This year, the College Football Playoff committee decided to change the National Championship and make a twelve-team playoff series. The playoff included the five highest-ranked conference champions, which received automatic bids. The seven highest-ranked teams remaining would round out the twelve-team format. The highest-ranked conference champions were from the B1G 10, Atlantic Coastal Conference (ACC), South Eastern Conference (SEC), and Big 12. The seeds were: Oregon (1), Georgia (2), Boise State (3), Arizona State University (4), Texas (5), Penn State University (6), Notre Dame (7), Ohio State University (8), Tennessee (9), Indiana (10), Southern Methodist University (11), and Clemson (12). The bracket has been full of upsets so far and the top four seeds have already been eliminated. Ohio State beat Oregon handily in the Rose Bowl with a score of 41-21 after leading 34-0 at the half. Notre Dame defeated Georgia in the Sugar Bowl 23-10. PSU played Ashton Jeanty and Boise St. in the Fiesta Bowl PSU won 31-14. Texas beat ASU in double overtime at the Peach Bowl.
The Capital One Orange Bowl between Notre Dame and Penn State in Miami was played on Thursday, January 9. Penn State advanced to its first-ever College Football Playoff semifinal with a 31-14 victory over Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl on Tuesday. The Nittany Lions stayed perfect at 8-0 all-time in Fiesta Bowl appearances (NCAA.com). With the victory, Penn State would head to the Orange Bowl for its CFP semifinal date, continuing a season in which the Nittany Lions seek their first National Championship since 1986 (NCAA.com). For most of the season, Penn State has leaned on Drew Allar and the passing attack. But when they neared the end of their season, into the B1G Ten Championship, and the CFP they looked towards their run game. PSU had two running backs rush for 1,000+ yards, Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton. If Notre Dame could slow PSU’s running backs and limit the passing game then they would win the game. Notre Dame had no answer to the running game, allowing 205 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. However, The Irish won the game because their secondary picked off Drew Allar twice, both at key points in the game. From ND’s Josh Brown of Onefootdown.com, “Notre Dame knew they would be facing off against a tough opponent. Penn State is the strongest of the B1G Ten representatives at this point and has faced a wide range of teams, in terms of both competition level and tendencies. They had shown some weaknesses along the way but that’s to be expected when your schedule looks the way theirs has” (Onefootdown.com). Notre Dame looked shaky in the first half scoring only three points but came out in the second half. In the first half, it seemed as if no one could put a drive together with only one touchdown between the two teams. The Irish finally put it all together and Mitch Jeter made a 41-yard field goal to seal the win.
The matchup between the Texas Longhorns and the Ohio State Buckeyes will take place in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic in Arlington, Texas on Friday, January 10. The first Cotton Bowl Classic was on January 1, 1937, in Dallas, Texas. Ohio State and Texas have played three times in the history of their programs, Texas leads the series 2-1. The last meeting between the two teams was in the 2008 postseason when Texas defeated Ohio State 24-21 in the Fiesta Bowl behind a 400-yard passing performance by Heisman runner-up, Colt McCoy. David Eckert writer for Texas’s Statesman.com said, “The Texas football team is back where it stood last season: one step from competing for a National Championship. That step is a big one. Ohio State, the Longhorns’ opponent in Friday’s College Football Playoff semifinal, is favored by six points” (Statesman.com). If Texas wants to beat Ohio State they have to limit the deep ball and Will Howard himself. “No starting quarterback in college football has been more efficient with his deep ball than OSU’s Will Howard, who is completing passes 20 or more yards down the field at a 59.5% rate” (Statesman.com). The Longhorns have been reasonably effective at preventing explosive plays in the passing game, allowing 32 plays of 20-plus yards this season to rank 22nd in the country. This will be their biggest test because of OSU’s receivers like Jeremiah Smith, Emeka Egbuka, and Donovan Smith. Now can Ohio State slow down former Buckeye Quin Ewers and the Texas offense? Phil Harrison of Buckeyeswire said, “Ohio State has looked fantastic so far in the first-ever, 12-team College Football Playoff, good enough to take home the National Title. It won’t be easy though, winning a national championship never is” (Buckeyeswire.com). Both Ohio State and Texas have great defenses, but Ohio State has the better of the two (Buckeyeswire.com). This game will feel like a road game for Ohio State, and it will be interesting to see if their defense travels as well as they have all year.
