The College Football Playoff’s first round served two competitive games and two blowouts. The reaction to that: Many fans and media types are demanding a change to the playoff bracket format.

Is that an overreaction to two lopsided games, or a worthy response? Let’s remember, last year’s playoff served up four first-round duds.

So, at least this year provided an upgrade. That doesn’t mean it’s perfect.

On this edition of ‘SEC Football Unfiltered,’ a podcast from the USA TODAY Network, hosts Blake Toppmeyer and Matt Hayes weigh in on the big CFP debate — just how badly does this format require revision?

Is this CFP format worth saving?

TOPPMEYER: We must face this reality: There’s no escaping blowouts. We had blowouts in the Bowl Championship Series era. We had them in the four-team playoff era, and now in the 12-team installment. You can’t pin it all on the Group of Five, either. Even the bluest of blue bloods have gotten blown out of a playoff game.

Tinkering with the CFP format is worth considering, but that won’t change the playoff’s unfixable problem: It’s not the regular season. That’s a bug that cannot be solved.

The playoff cannot match the splendor of 50 games occurring on a fall Saturday. The season peaks in November. The playoff format can be improved, but it still won’t trump Thanksgiving rivalry week.

This playoff is what it is. What it is, is this: better than the four-team playoff but inferior to the regular season.

HAYES: Fixing the CFP bracket format isn’t hard. Here’s what you do. First, get rid of participation ribbons.

Decide your number — 12 or 16 teams, I don’t much care — and then pick the best teams, period. No charity cases. If the Group of Five produces a team that proved itself worthy of selection (see 2024 Boise State), then, by all means, it should be included in the bracket. But, we don’t need guaranteed spots for any conference.

You know what else we don’t need? Athletic directors involved in the selection process. Fire the ADs off the CFP selection committee. What business do they have choosing the playoff field? Have a combination of former coaches and media members select the field.

No automatic bids. All at-large bids. Play your way in.

Imagine if Notre Dame and Texas had been in this playoff bracket instead of Tulane and James Madison. Right there, that’s how you improve the playoff.

Not so hard, is it?

TOPPMEYER: I’m open-minded to this idea of ditching automatic bids. I’m also open to 16 teams, although I prefer sticking at 12.

The idea I like best: Get the ADs off the selection committee. Their inclusion inserts bias, or at least the illusion of bias. Plus, nobody should be juggling a coaching search and selecting a playoff field at the same time.

Later in the episode

∎ The hosts preview the quarterfinals. They examine Miami’s potential to upset Ohio State and debate whether Alabama is for real or not.

CFP quarterfinals picks against the spread!

Hayes pinch-hit for cohost John Adams on this week’s podcast episode, but Adams is still submitting his CFP picks as he tries to maintain his lead.

Toppmeyer’s CFP picks (picks in bold):

∎ Miami vs. Ohio State (-9.5)

∎ Oregon (-1.5) vs. Texas Tech

∎ Alabama vs. Indiana (-7)

∎ Mississippi vs. Georgia (-7)

Season record: 39-40 (2-2 last week)

—

Adams’ CFP picks (picks in bold):

∎ Miami vs. Ohio State (-9.5)

∎ Oregon (-1.5) vs. Texas Tech

∎ Alabama vs. Indiana (-7)

∎ Mississippi vs. Georgia (-7)

Season record: 42-37 (1-3 last week)

Where to listen to SEC Football Unfiltered

• Apple
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• Google

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s national college football columnist. John Adams is the senior sports columnist for the Knoxville News Sentinel. Subscribe to the SEC Football Unfiltered podcast, and check out the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox

AI-assisted summary
• Reds pitcher Hunter Greene refutes rumors that he intentionally prolonged his injury recovery last season.
• Greene affirmed his commitment to the Cincinnati Reds despite trade rumors and declined an invitation to the World Baseball Classic.
• He aims to be a role model and increase the number of Black players in Major League Baseball.
• Greene is focused on bringing a winning culture back to Cincinnati and making another postseason appearance.

MESA, AZ — Hunter Greene, donning a tan sweatsuit, a baseball cap worn backwards on his head, and flip-flops on his feet, plops down in the chair and is ready to talk.

Well, in reality, vent.

It has been two months since the Cincinnati Reds’ season ended at Dodger Stadium.

Two months since rumors began that Greene could be traded.

Two months before the Reds open spring training camp.

And two months before Greene hopes to take the mound in spring training, silence any critics, and show everyone that he’s not only one of the elite pitchers in the game, but he’s also an ultimate role model who proudly represents the rich tradition of the Reds.

In a 90-minute conversation with USA TODAY Sports, Hunter was adamant that he loves being with the Reds, doesn’t want to be traded to the New York Yankees or anyone else who has expressed interest, rejected repeated invitations from World Baseball Classic officials to remain with his teammates in spring training, and tersely dismissed any notion or narrative that he should have returned earlier from his strained right groin muscle that sidelined him for 2 ½ months last season.

‘There were some people and chatter about questioning my timing of coming back,’ Hunter said. ‘You know, like it took longer than it should have been. The idea that I was milking it, or taking a longer time, or the idea of not wanting to be with the team.

‘That was so disrespectful, so disingenuous to me.’

The idea that Greene actually wanted to be away from the team, and could have returned from the injured list earlier, he says, is ludicrous.

He was 4-2 with a 2.36 ERA in the first eight starts of the season and in the early conversation for the Cy Young Award race. He not only would be hurting his team by staying out longer than necessary, but also his own wallet. In the six-year, $53 million contract extension he signed in April, 2023, Hunter is scheduled to receive a $2 million bonus for winning the Cy Young Award, $1 million for finishing among the top three, and $500,000 for a top-10 finish. He also receives $200,000 for making the All-Star team.

So where does it make sense for him to stay on the injured list longer than necessary?

‘My mind would never let me take a break or remove myself from the team while the rest of my teammates are grinding through the season,’ says Greene, 26, who has been with the Reds since becoming their No. 1 pick in 2017. ‘I mean, let’s just talk about the pure sentiment of me signing the extension, wanting to be a Cincinnati Red, and me wanting to bring winning back to Cincinnati.

‘That was always my intention since the day I signed with the Reds, and as we talk now, I hold that same feeling.’

Besides, as the face of the organization, how in the world could he look at his teammates in the eye and take longer than necessary to return? He tried to return earlier. He originally strained his right groin May 7, returned in 15 days, and then re-injured the groin just three starts later.

Simply, he came back too early from the first soft tissue injury of his career, he says, and it backfired.

‘He thought he was ready, and tried to pitch through it, when he strained it again,’ said Nick Krall, Reds president of baseball operations. ‘Everyone wants to be available, and he did everything he could. He tried to pitch through it.

‘Then he went back on the injured list. Every injury is on its own timetable. There was certainly no frustration on our part.’

Greene, who traveled back to Arizona to work out at the Reds’ spring training facility, heard media rumblings that his return was taking too long. His MRI results were clean, so why wasn’t he back yet? Why did he need to make two additional rehab starts?

When he made his return Aug. 13 against the Philadelphia Phillies, pitching six shutout innings and giving up just three hits, he was asked by a local reporter if he needed to make amends with his teammates.

Make amends?

It wasn’t as if he just served an 80-game suspension for PED use. He wasn’t arrested for DWI. All he did was work out from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. every day, driving 1 ½ hours to and from the workout facility in 110-degree heat, and go back to his suburban home where he’s the youngest homeowner in the community by about 30 years.

‘This thing,’ Krall said, ‘took on a life of its own. It got so overblown. Look, I had shoulder surgery 10 weeks ago. My MRI can be as clean as it can be. But the rehab is slow.’

The truth, Hunter said, is that he checked with the Reds’ medical and training staff to determine the best course of action to receive the proper care without disrupting his teammates’ regiment. He spoke to 10 to 12 of his teammates to explain that he would be leaving for Arizona, and they gave him his blessing.

He was gone for 1 ½ months, but watched their games, kept in constant contact, and vowed to return as soon as he felt that he could be back to being Hunter Greene again. The MRI may have come back clean, but he still felt tenderness and knew he wasn’t ready.

‘I knew after I came back and my groin grabbed again,’ Greene said, ‘I had to be careful and make sure I didn’t re-injure myself or I’d be out the rest of the year. The team realized that, ‘Hey, maybe we probably rushed this a little bit too much. We need to rehab it the right way.’

‘So, the training staff, Tito (manager Terry Francona), the front office, everybody came together and communicated that we need to approach this the right way, give myself enough time to really be able to rehab it and make sure it doesn’t rear its head again.’

Could he have come back and pitched at less than 100%? Sure.

Would he have been the same dominant Hunter Greene? No.

‘Maybe people would argue that it’s better than nothing,’ Greene says, ‘but is it really? What value is that for the team? It’s like what they tell you on the airplane, if you don’t put the mask on first, how are you going to help the next person?

‘I knew the expectation was to be dominant, and I didn’t want to deliver anything less than that. I wanted to execute at the highest level. And I think was able to do that.’

Greene went 3-1 with a 2.81 ERA in eight starts after returning from the injured list, including a one-hit shutout against the Chicago Cubs. The Reds won five of his starts, and needed every single one of them, earning a playoff berth on the final day of the regular season.

The Reds’ postseason lasted just 48 hours with the Dodgers blitzing Greene and the Reds 10-5 in Game 1 and 8-4 in Game 2 of the wild-card series, but the Reds finally ended their 12-year playoff drought. Now, they believe they can take the next step, vying for their first World Series appearance since 1990. They were a finalist in the Kyle Schwarber free agent sweepstakes and remain in talks with the Chicago White Sox for center fielder Luis Robert in hopes of another postseason run.

And to go where they want to go, the Reds realize they need Greene, and are simply doing their due diligence by listening to trade offers but have no intention of actually moving him.

‘Trade rumors are part of the game,’ Hunter said. ‘I can’t control any of that, especially with how social media is now with so many people having voices. People can say whatever they want now.

‘My thing is that I’m a Cincinnati Red. I love the city. I love the team, I love the potential. I’ve bought a home there. I’ve done so much philanthropy and community service in Cincinnati. I’m deeply embedded in that city.’

This commitment to the organization, Greene says, is the primary reason he declined the numerous attempts by Team USA officials to pitch in the WBC. He has represented Team USA three times as an amateur and loved the experience. Still, he believed it was important to be with his team during the entire spring. He certainly would like to pitch in the WBC, and he would be honored to pitch in the Olympics in 2028 if MLB permits big-league players to participate. But, for now, he’s got a team that needs him for a postseason sequel.

‘My priority is having a great season for the Reds,’ Greene said. ‘We got a taste of the playoffs, and I want to do it again. My mind is to be able to get back to the postseason with the Reds in 2026, and beyond. I like to see things through.

‘I would like to be able to look back one day and see the impact that I was able to have with the organization.’

Greene not only wants to make a difference in the Reds’ organization, but also for young Black players. He’s a staple in the MLB community for his volunteer work with youth programs and academies, charitable foundations, and provides two annual college scholarships from his Notre Dame High School in Los Angeles.

The Black population among Major League Baseball players has shrunk to just 6% with only one Black GM and one Black manager, with Greene hoping that his own success could open doors for young athletes to turn to baseball.

‘My ‘why’ is being able to grow the numbers of African-American players within our sport,’ Greene says, ‘or at least give the opportunity to the Black community. It’s up to the kids to want to continue to pursue baseball. But it’s clear as day. I’m 10 toes down in my ‘why.’ I think with a lot of the trials and tribulations of being a professional athlete, my ‘why’ doesn’t waver from continuing to work and make the strides that I want to make within the sport.

‘I’ve seen my impact in real time. I’ve been able to. I’ve had multiple kids come up to me and tell me, ‘I’m continuing to play this game because of the interaction that we had. Now I love the sport.’

‘This is not for show. This isn’t for an article or for the cameras. This is something that means everything to me.’

Just like winning in Cincinnati, making it one of the game’s elite franchises, once again.

‘I want to look back and know we helped create a lasting winning culture,’ Greene says. ‘Not just for the success of the franchise, but also for the city. This is the oldest team in baseball. This is where they had the Big Red Machine. This is the home of all of those Hall of Fame players.

‘This is such a great baseball town.

‘I want everybody to be able to see that again.’

Follow Bob Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale

NFL power rankings entering Week 17 of the 2025 season (previous rank in parentheses):

1. Los Angeles Rams (1): We know they just lost, their second defeat in four games … albeit a quasi-fluky one. We know they’ve fallen from the NFC’s projected No. 1 playoff seed to its sixth in a matter of days. We know they just fired their special teams coordinator − perhaps an overdue move given how that phase of the game has legitimately cost LA three wins this season. Put all that aside. The Rams still have the presumptive MVP in Matthew Stafford, a head coach as good or better than any in the league and a roster that can win anywhere in any variety of ways.

2. Seattle Seahawks (2): We know they just won, running their heater to five games. We know they’ve risen from the NFC’s projected No. 5 playoff seed to its first. We know they rarely lose playoff games in Seattle. But admirable as his career turnaround has been, we need to see QB Sam Darnold prove he can win on the big stage the way Stafford finally did after he joined the Rams.

3. Jacksonville Jaguars (8): They’ve won six in a row, but QB Trevor Lawrence has truly been in the zone over his last four games − with a 120.8 passer rating during that stretch while accounting for 14 TDs. The defense has also added another 10 takeaways in those four recent victories. Any number of teams could emerge from a muddled AFC field − but, after a decisive win in Denver, the Jags are certainly playing as well as anyone in the conference right now.

4. San Francisco 49ers (9): Considering they haven’t needed P Thomas Morstead this month, who needs to worry about whatever their defensive issues are? The Niners are two wins from securing the No. 1 seed, which launched them into the Super Bowl in 2019 and 2023.

8. Buffalo Bills (5): They escaped with a win … but struggling against the Browns while trying to manage QB Josh Allen’s foot injury is something to monitor even as the stars seem to be aligning elsewhere for this crew.

11. Philadelphia Eagles (12): At a time when it can’t seem to execute the ‘Tush Push,’ the offense oddly seems to be finding a groove − averaging 30 points and 386 yards, albeit against Vegas and Washington, over the past two weeks on the way to the NFC East crown.

27. Miami Dolphins (22): They looked good without Tua Tagovailoa in the lineup … but only because of their throwback uniforms.

29. Cleveland Browns (31): Bagging a Steelers quarterback, even if − especially if? − it’s old friend Mason Rudolph could be an especially satisfying way for DE Myles Garrett to set the single-season sack record.

Thanksgiving is behind us but that’s not stopping the NFL from having a holiday triple-header. Once again, the league is holding three games as millions of Americans celebrate a holiday, this time on Christmas.

The NFL’s triple-header on Christmas is still a new concept for football fans. The league avoided the holiday for decades with one brief exception in 1971 for the divisional round of the playoffs.

In 1989, the NFL held a Christmas Day game because the holiday fell on a Monday. The Minnesota Vikings beat the Cincinnati Bengals 29-21 to end an 18-year drought on the holiday.

Over the next 30 years, the NFL played a total of 19 games on Christmas. The league traditionally avoided the holiday but that changed in recent times.

The NFL had a Christmas game in 2020 then expanded to multiple games the year after and kept that pace ever since. Here’s a look at the results of every Christmas Day NFL game:

NFL Christmas history, results

1971 (Divisional playoffs)

• Dallas Cowboys 20-12Minnesota Vikings
• Miami Dolphins 27-24 (2OT)Kansas City Chiefs

1989

• Minnesota Vikings 29-21Cincinnati Bengals

1993

• Houston Oilers 10-7San Francisco 49ers

1994

• Miami Dolphins 27-20Detroit Lions

1995

• Dallas Cowboys 37-13Arizona Cardinals

1999

• Denver Broncos 17-7Detroit Lions

2000

• Tennessee Titans 31-0 Dallas Cowboys

2004

• Kansas City Chiefs 31-30 Oakland Raiders
• Denver Broncos 37-16 Tennessee Titans

2005

• Chicago Bears 24-17Green Bay Packers
• Baltimore Ravens 30-23 Minnesota Vikings

2006

• Philadelphia Eagles 23-7 Dallas Cowboys
• New York Jets 13-10 Miami Dolphins

2009

• San Diego Chargers 42-17 Tennessee Titans

2010

• Arizona Cardinals 27-26 Dallas Cowboys

2011

• Green Bay Packers 35-21 Chicago Bears

2016

• Pittsburgh Steelers 31-27 Baltimore Ravens
• Kansas City Chiefs 33-10 Denver Broncos

2017

• Pittsburgh Steelers 34-6 Houston Texans
• Philadelphia Eagles 19-10 Oakland Raiders

2020

• New Orleans Saints 52-33 Minnesota Vikings

2021

• Green Bay Packers 24-22 Cleveland Browns
• Indianapolis Colts 22-16 Arizona Cardinals

2022

• Green Bay Packers 26-20 Miami Dolphins
• Los Angeles Rams 51-14 Denver Broncos
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers 19-16 (OT) Arizona Cardinals

2023

• Las Vegas Raiders 20-14 Kansas City Chiefs
• Philadelphia Eagles 33-25 New York Giants
• Baltimore Ravens 33-19 San Francisco 49ers

2024

• Kansas City Chiefs 29-10 Pittsburgh Steelers
• Baltimore Ravens 31-2 Houston Texans

2025

• Washington Commanders vs. Dallas Cowboys, 1 p.m. ET, Netflix
• Minnesota Vikings vs. Detroit Lions, 4:30 p.m. ET, Netflix
• Kansas City Chiefs vs. Denver Broncos, 8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video

AI-assisted summary
• A letter allegedly from Jeffrey Epstein to Larry Nassar was included in a recent Justice Department document release.
• The letter’s authenticity is questionable as it was postmarked in Virginia three days after Epstein’s death in New York.
• Both Epstein and Nassar were convicted of sex crimes involving young women and girls.

(This story has been updated to include new information that the FBI is calling the letter a fake.)

The FBI is calling a letter alleged to be from Jeffrey Epstein to disgraced former USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar a fake.

The letter was among the more than 29,000 documents released by the Justice Department on Tuesday, Dec. 23.

Nassar was sentenced in 2018 to 40 to 175 years in prison after pleading guilty to seven counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for assaulting the young athletes he treated while working for both USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University. He was sentenced to 40 years to 125 years in another Michigan county, plus 60 years on federal child pornography charges.

The Department of Justice initially said it was investigating the authenticity of the handwritten letter. Later it put out a statement that the FBI was calling the letter a fake. Among the reasons:

• The writing does not appear to match Jeffrey Epstein’s.
• The letter was postmarked three days after Epstein’s death out of Northern Virginia, when he was jailed in New York.
• The return address did not list the jail where Epstein was held and did not include his inmate number, which is required for outgoing mail.

The latest batch of material from the Justice Department’s Epstein investigation included dozens of video clips and other documents with many redactions. The Justice Department said on social media that documents include ‘untrue and sensationalist claims’ against President Donald Trump before the 2020 election.

‘To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already,’ the Department of Justice added in a statement about Tuesday’s document release. ‘Nevertheless, out of our commitment to the law and transparency, the DOJ is releasing these documents with the legally required protections for Epstein’s victims.’

The president has not been accused of any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein, a wealthy and well-connected financier who was charged with sex trafficking.

More than 150 women shared their experiences of abuse as part of an award-winning Indy Star/USA TODAY Network investigation series related to how Nassar assaulted the athletes he treated for both USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University. Nassar was convicted of abusing gymnasts under the premise of giving them medical exams. Nassar’s accusers included Olympic gold medal winners such as Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Jordyn Wieber, McKayla Maroney and Aly Raisman.

Epstein was charged by federal authorities with operating a sex-trafficking ring that preyed on young women and underage girls before he died in 2019.