For Georgia QB Carson Beck, being boring isn’t a bad thing
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Chris Low, ESPN Senior Writer
ATHENS, Ga. — Nobody has ever accused Georgia quarterback Carson Beck of going full “Tin Cup” and playing with go-for-broke style on the football field.
If anything, he prides himself on being boring. Yes, boring.
“If you watch guys like Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and some of the greats, during those moments when you just couldn’t stop them, it’s because they’re always in the right place with the ball at the right time,” Beck said. “Sometimes it’s boring to watch, but it wins football games.
“I mean, obviously, it’s cool to do something spectacular, but I’m out there to win. And when you have the kind of talent I have around me at the University of Georgia, it’s about moving the ball down the field, getting first downs and throwing touchdowns. That’s the name of the game, and if it’s boring, I’ll take it.”
And yet, there is a little gunslinger in Beck, whose competitive fires burn deep but not always outwardly. His lifelong friend, Brendon Quinn, said Beck is hardly afraid to “go for the green” when the time is right.
Case in point: They were playing golf at Quinn’s home course, Queen’s Harbour Yacht and Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida, a few years ago and came to the 17th hole, a 525-yard, par-5 dogleg left with a large water hazard about 260 yards from the tee box.
Beck casually pulled out his driver. He might as well have been standing in the pocket, getting ready to deliver a strike on a crossing route as he addressed his ball.
“It’s gotta be 300 yards to clear the water,” Quinn told Beck.
Beck nodded and replied, “I know, but I’m going to hit driver and don’t really care where it goes.”
The ball shot off Beck’s club and disappeared.
“We’re all thinking it was a bad shot, that there’s no way it got over,” Quinn said. “Then we get on the other side of the water, and there it is sitting in the middle of the fairway, probably 310 yards. I’m like, ‘There’s literally no way he hit that ball,’ and he was like he always is — calm.
“Nothing ever gets to him, good or bad.”
For the record, Beck birdied the hole. He hit a 7-iron into the green and two-putted.
Once again, ho-hum. Fairways and greens. First downs and touchdowns.
“Carson’s been that person since he got here,” Georgia senior linebacker Smael Mondon Jr. said. “He’s always chill, always calm, always in control. The main thing is that he has confidence in himself, and he had that same confidence even before he played [here], before the whole world got to see him do it.”
EVEN FOR BECK, it’s surreal how much his world has changed in less than a year. He was the proverbial mop-up quarterback his first three seasons on the Georgia campus and attempted just 58 passes. He watched from the sideline as Stetson Bennett led the Bulldogs to back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022.
In August, when preseason camp began, Beck still hadn’t been named the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback, as he was competing for the job with Brock Vandagriff and Gunner Stockton.
“It was assumed that I was going to be the starter, but nothing was set in stone,” Beck said. “My only focus was competing every day. I still have that same mindset, but it’s more a competing-against-myself type of thing now. How can I be better so that everybody else around me is better?
“Respect is always earned, and trust is always earned. And for me, to be able to do that my first season as a starter, to earn the respect and have the trust of my teammates, was everything.”
As Georgia prepares for its spring game Saturday at Sanford Stadium, Beck has gone from fighting to be the guy who replaces Bennett eight months ago to one of the preseason favorites to win the Heisman Trophy and potentially the top quarterback taken in the 2025 NFL draft.
One NFL director of college scouting told ESPN that the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Beck was probably the No. 1 quarterback prospect at this point.
“He has all the tools — size, the athletic ability to operate in or out of the pocket, a big arm, can drive the ball into tight windows or throw with touch,” the scout said. “He also got better throughout the year.”
Beck passed for 3,941 yards last season, the third most of any FBS quarterback. He threw 24 touchdown passes and just six interceptions and also rushed for four touchdowns. His 72.4 completion percentage was a school record. He could have entered the NFL draft this year, but announced in mid-December that he was returning to Georgia.
“There was more I wanted to do here, more that this team can accomplish,” Beck said. “I’d worked hard to get to this point and waited my turn. I didn’t leave earlier when maybe I had chances to transfer, so I sure wasn’t going to leave now.”
His patience is rare in today’s college game, especially at the quarterback position, as more than 50% of last year’s FBS starters had transferred at least once in their careers. As an early enrollee in 2020, Beck was part of a Georgia quarterback room that included USC transfer JT Daniels, Wake Forest transfer Jamie Newman, junior college transfer Bennett and redshirt freshman D’Wan Mathis. Through it all, Beck remained confident his time would come, and when it did, he knew he would be ready.
“If you’re scared of competition at Georgia, then you’re at the wrong place,” Beck said.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart has pointed out several times that Beck was actually ahead of Bennett on the depth chart entering the 2021 season, when Daniels opened as the starter against Clemson. But when Daniels suffered an oblique injury, the Bulldogs turned to Bennett and not Beck to start against UAB. Bennett threw five touchdown passes and the rest, as they say, is history.
“Even then, Carson never really flinched,” Quinn said. “Yeah, he wanted to play and felt like he was good enough to play, but I’ve never known him to run from a challenge, and he wasn’t going to then.”
Similarly, Beck never flinched last season in taking over for Bennett and leading the Bulldogs to their third straight unbeaten regular season. Smart acknowledged the staff probably tried to protect him too much at the beginning of the season, but it soon became obvious Beck had everything he needed, mentally and physically, to take on whatever load offensive coordinator Mike Bobo wanted to place on him. At that point, the training wheels came off, which was never more apparent than the 27-20 comeback win over Auburn in Week 5.
In his first road start, Beck passed for 236 yards in the second half and threw the winning touchdown to Brock Bowers, all after the Bulldogs’ first possession of the second half ended in a fumble. Late in the fourth quarter, they had managed just 180 total yards before Beck led them on a tying, 98-yard touchdown drive.
“You’ve got to find calm in the chaos because, I mean, it can get chaotic out there, especially on the road,” Beck said.
Smart admitted it was difficult at times to gauge Beck’s inner fire because he is so cool and collected. Smart refers to Beck as “Mr. Mellow” because of his uncanny ability to never get rattled.
“He’s almost flatlined out there, non-emotional to the point that sometimes it drives me nuts because I’m the exact opposite,” Smart said. “Me and Bobo are strung so tightly as high school coaches’ kids, and then there’s this guy that throws touchdowns, throws an interception, and it’s the same.
“But it’s also his strength because when he does something wrong in a game, he’s not affected by it. He has great composure. You don’t want to blitz this guy because he just steps up and throws. He’s not afraid of anything. So many quarterbacks are not good because they’re worried about everything, like an emotional roller coaster.
“With Carson, sometimes I don’t know if his heart is beating.”
But just because Beck personifies “chill,” that doesn’t mean he’s adverse to mixing it up physically. Of all the winning plays Beck made last season for the Bulldogs, one that remains etched in Smart’s mind is a tackle.
Beck threw an interception in the fourth quarter of Georgia’s 37-20 win over Vanderbilt, and the Commodores’ CJ Taylor was racing down the left sideline for what looked to be an easy touchdown. Out of nowhere, Beck came flying in with a bone-jarring shoulder tackle to knock Taylor out of bounds at the 1-yard line and also knock the Vandy defender out of the game.
“I mean, he knocks the living dogs— out of the guy,” Smart said. “That’s Carson and a big reason the guys in the locker room love him.”
BECK IS THE antithesis of showy on the football field. That holds true off it as well, although he did treat himself this offseason to a new Lamborghini thanks to some lucrative NIL deals.
With his newfound fame, he has a hard time going anywhere in public without being besieged by autograph seekers, fans wanting pictures or simply people wanting to hang out with Georgia’s newest star quarterback. Beck joked that his DoorDash bill has increased exponentially.
“It’s different, but I’m always going to sign or take a picture if someone wants to,” Beck said. “It’s part of being a quarterback in the SEC. I remind myself of that, that a lot of people would love to be in this position.”
Beck, 21, has been able to insulate himself with help from some longtime friends from the Jacksonville area. None of his four roommates, including Quinn, play football. Quinn moved to Athens in February and is an online student at Florida, Georgia’s bitter rival. The two have known each other since they were toddlers, when their parents were neighbors. Two other close friends, Cole Macklin and Zach Postlethwait, are set to move in for Beck’s final season. Postlethwait is finishing up school at Florida State.
Quinn grew up a Florida fan, but wore Georgia gear at last year’s game and will again this year. But after that, he’s joked with Beck that he’s burning his Georgia apparel.
“It’s cool to live with guys you’ve known pretty much your whole life,” Beck said. “They know you in a way that you’re not just a football player, guys you can confide in. There’s a point where it’s too much football and you need time with different people.”
One of their escapes is golf, something Beck really got into around the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. But Quinn can’t remember a sport (or anything, for that matter) that Beck didn’t excel at when they were growing up.
Beck initially committed to play baseball at Florida as a sophomore in high school. He was a pitcher with a big-time arm, but realized his future was in football.
“I guess baseball sort of got boring,” Beck said, flashing a sheepish smile.
He later committed to Alabama for football before ultimately landing with Georgia despite Florida making another strong push.
“I couldn’t say no to Kirby Smart and a chance to play for a Georgia program I knew was on the verge of big things,” Beck said.
Quinn was convinced his friend also was on the verge of big things. They’ve competed against or with each other in everything from youth baseball to video games. Quinn moved to Colorado for six years when he was 10, but the two quickly reconnected when Quinn returned to Florida.
And even as they grew older, Quinn said Beck was still intent on making everything a competition. By the time Beck enrolled at Georgia, Quinn had become proficient at solving a Rubik’s Cube in less than a minute. Within a couple of weeks, he and Beck were having competitions to see who could solve one faster.
“He got me the majority of time, but I held my own,” Quinn said. “That just shows you how smart he is and how quickly he processes things, qualities all the great quarterbacks have.”
Beck flashed that greatness often last season and was at his best against the best teams. He was 5-1 against top-20 opponents with a 73.9 completion percentage, 1,693 passing yards, 13 touchdowns and just two interceptions.
Former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray, the SEC’s leader in career passing yards (13,166) and touchdown passes (121), has been high on Beck since he stepped on campus. Murray remembers a conversation he had with Bobo, also a former Georgia quarterback, when Bobo returned to the program as an analyst in 2022.
“This kid is the real deal. He throws the ball so effortlessly,” Bobo told Murray.
Murray didn’t need to be sold.
“Oh, I know. When he gets his chance, he’s going to be a superstar,” Murray, a college football analyst for ESPN, responded.
The best news for Georgia fans, Murray said, is there’s a lot more out there for Beck, who had the No. 4 passing grade among all FBS quarterbacks last season by Pro Football Focus. The top two were Bo Nix and Jayden Daniels.
Murray heard some of the frustration from Georgia fans early last season that Beck didn’t take enough shots downfield and seemed content to work the shorter routes.
“But his understanding of how to play the position of quarterback was so impressive,” Murray said, “especially as a first-year starter, and being savvy enough to take the checkdown, make the shorter throws and not hang on and hang on until all hell breaks loose.
“At the same time, you can’t play the quarterback position if you’re afraid to make mistakes. You have to take chances, smart chances, calculated chances at certain times. That comes from experience, and I think you’ll see Carson continue to take completions, understand he’s got a great team around him, but also be a little riskier at certain points of the game and create more explosive plays.”
Beck has heard the narrative that he will have to do even more this season, especially with the loss of his top target (tight end Bowers), three of the team’s top four pass-catchers and the Bulldogs’ top two rushers from a year ago.
Granted, there’s no replacing an automatic first down like Bowers, but Beck is eager to hit the field Aug. 31 against Clemson with his new supporting cast. He thinks transfer receivers Dominic Lovett and Rara Thomas will be even better in their second seasons in the system, and even though Bowers is headed to the NFL, there won’t be any shortage of talent at the tight end position with Oscar Delp, Lawson Luckie and Stanford transfer Ben Yurosek. Moreover, this could be one of Smart’s best offensive lines at Georgia.
“All I can tell you is what I’ve seen this spring, and I’m super excited about what these guys are going to bring to the table, especially in our second year together with Coach Bobo,” Beck said. “Brock Bowers may not be out there, but how many Brock Bowers are out there, period.”
Beck still winces at the mention of the Bulldogs’ loss to Alabama in the SEC championship game last season, which kept Georgia from pursuing a historic third straight national title. He refused to watch any of the College Football Playoff games. The team flew back to Athens after the 63-3 dismantling of Florida State in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Dec. 30, and Beck was back home in Jacksonville by New Year’s Day.
He was in no mood to watch football. He even left a friend’s house because they were all watching the playoff games. He returned to his house, fell asleep and said he didn’t even look at social media for updates.
“Just couldn’t do it,” Beck said. “Didn’t care. Didn’t want to watch. I was so mad. I felt like we should have been there. We didn’t play our best game and put it in the committee’s hands. I was pissed off. We all were, and that’s the way we’ve gone about our business ever since.”
Amid all the talk following the loss to Alabama about whether Beck would turn pro, plus chatter about his new Lamborghini and the NIL money he was raking in, Beck never lost sight of why he came to Georgia in the first place.
Sure, the perks are nice, but winning is even better.
“I’m pretty miserable when I lose at anything,” Beck said.
Quinn has seen all sides of Beck for the better part of the past two decades. He hears the wide range of adjectives to describe his buddy — mellow, ultracompetitive, boring, low key, unflappable — and adds his own.
Resolute.
“There’s a lot going on around Carson right now, a lot he has to deal with,” Quinn said. “People talk about the Lamborghini, his NIL deals, all that outside stuff. Carson’s here to play football. He’s not here for anything else.
“He wants to win a national championship, have a chance to go to the NFL and maybe win a Heisman Trophy. Those are his goals, and I’d say in that order.”
Sports
‘I didn’t know Kyle Tucker spoke’: Why the ‘silent assassin’ could be MLB’s next $400 million star
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Jesse Rogers
TEN YEARS AGO in Tampa, Kyle Tucker was on the verge of a special achievement: breaking Plant High School’s home run record, held by his brother Preston, then a rookie with the Houston Astros.
Fans and scouts lined the fences at Wade Boggs Field to watch the latest star — as well as pitching prospect Jake Woodford — at a school known for churning out baseball talent. But Tucker hadn’t had a hit in three games and was struggling — at least by his standards — according to his coach, Dennis Braun.
“The entire grass was full from dugout to dugout with scouts, which I’ve never seen before,” Braun recalled from his office. “Kyle hadn’t had a hit in like three games then he nubs a ball back to the pitcher and he didn’t make it to first base.”
Braun — as old-school as they come — wanted to pull Tucker for the lack of hustle, but he also didn’t want to risk hurting his player’s reputation with scouts watching.
“I’m like, ‘son of a b—-,’ but I let him play,” Braun said.
Instead, Braun delivered his message in private after the game, telling Tucker to always run out every ball and to just relax and play his game no matter the stakes.
Message received. In the next game, Tucker went 4-for-4 with two home runs, finishing the season with 31 home runs, breaking his brother’s career mark. Braun understood then what the rest of the baseball world has learned in the years since as Tucker made his ascent from south Florida prep star to a big league outfielder projected to earn $300-$400 million in free agency next offseason.
“Hands down, his sixth tool is he’s both mentally and physically the toughest kid I’ve ever seen,” Braun stated. “It’s not even close.”
That’s saying something, considering who else has walked the halls at Plant High. The Panthers play their home games on a field named after a Hall of Fame third baseman who is still their most famous alum, but they have also produced major leaguers Pete Alonso, Mychal Givens, Woodford, Corey Brown and Darren Clarke along with 2024 first-round pick Jac Caglianone and the Tucker brothers.
The younger Tucker graduated from Plant with the best high school career of them all, culminating in being selected by the Astros with the No. 5 pick in the 2015 MLB draft. Since then, he has improved every year, including a monster half-season in 2024 in which he produced 4.7 fWAR despite being limited to just 78 games because of a shin injury.
After being dealt to Chicago in a blockbuster trade during the offseason, the Cubs hope Tucker can lead them to the playoffs for the first time in a full season since 2018 before he hits free agency. His high school coach believes Tucker — and his sweet swing — will deliver no matter the pressure, just as he always has.
“They started nicknaming him Ted Williams,” Braun said. “That stuck for a while.”
UNLIKE THE HEADLINING stars of recent free agent classes — Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto — Tucker is not a household name. Some of that comes from his quiet personality as you won’t find him bat-flipping or making waves with his postgame comments, but his former teammates insist there is a funny, loose side the public has rarely seen.
“Last year at spring training people got a glimpse of it,” Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena said with a smile. “He got miked up for a whole day. All the fans kept saying, ‘I didn’t know Kyle Tucker spoke.’ But to us it was normal. He was our DJ. He’s very outgoing. He’s funny. I feel like the fans will enjoy that side of him.”
Alonso — high school teammates with Tucker for two seasons — likens his personality to his game. Steady and consistent, from his prep days into his major league career.
“Honestly, he’s the same guy,” Alonso said after a recent spring training game. “He hasn’t changed a bit. I mean, he keeps the game simple. He’s just got this even-keel emotion about him both on and off the field.”
Tucker is aware of his reputation but says he does speak up when he needs to — even if he prefers to let his game do the talking.
“I feel like people think I’m pretty quiet and reserved, which I guess I am, but people probably think I’m more [reserved] than I actually am,” Tucker said recently. “I’m decently outgoing.”
Tucker also has been able to fly under the radar while putting up MVP-level numbers during his career because of all the talent around him. During his seven seasons with the Astros, he played for loaded teams, with stars like Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa and Yordan Alvarez getting most of the spotlight.
That could change with his new team this year as Tucker now enters the season as undoubtedly the best hitter in his own lineup. But there’s always been a time when Tucker was the center of attention, whether as a prep sensation drawing crowds to a Florida high school or as one of the most coveted players in the majors entering his platform season: It’s whenever he unleashes his swing at a baseball.
“It’s God-given talent,” Yordan Alvarez said through Houston’s team interpreter. “It’s a natural swing. … It hurts me that I’m not going to be sharing time with him. When he’s on a hot streak I think he’s one of the top hitters in baseball.”
IN AN ERA of constant mechanical overhauls to even the game’s best hitters, Tucker’s swing looks just as it did when he was breaking records in high school.
“Why would you mess with Ted Williams?” Braun said with a half-serious laugh, crediting the lack of rotation of his back foot that allows Tucker to stay in the zone longer than most hitters and evokes comparisons to the Splendid Splinter.
The praise of the swing from Tucker’s high school coach is echoed by others who work with elite hitters around the sport.
“It’s only unique in some of the bat shapes he gets in early,” said Troy Snitker, his former hitting coach with the Astros. “The swing itself is elite. It may look a little different in the way he slots the bat and some of the wrist angles and the flatness of his bat but after that it’s an elite swing.”
Tucker’s new hitting coach with the Cubs, Dustin Kelly, agrees with his American League counterpart: “The length that he has, the way he sets [the bat] flatter and creates a ton of rotation. So impressive.”
The effectiveness of Tucker’s swing goes beyond the aesthetic qualities that leave coaches and teammates raving. When he steps to the plate, the quiet, mild-mannered Tucker transforms into something else.
“What makes Kyle Tucker such a great hitter goes beyond the mechanics,” Pena said. “When he steps up to the plate he believes that he’s the greatest hitter on earth. … He’s a player that’s going to go in there, beat you and go home, play some video games, show up the next day and beat you again and keep doing it.
“He’s a silent assassin.”
Tucker’s biggest improvement over the last few seasons has come as much from understanding when not to swing as when to try to drive a pitch. In 2021, his walk rate was just 9.4% — 59th among qualified hitters. It has jumped in every season since, rising all the way to 16.5% last season — third in the majors, behind only Judge and Soto.
“The last couple of years I really tried to hone in on not chasing and trying to just control the strike zone better,” Tucker said. “Because you can be a drastically different player if you change nothing else but just swinging at strikes and not balls. I think I’ve done a better job at that.”
AS HIS ABILITY to lay off of pitches has moved into the class of Judge and Soto, so has Tucker’s potential offseason payday. He nearly broke the arbitration system over the winter as it couldn’t account for the massive numbers he put up in only half a season last year. Tucker and the Cubs finally settled on a contract worth $16.5 million for 2025. If he picks up where he left off, he’ll be due another huge raise when he hits free agency. He and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. appear to be the top free agents in next winter’s class, both likely to command mid-nine-figure deals.
“The numbers are crazy these days but if he has a Tucker-like year, how can he not command $400 million or more?” one executive of a small-market team said. “I’m not saying this either way, but some people believe he’s better than Soto.”
Tucker will turn 29 next winter while Soto signed with the Mets two months after turning 26, so the odds of his deal approaching Soto’s record $765 million contract are nonexistent. Still, those who have shared a dugout with Tucker point to his all-around ability as a difference-maker.
“He was the complete player,” said A.J. Hinch, who managed Tucker in Houston from 2017 to 2019. “He could come up and change the game in a few different ways. On a team that was pretty talented, he still stood out.”
During his time with the Astros, Tucker showed his diverse skill set in making three All-Star teams, winning both a Silver Slugger and a Gold Glove, twice belting 30 home runs, stealing 30 bases in 2023 and becoming one of the sport’s elite players.
“I think him and Manny Machado play the game so similarly because the game’s easy for those guys,” Alonso said. “It’s very fluid, very relaxed, because for them it’s just natural. Things came natural [to Tucker] and he just has one of those swings that it plays and it’s always played.
“He’s one of the best in the game, and the only thing that’s going to change about him is his contractual situation, not his play, not his attitude towards the game. He’s just like he was back then.”
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Chris Low
By this time in any postseason, talent and depth typically rise to the top.
Now that we’re down to the Sweet 16 in our 2025 mock NCAA football tournament, that’s apparent with 11 of the 16 teams coming from either the Big Ten or SEC.
All four No. 1 seeds are still alive, and No. 12 seed Memphis has engineered two upsets to get this far. Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik, LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier and BYU linebacker Isaiah Glasker all played starring roles in the first two rounds, and Ryan Silverfield has Memphis riding an eight-game winning streak.
To recap, the original seeds were based to a large degree on ESPN’s latest SP+ projections entering the 2025 season, although seeds are a moot point as we tee it back up.
Time to finish the tournament. And the best news? There’s no blaming anything on a committee.
Midwest Regional
Semifinals
(1) Ohio State 28, (5) BYU 23: How do you cover Buckeyes receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate? It’s a question teams asked all season. The Cougars do their best to keep Smith from torching them, but Tate does most of the damage with eight catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns.
(3) Tennessee 34, (2) Oregon 32: The Vols get back to their explosive ways on offense in 2025 with quarterback Nico Iamaleava making a big jump in his third year on campus. Oregon matches that explosiveness with Evan Stewart pulling in two acrobatic catches, leading to a late touchdown. The Ducks get the ball back, but an Arion Carter sack seals the game for Tennessee.
Regional final
(1) Ohio State 31, (3) Tennessee 21: The Vols get another shot at the Buckeyes after getting blown out in Columbus last season in the first round of the playoff. This game is much closer, and Tim Banks’ Tennessee defense holds up most of the way. But the same guy who wreaked havoc on the Vols a year ago does it again. Smith has two of his three touchdown catches in the second half to lead Ohio State to its 10th straight win.
How we got here
First round
(1) Ohio State over (16) Boston College
(2) Oregon over (15) UCF
(3) Tennessee over (14) Pittsburgh
(4) South Carolina over (13) North Carolina
(5) BYU over (12) Colorado
(11) Kentucky over (6) Louisville
(7) TCU over Georgia Tech
(9) Arkansas over (8) Boise State
Second round
(1) Ohio State over (9) Arkansas
(2) Oregon over (7) TCU
(3) Tennessee over (11) Kentucky
(5) BYU over (4) South Carolina
South Regional
Semifinals
(5) Illinois 27, (1) Texas 24: The shocker of the tournament so far, but don’t tell that to Illinois coach Bret Bielema. In his fifth season at Illinois, he had a good feeling about this team all along. The Illini returned 18 starters from their bowl team a year ago, and the two stars on defense, outside linebacker Gabe Jacas and cornerback Xavier Scott, play like stars against a Texas offense that never finds any rhythm.
(2) Notre Dame 31, (3) Miami 20: The infamous “Catholics vs. Convicts” T-shirts are reintroduced to the college football world, and that’s what everybody is talking about in the buildup to this game. Notre Dame cornerback Leonard Moore steals the show with interceptions in each half, the final one leading to the clinching touchdown for the Irish.
Regional final
(2) Notre Dame 28, (5) Illinois 21: Jeremiyah Love’s development and toughness epitomized Notre Dame’s run to the semifinals last year. He’s even more of a factor this year, and his ability to make big plays and earn the tough yards against a stout Illinois defense is the difference in this Elite Eight matchup. Love’s tackle-breaking 8-yard touchdown run gives the Irish the lead for good and caps a 138-yard rushing night.
How we got here
First round
(1) Texas over (16) Maryland
(2) Notre Dame over (15) California
(3) Miami over (14) Kansas
(4) Florida over (13) James Madison
(5) Illinois over (12) N.C. State
(11) Virginia Tech over (6) Iowa
(7) USC over (10) Minnesota
(8) Texas Tech over (9) Utah
Second round
(1) Texas over (8) Texas Tech
(2) Notre Dame over (7) USC
(3) Miami over (6) Virginia Tech
(5) Illinois over (4) Florida
East Regional
Semifinals
(1) Penn State 35, (12) Memphis 17: Memphis’ improbable run to the Sweet 16 comes to a crushing end as Penn State builds a 21-3 lead, then tees off defensively on a Memphis offense that has to resort to throwing the ball on just about every down. Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen each rush for more than 100 yards for the Nittany Lions, who finish with 290 yards on the ground as a team.
(2) Alabama 27, (3) Michigan 23: In a rematch of the Rose Bowl two years ago (Nick Saban’s final game), Alabama gets a little revenge for its old coach. The Crimson Tide are held to a single touchdown in the first half, but the defense keeps them in it. Trailing 20-17 entering the fourth quarter, Alabama finds its running game. Jam Miller erupts for 72 rushing yards in the final quarter, and the Tide bullies their way into the Elite Eight.
Regional final
(2) Alabama 22, (1) Penn State 19: Ty Simpson has waited his turn at quarterback for the Crimson Tide, and even though they don’t light up the scoreboard in this defense-dominated matchup of blue bloods, he doesn’t commit a single turnover and keeps everybody on offense focused. But on Alabama’s final two drives, Simpson throws a 28-yard touchdown pass to put the Tide ahead and later converts a fourth-and-short to put the game away.
How we got here
First round
(1) Penn State over (16) West Virginia
(2) Alabama over (15) Syracuse
(3) Michigan over (14) Army
(4) SMU over (13) Tulane
(12) Memphis over (5) Texas A&M
(11) Wisconsin over (6) Oklahoma
(7) Indiana over (10) Washington
(9) Nebraska over (8) Arizona State
Second round
(1) Penn State over (9) Nebraska
(2) Alabama over (7) Indiana
(3) Michigan over (11) Wisconsin
(12) Memphis over (4) SMU
West Regional
Semifinals
(1) Georgia 35, (4) LSU 31: Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton got a taste of postseason football last year when he filled in for Carson Beck. That experience proves valuable in this back-and-forth game, with Nussmeier throwing three touchdown passes for LSU. But Stockton is able to spread the ball around with Noah Thomas and Zachariah Branch, both transfer receivers, and tight end Oscar Delp all catching touchdown passes.
(2) Clemson 33, (3) Ole Miss 24: Dabo Swinney and Lane Kiffin have been on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to using the transfer portal. Swinney has barely dipped into it at all, and Kiffin has lived in it. Swinney did bring in three transfers this season, and one of them, former Purdue defensive end Will Heldt, makes life miserable for the Ole Miss offensive line. Heldt finishes with two sacks and a forced fumble, and the Tigers march onward.
Regional final
(2) Clemson 31, (1) Georgia 30: Once upon a time, these teams played every year in one of the South’s best nonconference rivalries. The Tigers, who had lost eight of their past nine games against the Bulldogs, fall behind early in this one. But Clemson cornerback Avieon Terrell, flagged for pass interference on the previous possession, intercepts a Stockton pass deep in Clemson territory, leading to a quick touchdown. That’s where the game swings, and the Tigers move a step closer to their third national title in 10 years.
How we got here
First round
(1) Georgia over (16) Oklahoma State
(2) Clemson over (15) Mississippi State
(3) Ole Miss over (14) Cincinnati
(4) LSU over (13) Florida State
(5) Missouri over (12) Rutgers
(11) Vanderbilt over (6) Kansas State
(7) Auburn over (10) Duke
(8) Iowa State over (9) Baylor
Second round
(1) Georgia over (8) Iowa State
(2) Clemson over Auburn (7)
(3) Ole Miss over (11) Vanderbilt
(4) LSU over (5) Missouri
Final Four
(2) Clemson 35, (1) Ohio State 28: The first time these teams played was back in 1978, with Clemson winning 17-15 in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a blah game until legendary coach Woody Hayes punched Clemson’s Charlie Bauman on the sideline late in the fourth quarter after Bauman intercepted a pass. Hayes was fired the next day. This national semifinal game doesn’t include any extracurricular fireworks that rise to that level, but Klubnik and Ohio State’s Julian Sayin provide plenty of fireworks on the field. They both pass for more than 300 yards, but freshman running back Gideon Davidson delivers the winning 24-yard touchdown run for the Tigers.
(2) Alabama 33, (2) Notre Dame 27: Here the Irish are knocking on the door of a national championship for the second straight season under Marcus Freeman, who’s the subject of countless reports that NFL teams are lining up to hire him. Freeman never gives any credence to those reports, and his Notre Dame team fights its way back from a two-touchdown deficit. Driving inside the Alabama 45 with just under four minutes remaining, Notre Dame tries to run right at 326-pound defensive tackle Tim Keenan III. Big mistake. Keenan blows up the play, forcing a 5-yard loss. Notre Dame has to punt and never gets the ball back, as Alabama’s offensive line takes control of the game.
National Championship
(2) Alabama 30, (2) Clemson 24: It’s not the first time Swinney has gone up against his alma mater in the national championship game. It happened in 2015 with Alabama winning, again in 2016 with Clemson winning and then in 2018 with the Tigers claiming their second national title under Swinney. So, now, welcome to Part 4. All the gnashing of teeth in Tuscaloosa over Kalen DeBoer’s first season as coach when he lost (gasp) four games has quieted. Alabama is playing its best football of the season with some of its younger players and veterans stepping up in key roles. But it’s the most electrifying player on Alabama’s roster, receiver Ryan Williams, who wins it for the Tide, their 19th “claimed” national championship. After Antonio Williams gives Clemson the lead with a 46-yard touchdown catch down the right sideline, Ryan Williams caps a 77-yard drive for Alabama with a 2-yard touchdown catch on a pick/rub play. Sound familiar? With Clemson fans cursing the play the same way Alabama did back in 2016, DeBoer breaks through in his second season. His statue on the Walk of Champions is up by the start of the 2026 season.
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