We’re coming down to the wire with the Student Union 64-team College Football Playoff and college football in general. Today we’ll narrow down our championship game so the winner can be revealed before you watch Alabama and Georgia Monday night. In case you missed it, while the SEC is flexing over the semifinal results of the actual CFP, the conference had a chance for three teams in the SU64 Final Four but ended up with none. Instead, Oklahoma versus Penn State and Notre Dame versus Ohio State were the two semifinal games. Here’s a look at the whole bracket and the national semifinal results.
This was an epic shootout similar to the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. Surprisingly, Saquon Barkley was shut down for 45 yards on 11 carries. Instead, he had 86 receiving yards and two touchdowns as Trace McSorely went 29-41 for 425 yards and 4 touchdowns. Luckily for Oklahoma, a shootout is no problem for their offense. Baker Mayfield matches McSorely’s performance, going 27-35 for 436 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. A 52-yard touchdown pass to Mark Andrews put the Sooners up 42-21 and the defense was able to hang on.
Another tight game gives us the Oklahoma-Ohio State rematch in the final that we deserve. Ohio State opened up a 21-0 lead and scored on their first two offensive drives, including a short one after Brandon Wimbush threw an interception on the third play of the game. But behind Josh Adams, who ran for 173 yards and two touchdowns on just 19 carries, the Fighting Irish came back to make this one a game. Notre Dame briefly took the lead in the fourth quarter, but two field goals by Sean Nuernberger including a 51-yarder to take the lead sent the Irish home.
We can’t be terribly surprised by a one-seed playing a two-seed in the final, although we can be disappointed by this rematch. Before I sign off for the second-to-last time, here’s a run down of each team’s road to the final game up to now.
Oklahoma:
W 73-18 vs. #16 Wyoming
W 44-41 vs. #8 Arizona State
W 40-10 vs. #4 Washington
W 47-34 vs. #2 USC
W 42-31 vs. #3 Penn State
Although they were a first seed, Oklahoma faced the “toughest” road possible in each round within the West region, never getting to play a lower seed because of an upset. Surprisingly, their biggest scare was in the second round against Arizona State. Unsurprisingly, they are averaging almost 49 points per game.
Ohio State:
W 40-6 vs. #15 Duke
W 37-3 vs. #10 Texas A&M
W 59-20 vs. #11 Missouri
W 24-23 vs. #1 Georgia
W 37-35 vs. #4 Notre Dame
On the other hand, Ohio State benefitted from several upsets in their region and advanced through the first three games playing all double-digit seeds. But unlike Oklahoma, the Buckeyes had to play a #1 seed to make it to this point and took care of business against Georgia.
November 28 — Introduction
December 4 – selection Monday
December 8 – West region first round
December 11 – Midwest region first round
December 15 – East region first round
December 18 – South region first round
December 22 – West/Midwest regions second round
December 26 – East/South regions second round
December 29 – Sweet 16
January 1 – Elite Eight
January 5 – semifinals
January 8 – National Championship