The first round of the College Football Playoff is in the books after the expanded playoff brought games to campuses for the first time, an incredible display of the best parts of college football – even if the games weren’t particularly close.
Notre Dame kicked off the round on Friday night with a 27-17 pounding of Indiana that wasn’t nearly as close as the scoreboard made it seem. After that midday Saturday, it was Penn State’s turn to hand out a drubbing with a 38-10 victory over Southern Methodist University. Texas got a brief scare from Clemson in the afternoon game on Saturday, but eventually pulled away for a 38-24 victory. And in the nightcap, Ohio State thumped Tennessee 42-17.
The results put the quarterfinal matchups in stone: The Fighting Irish now go on to play Georgia on New Year’s Day in the Sugar Bowl, Penn State will play Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Eve, Texas plays Arizona State in the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day and Ohio State plays Oregon on New Year’s Day in the Rose Bowl.
Here are six takeaways from the opening round of the College Football Playoff.
Indiana and SMU do the College Football Playoff committee no favors
Indiana and SMU made the field at the expense of brand name schools like Ole Miss, Alabama and South Carolina. Their resumes were simply too much for the committee to overlook – Indiana was 11-1, SMU was 11-2 after losing the ACC championship game.
There was no way that the committee could put three loss teams ahead of those two into the final field of 12. But the Hoosiers and Mustangs surely did not make the committee’s situation any easier by their dismal showings against Notre Dame and Penn State.
Indiana made their game against the Irish look close with a couple of garbage time touchdowns, making what was truly a drubbing look like a close 27-17 game. In reality, Notre Dame had completely outclassed Indiana throughout the game and the grumblings were already beginning that maybe a three-loss Alabama team should have been on the field instead.
In the very next game, Penn State trounced SMU, 38-10. Unlike the Indiana-Notre Dame tilt, the Mustangs’ loss was worse on the scoreboard than it appeared on the stat sheet. SMU moved the ball frequently against the tough Penn State defense, but simply shot itself in the foot on multiple occasions – three interceptions, two of which went for touchdowns; baffling throws and decisions by quarterback Kevin Jennings; awful penalties at terrible times.
If not for a handful of plays, SMU may have been in the game against Penn State. Instead, their self-sabotage only fueled the online debate over whether the committee got it right. And right in the thick of it was Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin.
“Way to keep us on the edge of our seats Committee …. Riveting,” Kiffin said on X.
First games on campus show home-field advantage clearly matters
From the moment the game kicked off in historic Notre Dame Stadium, it was clear that the home field advantage in the playoff’s first round – happening for the first time this year – was a big deal.
The crowd in South Bend, Indiana, roared through the freezing night and overwhelmed the Indiana Hoosiers. Much is made of the mystique and aura of the famous field under Touchdown Jesus, and one of the best atmospheres in college football was in full effect.
The next day, Penn State’s massive crowd at Beaver Stadium rattled the Southern Methodist University offense to the tune of multiple false start penalties and clear problems in communication. Those issues only motivated the crowd to get even louder as 106,031 braved a wind chill that made it feel like 14 degrees Fahrenheit.
SMU’s head coach Rhett Lashlee said ahead of the game that there was no real way to prepare for the noise in Happy Valley. It certainly proved to be a factor in the Mustangs’ poor showing.
In Austin, where it was just a tad bit warmer, the 100,000 fans in burnt orange similarly created a din that helped spur the Longhorn offense to a quick start against Clemson.
But the most anticipated atmosphere was in the nightcap when Ohio State hosted Tennessee. CNN’s Andy Scholes reported the crowd at Ohio Stadium was about 30% to 40% Volunteers fans, and many Buckeyes were still not over the loss last month to arch-rival Michigan – the fourth straight defeat to the Wolverines.
It didn’t take long for the Horseshoe to sound like its usual rowdy self. Even with all the Tennessee fans in attendance, the Buckeye crowd got loud and excited quickly once the Buckeyes jumped out to a 14-point lead before the first quarter hit the halfway point.
Defenses make all the difference
If defenses win championships, then the four teams that won in this first round are going to be tough to beat.
First, it was Notre Dame’s tough unit holding a powerful Indiana offense to just 17 points – most of those in garbage time after the Irish already had the game well in hand. Coming into the game, Indiana had the second-best scoring offense in the country and was averaging more than 43 points per game. Notre Dame essentially shut that unit down to the point that head coach Curt Cignetti punted during a key spot rather than try and keep his offense on the field.
Then Penn State’s defensive unit ended up putting points on the board for the Nittany Lions, scoring the first 14 points of the game against SMU on two interceptions returned for touchdowns. The Mustangs were held to 253 total yards and had three total turnovers as the PSU defense simply locked down and would not let talented quarterback Kevin Jennings get into a rhythm.
In Austin, it was Texas’ defense stuffing Clemson on fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line with just under seven-and-a-half minutes remaining. The Tigers had fought to get back into the game and were looking to cut the Texas lead to a touchdown, but the big stop basically ended any hopes of a comeback from Dabo Swinney’s team.
Ohio State’s suffocating defense, the top unit in the country, absolutely stifled Tennessee and quarterback Nico Iamaleava in the opening stages of the game, allowing their offense to jump out to a lightning quick three-touchdown lead.
Run. The. Ball.
When the weather gets cold and the games get more important, all the new-fangled offensive ideas that have taken over college football go out the window. It gets to be time to go old school.
It’s time to run the ball.
Notre Dame started it off by running for 193 yards on the nation’s best defense against the run. Penn State followed that up with 189 yards against SMU. Texas ran all over Clemson to the tune of 292 yards.
Even as Ohio State primarily tore Tennessee apart through the air – we’ll get to that – there were still moments when the Buckeyes reverted to their traditional form and pounded the ball down the field. TreVeyon Henderson scored two touchdowns of 24 and 29 yards, and Quinshon Judkins added two of his own with powerful one-yard runs into the end zone.
All four victorious teams won the rushing battle.
It might not be pretty for fans used to watching pass-first air raid attack offenses, but for football purists, nothing gets the blood pumping like a run-heavy offensive attack. The first round proved that at the highest level of college football, the game is still won in the trenches.
Unless you’re Ohio State
The one team that didn’t go with a run-heavy attack is the team that might be most traditionally associated with the ground-and-pound style of offense.
The Ohio State Buckeyes instead turned to quarterback Will Howard and opened it up for their talented receiving corps, turning to pages in the playbook that offensive coordinator Chip Kelly must have skipped during the dire loss to Michigan.
In the first half, the Buckeyes passed for almost 200 yards, including one touchdown. The passing attack was marked by big plays – a 37-yard touchdown to freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith and a 40-yard strike to Emeka Egbuka that set up another score.
Ohio State’s performance against the Wolverines defense looked like the football version of insanity – doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, as the Buckeyes called for run after run into the teeth of the Michigan defense. This time, facing a similarly strong Tennessee unit, the Buckeyes decided to simply pass over them.
In doing so, Ohio State actually set up their running game. After the big plays in the air, Treveyon Henderson broke through the Tennessee defense for a 29-yard touchdown to end a dream first quarter.
Starting off the second half, Ohio State went right back to what worked to start the first – another big play to Smith, giving the freshman a second touchdown that put a big dent in Tennessee’s comeback plans.
James Franklin and Ryan Day get badly needed wins
Penn State head coach James Franklin and Ohio State head coach Ryan Day both had a lot on the line Saturday – even potentially their jobs if their squads were upset in home playoff games. They’ll both head into the holiday week with the comfort of a critical win in a big moment.
For Franklin, the pasting of SMU answered the question that has hung over him for years in Happy Valley: Can he win the big one? The answer on Saturday was an emphatic yes, though more big games are coming.
His quarterback, Drew Allar, spoke for many inside the Penn State locker room when he defended his coach after the game.
“I don’t care what anybody says about me or my team or my coach. At the end of the day, our process is our process, and at the end of the day, the only opinions that matter are the ones that are in the Lasch (Football) Building day to day,” said quarterback Drew Allar after the game.
“… And in terms of, you know, Coach Franklin – he gets a lot of criticism that’s undeserved, and he’s done a lot, like, a lot more than people give him getting credit for.”
Day, meanwhile, faced a much more dire situation before Saturday’s kick. The Buckeye fanbase was demoralized after the loss to Michigan and a loss to Tennessee at home might mean Day would be looking for a new job in the spring, despite a very successful time in charge of Ohio State’s program.
Those critiques were answered quickly. Ohio State blitzed out to a 21-point lead in the first half using that dynamic passing attack to gash the Volunteers for big plays. That sprint to start the game caused an immediate vibe shift in the Horseshoe, as a depressed fanbase suddenly remembered that they were playing for a national championship – and have a good shot of winning it.
