College football's final four is a collection of the sport's big programs

In the first round of the College Football Playoff, the teams seeded 5-8 all won.

In the second round, they all won again.

The moral of this story: who knows, other than something doesn’t totally add up when not a single one of the top four teams, all of which received the advantage of a first-round bye, advances into college football’s final four.

The semifinals are set: Next Thursday in the Orange Bowl, it will be No. 6 Penn State vs. No. 7 Notre Dame. Then, Friday in the Cotton Bowl, it will be No. 5 Texas vs. No. 8 Ohio State.

Appropriately enough considering the way the second round played out, it’s the team with the worst seed, the Buckeyes, that are now the favorite.

These matchups ensure that a team with a long pedigree and a big name will carry the championship trophy when the first 12-team playoff concludes in Atlanta on Jan. 20.

A quick look at the four contenders:

The Texas Longhorns are 0-2 against Georgia, but they don’t have to worry about the Dawgs anymore. They are 13-0 against the rest of the country. The program with the third-most bowl appearances hasn’t won a national title since 2005.

Receiver Matthew Golden had seven catches for 149 yards, a touchdown and a key two-point conversion in the second overtime in the win over Arizona State to help erase a lot of questionable stuff by his quarterback, Quinn Ewers.


After the Penn State Nittany Lions loss to Oregon in the Big Ten title game, Franklin’s record against teams in the AP Top 10 dropped to 3-19. Oregon isn’t playing anymore, Ohio State is and Franklin’s record against the Buckeyes is 1-10.

The Nittany Lions and Notre Dame used to be the country’s two most notable independents, so it made sense they played every year from 1981-1992. But their only bowl meeting was a little-noticed 20-9 Notre Dame win in the 1976 Gator Bowl.

Tyler Warren might have played himself into the top tight end on the NFL draft board this season. In the 31-14 win over Boise State, two of his six catches were for touchdowns.


When the Notre Dame Fighting Irish lost 16-14 at home to Northern Illinois on Sept. 7, Notre Dame’s odds of winning the national title ballooned to 100-1. Twelve wins later, including two by double digits in the playoffs, and they are listed at 7-1.

Until Thursday, Notre Dame hadn’t won a big-time bowl game since Jan. 1, 1994, when it beat Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl. The program that gave us everyone from The Gipper to Joe Montana seeks its first title since 1988.

Coach Marty Biagi is in charge of the special teams unit that returned a kickoff for a touchdown, kicked three field goals and baited Georgia into a key offside penalty in the fourth quarter by quickly subbing out its entire punt team for the offense on fourth-and-1.


With Urban Meyer coaching, the Ohio State Buckeyes won the CFP’s first ever playoff, the four-team affair that closed out the 2014 season. Since then, the Buckeyes are 3-4 over five playoff appearances.

After the Buckeyes punctuated a fourth straight loss to Michigan by standing on the field looking lost while the Wolverines triggered a melee by planting the team flag at the 50-yard line, there was good reason to think coach Ryan Day could only keep his job by somehow rallying to win a national title that felt unlikely.

Wide receiver Jeremiah Smith has 290 yards and four touchdowns in the playoffs. He cradled in a pair of one-handed catches in an early season win over Michigan State that put the label “playmaker” all over this highly touted freshman.



(AP Photo Kyusung Gong)