Ohio State has reached the Final Four. The Buckeyes, the No. 8 seed in the first 12-team College Football Playoff, will head to the Cotton Bowl for a Jan. 10 game with No. 5 Texas.

If Ohio State beats Texas in the Playoff semifinals, the sport will be assured of having consecutive national champions from outside the Sun Belt region for the first time in three decades. The possibility means the playoff's expansion from four to 12 teams accomplished one of its major goals,

Ohio State and Texas have drawn each other as semifinal opponents in the College Football Playoff. This is the fourth game between these blue bloods.

The four head coaches remaining in this year’s College Football Playoff have a lot to gain by winning it all. Not just a national championship, and not just the bonus that comes with it. The other prize coming the winning head coach’s way is power and prestige at a time of upheaval in the sport and evolution within his profession.

The front-runner, the colossus, the team no opponent should want to face in College Football Playoff, hid in plain sight. No hiding now, Ohio State.