DENVER (AP) — A federal appeals court on Friday temporarily halted a court order that would have granted thousands of athletes who left college after last season an extra year of eligibility — a key ruling that came only eight days before football season’s opening kickoff.The lawsuit was filed by players who graduated high school in 2022, whose college eligibility ended last season and who were not included in the NCAA’s controversial new rule that grants most players five years of eligibility beginning next season.After winning a ruling in district court last month, many of those players were trying to figure out how to return to their former schools to play another year. TCU and North Carolina play in Dublin next Saturday, one of eight games on the opening day schedule for major college football.This 2-1 ruling from a panel of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver puts that on hold until the appeal can be heard in total. It could — but is not guaranteed to — tamp down the chaos from a series of rulings in courts around the country that had cleared the way for players in multiple sports to come back. The NCAA includes some 1,200 member schools and nearly a half-million athletes in all.