Updated College Football Playoff bracket after Texas, Penn State eliminate ASU and Boise
While the idea of a 12-team College Football Playoff sounded fun, the first round showed that the format is far from perfect. The home atmosphere added a nice touch, but the scores weren't close.
College football fans hoped for better luck in the second round, but the first game wasn't particularly close, either. The Penn State Nittany Lions defeated the Boise State Broncos by three scores to earn a spot in the Orange Bowl.
The second game looked like a carbon copy of the first one, but the Arizona State Sun Devils dominated the second half of their game against the Texas Longhorns to force overtime. Unfortunately for fans who wanted an upset, the Longhorns pulled it out in double overtime.
Now that we know Texas and Penn State are advancing, let's take a look at the rest of the CFP bracket.
Updated College Football Playoff Bracket after Texas, Penn State win
Here's an updated look at the CFP bracket with two more quarterfinals games yet to be played.
CFP Matchup (Bowl Game) | Date, Time, TV Channel |
|---|---|
No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 1 Oregon (Rose Bowl - National Quarterfinals) | Wednesday, Jan. 1, 5:00 p.m. ET (ESPN) |
No. 7 Notre Dame vs. No. 2 Georgia (Sugar Bowl - National Quarterfinals) | Wednesday, Jan. 1, 8:45 p.m. ET (ESPN) |
No. 6 Penn State vs. No. 7 Notre Dame/No. 2 Georgia (Orange Bowl - National Semifinals) | Thursday, Jan. 9, 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN) |
No. 5 Texas vs. No. 8 Ohio State/No. 1 Oregon (Cotton Bowl - National Semifinals) | Friday, Jan. 10, 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN) |
TBD vs. TBD (College Football Playoff National Championship) | Monday, Jan. 20, 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN) |
Texas managed to hold off the Sun Devils, and their reward for doing so is either a matchup against an extremely talented Ohio State team or the No. 1-seeded Oregon Ducks. Regardless of who the opponent is, the Longhorns are certainly in for a tough game as they try and punch their ticket to the National Championship.
On the other side of the bracket, Penn State's reward for advancing will either be a matchup against No. 7 Notre Dame or No. 2 Georgia. Much like Texas, regardless of who advances, the Nittany Lions will have their work cut out for them if they want to make a National Championship appearance.
At the end of the day, both Penn State and Texas did what they were supposed to do. They defeated two inferior opponents to advance to what many college football fans will deem to be the real start of the playoffs. The matchups from here will only get tougher, which, for a Longhorns team that needed two overtime periods to hold off the Sun Devils, could spell trouble.
College football fans can complain about the format as much as they'd like. Based on most of the games in the first two rounds, some complaints are justified. However, with the semifinals rapidly approaching, this bracket is going to be tough to predict the rest of the way. It should be incredibly fun to watch.
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