With the College Football Championship behind us, the rest of the teams are looking into the transfer portal to see which talent are looking for new homes entering the 2020 season.

The portal has been a huge addition to college football. Before, an opposing coach would have to contact the opposing university to gain permission to speak with the player. Now, once the player enters their name, any coach can contact them and continue with the transfer process without permission needed.

The transfer portal has seen the likes of great players switching teams like LSU quarterback Joe Burrow who came from Ohio State, and Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts, who transferred out of Alabama.

This year, a few notable transfers have taken place, with many more still to come.

QB Phil Jurkovec – Notre Dame to Boston College

After visiting the Boston College campus, the former Notre Dame quarterback has decided to make Boston his new home. The four-star member of Notre Dame’s 2018 recruiting class was rated No. 4 in the country for dual-threat quarterbacks.

Jurkovec played two games as a true freshman and six as a redshirt freshman. As Ian Book’s backup, he completed 12 of 15 pass attempts for 222 yards and two touchdowns. He also had 130 yards on 22 carries.

QB Jamie Newman – Wake Forest to Georgia

The Bulldogs add graduate transfer Jamie Newman to the roster, just days after three-year starter Jake Fromm announced his entry into the NFL draft.

Newman started in 16 games for Wake Forest and will have one year of eligibility left. This season, he completed 60.9% of his attempts for 2,868 yards with 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He also added 574 rushing yards with six more scores.

Newman will battle rising junior Stetson Bennett, redshirt freshman D’Wan Mathis and incoming freshman Carson Beck for the starting quarterback job.

Kicker Jose Borregales – FIU to Miami

Jose Borregales will transfer across town to join the Hurricanes. Many remember him as the one who taunted Miami after hitting a trio of kicks, including one from 53 yards, in an FIU November win against the Hurricanes.

Future teammates will most likely overlook his antics as Borregales comes to the team bringing reinforcements to a key weakness. He has kicked 21 of his 29 attempts and is immediately eligible for 2020, something Miami fans will be thankful for.

Notre Dame beat Louisville 35-17 on Monday, but that score does not tell the tale of a game.

Notre Dame started the Labor Day game with a winning drive, highlighted by a 37-yard scramble by quarterback Ian Book, who also made a fantastic drop pass on a cross-play to Jafar Armstrong. That first play led to a score. But it was not all roses for Book, who at times looked lost on the field. His passes were erratic at best and his decision making seemed hazy, as he did not appear to not know where his targets were supposed to be.

Louisville had a few chances in the first half to keep the score close, starting with a great throw from Jawon Passand that led to a one-handed grab from Marshon Ford as he was falling close to the left out of bounds. This would be the only catch for Ford.  Louisville QB Passand would go 12-of-27 with only 134 yards, with two running touchdowns on QB sneaks on the first and second drives. But it was Javian Hawkins who was the star for the Cardinals, splitting the defense and taking advantage of lapses in Notre Dame’s first-half defense, for a game-high 122 yards.

IN MEMORIAM: SPORTS FIGURES WHO DIED IN 2019 TRIBUTE SLIDESHOW

With the score tied at 14-14, Louisville had a chance to switch the momentum and hand quite the upset to Notre Dame, as they kept the No. 9 Fighting Irish from getting a first down around the 10-minute mark and moved the chains forward. But the Cardinals couldn’t capitalize.

There was also this moment where a Louisville cheerleader was hit in the face:

Two SEC programs head the list of the 2017 College Football Playoff standings, and another big name comes in third.

College Football Playoff Rankings 2017

Georgia, Alabama and Notre Dame are — in order — the top three teams in the committee’s initial top 25, released Tuesday evening. Alabama, however, is ranked above Georgia in the AP poll.

Defending national champions Clemson and Oklahoma round out the top five on the CFP rankings. Rounding out the top ten are Ohio State, Penn State, TCU, Wisconsin and Miami. The latter two are undefeated, at 8-0 and 7-0 respectively.

All six teams ranked 3-8 are 7-1 this season. The Fighting Irish’s only loss thus far came at home against the Georgia Bulldogs.

If the standings hold, Notre Dame could potentially leapfrog Georgia, should the Bulldogs lose to the Crimson Tide in the SEC title game.

“I felt like if we continued to win football games we would create our own story at the end of the year,” Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly told ESPN.

Notre Dame also blew out Michigan State (No. 24), Southern California (No. 17) and North Carolina State (No. 20). They will visit the Miami Hurricanes on Nov. 11.

Over the first three seasons of the playoff, a total of five teams have been ranked in the top four of the initial ranking and gone on to reach the semifinals: Florida State (which was second) in 2014; Clemson (first) and Alabama (fourth) in 2015; and Alabama (first) and Clemson (second) in 2016.

“For the teams five through seven, their head-to-head results were very important to the committee,” CFP committee chairman Kirby Hocutt said.

Stanford comes in at No. 21, followed by Arizona. The Wildcats — led by star quarterback Khalil Tate are ahead of Memphis, Michigan State and Washington State.

No. 12 Washington (7-1) is the highest-ranked Pac-12 team.

Here is the top 25 CFP list for 2017:

JACKSONVILLE, FL – OCTOBER 28: Lorenzo Carter #7 of the Georgia Bulldogs celebrates with teammates after a sack against the Florida Gators in the first quarter of a game at EverBank Field on October 28, 2017 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

The Denver Pioneers and the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs are headed to the men’s hockey national championship game following their respective victories over Notre Dame and Harvard in the Frozen Four in Chicago on Thursday night.

NCAA Frozen Four Recap: Denver, Minnesota-Duluth Advance To Championship Game

Minnesota-Duluth defeated the Crimson 2-1 in the first semifinal, and then Denver thrashed the Fighting Irish 6-1 at United Center.

Alex Iafallo scored the game-winning goal for Minnesota-Duluth with 26.6 seconds left to play in the rather slow game, following a scramble at the net and two possible tying shots hit the crossbar.

Iafallo tipped in Willie Raskob’s shot to lift the Bulldogs to a 2-1 win over Harvard. Raskob took a pass from Joey Anderson and shot the puck toward the slot. Iafallo fired it between Merrick Madsen’s legs to break the tie.

“It was a good pass by Joey,” Iafallo said. “We kept it in there at the blue line. And that was pretty much the key to the goal. And Raskob made a good play. We do it in practice all the time. So simple things like that, getting the puck to the net. Just had to shovel it in.”

The Crimson almost tied it again after that, however. With four seconds left in the third period, Harvard’s Luke Esposito hit the crossbar:

Minnesota-Duluth  (28-6-7) will now be playing in their third national championship game and their first since the 2011 team won the Bulldogs’ only title.

The championship game will also be held at United Center, and will be held Saturday at 8 p.m. EST. The final will air on ESPN2 and can be live-streamed on WatchESPN.

Tyler Moy scored his 22nd goal for the Crimson (28-6-2). Harvard, the nation’s leader in scoring, took the lead with five minutes remaining in the first period. Moy took a cross-ice pass from Alexander Kerfoot and shot the puck into the left side of the net on a power play.

Harvard nearly scored at 5:41 of the third when Sean Malone knocked in a rebound, but the whistle had already blown.

Around 2.5 minutes later, the Bulldogs’ Adam Johnson raced in and fired a shot from the right crease that Madsen blocked with his left pad but could not cover.

Harvard coach Ted Donato thought the puck crossed the line before the whistle sounded on Malone’s goal. However, he didn’t protest much.

“They went to the replay to try to get it correctly,” Donato said. “So obviously through my Harvard-colored glasses, it looked like a good goal. But it’s — everybody’s trying to do their best out there.”

In the second game, Denver (32-7-4) outshot Notre Dame by 25 and delivered a stellar offensive performance.

“I think we have to give a lot of credit to our forwards,” Denver captain Will Butcher, who also played a great game, said after the contest. “I think our forecheckers dominated and ate them up. Whenever we have a good forecheck going, we seem to get the puck back a lot more. It’s great when we get the puck back because we’re a puck-possession team. When we get that more, we get that early jump.”

The Pioneers will now face their conference-mate Bulldogs in Saturday night’s all-NCHC final.

Emil Romig scored the opening goal for Denver after coming out from behind the net. Notre Dame goalie Cal Petersen over-committed a sweep check from which he struggled to recover. Romig fired a fantastic shot from a low angle between Petersen’s left shoulder and the post.

A little over six and a half minutes later, Henrik Börgstrom on a passing play with Butcher that gave him a wide-open net to shoot at from the top of the crease.

“[This stretch for Denver has] probably been the most dominant,” said Pioneers coach Jim Montgomery. “We’re playing well. I mean, you know, there’s no doubt about it. But we’ve had some long stretches of playing well before. So I think it’s just we get in a rhythm and we start to really believe in what we’re about.”

Evan Ritt and Tariq Hammond also scored one goal each for Denver, while Dylan Gambrell added two goals.

Jordan Gross helped score Notre Dame’s only goal on a wrist shot that was tipped in by Cam Morrison in front with 8:36 left in the game.

Denver will be playing for its first national championship since 2005, when the George Gwozdecky-led Pioneers beat North Dakota for its second national title in two years. In 2004, the Pioneers defeated Maine in Boston.

Now that the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is over, with North Carolina having emerged as national champions, there is another major collegiate sporting event that is nearing its end: the men’s hockey tournament.

NCAA Frozen Four 2017 Preview: Denver, Harvard, Minnesota-Duluth And Notre-Dame Competing

The NCAA Frozen Four will be held in Chicago on Thursday evening, and here are the four teams vying for the national title: Denver, Minnesota-Duluth, Harvard and Notre Dame.

First, the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs will face the Harvard Crimson at 6 p.m. EST, and then the Denver Pioneers play the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at 9:30 p.m. EST.

Both semifinals will be held at the Blackhawks’ United Center, and both games will air on ESPN2. The games can also be live-streamed on WatchESPN.

The championship game will also be played at United Center on Sunday at 8 p.m. EST, on the same channel and live stream.

Denver are the heavy favorites to win the national title, according to OddsShark, with Minnesota-Duluth the second-most likely team to win. Harvard and Notre Dame follow in third-most and fourth-most likely to win the championship, respectively.

The Pioneers (31-7-4) are the top seed in the hockey tournament. Denver advanced to the semifinals with victories over Michigan Tech and Penn State in the Midwest Regional.

Troy Terry scored a hat trick in the win over Penn State that punched Denver’s ticket to the Frozen Four, and he has scored 41 points this season. Henrik Borgstrom is the Pioneers’ leading scorer, with 21 goals and 21 assists.

Denver also boast a talented defensive squad, and goalie Tanner Jaillet has a .928 save percentage.

Notre Dame reached the national semifinals with a 3-2 overtime win over UMass-Lowell. Andrew Oglevie scored the winner early in the extra session.

Before that, the Fighting Irish defeated Minnesota 3-2 in the Northeast regional semifinal.

Notre Dame’s leading scorer is forward Anders Bjork, who was drafted by the Boston Bruins in 2014. Bjork has 21 goals and 31 assists.

Minnesota-Duluth (27-6-7) has had a great end to their season, with seven straight victories. The Bulldogs’ last two wins came in overtime against Ohio State first and then against Boston University.

Alex Iafallo leads Minnesota-Duluth in scoring, with 19 goals and 30 assists.

Harvard is the surprise team this year. The Crimson are playing in their first Frozen Four since 1994. Harvard are the country’s leading scoring team with 4.14 goals per game, and won the annual Beanpot tournament in February. The Beanpot is an annual competition between four major Boston hockey schools: Harvard, Northeastern, Boston College and Boston University.

In their last two games, the Crimson beat Providence 3-0 first, and then eliminated Air Force with a 3-2 win. Coach Ted Donato’s team have won 16 straight games, and Alexander Kerfoot and Tyler Moy lead Harvard with 44 points each.

Denver and Harvard are likely to win their respective games and advance to the finals given their records thus far this season.

BOSTON, MA – FEBRUARY 13: Luke Esposito #9 of the Harvard Crimson celebrates with teammates after scoring against the Boston University Terriers during the 2017 Beanpot Tournament Championship at TD Garden on February 13, 2017 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Everett Golson has had an interesting couple of years. After leading the Fighting Irish to the BCS championship in 2012, he had to sit out the 2013 season due to academic violations – he later admitted that he cheated on a test.

However, he was reinstated in December 2013 and was able to rejoin the team the following season. And 2014 was awfully bumpy for the star QB, with the year being equivalent to a rollercoaster ride. Despite starting the season 6-0, Notre Dame finished the year 8-5, including a horrendous November where they went 1-4.

And a lot of the blame was levied at Golson’s poor ball security. He had 26 total turnovers, with 22 of those coming in the final nine games of the season. This resulted in him sharing time with teammate Malik Zaire during the Fighting Irish’s bowl win over LSU.

As a result of that and sharing snaps during spring ball, he decided to transfer out of Notre Dame, effectively playing his fifth and final year of eligibility at another school. He graduated from Notre Dame, so he will not have to sit a year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6siT8Fm7NU

And today, he officially announced that he will be transferring to FSU, becoming the prime candidate to replace Jameis Winston. He will be competing for the job with Sean Maguire – Winston’s back up, who started one game against Clemson, going 21 for 39 with 304 yards, one touchdown and two picks.

“After much thought and careful consideration, I will utilize my fifth year of eligibility to join the Florida State University Seminoles,” Golson said in a press release. “To Coach Jimbo Fisher, the Florida State football team, staff, alumni and fans, thank you for allowing me to become part of the Seminoles family.”

As for his potential to start, Fisher squashed the notion that Golson is guaranteed the position. “We never tell a guy he’ll be the starter,” Fisher said. “It’s a competition no matter what. Let him earn his way through it.”

He finishes his Notre Dame career with a 17-6 record, 5,850 yards, 59.5 completion percentage, 55 total touchdowns and 20 interceptions in just two seasons as a starter.

In a strange turn of events, former Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis is still being paid by the school and, at one time, even made more money than current head coach Brian Kelly, according to ESPN.

Charlie Weis, a man from the Bill Belichick coaching tree, was supposed to be the savior for the Fighting Irish, resurrecting them to football glory. However, after a disappointing 35-27 record, the college program fired him following his fifth season.

Now, the firing happened in the midst of his contract, resulting in the team buying him out. Eventually, the Irish hired former Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly, who led them to a national championship bid and an overall 45-20 record. But after paying big bucks to Weis, the school did not initially give Kelly a big contract.

And years later, Weis reportedly received $2,054,744 from Notre Dame for July 2013 to June 2014, according to the tax return given to ESPN. To put this in perspective, Kelly only made $1,187,272  for the same period.

But to be fair, he has since gotten a contract extension through the 2017 season and has made even more money through “compensation from external sources with prior written approval from the University.”

As for Weis, he has been receiving payments like this since his firing in 2009, making his total payout, at the moment, $14,857,379: he initially received $6,638,403 and then Notre Dame has paid the rest to him yearly.

Worst of all, he is scheduled to get payments through December 2015. And if these payouts match the other figures, then his total buyout would be allegedly worth around $18,966,867.

Now, if this makes you mad, he is also scheduled to make another $5.63 million from his Jayhawks contract. He was fired from Kansas after starting the 2014 season 2-2.

It’s a familiar duo headlining the national title game in the 2015 NCAA Women’s Final Four, as all that stands in UConn’s way to another national title is Notre Dame.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish punched their ticket to the National Championship in a 66-65 thriller over South Carolina in the Women’s Final Four’s first semifinal. Star Jewell Loyd led the way for the Irish with 22 points, but the only two points out of Madison Cable proved to be the most vital, as her putback put the Irish on top in the final minute. After holding off the Gamecocks on the final possession, the Irish came away with the victory. This will be Notre Dame’s fourth appearance in the National Championship in five years, though they have gone 0-3 in those prior games.

Notre Dame’s hurdle to getting their first title since 2001? Geno Auriemma and his Connecticut Huskies crew, who once again made easy work of an opponent by taking down Maryland, who was also a 1-seed, by a score of 81-58 in their semifinal. Breanna Stewart, who many see as the best player in the nation, put in 25 points in the victory. UConn is by no means a stranger to the Women’s Final Four stage, as they’ll be looking to win their 10th national championship and their third in a row. The Huskies are also 9-0 in previous national title games. A win in this year’s title game will give Auriemma his 10th championship and would tie him with legendary UCLA men’s head coach John Wooden for the most all-time NCAA basketball championships.

UConn and Notre Dame will play for the NCAA championship in Tampa on Tuesday night. The game will be at 8:30 and can be seen on ESPN.

When Notre Dame lost a heartbreaker to Florida State on Oct. 18, no one thought they were going to slide as far as they did. As the old BCS saying goes, it is better to lose early: meaning despite losing back in October, everyone expected them to build momentum at the end of the season, thus being in contention when talking about the first ever college playoffs.

Who would have expected them to lose their last four regular season games, making them 1-5 in their last six. One could make the argument that Everett Golson’s 14 turnovers in the last six games played a crucial part in their losses: his poor play, which is why they benched him against LSU, hindered an already exposed defense that at the end of the year ranked 85^th in points against and 69^th in total defense.

One could also make the argument that Notre Dame’s 6-0 start came from playing some truly poor teams: besides Stanford and Rice who were each 8-5, the other four have a combined 17-31 record. So was Notre Dame ever really good or simply hiding behind their extremely easy schedule?

At the same time, they did lose some close match-ups against Florida State, Arizona State, and Louisville, which all could have gone either way. But lets not forget their horrible loss to a 5-7 Northwestern and a blowout loss at the end of the season to USC.

Either way, Brian Kelly, who just finished his fifth season as the Notre Dame coach, has to be disappointed with their 8-5 record — 45-20 all-time. After being two years removed from the BCS championship, a four game losing streak to end the 2014 season cannot make fans, boosters or the organization happy. Was Kelly a one hit wonder or could he lead them back to glory: in the previous three years before he took the job, the team was 16-21, so he has thoroughly improved upon the debacle known as Charlie Weis.

Kelly is even 3-2 in bowl games, with the most recent win coming at the Music City Bowl against LSU: the 31-28 victory was a huge step forward for a struggling team and a huge win for Notre Dame over the SEC. Yes, LSU was in a similar poor season situation, but on paper — minus the passing game — LSU is the better team. And to have three top 250 recruits coming in 2015 — Blake Barnett (QB), Jerry Tillery (OT) and Tristen Hoge (OG) all committed — Notre Dame certainly looks good for the future. The only real question is will Brian Kelly learn from his mistakes and improve upon them or sink into oblivion like his predecessor?