If Ohio State beats Texas in the College Football Playoff semifinals, the sport will be assured of having consecutive national champions from outside the Sun Belt region for the first time in three decades.

The team's latest addition is linebacker Marques Watson-Trent, who won the 2024 Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year award with Georgia Southern and has one more year of eligibility.

The Ohio State Buckeyes (12-2) face the Texas Longhorns (13-2) in the Cotton Bowl Friday in a College Football Playoff semifinal. Kickoff from AT&T Stadium in Arlington is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN).

The Orange Bowl between Penn State and Notre Dame could be a rock fight, and Texas can keep it close against Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl.

Thursday and Friday’s College Football Playoff semifinals have the potential to be some of the most exciting in years with Notre Dame taking on Penn State and Ohio State going to Texas to face the Longhorns.

Here are the former IHSA players on rosters for College Football Playoff semifinalists Ohio State, Texas, Penn State and Notre Dame.

Here’s hoping he’s prepared for the heft — both literally and figuratively. None of the four coaches left in the College Football Playoff have won a national title. But one of them will join an elite fraternity in less than three weeks,

Elite depth, the staple of so many recent national champions, is harder to maintain in the NIL/portal era of player transience.