Quick Hits

• Football is back. The NFL's Week 1 slate runs through the weekend, kicked off Thursday by a novelty: Rams vs. 49ers in Melbourne, Australia. (No result in today's feed.) Meanwhile, star wide receivers Malik Nabers (Giants) and Rome Odunze (Bears) are "questionable" — translation: game-time decisions — for their openers.
• The NBA's messiest story got messier. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have opened a criminal investigation into whether the Clippers secretly paid star Kawhi Leonard outside salary-cap rules — just one week after the league already punished the team.
• Baseball's playoff field is taking shape. The Rays became the first team in MLB to clinch a postseason spot, and the Brewers followed as the first National League club to punch a ticket.
• Tennis wraps the Slam season with a U.S. Open women's final between Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka this weekend.
• Big college football Saturday: the Gophers host Mississippi State, No. 11 Oklahoma visits Michigan, and Missouri-Kansas renewed their Border War rivalry Friday night in Lawrence.

Minnesota Teams

• The Gophers football team hosts Mississippi State on Saturday in what CBS Sports calls a rare nonconference test — an SEC team traveling to Minneapolis. The story of the game: P.J. Fleck's physical defense trying to slow Bulldogs quarterback Kamario Taylor, whom CBS tabs as a budding star running a high-powered attack.
• Otherwise it's a quiet day on the local front — no Vikings, Twins, Wolves, Wild, Lynx or United items in today's feed. Rest assured the Vikings are part of the NFL's opening weekend somewhere in the schedule; our feed just doesn't say against whom.

NFL

• Opening weekend is here, and the league's world tour continues: the Rams and 49ers played their "Melbourne Game" in Australia on Thursday, per CBS's coverage.
• Injury catch-up: Giants receiver Malik Nabers and Bears receiver Rome Odunze are questionable for their season debuts, Saints veteran Cameron Jordan is ruled out, and Panthers running back Jonathon Brooks was cleared to return.
• Contract drama in Pittsburgh: Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. publicly denied seeking a record-setting contract as a Week 1 deadline for a new deal nears, saying the business side "has not changed" his desire to stay.
• In grim off-field news, former running back LeShon Johnson was sentenced to five years in prison for operating a dogfighting ring, surrendering 190 dogs — the most ever taken from one individual in a federal dogfighting case, per the Department of Justice.
• If you're in an office pool: SportsLine's model simulated every Week 1 game 10,000 times, and there's a small industry of expert picks and fantasy rankings out there. Good luck.

NBA

• The Clippers saga escalated dramatically: one week after the NBA punished the team over Kawhi Leonard's contract, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn opened a criminal investigation into whether the club circumvented the salary cap (the league's spending limit) to compensate its star, according to a New York Times report relayed by ESPN and CBS. Nothing is proven — these are allegations.
• ESPN's Brian Windhorst reports that next week's board of governors meeting (essentially a gathering of the league's owners) could be consequential on several fronts: next steps in the Clippers case, expansion chatter — with Las Vegas and Seattle the names in the mix — and plans for NBA Europe.
• On a lighter note: Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, the college rivals turned WNBA stars, are playing together for the U.S. at the FIBA Women's World Cup — and Clark says many of the stories about friction between them are "false."

MLB

• The Rays clinched first — the earliest postseason ticket punched in baseball this year — and CBS Sports makes the case they're a legitimate World Series contender.
• The Brewers followed as the first National League team to clinch, reviving the perennial question: can they finally win the first championship in franchise history?

College Sports

• Saturday's headliner outside of Minneapolis: No. 11 Oklahoma visits Michigan in a Big Ten-SEC crossover — a rare regular-season meeting between the sports' two powerhouse conferences — with Michigan trying to steady itself after nearly being upset in Week 1, per CBS.
• Missouri and Kansas met Friday night in Lawrence for the Border War, headlining what CBS calls a loaded Week 2 slate of top-25 matchups.

Other Sports

• Tennis: The U.S. Open, the year's final Grand Slam, concludes this weekend with a women's final between Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka.
• Boxing: Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn is generating plenty of chatter — ESPN rounded up predictions from former champs and a celebrity fan for the title fight.
• Soccer: The Champions League (European club soccer's biggest competition) is back, and Manchester United cruised in their return to it with a dominant win over Sabah — but a far bigger test awaits this weekend against rival Manchester City. Feel-good story of the day: Italian club Como won the first Champions League game in club history, beating RB Leipzig, and CBS says they may just be getting started.