The College Football Playoffs (CFP) final four is all set. Next week, Notre Dame will play Penn State in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 9, and Texas will play Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10. The winner of each game will face off on Jan. 20 to determine which is the best team in college football.
As a University of Georgia fan and SEC devotee, I'll admit, I've lost interest in college football at this point. Our loss in the Sugar Bowl was brutal. And let's face it, there was kind of a dark cloud hanging over the game after the terror attack in New Orleans that killed and injured many, including a UGA student.
On top of that, Sonny Smart, the father of our head coach Kirby Smart, traveled with his son's team to New Orleans for the game and fell outside his hotel, breaking his hip. But the situation was far more serious than many of us knew. Sonny passed away early Saturday morning due to complications from surgery. As Georgia running back Nate Frazier posted on X today, "no one knows what goes on behind closed doors." Some things are just way bigger than football.
I'm not making excuses for my Bulldogs. I had high hopes going into the game, even with a backup quarterback, but Notre Dame played better than we did. And I have to give the credit to their head coach Marcus Freeman.
My fellow Georgia fans may get me for this one, but I'm actually a big Freeman fan. I've sort of been following his career with Notre Dame. I think he's a terrific coach who has taught these young men well, but more importantly, he seems to be a terrific human being. He's a classy guy, and he proved that when Notre Dame beat Indiana earlier during the postseason. After the game, he showed his respect for the Hoosiers and their coach, Curt Cignetti: "I told Coach Cignetti after the game I think that’s a heck of a football team we faced that showed they wouldn't quit. Some good teaching opportunities for us. We're going to use that fourth quarter defensively, special-teams wise, we've got to learn from some of those situations that happened in that game."
He impressed me even further when he responded to the sports media after the Sugar Bowl, suggesting that his performance should be judged based on his merit rather than the color of his skin. You see, ESPN and others have gone nuts over the idea that for the first time in history, a black head coach will be a part of the CFP National Championship. They're referring to Freeman and Penn State's head coach James Franklin. And while I agree that it's historically significant and worth celebrating, I think we're on the verge of having it overshadow these men's accomplishments as individual human beings.
Freeman seemingly agrees. When asked about it by the media, he said that he's grateful and representation is important, but "Your color shouldn’t matter. The evidence of your work should."
Personally, I like this response. I like the idea of a world in which everyone is judged as an individual rather than part of a group, no matter how you come to that conclusion or what your goals are for doing so. We saw a lot people shaming certain groups for considering not voting one way or another based on their race, gender, ethnicity, etc., in the weeks leading up to the 2024 election, and it just doesn't work in the United States of America in 2025. And I agree that representation is important. I'd love for every child in this world to see someone who looks like them doing big things and achieving their dreams, though I'd also like to see parents teaching them to look beyond what's on the outside and judge people by their actions and what is in their heart...despite what ESPN says.
Anyway, I'm not sure I'll watch any more college football this year. I definitely don't have a dog in the race, though part of me wants to cheer for anyone but Texas (I refuse to acknowledge them as one of the four best teams in college football after we beat them twice this year, and then there is the fact that their fans threw trash on the field like a bunch of toddlers). But I think a little part of me might be pulling for Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman. I know I'll receive some flack for that, but I don't care. As my good friend, Dr. Julia Rygaard, says, "This is why I love college football —it's the last socially acceptable place where you can be petty, and I love it."
So, who is going to win it all? Let me know in the comments.
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