SPORTS

Maine football gets No. 7 seed, bye

Staff and wire reports

The University of Maine football team earned the No. 7 seed in the FCS tournament and will host the winner of Jacksonville State and East Tennessee in the second round on Dec. 1 at Alfond Stadium.

The CAA champion Black Bears (8-3) were one of a record six CAA teams selected for the 24-team playoffs, which were announced Sunday on ESPNU.

North Dakota State (11-0) earned the No. 1 seed in the 24-team field when the pairings were announced. The defending champions are making their ninth consecutive appearance in the playoffs and seeking their seventh FCS championship in eight years, which would break their tie with Georgia Southern for the most titles.

One-quarter of the field comes out of the CAA, whose six qualifiers — Maine, Delaware, Elon, James Madison, Stony Brook and Towson — are a single-season record.

UNH (4-7), which concluded its season with a 24-21 loss at Rhode Island on Saturday, missed the tournament for the first time since 2003.

Maine, in the playoffs for the first time since 2013, is 3-7 all-time in the FCS tournament.

Golf: Howell ends drought

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — Charles Howell III made a 15-foot birdie putt on the second hole of a playoff with Patrick Rodgers on Sunday in the RSM Classic to end an 11-year victory drought.

Howell dropped to his knees and buried his head in his hands, then tearfully embraced wife Heather and children Ansley and Chase — neither of whom were born when he last won on the PGA Tour at Riviera in 2007.

Howell earned $1,152,000 and a return trip to his hometown of Augusta, Ga., in April to play in the Masters for the first time since 2012

After Rodgers sent a birdie attempt of 21 feet past the cup on the second extra hole, Howell's putt died in the cup and capped a comeback in which he went bogey-double bogey on his first two holes to lose the lead he had held through the first three rounds.

Miles to coach Kansas

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Les Miles is headed back to the Big 12 and another massive rebuilding job, this time taking on the downtrodden program at Kansas in a splashy hire aimed at energizing a weary fan base.

The deal was finalized shortly before Miles arrived at the airport in nearby Topeka on Sunday. Miles signed a five-year contract that will pay him $2,775,000 annually with retention bonuses of $775,000 due in November 2020 and $500,000 in November 2022.

"Since the beginning of our search, we focused on identifying and recruiting an experienced head coach with a track record of success on and off the field," Kansas athletic director Jeff Long said in a statement. "Les Miles is exactly what we need right now."

Miles was considered the front-runner for the Jayhawks' job from the moment David Beaty was told he would not be retained two weeks ago. The 65-year-old Miles has a close relationship with Long dating to their days together at Michigan, and Miles had told those around him he wanted back in coaching.