Now that the college football season has finished, it is time to look back and consider some of the biggest takeaways from the playoffs. The new college football playoff welcomed 12 teams into the bracket, ensuring the champion is this year’s best team. The Ohio State Buckeyes were crowned the National Champions on Jan. 20 after defeating Notre Dame 34-23.
Conference champions: the University of Oregon, the University of Georgia, Arizona State University and Boise State all received first-round byes. However, all of these higher-seeded teams lost in the Quarterfinals in their matchups. Ohio State steamrolled past Oregon and exposed the team’s fatal flaw, to stop the stars when it mattered most, and proved that Oregon was not the perfect undefeated team they seemed to be. Penn State beat Boise State in a not-so-thrilling matchup as well. Notre Dame had a relatively easy win over Georgia in a game they dominated. Lastly, Texas came out on top over Arizona State after the game went to double overtime. This matchup was the most exciting of them all, and its final score still had a seven-point gap with a score of 39-31. It is tough to tell if the higher-seeded teams had too much time off with their automatic byes, but none of the losing teams looked remotely on track to win a national championship.
This result made the start of the playoffs less exciting. Junior Colin Fogg believes that the first round was not as intense as it could have been, had there been more intense matchups.
“I don’t think the 12-team playoff is good because the first four teams that got a bye this year all lost in the first round,” Fogg said.
In the Semifinal Round, Notre Dame faced Penn State while Texas faced Ohio State. Both of these games went down to the wire and were entertaining matchups. Notre Dame sealed the deal on a go-ahead field goal kicked by Mitch Jeter, punching their ticket to the College National Championship. Something to be noted is the talent of their head coach, Marcus Freeman. In only his third year, Freeman has already taken his team to the National Championship. He is a very passionate coach, motivates all his players and connects with the school and the football program. An arguably weak spot for Penn State is their coach James Franklin because of his inability to out-coach opponents.
Ohio State and Texas had a tough game, both providing intense competition. It was a fair match in the first three quarters, yet Ohio State claimed victory on a forced fumble scoop and scored late in the fourth. Texas Quarterback Quinn Ewers made too many errors in the fourth quarter, which heavily affected the team. This win sent Ohio State to the championship.
The final round in the playoffs was a great watch. Senior Mikey Cerisano looks back on the games and their competitiveness.
“They were the best two games of the year,” Cerisano said. “Both games were down to the wire, and neither game disappointed.”
Despite the score, the game was close from beginning to end. Notre Dame opened with a scoring drive, and Ohio State responded with three unanswered touchdowns, giving them a massive advantage over the Fighting Irish. In the fourth quarter, Notre Dame was able to turn it around, lessening the scoring gap, but the Buckeyes ultimately were the stronger competitor. Most interestingly, If it was the old top-four playoff, Ohio State would not even have made the playoffs due to their two significant losses in the regular season. With that being said, they solidified their position and took home the championship. This shows how crucial the new 12-team bracket is to let teams fight for their success and make the playoffs more exciting.
Photo credit: “Here Come the Buckeyes!” by Steven Miller is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
