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Mar. 17—***
The countdown continues.
On Sunday, I rated Ohio State’s nonconference schedule, which includes a home game against Texas, as the most difficult in the Big Ten.
Up next …
2. Wisconsin.
The Badgers didn’t make a bowl last season, finishing 5-7. That prompted Luke Fickell to overhaul his offensive staff, with Phil Longo replaced as coordinator by Jeff Grimes. Grimes spent the 2024 season at Kansas following stops at BYU and Baylor.
Kenny Guiton will coach the quarterbacks after working with the receivers in ’24.

The money is flowing bigtime this NFL offseason, backing up Brinks trucks and setting records. And we have another one in the contract extension the Houston Texans just gave cornerback Derek Stingley Jr.
Stingley Jr. has agreed to a three-year extension worth $90 million. The deal was first reported by ESPN.
And, doing some quick division here…
That extension makes Stingley a $30 million per year player.
He thus becomes the NFL’s first-ever $30 million-a-year defensive back and, quite obviously, also the league’s highest-paid defensive back.

UNC AD Bubba Cunningham is set to receive a huge bonus check after the Tar Heels made the NCAA Tournament.
The Tar Heels somehow slid into the tournament as an 11-seed in a play-in game against San Diego State. Just how controversial was the decision?
UNC went 1-12 in quad one games this season. One single win against a top-level opponent, and they got in over teams with much more impressive resumes.
That’s why social media erupted at the decision.

It might be time for the “Rory McIlroy can’t close on Sunday” narrative to take a seat. For the second time this season, McIlroy captured a signature event on the PGA Tour, this time winning the PLAYERS Championship with another stellar final-round performance. 
Of course, that narrative exists because McIlroy has a reputation (and history) of not-so-good Sunday performances, but that wasn’t an issue this week, just like it wasn’t an issue at Pebble Beach last month. 
And, sure, McIlroy didn’t exactly win on Sunday.

Here’s today’s NHL Nugget – this Birthday Backcheck features San Jose Sharks rookie Will Smith, who turns 20 years old on March 17.
Smith became the youngest player in Sharks history since Patrick Marleau to score multiple goals in a game when he netted his first two NHL markers.
Brian T. Dessart takes fans on a distinctive ride through the historic-laden NHL with the #NHLNugget. Check out NHLNugget.com to find where to follow NHL Nugget on social media.  And for past NHL Nuggets, click here.

A complete list of the golf equipment Rory McIlroy used to win the PGA Tour’s 2025 Players Championship:
DRIVER: TaylorMade Qi10 (9 degrees), with Fujikura Ventus Black 6X shaft
FAIRWAY WOODS: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees), with Fujikura Ventus Black 8X shaft; (18 degrees), with Fujikura Ventus Black 9X shaft
IRONS: TaylorMade P760 (4), TaylorMade RORS proto (5-9), with Project X 7.0 shafts
WEDGES: TaylorMade MG4 (46, 50, 54, 60 degrees), with Project X 6.

The three-year, $100.5 million contract signed last week by new Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold is, in reality, a one-year, $37.5 million deal with a team-held option for 2026 and 2027.
One specific aspect of that option raises the stakes for Darnold in 2025.
With $17.5 million in injury guarantees that will vest if he’s unable to pass a physical in early February 2026, Darnold becomes an obvious candidate to be benched late in the season, if the Seahawks don’t win enough games and/or if Darnold doesn’t play well enough.
We’ve seen it, on an annual basis.

The New Orleans Saints have been widely criticized for their offseason moves so far, with the fanbase somewhat split on whether or not they have been making reasonable choices or not. This criticism heavily falls into the reasoning of many players being retained rather than a wipe of current players and restart.
There is some validity to those claims, in that the team most definitely should not be run back as it was last season no doubt. But the retaining contract of Chase Young seems reasonable in price and with him being young still it makes sense.

It is St. Patricks’s Day and for Notre Dame football that means that it is also its annual “Pot of Gold Day” where they send out numerous offers to prospects all across the country in different recruiting classes.
The Irish got started early on Monday, as they already knew who there were going to send out a scholarship to. There were plenty of big names to get an offer from Notre Dame, and there will be more as the day goes on.
This list will be updated to reflect that, but here are the players who have gotten the traditional offer on a day that is built for Notre Dame.

Photo by Logan Bowles/Getty Images
Rory McIlroy captured his second title at The Players with a playoff win on Monday.
It may have taken three extra holes on Monday morning, but Rory McIlroy is officially The Players Champion after defeating J.J. Spaun.
The victory in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, marks McIlroy’s second of the season, as he also won at Pebble Beach. It is not hyperbolic to say that he is having the best season of any golfer in the world at the moment, even if Phil Mickelson disagrees.
This win at TPC Sawgrass also marks McIlroy’s second victory at The Players.