No matter who wins the natty, it will have been a long time coming
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Ryan McGee, ESPN Senior Writer
Redemption. Retribution. Revenge.
Whichever of these words you revere most, they all relate as the College Football Playoff rolls into the reckoning that is this week’s semifinals — a quartet of stories that are wildly varied, but at their core essentially the same.
The long-awaited expanded playoff that began with a dozen teams is down to four. Glaringly absent from the remaining field are the teams that have dominated the CFP since its inception. Clemson and Georgia have been eliminated. Oregon, ranked No. 1 for much of the season, also has been sent home. Former champs Alabama and LSU, along with last year’s finalists Michigan and Washington, didn’t even make the field.
All of that has opened the doors to these final four programs, giving them a chance to reverse their longtime reputations — in some cases, very, very longtime — with the big gold magic eraser that is only two wins from their grasp.
Notre Dame versus Penn State in the Orange Bowl. Ohio State versus Texas in the Cotton Bowl. Two of these teams will move on and get a shot at easing their perpetual pain. The other two will enter another winter amid the familiar vicious cycle of ice-cold doubt.
“I think that much of that storyline in these games will center around the coaches, and that’s fine. We are big boys; we can handle that,” said James Franklin, in his 11th season as Penn State’s head coach but in his first CFP. “But to me, the real story is the opportunity we all have to reward these great universities and the people who have supported us through thick and thin. To bring that championship feeling back to this town, that will make every single step to get there worth it.”
There have been so many steps. But for these four programs, it seems every stride with traction has been inevitably outnumbered and slowed by slips and trips on the turf of their most despised rivals.
“The same guys are in the room as was there a month ago,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said late last week following his team’s revenge win over Oregon, a team it had lost to in October in Eugene. “Nothing that’s happened in the past or really the noise that’s [outside the] building has anything to do with our preparation and our focus and our process. That’s what we’ve been diving into.
“We don’t need any extra motivation to win this game. One thing that does motivate our team is an opportunity for the team to play for another week together.”
The Buckeyes, with their much-ballyhooed NIL-powered roster, lost two games during the regular season, most glaringly The Game against Michigan, a gross 13-10 defeat to the unranked Wolverines, their fourth rivalry loss in a row, hence Day’s reference to “a month ago.” It has been a decade since Ohio State celebrated its last national title, the program’s eighth, earned in the very first edition of the CFP. Even now, after rolling to playoff victories over Tennessee and Oregon, a large swath of OSU social media is still angry at Day for his lack of Big Ten titles and wins against That Team Up North.
Ohio State faces Texas, the program that coined the phrase “We’re back” only to repeatedly lose that coin beneath the seat of its burnt orange pickup truck. The Longhorns spent some time this season, their first in the SEC, ranked No. 1 in the country. But they also lost the two biggest pre-CFP games they played, both against fellow part-time top spot resident Georgia. Their last natty was earned in perhaps the greatest college football game ever played, closing out the 2005 season by beating USC in the Rose Bowl. But that was nearly a decade before the playoff existed, earned instead in the eighth edition of the BCS Championship Game.
“The history of what a place is and how it became what it is, is the very reason you want to work here, but there is a balance in using that past to push into the future instead of resting on laurels,” said Steve Sarkisian, who is in his fourth year at coach in Austin but lived that same past-as-prologue balance during stints at USC, Alabama and even in his time as a player at BYU.
“People ask me about the pressure from the fans, the people who have loved the University of Texas their whole lives, but to me, it comes from doing right by the names on the buildings and the statues and paintings you see of the coaches and players who were here before us. I tell our guys that we have a chance to be one of those people. Forever. But only if we take care of the here and now.”
The entire Notre Dame campus feels like what Sark described: one giant football museum. Literal woken echoes standing watch over every quad and every hallway. South Bend is undeniably one of the cornerstones of college football. The place of Knute Rockne, the Four Horsemen and a room full of Heisman Trophies.
But while that Golden Domed history has always been its greatest asset, it has also proved to be its heaviest anchor, constantly pointed to as the only reason the independent program is allowed to remain in the big room with the Power 4 conferences. Critics have screamed, why else would a program that has been bounced out of two previous CFP appearances and blown out in its lone BCS title game visit (a 42-14 loss to Alabama in 2012) keep getting postseason looks? The freshest of the school’s 11 national titles was won in January 1989, in the waning days of Ronald Reagan’s second term as president. This season’s 13-1 team has only one blemish, but it’s the equivalent of having a giant red pimple on the end of one’s nose, an inexplicable Week 2 home loss to Northern Illinois, which finished seventh in the 12-team MAC.
And no college football program has been dealt more denial of glory than the one in State College, Pennsylvania. Like Day, Franklin is routinely ripped by his fan base, unhappy with his record in big games. When the Nittany Lions defeated No. 8 Boise State in the CFP quarterfinals, Franklin’s mark against top-10 teams improved to 4-19. That record includes losses this season to Ohio State and Oregon, ranked No. 4 and No. 1, respectively, at the time.
But the unhappiness in Happy Valley runs much deeper than merely this season. The Nittany Lions have posted 13 undefeated seasons but have only two national titles to show for it, as Joe Paterno had five unbeaten teams that were infamously denied nattys by pollsters and politics. The 1994 squad carried two Heisman finalists and 15 future NFL draft picks, won the Big Ten and stomped Oregon in the Rose Bowl, but in the pre-BCS era was voted second behind Nebraska in both major polls. The school’s only two national titles also came during Reagan’s presidency, won in 1982 and 1986.
For perspective, here’s cell phones from years of each CFP semifinalist’s last national title: Ohio State, 2014. Texas, 2005. Notre Dame, 1988. Penn State, 1986. pic.twitter.com/EgL96u7h7z
— Ryan McGee (@ESPNMcGee) January 3, 2025
Four proud brands. Four classic college towns. Four all-time powerhouse programs, all ranked among the seven winningest teams in the 155-year history of the sport. All, finally, with the possibility for renewal, revival, resurrection … whatever motivational word you choose. As long as it results in the release of repressed revelry Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
“This job is like no other because of what it is, where it is, and I think the other three coaches will probably tell you the same about their jobs,” said Marcus Freeman, in only his third full season as Notre Dame’s head coach. He celebrated his first birthday the week after Penn State won its last national title and blew out three candles right after Notre Dame’s natty. He is also a former All-Big Ten linebacker at Ohio State who played against Penn State and Texas. “One of my favorite aspects of this job, and I think they will tell you the same, is the chance to educate people on the incredible history of this place. The chance to add to that history, restore some of it and the pride that comes with it, that’s not pressure. That’s a privilege.”
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Eli Lederman
North Carolina’s Providence Day School is used to seeing the biggest names in college football roam its halls.
In the 2024 class, the school’s starting quarterback signed with Michigan. This cycle, one of its offensive tackles is the nation’s No. 7 overall recruit and will play at Tennessee in the fall. Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, South Carolina’s Shane Beamer and Virginia Tech’s Brent Pry have all made visits to campus in the past month.
But there was something different about the morning of Jan. 7.
From the parade of coaches in their polos, quarter-zips and Air Force 1s, one coach stood out. Bill Belichick, winner of eight Super Bowls and renowned for his makeshift sleeveless hoodies, was the first coach any player had seen show up wearing a suit and square-toed dress shoes.
“The jacket and tie he wore was different — I got a lot of funny comments on Twitter about that,” offensive tackle Leo Delaney, ESPN’s No. 62 recruit in the 2026 class, told ESPN. “But I think that represents the style of his recruiting and coaching. It’s formal. It’s straightforward. It’s old-school. He’s exactly how you expect him to be.”
Great to meet Coach belichick! #GoHeels pic.twitter.com/B8mD9ZkHlm
— Leo Delaney (@LeoDelaney110) January 7, 2025
If Belichick’s arrival at North Carolina represents one of college football’s most fascinating stories in 2025, the first chapter has been written on the recruiting trail over the past 54 days. And it has offered insight into an overhauled Tar Heels program and early answers to a central question surrounding Belichick’s hiring: How will a 72-year-old who has coached in the NFL since 1975 deal with recruiting teenagers for the first time?
Belichick inherited a recruiting class in tatters upon landing at North Carolina on Dec. 12. Less than two months later, his remade class enters Wednesday’s national signing day at No. 48 in ESPN’s class rankings, up from its place outside the top 75 in late November, when the school fired Mack Brown. Since Dec. 20, Belichick’s staff has added 15 pledges to the program’s 2025 class. The class is headlined by ESPN 300 quarterback Bryce Baker.
North Carolina has also built a modest transfer portal class of 18 additions for Belichick’s debut season, highlighted by Thaddeus Dixon (Washington), Daniel King (Troy) and Pryce Yates (Connecticut). Meanwhile, the Tar Heels managed to retain a number of starters who initially entered the portal this offseason with linebacker Amare Campbell and offensive linemen Austin Blaske and Aidan Banfield among the team’s key returnees.
Belichick might seem like an unlikely recruiter. But he’s leaning into an unmatched strength and delivering a clear pitch on the trail.
“The focus with this new staff is on preparing everything for the next level,” North Carolina quarterback commit Au’Tori Newkirk said. “Everything is being run like it’s the next level. The motto is that we’re going to be the 33rd team in the NFL.”
The full extent of Belichick and his staff’s ability to recruit, identify talent and construct a roster at the college level will be better measured in the 2026 cycle and beyond. But Belichick’s immediate recruiting appeal has been evident, built on decades of NFL success and a clear plan for what he intends to build in Chapel Hill.
“The opportunity to play for Bill Belichick? It’s hard to pass up,” said defensive tackle commit Nicco Maggio, a former Wake Forest signee who committed to the Tar Heels on Jan. 24.
BELICHICK MADE NORTH Carolina’s Rolesville High School — home to four-star ESPN Junior 300 defensive end and former Tar Heels pledge Zavion Griffin-Haynes — his first official stop as a college coach on Jan. 6, kicking off an initial sprint across North Carolina, with other recruiting trips to New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland and Tennessee.
During the 90 minutes in the office of Rolesville coach Ranier Rackley, Belichick broke down Griffin-Haynes’ film, offered the same pass-rush pointers he used to coach Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor with the New York Giants in the 1980s and detailed a multiyear plan for Griffin-Haynes’ future at North Carolina.
“He told Zavion straight up: You’re going to college, but you’re an NFL player,” Rackley said. “I see you as a first-rounder already based on who you are and what you bring to the table.”
Rackley was recruited by Brown during the coach’s first run at North Carolina, which ran from 1988 to 1997. When Brown returned to the school in 2019, Rackley built a strong relationship with a Tar Heels staff that based its recruiting pitch on the program’s family atmosphere. It’s different now.
“This staff has been in the NFL,” he said. “Going through the building a few weeks ago, you can just tell it’s a different feel there. It’s more structured in the sense of what they’re trying to do there, and they needed that.”
In his introductory news conference, Belichick outlined the “pro program” he planned to implement, a regimen geared to the NFL in everything from training to development to technique and verbiage. On Jan. 28, he carried the same message with him into the living room of five-star 2026 quarterback Jared Curtis.
“They’re bringing their NFL playbook to North Carolina,” said Curtis, ESPN’s No. 4 overall prospect in the 2026 cycle. “It’s going to be the exact same as the NFL, and it’s the place you’re going to go to get prepared for the league.”
Before three-star 2025 running back Joseph Troupe — a one-time Temple pledge — committed to North Carolina on Jan. 26, he spent a weekend with the program. One theme was threaded through meetings with Belichick, running backs coach Natrone Means and general manager Michael Lombardi.
“I couldn’t believe how often they talked about development throughout the visit,” Troupe said. “This staff has gotten to experience what I want to experience. If you want to be the best, why not learn from the best?”
Among Belichick’s still-to-be-completed coaching staff, offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens, defensive coordinator Steve Belichick, and assistants Matt Lombardi, Garrick McGee, Billy Miller and Mike Priefer have all spent time coaching in the NFL. Strength and conditioning coach Moses Cabrera joined the UNC program last month after working with the Patriots from 2011 to 2023.
Michael Lombardi spent nearly 30 years working in NFL front offices, then went into media work before joining Belichick to lead the Tar Heels’ player personnel operation.
“[Michael] Lombardi was the first contact I got from North Carolina,” Maggio said. “My dad realized who he was after the call and said he used to watch him on TV for fantasy football advice. That made you realize how crazy all this is.”
The Tar Heels were able to fill out their 2025 class by plucking a series of late-cycle commitments, including Maggio and two other Wake Forest recruits who moved on after Dave Clawson’s retirement in December. Three-star defensive end Chinedu Onyeagoro, an SMU signee who parted ways with the Mustangs, marks another intriguing addition. In the 2026 class, North Carolina has already secured four commitments since Belichick’s arrival.
Programs across the state are feeling a stronger presence from the Tar Heels. And among the class of 2026, Belichick’s arrival has stoked renewed interest from top in-state recruits, such as Delaney, who were not previously considering the program.
“I honestly felt like North Carolina wasn’t home for me under the previous staff,” Delaney said. “But I’m excited to take a deeper look at them now. Everyone knows when he walks in the door that you’re looking at one of the greatest to ever do it.”
Of course, North Carolina is not the first or only school to sell itself in the mold of an NFL-style program.
From Alabama to Georgia to Ohio State and across the Power 4, coaching staffs market themselves as elite developers of talent, boasting rings and long lists of NFL alumni who have sprouted from their programs to support the claim. The edge North Carolina has on all those other programs in recruiting in 2025, at least until the Tar Heels play a game under their new coach, is Belichick himself.
“It’s Bill,” Griffin-Hayes said. “That separates him from every coach in the country. Being coached by a guy who has been there and done the thing? He can get you where you need to be.”
THE TAR HEELS have hit the trail with vigor in 2025. And Belichick appears to genuinely enjoy the opportunity to drop in on schools to talk football, pepper coaches with questions about their programs and mix with prospects.
“It’s been great to get out on the road and see some of the great high school coaches and programs and players,” Belichick said on “The Pat McAfee Show” on Jan. 24. “Still got a lot more to hit, but it’s been fun connecting with so many people. Some new, some old. It’s been a great process. There’s a lot of really good kids out there.”
However fun it might be, Belichick will face many of the same hurdles Brown was met with from 2019 to 2024, including heavy competition within the state and from nearby programs such as Georgia, Clemson and South Carolina. North Carolina’s lack of history as a consistent winner in football has also dragged recruiting in the past.
Brown initially elevated the Tar Heels’ recruiting, identifying future ACC Rookie of the Year Sam Howell in the 2019 class and signing three consecutive top-20 classes from 2020 to 2022. But of the eight top-100 prospects Brown landed in the 2021 and 2022 classes that ranked 12th and 10th overall, respectively, only one — two-year starting quarterback and first-round NFL draft pick Drake Maye — developed into a significant contributor for the Tar Heels, with six transferring to play elsewhere in 2025.
Belichick will have more resources to work with than Brown did. Under the contract Belichick signed Jan. 23, the football program will have access to $13 million of the $20.5 million schools will be permitted to use for revenue sharing under the prospective House settlement. Salaries for assistant coaches ($10 million) and support staff ($5.3 million) outlined in the deal will keep Belichick and the Tar Heels among the most competitive programs in the recruiting and personnel spaces.
More importantly, in a short span of time, North Carolina has laid the foundation of what it expects its program to be and a clear picture to sell in recruiting.
That plan will be tested next in the 2026 recruiting cycle. The Tar Heels are aiming high, extending offers to a slew of top-100 prospects, including Curtis, fellow top quarterbacks Ryder Lyons and Keisean Henderson, and five-star offensive tackle Immanuel Iheanacho. Within the state, Griffin-Haynes remains one of the Tar Heels’ top targets within a talented local class, which includes 13 recruits inside the ESPN Junior 300. In 2025, North Carolina has already added 2026 commitments from athlete Jaden Jefferson, cornerbacks Justin Lewis and Marcellous Ryan, and running back Crew Davis, while three-star Providence Day quarterback Zaid Lott remains as a holdover from Brown’s tenure.
“There’s a lot of talent in this state right now,” said Edwin Campbell, the head football coach at North Carolina’s Southeast Raleigh High School. “And Belichick has put the state on notice in recruiting.”
TORONTO — Max Scherzer joined the Toronto Blue Jays convinced he can win a World Series with a third team following titles with Washington and Texas.
“Winning cures everything,” the 40-year-old right-hander said Friday, three days after his $15.5 million, one-year contract was announced. “All you need to do to wake up in the morning is to have that drive to win, and the rest kind of takes care of itself.”
A three-time Cy Young Award winner, Scherzer was 2-4 with a 3.95 ERA last year for the Rangers. He started the season on the injured list while recovering from lower back surgery and was on the IL from Aug. 2 to Sept. 13 because of shoulder fatigue. He didn’t pitch after Sept. 14 because of a left hamstring strain.
Scherzer feels healthy.
“Normal ramp-up kind of in the lifting, normal ramp-up in the throwing, right where I need to be in terms of my bullpen progression,” he said during a Zoom news conference. “So I’m looking to come in here into spring training at full tilt.”
He joined a rotation projected to include José Berríos, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and Bowden Francis.
“The backbone of any team is always the starting rotation,” Scherzer said. “It doesn’t matter how much offense you got, if you don’t have a starting staff, you’re always going to be in trouble if you don’t have starters going out there and eating innings.”
Scherzer learned about the current Blue Jays when he spoke with Bassitt, a New York Mets teammate in 2022, and assistant hitting coach Hunter Mense, a University of Missouri teammate from 2004 to 2006.
“Just understanding how the team is, how the organization is, how they treat the families and how the guys on the team are, where the state of the organization is, how they want to improve,” Scherzer said. “I had a good chat with those guys how the Blue Jays handle everything and felt like this was going to be a fit.”
A Florida resident, Scherzer had geography in mind when considering teams.
“First and foremost is kind of staying here on the East Coast, especially with my family here in Florida. The kids are in school,” he said. “That makes it very easy to be able to get back and forth, be able to see them and have them be able to travel in, as well.”
Scherzer is 216-112 with a 3.16 ERA over 17 seasons with 3,407 strikeouts in 2,878 innings. His average fastball velocity dropped from 94.7 mph in 2020 to 92.5 mph last year.
“I still feel I can pitch at a very high level here. I frankly got all the pitches to be able to navigate a lineup,” he said. “It’s not about throwing 98. If you can throw 94, 95, you can get a lot of people out.”
He limits his use of analytics.
“There’s too much data, actually,” he said. “What we’re talking about with pitching now, I actually completely disagree with. And so, for me I understand what I do well, what I need to look at, what I actually need to be thinking about in terms of all my pitches, in terms of everything I’m doing … there’s some data that’s good, but a lot of data is bad.”
Though Scherzer spent parts of parts of nine seasons in the NL East, this will be his first time in the AL East.
“You got five teams that can all beat each other up. So, that’s the good news,” he said. “When you’re in a highly competitive division, that only makes you better. … It makes you battle-tested.”
The 25-year-old, a four-time All-Star, has a $28.5 million, one-year contract and can become a free agent after the World Series.
“You all know our desire to have him here for a long time, and we’ll continue to work towards that,” Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins told reporters during the news conference.
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