NCAA president Mark Emmert and four other witnesses testified before a U.S. Senate subcommittee yesterday, as the issue of student-athletes profiting off their name, image and likeness (NIL) took center stage in the nation's capital.

"Sports is something that cuts across party lines, it cuts across geography and it's so ingrained in our culture. Everyone wants to see that if nothing else in our country works, they want to see our sports work."

Today is National Signing Day. What was once a day filled with frenetic activity is now much quieter due to the "early signing period" scooping up most FBS signees, but it still signifies the end of the college football recruiting cycle.

Why it matters: Elite football prospects spring up all over the country, but they're heavily concentrated in the South and California, plus notable hotspots near Houston and Dallas.

Louisiana State University's Joe Burrow led his team to a 42-25 victory over defending champions the Clemson Tigers in the college football national championship clash in New Orleans Monday.

Why it matters: Burrow set the single-season record for most touchdown passes with 60, becoming the first major college quarterback to do so, AP notes. "This is so special," Burrow said afterward. "I’m kind of speechless right now." Both teams were undefeated before the game.

Both teams in tonight's college football national championship (8pm ET, ESPN) are from the South, they're both undefeated, they share the same mascot (Tigers) and stadium name (Death Valley), and their QBs are both projected No. 1 picks.

The state of play: Only LSU has a Heisman Trophy winner leading one of the most dangerous offenses in college football history. And only Clemson has the defensive firepower and championship game experience necessary to stop it.

Service-academy officials are trying to determine the motives of students at the Army-Navy game who flashed hand signs on ESPN that are associated with "white power," the Wall Street Journal reports.

The big picture: Both West Point cadets and Annapolis midshipmen flashed the "OK" hand sign, which is also used for what's known as the "circle game," while ESPN was filming the student section. The sign took on another meaning around 2017 when it was co-opted by online trolls and later white supremacists, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Only five D-I men's college basketball teams remain undefeated: No. 3 Ohio State (9-0), No. 12 Auburn (8-0), No. 25 San Diego State (10-0), unranked Liberty (11-0) and unranked Duquesne (8-0).

What's happening: The Pittsburgh-based program is off to its best start in nearly half a century, and while the schedule hasn't been all that difficult, the Dukes have overcome a rather unique challenge: no home gym.

The argument against bowl games is that they are relatively meaningless exhibition games designed to make money — mostly for Disney, which not only broadcasts but actually owns many of them.

Yes, but: "There's something nostalgic and fun about sitting down around the holidays and binge-watching football games between obscure teams you wouldn't have watched otherwise," writes FiveThirtyEight's Neil Paine.

After three-plus months of chaos, championship weekend brought clarity to the top of college football, and delivered two semifinal matchups that are, at least stylistically, about as good as it gets.

The playoffs: No. 1 LSU vs. No. 4 Oklahoma (+9.5): The Tigers and Sooners have the top two offenses in the country. No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 3 Clemson (-2.5): The Buckeyes and Tigers have the top two defenses in the country.