Monday’s college football national championship game between the seventh-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish and eighth seeded Ohio State University Buckeyes served as a wrap on the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff bracket. Fortune smiled on the Buckeyes with a 34-23 victory.
Both teams finished 14-2 on the season.
It was a history-making tournament that defied prediction with six higher-seeded teams eliminated along the way to Monday’s game in Atlanta.
The No. 1-seeded Oregon Ducks lost, 41-21, to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl while No. 3 Boise State lost, 31-14, to No. 6 Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl.
Ohio State wasn’t finished as the Buckeyes went on to eliminate the fifth-seeded Texas Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl by a score of 28-14. That came after Texas had dispensed with No. 4 Arizona State University, 39-31 in two overtimes, in the Peach Bowl.
Notre Dame, which jump-started its run with a 27-17 victory over No. 10 Indiana in the first round, upset No. 2 Georgia, 23-10, in the Sugar Bowl. The Fight¬ing Irish then topped Penn State, 27-24, in the Orange Bowl.
It was a numbing experience as all four top-seeded teams fell in their first games.
Odds-makers must have had a collective heart-attack.
The tournament kicked off Dec. 20-21 with on-campus games then advanced to the quarterfinals on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 with bowl games.
The semifinals took place Jan. 9-10 with an additional round of bowl games.
By the numbers
This marks the 11th year of the CFP era but the first with 12 teams.
In previous CFP events, four teams were seeded.
Does bigger mean better? TV ratings seem inconclusive. The first round of games attracted an average of 10.6 million viewers while the quarterfinals attracted an average of 16.9 million viewers. The semifinals averaged 19.2 million viewers.
Interest obviously built as the tournament progressed.
Early returns, however, showed a 17 percent decrease across ESPN’s multi-faceted platform. That has been ascribed to the tournament stretching into late January.
The Cotton Bowl game between Ohio State and Texas scored 20.6 million viewers while the Orange Bowl game between Notre Dame and Penn State drew 17.8 million viewers.
Traditionally, the Jan. 1 Rose Bowl tops the card. This year’s game between Ohio State and No. 1 Oregon attracted 21.1 million viewers.
Branding still carries weight with an announced crowd of 77,600 at Monday’s national championship game. It appears fans got their money’s worth, especially for Buckeyes fans.
Speaking of money, each of the 12 teams qualifying for the CFP received $4 million. An additional $4 million went to each team advancing to the quarterfinals (eight teams) and $6 million for each team advancing to the semifinals (four teams). Ohio State and Notre Dame each received $6 million for advancing to Monday’s championship game.
The Buckeyes and Fighting Irish each pocketed $20 million for their participation.
Ohio State’s Will Howard passed for 231 yards and two touchdowns in Monday’s title game while Notre Dame’s Riley Leonard passed for 255 yards and two touchdowns.
Ohio State’s Quinshon Judkins rushed for 100 yards and two scores while Leonard rushed for 40 yards and one TD.
On the receiving end, Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith had five catches for 88 yards and one touchdown while Notre Dame’s Jaden Greathouse had six catches for 128 yards and two touchdowns.
The Buckeyes rolled up 21 points in the second quarter to erase a 7-0 Notre Dame lead and tacked on 10 third quarter points to build a 31-15 advantage.
Eye on the prize
Boise State represented the Mountain West Conference in this year’s CFP. The Broncos defeated UNLV, 21-7, in the conference championship game on Dec. 6. Boise State was inactive until its first CFP game on Dec. 31.
That’s a long wait to maintain focus while practicing.
The 10th-ranked Broncos carried a 11-1 record into the game while 20th-ranked UNLV was 10-2.
With the CFP loss to Penn State, the Big Ten runner-up, Boise State ended its season 12-2. The Nittany Lions ended their season 13-3 (8-1 in conference play). Penn State lost, 45-37, to Oregon in the Big Ten championship game played Dec. 7.
A total of five MW teams earned postseason bowl berths. Besides the Broncos, No. 24 UNLV met Cal Berkeley in the L.A. Bowl (24-13 win), Fresno State engaged Northern Illinois in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (28-20 loss), San Jose State met South Florida in the Hawaii Bowl (41-39 loss in five overtimes) and Colorado State paired up with Miami of Ohio in the Arizona Bowl (43-17 loss).
The MV went 1-4 in the five bowl games.
The East-West Shrine Game (Jan. 30) and Senior Bowl (Feb. 1) are among the remaining college all-star games to wrap up the extended 2024-25 season.
Red and Black
San Diego State University was shut out of the postseason bowl schedule for the second consecu¬tive year after the bottom dropped out of the season with six consecutive season-ending losses.
It wasn’t a pretty sight.
Midway through the 2024 schedule, SDSU sat reasonably comfortable with a 3-3 record. The Aztecs needed three wins in their final six games to become bowl eligible. They lost all six with only two games decided by one score.
The 3-9 finish was the worst since the team’s abysmal 2-10 season in 2008. The Aztecs finished 2-5 in MW play with identical 27-24 wins over Hawaii and Wyoming. Forgettable losses included 56-24- to Boise State, 40-21 to UNLV and Utah State and 31-20 to Air Force on Senior Night.
It was juxtaposed against 12 consecutive seasons (2010-22) that ended with a bowl game.
The loss to Air Force was especially disappointing. But head coach Sean Lewis spoke about the resiliency of his group.
“I’m disappointed we couldn’t send the seniors out the right way,” Lewis said. “Proud of their efforts and everything that they’ve given to the program over this year that I’ve been with them. And for the guys who have been here for an extended period of time and all that they’ve given, and they’ll be Aztecs for life and extremely proud of their efforts, and wish that they had a joyous locker room with them to celebrate all their efforts. But we came up short, didn’t do enough in all three phases, and that starts with me as a leader. We’ll get that right, we’ll get that rectified and we’ll consistently be bringing championships here back home. There’s no doubt my mind about that.
“This one was a little bit more sour than some of the great ones that I’ve had, and obviously because of the outcome. But it doesn’t diminish what those kids have done, their sacrifice and their commitment to the things that we’re asking them to do. And you just know, looking at them, from all the lessons that they’ve learned this year that they’re gonna take those lessons and apply them to who they’re becoming and the growth and the journey that they’re going to be on. And I know those guys are going to have a whole ton of success in all areas of their life, and I can’t wait to see who they become 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 30 years from now. And I told each and every single one of them that I’ll be here for them in any way that I can help so don’t hesitate to call.”
The Aztecs employed the services of five quarterbacks this season. Freshman Danny O’Neil seemed to gain confidence as the season progressed, finishing with 2,181 passing yards with 12 touchdowns and six interceptions. He ended the season with a 127.2 ef¬ficiency rating.
Senior transfer Marquez Cooper led the ground assault with 1,274 net yards, 12 touchdowns and a 106.2 yards per game average.
The lack of depth at the running back position obviously proved a drain on the offense. Next up was O’Neil with 93 net rushing yards and one touchdown. Junior Cam Davis was third on the list with just 76 yards in eight games.
SDSU rushers accounted for 13 touchdowns in 12 games.
The Aztecs fared a bit better in the passing department with 15 touchdowns in 12 games led by junior Louis Brown IV with 620 yards on 38 catches with three touchdowns. Freshman Jordan Napier led the group with four receiving touchdowns.
Sophomore Tano Letuli (Otay Ranch Broncos youth alumnus) keyed the defense with 70 tackles, one fumble recovery and one interception. Junior Chris Johnson was next up with 67 tackles, one interception and three forced fumbles. Johnson led the team with 49 unassisted tackles.
Eastlake alumnus Trey White (sophomore edge) was No. 5 on the hit list with 60 tackles, 40 unassisted, and 12.5 sacks. sack total ranked tied for third all-time in Aztecs lore. He earned Midseason All-American recognition with 11 sacks in six games.
SDSU had seven picks in 12 games and five fumble recoveries.
In the kicking department. Junior Gabriel Plascencia was 13- for-14 in field goal attempts and averaged 46.1 yards on punts and 59.6 yards on kickoffs.
Senior Ja’Shaun Poke averaged 20.1 yards on kickoff returns.
Senior cornerback Xavier Hamlett represented Grossmont College. Hamlett appeared in 11 games, primarily on special teams. While at Grossmont Col¬lege, he appeared in 15 games over two seasons with 31 tackles and three interceptions.
Besides Letuli and White, other South County prep alumni on the team this season included fresh¬man cornerback Isaiah Buxton (Mater Dei Catholic), freshman receiver Jerry McClure (Mater Dei Catholic), sophomore linebacker Jayden Kendricks (Eastlake) and senior cornerback Arnold Escano (Olympian).
Escano appeared in all 12 games, primarily on special teams with one tackle.
McClure (1,964 yards with 22 touchdowns in 20 games as a Crusader with two state championships) appeared in three games as a redshirt frosh.
Kendricks and Buxton did not appear in any games as redshirt freshmen.
Senior Kenan Christon (Madison) and sophomore Lucky Sutton (Cathedral Catholic) appeared under-utilized running backs given their prestige as local preps.
Gridiron wars
The finals stages of the CFP ran up against the start of the NFL playoffs for ratings exposure. As for a comparison, the SMU-Penn State first-round game averaged 6.4 million viewers while the Kansas City Chiefs- Houston Texans’ NFL second-round game averaged 15.5 million viewers.
The road to the NFL Super Bowl LIX continues with divisional championship games on Sunday. Upsets have marred the professional bracket as well. The second-seeded Philadelphia Eagles (16-3) will host the sixth-seeded Washington Commanders (14-5) for the NFC championship while top-seeded Kansas City (16-2) will host the second-seeded Buffalo Bills (15-4) for the AFC banner.
Gone are the top-seeded Detroit Lions following a shocking 45-31 loss to the upstart Commanders in the NFC division semifinals and the third-seeded NFC Tampa Bay Buccaneers following a 23-20 loss to the Commanders in the wild card round.
NFC North champion Detroit had fashioned a league-best 15-2 regular season record while the Bucs were the NFC South champions. Both divisional contests were close. The NFC West champion L.A. Rams lost, 28-22, to the Eagles in an epic snowstorm while the AFC North champion Ravens were chilled, 27-25, by the Bills on a missed two-point conversion at the end of the game.
The Chargers earned the No. 6 AFC seed but were unceremoniously ousted in a bleak 32-12 loss to Houston in the wild card round.
Sunday’s winners advance to the Super Bowl on Feb. 9 in New Orleans.
