After failing to make the Big 12 Championship Game during the 2024 college football season, Deion Sanders and the No. 23 Colorado Buffaloes will be heading to San Antonio, Texas, to face the No. 17 BYU Cougars in the Alamo Bowl. Star hybrid Travis Hunter helped Colorado (9-3, 7-2 in Big 12 play) to one of its better seasons in recent memory, coming just one loss shy of potentially securing a spot in the College Football Playoff. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Thanks for the feedback.
Sensex choppy in early trade, Nifty holds 24,600; all eyes on domestic, US inflation dataDonald Trump is returning to the world stage. So is his trollingPedro Martinez Losa made all the right noises in the aftermath of Scotland’s fairly insipid draw with Finland at Easter Road on Friday night. Scotland only need one goal. The result is the same for both teams. The tie is very much alive. All true. But equally true is that the balance of the tie is tipped in favour of Finland who will feel emboldened by the point they took against Scotland. With home advantage in Helsinki for Tuesday’s second leg, one suspects they will ask deeper questions of Scotland. Martinez Losa’s remit when he was appointed as manager of the women’s national team in 2021 was to get Scotland back to a major tournament. The World Cup in 2019 was still fresh in the minds, albeit the wounds of the fallout at that time remained visible. Defeat to the Republic of Ireland at Hampden to deny Scotland a place at last summer’s Women’s World Cup was no barrier to a fresh contract offer for the Spaniard who signed an extension to his deal last September. Read more: Scotland manager admits Finland game was 'not the nicest to watch' Hearts to appoint former Scotland manager in transformative new role This time last year Scotland were battered by England at Hampden in a Nations League group that was more than simply sobering. Scotland have regrouped since then. They went into these play-offs on the back of solid results, encouraging performances and with lots of talk that this is a team who deserve to be competing on the biggest stages, against the best teams. Yet there was nothing of that aggression or conviction on show. If Scotland are to prevail – and it is still within their grasp – the performance needs to be night and day from what it was on Friday night. Eartha Cumings was by far the busier of both goalkeepers while her opposite number had little of note to cope with. It is worth pointing out that Scotland are the last team to beat Finland in Finland so anyone looking for a bit of hope can find it, should they tend to a glass half full philosophy. But they won’t find it on the evidence of Friday’s night game. It was a turgid and flat affair. That may not be entirely unusual in a two-legged play-off final when the stakes are so high for both teams and there is an inevitable anxiety within the game. What was notable, though, was the lack of courage within the game. Scotland looked inhibited by the challenge rather than excited by it. Erin Cuthbert had suggested before the game that she was sick of talking about it and wanted to give everything she had to say on the matter into a performance on the pitch. But she was unable to influence or dictate in the middle of the park. Ditto Caroline Weir. The Real Madrid midfielder has been flying in Spain after her return from an ACL injury but Finland shackled her – and Scotland – on Friday night. For a team who had gone into the game on the back of a sequence of eight games unbeaten, the confidence ought to have been oozing out of Scotland, as it was when they played Hungary last month to get to the play-off final. Perhaps it is a mental thing; Finland ended Scotland’s last European Championships campaign four years ago at the same venue around the same time of year. There is historically very little between the teams – the Finns beat Scotland in a penalty shoot-out in the Pinatar Cup in February this year – but it was the visitors who looked the more assured at Easter Road. Scotland need to ramp it up in Helsinki if they are to harbour any serious ambition of being at the Euros rather than with their noses pressed against the glass this summer. Read more: Celtic to honour passing of former player against Ross County Why Rodgers is sure Arne Engels will come good at Celtic AND ANOTHER THING Celtic manager Elena Sadiku was named Women’s Manager of the Year at an awards dinner at Hampden last night. It would have felt a little parochial when compared to the company she ended the week keeping. While the Swede would have been delighted to accept the accolade, of far more significance is her name on FIFA’s ‘The Best’ shortlist. It is unlikely that Sadiku would be oblivious to the attention she has received in recent months but her presence on such a prestigious and globally renowned celebration would underline how much of a hot ticket she is at the minute. The Swede, the youngest coach in the men’s or women’s Champions League, has made a bit of a name for herself since taking over the Celtic job at the start of the year. Having led Celtic to the their first ever title and to a place in the group stages of the Champions League for the first time, it will be interesting to see whether or not she is still at the club after this season. AND FINALLY Who can name the recent winners of the BBC Women’s Player of the Year? This year’s winner, Barbra Branda, has his hit the headlines and for obvious reasons. The cynic within would suggest that there was a reason for why Branda was given the award and it would be interesting to read the details of the reasons why the player was designated to be the best in the women’s game. The award’s shortlist was decided by a panel of independent football experts with the winner selected by public vote. But there is a serious need for legislation of what constitutes a male and female player. The danger here for women is that women’s sport, which has been the subject of a longstanding battle for equality and recognition, is under threat of erosion.
If the NBA playoffs were to start today, only four Eastern Conference teams would go in the first round with winning records, the other six teams in the top ten eligible for a playoff slot have records .500 and below. Out in the West, all the top ten teams have winning records, highlighting the imbalance between the Eastern and Western Conferences. This is an alarming trend since mediocre teams with losing records from the East will make it to the playoffs while other teams in the West are not eligible to make it to the playoffs simply due to geography. This also makes the pathway to the championship much easier for Eastern Conference teams while the other half of the league needs to run a gauntlet. Register to read this story and more for free . Signing up for an account helps us improve your browsing experience. OR See our subscription options.Rucker's 27 lead Army past UTSA 78-75MaxLinear corporate controller Connie Kwong sells $93,050 in stock
The police in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have recovered a toddler stolen from his school in Port Harcourt. The Commissioner of Police in charge of the territory, CP Olatunji Disu, who handed the child over to his mother today, noted that the baby’s whereabouts were traced using technology. According to the CP, a dramatic real-life story unfolded recently involving a suspect named Blessing Okoi. The incident began on October 31, when Miss Lydia Gabriel reported the disappearance of her four-year-old son, Hope Evans, from Community Primary School Azubie in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. According to school officials, an unidentified woman, later identified as Blessing Okoi, lured Hope away from the school premises at approximately 1:28 p.m. by offering him biscuits and a boiled egg. The woman, who was not known to the school management, managed to leave with Hope unnoticed. The disappearance was only discovered later that evening when the child’s family could not locate him. Upon realising her son was missing, Miss Gabriel, alongside family members, visited the school to gather more information. They discovered that the woman who took Hope was known locally as “Destiny’s mum.” However, upon visiting the residence of Destiny, the family learned that the suspect had hurriedly vacated the premises on the same night, October 31. Disu said, “On November 1, 2024, the family revisited the school and spoke with the headmaster. Several students identified the woman as Destiny’s mother, prompting the family to report the matter to the Trans Amadi Police Station. “The case was later transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigation. “On suspicion that the suspect may have escaped to Abuja, the younger sister of the victim’s mother came to report the matter at the FCT Police Command, where the FCT Police Command Commissioner of Police, CP Olatunji Disu, ordered immediate investigation. “Following a detailed investigation, police tracked the movements of the suspect, Blessing Okoi, to Maraba, Abuja. After over two weeks of persistent efforts, she was arrested on November 29, 2024, at approximately 8:00 p.m., and the four-year-old Hope Evans was rescued after over two months of abduction. READ ALSO: Police declare 68-year-old woman missing in Abuja “During questioning, Blessing Okoi initially claimed to be Hope’s biological mother, referring to him as “David Evans.” “However, her claims were inconsistent with information provided by the victim’s mother, who confirmed that her son’s name was Hope Evans. She further presented recent photographs of Hope as evidence of their relationship. “The suspect, Blessing Okoi, confirmed that she actually changed the boy’s name to David and had started calling him so. “Investigation revealed that the suspect, Blessing Okoi, convinced her former lover named Evans that he was the father of the abducted young boy, claiming that the pregnancy resulted from their relationship some years back. The boyfriend accepted the boy as his own. “Another twist to the case was that the suspect was found with another young boy, whom she claimed was hers, but that the father had died. “The FCT Command contacted the mother, who arrived in Abuja on December 6, 2024. The joy of the mother and son knew no bounds as they saw eye to eye after two months and were subsequently reunited in the office of the Commissioner of Police.” The Commissioner of Police, FCT, advised school owners to pay necessary attention to the safety of children placed in their care by parents. He further praised the officers who achieved this feat. The suspect’s arrest was said to have been achieved through meticulous tracking of her movements and interviews with witnesses. The child, Hope Evans, was unharmed and has since been reunited with his family after receiving medical attention from the FCT Police boss. CP Disu noted that Blessing Okoi remains in police custody, undergoing further questioning, and will be charged in court accordingly.