Hickory Daily Record

Week three of high school football in Catawba County and the Hickory area features conference openers for six of seven Catawba County schools. St. Stephens, South Caldwell and Alexander Central still have two more weeks of non-conference games and a bye week before Northwestern 6A/7A conference play starts on Oct. 2. Check back for live updates of this weeks games on Friday. Kings Mountain @ Bandys, 7:30 p.m. Fred T.

SAN DIEGO — The Pac-12’s road to the College Football Playoff begins with a twist: You don’t have to win the Pac-12 to get there. Under new CFP rules for 2026, the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC champions receive four of the five automatic bids. The fifth goes to the highest-ranked team — champion or not — from the Pac-12, American, Mountain West, Sun Belt, MAC or Conference USA. That changes the math for everyone. Winning the Pac-12 remains the safest route.

Last year’s Heisman Trophy winner. The past three quarterbacks to win the Heisman. Both quarterbacks in last year’s national championship game. The starters in the previous national championship game. The past three players to go first overall in the NFL Draft. While quarterbacks have always stood at the center of attention, a new type has taken the Bowl Subdivision by storm and upended long-established theories on how to identify and develop a starting passer: the immediately eligible transfer.

You know about the standouts on the Virginia Tech and Virginia football teams, but there are other stars around the ACC who will also be worth paying attention to this season. So here is a look at five ACC defensive players to watch (listed in alphabetical order).

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Dolphins fans who publish training camp videos of their team might be helping the opponent and putting the Dolphins at a strategic disadvantage. So, don’t do it. Well, that was the message that I gleaned from Dolphins coach Jeff Hafley on Thursday when I asked about his level of coaching paranoia and whether it intensifies from training camp and regular season.

One person is dead and two others were injured when a car was hit by a train in Catawba County early Friday morning. The identities of those involved have not been released as of 2:15 p.m. on Friday. The Hickory Police Department said charges are pending in the case. Hickory police officers responded to the crash around 3:30 a.m. at 17th Street Southwest near Main Avenue Northwest. The train hit a 2002 Cadillac DeVille.

Clancy's lawyer, Kevin Reddington, was clearly upset, challenging the judge that he was not considering the concern of 11 jurors that the holdout is violating the law by not properly considering reasonable doubt. The judge fired back ... he has sufficiently probed and believes the holdout is fit to serve.

The Transportation Security Administration expects to screen more than 17 million travelers at U.S. airports between Thursday, September 3 and Wednesday, September 9, as Labor Day weekend caps off a record-breaking summer of travel. United Airlines anticipates about 3.4 million passengers, roughly 300,000 more than last year, while American Airlines expects more than 3.5 million travelers, with nearly 500,000 passing through its Dallas Fort Worth hub.

Nothing lasts forever, an unfortunate concept when pondering an aging superstar or a championship core deteriorating. It can also work the other way as relieved Angels fans discovered.

The US has 63 official national parks, but which ones are the best and most breathtaking? Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park is a must-see, with its enormous crimson cliffs carved by the Colorado River. Visitors can take in the views from the Rim Trail or hike into the canyon for a closer look. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which spans Tennessee and North Carolina, is the country’s most biodiverse national park.