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.

Ohio State ’s Ryan Day, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian, Notre Dame ’s Marcus Freeman and Penn State ’s James Franklin are the final four. None has won a national championship as a head coach, making this season the third out of the last four in which the title will go to a head coach who has never won one.

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.