There has been a lot of hatred toward ESPN, especially because “they didn’t get the teams they wanted in the semifinals,” but all four teams are huge markets. Both games are going to be great, and whatever the outcomes are, it will make for an entertaining championship game. We have Penn State and Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl in a renewed rivalry and both teams looking to end championship droughts. Down in the Cotton Bowl Quinn Ewers faces off against his old school as Texas takes on the high-flying Ohio State Buckeyes.
Capitol One Orange Bowl – 7 Notre Dame vs 6 Penn State – Thursday, 1/9, 7:30PM
These are two teams that want to play the same way and it’s going to be a battle in the trenches and both QBs are going to have to step up big time if they want to put their team to get that berth into the National Championship. Notre Dame just needed a mere 54 seconds of game time to flip the script on their narrative of whether or not they can win a big game. Gunnar Stockton was stripped sacked, Riley Leonard connected with Beaux Collins for a TD to end the first half and then they had the electric kick return to start the second half. After that Notre Dame had taken complete control of the game and with a coaching masterclass from Marcus Freeman Notre Dame picked up really their first big time win since the BCS era. Notre Dame played such an impressive game against a huge Georgia team, Notre Dame bullied Goergia at the line of scrimmage and they made the plays on special teams especially to win them the game. The one play that will stand out was the fourth and short where Notre Dame ran their punt team off the field and made an entire personal switch and it threw Georgia off so much that they jumped offsides and lost the Dawgs the game. The Big Ten has had a fantastic season (4-1 against the SEC in bowl games btw) They had four playoff teams, and it took one of their own teams to beat the only undefeated team in the country, they have two semifinal teams, and the conference looks to win their second straight title which the conference hasn’t done in almost 60 years. Penn State has had a bit of an easier path to the semifinals as they beat SMU and Boise State. Thier run defense is easily the best in the country as they held Ashton Jeanty to 104 yards on 30 carries. Regardless of that Penn State was outgained, not efficient of third down, and lost the time of possession and still won the game by 20 points. Penn State winning the turnover battle was the difference in this game, other than that they did not look that good. Penn State is going to stop the run and that’s a given, but the biggest question mark is which QB is going to play better? Abdul Carter is beat up but he is going to play, but I doubt its going to matter. After Notre Dame’s performance against Georgia, I think Marcus Freeman is going to coach circles around James Franklin and that will ultimately be the difference, along with Riley Leonard making big plays in the passing game, feed me the Irish in a close low scoring game.
Notre Dame 21-17
Goodyear Cotton Bowl – 8 Ohio State vs 5 Texas – Friday, 1/10, 7:30PM
The loser of this game gets the privilege of waiting for revenge in week 1 when these two teams face off again to kick off the season next year but let’s focus on here and now. Ohio State and Texas haven’t played since 2009, Quinn Ewers is going against his former school and Ohio State is the hottest team in the country right now this should be a fantastic game. My thing about Texas is they haven’t been able to put together a great performance yet this year but looking at these teams on paper Texas is one of the only teams in the country that can compete with Ohio State talent wise. They are a team built to beat the Buckeyes and have the strengths that Oregon lacked which is the secondary and they can run the ball so effectively and could keep the Buckeyes offense off the field. Texas has been very shaky however, they have continuously played with their food and haven’t put a complete performance together, and they have turned the ball over almost more than any other team in the country. For Ohio State they have been super-hot after the Michigan loss. The offense has been unstoppable, and Freshman Jeremiah Smith has been absolutely spectacular after back-to-back historic performances. The Ohio State offense has been getting off to hot starts through big plays and playing tough on defense. After they have gotten up big early, they have been able to one of the runs and kill the game. If Texas can keep the game close, they will win, if not they will get blown out. Texas has played Georgia twice and they have lost both times, who is really the only good team that they have played. Texas is built to beat this Ohio State team however, I think they Texas will be able to run the ball effectively to take pressure off of Quinn Ewers who hasn’t been great, and the Texas secondary is the strength of the defense, and it is way better than Oregon’s. I also don’t think Ohio State can put together three straight complete performances and Will Howard turnovers will be the difference and Texas gets their big win and moves on to the Championship game.
Texas 24-20
