Comment on Three key factors that will decide both Champions Classic showdowns (Yahoo Sports)

No. 23 Colorado (9-3) vs. No. 17 BYU (10-2) When/where: 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 28/Alamodome, San Antonio TV/Radio: ABC/850 KOA BetMGM Line: CU -5.5, 54.5 over/under Series history: CU 7-3-1; Cougars won last matchup 20-17 in Freedom Bowl in 1988 CU bowl history: 12-18, lost four in a row, last win was 2004 Houston Bowl over UTEP Last time Buffs were here Colorado’s last bowl appearance was the 2020 Alamo Bowl under coach Karl Dorrell.

Colorado State (8-4) vs. Miami of Ohio (8-5) When/where: 2:30 p.m. Saturday/Arizona Stadium, Tucson, Ariz. TV/Radio: CW Network/Colorado State Sports Network BetMGM Line: CSU +3, 42.5 over/under Series History: CSU 0-2; RedHawks won last matchup in 2010, 31-10 in Ohio Bowl History: 6-11, lost four in a row, last win was in 2013 New Mexico Bowl, 48-45 over Washington State Last time Rams were here Colorado State’s last bowl appearance was the 2017 New Mexico Bowl under coach Mike Bobo.

On a Nuggets road trip packed with memorable moments and sequences, one that won’t be remembered is the start of the fourth quarter in Portland. Trailing 104-87 as Nikola Jokic went to the bench, Denver’s second unit suddenly supplied its best stint of the season — a 16-2 run fueled by reinvigorated defense and steady rebounding. The result rendered it void.

PHOENIX — Unlike the last two years, the Nuggets were not surrounded by the comforts of home this Christmas. Extracted from the mountains and dropped in the desert, they couldn’t find any flow in a 110-100 loss to the Suns. Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant combined for 52 points with impressive shot-making inside the arc, and Denver’s offense had an uncharacteristic dud at Footprint Center.

Colorado defensive end BJ Green II during a game against Kansas State on Oct. 12, 2024, at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colo.(Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer) SAN ANTONIO – BJ Green II took a chance on Colorado when he opted to spend his final season of college football with the Buffaloes. Already an established star with Arizona State, Green could have wrapped up his career with one more solid season with the Sun Devils.

By WILL GRAVES PITTSBURGH — Andy Reid donned a Santa Claus suit in a giddy Kansas City Chiefs locker room on Christmas Day, then handed his team a present it increasingly looks like it deserves: home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. How Reid managed to slide into the costume so quickly after Kansas City’s clinical 29-10 victory over the reeling Pittsburgh Steelers to lock up the top seed in the AFC for the fourth time in seven years is a mystery (though he hinted there’s an elf involved). How Reid’s team manages to pull away from the pack year after year is not. A lot of Patrick Mahomes.