In 1993, an 11-1 Notre Dame team finished second within the poll, behind a 12-1 Florida State team that had defeated the Fighting Irish within the regular season. Notre Dame fans were indignant that they were denied a national championship since the sport refused to place its champion on the sector. The school's athletic director, Dick Rosenthal, didn’t share her standpoint.

“(Notre Dame's) position was to reject the playoffs because we don't believe in extending the season,” he said. “It is a threat to the student-athlete’s academic success.”

Guess which school will host the first-ever College Football Playoff home game 31 years later?

Notre Dame hosts Indiana on Friday night in the primary game of the primary 12 months of a 12-team postseason tournament. It's nothing in need of a miracle that there are 4 FBS playoff games on college campuses this weekend, considering that coaches, athletic directors, university presidents, conference commissioners and, in fact, bowl managers have been warning us for many years about all of the dire consequences That day will ever come.

“If our team were fortunate enough to qualify, there would be a very serious academic conflict,” Tennessee athletic director Bob Woodruff wrote a 1971 NCAA News editorial. “In order to play more than one football game during the holiday period from mid-December to January 1, special (testing) schedules would be required.”

It only took 53 years, but Tennessee will need to have figured something out. The Vols play a first-round playoff game at Ohio State on Saturday. If they win, they may play again on January 1st in Pasadena, California.

College football's infinite debate over conducting NFL-style playoffs dates back to at the least the Nineteen Sixties, when several distinguished coaches began advocating for such a system. One of the primary was Penn State University's Joe Paterno, who didn't live to see the Nittany Lions host SMU on Saturday in a first-round game with temperatures expected to be within the low 70s and possibly snow.

Their voices remained within the minority amongst college athletic leaders for many years. It took until 1998 for an official national championship game to be held at considered one of the 4 bowl sites, after which until 2014 to carry a four-team playoff. Anything beyond that was a bridge too far.

“I have to tell you, I really don't think there's going to be an NFL-style playoff in college football anytime soon,” then-BCS coordinator Kevin Weiberg said in 2005. He was right.

Academics were considered one of the most important excuses (ahem, concerns) expressed by university presidents and others. Not to say the undeniable fact that basketball players have been commuting across the country for 3 weeks during March Madness or that the College World Series is well beyond graduation. Football players would definitely fail in the event that they needed to play an additional game within the finals week.

“They’re going to rip a playoff system from my cold, dead hands,” then-Ohio State president Gordon Gee said in 2007. Gee, now West Virginia’s president, continues to be very much alive.

Another major concern was that a bigger playoff would smash college football's exciting regular season. In a 2008 interview, Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese referenced Pitt's season-ending upset of West Virginia the previous season, which had knocked the Mountaineers completely out of contention for the national championship.

“If there had been a playoff, who would have seen this game?” he said. “It wouldn’t mean anything. West Virginia would already be in the playoffs.”

On the ultimate day of this regular season, 16.6 million people watched an SEC championship game between two teams, Georgia and Texas, each of which were safely within the playoffs.

When it involves hosting December games on campus, generations of leaders whose schools might get the chance to host the most important home game of their history found countless reasons to say “no thanks.”

For example, in 2019, then-Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich said of potential home playoff games: “Have you ever tried to get a hotel (on short notice) in Clemson, SC, or Blacksburg, Virginia?”

Well, problem solved: Clemson is playing its first-round game in Austin, Texas, where there are 50,000 hotel rooms. (Plus, CFP's travel agency secured hotel blocks near all of its most important competitors months ago.)

And oh yes, the cold weather. No cold weather please. It doesn't matter that lower-tier schools in Montana and Minnesota have long played outdoor postseason games.

“There needs to be some accounting of stadiums that need to be winterized in the months of December and January, etc.,” Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby said in 2021.

No have to panic. Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft said the newly renovated Beaver Stadium could be ready to be used this weekend.

“The heat is rolling,” he said. “Everything will be fine.”

The root reason behind all these excuses (ahem, concerns) was the game's undying loyalty to its bowl game-hosting friends. Generations of coaches, player managers and spectators enjoyed holiday visits to Pasadena, California, New Orleans and Miami and dared not betray the people of those communities. Who unequivocally warned of the existential threat of a playoff.

“Basically,” Liberty Bowl general manager William McElroy Jr. said in 1984, “I think it would put the bowls out of business.”

When McElroy said this, there have been 18 bowl games. Today there are 41. Six of them will host playoff games starting December thirty first.

So what has modified? Why, after six many years of struggle, have commissioners and their universities' presidents finally agreed to an event during which Notre Dame, Penn State, Ohio State and Texas will host playoff games within the cold and snowy December? Why are they now okay with Indiana, SMU, Clemson and Tennessee athletes spending the last week of their semester practicing for a road game? Or since the 4 losing schools miss a bowl trip?

If money had been the one motive, they’d have done this an extended time ago – like within the Nineteen Nineties, when a Swiss marketing firm offered to host a 16-team playoff that might pay schools $300 million a 12 months, in keeping with the BCS corresponds on the time. (That company, ISL, went out of business shortly thereafter amid a mountain of debt.)

The easy answer may be that college football has evolved. Drastic. Freshmen who were ineligible became a few of their teams' biggest stars. Recruitment letters gave option to Instagram DMs. The I formation and belly dive gave option to shotguns and RPOs.

And little by little, as time went on – albeit on the speed of a 350-pound offensive lineman – increasingly more executives became receptive to the concept it would just be possible to carry a much bigger playoff without destroying every little thing, what’s sacred to us.

In this column, you've heard from a wide selection of playoff doomsayers. Here we pay tribute to the late Washington Post columnist William Barry Furlong, who in 1974 predicted the mindset that might ultimately prevail, even when it took one other 50 years.

“If college football claims to be a part of Americana,” he wrote, “it must acknowledge something of the American spirit.” There are deeper currents within the American people than rah-rah and pennant-waving. Because deep within the American psyche is the necessity to finish things properly, to have an end to things and at the identical time have a starting. The playoffs would reflect the spirit of the American people.”

On Friday evening, nearly 78,000 Americans will flock to Notre Dame Stadium for the beginning of this historic event, which can conclude properly exactly a month later in Atlanta.

We assume that the wait until this moment was price it.

The athlete

ARLINGTON, Texas – Something seemed somewhat off. DeMarvion Overshown blitzed and the running back caught him. But after the 2 collided, the back let go of the Dallas Cowboys linebacker.

And that's where Overshown modified the sport.

The second-year linebacker raised his right arm, grabbed the short pass intended for the running back and hurled it near the New York Giants' 25-yard line. Overshown then finished the run, keeping the ball within the air near the 5-yard line as he bumped into the top zone.

The play helped give the Cowboys a 13-7 lead early within the second quarter, they usually never looked back, defeating the Giants 27-20 on Thursday at AT&T Stadium.

“I really just thought, 'Just blow that play up,'” Overshown said. “It was a lightning bolt with my number on it. I just knew I had to make an impactful play or at least cause some confusion back there. When the running back let go of me, I thought, 'Some bullshit is going on.' And then the quarterback threw the ball and I thought, 'That's my play.'”

The quarterback was Drew Lock, who played in place of the injured Tommy DeVito. The running back was Devin Singletary. On the Fox game broadcast, Tom Brady pointed out that the Giants called the screen a “low-risk play” and were certainly not anticipating a potential turnover.

“Lock doesn’t even think about an interception,” Brady said. “You think I made an easy throw. But Overshown’s length ultimately makes for a game-changing play.”

The crowd at AT&T Stadium, which has understandably booed the house team several times this season, was about as loud because it has been all season when Overshown ended the run.

What a chunk from Overshown.

: #NYGvsDAL on FOX
: Keep streaming #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/o9hC8Zduzw

– NFL (@NFL) November 28, 2024

“I was able to inject some nitrous and after that we were dancing in the end zone,” Overshown said. “As soon as I got the ball, I knew I was going to score. So I asked myself, “What dance can I do today?”

“It couldn't have come at a better time. Thanksgiving, the world is watching.”

The start of Thursday's game looked much like previous Cowboys home games this season. The offense was unimpressive and the defense struggled to stop the Giants' offense, which managed only one meaningless late touchdown in a 30-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.

But after the overshown game there was a momentum that was missing at home. Dallas entered the sport having trailed significantly entering the fourth quarter in its last five home games, all of them decisive losses. It was a wierd situation for a team that had been on a 16-game home winning streak over the past two seasons. The Cowboys led 27-10 at the top of the third quarter.

“This is our home,” Overshown said. “This is our castle. Teams should be afraid to play against us when they come here. The series of defeats wasn't pretty for us either. It's nice that this place rocks like it's supposed to. Now we have to move on.”

The Cowboys have won two straight games and improved their record to 5-7. But they’re removed from realistically discussing the playoffs. Winning against the Washington Commanders and Giants is actually no reason to discount the beginning of this disappointing season. Even Jerry Jones, the team owner and general manager, who is often half full, didn't need to discuss playoff possibilities after the sport.

But Overshown's game is a reason to be optimistic concerning the future. It also makes you wonder what might have been last season when his rookie 12 months resulted in Dallas' second preseason game. Would a play just like the one he made Thursday have made a difference in the course of the season, or maybe even within the playoffs, if he hadn't suffered a torn ACL in his left knee?

“I told y’all from the beginning that he was going to be a guy,” Cowboys All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons said. “Before the injury, I said, 'This is going to be a Pro Bowl-type All-Pro player.' Well, he's not yet (No. 11), that's Agent 0. He's not trying to be like me; he is his very special specimen. He is a wildcat in the field. Man, I love playing next to him.”

Overshown delivered flash plays early in the season but has been more consistent over the course of this year. Playing alongside a veteran like Eric Kendricks helped. The two met on Thursday in another important defensive game.

On the opening series of the third quarter, Kendricks sacked Lock, depriving him of the ball in the process. Overshown recovered. Six plays later, Dallas scored, making the score 20-10.

“D-Mo is a great player,” Kendricks said. “He’s one of the best I’ve ever been with. His attitude is just pure. He loves the game. I love watching it. And it motivates me to be in my 10th year. It motivates me to see a sophomore like him, especially what he brings to the field.

“He’s getting better every game. He knows he has things he needs to work on. He takes it seriously. The sky is the limit. I'm excited to see what he has in store. Expect more big games from him this year.”

Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy had similar thoughts after the sport, saying Overshown's interception was one among the highlights of the season for Dallas. He also sees higher days ahead for last 12 months's third-round pick.

“I’m very grateful,” Overshown said. “Right before the game I said to myself, 'This time last year I was just waiting to show people what I said.' “When I get back on the sector, I'm going to indicate what God has really put into me: to go on the market, encourage me and play the best way I do. “All I can hope for is to be healthy on the field. “

The stars will not be fixed and unchanging, contrary to what many individuals in precedent days thought. Every from time to time a star appears where there was none before, after which it disappears inside days or even weeks.

The first evidence of such a “guest star”, as the traditional Chinese astronomers called it, is a star that suddenly appeared within the sky all around the world on July 4, 1054. It quickly became brighter and was for the subsequent 23 days.

Astronomers in Japan, China and the Middle East observed this event. in addition to the Anasazi in what’s now New Mexico.

In the second half of 2024, a Nova Explosion within the star system T Coronae Borealis or T CrB will again be visible to people on Earth. T CrB will appear 1,500 times brighter than usual, but it’ll not be as spectacular because the event in 1054.

I’m an area explorer with a passion for teaching physics and astronomy. I really like photographing the night sky and astronomical events, including eclipses, meteor showers, and once-in-a-lifetime astronomical events just like the T CrB Nova. At its best, T CrB can be the fiftieth brightest star within the night sky – brighter than only half the celebrities within the Big Dipper. It might take some effort to search out it, but when you have got the time, you'll witness a rare event.

What is a Nova?

In 1572, the famous Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe discovered a brand new star within the constellation Cassiopeia. After recording the event in his Work “De Nova Stella” or “On the New Star”, Astronomers associated the word nova with stellar explosions.

Stars, irrespective of what size, spend 90% of their lives Hydrogen will fuse into helium of their core. However, how a star's life ends will depend on its mass. Very massive stars – those with greater than eight times the mass of our sun – explode in dramatic supernova Explosions like those people observed in 1054 and 1572.

For lower mass stars, including our Sun, once the hydrogen within the core is used up, the star expands into what astronomers call a red giant. The red giant is 100 times larger than it was originally and fewer stable. Eventually, only a white dwarf – an Earth-sized remnant of carbon and oxygen. White dwarfs are 100 thousand times denser than diamonds. Unless they’re a part of a Binary star systemthrough which two stars orbit one another, their brightness slowly decreases over billions of years and so they eventually disappear from view.

T CrB is a binary star system – it consists of a red giant and a white dwarf, orbiting one another every 228 days at about half the space between the Earth and the Sun. The red giant is nearing the tip of its life, has expanded dramatically and is feeding material right into a rotating disk of matter generally known as Accretion diskthat surrounds the white dwarf.

Matter from the accretion disk, which consists mainly of hydrogen, spirals in and slowly accumulates on the white dwarf's surface. Over time, this layer of hydrogen becomes thicker and denser until its temperature exceeds 10 million degrees Celsius.

The latest is a out-of-control thermonuclear response much like the detonation of a hydrogen bomb. Once the accretion disk is hot enough, a nova is created, through which the hydrogen is ignited, blown outwards and emitting shiny light.

When will it occur?

Astronomers learn about 10 recurring novelties – Stars which have experienced a nova explosion greater than once. T CrB is probably the most famous of them. It erupts on average every 80 years.

Because T CrB is 2,630 light-years from Earth, it takes light 2,630 years to travel the space from T CrB to Earth. The nova we are going to see later this yr occurred over 2,000 years ago, but its light is not going to reach us until later this yr.

The accumulation of hydrogen on the white dwarf's surface is like sand in an 80-year hourglass. Each time a nova occurs and the hydrogen ignites, the white dwarf itself is unaffected, but its surface is cleaned of hydrogen. Soon after, hydrogen begins to build up on the white dwarf's surface again: the hourglass turns over and the 80-year countdown to the subsequent nova begins again.

Careful observations through the last two novae in 1866 and 1946 showed that T CrB brightened barely about 10 years before the nova became visible from Earth. Then it dimmed briefly. Although scientists will not be sure what causes these brightness changes, this pattern has repeated itself, with a brightening in 2015 and a Dimming in March 2023.

Based on these observations, scientists assume that the nova can be visible to us sometime in 2024.

How shiny will it’s?

Astronomers use a Magnitude system first developed by Hipparchus of Nicaea greater than 2,100 years ago to categorise the brightness of stars. In this technique, a difference of 5 in magnitude means a change in brightness by an element of 100. The smaller the magnitude, the brighter the star.

In dark skies, the human eye can see stars all the way down to magnitude 6. Normally, the visible light we receive from T CrB comes entirely from its red giant, a magnitude 10 star that’s barely visible with binoculars.

During the nova event, the hydrogen shell of the white dwarf explodes will brighten to a strength of two or 3It will briefly develop into the brightest star in its home constellation Corona Borealis. This maximum brightness will only last a couple of hours and inside a couple of days T CrB will now not be visible to the naked eye.

Where should I look?

Corona Borealis will not be a conspicuous constellation. It is embedded about Bootes and to the west of the Great BearHome of the Big Dipper, within the northern sky.

To find the constellation, look due west and find Arcturus, the brightest star on this region of the sky. Then, at 10 p.m. local time in North America, look about halfway between the horizon and the zenith – the purpose directly above you.

Corona Borealis is about 20 degrees above Arcturus. That's concerning the span of a hand, from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the little finger, at arm's length. At its brightest, T CrB is brighter than all the celebrities in Corona Borealis, but not as shiny as Arcturus.

You may also use an interactive star map, like Stellariumor one in every of the numerous apps available for smartphones to locate the constellation. Familiarizing yourself with the celebrities on this region of the sky before the nova will provide help to discover the brand new star as T CrB brightens.

Although T CrB is just too removed from Earth for this event to rival the supernova of 1054, it remains to be a chance to witness a rare astronomical event with our own eyes. For lots of us, this can be a once in a lifetime event.

For children, nevertheless, this event could spark a passion for astronomy, and in 80 years they could have the option to sit up for observing the event again.

On his way home from school among the many redwood trees within the distant Santa Cruz Mountains, JoeBen Bevirt, founding father of Joby Aviation, longed to construct a flying automobile.

“This has been my dream since I was a child,” said Bevirt. “I wanted a better way for people to get from A to B.”

Fifteen years ago, Bevirt founded Joby Aviation, a Santa Cruz-based company developing an electrical aircraft that takes off and lands vertically like a helicopter but flies as efficiently as an airplane. The company is constructing a fleet for air taxi services within the Bay Area – and beyond – that will be nearly twice as fast as a helicopter but 100 times quieter. The 5-seat aircraft could take to the skies as early as next 12 months, company officials said.

In the Seventies, it was the space series “The Jetsons,” by which families zoomed through the skies in flying cars. But nowadays there may be loads of competition.

One day, perhaps within the not-too-distant future, commuters within the Bay Area will give you the chance to hail an electrical plane similar to they do with Uber. Single-seat electric planes for brief trips and joyrides exist already. From Joby to LIFT to Wisk to Archer Air, the technology is poised to permit people to get off the road and into the air not only for long trips but in addition for quick jaunts to the office.

Joby's plane can fly as much as 100 miles on a single charge and reach speeds of as much as 200 miles per hour. The plane uses six propellers and 4 batteries and produces zero operating emissions, company officials said. Joby — which is currently going through the Federal Aviation Administration certification process, a key step before Bay Area residents can board — has flown greater than 33,000 miles previously seven years with its full-scale prototype electric vertical takeoff aircraft, called eVTOL.

Archer Aviation, which recently opened in San Jose, announced Friday that it has partnered with Southwest Airlines for air taxi services. Archer already has Midnight, a flying taxi, a four-passenger piloted aircraft designed for rapid back-to-back flights with minimal loading time between flights, the corporate said. Under the cope with Southwest, Archer aircraft may have access to 14 California airports served by the airline.

Archer and Kilroy Realty Corp. also plan to construct a vertiport within the water next to the event company's offices in Oyster Point in south San Francisco. The vertiport can even be a “sea portal” that may offer electric-powered ferry service across the bay, Archer said.

LIFT Aircraft of Austin, Texas, already rents out its HEXA electric plane, which looks more like a big drone than an airplane. The single-seat aircraft, which is 90 feet tall and travels at about 45 mph, covers 10 miles in about 10 minutes, said CEO and founder Matt Chasen.

The company plans to bring the plane to the Bay Area so people can take it on joyrides or short trips for about $250. The plane is taken into account an “ultralight” and doesn’t require a permit from the FAA to fly, but it surely just isn’t allowed to fly over congested areas comparable to busy highways.

The experience, which incorporates ground training and flying the aircraft in a virtual reality flight simulator in addition to flights, lasts about 2 hours. After the training, participants pilot HEXA themselves under the handheld remote control of flight instructors.

“We're not just providing entertainment, we're also providing the opportunity to enter a new era of mobility,” Chasen said. “We're pushing the boundaries of what's possible in aviation.”

Airbus, Boeing and Embraer are also working on electric aircraft, and Mountain View-based Wisk Aero became a completely owned subsidiary of Boeing last 12 months in a deal value a whole lot of tens of millions of dollars.

Wisk is targeting the primary flight of its sixth generation eVTOL by the top of the 12 months and can be aiming to certify an autonomous aircraft by the top of the last decade.

However, the booming electric air taxi industry is giving some transport experts cause for concern.

Adam Cohen, a senior transportation researcher at UC Berkeley and San Jose State University's Mineta Transportation Institute, said Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) – an umbrella term for a group of recent and emerging technologies for brand new aircraft types – could face obstacles.

“There is a political question of whether travelers should take air taxis to destinations that are already well served by public transit,” Cohen said. “And I think the question here is, if we invest in AAM, are we doing so at the expense of other public investments?”

Eric Allison, chief product officer at Joby, said the air taxi service the corporate plans to supply just isn’t like traditional air travel. The company has developed an app that matches passengers with available planes and landing slots.

In addition to its domestic operations, the corporate plans to work with the U.S. Department of Defense and internationally in cities comparable to Dubai, said Bonny Simi, Joby's director of operations.

“We expect travelers to book on demand and board the plane just minutes later, similar to how ridesharing on the ground works today. That required us to completely rethink the software and operations of these aircraft,” Allison said.

The cost of the ride can be barely higher than taking the dearer Uber Black and may very well be just just a few dollars per mile, company officials said.

Still, “there are concerns about the affordability of these services and whether they will be available to the general public,” Cohen said.

Cohen said communities and neighborhoods – from Joby to its competitors – would want to return to an agreement on the position and operation of Veritports, as there are likely concerns about noise, privacy, visual pollution, energy use and emissions, and land-use compatibility.

“It's about the potential impact on the community,” Cohen said. “I think we're probably going to see flights in and out of existing airports. I think you have to prove the feasibility and market demand before you can consider building a new infrastructure network.”

Originally published: July 15, 2024 at 6:00 am