Near Gus Malzahn’s new office in Tallahassee, Fla., hangs a picture of Kelvin Benjamin hauling in a touchdown pass from Jameis Winston, the play that helped Florida State beat Malzahn and his Auburn Tigers in the 2013 national championship game.

It’s a daily reminder of Malzahn’s connection to the Seminoles.

“I’ve got to walk by the picture of the guy catching the ball as I go to the office every day,” Malzahn said. “That was a real special game. There were a lot of great players on the field. It went down to the very end. It was probably entertaining or a great game to watch. It was tough, obviously, to be on the losing side.”

Malzahn is on the opposite side now. He resigned as UCF’s head coach last month to become Mike Norvell’s offensive coordinator in Tallahassee. Their link goes back even further than Malzahn’s title-game loss to the Seminoles.

Malzahn, 59, said he chose to return to his coaching roots rather than remain a head coach distracted by new-age responsibilities. Malzahn walked away from $15 million guaranteed — he was set to make $5 million in 2025 and had three years remaining on his contract with the Knights — for a different coaching lifestyle. He signed a three-year deal with FSU that will pay him $1.5 million in 2025.

“The job description of a head college football coach has changed dramatically in the last two years with everything — transfer portal to collectives to agents and everything that goes with that,” Malzahn said. “I’m just an old-school football coach.

“I love coaching football, and head coaches, it’s hard to do that a lot. So that had something to do with it. And then the opportunity and being familiar with Mike and having so much respect for this university, coached against this university in the national championship. I know what this place is capable of doing.”

Malzahn has been mostly successful during a career that began at an Arkansas high school and included head-coaching stops at Arkansas State, Auburn and UCF. The Knights won nine games in 2021 and ’22 in the American Athletic Conference before making the jump to the Big 12, where they finished 6-7 last year and 4-8 this season.

Malzahn helped Auburn win the 2010 national title as an offensive coordinator and was a play or two away from winning another in 2013. Now he’s in Tallahassee to help turn around a storied program that’s fallen on hard times.

Malzahn was part of a Tulsa staff that hired Norvell as a graduate assistant in 2007.

Malzahn is now tasked with jump-starting an offense that was among the worst in college football this season, averaging 15.4 points and ranked 131st out of 134 schools.

Freeman gets contract extension from Irish

Marcus Freeman opened his first playoff week as a head coach by holding a team meeting and fielding questions from reporters. A few hours later, Notre Dame made sure Freeman wasn’t going anywhere.

Freeman has agreed to a long-term contract extension, making him one of the nation’s highest-paid coaches. It was announced on NBC’s Football Night in America pregame show Sunday night. NBC holds the broadcast rights to televise Notre Dame games.

“I am grateful for the support of the Board of Trustees,” Freeman said in a statement. “The investment they continue to pour into our program is invaluable to our student-athletes and staff. This commitment goes well beyond myself, as they are dedicated to ensuring all aspects of our program are competitive within the upper echelon of college football.”

The 38-year-old Freeman has gone 30-9 in his three seasons and led the Fighting Irish to their first playoff appearance since 2021.

Freeman said he expects preseason All-American defensive tackle Howard Cross III to return for Friday night’s CFP first-round game against No. 9 Indiana.

Cross missed the final three regular-season games for the Fighting Irish because of a sprained ankle.

Freeman said he also anticipates having leading rusher Jeremiyah Love back after Love hurt his right knee in the regular-season finale against USC.

QB Van Buren heading to LSU

LSU has received a transfer commitment from former Mississippi State freshman quarterback Michael Van Buren.

Van Buren, who has three years of college football eligibility remaining, announced his decision through the On3 website and a social media post on Sunday — four days after LSU starter Garrett Nussmeier announced he would be returning to the Tigers for his senior season.

Van Buren played in nine games and started seven as freshman for Mississippi State this season.