College Football Playoff 2025: Previewing both semifinal matchups in Cotton, Orange Bowls
The teams in this year's College Football Playoff semifinals all have something in common: they're all among the sport's elite, but are also all attempting to return to the sport's pinnacle for the first time in quite a while.
None of these teams, despite routinely being among college football's cream of the crop, have won a national title since 2014, when Ohio State brought home the title. Texas hasn't won one since 2005, Notre Dame since 1988, and Penn State since 1986.
Of those teams, Ohio State and Texas have come close since then; Ohio State fell short in 2020, losing in the national championship game, and the semifinals in 2022, 2019, and 2016, while Texas lost in the semifinals last year.
The Buckeyes have frequently been just on the outside of the Playoff looking in, thanks to the occasional untimely loss to Michigan under Ryan Day. They've seen talented teams drop off and stumble, falling just short of the heights their fans demand.
The Longhorns, on the other hand, have desperately sought the kind of dominance that their location and station in the sport dictate they should have. With the plethora of recruiting talent on their doorstep and the resources at their disposal, Texas should be a true national power. But the on-field results have seldom lived up to the aspirations of their fan base.
Penn State and Notre Dame, meanwhile, have walked eerily similar paths since their last titles. The Nittany Lions have frequently been good, but almost never great, and have been in the process of rebuilding their program after a fall from grace amid the Jerry Sandusky scandal. But Penn State's return to national prominence has seen them settle back into the bridesmaid role they filled so often during the Joe Paterno era.
Notre Dame has walked a similar path, sans program-altering scandal. The Irish struggled to find their footing as the 1980s transitioned into the 1990s, and failed to reach a consistent level of success after Lou Holtz left the program in 1996. Even as Brian Kelly built them back into a nationally relevant program, Notre Dame developed a reputation as being incapable of winning big games. Often good, but never good enough to contend at a national level.
And now, all four of these programs find themselves on the cusp of greatness. They have found their way out of the college football wilderness, and now have the opportunity to hoist the hardware they've desperately sought.
But which of the four will come out on top? Will it be Ohio State, the most talented team in the sport who have fallen short time and time again? Will it be Texas, the big-spending power whose on-field results are finally starting to meet expectations? Will Penn State finally shed their bridesmaid label once and for all, winning a big game against a talented opponent? Or will Notre Dame wake up the long-slumbering echoes and bring home a title that many fans questioned whether it would ever come?
Check out our handy previews to find out!