This weekend sees the semi finals of the NCAA College Football Playoffs, and none of the top four seeds are left.
First up is 6th seed Penn State Nittany Lions facing the 7th seed Fighting Irish Notre Dame for the Capital One Orange Bowl at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, and a place in the National Championship game.
Embed from Getty ImagesPenn State beat the 3rd seed Boise St 31-14, with QB Drew Allar going 13-25 for 171 yards and three touchdowns. RBs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton combined for 29 carries for 221 yards, with one touchdown.
Embed from Getty ImagesHeisman Trophy Finalist RB Ashton Jeanty was held to 104 yards from 30 carries for an average 3.5 yards per carry for Boise St. QB Maddux Madsen went 23-35 for 304 yards, with one touchdown and three interceptions.
Notre Dame faced 2nd seed Georgia and beat them 23-10, in a game that was delayed due to the terror attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day. Georgia were without their starting QB Carson Beck, who injured his elbow in the SEC Championship game in early December. His replacement, Gunner Stockton went 20-32 for 234 yards with one touchdown.
Embed from Getty ImagesNotre Dame QB Riley Leonard was 15-24 for only 90 yards and a touchdown but he was rushed for 80 yards from 14 carries. The Offense of Notre Dame was kept relatively quiet, despite winning the game, but it was the turnovers that ruined the Bulldogs chances.
The other semi final sees 8th seed Ohio State Buckeyes face 5th seed Texas Longhorns at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, for the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Buckeyes beat the no1 seed Oregon Ducks 41-21, with QB Will Howard throwing 17-26 for 319 yards with three touchdowns, with RB TreVeyon Henderson running for 94 yards from eight carries and two touchdowns. WR Jeremiah Smith had seven receptions for 187 yards, with an average of 26.7 yards per catch and two touchdowns.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Oregon Ducks could not get their offense going, with 276 total yards. Their own Heisman Trophy Finalist QB Dillon Gabriel had 29-41 for 299 yards with two touchdowns, however it was the run game that let them down, as they were -23 in total yards. WR Traeshon Holden had seven receptions for 116 yards and two touchdowns.
Embed from Getty ImagesIn the best game of the quarterfinals, the Texas Longhorns defeated the Arizona State Sun Devils 39-31 after two overtimes, despite the Longhorns being 17-8 at the start of the fourth quarter at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Texas QB Quinn Ewers was 20-30 for 322 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. WR Matthew Golden had seven receptions for 149 yards and a touchdown.
Embed from Getty ImagesDespite being behind 24-8 in the fourth quarter, the Sun Devils came out and scored 16 points in that final quarter. QB Sam Levitt had 24-46 for 222 yards and an interception. The star of the Sun Devils team in this game, and for most of the season was Cam Skattebo. He ran for 143 yards with two touchdowns on 30 carries, had eight receptions for 99 yards and also threw a 42-yard pass to WR Malik McClain for a touchdown.
Embed from Getty ImagesTexas missed two late field goals to win the game, and the game went to overtime. Overtime rules in College is different to the NFL. Both teams get a possession in the college game, whereas in the NFL, if the team who has the ball first scores a touchdown, the game ends. Both teams scored a touchdown and extra point on their first possession, but Texas scored with their second possession and got the two-point conversion, as is the rules in College Football. The Sun Devils QB Sam Levitt tries to find WR Melquan Stovall, but DB Andrew Mukuba came up with an interception to end the game in the Longhorns favour.
The winner of these games face each other on 20th January in the National Championship game at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.