MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Tears welled in Drew Allar's eyes and began to fall down the Penn State quarterback's face as he spoke about a game that was in his grasp, until it wasn't.

Allar, who showed clear improvement during his second year as Penn State's starting quarterback, struggled for much of Thursday's 27-24 loss to Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl. But after helping Penn State take the lead midway through the fourth quarter, he had a chance to lead a game-winning drive as the offense took possession with 47 seconds to play and the score tied at 24-24.

Then, on first down from the Penn State 28-yard line, Allar looked downfield for wide receiver Omari Evans but badly misfired, and Notre Dame's Christian Gray dove to intercept the ball. The Irish then picked up a key first down, setting up Mitch Jeter's 41-yard field goal attempt, which he converted with seven seconds left.

"I was going through my progression, got to the backside, and honestly, I was just trying to dirt it at his feet," Allar said. "I should have just thrown it away when I felt the first two progressions not open, because of the situation we were in."

Allar, who completed 71.6% of his passes during the regular season and helped Penn State reach the Big Ten title game, connected on only 12 of 23 attempts Thursday for 135 yards. Penn State converted only 3 of 11 third-down chances and didn't complete any passes to its wide receivers. Thursday marked the only game in the past 20 seasons that Penn State failed to complete a pass to a wide receiver.

Notre Dame entered the game fifth nationally in third-down conversion defense at a shade under 30%, while Penn State was 15th nationally in third-down conversions at 47%. On third-and-goal late in the first quarter, Allar's pass to running back Nicholas Singleton went a bit behind him, bouncing off his hands to prevent a likely touchdown.

"I thought we had a really good plan," Allar said. "I thought [offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki] and the offensive staff had a really good plan for normal downs, third down and red zone, but I missed a couple throws on it, so it comes down to just execution. Credit to Notre Dame for making it tough, for sure, but I think if we just execute those moments that we would have put ourselves in a better position. It starts with me hitting some of those throws."

Despite winning a team-record 13 games, including the first two CFP victories in school history, Penn State squandered two leads to fall just short of advancing to the national title game. Coach James Franklin, who dropped to 1-15 against AP top-five opponents, pointed to Penn State's third-down struggles on both sides of the ball -- Notre Dame converted 11 of 17 opportunities -- and the final minutes of the first half and start of the second half as the biggest factors in the outcome.

"He's hurting right now, should be hurting, we're all hurting, this ain't easy," Franklin said of Allar. "He'll handle it great. He'll be hurting tonight and he'll be hurting tomorrow and he'll hurt a little bit less than the next day and so on and so forth. But he's a committed guy that's going to do it the right way."

Kotelnicki said the team embraced a "playing to win" mindset and wanted to remain aggressive in the final minute. After Singleton rushed for 13 yards on the first play, Penn State tried to use tempo on the ill-fated pass.

"He's going to put that on himself, and he doesn't have to," Kotelnicki said. "I've got to be better for him and our offense to make sure that whatever we're doing, whatever play we're calling, that our people have a chance to separate and put him in a position where he can feel more comfortable. So I simply say to him, 'That ain't you. That's not on you. You don't need to take that on your shoulders and feel the blame for that.'"

Allar's interception marked his first of the CFP and just his eighth all season. He struggled with accuracy during four postseason games -- the Big Ten championship and three CFP contests -- hitting on only 58 of 109 (53.2%) of his attempts, while throwing six touchdown passes and three interceptions.

The 6-foot-5, 238-pound junior announced last month that he intended to return to Penn State for the 2025 season rather than enter the NFL draft.

"We didn't win the game, so it wasn't good enough, I think it's plain and simple," Allar said. "So I'll learn from it, just do everything in my power to get better from it and just grow from it."

Franklin called Allar's growth "significant" from 2023, his first year as Penn State's starter.

"He said it, and it may not feel like it right now, but he'll learn from this, and he'll be better for it, and so will we," Franklin said.

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- There were moments this season when Mitch Jeter simply could not make a kick, as injuries to his hip and groin ruined his form and threatened to sink his confidence.

But over the past month, as he got healthy, he turned into "Mr. January." As a result, Notre Dame is headed to its first national championship game since 2013, with an opportunity to win its first title since 1988.

The Irish say they have built their season on resilience -- and it is possible nobody on the team embodies that more than Jeter. As he lined up for a 41-yard field goal attempt with the score tied at 24 and 12 seconds left on the clock against Penn State on Thursday night, all he could think was: "Let's go make it."

Jeter pushed the football through the uprights to give Notre Dame a 27-24 win over Penn State in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl. In doing so, he became the first kicker to make a go-ahead field goal in the fourth quarter of a playoff game.

"Coach [Marcus] Freeman talks a lot about delayed gratification," Jeter said. "He's been talking like that all the way back to Week 2, when the [loss to Northern Illinois] happened. So it's kind of been my mindset, going through an injury, having delayed gratification now to be able to come out and give our team a chance to go win a national championship."

In addition, Freeman is the first Black head coach to have a chance to win a college football national championship.

Jeter was not the only player who stepped up big Thursday night. Many of those clutch performances came from unexpected players. Cornerback Christian Gray came up with a huge play to set up the game-winning field goal, when he intercepted Penn State quarterback Drew Allar with 30 seconds left.

Defensive coordinator Al Golden called the play by the sophomore "amazing" because he recognized what Allar was doing and beat his receiver to the ball.

"Christian got a great break on it," Golden said. "And generally speaking, that kid works really hard on his hands, so if he has an opportunity to catch it, he usually does."

Added Freeman: "In that moment, Christian had to make a play and he did, and was a huge reason why we won that game."

A game that was an offensive slog for the first three quarters turned into a back-and-forth contest in the fourth, as the teams combined to score four touchdowns in less than 10 minutes.

Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love, playing with a knee brace and at less than 100%, got the scoring going in the final quarter with a remarkable second effort from the 2-yard line, when he jumped through one tackle, stayed on his feet, then dragged a defender with him into the end zone as his legs refused to stop moving to give the Irish a 17-10 lead.

Love usually celebrates his touchdowns by making a heart shape with his hands. But he forgot in the heat of the moment.

"I don't know what I was on that play, but I felt like some extra strength," Love said. "I just wanted to scream and rage. I just felt like the Hulk or something. I wasn't even thinking about throwing up the heart. It was just expressing the dominance I just asserted over them."

Penn State answered with two touchdown drives to take a 24-17 lead with 7:55 remaining. That is when Irish sophomore receiver Jaden Greathouse took his turn in the spotlight. On second-and-8 from the 46-yard line with 4:38 to go, Riley Leonard stepped back to throw. Greathouse made a move on Cam Miller, who fell down -- leaving Greathouse wide open in the middle of the field.

Leonard lofted the ball and Greathouse caught it. He had a safety to beat, and one juke move later, Greathouse was in the end zone for a 54-yard touchdown pass to tie the score at 24.

"While I was out there, I really got a flashback to my 7-on-7 days in high school, and it was a similar play," Greathouse said. "And I was like, 'I just need to cut inside and I'll be in the end zone celebrating.'"

Greathouse finished with seven catches for 105 yards and a score -- the first 100-yard game of his career. Greathouse missed two days of practice earlier in the week because he was sick, but he said he woke up Thursday and believed, "Tonight is going to be my first 100-yard game."

That brought things back to Jeter and his opportunity to break a tie at 24. His injury saga goes back to Week 4, when he took a hit to a hip on an errant field goal snap against Miami (Ohio). He played through it, but a few weeks later against Stanford, he injured his groin. As time went on, his bones were not in completely perfect alignment -- and that affected his form.

Jeter missed four of his five field goal attempts in the final four games of the regular season. His dad, Andrew, works as a chiropractor and offered to help get his body back into alignment. He would come up on Thursdays and then stay for several days to help Jeter get his body aligned so everything could heal properly.

"Bones were in places that they shouldn't have been," Jeter said. "That was my femur, my back, my hips. He was able to move those bones back into position where they're supposed to be, which allowed the healing process to almost accelerate."

Once the playoffs started, Jeter felt 100%. It has shown in his performance, as Jeter has gone 7-of-8 in three playoff games -- including several clutch kicks in the quarterfinal win against Georgia, too.

Quarterback Steve Angeli -- another player who stepped up big, leading a field goal drive late in the first half with Leonard out of the game -- said the team has nicknamed Jeter "Mr. January."

"He is a confident guy, man," Freeman said. "There is no moment too big for Mitch Jeter. I had a lot of confidence in him in that moment that he was going to do exactly what he did, and he did a great job at doing that."

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- On Sept. 7, Notre Dame fell to Northern Illinois, a 28-point underdog, in one of the most stunning defeats in the program's storied history.

The then-No. 5 Fighting Irish not only lost to the Huskies at home, but they were manhandled by a Mid-American Conference program that had never beaten an AP top-10 opponent. Northern Illinois outgained the Irish 388-286 in total yardage, converted twice as many first downs, allowed just two plays longer than 19 yards and blocked two field goals.

For the Fighting Irish, who had won 23-13 at Texas A&M in their opener a week before, their season could have been over as it barely started.

"It could have gone sideways fast," Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden said.

Four months later, the Fighting Irish are somehow one victory away from capturing their first national championship in 36 years.

Notre Dame defeated Penn State 27-24 on Mitch Jeter's 41-yard field goal with seven seconds left in a College Football Playoff semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl on Thursday night.

The No. 7 Fighting Irish will play the winner of Friday's other semifinal between No. 5 Texas and No. 8 Ohio State at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic in the Jan. 20 CFP National Championship presented by AT&T.

The team that couldn't beat a four-touchdown underdog at home has now won 13 consecutive games -- with a chance for one more, the biggest of them all.

"I often tell them, in your lowest moments you find out the most about yourself," Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said. "We've had low moments, but we had a really low moment Week 2, and these guys battled. We've got great leaders. We've got great players that chose to put this university and this football program in front of themselves."

Notre Dame's coaches and players credit Freeman, who turned 39 at midnight after the game, with keeping the Irish on track after their stunning loss to Northern Illinois. It was an arduous task for a former defensive coordinator who had never been a head coach until he was promoted on Dec. 3, 2021, to replace Brian Kelly, who left for LSU.

"He handled it magnificently," Golden said. "Just being in that situation, being in that chair like that, that's tough. There's no escape from it, but it never got to the locker room. It never got to the team meeting room. He handled all the stress and all the pressure internally, and was the leader that we all needed at that moment."

Freeman didn't want the Fighting Irish to wipe the pain of losing to Northern Illinois from their memory. He wanted them to embrace the adversity to remember that they can never take anything for granted.

Freeman's message to his team was simple: Keep the pain. Don't let it go.

"I think it really caused us to lock the locker room door and say, 'Hey, it's just us. The people in this room are the only things that matter,'" linebacker Jack Kiser said. "I think Coach Freeman's message and mentality through the rest of the year kind of echoed that."

The day after the loss to Northern Illinois, defensive tackle Howard Cross III huddled with Freeman and quarterback Riley Leonard.

"It's the second game of the season," Cross told them. "I'm not going to go belly up in the second game of the season. We need to keep pushing."

The Irish won their next 12 games by an average of 27.5 points. Only one of them, a 31-24 victory over Louisville, was decided by fewer than 10.

After reaching the CFP, Notre Dame defeated Indiana 27-17 in a first-round game on Dec. 20, then Georgia 23-10 in a quarterfinal game at the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Jan. 2.

"I think you learn the most about your team and the guys around you at the lowest points, and we showed who we were after that game," said receiver Jordan Faison. "After that loss, it was devastating. Everyone felt bad about it, but being able to bounce back kind of shows the team and the grit we've got."

The scar tissue from 124 days ago is what helped the Irish overcome season-ending injuries to several of their best players, including All-American cornerback Benjamin Morrison and star pass rusher Rylie Mills.

It's what helped them overcome injuries in their victory over Penn State. With the Irish trailing 10-0 late in the first half, Leonard had to leave the game after he was hit by defensive tackle Dvon J-Thomas on an incomplete pass. They lost two starting offensive linemen, left tackle Anthonie Knapp and right guard Rocco Spindler, to injuries as well.

While Leonard was being examined for a potential concussion, backup quarterback Steve Angeli came off the bench and led the Irish on a 13-play scoring drive. Jeter kicked a 41-yard field goal on the final play of the half to make it 10-3.

Angeli had attempted only 28 passes this season before Thursday. He completed 6 of 7 attempts for 44 yards on his lone possession.

"We had a lot of confidence in Steve and what he can do, and we weren't just going to put him in there to hand the ball off," Freeman said. "We were going to go to try to score, and we ended up scoring three points."

Leonard cleared concussion protocol at halftime and returned in the second half. He scored on a 3-yard run on the opening drive to tie the score at 10.

The Irish went ahead 17-10 on Jeremiyah Love's 2-yard run on the third play of the fourth quarter. But then Penn State tied the score on Nicholas Singleton's 7-yard run with 10:20 to play.

After Leonard threw his second interception on the next play, Singleton scored again to give the Nittany Lions a 24-17 lead with 7:55 to play.

With less than five minutes remaining, Leonard threw a 54-yard touchdown to Jaden Greathouse, who was wide open after cornerback Cam Miller fell down. Greathouse juked safety Jaylen Reed and ran into the end zone to tie the score at 24.

Leonard completed 15 of 23 passes for 223 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. He led the Irish on four scoring drives in the second half.

"He's a competitor, and competitors find a way to win, and that's what Riley does," Freeman said. "That's what this team does."

It seemed like the game was headed to overtime after both teams punted in the final minutes.

But with 35 seconds left, Penn State quarterback Drew Allar tried to throw a pass away. Safety Jaylen Sneed hit Allar as he threw, and cornerback Christian Gray intercepted the ball at the Penn State 42 to set up Jeter's winning field goal.

"That's what Christian Gray does," Freeman said. "He makes plays when it matters the most."

The Fighting Irish will have to make a few more big plays against Ohio State or Texas if they're going to win their first national championship since 1988. They'll likely be underdogs in Atlanta, especially if they're playing the high-powered Buckeyes, but they wouldn't have it any other way.

"To see how far we've come after the hiccup early on, just to know that we have one more guaranteed, one last one guaranteed, it's just so exciting," Kiser said.

The Fighting Irish believe they wouldn't be playing for a national title if they hadn't been tested like few other teams.

The team that wouldn't quit somehow keeps winning.

"The time you're tested the most is when you're at your lowest point," Freeman said. "We lose to Northern Illinois and you've got a decision: Do I want to be selfless, or am I going to put individual glory ahead of myself? I hope the nation sees no matter what the situation was, this team continues to put Notre Dame in front of [itself]."

The NFL has moved Monday's wild-card playoff game between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams to Arizona, it announced Thursday night, saying the decision was made in the "interest of public safety" as wildfires continue to ravage Southern California.

The game was originally scheduled to take place at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, at 8 p.m. Monday. It now will be played at Glendale's State Farm Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals, at the same time Monday.

The league had said earlier this week that Arizona would be the contingency plan if Monday's game had to be moved. In a statement Thursday, it said it came to the decision to go ahead with that move after "consultation with public officials, the participating clubs and the NFLPA."

A few hours earlier, another fire broke out in an area several miles from the Rams' training complex in the Woodland Hills neighborhood, leading the team to cancel its scheduled player media availability.

The league's other Los Angeles-based team, the Chargers, also are readying for a playoff game this weekend, although they play on the road against the Houston Texans on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET.

Both the Rams and Chargers practiced outdoors Thursday.

Smoke was visible from the field at the Rams' team facility, and coach Sean McVay said while players, coaches and staff have been affected by the fires, "fortunately to my knowledge, nobody has been injured. And for that we're grateful."

The Chargers held their final practice ahead of Saturday's game. The scene was dystopian at their facility in El Segundo: The skies were burnt orange, ashes flew around the field and many players, including outside linebacker Khalil Mack, tackle Joe Alt and quarterback Taylor Heinicke, wore masks.

The Chargers do not have an indoor practice facility. Coach Jim Harbaugh said he followed the suggestions of "experts" in altering practice, so players were outside for roughly 45 minutes, which is half the typical time they practice outside. Harbaugh said they didn't consider flying to Houston early and practicing there.

"Our guys did a great job with improvising and adjusting," he said. "And really, we were able to get as close as we possibly could to what a normal practice would look like."

Harbaugh also said that his daughter Grace evacuated from her home in the Hollywood area Wednesday night and is staying with him.

Outside linebacker Joey Bosa said he lives close to an evacuation zone and his fiancée and dog went to Houston early. Bosa said he slept with his phone notifications on loud Wednesday night in case he would have to evacuate.

"Hoping when I get back to L.A., I have a house to go to," Bosa said.

Speaking before the NFL announced the location change for Monday's game, Vikings defensive lineman Harrison Phillips, the team's player representative to the NFLPA, said the league should be conscious of the optics of playing the game in Los Angeles, juxtaposing it with the NBA postponing the Lakers' game against the Charlotte Hornets scheduled for Thursday night in downtown Los Angeles. Phillips noted that the Lakers play in an indoor facility, and SoFi is an open-air stadium.

"When a hurricane hits a certain location, or if a tornado came through and devastated a community, you want to be very cautious of the optics," he said. "And again, I strictly say this from a human standpoint, not as a Minnesota Viking who wants a better competitive advantage. That's not where it's coming from."

Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell, who is from the San Diego area, said he reached out to McVay to show support.

"There's really no words you can say other than you're thinking about them, praying for them and just hoping that things start to turn here," O'Connell said.

The Vikings moved from consensus 1-point favorites to 2.5-point favorites Thursday after the announcement that the game was being relocated.

Game relocations are rare in the NFL but not unprecedented. In 2003, the league moved a Monday night regular-season game between the Chargers and Dolphins from San Diego to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, because of wildfires in Southern California.

The Rams had a Monday night game against Kansas City relocated from Mexico City to Los Angeles in 2018 because of concerns about the playing surface at Azteca Stadium, and McVay cited that experience as part of his preparation for the uncertainty created this week.

"You acknowledge these things, but you also want to make sure that how you can control making sure that you're doing the right things is preparing accordingly, while also being mindful that this is bigger than football," McVay said. "If people you're directly involved with are affected, you're making sure you're tending to that first."

Information from The Associated Press and ESPN's Sarah Barshop, Kris Rhim and Kevin Seifert was used in this report.

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard started the second half of Thursday's College Football Playoff semifinal against Penn State after clearing concussion protocol at halftime, coach Marcus Freeman told ESPN's Molly McGrath coming out of the locker room.

After getting medical clearance to return to the game, Leonard led the No. 7 Fighting Irish on an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive on the opening possession of the second half. He scored on a 3-yard run to pull the Irish into a 10-10 tie with 10:46 left in the third quarter.

Leonard, a senior transfer from Duke, was injured after throwing an incomplete pass to Jordan Faison with 1:35 to go in the second quarter. He was hit by Nittany Lions defensive tackle Dvon J-Thomas. The back of Leonard's helmet appeared to bounce off the turf at Hard Rock Stadium.

Backup quarterback Steve Angeli, a sophomore from Westfield, New Jersey, finished the half for the Irish. He completed 6 of 7 passes for 44 yards on the drive.

Mitch Jeter kicked a 41-yard field goal on the final play of the half to cut Penn State's lead to 10-3.

PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia 76ers rookie Jared McCain will miss the rest of the season after left knee surgery last month on a torn meniscus, the team announced Thursday.

McCain, 20, spent one season at Duke before the Sixers made him their 2024 first-round draft pick. McCain was off to a fantastic start and had averaged 15.3 points in 23 games. He started eight games and was an instant fan favorite in large part due to amassing nearly 5 million followers as a TikTok sensation.

McCain earned Eastern Conference rookie of the month honors for November but complained of knee soreness after a Dec. 13 game against Indiana.

McCain was one of the few highlights for the Sixers, scoring a career-high 34 points in a loss to Cleveland in mid-November. He scored 20 or more points in eight games this season.

Injuries to Philadelphia stars Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George -- billed as the team's "Big Three" after George's offseason arrival -- have limited the trio to playing parts of only three games together. As a result, the Sixers have stumbled to a 15-20 start.

Embiid (left foot sprain), Andre Drummond (left toe sprain), Kyle Lowry (right hip strain) and KJ Martin (left foot) have all been ruled out for Friday's game against New Orleans. George is probable due to groin tightness.

NEW YORK -- Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Toronto Blue Jays avoided a salary arbitration hearing when the first baseman agreed Thursday to a $28.5 million, one-year contract on the day players and teams were to exchange proposed figures.

Houston Astros left-hander Framber Valdez also agreed to a one-year contract for $18 million.

Guerrero and Valdez can become free agents after the World Series.

Tarik Skubal, the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner, received $10.15 million from the Detroit Tigers two years before he's eligible for free agency, more than three times what he earned the prior season.

Guerrero, son of Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero, won a $19.9 million salary last year in a record high for an arbitration decision when a panel picked his figure rather than the Blue Jays' $18.05 million offer.

Juan Soto set a record for an arbitration-eligible player when he agreed last year to a $31 million deal with the New York Yankees, topping Shohei Ohtani's $30 million 2023 contract with the Los Angeles Angels. Soto became a free agent in November and signed a record $765 million, 15-year contract with the New York Mets.

Guerrero wasn't the only player to agree with the Blue Jays, as outfielder Daulton Varsho $8.2 million) and catcher Alejandro Kirk ($4.6 million) also reached one-year deals. The Astros, meanwhile, also reached deals with new third baseman Isaac Paredes ($6.625 million) and shortstop Jeremy Pena ($4.1 million).

There were 155 players eligible for arbitration at the start of the day and a majority were expected to agree to deals.

Among them:

• Three-time batting champion Luis Arraez agreed to a $14 million salary and right-hander Dylan Cease agreed to $13.75 million for the 2025 season with the San Diego Padres.

• The Arizona Diamondbacks agreed to deals with starting pitcher Zac Gallen ($13.5 million) and first baseman Josh Naylor ($10.9 million). Gallen went 14-6 with a 3.65 ERA and 156 strikeouts last season, while Naylor batted .243 with 31 home runs and 108 RBIs.

• The Seattle Mariners reached an $11.3 million deal with outfielder Randy Arozarena, who batted .219 with 20 home runs and 60 RBIs last season.

• The New York Yankees and two-time All-Star reliever Devin Williams, who was acquired in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers this offseason, agreed to an $8.6 million contract.

• The World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers locked in a pair of key right-handed relievers, coming to terms on one-year deals with Michael Kopech ($5.2 million) and Brusdar Graterol ($2.8 million).

• The Chicago White Sox signed first baseman Andrew Vaughn for $5.85 million. He batted .246 last season with 19 home runs, 70 RBIs and tied a career high with 30 doubles.

For players failing to reach agreements, including new Chicago Cubs outfielder Kyle Tucker and Boston Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran, hearings will be scheduled before three-person panels from Jan. 27 through Feb. 14 at St. Petersburg, Florida.

Players went 9-6 in hearings last winter, leading teams with a 353-266 advantage since arbitration started in 1974. The 15 hearings were down from 19 last year, when the clubs won 13, but up from 13 in 2022, when teams won nine. Players had a winning record for the first time since going 6-4 in 2019.

A total of 169 players were eligible for arbitration after the November deadline for teams to tender 2025 contracts to unsigned players on their 40-man rosters, down from 238 at the start of the prior week.

All agreements for arbitration-eligible players are guaranteed but deals that went to panel decisions are not.

San Francisco third baseman J.D. Davis and Mets right-hander Phil Bickford were released after winning their cases last year.

Davis received $1,112,903. in termination pay rather than a $6.9 million salary and Bickford got $217,742 rather than the $900,000. Davis then signed a $2.5 million deal with Oakland and Bickford got a deal with the Yankees that paid $1.1 million while in the major leagues and $180,000 while in the minors.

ESPN's Alden Gonzalez, The Associated Press and Field Level Media contributed to this report.

"It wasn't bad enough, probably, for me to go down in the way that I did. I probably could have carried on and allowed the ref to pull it back afterwards if he thought there was foul play, but in that moment, whether my judgement was clouded or not, I felt like I was hit head on head, so I went down.

"I was completely entitled to. I didn't cheat the system. I didn't dive. By the letter of the law, and for our own safety, if there's a head collision, you're allowed to go down and the ref can review it."

Northampton snatched a 35-34 success against the Premiership leaders through Fin Smith's penalty with the last kick of the game.

Lawrence, 25, did not have a head injury assessment because the collision did not merit medical intervention according to data collected on the sidelines.

"I don't think I was cheating," he added.

"People say I brought the game into disrepute. I would argue that I didn't. I just went by the letter of the law. But I do apologise for that because, at the end of the day, there are a lot of kids that look up to us as players and I don't want people to think that I'm a cheat or a diver.

"I want people to play the game and enjoy it and play it in the right spirit so, like I said, I apologise for my actions in that moment. I'll leave the referee to decide if there's head contact in the future."

Lawrence was seen smiling in the aftermath when team-mate Finn Russell lined up the resulting penalty as the Franklin's Gardens crowd jeered.

"In terms of my reactions during the game, I do smile after I make a mistake," he said.

"It's something I have done my whole career. It's just my way of getting over it and moving on to the next thing. There was no wry smile or a wink or whatever people seem to think they saw.

"That's just me cracking on and getting on with the next thing. I'm probably just talking to the next person on the field next to me and making a joke at some point because, at the end of the day, I'm trying to get over it and get on to the next thing."

Barcelona vice president Juli Guiu has stepped down over discrepancies relating to the club's new deal with Nike, sources have confirmed to ESPN.

Barça confirmed Guiu's resignation in a short statement on Thursday.

"Barcelona inform that Guiu has presented his irrevocable resignation as vice president for personal reasons," the club said.

"We would like to thank him for his services and dedication to the institution since joining the board of directors in 2021, during which time he has been a key player in the agreements with the club's major partners in recent years."

Sources explained to ESPN that Guiu's decision came on the back of Barça's new multi-year agreement with Nike, which is worth over 100m ($103m) a year.

Guiu disagreed with some of the terms of the deal, ended up being sidelined in the negotiations and also protested the amount of commission paid to the agent Darren Dein, who acted as an intermediary between Barça and Nike.

Barça announced the deal with long-term partner Nike in November, with president Joan Laporta claiming it is the biggest of its kind in football.

The agreement was ratified by members at an emergency meeting called in December and has helped improve the club's financial situation.

Guiu was one of four vice presidents and was in charge of marketing.

During his time at the club he played a key role in bringing several new sponsors on board, including Spotify, who are Barça's main sponsor and have also bought the naming rights to Camp Nou.

His resignation comes as off field issues continue to make headlines at Barça, with Spain's sports ministry the Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD) this week allowing temporary player registrations for Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor.

The CSD's decision goes against ruling made by LaLiga and the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), which said Barça had missed a deadline to prove they were compliant with financial fair play regulations (FFP) and could not register players for a second time in the same season.

The decision has been met with incredulity by LaLiga sides, with Atlético Madrid and Las Palmas condemning the ruling, but sources said the saga has nothing to do with Guiu's departure.

LOS ANGELES -- Amid wildfires raging through Southern California, both Los Angeles football teams held outdoor practices Thursday as they prepare for the first round of the playoffs this weekend.

Smoke was visible from the field at the Rams team facility in Woodland Hills, California, and many Chargers players wore masks.

The Rams are scheduled to host the Minnesota Vikings at SoFi Stadium at 8 p.m. Monday in Inglewood, California. On Wednesday, the NFL said it's continuing to prepare for the game at SoFi Stadium, but if there's a need to move it because of the fires, it will be played Monday night at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

"I am expecting the game to be in SoFi," Rams coach Sean McVay said. "We're operating with the full expectation that that's where we're going to play."

McVay said while players, coaches and staff have been affected by the fires, "fortunately to my knowledge, nobody has been injured. And for that we're grateful."

"It's one of those deals that almost doesn't feel real, but it certainly is real to the people that are affected," McVay said. "Praying that as many people are OK. And you just see the amount of people that are affected and it's one of those deals that it gives you perspective, and so hopefully you get this stuff under control."

A fire broke out Thursday in the Calabasas/Hidden Hills area, neighborhoods that are home to several Rams players and coaches. The team canceled its player media availability so everybody could go home quickly.

McVay said the Rams are monitoring air quality at their practice facility. If needed, the team has explored the possibility of moving practice to SoFi Stadium, but McVay said he doesn't expect to get to that point.

Defensive lineman Harrison Phillips, the Vikings' player representative to the NFLPA, said the league should be conscious of the optics of playing the game in Los Angeles, juxtaposing it with the NBA postponing the Lakers' game against the Hornets scheduled for Thursday night in downtown Los Angeles. Phillips noted that the Lakers play in an indoor facility, and SoFi is an open-air stadium.

"When a hurricane hits a certain location, or if a tornado came through and devastated a community, you want to be very cautious of the optics.," he said. "And again, I strictly say this from a human standpoint, not as a Minnesota Viking who wants a better competitive advantage. That's not where it's coming from."

Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell, who is from the San Diego area, said he reached out to McVay to show support.

"There's really no words you can say other than you're thinking about them, praying for them, and just hoping that things start to turn here," O'Connell said.

The Chargers will play the Texans in Houston on Saturday at 4:30 ET and held their final practice Thursday ahead of the game. The scene was dystopian at the Chargers facility in El Segundo: The skies were burnt orange, ashes flew around the field and many players, including outside linebacker Khalil Mack, tackle Joe Alt and quarterback Taylor Heinicke, wore masks.

The Chargers do not have an indoor practice facility. Coach Jim Harbaugh said he followed the suggestions of "experts" in altering practice, so players were outside for roughly 45 minutes, which is half the typical time they practice outside. Harbaugh said they didn't consider flying to Houston early and practicing there.

"Our guys did a great job with improvising and adjusting," he said. "And really, we were able to get as close as we possibly could to what a normal practice would look like."

Harbaugh also said that his daughter Grace evacuated from her home in the Hollywood area Wednesday night and is staying with him.

Outside linebacker Joey Bosa said he lives close to an evacuation zone and his fiancée and dog went to Houston early. Bosa said he slept with his phone notifications on loud Wednesday night in case he would have to evacuate.

"Hoping when I get back to LA, I have a house to go to," Bosa said.

Information from ESPN's Kevin Seifert was used in this report.