‘The biggest thing was hockey sense and versatility’: Inside Team USA’s 4 Nations roster selection process
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Emily Kaplan, ESPN
A few days before Thanksgiving, Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin was in Columbus to scout the Blue Jackets. After the game, he went for dinner and drinks with Chris Kelleher, his assistant general manager.
As the restaurant started emptying out, a few Blue Jackets players walked in, including defenseman Zach Werenski and his fiancé, Odette Peters. The couple said hello before sitting at their table.
“Should we tell him tonight?” Kelleher asked. “We won’t be able to tell many of the guys in person.”
So Guerin summoned the couple back. “I just need you guys to pick up the check, I forgot my wallet,” Guerin joked. “His fiancé was great, she said, ‘I’ll buy your dinner if you put him on Team USA!'”
“All right, you’re buying,” Guerin said. “Because he’s in.”
As Guerin relayed the moment — which was followed by hugs, smiles and Guerin indeed paying his own tab — he couldn’t help but feel sentimental. On Thanksgiving, the Team USA GM made calls to the rest of the players who made the 23-man Four Nations roster.
Reactions were priceless. Rangers forward Chris Kreider told Guerin he’d do whatever it takes — even scrub the floors. Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin wanted the nod badly but wasn’t sure until he got the call. When Larkin heard he was part of Team USA’s plans all along, the center called it one of the greatest achievements of his career. “Noah Hanifin was like, ‘let’s goooo!'” Guerin said. “He couldn’t believe it.”
Then there was J.T. Miller, who is currently on a personal leave with the Vancouver Canucks.
“He’s working on things,” Guerin said. “But for us to stick with him, I think that meant a lot. It was a great conversation.”
There hasn’t been a best-on-best international tournament with NHL players since the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. The Four Nations Tournament in February — replacing the NHL’s typical All Star weekend — is an overdue showcase of how much the game has grown, especially in the United States. Cultivating a 23-man roster was no easy task for Guerin’s management team, which worked closely with Pittsburgh Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, who will serve as Team USA coach.
“We have arguably the deepest pool of players in a long time in terms of guys who were in the conversation to make this team,” Sullivan said.
Guerin and Sullivan spoke to ESPN on a Zoom call this week about how they built the USA roster. Many of the decisions were tedious. They needed a roster not only to win a short-order tournament, but also to build chemistry for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan; the first Olympic hockey tournament to feature NHL players in 12 years.
Sullivan stressed that they will only have three practices as a team, which is why the group often used the term “plug and play” in evaluations.
“The biggest thing was hockey sense and versatility,” Guerin said. “There’s hardly any practice time. High hockey sense people. Guys that can play on the first to the fourth line.”
They put a premium on players who could toggle from center to wing, knowing an injury or illness bug is inevitable.
“I would add that competitive spirit was also a high priority,” Sullivan said. “Every team is going to have talent. It’s going to take more than talent to win this tournament.”
Team USA first had to consider the right blend of experience and rising talent.
“We did discuss the Patrick Kanes, the Ryan McDonaghs, guys like that,” Guerin said. “But you know, there’s some accomplished guys on this roster, so we felt like we didn’t really need to do that. The roster spaces were just so precious that hey, look, Jack Eichel has won a Stanley Cup. Matthew Tkachuk won a Stanley Cup. Charlie McAvoy has gone deep into the playoffs every year. So has Adam Fox, so has Jaccob Slavin.”
Sullivan jumped in to mention his former Penguins player, Jake Guentzel, who led Pittsburgh through its 2017 Stanley Cup run with 13 goals, including five game-winners in his rookie season.
“These guys are the next generation and they have won,” Guerin said. “Those are our older guys now, they’re 27 and 28. [Guentzel is] an old man at 30 now, but they have such great experience.”
Leaving off the 36-year-old Kane was especially difficult for Guerin. Kane is considered by many as the all-time greatest American-born player. He’s a two-time Olympian whose many clutch Stanley Cup playoff moments have led to his nickname “Showtime.”
Guerin made a point to meet Kane in person to tell him he wasn’t going to be included. The meeting took place in Detroit within the past two weeks.
“For Patrick, it was especially hard. It was difficult,” Guerin said. “He’s going to be a Hall of Famer, but he’s a Hall of Fame human being too. He’s smart and understands it and he couldn’t have handled it any better. Very supportive. I can’t say enough about how great he was and that was not a great conversation to have, but I just have so much respect for him. I just hated delivering that news, but he understood.”
Guerin said they were down to about three spots undecided over the last two weeks.
“We wanted to give the last couple guys an extra look,” Guerin said. “To make sure we were making the right decisions.”
They resorted back to the same question: who is going to make up the best team?
“This is where the hard decisions come in because there are some guys who are having very good years. We easily have just taken the top scorers or whatever trying to put together a team,” Guerin said. “But our staff needed to supply Sully and his staff with the type of players they need to carry out a certain game plan.”
That meant leaving off 23-year-old Cole Caufield, who ranks third in the league this season with 16 goals. Buffalo’s Tage Thompson, who has 13 goals through 20 games, was also left out. Both will still be in consideration for the 2026 Olympic team in Milan.
Team USA kept their selection process secretive, and Guerin’s work isn’t done.
“After the announcement, I’ll start reaching out to some players because we’re going to need some guys to be ready [as injury replacements],” Guerin said. “I think there’s some players that really have earned that phone call and explanation of why you’re not on the team.”
Guerin said there were a couple players who were on the bubble from the start that “exploded into great years, and really just forced themselves on to the team, which we love.”
When asked who was an example of that, Guerin didn’t hesitate: Winnipeg Jets wing Kyle Connor.
“We didn’t know if we had that type of player already; could we get that from another player?” Guerin said of Connor. “And he just absolutely took off and it was a no-brainer.”
One player who didn’t appear on many mock rosters was the New York Islanders‘ Brock Nelson. But Sullivan called Nelson someone who “personifies versatility.”
“Sully and I went to the world championships together this past May and he was on the team and just talked about it,” Guerin said. “He’s a Swiss army knife. He could do everything. He can play center, he can play wing, he can take face offs, he can kill, he can power play.”
The roster ultimately features two players from Guerin’s Minnesota Wild team: 22-year-old defenseman Brock Faber and 23-year-old winger Matt Boldy.
Guerin said there’s a “maturity” to Faber that’s hard to describe. He competed at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing as a college player and led Team USA in ice time. Boldy burst onto the radar because of his performance at last spring’s Word Championships.
“Matt played on a line with Johnny Gaudreau and Brock Nelson, and ended up leading the tournament scoring,” Guerin said. “Then he came back to Minnesota and had a really good start to his year. But at some point in time too, as we kept getting down to it, he stayed on the list. [Team USA management team] Chris Drury, Billy Zito, Tom Fitzgerald and Chris Kelleher, all guys that are not afraid to speak their mind, they’re not afraid to challenge me and they all think differently and that’s why I have them on the staff. I said, ‘Guys, come see our games. Tell me I’m not doing this just because they’re my players.’ And they’re like, no, we don’t need to. They’re on.”
The team features two sets of brothers — Matthew and Brady Tkachuk and Jack and Quinn Hughes.
“It’s a great story for American hockey and a great story for families,” Sullivan said. “None of us get here alone, and the people who support us most are our families.”
The tournament will also be the first time Sullivan gets to coach his son-in-law; McAvoy is married to Sullivan’s daughter, Kiley. “I’d much prefer to be playing [with] him on my bench than playing against him,” Sullivan said.
Speaking of families, the team will have decals on their helmets honoring Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, who tragically died in August. Johnny had competed for several USA Hockey teams, including at the World Championships in May.
As for the plan on net, Guerin said “whoever gives us the best chance to win will get the net.” Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck, Dallas’ Jake Oettinger and Boston’s Jeremy Swayman were near unanimous decisions — it would have been a bigger debate had Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko started the season healthy (he has yet to play this season with a lower body injury).
Sullivan said performances leading up to the tournament will dictate the goaltending plan. But it’s widely believed that Hellebuyck has the inside track to be the U.S. starter — though anything could change in two months.
The U.S. will open with a game against Finland on Feb. 13 before a much-anticipated primetime showdown with Canada on Feb. 15 at the Bell Centre in Montreal, broadcast on ABC. Group play concludes against Sweden on Feb. 17. The championship is on Feb. 20, in Boston.
“I think in the past there’s been this whole focus, ‘We got to beat Canada.’ We don’t want to think like that,” Guerin said. “There’s four teams in the tournament. We have to play three other teams. We need to just worry about us and our game and carry out our game plan. And that in my mind, that’s what’s really going to give us success.”
Sullivan had a Zoom call with his coaching staff — John Tortorella, John Hynes and David Quinn — on Monday and gave them a homework assignment: formulate line combinations and a reasoning for why. “We’ll have that discussion,” Sullivan said. “I have my thoughts on it, but what I will tell you is just like here in Pittsburgh, we might start out with certain line combinations, but those things are wretched in pencil, not pen.”
Sullivan wants the team to play a speed game. That doesn’t necessarily mean just skating; speed to Sullivan also means ability to move the puck quickly and change the point of attack.
Sullivan and Guerin both have an infectious enthusiasm when talking about the potential of their team.
“We all feel a certain responsibility to bring our very best because these types of events don’t come around very often,” Sullivan said. “To represent your nation as an incredible honor. I also think the culmination of this group of players is a tribute to a whole lot of volunteer people around the country who have helped these guys along the way get to where they’re at. And those are thankless jobs and there’s a lot of people in rinks all over the United States right now that are doing the same thing for the next generation. And I don’t think they get the credit they deserve.”
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David Hale
During the long, dark months between the end of one season and the beginning of another, we tell each other stories, because we need something to fill the void. We dress those stories up, calling them things like “way too early” rankings, preseason predictions or scalding hot takes, and we sustain them with statistics, data and historical perspective. But ultimately, they are at best educated guesses and, at worst, outright lies.
Then Week 1 comes along and college football delivers us a heaping dose of the truth, exposing our deceptions to the world like the kiss cam at a Coldplay concert.
On Saturday, college football’s truth still seemed hard to believe.
We’ve spent months burnishing the image of our next Heisman Trophy winner, Arch Manning. Only, in Week 1, Manning’s offense was overwhelmed by the defending champs, as Ohio State dumped Texas 14-7.
We’ve spent the summer laughing incredulously at Florida State ‘s Tommy Castellanos, seemingly the only player foolish enough to poke the bear by taunting Alabama when, in fact, he was a fortune-teller. Nick Saban couldn’t bail out the Crimson Tide on Saturday, and the Seminoles, buried after a 2-10 season a year ago, toppled Bama in convincing fashion 31-17.
We’ve heard all offseason Clemson was the class of the ACC, a nearly perfect team built around loads of returning talent that, after Dabo Swinney lost a bet with Tom Allen on who’d win the three-legged race at the team’s annual team picnic, even added players from the transfer portal. On Saturday, however, Clemson’s offense looked woefully similar to those stagnant offenses of years past. LSU‘s defensive front steamrollered its way to a 17-10 win in what used to be Clemson’s Death Valley, which must now be referred to as Critical-but-Stable Condition Valley due to the stakes of this matchup between two teams with the same nicknames for their stadiums.
Yes, Saturday’s results revealed that all our offseason narratives were no different than the description on a John Mateer Venmo transaction — dangerous, hilarious and completely made up.
In Columbus, the preseason No. 1 Longhorns couldn’t crack the scoreboard for the first 56 minutes of action. This was to be Manning’s coming-out party after two years in waiting behind Quinn Ewers; instead, the day belonged to new Ohio State defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, a man hired only so Ryan Day wouldn’t have the weirdest-looking beard on staff. Patricia’s defense had an answer for everything Texas threw at it, holding Manning to just 17-of-30 passing, picking off a critical third-quarter pass to set up the decisive touchdown and stuffing the Horns on fourth down four times — including twice inside the 10-yard line.
It’s not that Ohio State’s offense wowed. A unit that proved deadly in last year’s College Football Playoff en route to a national championship mustered just 203 total yards — the Buckeyes’ worst regular-season output since 2015. But new quarterback Julian Sayin avoided any catastrophic mistakes and delivered a 40-yard dagger to Carnell Tate in the fourth quarter despite no one even knowing who his uncles are. If it wasn’t an emphatic endorsement for the 2025 version of Ohio State, it was a reminder the Buckeyes will not be swept aside without a fight.
In Tallahassee, Kalen DeBoer took another huge step toward having the word “tarmac” appear on his Wikipedia page. Since toppling Georgia last September and climbing to No. 1 in the AP poll, the Tide are just 5-5 overall, and Saturday’s loss to Florida State — a team that finished 2-10 a year ago — marks a new nadir.
In the aftermath, DeBoer was left scrambling for answers, saying, “There’s no excuse about what happened. We’ve got to play our style of ball. Last year isn’t this year. You’ve got to focus on the moment …” and there’s a long run past midfield by Castellanos.
Castellanos had promised a win, saying in June he saw no way Alabama could stop him. Lo and behold, he was right. The signal-caller who was benched at Boston College just a year ago ran all over an Alabama defense that seemed utterly flustered at times, despite FSU’s game plan including just nine completions.
Fewest completions in a win over Alabama since 2008:
FSU – 9, today
Okla – 9, Wk13, 2024
LSU – 10, Wk10, 2011
Mich – 11, bowl, 2024
Aub – 11, Wk14, 2013
Aub – 13, Wk14, 2010So, 3 all-time Saban classics (Cam, 9-6, Kick 6) and 3 of DeBoer’s 14 games as Bama HC.
— 💫🅰️♈️🆔 (@ADavidHaleJoint) August 30, 2025
But it was FSU coach Mike Norvell who delivered his own truth in the fourth quarter. After a year in which he aged on the sideline the way a president does over two terms, Norvell promised he wouldn’t let this team roll over in the face of adversity. After Alabama charged back to within one score, FSU faced a fourth-and-1 at its own 36, and Norvell decided to go for it. It was a decision that would have been lambasted if it had failed and the Tide tied the game, but Alabama transfer Roydell Williams plunged ahead for 4 yards, FSU capped the drive with a touchdown, and Norvell’s message to his team couldn’t have been more clear. This year is different.
Things are different at LSU, too. While so much of the college football world had grown to love Brian Kelly’s annual Week 1 postgame press conferences in which he’d raise a podium over his head while decrying his lack of a ground game and yelling “Hunk smash!” this year’s Bayou Bengals actually played hard from start to finish and finally snagged a season-opening win.
In what was billed as a showdown between arguably the two best QBs in college football, it was the LSU defense that stole the show, tormenting Cade Klubnik throughout and holding Clemson to 31 rushing yards. Clemson’s last 19 plays were all passes, and Klubnik was under pressure on nearly all of them. Swinney may insist on bringing his own guts, but he keeps leaving his rushing attack at home.
So here we are, still not quite through with the opening scenes of the 2025 season, and we’ve already upended the Heisman race, slayed a giant and left Kelly with a smile on his face. What were the odds?
Of course, that’s the point, right? After an offseason in which conference commissioners tried to codify their own stories in the form of scheduling metrics, guaranteed playoff bids and TV revenue splits, a real Saturday of games is the respite from the narratives, a reminder that the games remain blissfully unpredictable.
After all, to paraphrase Lester Bangs from “Almost Famous,” the only true currency in this bankrupt world of college sports is the jokes you share with someone else when watching Alabama lose as a 14-point favorite again.
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Week 1 vibe check
Each week, major upsets, emphatic wins and stellar performances grab the headlines around the college football ecosystem, but there are also many smaller storylines that matter just as much. We try to capture those here.
Trending up: Trendy fashion choices
Georgia Tech upended Colorado on Friday 27-20, but the real buzz was all about the attire of return man Eric Rivers, who took the field dressed as though he was the lead singer of Talking Heads during the “Stop Making Sense” tour or had just been selected sixth overall in the 1999 NBA draft.
Pierrot, by Jean-Antoine Watteau, 1718-19 pic.twitter.com/dHRfgGYzPP
— ArtButMakeItSports (@ArtButSports) August 30, 2025
If the Yellow Jackets have any sense of humor at all, Rivers should line up for his first scrimmage play next week rocking a pair of parachute pants.
Trending down: Bad fashion choices
To honor the city of New Orleans on the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Tulane had hoped to don its 2005 uniforms for its game against Northwestern on Saturday. The Wildcats denied the request, which led to a 23-3 whooping by the Green Wave and some spicy comments from Tulane coach Jon Sumrall afterward.
“When you disrespect the city of New Orleans, you’re going to run into it,” Sumrall said. “I’m not trying to be a jerk, but don’t disrespect the city of New Orleans.”
In contrast, after Florida State’s QB disrespected the city of Tuscaloosa this offseason, Alabama responded by writing a sternly worded letter to its commissioner insisting that, instead of a nine-game slate, the SEC move to a 12 conference games so this can’t happen in the future.
Trending up: In-game ad revenue
Deion Sanders delivered on his promise to have a portable toilet on the sideline for Colorado’s game against Georgia Tech, and he even got it sponsored by Depend.
Deion Sanders indeed has a portable toilet next to Colorado’s bench, to accommodate him following bladder reconstruction surgery.
And it’s sponsored. pic.twitter.com/GegvViVJQC
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) August 29, 2025
While we’re certainly glad to see Sanders is feeling better, the Buffs’ loss makes this sponsorship feel as though it’s one of the worst on-field marketing disasters since Red Lobster sponsored Les Miles’ ill-fated sideline seafood tower during the 2015 Texas Bowl.
Trending down: The middle seat from ATL to SYR
Tennessee‘s offense certainly didn’t look any worse off after waving goodbye to Nico Iamaleava. Transfer Joey Aguilar threw for 247 yards and three touchdowns in a 45-26 win over Syracuse.
This, of course, was bad news for whichever member of the Orange had to sit next to Syracuse coach Fran Brown on the flight home, as Brown famously refuses to shower after a loss. Luckily, for just an additional $29.95, Spirit Airlines will furnish the team with one of those “new car smell” air fresheners to hang above Brown’s seat.
Trending up: Short road trips
UConn packed the house at Rentschler Field with its largest crowd since 2013.
A total of 37,594 in attendance today at The Rent!
The largest crowd since 2013 🫡 pic.twitter.com/FTGYFP1Spa
— UConn Huskies (@UConnHuskies) August 30, 2025
This could certainly be in response to fans getting excited after last year’s 9-4 campaign. Or it could be that the opponent, Central Connecticut State, drove up attendance. CCSU is actually closer to Rentschler Field (12 miles) than is UConn (24 miles).
Trending down: The Group of 5
On Thursday, the Group of 5’s playoff picture was upended when No. 25 Boise State — the lone ranked team outside the Power 4 — was stomped by USF Bulls 34-7. Then on Friday, the defending American champion, Army, fell in embarrassing fashion to FCS Tarleton State.
This could leave the door wide open for a surprise team from the Group of 5 to make a playoff run, but unfortunately Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti already called dibs on the spot and invoked the “no take backs” clause of his proposed playoff plan, so … congratulations Maryland. You’re in now.
Trending up: Upstaging celebrities
Much was made of the engagement of Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift earlier this week, but the Kansas City Chiefs tight end didn’t manage the most romantic proposal of Week 1. That honor goes to this guy, who popped the question in the only truly romantic way possible: with mayonnaise.
LOVE HAPPENS IN MAYO LAND 💍 pic.twitter.com/WBLqschvhb
— Duke’s Mayo Classic (@DukesMayoBowl) August 30, 2025
We assume the wedding will be officiated by an anthropomorphic Pop-Tart, they’ll exit the reception by riding on the back of the Wake Forest Demon Deacon’s motorcycle, and they’ll honeymoon at the Bahamas Bowl which, this season, is probably being played in Little Rock, Arkansas for some reason.
Trending up: Lincoln Riley’s job security
USC thumped Missouri State 73-13, racking up nearly 600 yards of total offense and rushing for six touchdowns.
Riley would like to remind everyone that even if they get shut out against Georgia Southern next week, he would still be averaging 36.5 points per game, and that’s pretty good.
Trending down: Life expectancy for K-State fans
One week after seeing their team fall to rival Iowa State in the verdant hills of Ireland, Kansas State fans nearly suffered an even bigger indignity at the hands of a school mostly surrounded by cornfields, as North Dakota took a 35-31 lead into the final minute of the game.
Avery Johnson rode to the rescue this time, however, engineering a 10-play touchdown drive capped by a 6-yard completion to Joe Jackson to escape with a 38-35 win. Johnson threw for 318 yards and three touchdowns in the game and is now listed as the emergency contact on 86% of Kansas residents’ medical forms.
Trending up: The First State
Delaware toppled Delaware State 35-17 on Thursday, the Blue Hens’ first game as an FBS member.
With fellow newcomer Missouri State getting blown out by USC, that means that Delaware alone has the best winning percentage in FBS history (minimum one game). It’s the most exciting thing to happen in to the state since the new Hot Topic opened at the Concord Mall.
Under-the-radar game of the week
Entering Saturday’s action, Kent State had lost 21 straight games. The program was in shambles, and its last head coach, Kenni Burns, had been fired and (possibly) replaced by an AI program developed by some MIT dropouts who thought they were playing Minesweeper and accidentally coded a football algorithm.
And yet, the football gods smiled upon the Golden Flashes in Week 1, delivering a win in truly epic style.
Trailing 17-14 to Merrimack, a school that exists only in a child’s imagination, a player named — this is true — Da’Realyst Clark ran back a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown, putting Kent State up 21-17 with 5:28 to play.
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Merrimack Warriors vs. Kent State Golden Flashes: Full Highlights
Merrimack Warriors vs. Kent State Golden Flashes: Full Highlights
Sure, Kent State has Texas Tech, Florida State and Oklahoma — all on the road — in its next four games, but that’s of little importance today because, for the first time in nearly two full calendar years, the Golden Flashes are victorious. Turns out, that AI that thinks the Greek god of wisdom is Toyotathon knows a little something about football after all.
Under-the-radar play of the week
During pregame celebrations in Eugene on Saturday, the famed Oregon Duck took a nasty spill and lost his duck head, exposing the human underneath. While that was good for a laugh, the mascot’s reaction was truly impressive, as he sprinted a solid 25 yards at full speed wearing feet made out of felt, all while (we assume) screaming, “Look away! Look away! I’m hideous!” before returning to his secluded lair beneath an opera house.
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Oregon Duck loses his head and scampers off
Oregon Duck loses his head and scampers off
Heisman five
On one hand, Arch Manning saw his Heisman odds tumble after struggling in a 14-7 loss to Ohio State. On the other hand, at least he’s unlikely to have the Heisman stolen from him by Charles Woodson now, so he has got that going for him. Which is nice.
1. Oklahoma QB John Mateer
The Washington State transfer completed 30 of 37 passes for 392 yards and accounted for four touchdowns in a 35-3 win over Illinois State, a performance so impressive his friend sent him $50 bucks with the note: “Definitely not because of sports gambling.”
2. Florida State QB Tommy Castellanos
Some would call it ego. Some would call it cockiness. Castellanos would call his offseason commentary facts. After talking smack on Alabama in June, Castellanos backed it up with 230 total yards and a touchdown to take down the Tide 34-17. Given that head coach Mike Norvell is superstitious, we recommend Castellanos keep this up by insisting the Noles will hang 300 on East Texas A&M next week.
3. Georgia QB Gunner Stockton
Stockton threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more in a 45-7 win over Marshall on Saturday, then we assume he drove his F-150 over to the Burger King parking lot, sat in the back and listened to John Mellencamp cassettes while wearing a denim jacket and promising he’ll never waste his life working in the factory like his old man.
4. LSU QB Garrett Nussmeier
After throwing for 230 yards and a touchdown in a win over Clemson, Nussmeier now looks like the odds-on favorite to be the No. 1 pick in next year’s NFL draft. His dad, Doug Nussmeier, just so happens to be the offensive coordinator of the Saints, and he was in attendance for Saturday’s win. After the game, the younger Nussmeier responded to his dad’s enthusiasm that he could be drafted by the Saints by saying, “Oh, wow, yeah. That sounds great, but really, it’s OK. You don’t need to go to all that trouble. Really. I’m sure there are lots of other quarterbacks who need a good home and, honestly, just focus on them. I’ll go to the Rams. It’s fine. That’ll be fine.”
5. Iowa State QB Rocco Becht
One week after upending Kansas State in Ireland, Becht delivered the Cyclones a dominant victory over FCS power South Dakota, throwing for 278 yards and three touchdowns in a 55-7 win. By federal law, South Dakota now needs to add Becht’s image to Mt. Rushmore in place of Thomas Jefferson.
Notes from the road
How FSU pulled the upset
Florida State coach Mike Norvell talked for months about wanting his team to play with an edge, with desperation, with heart — three key intangibles missing last year during a miserable 2-10 season.
The college football world saw all of that on display in a 31-17 win over Alabama. But perhaps most jaw-dropping was the physical way in which the Seminoles dominated the Crimson Tide up front. After allowing an opening 75-yard drive, the Florida State defense clamped down from there — and allowed just 3 yards per rush for the game.
The revamped offensive line, with four veteran transfers, dominated in its own right — not only opening up holes, but pushing defenders backward at nearly every turn. Florida State rushed for 230 yards, a year after averaging 89.9 yards per game — ranking No. 128 in the country.
“We wanted to be the aggressor, and we were,” Norvell said. “Our players, they rose to the challenge. We talked all year, and I’ve used the buzzwords of edge and desperation. That goes to the heart, and you saw heart tonight. We saw a team that absolutely loves playing this game together and were physically dominant, emotionally together, and they responded. This is a first step, but it’s a big step.”
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Florida State fans storm field after Noles upset Alabama
Florida State fans storm the field after opening the season with a 31-17 win over No. 8 Alabama.
It is a big step because of what happened a year ago. Florida State came off a 13-1 ACC championship season with one of the worst performances in school history. Those outside the program questioned Norvell, questioned the program’s direction. He needed a win like this to remind the general public the Florida State is not what it showed a year ago.
On the flip side is Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer, who already went into the season with Crimson Tide fans skeptical about him and the direction of the program after a 9-4 debut that ended with a bowl loss to Michigan.
You will remember DeBoer got the Alabama job over Norvell, and now the pressure is rising as the successor to Saban. Alabama lost a season opener by two touchdowns for the first time since 1970.
“There’s no excuses about what happened,” DeBoer said. “Last year isn’t this year, and it’s going to be an uphill climb for us, but you can’t think of it in the big scope of things. You’ve got to focus on the moment. And the next moment is, ‘What happens tomorrow?’ And we’ll find out. We’ll find out.” — Andrea Adelson
Ohio State’s defense came ready
Ohio State opened its national championship defense with a dominating defensive effort. And for the second straight season against Texas, the Buckeyes produced a game-clinching stop.
Despite eight new defensive starters, the Buckeyes flew around all afternoon and flustered hyped Texas quarterback Arch Manning into a stunningly erratic performance.
The Buckeyes did not surrender a play longer than 15 yards until late in the fourth quarter. They also came up huge in the red zone.
In the first half, the Buckeyes stuffed a Manning quarterback sneak on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line. Then in the fourth quarter, cornerback Davison Igbinosun swatted away a Manning fourth-down pass to the corner of the end zone.
“Every time you get a fourth-down stop, it’s like a turnover,” Day said after the game.
After a Texas touchdown with 3:28 to play, the Longhorns got the ball back again with a chance to tie.
But just like last season — when Jack Sawyer’s strip sack and score propelled Ohio State to victory over Texas in the CFP semifinals and to the national championship game — the Buckeyes got the key final stop — as Caleb Downs tackled Jack Endries short of the marker on fourth down.
The Buckeyes’ defensive performance allowed them to ease quarterback Julian Sayin into his first start. Sayin was 13-for-20 for 126 yards and a score in his first start. Unlike Manning, however, Sayin avoided turnovers.
“We were fairly conservative [offensively] because we felt like our defense was playing well,” Day said. — Jake Trotter
Best moments from Texas-Ohio State
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — New quarterback Tommy Castellanos led a punishing rushing attack for Florida State with 78 yards and a touchdown as the Seminoles stunned No. 8 Alabama 31-17 on Saturday, ending the Crimson Tide’s streak of 23 straight wins in season openers.
Coming off a 2-10 season, Florida State handed a crushing setback to Alabama, which was viewed as a College Football Playoff contender under second-year coach Kalen DeBoer.
Castellanos, a transfer from Boston College, made headlines over the summer after saying legendary Alabama coach Nick Saban wasn’t there to “save” the Tide vs. Florida State in their Week 1 matchup and that he doesn’t “see them stopping me.” He backed up that jab by spearheading FSU’s dominant ground attack while staying efficient through the air, finishing 9 of 14 passing for 152 yards.
Students and fans swarmed the field at Doak Campbell Stadium to celebrate the upset by the Seminoles, who closed as 13 1/2-point underdogs at ESPN BET.
Under new offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn — who spent eight seasons as Auburn’s head coach — Florida State was physical from the start, finishing with 230 rushing yards and averaging 4.7 yards per carry. The Seminoles averaged just 89.9 yards during their disastrous 2024 season.
The Crimson Tide had not dropped a season opener since losing 20-17 to UCLA in 2001 under Dennis Franchione, and this defeat will ratchet up the pressure on DeBoer from the demanding Tuscaloosa faithful. His predecessor, Nick Saban, led Alabama to six national titles.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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