Winter set to add an old-school challenge to College Football Playoff

Asked if playing in near-freezing weather at Ohio State might pose a challenge for his team, Tennessee coach Josh Heupel quickly noted that it wouldn’t be the Volunteers’ first rodeo with the cold.

Kicker Max Gilbert even posted a photo last week standing with teammates as light snow fell before a morning practice. And, Tennessee beat cross-state rival Vanderbilt last month on a tundra of sorts with a kickoff temperature of 41 degrees (5 Celsius) before dropping to the 30s in the fading daylight. A combination of heated benches, portable heaters and extra layers helped take the chill off, along with a 36-23 comeback victory.

The Saturday night forecast calls for temperatures in the high teens and low 20s with a slight chance of snow for the first-round College Football Playoff matchup in Columbus, Ohio. But with few degrees of separation between climates in the Tennessee and Ohio valleys, it won’t feel much different when the Vols venture 350 miles north to face the Buckeyes.

“Yeah, it’s a June day in South Dakota," Heupel joked this week. "It’s going to be great football weather. A couple of weeks ago we played in 30 degree weather. We practice in the morning, still a chill, as cold as it will be around this area. And at the end of the day, you get between the white lines, weather doesn’t matter. The temperature doesn’t. And we’ll be ready to go play. It’ll be a lot of fun.”

The playoff this year for the first time is holding first-round games on campus and that opens things up in terms of potential weather. Whether this weekend's official start of winter has a chilling effect on the outcome in the expanded 12-team playoff remains to be seen, but it’s a definite departure from warm climates Power Four teams are used to for postseason games.

The prospect of spending the Christmas and New Year’s Day holidays preparing for a bowl in a sunny locale is considered an incentivizing finish to a long season.

Warmer destinations and indoor stadiums await the first-round winners in the quarterfinals, but no one’s complaining about the chance to play in “ideal” football weather that many players grew up with. This additional postseason layer may require, well, layering for players, but cold comes with the territory and is worth the sacrifice of playing for a national championship.

“Whether there’s snow or not snow, whether it’s really cold or just kind of cold, it is what it is,” said SMU coach Rhett Lashlee, who noted his players' aspirations of an NFL career certainly can and should include the likelihood of wintry weather.

“They aspire to play championship football, which we’re getting to do right now," said Lashlee, who played his high school and college football in Arkansas. "The weather is only going to be an issue if we allow it, so we know it’s going to be really cold. It’s going to be really cold for them as well. So it’s our 11 versus their 11.”

Ditto for fans who willingly accept cold hands, feet and noses if it means rooting on their teams.

“They get a little bit more snow but as far as temperature, we’ve been mostly in the 30s for the last couple of weeks and been in the 20s for two nights," said longtime Tennessee season ticket holder Earl Brown, 72, who will be in The Horseshoe with wife Judy and three others. "Plus, the game’s up there and it will be my 355th consecutive game. So, I don’t think it really matters if it’s snow, rain and sleet or 85 degrees. I will be in the stadium.”

“We'll put on six, seven layers, probably,” Judy Brown said.

The State College forecast calls for low 20s dropping into the low teens when Penn State hosts SMU on Saturday night. Lashlee jokingly lamented pleasant 70-degree temperatures in Dallas for workouts but doesn't expect a huge adjustment for his team after playing last month's Atlantic Coast Championship in the 30s in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The coach added that non-bowl December football is also new territory for Penn State, which means it will also be cold on the Nittany Lions' bench.

Temperature-wise (low to mid-20s), Indiana players and fans won't notice much change between Bloomington and what the Hoosiers will face 200 miles upstate in South Bend for Friday night's matchup at Notre Dame. The daytime forecast includes a 63% chance of snow, conditions the Fighting Irish embrace in a hype video featuring clips of the white stuff.

Having won at Purdue in the snow and seeing it elsewhere while playing at Ohio, Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke looks forward to whatever awaits in Notre Dame Stadium — including noise to wake up the echoes.

“Having snow fall in the stadium, that was pretty cool,” Rourke said. “Snow games are pretty fun, so I’m looking forward to it if that’s the case.”