COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS
College football went through a significant change to finish the 2024 season. The regular season was similar to any other season, with the schedule set and locations in place. The postseason has been different in comparison to previous years. The College Football Committee implemented a 12-game playoff combining some playoff games with Top Bowl games. While everyone has different opinions on this change, most see it as a motivating move for college football.
The 12-game playoff is set up like this: the conference champions will be ranked 1-4 and then receive a first-round bye. The conference champions were Oregon (1), Georgia (2), Boise State (3), and Arizona State (4). Then, the other eight teams were placed and found out who they were to play. Tennessee (9) and Ohio State (8), Clemson (12) and Texas (5), Indiana (10) and Notre Dame (7), and SMU (11) and Penn State (6) played. The higher-seeded team in these games won, but none were insanely close.
The conference champions continued training but were not preparing for a game. A bye is usually seen as an advantage, but in the second round of the 2024 playoffs, every single team that was given a bye lost in the first game they played. Oregon lost to Ohio State, Georgia lost to Notre Dame, Boise State lost to Penn State, and Arizona State lost to Texas. From these results, the bye given to the conference champions will likely be looked into more. However, playing more games and not earning a bye also increases the odds of injuries that most teams experience.
From that point came the semi-final round, where Penn State and Notre Dame played in the Orange Bowl, and Texas and Ohio State played in the Cotton Bowl. I was able to experience the Orange Bowl from a first-hand perspective, and the environment is indescribable. Penn State and Notre Dame faced off in the Miami Dolphins stadium, which sat 66,881 people, and this game had an attendance of precisely that. Both teams, family, friends, and fans showed up, and there was no dull moment.
The build-up before the Orange Bowl started when I entered the airport, and whenever my family encountered a Penn State fan, my Dad was the first to say, “Go Irish.” The same momentum continued daily in the town of Fort Lauderdale/Miami. When the tailgating began, there was lots of trash talk, and families carried the tradition of Notre Dame throughout the night. After entering the stadium, there were more Penn State fans, which gave off a weird vibe from the beginning. Being a Notre Dame fan, I found it difficult to watch the first half because the fighting Irish looked dead. Entering halftime, it was 10-3. Penn State was ahead. Out of halftime, Notre Dame seemed like a completely different team. The last two minutes of the 2025 Orange Bowl was the most nerve-racking experience of my life. Christian Gray, a player in the Notre Dame secondary, picked off a pass from the Penn State quarterback, Drew Allar. There was then a crucial field goal that the Notre Dame kicker, Mitch Jeter, made to put the fighting Irish ahead 27-24. The excitement and celebration were lived up to its full potential for the night after the fighting Irish victory.
The College Football playoffs have been a new, engaging, and exciting few weeks of football. The season will end for the final two teams still competing, Ohio State and Notre Dame. The National Championship will be held on January 20th in the Mercedes-Benz stadium. It will be a game worth watching.