The two college football powerhouses will battle it out in Friday night's Cotton Bowl Classic for a trip to the national championship later this month.
The contest will also call for tremendous bragging rights between two of the biggest names in politics: Vice President-elect JD Vance and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
Cruz, of course, hails from Texas, while Vance is an Ohio native who has outwardly shown his Buckeyes fandom.
With the game creeping up, Cruz offered up a friendly wager to Vance on X.
"Hey @JDVance - care for a wager on the UT-Ohio State game? Loser brings beer & food from his home state & delivers it wearing the winning jersey?" Cruz posted, also adding "#HookEm."
Vance exuded confidence in his Buckeyes.
"Alright which Texas ice cream should I have Ted bring when the Buckeyes win?" Vance replied. He added, "To be clear, @tedcruz, you're on!"
Before the season started, Vance called this year's Ohio State team "maybe the best" he has seen. Their two losses this season were to Oregon (who they beat in the quarterfinals) and an unranked Michigan team, but they seem to have avenged that embarrassment quite nicely.
The Buckeyes received the eighth seed in the playoffs, as Oregon and Penn State battled it out for the Big Ten title game. Oregon, the top seed, remained undefeated on the season until last week's loss to the Buckeyes - Penn State, No. 6, will face No. 7 Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.
Cruz's Longhorns earned the fifth seed after falling just short in the SEC title game, which gave the No. 2 seed an automatic bye to Georgia, who lost to the Fighting Irish in the Sugar Bowl.
Texas has never made it past the semifinal, while Ohio State is in its sixth playoff, aiming for their third championship appearance since the playoff was implemented.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was spotted in an episode of "Landman" on Paramount+, and his scene in a hospital alongside Jon Hamm and Billy Bob Thornton has many believing he was not acting as he got very emotional.
"Landman," a show about oil tycoons in Texas, saw Jones make a cameo during the ninth episode when he delivered a heartfelt speech to Jon Hamm’s character, who was in a hospital bed.
It makes sense that Jones made an appearance considering his own wealth was built through the oil business and real estate before purchasing the Cowboys.
"America’s Team" is what pulled Jones’ heartstrings, though, as he was telling Hamm’s character why he wanted to buy the team in the first place.
"I’m not saying I’ve done anything right, but I made my mind up a long time ago I was gonna work with my kids," Jones says to begin his monologue. "They’re involved in everything. They’re involved in my leasing, oil and gas, real estate.
"So, when I got the Cowboys, I got it so that we could all work together. I thought I was doing it for them. But the one that got the most out of it was me."
After Jones tells Hamm’s character that he believes the sickness he is dealing with will not take him to the next life, the Cowboys owner got emotional talking about his own family.
"I just know it’s not gonna be this time, but you’re gonna be sitting here sometime in the future, laying here sometime in the future and this room’s gonna be full of your business associates and the people you’ve worked with all your life. More than likely, your children and family are going to be there because they’re your children and your family," Jones said. "But you could have them there because they’re the people you spent your life with, you worked with, you fell down with, you got up with.
"Not just Thanksgiving and Christmas. That’s who you want to be with. So, when that comes like this, it’s a celebration of your life and you’re not wishing you had spent a little more time seeing a few more suns come up. That’s the trick.
"I’m pretty proud of them Cowboys. I’m pretty proud of the stuff we’ve done in oil and gas. It pales in comparison to how proud I am to have lived my life working with my kids."
Jones’ journey in oil and gas started with his company in Arkansas, named Jones Oil and Land Lease, which boomed. Jones also bought into Comstock Resources, which also dealt with oil and gas exploration. Today, Jones and his family are the largest shareholders of Comstock Resources Inc.
With the money he now had, Jones bought the Cowboys on Feb. 25, 1989 for $140 million, and it has been his pride and joy ever since. Like Jones says in the speech, his children play a huge part in the Cowboys’ operations.
Jones continues to run the team as owner, president and general manager, the last of the titles he has been criticized for in recent seasons, but will not be giving up anytime soon.
His son Stephen is chief operating officer, director of player personnel and co-owner. His daughter Charlotte is chief brand officer and co-owner. Finally, Jerry Jr. is chief sales and marketing officer and co-owner.
Though it may have been on a show, the 82-year-old Jones clearly loves that his Cowboys have become a family affair, and family is something he certainly does not take for granted.
EXCLUSIVE: USC women's basketball teenage phenom JuJu Watkins isn't turning away any of the new fans in her sport, not even the ones that give her "headaches."
The meteoric rise of Caitlin Clark has injected women's basketball with waves of new fans, mainstream media hype and plenty of arguments between the new fans and old ones. These arguments are often about Clark's treatment by the league, other players and the media.
And some longtime women's hoops stars have denounced certain supporters of Clark and discouraged them from following the sport.
Former WNBA player and current Atlanta Dream executive Renee Montgomery said that many of Clark's fans "cannot be a representation of what the WNBA would want in their league" during an episode of her podcast in September. WNBA legend Sue Bird lashed out at this group in her podcast in November, claiming that some of them aren't even fans of Clark but are just "acting" as fans while "pushing racist agendas and pushing hate."
Clark herself said that some of her followers "aren't fans" but are "trolls" in her exit interview for her rookie WNBA season after Connecticut Sun players accused some of her fans of racism during a playoff series against Clark's Indiana Fever in September.
But the 19-year-old Watkins, who is currently on pace to break Clark's NCAA all-time career scoring record, isn't taking any of the new attention for granted as a college player.
"So many new fans being in the sport sometimes can be, not necessarily challenging, but can just kind of give you a headache a bit. Not a lot of people know what they're talking about sometimes. But it's great for the sport. The fact that people are watching is enough in itself," Watkins said, when asked by Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview about what challenges come with the sport's new attention.
"We would like it to be positive, but it's not always going to be like that, so as long as we continue to raise the numbers and viewership goes up, I think that's all we can ask for."
Watkins said she even wants those fans to cheer for her, too. But even if they end up "hating" her, she will still embrace the fact that they're paying attention.
When asked if she wants the sport's controversial new fans to cheer for her, too, Watkins answered, "Oh yeah. I love supporters and I also love haters.
"I think that's just a part of the game. There's so many sides to it. So it's the nature of the game and there's always going to be negative and positive aspects of it."
One of the most recent controversies surrounding Clark occurred when she was chosen as Time Magazine's Athlete of the Year. Some in the WNBA, including Washington Mystics owner Sheila Johnson during a CNN interview, criticized the decision to choose Clark for the award. Johnson said Clark was chosen because "It’s the way media plays out race" and it didn't do enough to recognize the other players in the league.
But Watkins thinks Time made the right call.
"I'm all for it," Watkins said. "I honestly think she deserves it. I don't think anyone has changed the trajectory of the sport so much, so I honestly think she deserves every bit of it."
Clark herself stoked backlash from some of her own supporters during the Time interview when she made the statement, "As a White person, there is privilege."
"It's super dope," Watkins said when asked about Clark's comments on White privilege. "For her to kind of bring that to light was cool."
Clark herself has acknowledged the outrage her comments sparked and, like Watkins, embraces the positive and negative attention that has come with it.
"With the way things are going and where the WNBA is going, you want that attention, and you embrace it, and that’s what makes this so fun," Clark said of the backlash at the "A Year in TIME" event in New York on Dec. 11.
Controversy has been a driving force behind the rise in women's basketball's popularity over the last two years. The rivalry between Clark and Angel Reese became one of the hottest in sports after their meeting in the 2023 NCAA women's basketball championship game, when Reese's LSU Tigers defeated Clark's Iowa Hawkeyes.
Reese pointed to her ring finger at the end of that game, unleashing mass controversy.
Then, after Clark led her team back to the title game in her senior year in 2024, the women's championship outperformed the men's game in TV ratings for the first time in history.
Watkins hopes and believes that the women's college game will continue to beat the men's in viewers, and she will do her part as one of the top stars in college to make that happen.
"I think that it's definitely a trend now," Watkins said of the women's college game getting more attention from men.
Watkins pointed to her recent history against UConn star Paige Bueckers as an example of something that can keep eyeballs on their sport with Clark and Reese now in the pros. USC's game vs. UConn on Dec. 21 averaged 2.23 million viewers, making it the second-highest-rated game ever shown on Fox Sports and the most-watched women's college basketball game so far this season.
"For that to not even be a March Madness matchup, and to see that, I can only imagine what it will be like in March," Watkins said.
As Watkins looks to keep the eyeballs on her sport and potentially chase down Clark's all-time scoring record, she has the choice to even tap into Clark herself as a resource to do this.
Watkins said Clark has offered her phone number, and that the teenager can reach out for advice from Clark any time.
Watkins hasn't taken Clark up on the offer yet, but is keeping the offer in her back pocket for the right time.
Bankole worked as a grocery store clerk after he struggled to land a professional job in Canada.
Oladapo Bankole
When Dapo Bankole moved to Canada in 2012, he had years of IT experience under his belt.
But he struggled to find a professional job for months and did minimum wage work to make ends meet.
Bankole said he thinks companies weren't hiring him because he lacked Canadian experience.
This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Dapo Bankole, 47, about moving to Canada from Nigeria. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
My Canadian Dream began in 1993. I was living in Nigeria, where I was born, and had to sit an exam. My brother's friend drove me there. A few months later, I asked after him and was told he moved to Canada.
I studied biochemistry at university and completed a postgraduate program in computer science. I worked in IT for around 12 years in Nigeria, where I gained experience in computer engineering, billing administration, and team management
My desire to relocate heavily influenced my life. When I courted my wife, I told her about my dream because I didn't want it to be a problem for her. I started getting myself ready to move by gaining IT certifications through a Canadian society.
In 2012, I moved to Canada with my wife and two children after successfully applying for permanent residency in the country.
But it ended up taking me around nine months to find a professional job. I struggled to get my foot in the door and provide for my family's basic needs. I feel I was overlooked because I didn't have Canadian work experience.
I applied for professional jobs in Canada but didn't hear back
We arrived in Canada in 2012 and stayed with my sister, who had moved there ahead of me, for two months before we got an apartment.
My wife worked in a bank in Nigeria, but when we moved she decided to pursue her hobby of making clothes, so she went back to school to go into fashion design. Meanwhile, I started job-hunting.
I applied for professional jobs, such as analyst and project manager positions, but it mostly was crickets. I wasn't hearing anything back.
Peers who were also immigrants asked to look at my résumé. I'd put Nigeria all over the place, someone suggested I remove it. When I did, I started getting follow-up calls.
I felt I wasn't getting opportunities because of my lack of Canadian work experience. Recruiters didn't say it directly — it was subtle. In phone conversations, recruiters would ask where my experience was based. I'd explain it wasn't in Canada, and the conversation would continue, but they'd never get back to me.
It became glaring that companies weren't hiring me because I lacked local experience, but I'd never get it if they didn't hire me. It's a chicken-and-egg situation.
I took on minimum-wage work. We struggled with our basic needs.
After a month or so of job-seeking, I started applying to lower-wage jobs as well. Living in Canada wasn't cheap, and I needed to stop depleting my savings.
I worked at a call center for CA $10 an hour for around two months. Then, I got a job as a grocery store clerk doing night shifts. I also did evening shifts unloading cargo from planes at the airport.
I kept my days free to pursue more professional opportunities. I didn't want to get stuck in a low-wage job. But it meant I hardly saw my kids. They were asleep when I got home and went to school when I was asleep. They started speaking to me less, and it made me question why we left Nigeria.
We were comfortable in Nigeria, but we lived in a basement in Canada. We struggled to cover our basic needs. There was a day when I only had around $10 left and had to decide whether I'd use it to buy food or put gas in the car. I'd never been in that situation.
Moving back to Nigeria at that stage would have meant starting all over again there, so we decided to push through the pain of integration.
I received help from a mentorship program and was eventually hired as a business analyst
During my struggle to get a professional job, my confidence levels crashed and I started to doubt myself.
Through an organization that offered loans to immigrant professionals, I received some money to attend a short training course. I interacted with professionals on the course who listened to me. I found myself leading conversations and felt my confidence being restored.
I also joined a mentorship program that reaches out to companies on your behalf. They didn't have a magic wand that automatically gave people jobs, but it leveraged social capital on behalf of immigrants like me.
They helped me get an unpaid opportunity, which led to a full-time offer for a business analyst job. I was able to keep doing my night shift work to make money in the interim and actually kept my grocery store job for months afterward for extra income.
Even though the road isn't completely smooth, it always becomes easier once you have that initial foot in the door.
I stayed in the business analyst role for around two years before I was headhunted by another company to work as a senior business analyst. In 2015, I started my own business. My team of six builds software and consults with organizations on software and implementation.
Employers should give people like me a chance
The program I did gave me an in-route for Canadian experience, but I don't think it's right to filter out candidates who don't have Canadian experience.
You don't need Canadian experience to succeed in Canada. You only need experienced people who are ready to do whatever it takes to fit in and deliver on the work priorities. We should give people a chance to prove themselves.
Immigration shouldn't make people suffer. It should help them transfer their skills, which can positively impact the economy.
Do you have a story about how relocating to a new place impacted your career? Email Charissa Cheong at [email protected]
A JetBlue passenger opened an emergency exit on a taxiway in Boston, the FAA said.
One witness said that the man was arguing with his girlfriend before the incident.
A pilot told air traffic control that the passenger was subdued by an officer on board.
A JetBlue passenger delayed his fellow travelers after opening one of the plane's emergency exit doors.
The incident occurred while Flight 161 was preparing to take off from Boston Logan International Airport on Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
It added that the Airbus A320, heading to Puerto Rico, was on a taxiway when the passenger opened an emergency exit. This also caused the slide to deploy.
Fred Wynn, a passenger on the plane, told local CBS outlet WBZ-TV that he was sat just in front of the man and his girlfriend.
"Boyfriend and girlfriend were arguing behind in me," Wynn said. "Boyfriend got mad, got up walked down the center aisle, grabbed the emergency door, ripped it off, completely off."
He added that the man was handcuffed by an FBI agent before state police boarded the plane and escorted him away.
In an audio recording archived by LiveATC.net, one of the pilots tells air traffic control a law enforcement officer subdued the passenger.
"I can hear all the passengers screaming. Looks like they tried to grab him before he went out," he added.
Data from Flightradar24 shows that the flight took off almost three hours later than scheduled and landed in San Juan at 3:17 a.m. local time.
Passengers on other flights told WBZ-TV that they were also delayed because the runway was temporarily disabled since the slide was deployed.
According to FlightAware data, 95 flights, or around 17%, were delayed at Logan Airport throughout the day.
Massachusetts State Police told CBS that one person was detained after the incident.
"Shortly before takeoff, a passenger who wanted to deplane opened an aircraft door suddenly and without warning," state police said. "Other passengers restrained the individual until troopers arrived on scene to detain them for further questioning."
JetBlue and the Massachusetts State Police did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent by Business Insider outside US working hours.
In the video, released on BYD's Weibo account on Monday, an autonomously-driven U9 accelerates to 120 km/h before using its suspension to launch itself up to six meters forward over a pothole, a set of road spikes, and a chalk flag.
BYD has released a new video of its Yangwang U9 supercar jumping 6 meters forward over a pothole using its "jumping suspension" feature. pic.twitter.com/3Yq8IRomVo
The company began selling the U9, which has a top speed of 192 mph and can sprint from 0 to 62 km/h in just 2.36 seconds in February 2024.
The luxury EV can charge from 30-80% in just 10 minutes and is packed with futuristic features.
Its DiSus-X intelligent suspension allows the U9 to leap over small holes, "dance" to music, and drive with only three wheels, as the company showed off at the vehicle's launch last year.
BYD's Yangwang brand offers its most high-end models. The Yangwang U8 hybrid SUV, which BYD began selling in April 2023, comes with an onboard drone and can even float on water for short periods.
While the Tesla rival's luxury offerings frequently turn heads, BYD's in-demand affordable EVs and hybrids have turned the company into arguably Elon Musk's most potent challenger.
