College Football Playoff might challenge the NFL for its throne this weekend

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Good morning, Winners! Welcome to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for reading today. We appreciate you being here with us.

We’re getting a bit of football on football crime this Saturday.

Usually, the NCAA and NFL work well together. And why wouldn’t they? More football is good for football. College football is essentially a farm system for the NFL at this point. Undermining it wouldn’t be in the league’s best interest. That’s why most Saturdays during the NFL season have remained untouched by the league for decades despite its sports calendar conquest.

That’s why what’s happening this weekend is so fascinating.

For the first time in a long time, a pivotal college football game will challenge the NFL in garnering the attention of sports fans across the country.

Saturday’s slate includes two NFL games, as is usually be the case in late December. However, this is no longer a typical Saturday in late December. We’ve got a 12-team College Football Playoff to watch now.

SMU and Penn State kicks off at noon ET on Saturday. That’s followed by Clemson and Texas at 4 p.m. ET. The CFB slate finishes with Tennessee and Ohio State at 8 p.m. ET.

On the NFL side, there’s the Texans at the Chiefs at 1 p.m. ET and the Steelers at Ravens at 4:30 p.m. ET.

COLLEGE GAMEDAY IS BACK: And it’s in between two places for the CFP’s opening weekend

Fans are being put in a place where they’ll have to choose which games they want to watch. These are conflicts that are typically avoided by these two leagues (I think we can call the NCAA that at this point).

They tried to stop this before it started, but failed to come up with any solutions. The NFL essentially asked the NCAA to bend the knee and it wouldn’t. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer has more:

“Before plans for the College Football Playoff were formalized last year, NFL officials had a series of clandestine meetings with CFP officials and conference commissioners. My understanding is the NFL took the lead in these meetings—but only to suggest ways that college football could work around its desires.”

Now, we’ve got a competition.

This has opened quite a fascinating can of worms. Rarely have we ever seen the NFL beat out in a ratings battle. I don’t know if it happens here, but I certainly think it could. College football fans are tribal. They follow their teams before anything. You’ve got some absolute powerhouses playing on Saturday in Texas, Clemson, Ohio State and Penn State.

Would that be enough to supersede the NFL? I don’t know. But if that does happen, what will the future partnership between the NFL and NCAA mean?

These are two sides competing for the same dollars, after all. Would the NCAA be willing to go back to abiding by its big brother’s will? I doubt it  —especially as it continues to expand.

Chances are this won’t happen. And the NFL and NCAA will probably work to make sure they don’t clash in this way again.

But I won’t lie to y’all. I’m rooting for chaos here.

What the heck is a fair catch kick?

The NFL rule book is so convoluted and confusing. There are so many things in there that we probably don’t even know exist because of something that happened in a game in 1937 or whatever.

Case in point: Thursday night’s fair catch kick. The Chargers kicked the first free-kick field goal the NFL has seen in 50 years.

I can’t quite explain to you how or why it happened. I’m still very confused about that. Luckily, we’ve got Cory Woodroof on the case.

“A free kick is basically where, if a team hauls in a fair catch on a punt as the clock hits zero, it can elect to take a free kick for a field goal.

Chargers kicker Cameron Dicker booted the very rare, 57-yard free kick right through the uprights to make it the first successful attempt in the NFL since 1976.

Chargers kicker Ray Wersching is the last NFL player to succeed on a free kick, giving one of the strangest NFL franchises some really bizarre football history to be proud of.”

Of course, the last kicker to do this was also a Chargers kicker. This is the most Chargers thing ever.

By the way, I still don’t get it.

Charlie Woods is TALL

We’ve enjoyed watching Charlie hit the greens and follow in Tiger Wood’s footsteps as a golfer. But, speaking of following in his dad’s footsteps, it looks like they might be wearing the same size shoe at this point.

Charlie is almost as tall as his dad, guys. Look.

Team Woods has arrived pic.twitter.com/rk5CHHxmiS

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 20, 2024

The kid is only 15 years old — he’s literally got a lot more room to grow.

Seeing an athlete you grew up watching have a kid is one thing. It’s another thing to watch that kid grow up. That’s how you know you’re getting old.

SEE MORE CHARLIE: Here are some photos of Charlie and Tiger through the years. They grow up so fast. Literally.

Photo Friday: This is what a check looks like

Last week we had puck-vision. This week, we’ve got check-vision. Here’s Alex Carpenter of the New York Sirens completely levels Jocelyne Larocque of the Toronto Scepteres here. Sheesh. Hockey is rough.

Quick hits: Best bets of the NFL weekend … The worst of South Bend’s weather … and more

— Here are our best bets for you heading into the NFL weekend. Going to be a good one, folks.

— We’ve got snow and freezing cold in Indiana for the CFP’s opening game. This is terrible, but it’s so perfect at the same time. Charles Curtis has more.

— Speaking of the CFP, Carson Beck will be sidelined for Georgia’s entire run. Cory Woodroof has more.

— Katie Schumacher-Cawley’s story is so incredibly inspiring. Meg Hall has more here.

— Jim Harbaugh loves the free kick rule because, of course, he does.

— Prince has the best kickers for you to stream this weekend in Fantasy Football. 

That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks for reading. Happy Friday! Peace.

-Sykes