Cowboys sit Sean Lee in Week 17, so he loses $2 million next season

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The Dallas Cowboys say Sean Lee has a hamstring injury.

And a few weeks ago, Jerry Jones refused to call it a lost season, so perspective is a must.

Lee won't play in Week 17, purportedly because of this ailment. But in doing so, he'll miss out on $2 million additional salary next season. Lee needs to play 80 percent of the defensive snaps to earn $5 million next season. Otherwise, he'll earn $3 million. Lee has played 812 of the Cowboys’ 989 snaps (82.1 percent), but if the Cowboys play more than 27 snaps on defense — which should happen sometime in the first half — Lee will be below the 80-percent mark.

 

That stinks.

Lee has been banged up through most of his Cowboys career, and even dating back to Penn State. But he has been, by all accounts, hard-working and selfless in his approach. If Lee really is hurt and the Cowboys do opt to give him the $2 mil, which can happen, it still will still count against the salary cap.

Or maybe Jones promised Lee a month's worth of personal use of the private bus. We just don't know.

The Cowboys also owe Darren McFadden an additional $300,000 after he surpassed the 1,000-yard mark in Week 17, so we can't say they're completely cheap. But Lee being inactive does raise an eyebrow or two.

Clemson, Alabama are last teams standing in college football

We're down to two.

And, boy, they both look impressive.

Top-ranked Clemson and No. 2 Alabama will face off in the desert for the national championship after dominating wins in the College Football Playoff semifinals Thursday. The Tigers romped in the second half for a 37-17 win over No. 4 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, followed by an even more dominating performance in which the Crimson Tide thumped Michigan State 38-0 in the Cotton Bowl.

 

The Jan. 11 title game in Glendale, Arizona, matches a high-scoring Clemson offense led by quarterback Deshaun Watson against Nick Saban's latest dominating defense at Alabama, which limited the Spartans to 239 yards.

There's another story line to the title game. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney is an Alabama alumnus who played on the Tide's 1992 national championship team.

Now, he's going against the greatest coach of this generation. Saban has won three national titles in the last six years at Alabama, to go along with a BCS title at LSU.

Clemson and Alabama will be playing for the first time since 2008, when Alabama won 34-10 in a game that signaled the Tide's return to national prominence under Saban

 

Baylor Football

Baylor had to use 5 different QBs in one game ... and still broke bowl records vs. No. 10 UNC

The Bears were without their top two quarterbacks and top two weapons, which makes this one of the most impressive offensive performances in bowl season history.

Remember how Ohio State overcame two quarterback injuries last year? No. 17 Baylor had to deal with about double that along the way to its fourth 10-win season in five years, capping with a 49-38 win over No. 10 North Carolina in the Russell Athletic Bowl.

The Bears broke the bowl's rushing record ... in the first half, with 358. They put up the most rushing yards an Art Briles team ever had ... in the first half. (That's saying something. Despite the popular assumption, Baylor runs all the time. The Bears ranked No. 4 in the country in rushing attempts per game before this one.)

The final total before kneeldowns: 756 yards, 645 of them on the ground, an all-time rushing record for any bowl (524 by Nebraska in the 1996 Fiesta). Johnny Jefferson led with 299 rushing yards on 23 carries and three touchdowns, also throwing for 24.

 

LSU football

LSU's Fournette shows he's doesn't belong in college football

The LSU running back made that apparent, showing he's NFL ready in the Texas Bowl in Houston Tuesday night with his Tigers taking a 56-27 win over Texas Tech. 

Unfortunately, Fournette, a true sophomore, has one more season to play for the Tigers until he is able to be eligible to declare for the NFL draft. 

LSU scored 56 points in the game against the Red Raiders --€” the new school record for points scored in a bowl game --€” with Fournette being directly responsible for 30 of those points with his four rushing touchdowns along with one receiving touchdown. The points scores was a Texas Bowl record for an individual player. With his third rushing touchdown in the third quarter, Fournette set a LSU record with 21 rushing touchdowns on the season -- finishing his season with 22 on the year with his fifth score of the game in the fourth quarter. 

"This is a night that Leonard Fournette would have again, again and again. I wouldn't call it routine because he's not a routine runner, he's a special back," LSU head coach Les Miles said. "We would expect him to have nights like this. He's fast, he's strong, and capable. He's one of the more competitive men I know, he wanted to win this game, no doubt."

While LSU fans are excited to see their star running back return for another season, the average pro-football career for a running back is about three years, meaning Fournette could likely be taking years off making millions in the NFL. The rules aren't likely to change in time to make a difference for Fournette, so the running back is looking forward to another season in Baton Rouge and wanting to go for a championship.

 

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Auburn NFL roundup: More history for Cam Newton, but not for Carolina Panthers

Carolina quarterback Cam Newton reached another NFL first on Sunday, but it didn't prevent the Panthers from losing for the first time this season. The Atlanta Falcons' 20-13 victory prevented Carolina from becoming the third team in NFL history to have a 15-0 record.

The Falcons also ended the Panthers' 18-game regular-season winning streak, the third-longest in NFL history, which included a 38-0 win over Atlanta just two weeks ago.

The loss broke Newton's nine-game winning streak in December. Before Sunday, Carolina hadn't lost a game started by Newton in the 12^th month since a 31-13 setback against the New Orleans Saints on Dec. 8, 2013.

Newton fumbled when he was sacked on Carolina's final snap of the game, allowing Atlanta to run out the final 62 seconds of their victory.