3 days Ago By David Kenyon
The inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff is rolling along with four matchups in the quarterfinals. After a week of opening-round blowouts by the hosting teams, the FBS championship tournament shifts to neutral sites. This upcoming slate features, in order, the Fiesta, Peach, Rose and Sugar Bowls.
Additionally, the quarterfinals bring the four highest-ranked conference winners back to the field. Top-seeded Oregon is a slight underdog to Ohio State in a rematch of one of the regular season's best games, and second-seeded Georgia—which will be without quarterback Carson Beck (elbow)—is a narrow favorite over Notre Dame. While we're ringing in a celebration on New Year's Eve and enjoying New Year's Day, the Playoff will be plastered on our screens.
Ahead, we have a prediction for each matchup, complete with viewing information and the stakes involved. Stakes: Winner advances to semifinal vs. Notre Dame/Georgia When: Tuesday, Dec.
31 at 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN) in Glendale, Ariz.
Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty is one of the most prolific rushers in college football history. Behind a sturdy offensive line, he gives the Broncos a great chance to compete with any team in the country. Well, here we go again.
Jeanty totaled 200 yards and three touchdowns in Boise's earlier loss to Oregon. In the Fiesta Bowl, though, the Broncos need to handle a Penn State defense that has yielded just 3.1 yards per carry.
The unit isn't impenetrable, of course, but Penn State held an explosive SMU offense below 100 rushing yards in last week's victory. That sturdy PSU defense should be able to limit—not shut down, but contain—Jeanty's impact and shape the result. Prediction : Penn State 31, Boise State 21 Stakes: Winner advances to semifinal vs.
Ohio State/Oregon When: Wednesday, Jan. 1 at 1 p.m.
ET (ESPN) in Atlanta, Ga. Arizona State has continually defied expectations—mine, conference media , probably yours—on the adventurous path to a surprising conference title, CFP opening-round bye and trip to the Peach Bowl. That's the long version of saying ASU might have another big surprise or two in store for the Playoff.
Here I am again, nevertheless, doubting the Sun Devils. Texas is an absolute rock defensively, ranking second in the nation with 13.3 points allowed per game.
While ceding 3.1 yards per carry, the Longhorns are atop the country at 5.4 yards allowed per pass attempt with opposing QBs tossing seven touchdowns to 20 interceptions.
Boise State toppling Penn State is the biggest potential upset of the slate, but ASU is close behind. Prediction : Texas 37, Arizona State 24 Stakes: Winner advances to semifinal vs. Texas/Arizona State When: Wednesday, Jan.
1 at 5 p.m. ET (ESPN) in Pasadena, Calif.
You may recall how the regular-season game ended. Trailing by a single point with six seconds left, Ohio State hoped to thread the needle of the limited clock and needing a few yards for field-goal position. Ultimately, the Buckeyes watched helplessly as Will Howard scrambled but slid as time expired.
Game over, Oregon wins. The advantage in OSU's favor is the showdown moves to a neutral site, whereas Oregon hosted that October game. Genuinely, if you picked the Buckeyes solely on that factor, I wouldn't argue much.
This, put simply, is an awesome game, not in the least because the Rose Bowl gets a pseudo-traditional matchup. I'm sticking with Oregon because of its season-long consistency and an edge at QB with Dillon Gabriel. That doesn't change the reality that Ohio State—which just put together its best performance of the year in a rout of Tennessee—is a championship-caliber team.
Prediction : Oregon 38, Ohio State 34 Stakes: Winner advances to semifinal vs. Penn State/Boise State When: Wednesday, Jan. 1 at 8:45 p.
m. ET (ESPN) in New Orleans, La. The main story of the Sugar Bowl is Georgia will be starting Gunner Stockton at quarterback now that Carson Beck has undergone season-ending elbow surgery .
I'd be lying if I said it didn't influence my opinion. Georgia had defenses in recent years that dominated every game, no matter what. However, the 2024 campaign is different.
In this quarterfinal, will we see the version that surrendered 200-plus rushing yards to both Georgia Tech and Massachusetts in November or the group that silenced Texas in the SEC Championship Game? That question is particularly huge because Notre Dame—which boasts an elite rushing attack—is stellar defensively. Stockton tallied just 4.4 yards per attempt on 16 passes in relief of Beck against Texas and otherwise has zero significant reps in college.
He's very talented and very unproven. By no means am I counting out UGA; coach Kirby Smart has always found a way to create "us against everyone" narratives. Two national championships and many marquee wins later, it clearly works well.
So, hey, ether me in a pregame speech, but I'm siding with a physical, defense-driven Notre Dame squad over UGA and a backup QB. Prediction : Notre Dame 20, Georgia 17.
