Penn State, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Texas are all that remain of the 134 FBS teams who began the year with playoff dreams. One of them will be crowned national champion on January 20.

College football will have consecutive national champions from outside the Sun Belt region for the first time in three decades if Ohio State beats Texas in a playoff semifinal this week.

College football's newfound parity has been a major talking point through the 2024 season. For a multitude of perfectly sensible reasons, the good teams aren't as good at the power conference level, and some of the bad teams aren't as bad.