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 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.
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FILE - Penn State tight end Tyler Warren (44) hurdles Maryland defensive back Kevis Thomas (25) during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger, File)
FILE - Indiana wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. (3) is tackled by Purdue defensive back Dillon Thieneman (31) during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)
FILE - Penn State quarterback Drew Allar celebrates following a victory over Maryland in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger, File)
FILE - Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, center, instructs his team against Michigan during an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)
FILE - Notre Dame players run out from under the "Here Come The Irish" sign before the first half of an NCAA college football game against Virginia, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/Michael Caterina, File)
FILE - A worker cleans snow from the field during the first half of an NCAA college football game between Indiana and Purdue, Nov. 30, 2024, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)
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 his 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 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, 75, 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 Curtis 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.”
AP Sports Writer Teresa M. Walker in Tennessee contributed to this report.
AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
FILE - Penn State tight end Tyler Warren (44) hurdles Maryland defensive back Kevis Thomas (25) during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger, File)
FILE - Indiana wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. (3) is tackled by Purdue defensive back Dillon Thieneman (31) during the first half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)
FILE - Penn State quarterback Drew Allar celebrates following a victory over Maryland in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger, File)
FILE - Ohio State head coach Ryan Day, center, instructs his team against Michigan during an NCAA college football game Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)
FILE - Notre Dame players run out from under the "Here Come The Irish" sign before the first half of an NCAA college football game against Virginia, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/Michael Caterina, File)
FILE - A worker cleans snow from the field during the first half of an NCAA college football game between Indiana and Purdue, Nov. 30, 2024, in Bloomington, Ind. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk, clad in tuxedo and black tie, took the stage at President-elect Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort shortly after the election with all the swagger of the winning candidate himself.
“The public has given us a mandate that could not be more clear, the clearest mandate. The people have spoken. The people want change," Musk told the audience of Trump's biggest donors, campaign leaders and appointment seekers. “We are going to shake things up. It's going to be a revolution.”
Musk's attachment to Trump has created an alliance between America's most powerful politician and its richest businessman — and roughly the same percentages of Americans have favorable views of each, according to a new poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Experts are split on whether that overlap in public opinion is a good or bad thing for Musk’s businesses or for Trump’s politics. But it could have far-reaching effects in both realms.
Musk, whose net worth tops $400 billion, oversees six businesses while continuing to work closely with Trump: electric car manufacturer Tesla, the X social media platform, space technology company SpaceX, brain link company Neuralink, the startup xAI and tunneling operator The Boring Co.
“Even though there’s a negative impact, in terms of potentially alienating some of their customers that might not be fans of Trump, the benefits far outweigh any negatives when it comes to having a right-hand seat next to Trump in the White House,” said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities.
Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, identified himself as an investor in Musk's Tesla and a driver of Tesla’s new Cybertruck, the futuristic pickup that has gotten huge amounts of attention but also been the subject of safety concerns and multiple recalls.
“Having your CEO not working at your company and working at the job of having to fire government employees ... as a shareholder, I’m paying someone to not work for my company,” he said. “As a Cybertruck owner with self-driving that sucks and doesn’t work, I’m like, ‘Dude, this isn’t fair.’”
But despite his skepticism, Gerber said he won’t stop investing in Musk’s businesses.
“I’ve made a lot of money with Elon,” he said. “I’m not in the business of investing based on the popularity of CEOs.”
Musk doesn’t appear to give Trump much boost with people who don’t back the incoming president.
He is no more popular with the U.S. public than the president-elect himself, and viewed unfavorably by about half of Americans, according to the AP-NORC poll.
About 4 in 10 Americans have a somewhat or very favorable view of the world’s richest person, very similar to the percentage who view Trump positively. Likewise, about half of adults have a somewhat or very unfavorable view of Musk — again, similar to Trump.
Instead, said one political strategist, Musk is the ideal validator for someone who cultivates an image of success in business and who has stocked his Cabinet and key adviser roles with billionaires.
"Trump has always pushed this narrative that he’s a successful developer and a very successful businessman. I think having Musk with him is his double-down on this business success, good-for-the-economy, good-for-everybody-making money kind of persona,” said Christine Matthews, a national political pollster who has worked for Republicans. “In this case, Musk is seen as this successful, innovative, tech entrepreneur, frontier-buster.”
Musk also has at his disposal X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that he purchased and turned into a megaphone for conservative ideas. And having spent an estimated $250 million to support Trump in the election, Musk has signaled he is willing to back Republican primary challenges to GOP members in the House and Senate seeking reelection in 2026 who waver on Trump's appointments and agenda.
Trump has tasked him with leading a group to reduce the size of the federal government and reduce the rulemaking authority of the federal bureaucracy.
Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors. Trump’s plans for extensive tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.
Some analysts believe the billionaire’s role will create a very friendly landscape for Tesla over the coming years. Ives, the analyst at Wedbush Securities, said Musk’s relationship with Trump could “revolutionize the Tesla story, especially around robotics, AI and autonomous.”
Investors, he said, are betting on Musk and see his political ascent as a “champagne moment.” Unlike Gerber, Ives believes that ending the EV credit and taking subsidies from Detroit carmakers, Hyundai and other companies will create only opportunity for Tesla.
“I think Wall Street is starting to fully digest the potential benefits from Musk,” Ives said.
Tesla’s stock price has nearly doubled since Trump’s victory, creating an additional $750 billion shareholder wealth in the past six weeks. But Gerber feels that jump is because investors believe Tesla will have an advantage when it comes to autonomous driving because Trump could grant the company a national autonomy license.
Still, he thinks Tesla will be the “big loser” of Musk’s businesses because of Trump’s promise to end the EV tax credit for carmakers.
“For Tesla, I don’t see a ton of benefit from this,” he said. “Elon is misleading people to say it hurts the competition if the credit goes away.”
Musk’s other companies — including his artificial intelligence company, xAI — could reap the benefits of working within the Trump administration, he said.
“AI is a transformative investment that will create lots of regulatory and governmental issues, especially around safety and information,” Gerber said. “There’s a lot of benefit, from an AI perspective, to having Elon where he is.”
The relationship between the two men has no parallel in U.S. history, said David Nasaw, biographer of American business tycoons Andrew Carnegie and William Randolph Hearst. He noted that Musk, to a level unlike other tycoons, has relied on subsidies and favorable government decisions for his success from Tesla to SpaceX.
“He’s a unicorn,” Nasaw said of Musk.
Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa, and Parvini reported from Los Angeles.
FILE - Elon Musk jumps on the stage as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - Elon Musk speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - President-elect Donald Trump poses for a photo with Dana White, Kid Rock and Elon Musk at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden, Nov. 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
FILE - President-elect Donald Trump listens to Elon Musk as he arrives to watch SpaceX's mega rocket Starship lift off for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Nov. 19, 2024. (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP, File)
In this picture taken through a window, President-elect Donald Trump, from left, Trump's pick for the planned Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk and Vice President-elect JD Vance attend the NCAA college football game between Army and Navy at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md., Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
FILE - Elon Musk speaks after President-elect Donald Trump spoke during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Nov. 14, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
FILE - Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, left, and Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump attend a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show, Oct. 5, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
