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“How did I get here?” The thought kept crossing my mind as the streamers fell and confetti pelted me from all sides. I was standing on the sideline as Alabama players celebrated following Tua Tagovailoa’s 41-yard, game-winning touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith in overtime of the College Football Playoff National Championship. Alabama players and coaches …

By Joe Spears | @joe_spears7 Sports Capital Journalism Program ATLANTA — Nick Saban walked off the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium as the coach of a national champion for the sixth time. Before Saban’s Alabama Crimson Tide completed their come-from-behind, 26-23 overtime victory over the Georgia Bulldogs, only one coach in the modern history of college …

By Jon Sauber and Joe Spears | @JonSauber @joe_spears7 ATLANTA – The fourth championship game of the College Football Playoff era will be the first to feature teams from the same conference. When the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs meet in Mercedes-Benz Stadium Monday night, in the middle of Southeastern Conference territory, a …

By Joe Spears | @joe_spears7 Sports Capital Journalism Program ATLANTA – As Terrell Lewis walked off the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium favoring his right arm, it appeared clear to the followers of Alabama’s Crimson Tide that they had just lost their promising sophomore linebacker for a significant amount of time. Lewis came into the 2017 …

Editor’s note: Sports Capital Journalism Program student Joe Spears, writing for Newsday, sets the stage for the College Football Playoff National Championship that will become a long-awaited celebration for the Georgia Bulldogs or a coronation for the Nick Saban era at the University of Alabama. https://www.newsday.com/sports/college/college-football/alabama-georgia-cfp-kirby-smart-nick-saban-1.15974581?utm_content=buffer145e8&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer    

By Joe Spears | @joe_spears7 Sports Capital Journalism Program ATLANTA – In January, 1996, Grambling State coaching legend Eddie Robinson and his grandson Eddie Robinson III were among those in attendance at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., watching Nebraska produce one of the most overwhelming championship victories in the modern history of major college …

At the end of the fall semester I was turning in a paper for Professor Chris Lamb’s Media and Society Seminar in the Department of Journalism and Public Relations at IUPUI. The paper described how Eddie Robinson changed college football through decades of work molding generations of Grambling State Tigers, and how he continues to …

INDIANAPOLIS — This is the fourth year of the College Football Playoff, and in Atlanta on Jan. 8, the usual organizations who cover it every year will return — outlets such as The New York Times, USA Today and ESPN. Put the IUPUI Sports Capital Journalism Program in that group, too. For the sixth consecutive year — …

It’s a special Indy 500 edition of the Weekly Roundup featuring current and former students of the Sports Capital Journalism Program at IUPUI. Michael Williams covers Fernando Alonso’s jump from Formula One to the Indy 500 for Indianapolis Monthly. Joe Spears profiles driver Jay Howard for Indianapolis Monthly. Rob Peeters profiles Carlos Munoz for Indianapolis …

By Joe Spears | @joe_spears7 Sports Capital Journalism Program INDIANAPOLIS – The 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 produced one of its most stunning results when Alexander Rossi, a 24-year-old former Formula One driver with only one other oval appearance, moved into first place without knowing if he would be able to reach the Yard of …