USA TODAY SPORTS

What your buddies at the water cooler are talking about, from the NFL to NASCAR. Come for the commentary, stay for the GIFs.

[usatodaysports]

First College Football Playoff rankings released

The first rankings from the College Football Playoff committee were released Tuesday evening with some surprises among the top four teams.

At the top are two unbeaten SEC teams in Georgia and Alabama. The Bulldogs and Crimson Tide are in opposite order in major polls. However, committee chairman Kirby Hocutt noted Georgia's wins against No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 16 Mississippi State as the reason for putting Kirby Smart's team ahead of the Alabama, which has no wins among teams in the top 25 in the rankings.

[usatodaysports]

I was drafted to a team with a coach who didn’t want me, with an organization that wasn’t sold on me. And I think when you make that many trades or trade that many picks, you don’t do that for a guy that you’re not sold on. I think that’s a situation that really hampered me thus far in my career.

former Washington Redskins QB Robert Griffin III

[usatodaysports]

A weekend filled with high-profile matchups produced plenty of changes in the Amway Coaches Poll, though once again, the top-ranked team is as it has been all season. Alabama, which had the weekend off, is still the unanimous No. 1.

After that, the shuffling begins. Georgia climbs to No. 2 after dispatching archrival Florida. The Bulldogs appear to be on a collision course with the Crimson Tide in a month for the SEC title. Ohio State, the big winner of the weekend thanks to its comeback win against Penn State, vaults from sixth to No. 3 ahead of Wisconsin. Clemson, which got back on track with a win against Georgia Tech, is back in the top five.

[usatodaysports]

After the crazy results from the previous college football weekend, Week 8 proved comparatively tame. As a result, the Amway Coaches Poll reflects few changes, with the same 25 teams still ranked. The order shifts a bit in places, but not around the top as the first six teams stay put.

Alabama is still the unanimous choice for No. 1 after a workmanlike smothering of struggling Tennessee. Penn State solidified its hold on the second position with a convincing triumph over Michigan. Georgia, which had the weekend off, holds steady at No. 3 with unbeatens TCU and Wisconsin rounding out the top five.

Ohio State, which hosts Penn State next week, remains No. 6. In a minor change, idle Clemson edges ahead of Miami (Fla.) for the No. 7 spot.

[usatodaysports]

Duke No. 1 in USA TODAY Sports college basketball coaches poll

We’re a long way from March Madness, but today we present one early indicator of which teams are expected to be there. The preseason USA TODAY Sports coaches poll is out, and for the second consecutive year, Duke will be the No. 1 team entering the campaign.

That could be good or bad news if you’re a Blue Devils fan. It’s the seventh time overall since USA TODAY began administering the coaches poll that Duke is the preseason No. 1. But the Blue Devils finished as NCAA champions in only one of those prior seasons when they successfully defended the title in 1992.

Duke was No. 1 last season and struggled for much of the season before winning the ACC tournament and an early NCAA exit in the second round against South Carolina.

Based on its strong recruiting class and returning talent, Duke received 20 of 32 first-place votes. The Blue Devils head a group of five ACC members in the top 25, the most for any conference.

See the full preseason USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

[usatodaysports]

NBA record projections for the 2017-18 season

After the most hectic summer the NBA has ever seen, the 2017-18 season is finally here.

And with that, the NBA staff at USA TODAY Sports takes a look ahead to the newest campaign with our annual semi-scientific record projections.

We have the Golden State Warriors leading the league in wins, again, after another stellar offseason. If they hit the 65-win plateau this year, that would be four consecutive seasons doing so (they became the first team in NBA history to do so three years in a row in 2016-17).

[usatodaysports]

There’s at least one week like this every college football season, when a seemingly innocuous slate of games produces a slew of surprises.

Top-ranked Alabama, however, was not among the Week 7 upset victims. The Crimson Tide dispatched Arkansas and are now the unanimous No. 1 team in the Amway Coaches Poll.

The rest of the top five looks considerably different. Penn State, which picked a good week to have a bye, moves up to the No. 2 spot in the wake of Clemson’s loss to Syracuse. The Tigers tumbled to No. 8 as a result. Georgia, which got an early challenge before putting away Missouri, climbs to No. 3. TCU, the last unbeaten Big 12 squad, vaulted into the No. 4 spot ahead of No. 5 Wisconsin.

[usatodaysports]

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Marquise Goodwin, linebacker Eli Harold, defensive lineman Arik Armstead, cornerback K’Waun Williams, safety Eric Reid and defensive back Adrian Colbert all took a knee as they continued to protest police brutality against African Americans. One inactive player took a knee with his teammates.

The rest of the 49ers all stood during the anthem before Sunday's game against the Washington Redskins.

[usatodaysports]

The real mockery of national anthem was by Vice President Mike Pence

A mockery was made of the national anthem all right.

But it wasn’t by the San Francisco 49ers.

Vice President Mike Pence turned the anthem into a prop Sunday, co-opting it for a stunt that served no other purpose than to sow division, further enrage the administration’s conservative base and try to cow NFL owners. That it likely deflected attention from yet more neo-Nazi protests in Charlottesville was all the better.

Please, though, tell me again how it’s the players who are so disrespectful.

Pence was so incensed by the sight of several 49ers kneeling during the anthem at Lucas Oil Stadium that he left immediately afterward. Not so incensed that he wasn’t right there with a carefully crafted statement to let the world know of his outrage, however.

[usatodaysports]

Some unexpected results in Week 6 shook up the Amway Coaches Poll, though the tremors didn’t reach all the way to the top.

All the ballots had Alabama and Clemson first and second in some order as both teams, though challenged a bit on Saturday, moved a step closer to a third consecutive meeting in the national championship game. The Crimson Tide staved off a rally at Texas A&M to retain the No. 1 ranking with 57 of 65 first-place votes. The Tigers, who took charge early at home and held off Wake Forest, pick up the remaining firsts.

The changes begin after that as Penn State moves up to claim the No. 3 spot. Washington climbs to No. 4 with Georgia rounding out the top five.

[usatodaysports]

NFL's national anthem protest slowly cooling, though opinions remain sharply divided

Some see kneeling during the national anthem as patriotic protest. Some see it as disrespect to flag and country. And some see it as something they don’t want to think about as they settle in to watch the football games they attend to forget the troubles of the world outside the stadium walls.

The national anthem was an NFL flashpoint for another Sunday, but at what seemed a lower temperature this time. The heat on display as the anthem played last Sunday came just two days after President Trump said NFL owners should fire the “son of a b---” who fail to stand when it’s playing.

[usatodaysports]

The Week 5 results produced little movement in the Amway Coaches Poll as the top teams for the most part held serve.

Alabama easily retains the No. 1 ranking after a 66-3 demolition of Mississippi. The Crimson Tide, who have outscored their first two SEC opponents by a combined margin of 125-3, received 59 of 65 first-place votes.

Clemson, a road winner at then-No. 12 Virginia Tech, stays put at No. 2 with the remaining six first-place nods. No. 3 Oklahoma, which had the weekend off, and fourth-ranked Penn State, an easy winner against Indiana, also maintain their positions. Washington, now the highest ranked Pac-12 member, climbs a notch into the top five.

[usatodaysports]

Here are the best college football games to watch this week. 

[usatodaysports]

Why some fans still love to hate Danica Patrick

Why do so many love to hate Danica Patrick?

It seems that no matter what she tries, she can do nothing right. Is it her fault? The fans’ fault? Is it because her on-track success never matched the attention she received?Because of her sponsorships? Is it because of her willingness to speak her mind?

Is it simply because she’s a woman in a male-dominated sport?

Clearly, it is not just one of these things. It’s a mix of these things and then some.

[usatodaysports]

Amway Coaches Poll: Week 3

Alabama still has a comfortable lead atop the Amway Coaches Poll, but the gap closed a bit following No. 2 Clemson’s impressive performance in Week 3.

The Crimson Tide claimed 59 of 65 first-place votes after handling Colorado State. The defending national champion Tigers received the remaining six, up from two last week, after their dominant win at Louisville.

[usatodaysports]

Amway Coaches Poll: Week 2

With top-ranked Alabama largely unchallenged in Week 2, the big question leading up to the compiling of the Amway Coaches Poll centered on who would be No. 2.

The Crimson Tide, of course, retained the No. 1 spot after an easy romp past Fresno State, receiving all but two first-place votes cast this week. The second spot went to defending  champion Clemson after a strong defensive performance in a 14-6 triumph over Auburn.

The Tigers claimed the remaining two No. 1 votes and narrowly held off Oklahoma for the second position. The Sooners vaulted three places to No. 3 after their huge road win at Ohio State, avenging a loss on their home field from a year ago.

Southern California, a big winner against Stanford in its Pac-12 opener, reclaimed the No. 4 spot ahead of Penn State, who handled their own business against in-state opponent Pittsburgh.

[usatodaysports]

Michael Bennett: "The country that we live in now, sometimes you get profiled for the color of your skin. It's a tough situation for me." 

In a heartfelt letter posted on Twitter on Wednesday, the Seattle Seahawks’ star defensive end revealed the details of a recent encounter with police in Las Vegas – just harrowing stuff – that is all-too-common for African-American males in America.

A police officer put a gun to Bennett’s head, according to the football player I have no reason not to believe, and threatened to blow “my (expletive) head off.” A second officer came over and “forcefully jammed his knee into my back,” Bennett wrote, “making it difficult for me to breathe.”