An Exciting Weekend In Sports

The New Orleans Saints held off the Carolina Panthers 31-26 and the Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Buffalo Bills 10-3 in Sunday’s NFL playoffs. The Saints advance to play the Minnesota Vikings and the Jaguars draw the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Jaguars won a playoff game for the first time since the 2007 season; the Bills are winless in the playoffs for 22 years.

In Saturday’s games, the Atlanta Falcons dumped the Los Angeles Rams 26-13 and will play the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Tennessee Titans came from 18 points down to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 22-21. Notable: Titans quarterback Marcus Mariota threw a touchdown pass to … himself. He caught a batted pass and dove into the end zone for the score. … The Falcons scored 10 points off turnovers by the Rams’ special teams. … The Saints beat the Panthers three times this season.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Upsets will turn the Associated Press Top 25, to be released on Monday, inside out. Six top 10 teams — No. 1 Michigan State, No. 2 Duke, No. 4 Arizona State, No. 5 Xavier, No. 7 Oklahoma and No. 10 Kansas — and 13 ranked teams overall had at least one loss through Saturday and then Ohio State toppled Michigan State. Expect No. 6 West Virginia to profit from the upheaval. The Mountaineers beat No. 7 Oklahoma, despite 29 points by Sooners freshman star Trae Young.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Alabama and Georgia play Monday night in Atlanta for the national championship in a matchup of SEC rivals. This is the third consecutive
championship game for Bama, which beat Clemson two years ago and lost to the Tigers on the final play last year. … North Dakota State won the FCS championship, beating James Madison 17-13, ending JMU’s 26-game winning streak and earning its sixth title in seven years (JMU won it last year). … Dustin Johnson won the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Kapalua, Hawaii by eight shots over Jon Rahm.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman