biden had said he would veto it.

Biden’s regulation sat on the back burner through the presidential campaign as the issue became a subject of Republican outrage. Trump campaigned on a promise to ban transgender athletes, with a promise to “keep men out of women’s sports.”

Had Biden’s proposal been finalized, it was certain to face legal challenges from conservatives who said Biden overstepped his authority. Biden’s broader policy on Title IX, which was finalized in April, faced a barrage of legal challenges that prevented it from taking effect in 26 states.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.