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Cuban charged WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal regulators have charged Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban with insider trading for allegedly using confidential information on a stock sale to avoid more than $750,000 in losses. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit against Cuban on Monday in federal court in Dallas. The agency says that in June 2004, Cuban was invited to get in on the coming stock offering by Mamma.com Inc. after he agreed to keep the information private. The SEC says Cuban knew the shares would be sold below the current market price, and a few hours after receiving the information, told his broker to sell all shares in the search engine company. Three straight HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — Nothing could stop Jimmie Johnson’s drive into the NASCAR record books. Not even a final, furious push by Carl Edwards. Edwards led a race-high 157 laps, ran out of gas as he crossed the finish line, but still won Sunday’s season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Still, his series-high ninth win of the year wasn’t enough to wrest away the Sprint Cup title. Johnson locked up his third consecutive championship with a solid 15th-place run, beating Edwards by 69 points to join Cale Yarborough as the only drivers in NASCAR history to win three straight titles. Yarborough won his three titles 30 years ago, under a different scoring system and in a very different NASCAR. He accomplished his feat when drivers scraped together the cash they needed to race, and the champion was the guy on top at the end of a long grueling season. Johnson’s titles have been won in the glitzy new Chase to the championship format, where the best 12 drivers compete over a 10-race sprint to the title. On Saturday, Edwards won the season-ending Ford 300, but came up 21 points short in his attempt to overtake Clint Bowyer for the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship. Still perfect By The Associated Press The Jacksonville Jaguars came off the field at halftime thrilled with a 14-3 lead over the undefeated Tennessee Titans. Playing a team that had won nine straight, though, called for more than a half’s worth of effort. Kerry Collins threw three touchdown passes, Albert Haynesworth dominated defensively again and the visiting Titans improved to 10-0 with a 24-14 victory over the Jaguars on Sunday. “They were definitely turning their dials up a little bit and we didn’t match it,” Jaguars quarterback David Garrard said. “That’s unfortunate because we had a perfect opportunity. We have to do a lot better than that, especially when the game’s on the line.” Elsewhere, Philadelphia and Cincinnati struggled to a 13-13 tie, the NFL’s first in six years, and in other NFL games, it was: Dallas 14, Washington 10; Pittsburgh 11, San Diego 10; Arizona 26, Seattle 20; the New York Giants 30, Baltimore 10; Carolina 31, Detroit 22; Tampa Bay 19, Minnesota 13; Denver 24, Atlanta 20; Indianapolis 33, Houston 27; Green Bay 37, Chicago 3; Miami 17, Oakland 15; New Orleans 30, Kansas City 20; San Francisco 35, St. Louis 16. COLLEGE FOOTBALL NEW YORK (AP) — Miami stormed into the Top 25 on Sunday for the first time in more than two years. Having won five straight games, the Hurricanes entered The Associated Press poll at No. 23. It was an otherwise remarkably stable week as the top 16 held their places from last week. No. 1 Alabama received 42 first-place votes and 1,601 points. No. 2 Texas Tech received 21 first-place votes and 1,574 points. Florida, coming off a 56-6 victory against South Carolina, took two first-place votes away from Alabama and received 1,476 points. Texas was No. 4, followed by Oklahoma, Southern California and Penn State. Texas Tech plays at Oklahoma on Saturday in a game that could decide the Big 12 South title and clear up the national championship race if the Red Raiders win. Unbeaten Utah was eighth and undefeated Boise State was ninth. The Utes try to complete a perfect regular season Saturday against in-state rival and No. 16 BYU. Ohio State was 10th. Miami went 21 straight weeks at No. 1 from 2001-02, winning the ’01 national title — its fifth overall — and losing the championship game after the ’02 season to Ohio State in overtime. But the Hurricanes hit hard times the previous two seasons and had been missing from the last 41 polls. The Hurricanes last took the field as a ranked team was Sept. 16, 2006 against Louisville. STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Penn State coach Joe Paterno may have hip replacement surgery following the regular season. After a 34-7 win Saturday over Indiana, the 81-year-old coach said he would not be on the sidelines for next week’s season finale against No. 15 Michigan State. The No. 7 Nittany Lions can go to the Rose Bowl if they beat the Spartans. Paterno’s contract runs out this season, and he and university president Graham Spanier have delayed talks about his future until after the season ends. They also have said a man who has had his job a record 43 years doesn’t need something in writing to stay on the job. Paterno brushed off a question that the next game might be his final one at Beaver Stadium. NEW YORK (AP) — It’s not exactly at the top of his agenda, but President-elect Barack Obama says there should be a college football playoff to determine a national champion. In fact, he knows exactly what he wants — an eight-team playoff. In an interview with “60 Minutes,” Obama addresses a subject college football fans have debated for many years, and says he will use his influence to create such a system. According to Obama’s proposed system, eight teams would play over three rounds to settle the national champion. PRO FOOTBALL PITTSBURGH (AP) — Steelers chairman Dan Rooney and his son will likely buy a controlling interest in the team from Rooney’s four brothers. Dan Rooney was the only person interested in buying the team, which the brothers want to see remain in the family, according to Art Rooney Jr. Dan Rooney declined to comment on Saturday. A message left with his son, team president Art Rooney II, was not immediately returned. Art Rooney Jr. would not confirm that he and brothers Patrick, Timothy and John Rooney would get about $750 million after business debt is subtracted. That was the figure the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported on its Web site Friday night in a story about the probable deal. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported a price of $800 million. Art Rooney Jr. was reluctant to name a price, saying it could change. The team has been estimated to be worth as much as $1.2 billion. Each brother owns 16 percent of the team, adding up to 80 percent, with another Pittsburgh family, the McGinleys, owning 20 percent. Those shares are not being sold. The Rooneys’ father, Hall of Famer Art Rooney Sr., bought the franchise in 1933 for $2,500.