There’s more than just school pride and bragging rights to all that bellyaching over who might be in and who might be out of college football’s first 12-team playoff.

The first season of major conference expansion has produced an intriguing set of championship games this week, and not just because they'll determine which teams get automatic bids and first-round byes in the College Football Playoff.

Ohio State, Miami and Clemson plunged in The Associated Press Top 25 college football poll following losses over the weekend.

Oregon stayed on top in the second batch of College Football Playoff rankings, while the new poll shoved Georgia completely out of the bracket after its lopsided loss to Mississippi.

This college football season is delivering when it comes to unpredictability and entertainment value.

The NCAA football rules committee has issued guidance to close a loophole that allowed second-ranked Oregon to exploit an illegal substitution penalty late in its victory over Ohio State to take time off the clock.

No. 2 Oregon had 12 men on the field late in its 32-31 win over No. 4 Ohio State, with the resulting penalty causing precious seconds to wind off the clock.

Oregon receiver Traeshon Holden was ejected from the third-ranked Ducks' game against Ohio State for unsportsmanlike conduct after he spit on a Buckeyes player.

Jamaican sprinter Shericka Jackson pulled out of the women’s 200 meters and will not race for an individual medal at the Paris Olympics.

The United States has won 826 all-time medals in track and field, the most of any country.

Also in this week's Olympic notebook, Caeleb Dressel still in good form, golf teams announced.

Sha’Carri Richardson never made it to the start, let alone the finish, of the 200 meters at the last Olympic trials.

The combination of Noah Lyles, Snoop Dogg and 16-year-old Quincy Wilson running for a spot in the Olympics lifted NBC to its largest audience for the U.S. track trials since 2012, according to Nielsen.

Christian Miller, fresh out of high school, put on a dazzling showing at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials on Sunday night, but missed out on qualifying for the Games by the blink of an eye.

Sha’Carri Richardson earned her spot in the Paris Olympics, winning the 100-meter final in a season-best 10.71 seconds at U.S. track trials.

Sha’Carri Richardson wobbled out of the starting block and raced with her right shoe untied but still won her preliminary 100-meter heat in 10.88 seconds to open her quest to make the Olympics at the U.S. track trials.

Beatrice Chebet of Kenya has set a world record in the 10,000 meters at the Prefontaine Classic meet, finishing in 28 minutes, 54.14 seconds.

A federal appeals court panel on Wednesday rejected a long-running lawsuit brought by young Oregon-based climate activists who argued that the U.S. government’s role in climate change violated their constitutional rights.

No. 2Stanford and No. 3 Iowa have jumped up behind top-ranked South Carolina in The Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll.

An Oregon weekly newspaper that had to lay off its entire staff after its funds were embezzled will relaunch its print edition next month.

No. 3 Washington, No. 4 Florida State and No. 5 Oregon all moved up a spot in The Associated Press college football poll to give the Pac-12 two top-five teams for the first time since the final ranking of the 2016 season.

Colorado fell out of The Associated Press college football poll after a resounding loss in one of the weekend’s showcase games and the teams toward the top of the rankings were shuffled and tightened.

Gabby Thomas held off Sha’Carri Richardson with the best time in the world this year to win the women’s 200 meters at the U.S. track and field championships.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone turned in a dominant performance to win the women’s 400 meters at the U.S. track and field championships.

Sha’Carri Richardson won the 100 meters in 10.82 seconds Friday night to capture the U.S. championships title two years after having her national title stripped because of a doping violation.

Oral Roberts will continue its surprising NCAA baseball tournament run in the College World Series after beating Oregon 11-6 in the deciding game of their super regional.

A federal judge has ruled that a lawsuit brought by young Oregon-based climate activists can proceed to trial.

Mother Nature and Emily Sisson. And a lost minute. These are the three biggest storylines heading into Saturday’s Gate River Run, the national championship 15K.

Marijuana use is to stay banned at sports events.

After three years as the festival director of the New York Film Festival, Eugene Hernandez has been tapped to lead the Sundance Film Festival.

Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan set a world record in the semifinals, then ran an even faster, wind-aided time in the final to take the gold medal in the 100-meter hurdles at world championships.

Sydney McLaughlin took the last victorious lap of an all-American world championships.

The U.S. women pulled a shocking upset in the 4-by-100 relay at world championships while the men finished second after a sloppy baton exchange that has become a ritual for that star-crossed team.

Allyson Felix came out of a brief retirement to help the women's 4x400 relay make the final at world championships.

Allyson Felix hasn’t run her last race after all.

Jamaica's Shericka Jackson is now a world champion after a mistake led to an early exit at the Tokyo Games.

Alison Dos Santos of Brazil powered down the homestretch to take the 400-meter hurdles title at the world championships.

A new obstacle appeared out of nowhere on the steeplechase course at world championships.

Noah Lyles celebrated his 25th birthday by running the fastest time in 200-meter qualifying at world championships, a 19.98-second romp that he punctuated by playfully wagging his finger at the six other sprinters straggling behind.

Hurdler Devon Allen did not jump before the starting gun.

Gotytom Gebreslase of Ethiopia patiently tucked behind her Kenyan rival until late in the race before surging ahead and sprinting to the win in the women’s marathon at the world championships.

The Americans had a spectacular day at the world championships by winning nine medals on home turf.

Tamirat Tola led a 1-2 finish by Ethiopia in the men’s marathon at the world championships after he opened a wide lead late and cruised through the finish line.

It took three days by car for high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh to escape from Ukraine.

Kenyan sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala had his visa issues resolved and flew to the world championships just in time for his 100-meter race.

Allyson Felix won her 19th and final medal in the world championships Friday night — a bronze she took after running the second leg of America’s 4x400-meters in the mixed relay that’s been touted as the last major race of the 36-year-old’s career.

The leader of global track and field said it would have been “inconceivable” to have allowed Russians into this week’s world championships given the country’s war against Ukraine.

Oregon Ducks tight end Spencer Webb has died after falling and striking his head on rock slides at a popular swimming lake near Eugene, Oregon.

This weekend and next week will mark a slice of sports history in the United States, one that might be hard to fathom.

Barring an end to the war in Ukraine, athletes from Russia and Belarus will be banned from next month’s track and field world championships.

Olympic gold medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica held off American Sha’Carri Richardson in the 100 meters at a rainy Prefontaine Classic on Saturday.

Oregon has spent February trying to overcome shaky losses on its NCAA Tournament resume.

Defending national champion Baylor has maintained its top spot in The Associated Press men's college basketball poll, though not without ceding a No. 1 vote to Arizona, while the six remaining unbeatens continued their rise.

Oregon-based youth climate activists say settlement talks with the U.S. Department of Justice have failed six years after they first filed a federal lawsuit in Eugene.

Jamaican Elaine Thompson-Herah bested her gold-medal winning time in Tokyo at the Prefontaine Classic on Saturday, and Sha’Carri Richardson finished last in her return to the track after controversy.

Sha’Carri Richardson is set to compete again after missing the Tokyo Olympics because of a positive marijuana test.

Sebastian Coe wants to ensure what happened this month to American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson won’t knock another athlete out of the Olympics in the future.

A simple question of describing one's track and field event led to some creative comparisons that might help the casual track fan better understand precisely what they do at the Tokyo Games.

Tommie Smith, John Carlos and Gwen Berry are among the more than 150 educators, activists and athletes who signed a letter Thursday urging the IOC not to punish participants who demonstrate at the Tokyo Games.

U.S. Anti-Doping Agency leaders are pushing to further mitigate “harsh consequences” for marijuana if it’s not intentionally used to enhance performance, though they cannot unilaterally change the rules, they wrote in a letter to members of Congress critical of the agency in the wake of sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson’s ban from the Olympics.

Banned sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson isn't on the Olympic roster released by USA Track and Field.

Though pro leagues are slowly adjusting to the reality that marijuana is not a performance-enhancing drug, it remains squarely on the banned list for Olympic sports.

Allyson Felix is headed to her fifth Olympics.

Sydney McLaughlin looked to her left and saw the numbers “51_90.”.

Sprinter Gabby Thomas one day wants to work in health care.

Noah Lyles won the 200 meters at the U.S. track and field trials, earning a spot on the Olympic team.

Intense.

Hurdler Sydney McLaughlin’s knee was bloody.

Washington State runner Sam Brixey won an appeal of his disqualification in Friday’s final heat of the men’s 110-meter hurdles at the Olympic trials.

Gwen Berry raised her fist, thumped it against her chest two times and set off on her quest for an even bigger stage to spread her message.

Jessica Ramsey won the shot put for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team, breaking the meet and her personal best at 66 feet, 1/4 inch.

Athletes spend months, sometimes years, obeying strict diets that are geared toward the goal of making the Olympics.

Elise Cranny used a late kick to pull away for the win the women’s 5,000 meters Monday at U.S. trials to make her first Olympic team.

Allyson Felix made her fifth Olympic team when she finished second in the 400 meters at U.S. track trials.

Episcopal graduate Garrett Scantling is going to the Olympics.

Garrett Scantling won the decathlon with a personal-best score of 8,647 points to earn a spot at the Tokyo Olympics.

Sha’Carri Richardson breezed to a win in the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials to secure her spot at the Tokyo Games.

Valarie Allman won the discus at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials and earned a spot at the Tokyo Games.

Ryan Crouser broke a 31-year-old world record in the shot put at U.S. Olympic trials with a heave of 76 feet, 8 1/4 inches (23.37 meters) that also qualified him for the Tokyo Games.

Ryan Crouser broke a 31-year-old world record in the shot put at U.S. Olympic trials with a heave of 76 feet, 8 1/4 inches (23.37 meters) that also qualified him for the Tokyo Games.

EUGENE, Ore. – Zachery Ty Bryan, the actor who played the oldest son on the long-running 1990s sit-com “Home Improvement” was arrested in Oregon and faces charges of strangulation and assault. The Eugene Police Department said officers were dispatched to a North Eugene apartment Friday night on a report of a physical dispute. Bryan reportedly assaulted the victim, impeded her breathing, and took her phone away when she tried to call 911, police said. A message left with a possible agent for Bryan was not immediately returned. It wasn't immediately known if he had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.

FILE- In this Oct. 10, 2015, file photo, a PAC-12 logo is displayed on the field before an NCAA college football game between Washington State and Oregon in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Ryan Kang, File)A major college football season that was in peril six week ago as conferences succumbed to concerns about COVID-19 is reconstituting. Not even a pandemic could stop college football at the schools that play it at the highest level. This every-conference-for-itself college football season looks like it will have five different start dates. ___Follow Ralph D. Russo at https://twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP and listen at http://www.westwoodonepodcasts.com/pods/ap-top-25-college-football-podcast/___More AP college football: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25