Miami Marlins GM Kim Ng’s journey to the postseason
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Xuan Thai, ESPN Senior Writer
MIAMI — Down a brightly lit hallway that leads to a section of luxury suites at the Miami Marlins‘ stadium, where each room is filled with fans cheering on the home team, the door to the last suite is closed. Inside sits Kim Ng. No entourage, no buddies from college, no staff checking in. With a laptop, an iPad and a water bottle, the Marlins’ general manager sits with the lights off, watching the game alone.
It’s just before the MLB All-Star break, and second baseman Luis Arraez is chasing a .400 batting average, a feat not accomplished at the July break since 1999. It was Ng who traded for Arraez in her first full season without Derek Jeter in the Marlins’ front office. Already, there are whispers that the team could reach its first full-season postseason in 20 years.
I walk into the suite and attempt to break the ice, recounting a quote attributed to Ng’s mother about the “return on investment” of a University of Chicago degree and Ng’s decision to take an unpaid internship with an MLB team. I can relate. I tell her how my father once asked about the “cost-benefit analysis” of my decision to stop practicing law to take an unpaid internship at a cable news network. Aren’t Asian parents funny that way, I ask? She kindly laughs, perhaps more out of courtesy than comedy. I quickly pivot to baseball.
Ng’s journey to this place has been well chronicled — more than 30 years of management and executive experience that includes stints with MLB, the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, and the New York Yankees, with whom she won three World Series. She’s often included on those “most powerful women in sports” lists, and has grown accustomed to answering the inevitable questions about the “first” and “only” career labels — the first and only woman hired as general manager of a men’s major pro sports team in North America, the first East Asian American to do it in baseball.
It can be lonely being the first and only, and it’s clear those are things she doesn’t like to discuss. Less than three years into her first GM job, she’d much rather talk about baseball, the team and the “culture of winning” she’s trying to cultivate — to focus on anything other than her own story. It’s hard to break through. Over the course of several interviews this past regular season, Ng sticks to her talking points.
When we meet again three months later, with just six games left in the regular season, Ng is once again having a first-and-only moment. This time she’s in a Citi Field box for visiting general managers, and the Marlins are in close pursuit of a National League wild-card spot. Winning a series against the New York Mets would feel particularly fitting for the GM who grew up playing stickball on the streets of Queens. But it also could help Ng become the first and only female GM to lead a team to the postseason.
To be on the brink of a playoff spot is an accomplishment for any GM. For Ng, who is cautious by nature, this requires focus.
“It definitely hit me around the All-Star break when the team was sitting in a very good position,” she says. “Now we’re down to the last week and it’s starting to hit again, that you’re realizing that you’re just in a great position to do things that you’ve wanted to do for a really long time, and that is get to the postseason. And I’ve been there before with some of my other clubs, but certainly not in this chair. And that obviously makes this different.”
She says she’s tried to avoid feeling stress up to this point.
“Now,” she says, “I’m allowing myself to stress a little bit.”
This is a big admission. She knows that her reactions could affect the rest of the organization, and wants to keep things positive in the clubhouse.
“For a while,” she says, “I was playing the same playlist over and over, as I went into work every day and I was playing it in my suite each night during the game. Probably just to divert my attention from being so stressed.”
I ask, “What’s on this playlist?”
“Oh, yeah,” she says, laughing, “You’re not getting that out of me!”
After opening the second half of the season on an eight-game losing streak, the Marlins dipped below .500 in late August and appeared headed for another disappointing end. But series wins against the Washington Nationals, the Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies, plus a sweep of the Atlanta Braves, helped them finish 84-77 in the regular season. They clinched a wild-card spot with a win Saturday in Pittsburgh, where Ng joined the celebration on the field.
The Marlins are playoff-bound in a full season for the first time since 2003, when they went on to beat the New York Yankees in the World Series. (The Marlins reached the playoffs during the pandemic-shortened postseason in 2020.) They open play Tuesday at Philadelphia (8 p.m. ET on ESPN).
For Ng, who is 54, getting to this historic moment started in 1990, three years before the Marlins became an expansion team. She’d graduated from the University of Chicago and joined the Chicago White Sox as an intern. The White Sox hired her full-time the next year and by 1995 had promoted her to assistant director of baseball operations. When she became an assistant GM of the Yankees in 1998, she was the second youngest person ever in that role at the time.
It would take another two decades for her to land a GM job. Publicly, she remained upbeat when asked about that. She’s joked that she was always a bridesmaid. Today, she acknowledges that some of those GM interviews were more performative than purposeful.
I ask how she dealt with the frustration, how she kept going after a half dozen or so attempts to advance.
She says she’s been asked that question often, and that the answer has been, and will always be, “What am I supposed to do, quit?”
“You just keep trying,” she says. “And it was incredibly frustrating, there’s no doubt about that. But you just keep at it.”
Joe Torre, who worked with Ng during their time with the Yankees and Dodgers and was her boss in the MLB offices, is more blunt, saying some of those teams just “checked a box.”
“I just think that they just never wanted to pull the trigger. Nobody had the courage to do it,” Torre says. “There’d be teams that would call me about interviewing her. And I said, ‘It’s all well and good, but just don’t do it just to cover your ass. I mean, you have to be serious.'”
After years of disappointments for her, another former Yankee, Derek Jeter, made the move. As chief executive and a minority owner of the Marlins, Jeter was known as an advocate for diversity in baseball. Jeter, who declined an ESPN interview request, called Torre when the Marlins first considered Ng for the job.
“[Jeter] had called me about her, and the one thing he said to me because he knows, he said, ‘Just tell Kim I’m not checking a box here. I’m seriously interested in her ability to do this job,'” Torre recalls.
The Marlins named her GM in November 2020.
“When she came in, she inherited almost the entirety of the front office,” says longtime Marlins assistant GM Brian Chattin. “She kind of walked into already an organizational dynamic that had been operating for a few years, which is challenging to do, to come in the leadership role and inherit everyone.”
There were no wholesale firings of front-office staff during Ng’s first two seasons. Ng reported to Jeter, who reported to majority owner Bruce Sherman. The executives in place were largely Jeter’s team, and like Ng, several were former Yankees.
According to some with knowledge of her time with the Marlins, many of the people she worked with continued to look to Jeter for guidance or approval. Ng had one position she could fill in her first months — team travel director. A year later, in January 2022, she brought in her first big hire, Stan Conte, as senior director of medical services. They’d worked together in Los Angeles, and his job was to overhaul the Marlins’ medical unit.
When Ng first approached Conte, who resigned as the Dodgers’ vice president of medical services in 2015, he was living in Arizona with no intention of returning to baseball full-time. As Conte recalls it, he was less than enthusiastic when Ng called.
“I said, ‘No, I don’t want to help. I want to be retired,'” Conte recalls.
He says Ng wasn’t having it. Eventually, he relented.
“This is part of her personality,” Conte says. “She’s very politely in a lot of different ways, wears you down and you don’t even know it’s happening. She isn’t who you think she is, and she does that on purpose. She’s methodical, attentive and deliberate.”
When Jeter left the Marlins in February 2022, again there were no wholesale firings of front office staff, but positions did open up and Ng took the opportunity to make methodical and deliberate moves. To create what she calls “the culture of winning.”
Longtime manager and former Yankees great Don Mattingly left after the 2022 season. The opening allowed Ng to bring in first-time manager Skip Schumaker, who at the time was a bench coach for the St. Louis Cardinals. A major league player for 11 seasons, Schumaker won a World Series with the Cardinals in 2011.
“She definitely took a chance on me, that’s for sure, being a rookie manager. I’m grateful for that,” Schumaker says. “I think she did a really good job of acquiring a staff that also knows what winning looks like and holds people accountable.”
She brought in another assistant GM, Oz Ocampo, from the Houston Astros. Ocampo is known for his expertise in scouting international talent. He was instrumental in bringing in key players to help the Astros win three World Series.
During the interview process, Ocampo says, he needed to figure out whether the Marlins were as committed to winning as he was.
“The history of the Marlins was that they would win and then they would disband the team and then they would be followed by long periods of losing,” he says. “And I don’t tolerate losing very well, and neither does Kim and neither does Skip.”
She also took hold of key player decisions. After trading for Arraez before the start of the 2023 season, she was criticized by some observers for sacrificing too much talent to acquire the hitter. This season, Arraez chased .400 for half the season and has become a driving force on the team.
Before the Aug. 1 trade deadline, Ng knew what the team needed. Those in the room recall the day in awe.
“The trade deadline this year, unbelievable. I was in that room all day long from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and everyone had different opinions, but she knew exactly what she wanted,” Conte says. “What she needed was runs, and she went out and scouted the right people and got them.”
She brought in infielders Josh Bell and Jake Burger. Perhaps just as important, she let go of those in the organization who were not on board with her vision. One of those was Gary Denbo, vice president of player development and an early Jeter hire.
But she also kept people who were put in place before her, and gave everyone a chance to prove themselves. Mel Stottlemyre Jr. has been the team’s pitching coach since 2018. He is one of the few coaches to stay through the changes.
Junior, as he is called by those who know him well, always suspected Ng would become a GM. His father — the late Mel Stottlemyre, a legendary pitcher and coach — told him she would some day.
“I remember when my pops was alive and still working with the Yankees,” Stottlemyre Jr. says. “He mentioned Ng’s name to me, and he talked about the toughness within her. And he finished his conversation and said that this woman was going to be a GM.
“And for him to say that, and then for me to go to work for her in what is her first job?” Stottlemyre Jr. points to goosebumps on his arm.
“Full circle,” I add. He nods. We let it sink in.
I bring up that moment with Ng. She pauses, too.
“When Mel told me the story, it surprised me because I definitely was not there making my mark,” she says. “That wasn’t my personality either, but it was certainly humbling to hear it for sure.”
Not yet three years into being a GM, Ng’s impact on baseball remains undeniable. At an MLB “Take the Field” event, a program designed to promote women working in baseball this past December, Ng gave the keynote address.
“Kim walks up and [my friends] are like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s Kim! That’s Kim!'” says Jennifer Brann, a 25-year-old Marlins data analyst whose friends were eager for an introduction. “People see her as like a larger-than-life figure. I think that she’s more popular than some of the [players] sometimes.”
Ng is aware she’s a role model, which also kept her going through all those GM interviews over the years.
Over the course of our interviews, I’m almost apologetic for asking what it means to be a woman in baseball. It is the year 2023, after all. But Ng is a woman and Asian American, like me, and those facts still matter. Visibility matters.
“Given my understanding of where I was in the universe, and that a lot of people looked up to me, whether it was women in the industry or young women wanting to get in the industry,” she explains. “You just never wanted to just fade off into nowhere. That wasn’t really an option.”
When Burger joined the team in August, his younger sister, Ellie Burger, retweeted a post the third baseman shared in November 2020, celebrating Ng’s historic hire. He tweeted that his sister, who always wanted to be a GM, now saw it was possible for a woman to have the top job. I asked Ellie what Ng’s role as GM means to her.
“It was just kind of breathtaking and wow, it actually happened.” Ellie says. “It was at like 52 [years old] she got hired as GM, and you take a Theo Epstein, for example, who gets hired at 28. And it’s like, why is there this difference? This is long overdue, but finally there’s movement.”
Eve Rosenbaum, a former MLB intern who worked for Ng and is now an assistant GM with the Baltimore Orioles, says Ng has huge weight on her shoulders.
“I think once one team hired a woman and then everyone can sort of exhale and say, ‘OK. Oh look, it happens,'” Rosenbaum says. “And, ‘Oh, look, she’s doing a good job,’ and then everyone else feels more comfortable to be the next person to hire a woman to lead their baseball ops department.”
Still, Ng is somewhat surprised to hear that her colleagues describe her as collaborative, kind, deliberative and smart.
“That’s the external, but the internal is quite a bit different,” Ng says. “It’s interesting that that’s the way they perceive me.”
“What’s the internal?” I ask.
“Very competitive, doesn’t quit,” Ng says, reflecting on her journey, but adding she wonders whether she “should let my personality come out a little more.”
Ng can be guarded about what she says, and careful about how she presents. But the few who know her well say she is fiery, too.
“It would annoy me when writers would ask [if I wanted to be GM]. Because are you asking the guys that? If you’re not asking the guys that, then don’t ask me that,” Ng says, slightly agitated. She rarely gets animated during our interviews. “[Are you asking] because I shouldn’t have that ambition, or it would be odd if I did have that ambition?”
It’s early September, and on this day, I’m back in Ng’s box at the Marlins’ stadium, in the dark, watching what is undeniably a sloppy game. The Marlins are losing badly to the Dodgers. Suddenly, a ball boy mistakes a ball in fair play for a foul ball and costs the Marlins a run. I react in disbelief. Ng is silent.
“Do you wish the game was already over?” I ask.
“Yeah, like five innings ago,” she says wryly.
In nearly every interview with Ng and those in the organization, the phrase “culture of winning” appears. Shortly after sitting down next to her, she says she wants to revisit the “culture of winning” idea again. She doesn’t think she explained it very well the last time we spoke.
“The culture of winning means the process and the preparation,” Ng explains. She then goes into detail about playing smarter baseball. Surprisingly, she says this night’s 10-0 rout by the Dodgers is not disappointing.
“This is execution. And sometimes you just don’t execute,” she says. “Physical mistakes happen. But last year, we might’ve thrown to a wrong base. That is not acceptable. That’s a mental mistake. That’s the mistake you have to learn from.
“We’ve been much better this year. And those are the signs of improvement and building that foundation.”
Beginning with snow in South Bend, the College Football Playoff made its on-campus debut this weekend. The scenes have not disappointed.
Up next is the quarterfinal round, which features four games played at traditional postseason sites: the Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Peach Bowl. Much like the first round, the quarterfinals will span two days. No. 3 Boise State kicks things off and will make its first-ever CFP appearance — albeit in a very familiar game, the Fiesta Bowl, where 18 years ago much of the country learned about the Broncos in their unforgettable win against Oklahoma. They’ll face No. 6 Penn State.
The New Year’s Day slate begins with perhaps the most surprising CFP entrant: Arizona State, which was picked to finish last in the 16-team Big 12 and won the league to earn the No. 4 seed. Coach Kenny Dillingham’s Sun Devils will be in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl for the first time since 1970 and will face No. 5 Texas. Up next will be the Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential, in which No. 1 seed Oregon, the nation’s only undefeated team this season, will take the field and face No. 8 Ohio State in a highly anticipated rematch. An incredible day finishes up in New Orleans, where No. 2 seed Georgia, the only team in the CFP field to win a national championship in the past four seasons, will face No. 7 Notre Dame at the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
Ten teams are left in the hunt for a national championship, following a season of unpredictability. Here’s a look at the first two quarterfinal matchups and what to expect Dec. 31 and Jan. 1. — Adam Rittenberg
Jump to:
Penn State vs. Boise State
Texas vs. Arizona State
Ohio State vs. Oregon
Notre Dame vs. Georgia
Vrbo Fiesta Bowl: No. 6 Penn State vs. No. 3 Boise State
When: Dec. 31, 7:45 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN
What we learned in Round 1: Perhaps we learned Penn State has an elite defense, but that seemed pretty clear before the 38-10 win over SMU in which the D picked off Kevin Jennings three times in the first half, returning two for touchdowns. Moreover, those interceptions were as much a statement about SMU’s incompetence on the execution of those plays as Penn State’s brilliance. Perhaps we learned that, once again, the 106,000-plus fans in Happy Valley can create havoc for opposing teams, but that won’t be an advantage through the rest of the playoff for Penn State. Perhaps we learned coach James Franklin can win a big one. He had been just 5-21 vs. top-12 teams at Penn State entering this year’s playoff. But while SMU might have earned its No. 11 ranking, the talent disparity on the field clearly favored Penn State, and had the Mustangs not imploded of their own accord so early, there might’ve been real hand-wringing over Franklin’s perplexing fourth-down call from his own 20-yard line up 14-0 or the offense’s inability to break big plays against SMU until the score was entirely lopsided. In other words, Penn State’s win was encouraging, because things mostly went right, and the Nittany Lions did what they were supposed to do. But beyond that, an easy victory against an SMU team that helped by beating itself didn’t exactly prove that this year’s Penn State is finally capable of getting over the hump against a genuinely top-tier opponent. The really good news is, the Nittany Lions are going to get at least one more chance to do just that.
X factor: QB Drew Allar. Allar and the Penn State passing game have been a mixed bag over the past two years. The top-line numbers speak for themselves. Allar wins, he doesn’t turn the ball over, and he has moved the ball consistently against lesser competition. But the downfield threat has never quite materialized for Allar, even as the offense’s explosiveness has improved with Andy Kotelnicki calling plays in 2024. Part of that comes from the lack of a true speed demon on the outside, and part of it comes from a game plan built around two talented tailbacks. But there will come a time in these playoffs — and quite possibly against Boise State — when Allar needs to change the dynamic, force a defense to respect the vertical threat and win some battles downfield.
How Penn State wins: It’s unlikely Penn State can completely run back the blueprint for beating SMU, as it’s not often a defense is gifted so many big plays by the opposing quarterback, but the basic framework for a win should look a good bit like what the Nittany Lions did in Round 1. It’s no secret Boise State’s magic is created by tailback Ashton Jeanty, so if Penn State can force the game into Maddux Madsen’s hands instead, there’s reason to think it can cash in on some QB mistakes, just as it did against SMU. Of course, that’s easier said than done. Jeanty has faced his share of stacked boxes this season, so not only does Penn State need to game-plan to stop Jeanty on defense, but Abdul Carter, Dani Dennis-Sutton & Co. have to actually bring down the Heisman Trophy runner-up before he can escape into space. — David Hale
Key player: RB Ashton Jeanty. Jeanty has turned in one of the best seasons college football has ever seen from a running back, rushing for 2,497 yards and 29 touchdowns, to finish second in the Heisman voting. He needs 132 yards to break Barry Sanders’ single-season rushing record, which has stood since 1988 (when bowl stats did not count toward official stats). Jeanty can do it all: get tough yards, break long ones, catch passes. And he has done it as the focal point from opposing defenses in a way few players ever are.
X factor: QB Maddux Madsen. There isn’t really a question of what the Broncos will get from Jeanty. He’s going to deliver when the chances are there and, probably, when they aren’t. In the Mountain West, he was dominant enough to minimize the importance of the passing game. That won’t be the case in this game. The Broncos will need complementary football and Madsen to rise to the occasion. In the regular season, Madsen did an excellent job protecting the football — he threw 29 touchdowns to just three interceptions — and that has to be the case against Penn State. The Nittany Lions terrorized SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings, and SMU never stood a chance with his poor performance.
How Boise State wins: When the Broncos lost by three at Oregon in September, they went toe-to-toe with the Ducks from start to finish. That performance earned them a lot of credibility with the selection committee and is perhaps the blueprint for how to advance. The key part here is not falling behind early. They never trailed by more than a score against Oregon, and that allowed Jeanty to stay as involved as possible. He’s going to see loaded boxes, as usual, but the opposing talent level is much higher than anything the Broncos have seen since Oregon. If Boise State can hang on to the ball and avoid third-and-long, it will have a puncher’s chance. — Kyle Bonagura
When: Jan. 1, 1 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN
What we learned in Round 1: Texas can morph into whatever form necessary to advance. Quinn Ewers started 8-for-8, but he cooled off after a ball bounced off DeAndre Moore Jr.’s hands and turned into an interception. But the running game took over Saturday for the Longhorns. After running for a total of 60 yards in two losses to Georgia this year, the Longhorns had two 100-yard rushers against Clemson, just the fourth pair of running backs to top the century mark in the playoff. Jaydon Blue, who had 38- and 77-yard touchdown runs — the second the Longhorns’ longest run of the season — added some explosiveness to an offense that has been methodical all season. This Texas team has dimensions where it can shift gears.
X factor: Texas tight end Gunnar Helm is a reliable security blanket for Ewers and the Longhorns, catching a touchdown with 33 seconds left in the first half, and three of his other five catches went for first downs, all coming on first down. The threat of Helm on early downs over the middle softens up looks for the rest of the offense. The 6-5, 250-pound senior is now first in Longhorns history in catches by a tight end and second in yards and touchdowns by a tight end in a season.
How Texas wins: Run the ball and shut down Cam Skattebo. The Texas pass defense was gashed by Clemson at times, giving up three passing TDs after surrendering only four all season, but without Jordyn Tyson, the Sun Devils might not have enough weapons to keep spreading out the nation’s best pass defense. If Texas can contain Skattebo (in the passing game, too) and feed its own running backs behind a strong offensive line, the Longhorns can stifle the Sun Devils and milk the clock while making them play from behind. — Dave Wilson
Key player: RB Cam Skattebo. What is not to love about the way Skattebo plays? His emergence became one of the best storylines of the season, as he ended up finishing fifth in the Heisman voting. He rushed for 1,568 yards and 19 touchdowns while adding 506 yards and three touchdowns receiving — the only player in the country with 1,000-plus yards rushing and 400-plus yards receiving (even with one missed game). As if that weren’t impressive enough, the last player to hit those marks was Christian McCaffrey in 2015. Skattebo got better as the season progressed — and his performance in the Big 12 championship game speaks to that. He was named Most Outstanding Player of the game after scoring three touchdowns (two rushing, one receiving), with 208 yards of total offense.
X factor: DB Xavion Alford. It is hard to call one of the best defensive players in the Big 12 an X factor, but so much of the focus on the Sun Devils has been on their offense that Alford deserves some of the spotlight — and he is likely to have an opportunity to come up big. An All-Big 12 first-team selection, Alford has been the model of consistency and an ironman of sorts. He played the fourth-most snaps in coverage in the Big 12 this season (424, 33rd among all FBS players) and allowed just seven receptions, the third fewest in FBS (minimum 300 coverage snaps). Teams have learned to not throw his way — he has been targeted just 17 times this season. As a result, he has allowed only 76 yards in coverage, fourth lowest among FBS players.
How Arizona State wins: Texas presents the biggest, most physical challenge up front that Arizona State has faced this season. The Longhorns completely owned Clemson at the line of scrimmage in their first-round game, so to defeat them, Arizona State will have to match or beat that physicality — and force Ewers into making mistakes. We all know what Skattebo can do, but Texas ranks as one of the best defenses in the country — so keeping that group off-balance is going to be key. Sam Leavitt has shown incredible poise as the starting quarterback, but the offensive line is going to have to make sure to keep Texas at bay so he does not get rattled. — Andrea Adelson
When: Jan. 1, 5 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN
What we learned in Round 1: Despite falling to Michigan, Ohio State is plenty capable of winning the national championship. The Buckeyes bounced back in a big way, throttling one of the SEC’s top teams all year in Tennessee. Ohio State jumped to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. Wide receivers Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka got open at will, and quarterback Will Howard put the ball on the money. Defensively, linebacker Cody Simon set a physical tone, cracking Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava‘s helmet on the opening drive with a devastating hit. It’s hard to see anyone else in the playoff defeating this version of the Buckeyes.
X factor: The Volunteers simply couldn’t cover Smith, who ignited the Ohio State scoring barrage with a 37-yard scoring grab on the opening possession. Ohio State curiously gave Smith only two targets in the Michigan loss, with both coming in the third quarter, resulting in just one catch for 3 yards. This time around, offensive coordinator Chip Kelly’s game plan against Tennessee clearly was to get the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and Wide Receiver of the Year involved early and often. The Buckeyes have capable veteran playmakers (Egbuka, TreVeyon Henderson, Quinshon Judkins), but Ohio State’s offense is at its most dangerous when Smith is touching the ball.
How Ohio State wins: In their first meeting, the Buckeyes allowed Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel to operate with a clean pocket (no sacks, only two QB hurries). The Heisman Trophy finalist made them play with 341 passing yards, highlighted by several completions downfield and two touchdowns on the way to the 32-31 victory. As the Tennessee game illustrated, Ohio State has the pass rushers — notably Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau — to overwhelm the opposing quarterback. Getting to Gabriel in the rematch will be paramount for the Buckeyes. — Jake Trotter
Key player: QB Dillon Gabriel. This is why Gabriel left Oklahoma and made his way to Eugene, to play in games like this. The fifth-year senior will lead Oregon into the Rose Bowl with a chance to stay undefeated and get one step closer to his ultimate goal of winning a national championship. Only Shedeur Sanders had a better completion percentage than Gabriel this season, an impressive feat when you consider this is his first year in the Ducks’ offense. Gabriel fit in seamlessly into offensive coordinator Will Stein’s unit and has produced his best games when Oregon has needed him the most — 341 yards and two touchdowns against Ohio State and 283 yards and four touchdowns in the Big Ten title game against Penn State. For Oregon to advance, Gabriel will need to not just replicate those kinds of performances, but likely dig deeper for more.
X factor: DE Jordan Burch. Oregon’s defense hasn’t exactly lacked for much given its depth and talent, but Burch has been a force. Despite missing four games with an injury, he has been able to tally 8.5 sacks (20th in the country), including a 2.5-sack outing against Washington in the regular-season finale. Having an extended rest period between the Big Ten title game and the Rose Bowl is a boon for a player like Burch, who could single-handedly tilt the game in the Ducks’ favor by wreaking havoc in the opposing team’s backfield.
How Oregon wins: The Ducks have the benefit (or the curse, depending on how you look at it) no other team in the quarterfinals has: They’ve already beaten their opponent once. Against the Buckeyes in October, Oregon fought fire with fire, out-gaining, outmatching and ultimately outscoring Ohio State by a single point in Eugene, thanks to a handful of explosive plays, fewer penalties and winning the turnover battle (2-0). The margin between these two teams is already slim and on a neutral site, Oregon will have to be more explosive, more disciplined and simply better — especially on defense, where they allowed 467 total yards — to be able to beat a tough opponent twice. The way the playoff bracket shook out is not how the No. 1 seed Ducks would have likely preferred, but what we get as a result is a rematch that could provide us with an all-time classic between arguably the two best teams in the country this year. It’s only fitting that the setting will be the Rose Bowl. — Paolo Uggetti
When: Jan. 1, 8:45 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN
What we learned in Round 1: Notre Dame has a championship-level defense with stars at all three levels. Safety Xavier Watts won the Bronko Nagurski Award in 2023, but he’s actually even better this season and showed why against Indiana with 10 tackles and an interception. Jaiden Ausberry led a playmaking group of linebackers and Rylie Mills created havoc up front, as Notre Dame flexed on third down (7 of 13 conversions). Notre Dame’s offense isn’t always the most fluid unit, but with so many running options, chunk plays are always possible, and Jeremiyah Love can deliver them, as he showed with a 98-yard touchdown, the longest play in CFP history.
X factor: WR Jordan Faison, a standout lacrosse player thrust into action at wide receiver in 2023 because of attrition, has become a sneaky good target for quarterback Riley Leonard. Despite missing three early-season games with a sprained ankle, Faison has made multiple catches in every contest he has appeared in, and he had a career-high seven receptions for 89 yards against Indiana. “He’s a playmaker, man,” coach Marcus Freeman said. The sophomore also has a knack for shining in the postseason, as he earned Sun Bowl MVP honors last year with 115 receiving yards and a touchdown against Oregon State. Notre Dame can’t beat Georgia strictly with its run game, and it will need wideouts such as Faison to make notable contributions.
How Notre Dame wins: The Irish must harass Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton, likely filling in for injured starter Carson Beck, just as they did Indiana’s Kurtis Rourke on Friday. Notre Dame’s defense, which has carried the team much of the season, recorded 10 tackles for loss and three sacks against Indiana and rarely let the Hoosiers operate on schedule. The Irish also need to replicate the offensive balance they showed against Indiana while being a bit more consistent on the ground. Remove Love’s 98-yard touchdown, and Notre Dame had 95 net rushing yards on 34 carries. Notre Dame also must play a cleaner game on special teams after having a field goal attempt blocked and an onside kick recovered by Indiana late in the game. — Rittenberg
Key player: QB Gunner Stockton. With Bulldogs starter Carson Beck probably sidelined for the CFP because of an elbow injury on his throwing arm, they’ll turn to Stockton, who is expected to make his first start in the Sugar Bowl. Stockton completed 12 of 16 passes for 71 yards with no touchdowns and an interception in Georgia’s 22-19 victory over Texas in the SEC championship game. He came off the bench to rally the Bulldogs back from a 6-3 deficit at the half. The third-year sophomore has completed 78.1% of his attempts for 206 yards in parts of three games in 2024. Stockton is more of a runner than Beck, but he has far less experience. At Rabun County High School, Stockton had 13,652 career passing yards and 177 passing touchdowns to go with 4,372 rushing yards and 77 rushing touchdowns in his four-year career. He set Georgia state high school records for career passing touchdowns, passing yards and rushing touchdowns.
X factor: RB Trevor Etienne. The Florida transfer returned from a nearly monthlong absence because of a rib injury and ran for 94 yards with two scores in the SEC championship game. He ran for 87 yards with three touchdowns in a 30-15 victory over the Longhorns in the regular season. Etienne can become a big safety valve for Stockton because of his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield — he has 28 receptions for 168 yards. Etienne is also a more-than-capable blocker, which will be important if Notre Dame’s defense decides to dial up the heat on Stockton. The Irish are 39th in run defense in the FBS (133 yards per game), and they held Indiana to only 63 yards in the first round.
How Georgia wins: With Stockton stepping under center, the Bulldogs are going to need their defense to rise up big time. This hasn’t been Georgia’s best defense under coach Kirby Smart; it ranks 21st in scoring defense (20.4 points), 36th against the run (127.8 yards) and 35th in total defense (334.8 yards). The defense has played well in some of Georgia’s biggest games, including wins over Texas and Tennessee. Linebackers Smael Mondon Jr. and Jalon Walker will need to control Notre Dame’s running game, and they’ll need to force the Irish into a couple of turnovers. — Mark Schlabach
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Dave Wilson, ESPN Staff Writer
AUSTIN, Texas — Coach Steve Sarkisian said he had a simple message for his offensive line and running backs after Texas‘ SEC title game loss to Georgia, the Longhorns’ second loss to the Bulldogs this season.
“Run to win.”
Texas ran for just 60 yards in the two games against Georgia — 29 in a 30-15 defeat in Austin in October and 31 in a 22-19 overtime loss two weeks ago.
On Saturday, in the first round of the expanded College Football Playoff, the Longhorns ran for a season-high 292 yards in a 38-24 win over Clemson. Now, they will run all the way back to Atlanta, the site of that second Georgia loss, with a quarterfinal trip to the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl to face Arizona State on Jan. 1.
“We needed to run the football to win this game,” Sarkisian said. “We’re going to need to run the football to advance in these playoffs. That’s what playoff football’s about.”
Running back Jaydon Blue, who struggled with an ankle injury early in the season and missed the UTSA game, reeled off 38- and 77-yard scoring runs, both on audibles called by quarterback Quinn Ewers, who finished 17-of-24 passing for 202 yards and a touchdown with one interception.
Blue, who had lost four fumbles previously in the campaign and was carrying a football around a month ago to highlight ball security after fumbling against Kentucky, had 2 yards on two carries in the two Georgia games. On Saturday, he rushed for a career-high 146 yards, calling it a “sigh of relief.”
“Going back to the SEC championship, we didn’t run the ball well at all,” Blue said. “[Sarkisian] just stayed on us in practice. The O-line, running backs, the whole offense took that in, and we were more physical in practice. He really made a big emphasis on us running the ball.”
And the Longhorns managed it against Clemson despite some key linemen suffering injuries in the game.
Shortly before halftime, center Jake Majors and right tackle Cameron Williams were hurt. Hayden Conner moved from left guard to center, with backup center Cole Hutson playing left guard and Trevor Goosby at right tackle.
Meanwhile, Clemson’s offense was able to press Texas. The Longhorns, which hadn’t allowed more than 350 yards to any team this season, gave up 412 yards, including 336 yards and three touchdowns through the air from Tigers quarterback Cade Klubnik. Texas had allowed just four previous touchdown passes all season.
The contest represented a rematch of the 2020 Texas state championship game between Ewers, who was born in San Antonio, and Klubnik, an Austin native playing against several former high school teammates on the Longhorns squad.
Texas safety Michael Taaffe, one of Klubnik’s best friends, said after Saturday’s game that the signal-caller posed challenges that the Longhorns hadn’t previously seen this season.
“When you look across the sideline, no matter how close you are with the other opponent, they’re your opponent,” Taaffe said of Klubnik. “We were definitely sharing words back and forth. So, that was fun. But then, at the end of the game, it’s all love. He had a great game. … He helped us get ready for next Saturday, for sure. So hats off to Cade; he’s a baller.”
Sarkisian said this team has proved to him it is versatile and resilient.
“I don’t know if this was our best game defensively, but when we had to have it, they made those plays. To me, that’s a sign of a great defense,” Sarkisian said.
And after Clemson rallied from a 31-10 deficit to make it 31-24 after Klubnik’s third TD throw, Blue was off on that 77-yarder early in the fourth quarter. Sarkisian saw it as a sign of resolve, both for Blue and the Longhorns.
“He was able to continue to work and improve his game and then have a game like this in the playoff,” Sarkisian said of Blue. “Just really proud of him, but I think that is kind of symbolic of everybody on our team. Everybody’s been dealing with stuff.
“I know one thing about our team, it’s that when times get tough, we respond. And Jaydon was a great example of that.”
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