Every year when autumn comes around, fans across the country suit up with jerseys from a college they never went to, tune into Big Noon Saturday amidst the yard work, and explain what a first down is to their 6 year old child. The atmosphere is unbeatable, the stadium pulse meter is extreme, and if you thought that the fan sections at Wahconah were wild, wait until you see a Nittany Lion whiteout. There were high expectations, upsets, disappointments, and a lot of controversy, leaving teams to opt on sitting out bowl games or G5 teams becoming America’ s favorite. Three out of the top five teams in the preseason rankings did not even see the playoffs, including Texas, Penn State, and Clemson. However, teams such as Indiana and Texas Tech exceeded their expectations, finishing first and fourth nationally. 

The process of getting to the playoffs is a crazy scenario with chaos in every conference for example, Duke, with 5 losses, somehow being the ACC champion. This win allowed JMU to sneak in at the 12th seed at 12-1 and Tulane, the AAC champions to be the 11th. Miami beat out Notre Dame in a controversial decision that was made considering Miami’s win over Notre Dame in week one and a strong 10-2 season. Notre Dame did not take kindly to this at all and ended up resigning from their bowl game later in the season. Alabama was also questioned about their place in the playoffs, after 3 losses, one of which coming to a disappointing FSU team. Some call it SEC favoritism, some say the Crimson Tide are always a contender. 

As of right now, the first round has been played. These are the scores;

Alabama 34-24 Oklahoma (Alabama will face Indiana in the quarterfinals)

Miami 10-3 Texas A&M (Miami will face Ohio State in the quarterfinals)

Ole Miss 41-10 Tulane (Ole Miss will face Georgia in the quarterfinals)

Oregon 51-34 JMU (Oregon will face Texas Tech in the quarterfinals)