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.

It took most of the season, but two games into the newly-extended College Football Playoff, the Ohio State Buckeyes look like the team everyone thought they should be this season. The Buckeyes have what is believed to be the most expensive roster in all of football;

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.