TRUMP IMPACT: President-elect Trump, Republicans eager to enact his legislative agenda on Trump’s first 100 days
LOCAL UPDATE: New details emerge on what led to a shooting that injured 3 officers and killed a suspect in Northeast DC
The Associated Press
January 13, 2025, 10:16 AM
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The 12 months was 1894. Yale put collectively a soccer schedule that was daunting: Video games on Wednesdays and Saturdays, principally each week from late September to late November, 16 contests in all.
No main school soccer staff — what we now name the FBS stage — had a 16-game season since.
Till now.
Welcome to one more new a part of this quickly altering school soccer world. Seasons, not less than for some groups, will probably be longer than ever. Texas and Penn State simply performed their sixteenth and closing video games of this 2024 season. And on Jan. 20 within the Faculty Soccer Playoff championship recreation, Notre Dame and Ohio State will probably be enjoying their sixteenth and closing video games of this season in a matchup to resolve the nationwide title.
“How we acquired prepared for the season, how we’re adapting, is you may have a plan, you may have a staff, you may have a sports activities efficiency staff that you just take heed to, and also you speak by way of some totally different eventualities and also you’ve acquired to be adaptable,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman mentioned. “You’ve acquired to be prepared to adapt primarily based off the unpredictable issues that may occur, and that’s what we’ve been capable of do — and I really feel like our guys will probably be bodily able to roll.”
The 16-game season didn’t come out of nowhere.
Increasing the CFP to 12 groups meant that the groups within the nationwide championship recreation must play both three or 4 video games — relying on whether or not they acquired a first-round bye or not. With a 12-game common season after which a convention championship recreation for some colleges, it’s nearly sure that the nationwide finalists on this system should play not less than 16 video games alongside the best way.
Notre Dame and Ohio State every performed 13-game seasons final 12 months. Enjoying 16-game seasons this 12 months may clearly be thought-about problematic — it’s much more put on and tear on our bodies — but it surely’s additionally an exquisite drawback to have, because it comes with an opportunity at a nationwide championship.
“Alongside the best way, we checked out a number of various things and metrics about enjoying this many video games, enjoying our sixteenth recreation, what that was going to be like,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day mentioned. “We knew it was going to be a bit of little bit of a battle of attrition at instances. So, depth was definitely a important a part of roster administration and expertise acquisition, but additionally how we apply, how we play. We’ve taken all these issues into consideration in order that we’re nonetheless actually, actually recent going into the tip of the season.”
Solely three groups on the “main school” stage performed the 16-game season earlier than this 12 months: Yale in 1894, Penn in 1892 and Yale in 1889. It has occurred a handful of instances on the FCS and Division II ranges as effectively.
However on the FBS stage, it hasn’t occurred in 130 years.
It has created new challenges for followers and fairly probably their pocketbooks — Notre Dame and Ohio State every had an additional dwelling recreation, plus now three bowl video games, and none of these tickets had been precisely low-priced. It absolutely has created a problem or two on the tutorial finish; Ohio State’s spring time period began final week, Notre Dame’s spring semester began Monday. And in lots of instances, gamers on each groups have merely logged extra performs, hits and miles than ever earlier than.
Oh, and whereas this season is ending, subsequent season is in full swing. Gamers have transferred. Recruits have signed. Coaches have been employed and fired at loads of colleges, and groups are placing collectively their spring apply schedules.
However in South Bend and Columbus, it nonetheless could as effectively be 2024.
“I’ve been an advocate that we have to go to an NFL calendar,” Duke coach Manny Diaz mentioned. “We have to do away with spring soccer and transfer into early summer season OTAs and mini-camps. We don’t need to invent this. The league has already figured it out. … We’re a spring sport now. We have to simply act like that.”
Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden seems on the marathon season as a blessing in some methods. On one hand, it’s a ton of labor. On the opposite, the Irish are enjoying for a hoop. He’s not complaining.
“Most of those guys are navigating it as we go. No person’s achieved it earlier than in school,” Golden mentioned. “We take heed to what the information says and go by it. It’s simply an attention-grabbing time.”
___
Get ballot alerts and updates on the AP High 25 all through the season. Enroll here. AP school soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
Copyright © 2025 The Related Press. All rights reserved. This materials is probably not revealed, broadcast, written or redistributed.
5425 Wisconsin Ave
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
hello@wtop.com
202.895.5000
Copyright © 2025 by WTOP. All rights reserved. This web site isn’t supposed for customers situated inside the European Financial Space.