After the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoffs, it is clear that although the matchups have been entertaining, there needs to be a key fix for next year.
This year, the four highest-ranked conference championship winners received a first-round bye. All four of those teams lost in the quarterfinals.
The Mountain West champion, the Boise State Broncos, lost to the Penn State Nittany Lions at the Fiesta Bowl.
Penn State started the scoring with an 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tyler Warren and a 38-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Omari Evans. Penn State was able to keep the lead throughout the game, eventually defeating Boise State 31-14.
The Nittany Lions stopped running back and Heisman runner-up Ashton Jeanty, as he was limited to 104 rushing yards during the game and fell 28 yards short of breaking Barry Sanders’ 1988 single-season rushing record.
The Big 12 champion, Arizona State, played the Texas Longhorns in the Peach Bowl. After a strong start by Texas, with a DeAndre Moore Jr. touchdown and a 75-yard Silas Bolden punt return touchdown, Arizona State fought back. Running back Cam Skattebo led the way with 242 scrimmage yards and three total touchdowns. The game went into overtime, and the Longhorns were able to win 39-31 due to an interception.
The Big 10 champion, the Oregon Ducks, faced off against the Ohio State Buckeyes at the Rose Bowl. Ohio State took control at the beginning of the game and maintained their lead, defeating Oregon 41-21.
Ohio State’s offense was led by wide receivers Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka, and running back TreVeyon Henderson, who had 378 of the 500 total yards and all five touchdowns. Their defense had seven sacks throughout the game, with linebacker Cody Simon and defensive end Jack Sawyer getting two sacks each.
On Thursday, the SEC champion, Georgia, faced off against Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl after the Fighting Irish had defeated Indiana in the first round, 27-17.
After a slow start, as halftime approached Notre Dame pulled away when defensive lineman RJ Oben provided a sack and fumble that later turned into a 13-yard touchdown catch by wide receiver Beaux Collins.
With Notre Dame leading 13-3 at the half and receiving the ball to begin the third quarter, wide receiver Jayden Harrison returned a kickoff 98 yards to the house. Georgia wide receiver Cash Jones had a 32-yard touchdown that cut the lead to 10, but the Bulldogs ultimately came up short and lost 23-10.
Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton did well starting in place of the injured Carson Beck, but he came up short on the big stage. The defense for Notre Dame was tough all day, registering four sacks, two fumble recoveries, and many blitz attempts.
With Notre Dame’s win, the semifinal matchups are determined. Penn State will play Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl, and Texas will play Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl.
Looking back on the quarterfinals, however, even though this is the first year of this format, there needs to be a change for next year. With all the teams that had the byes losing, it is clear the College Football Playoff Committee needs to rethink this 12-team playoff.
Instead of having the four big conference championship winners get the byes, the four top dominant teams – based on their rankings by the selection committee and strength of victories against opponents – should get the byes. If conference champion winners are not strong enough, they should be lower seeds, even though they earned the right to be in the playoffs with their conference championship win.
As for Boise State, the top opponent they defeated was number 20 UNLV. However, their top opponent was number seven Oregon, who defeated Boise State by three.
Texas, though, was dominant throughout the season, defeating Michigan, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, and Texas A&M, all ranked opponents at the time of the matchups, with their only two losses from Georgia in the middle of their season, and in the SEC championship. If seeding was done based on the strength of opponents, Texas should have been one of the teams with a bye.
It could be argued that having a bye hurt the top conference champs this year. Boise State, before their game against Penn State, had last played on Dec. 6. Although Boise State had more time to prepare for the game, Penn State had momentum due to their first-round game on Dec. 21.
A solution for the CFP committee is to make the conference championships closer to the CFP, so that the bye teams do not have such a long layoff.
Change is needed to ensure closer games that are fun to watch.
