Notre Dame beat Penn State by a field goal In the Orange Bowl Thursday night to earn a spot in the College Football Playoff National Championship.
On Friday night, in the other national semifinal, Ohio State and Texas will face off in the Cotton Bowl.
Over the next few days, the Detroit Lions, like many of their fans, will be at home watching football on TV to find out who they’ll face in the second round of the NFL playoffs.
Morning Edition host Doug Tribou spoke with Michigan Public sports commentator John U. Bacon about all that and more from the world of sports.
Football schedule:
Cotton Bowl - College Football Playoff National Semifinal - Ohio State Buckeyes at Texas Longhorns, Friday 7:30 p.m.
NFL Wildcard Round - Jan. 11-13
Doug Tribou: In a game that could have gone either way, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish got an interception and a field goal very late in the game to beat Penn State 27-24 Thursday. What gave Notre Dame the edge?
Joh U. Bacon: A bad interception from Penn State by a veteran quarterback, a very good interception from Notre Dame. And I've got to say it flat out: Marcus Freeman, their coach, has done a phenomenal job. The previous head coach was Brian Kelly, who left Notre Dame because he said you can't win a national title here. And he went to Louisiana State University where they're not very good. So I guess he was wrong.
DT: Friday night, it’s Ohio State versus Texas in the Cotton Bowl. The winner will face Notre Dame for the national championship. Who do you like… the Buckeyes or Longhorns?
JUB: Who do I like or who do I expect next? [Laughs] They may not be the same in this case.
DT: [Laughs] Fair.
JUB: Anyway, it's Ohio State. Ohio State the previous week played Oregon. Oregon was No. 1 in the country, 13-0. And Ohio State was ahead 34-0 in the first half. I can't recall ever seeing that. The Buckeyes are playing as well now as they played poorly against Michigan in that shocking upset [on Nov. 30]. And I think they are going to win it all.
DT: As the top seed in the NFC, the Lions have the weekend off as they get to skip the wild-card round of the NFL playoffs. The Lions had a high-stakes, playoff-style game last weekend to close out the regular season against Minnesota and dominated 31-9. How did that win prep the Lions — who could see the Vikings again — for the playoffs?
JUB: Well, you're seeing it the right way, Doug. It was not a playoff game, but boy, it had all the trappings of a playoff game. Not quite do-or-die, but huge stakes. By winning that game, they get two weeks off. They've got a lot of guys banged up on defense. They get some guys back. It was just a gritty, gritty performance against a very good Minnesota team. So, man, I don't know what Dan Campbell, the head coach, is serving these guys, but they're buying it and they're playing great football and now they're going to be a home team throughout the rest of the playoffs.
In 2023-24, the Detroit Pistons won 14 of 82 games. This season, under new head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, the team has won 19 games with 44 left to play.
DT: John, last season, the Pistons won 14 games. Just for the record NBA teams play 82 games each season, so 14 wins is… terrible. This year, under new coach J.B. Bickerstaff, the Pistons have already blown past last season’s win total. The team has 19 wins with months still left in the season. What has stood out to you about the Pistons’ turnaround?
JUB: Well, it is J.B. Bickerstaff, the head coach. The roster is better than last year, but not that much better. They play very good team defense. That is always coaching — in hockey or baseball, any of these sports. Defense is coaching. Offense is talent, as a rule. And by the way, if you want to feel old, how about this? They've added veterans like Tim Hardaway Jr.
Junior! The younger one, because Tim Hardaway Sr. is also younger than I am. That's his kid and he's a veteran [Laughs].
DT: [Laughs] The Red Wings got off to a slow start and fired coach Derek Lalonde. They brought in veteran NHL coach Todd McLellan and since the change Detroit has gone 5-1 and has won five straight. This is a team that barely — and I mean, barely — missed the playoffs last year. Is this change enough to help them make it this year?
JUB: Too soon to say. Unlike Bickerstaff — Bickerstaff has had the Pistons the entire season — McLellan's been there six games. It's still the honeymoon, the Hawthorne Effect of change and so on. But man, the style of hockey — with the exact same roster — is completely different. They were passive before. Sluggish. The plays were too complicated, so the guys were too skittish.
He's saying, release the hounds, go skate, have fun. And it's working. And they have not made the playoffs in eight seasons. Half the NHL teams every year make the playoffs. So to not make it eight years in a row is like flipping the coin and getting tails eight straight years. That's hard to do. I think this year they might just make it.
Editor's note: Some quotes in this article have been edited for length and clarity. You can hear the full interview near the top of this page.
