North Dakota State's back, plus College Football Playoff Final 4's mascot vote

Until Saturday Newsletter 🏈 | This is The Athletic’s college football newsletter. Sign up here to receive Until Saturday directly in your inbox.

Today, we review last night’s FCS national championship and look ahead with our predictions for college football in 2025. Plus, get ready to vote for your favorite mascot of the College Football Playoff’s semifinals.

North Dakota State’s Back

QB rematch

North Dakota State won its 10th FCS title on Monday night with a 35-32 decision against Montana State. It’s the Bison’s 10th championship in the past 15 years and fifth in the past eight seasons. It ended on a game-winning punt as Montana State didn’t have any returners downfield, since they were assuming their best shot to get in field goal position was to block the punt instead.

NDSU coach Tim Polasek won the title in his first year in charge, 19 years removed from the call that pulled him to Fargo while he was working as a lumberjack.

One quirky stat: The game was a rematch of the 2021 FCS title game, which North Dakota State won 38-10. That game featured the same starting quarterbacks as yesterday: NDSU’s Cam Miller and Montana State’s Tommy Mellott.

By contrast, none of the four quarterbacks remaining in the CFP were with their current programs during the 2021 season. Penn State’s Drew Allar and Texas’ Quinn Ewers were getting ready for their freshman seasons, Ohio State’s Will Howard was playing his second season at Kansas State, where he started three games in place of the injured Skylar Thompson, and Notre Dame’s Riley Leonard was in his first season at Duke, where he played in seven games with one start behind Gunnar Holmberg.

Predicting 2025

Belichick’s first year, Playoff returners

I polled coworkers around The Athletic for their boldest predictions for college football in 2025. Here’s what they told me (and one from me too):

• Deion Sanders will finish with a better record than Bill Belichick. — David Ubben, CFB writer

Another Belichick prediction trends in the opposite direction.

• The buyout on Belichick’s contract with UNC drops from $10 million to $1 million after June 1, 2025, which would allow him to return to the NFL for the 2026 coaching cycle. He’ll do so a year after that, rather than jump at the first opportunity. Until then, don’t expect a notoriously competitive coach like Belichick to settle for more 6-7 Tar Heels seasons. Armed with a Super Bowl-level resume and a 400-page “organizational bible,” plus a talented defensive coordinator in his son Steve and NIL money, Belichick could surprise the FBS with a Playoff appearance in Year 1. — Jacob Robinson, Scoop City writer

A Belichick Playoff appearance in Year 1? Who else might make the field?

• Google it: “Football Schools” … Curt Cignetti has Indiana right back into a Playoff. This is a coach who has a 130-37 career record, hustles the portal as well as anyone at his (NIL cash) level and has an early schedule he can’t screw up. It used to be edgy to say the Hoosiers can repeat a bowl appearance, but they’re set up to surpass that. Surprised as you are. — Chris Sprow, creative development director
• Ohio State will be on its way to becoming a back-to-back national champion. Star WR Jeremiah Smith will continue to bolster his highlight reel. We’ll look back at the Buckeyes’ loss to Michigan in Nov. 2024 as the ultimate turning point. — Me

Newsletter writer brains think alike as Pulse writer Chris Branch had a similar prediction.

• Ryan Day wins a second straight national title next year but still loses to Michigan. — Chris Branch, Pulse writer

And how can we talk about 2025 without focusing on Smith?

• Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith will win the Heisman, and then the NFL will allow him to enter the draft a year early. — Manny Navarro, CFB writer

But can Smith stay in the spotlight behind the QB with a famous last name in Austin?

• Arch Manning will be a top-10 QB in the country next year, easily. Maybe top five. All that time to cook and incubate, plus his skillset with Steve Sarkisian’s offense, is a recipe for a huge season. The only question I have will be up front. Texas will lose several key players off its O-line (LT Kelvin Banks, C Jake Majors … potentially RT Cam Williams), so I’m curious to see how that evolves and how well he’s protected. But as long as things don’t fall apart up front, I see an All-SEC, maybe All-America type of season on deck. There will be some early growing pains for sure. I mean, he’s only started two games. But I think the good will far outweigh the bad with him. And Texas’ offense will really take off as a result. — Sam Khan Jr., CFB writer

The “Until Saturday” podcast discussed 2025 confidence levels in the eight teams that have lost CFP games this season. Is Arizona State here to stay? Is Clemson on the come-up? Listen here.

Mascot Wars

Which is best among CFP semifinalists?

After having to skip the Peach Bowl due to the lack of sideline space at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Texas’ live steer mascot, Bevo, will attend the College Football Playoff Cotton Bowl semifinal on Friday. Of course, that trip is a little easier for Bevo, given Dallas’ AT&T Stadium is just 200 miles from Texas’ campus (yes, the Longhorns got the luckiest travel break of the postseason, as long as they survive the forecasted 4-6 inches of snow).

Bevo’s return (along with my attendance at the Michigan State-Wisconsin Frozen Confines hockey game this past weekend where I was reunited with my beloved mascot, Sparty) had me thinking about a friendly mascot voting poll here in Until Saturday. So let’s get into it.

Texas: Bevo

(Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images)

Having a live longhorn as a mascot dates back to 1916 when alumnus Stephen Pinckney gathered $124 from other alumni to purchase a steer in the Texas Panhandle. But the original mascot of UT was actually an American Pit Bull Terrier named Pig. The Silver Spurs student organization has been entrusted to care for Bevo since 1945.

Penn State: Nittany Lion

(Dan Rainville / USA Today)

The oldest mascot of the bunch, the Penn State Nittany Lion started as a chirp back from former Penn State third baseman Harrison “Joe” Mason to Princeton in 1904. Mason fabricated the Nittany Lion that day as Princeton team members showed off their Bengal tiger as a symbol of their strength. The Nittany Lions went on to defeat Princeton that day, and Mason was forever etched in Penn State lore.

Ohio State: Brutus Buckeye

Brutus Buckeye, unnamed at the time, made its debut at Ohio Stadium on Oct. 30, 1965, at the homecoming football game against Minnesota. Students took the creation of the mascot into their own hands when they built the original papier-mache version at the Pi Beta Phi sorority house. The mascot has received a series of updates, including adding his baseball cap and signature scarlet and gray striped shirt to the wardrobe in the 1980s and, in the 1990s, his upper body beefed up.

Notre Dame: The Leprechaun

(Michael Clubb / South Bend Tribune / USA Today via Imagn Images)

Before the Leprechaun was named Notre Dame’s official mascot in 1965, the team was represented by a series of Irish terrier dogs, most of whom went by the name of Clashmore Mike. Since then, Notre Dame students have served as the Fighting Irish mascot. Four students were selected as Leprechauns for the 2024-2025 school year, per the mascot’s Instagram page. And alert your friends, submissions to try out for the 2025-26 year are due in April.

Vote for your favorite mascot here. As for how these schools got their nicknames in the first place, Matt Baker dove into that topic earlier this Playoff season.

Quick Snaps

James Franklin largely has been defined by his shortcomings in the big moments at Penn State. And as a semifinal against Notre Dame approaches, his answer to getting over the pesky storyline might be sticking to his familiar mantra.

Also for the Nittany Lions, DE Abdul Carter’s status for the Orange Bowl remains unclear after he exited the last game with an apparent left shoulder injury. Carter was the Big Ten defensive player of the year.

Georgia QB Jaden Rashada — who was at the center of a major NIL dispute during his recruitment — has entered the transfer portal for the second time.

You can buy tickets to every college football game here.

For streaming info on Fubo, click here.

📫 Love Until Saturday? Check out The Athletic’s other newsletters.

(Top photo of Cam Miller: Justin Tafoya / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)