Indiana completes dream season with CFP title; Jimmy Butler reportedly tears ACL

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Happy Tuesday! And a happier Tuesday to Indiana Hoosiers fans, who celebrate a college football national title.

For Bills fans like me, we're still reeling from the one-two punch of another brutal playoff exit and Monday's news that the team fired Sean McDermott, the coach who stopped a Buffalo playoff drought that started when I was a sophomore in high school and ended when I was a father in my 30s.

We're covering all of that and more as we break down all the news you need to know this morning, so let's get to it.

🏆 Five things to know Tuesday

Indiana wins its first national championship in football. The Hoosiers completed their dream season by defeating the Miami Hurricanes, 27-21, in the College Football Playoff National Championship. Few plays will be discussed more than the one Fernando Mendoza engineered in the fourth quarter. The Hoosiers' quarterback and the season's Heisman Trophy scored a touchdown on a 12-yard scamper and dive on a fourth-and-5 to give Indiana a 24-14 lead. After a Miami touchdown and Indiana field goal, Jamari Sharpe intercepted Carson Beck on the Indiana 7-yard line to secure the win ... So, who's ready to check out our way-too-early top 25 ranking for 2026 or maybe you want to see who are the co-favorites to win it all next season?
Dolphins and Titans complete their searches for new coaches. The Dolphins have found their coach of the future, signing Jeff Hafley, who had served as Green Bay's defensive coordinator for the past two years. The move could signal a big change in philosophy for Miami, as they moved on from a brilliant offensive mind in Mike McDaniel to a defense-first coach. Meanwhile, in Tennessee, the Titans are bringing in Robert Saleh, who was most recently the defensive coordinator of the 49ers. This is Saleh's second time at the helm of a team as he also led the Jets for three-plus years until his release in the middle of the 2024 season.
ACL tear ends season for Warriors' Jimmy Butler, per report. Mid-way through the third quarter in Golden State's game against Miami, Butler collided with Davion Mitchell while trying to field an entry pass, and then came down awkwardly on his right leg. Butler had to be helped to the locker room, and by early Tuesday morning it was reported that he sustained an ACL tear. At this point in the calendar, that represents a season-ending injury.
Champions League action resumes today. Champions League Matchday 7 is here, and we are ready for all the action, which streams live on Paramount+. To get you ready for the next phase of one of the world's, we have plenty of content, including important Champions League storylines, burning Champions League questions, and Champions League power rankings.
Important NFL conference championship injury updates. With the AFC and NFC Championships looming, teams are losing -- and gaining -- players. The Seahawks will be without running back Zach Charbonnet the rest of the season due to a "significant" knee injury. Meanwhile, after losing quarterback Bo Nix for the season, the Broncos may get running back J.K. Dobbins back for the AFC title game after opening his practice window. Can Jarrett Stidham can join the ranks of backup quarterbacks to win a Super Bowl.

🏆 Do not miss this: Indiana Hoosiers win national championship to complete storybook season

Truth is stranger than fiction. Think about it. If just two years ago, you produced a movie script that had a future version of the 3-9 Indiana Hoosiers football team winning a national championship by assembling a 16-0 season, you'd probably be told to do less strenuous work or have your head examined. Or both.

Great players and great coaching helped send the Hoosiers to their celebration. Indiana had both in quarterback Fernando Mendoza and coach Curt Cignetti. Our John Talty wrote about the latter.

Talty: "Indiana wrested control over college football with a quirky, 64-year old coach who took the most improbable path possible to joining the exclusive club as a national champion. Only Curt Cignetti would have left an Alabama program coming off a national championship for Division-II Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The journey from IUP to Elon to James Madison and finally, Indiana for college football immortality will prompt a cottage industry of books, documentaries and commemorative memorabilia. He took the road less traveled, and forever changed college football in the process."

Here are the major storylines related to the College Football Playoff National Championship:

🏈 Bills fire Sean McDermott as NFL coaching carousel keeps spinning

Two days after the Bills lost to the Broncos in the divisional round, Buffalo made the shocking decision to move on from coach Sean McDermott. McDermott posted a 98-50 record across nine seasons as Buffalo's coach, snapped a 17-year playoff drought and led the Bills to the NFL's best record since 2020. However, the Bills never made it to the Super Bowl during McDermott's stint, suffering several painful playoff defeats, including the three-point overtime loss to Denver on Saturday.

Many Bills players were quick to express their frustration with the decision to fire McDermott, but the franchise now has to move forward with an eye on what went wrong and what needs to change to provide superstar quarterback Josh Allen with the weapons to get over the hump. Even more than firing McDermott, Bills fans seemed baffled by the decision to not only retain general manager Brandon Beane but also promote him to president of football operations in addition to his GM duties. The Bills roster was at a low point this season, and Beane's draft picks have featured far more misses than hits. Zachary Pereles took a look at why retaining Beane may be the bigger mistake of the two moves.

Pereles: "Firing a GM for one missed pick is like firing a coach for one bad decision: rash and shortsighted. But Beane has failed over and over again to provide Allen with the receiving options requisite for a champion. His big signing this past offseason was Josh Palmer, who was nearly invisible (22 catches, 303 yards, zero touchdowns) and struggled with injuries. Beane has tried a seemingly endless list of half-measures, too. Maybe Curtis Samuel could be a gadget piece. Maybe Davis could recapture his 'Big Game Gabe' magic. Maybe this youngster so-and-so just needed a change of scenery, or this veteran so-and-so had something left."

We have plenty more news on the coaching carousel, in addition to the aforementioned news of the expected coaching hires by the Dolphins and Titans.

👊 Getting ready for UFC's Paramount+ debut

UFC 324 goes down Saturday in Las Vegas, kicking off the landmark partnership between UFC and Paramount Skydance. One of the biggest revelations in the media rights deal was that it marked the end of pay-per-view events for the world's largest mixed martial arts promotion. As with all events, UFC 324 will stream live free for subscribers on Paramount+.

It's an exciting time to be a UFC fan, and we will have all the coverage you need this week, along with several members of our combat sports team on the ground in Vegas. Combat sports expert Brian Campbell kicked the week off with a look at the five biggest storylines heading into UFC 324, including main eventer Paddy Pimblett's chance to make good on his potential when he faces all-action fighter Justin Gaethje for the interim lightweight title in the main event.

Campbell: "The flashy and charismatic 31-year-old from Liverpool, England, is certainly positioned to give it a try after lightweight champion Ilia Topuria's personal issues in the aftermath of his divorce left him unable to headline the first Paramount event. The biggest challenge for Pimblett, as he prepares to face all-action veteran Justin Gaethje for the interim 155-pound title, is that he will need to prove once and for all that he's an elite fighter. 'Paddy the Baddy' might be 7-0 inside the Octagon since his 2021 UFC debut, but he has had some ups and downs along the growing process, including a highly disputed 2022 win over Jared Gordon and a history of heavy weight fluctuation between fights. The good news for Pimblett is that marriage and fatherhood seem to have matured him over the past two years and made him a more tactical and focused fighter as evidenced by back-to-back stoppage wins over veterans King Green and Michael Chandler. Should the Paramount era recharge the casual MMA audience by taking numbered events off of PPV, Pimblett's ability to talk on the microphone could bring quasi Conor McGregor flashbacks to general sports fans who haven't checked in on the product in a while. And an eventual matchup between them, should it take place at the White House, for example, could become a passing of the torch for popularity. But none of that matters if Pimblett can't back it up inside the Octagon."

👍👎 The best (and not-so-best) of the rest

Despite a divisional round exit, Bears fans have plenty to be bullish about thanks to a fantastic season from quarterback Caleb Williams.
Williams also explained the "miscommunication" with wideout DJ Moore that led to a costly overtime interception.
Iowa State and Vanderbilt plummeted in the men's coaches poll after both went from undefeated squads to two-loss teams in a matter of days. In the men's AP Top 25 Poll, Arizona is the unanimous No. 1. Arizona is also No. 1 in the Top 25 And 1 rankings.
For the women, Iowa entered the top 10 of the AP Top 25 Poll for the first time since the Caitlin Clark era.
Debate around CFP expansion is continuing, and no one seems to agree on the correct solution.
Ten starters were announced for the NBA's new-look All-Star Game.
Rams coach Sean McVay was critical of his own "bad coaching" in the team's playoff win over the Bears, saying, "I have to be better."
The Texans have some serious questions to answer about the future of the team after C.J. Stroud's historically bad postseason.
Nearly midway through the season, 10 NBA teams look like serious title contenders.
White Sox legend Wilber Wood died at 84.
We broke down the top remaining free agents and trade candidates in the MLB offseason.
Who are the winners and losers in the 2026 college football transfer portal?
Kansas coach Bill Self will miss Tuesday's game at Colorado after making a trip to the hospital for an IV treatment.

📺 What we're watching Tuesday

We're watching UEFA Champions League soccer all day on Paramount+

🏀 Indiana at No. 3 Michigan (M), 7 p.m. on Peacock
🏀 UCF at No. 9 Iowa State (M), 7 p.m. on CBS Sports Network
🏒 Bruins at Stars, 7:30 p.m. on TNT
🏀 Spurs at Rockets, 8 p.m. on NBC
🏀 No. 15 Vanderbilt at No. 20 Arkansas (M), 9 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 Lakers at Nuggets, 10 p.m. on NBC
🏒 Devils at Oilers, 10 p.m. on TNT
🏀 No. 4 Purdue at UCLA (M), 10 p.m. on Peacock