College Football Playoffs: Semi-Final Preview
The College Football Playoffs have reached its Semi-Finals stage with Notre Dame, Penn State, Texas, and Ohio State competing for a ticket to the National Championship this week.
Orange Bowl: Notre Dame vs. Penn State (01-09-2025 at 7:30 ET)
Marcus Freeman’s Notre Dame team has been on an absolute roll recently with 11 straight wins after their surprising loss against Northern Illinois in week 2 of the season. This year Notre Dame has averaged 37.7 PPG which is the 3rd best average in all of the FBS. Star running back Jeremiyah Love sustained a minor knee injury in the 3rd quarter of their game against Georgia and did not play the rest of the game. Freeman told the media that Love has had a good week of practice and is expected to play against Penn State which is a huge advantage for Notre Dame.
Penn State will be coming into this game with a lot of confidence after dominating their first two playoff games against SMU and Boise State. QB Drew Allar has generated a lot of hype recently putting up an impressive 3 TD and 0 INT thrown in the win against Boise State. Even with Allar, the Nittany Lions rely heavily on their rushing attack averaging more than 200 yards per game in the playoffs this year. DE Abdul Carter is always an impact player leading the team with 11 sacks on the year and leads the Power Four with 21.5 tackles for loss.
This game is going to be a shootout and will come down to a one score game. Both teams rely on their rushing attack to move the chains, so whoever has the better protection through the O-line will come out victorious. Penn State is favored to win the game by 1 point, but I believe Notre Dame comes out on top. I am predicting a back and forth battle and Notre Dame to win by two points.
Cotton Bowl: Texas vs. Ohio State (01-10-2025 at 7:30 ET)
After one of the most thrilling games of the season, Texas looks to find their way back to the National Championship and regain their title as a college football powerhouse. Even though Texas is a heavy underdog in this game, I think it will be much closer than the public thinks and they just might win. The Longhorns have so many weapons at their disposal between QB Quinn Ewers, RB Quintrevion Wisner, WR Mathew Golden, and TE Gunnar Helm, it is just a matter of Steve Sarkisian calling the correct plays to get them in the end zone. In addition to their stacked offense, Texas’ defense is going to be the key factor to bring them to victory. Texas has one of the best defenses in the country and their defensive backs including Jim Thorpe Award winning Jahdae Barron will need to step up to deplete Ohio States deep threat.
Ohio State is starting to look like the outright favorite to win the National Championship after blowing out their opponents in the first two rounds of the playoffs. Their loss to Michigan in the last game of the regular season caused Ohio State to be ranked as the 8th seed in the playoffs, but they are definitely looking like the number 1 seed right now. Star freshman WR Jeremiah Smith has put the world on notice that he is arguably the best WR in college football right now. At the age of 18, he is already NFL ready at 6’3, 225 lbs. with 1200 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns on the year. QB Will Howard has completed 75% of his attempted passes in the playoffs and will be looking for his favorite target Smith on some deep routes.
Ohio State has so many offensive weapons it will take everything for the top ranked Texas defense to slow them down. Now that Ohio State is running over teams again, it means the pressure is back on their shoulders. I believe that Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns take advantage of this opportunity and beat the Buckeyes by 6 points.
