The College Football Playoff first round produced one uniquely thrilling game (well, ultimately), an incredible momentum shift and … the two CFP blowouts everyone expected.
Overall, it was great TV for everyone but Notre Dame fans.
Let’s look back on the first weekend of the most divisive and debated postseason format in all of sports fondly with some takeaways and superlatives.
Biggest Play In The First Round
It was all Oklahoma on Friday night until it wasn’t.
The first of the four first-round playoff games flipped entirely on one play, which makes it an easy interception for us here — not to mention an easy pick for Alabama cornerback Zabien Brown!
What happened here?!
Oklahoma offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle called it an “execution error,” which is the most literal and obvious description possible, and insisted the blame was all his. QB John Mateer said he got “tricked” by the coverage expecting Cover-0 and didn’t “mitigate it” well. OK … but who was he actually throwing to? We’ll assume there was a communication error between Mateer and receiver Keontez Lewis on what route he was running.
Ultimately, the only player in position to catch the ball was Brown, who returned it 50 yards for a game-tying interception near the end of the first half to spark the Crimson Tide on the way to a 34-24 win in Norman, Oklahoma.
The Sooners had built a 17-0 lead early in the second quarter while Alabama’s offense looked stuck in molasses before Ty Simpson capped a 75-yard scoring drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Lotzeir Brooks on fourth down for the Crimson Tide.
That’s where the game started to shift, but only with a ton of help from the Sooners.
Oklahoma immediately followed with a stalled drive and had its punt attempt blocked, setting up a short Alabama field goal drive to make it 17-10.
And then the pick-six after the Sooners had moved close to midfield while still looking to be in control of the game.
Instead, they’d never fully recover. Brown’s touchdown return continued what would be a run of 27 straight points for Alabama, which held a lead the rest of the way.
It was also Brown’s third-career pick-six.
The Crimson Tide flipped the script on Oklahoma, which had won the teams’ regular-season meeting, 23-21, in Tuscaloosa by taking advantage of Alabama’s sloppiness. It played out in the complete opposite manner this time, and now No. 9 Alabama is headed to a quarterfinals showdown with No. 1 Indiana on Jan. 1 in the Rose Bowl.
Wildest Game In The First Round
We were going to go with “best game,” but for most of No. 10 Miami’s clash with No. 7 Texas A&M on Saturday it would be a stretch to call it that. But wildest, yes.
This was the first game in the 12-year history of the College Football Playoff to be scoreless at halftime and only the second game of this entire college football season to feature no points in the first half. Like we said, wild!
Texas A&M QB Marcel Reed fumbled on a sack at the Miami 31 to squander a prime early scoring opportunity in the first quarter, the Aggies had a 22-yard field goal try blocked in the second quarter by Rueben Bain Jr., and then Miami kicker Carter Davis missed field goals from 47 and 40 yards late in the second quarter.
Davis finally connected on a 21-yard field goal early in the third quarter for the first points of the game, but after Miami’s Bryce Fitzgerald intercepted Reed and returned it 36 yards to the Texas A&M 20-yard line, Davis missed again on a 35-yard field goal attempt.
This after making 14 of 16 field goals during the regular season. Wild, we say!
Texas A&M’s Randy Bond tied it at 3-3 midway through the fourth quarter on a 35-yard field goal, and it looked like the game may swing when Miami star freshman Malachi Toney fumbled after a reception soon thereafter, giving the Aggies the ball at their own 47. But Miami’s star pass rusher Bain sacked Reed on first and third down to thwart that opportunity and continue the punt-fest.
On the next play, Miami’s Mark Fletcher found an opening for a 56-yard run, sparking an 86-yard game-winning drive for the Hurricanes, capped by some redemption for Toney as he raced around the edge for an 11-yard touchdown on third-and-5, saving everyone from another field goal attempt.
That put Miami ahead 10-3 with 1:44 to play, but after a largely lifeless game most of the way, the ending packed in all the drama.
Texas A&M of course answered with its own best drive of the game, going 70 yards to the Miami 5 before Reed was intercepted for a second time by Fitzgerald to end it.
Wild indeed. And ultimately, it was highly entertaining theater for anyone who isn’t a Notre Dame fan, player, coach or outspoken athletic director sitting at home knowing the Fighting Irish surely would have put up more than 10 points on these teams.
Next up for the Hurricanes is No. 2 Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 31.
Player Who Helped His NFL Draft Stock Most In The First Round
That would be the aforementioned Rueben Bain Jr. — the defensive game-wrecker for Miami who had 3 sacks among 4 total tackles for loss and the blocked field goal in the win for the Hurricanes.
Again, two of those sacks came on the fourth quarter series for Texas A&M that started near midfield after Toney’s fumble as Bain almost single-handedly neutralized that turnover.
Bain had 3 of his 7.5 total sacks this season in the biggest game of his career. The big stat for Bain this season, though, is that he has racked up 56 total pressures, per PFF, which ranks 4th nationally among edge rushers, and he leads college football with 48 QB hurries by their count. He’s had NFL draft analysts split on his projection, but this performance should sway some talent evaluators.
A fun footnote to Bain’s performance is to recall that Texas A&M offensive lineman Trey Zuhn was asked about matching up with Bain after the CFP bracket was announced and said, “I don’t think he’ll be a threat that we need to worry about too much. … We’ll be able to handle him.”
Best True Freshman Performance in CFP First Round
Let’s stay with this game for one final spotlight.
While Malachi Toney has been the most exciting freshman in college football this season and did score the game-winning touchdown Saturday on top of having a 55-yard punt return earlier in the game, we’re giving this award to his Hurricanes teammate Bryce Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald had both interceptions for Miami in the 10-3 win, including the game-ender.
Overall, Fitzgerald has 6 interceptions this season, which is tied for second nationally behind only Louisiana Tech’s Jakari Foster (7).
Coach Who Helped Himself Most In CFP First Round
We said going into it that Ole Miss coach Pete Golding had the most to gain over the weekend, and he sure maximized that opportunity in leading the No. 6 Rebels to a dominant 41-10 win over No. 11-seed Tulane.
With all the drama around Lane Kiffin’s departure from Ole Miss to LSU before the start of the playoffs, there was plenty of question as to how focused the Rebels would be for this game — not a question of motivation but one of mitigating all the noise and upheaval.
Golding, who was promoted from defensive coordinator to replace Kiffin as head coach not just for this playoff run but moving into the future as well, did a masterful job in a most unique position — having his first game as a head coach come in the College Football Playoff.
Ole Miss straight up dominated Saturday, leading 41-3 before Tulane tacked on its first touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
And the Rebels offense was humming all the same even without Kiffin. Offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. is also leaving for LSU, but he was allowed to continue coaching the offense through the playoff and he too seized his moment, as Golding perfectly contextualized.
Also, let’s shoutout a big game from Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss (23-of-29 passing for 282 yards, 1 TD, 0 INTs, 36 rushing yards, 2 TDs).
Golding still has everything to prove as a head coach in the long run, as it could be postulated that he would not have been a top contender for any other SEC head coaching job if not for the unique circumstances that led to his promotion at Ole Miss. But this was a heck of a start.
After winning one rematch (Ole Miss had beaten Tulane 45-10 in the regular season), the Rebels now get another against No. 3 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1.
Georgia is the only team to beat Ole Miss this season, winning 43-35 in Athens.
Most Anticipated Second Round CFP Matchup
Really, all of them.
All the SEC mouthpieces who maintain that Indiana wouldn’t have the same success if it had played a SEC schedule now get to put that theory to the test as the unbeaten Hoosiers take on Alabama.
The aforementioned Ole Miss-Georgia rematch is ripe with intrigue, of coruse.
Miami-Ohio State is maybe somehow the fourth most interesting of the four quarterfinals and yet still a classic matchup of historic college football programs and two of the best defenses in the country.
But the most intriguing second-round matchup of all is No. 5 Oregon (12-1) vs. No. 4 Texas Tech (12-1) in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1.
We won’t spend too much time on the Ducks’ 51-34 win over James Madison on Saturday.
Not to wade deeply into this tired debate, but sure, the first-round matchups only further fueled the critics who don’t think Group of Five teams (let alone two in one year) need to be in the CFP over the likes of Notre Dame, Texas and Vanderbilt — at least as long as the 12-team format remains. Also, get over it — the Group of Five represents more than half of the teams in the FBS, and until the Power Four schools formally break off into their own tier then the rest of the FBS deserves to have something to play for all season and a seat at the table in the playoffs.
Nonetheless, Oregon rolled over the Sun Belt champions while going up 34-3 late in the second half and scoring touchdowns on its first five drives against what was statistically the second-ranked defense in college football. So do with that what you will.
(Dante Moore led the way with 313 passing yards and 4 touchdowns but also 2 interceptions, Malik Benson had 5 catches for 122 yards and 2 scores, Jordon Davison rushed for 90 yards and Dierre Hill Jr. rushed for 76 and a TD on just 6 carries while adding a 40-yard reception).
Moving on, though, Oregon vs. Texas Tech is a tantalizing matchup of two teams that can absolutely win it all. (One could argue all eight quarterfinalists can make that case, but we’d push back on that a bit as it relates to Alabama and Miami).
But what makes this game so intriguing is we finally get to learn just how good either of these teams truly are.
All of Texas Tech’s 12 wins came by 22 or more points, and the Red Raiders’ only loss came when starting quarterback Behren Morton was out with injury. Even in that game, Texas Tech only lost by 4 on the road at Arizona State.
But the only ranked teams (at least by the end of the season) that Texas Tech played were Utah (a 34-10 win) and BYU (two dominant wins — 29-7 and 34-7 in the Big 12 title game). Good teams, yes, but not true top-10 competition against which to gauge.
Similarly, Oregon played one truly great team and lost (30-20 at home to Indiana). The Ducks’ best wins were at Penn State (30-24 in overtime) before the Nittany Lions’ season imploded, at Iowa (18-16) and against USC (42-27) at home.
This is by far the biggest challenge either team has had all season, which is what the CFP should be, but it really only truly applies to this matchup.
