STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The new College Football Playoff format is going retro for the first-ever semifinals. Tonight's matchup features two powerhouses from the 1980s, Penn State and Notre Dame. Notre Dame. The other semifinal tomorrow is a showdown between two top-rank teams, Texas and Ohio State. NPR sports correspondent Becky Sullivan is covering it all. Becky, good morning.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: OK, retro teams. Yeah, I mean, I grew up - maybe you were in this kind of household. People would hate Notre Dame or hate Penn State if they weren't actually fans of the team because they just won too much once upon a time. But now here they are, coming back again.
SULLIVAN: That is true, although I will say if you had Catholic sports fans in your family, then your tune about Notre Dame...
INSKEEP: (Laughter)
SULLIVAN: ...Might be a little different.
INSKEEP: Absolutely.
SULLIVAN: (Laughter) But yes, they - this is very retro, very throwback. But both of these teams look very strong tonight. It's going to be a very even matchup, I think. Both of them have a lot in common. And even though they were good in the '80s, they haven't really accomplished much since - neither of these programs. And so somehow, these are the two sort of, like, little guys we have left in this College Football Playoff. Both of the teams play heavy football focused on defense and run games. Both of their defenses came up huge for them in their quarterfinal wins. That was against Georgia for Notre Dame and against Boise State for Penn State. I think it's going to be a really close game.
INSKEEP: I do appreciate a team that focuses on the fundamentals, as you say. And this, if I'm not mistaken, is one of the biggest college football games ever in which both of the coaches are Black - James Franklin and Marcus Freeman. What do you make of that?
SULLIVAN: Yeah, I mean, it might be the biggest game ever in which that's true, which is a crazy thing to say, I think, in 2025. No Black coach has ever led his team to the college football title at the top level of the sport or even an appearance in the title game, which has only existed for a few decades. But in that regard, college football lags way behind the NFL and even further behind college basketball and the NBA. About half of college football players are Black, but only around 16 of - or only 16 of around 130 programs in the top level of the sport have Black head coaches. And because these two are coaching in the semifinal, that means that one of them will be coaching in the title game. And here's how Penn State's James Franklin this week compared it - talked about it. He was talking about the Super Bowl back in 2007, which was the first time that that game had featured two Black head coaches.
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JAMES FRANKLIN: That was a big moment. It felt like that was going to have an opportunity to maybe create some change or create some opportunities for guys that had earned the right to sit in those types of rooms.
SULLIVAN: And at that time, he pointed out, only six of the head coaches in the college game or in the top level of the college game were Black. Now, as we said, that number is 16. He does think that that Super Bowl had an impact on that. And so he hopes this game today could do the same, especially if one of them goes on to win the national championship.
INSKEEP: OK. I grew up following Big Ten teams from Indiana - Purdue particularly - so, of course, we hated Ohio State. But once Purdue is eliminated, you can root for Ohio State. They're against Texas on Friday. What do you see there?
SULLIVAN: Well, these are, like, the two, obviously, big, modern heavyweights. Texas looking very strong, as ever, in its first year in the SEC. In fact, they were the only SEC team to make it this far in the playoffs. But the quarterfinals - after the quarterfinals, Ohio State looks like the team to beat. They crushed the previously unbeaten Oregon Ducks.
INSKEEP: Yeah.
SULLIVAN: So they're big favorites in this game, which is tomorrow night, on Friday. Texas does have a great defense. The game is in Texas, so that could be a plus for them. But a player to keep your eye on is the 19-year-old Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith - too young to be eligible for the NFL draft, but some analysts say he'd go first overall this year if he was old enough. He showed up huge in the Oregon game. The question is, can he do it on an even bigger stage?
INSKEEP: Hard to believe some of the things Ohio State has done. Becky, thanks so much.
SULLIVAN: You're welcome.
INSKEEP: NPR's Becky Sullivan.
(SOUNDBITE OF SARAH, THE ILLSTRUMENTALIST'S "LOOK HOW PRETTY TODAY IS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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