The first round of the College Football Playoff had no major surprises. Oregon and Mississippi destroyed both teams that had no business being in the playoffs. In the two competitive games I was wrong on both games which is no surprise either. Oklahoma jumped out to a 17-0 lead on Alabama. Then Oklahoma started to give the game away. A punter that couldn’t punt and a pick 6 at the end of the half enabled Alabama to tie the game and completely turned the game around. It seemed to deflate the Oklahoma defense and a rejuvenated Alabama offense took over the game. There was no rejuvenating the Texas A&M offense. For the second straight game it really could do nothing. Field goal failures continued to plaque them. A late drive to tie the game ended in an interception and Miami pulled out the 10-3 win. The quarterfinals start on New Years Eve night.
Ohio State and Miami kick things off on Wednesday night. Then there is a triple header on Thursday starting with Oregon and Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl. That is followed by Alabama and Indiana in the Rose Bowl. The last game of the day should be the most intriguing with Mississippi playing Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. To cut to the chase I think the 3 Big Ten teams will win and Georgia. Having said that, I think all the games will be competitive and all 4 picks will have to be on their game to win. There will be no gimme’s in this round. I think this will be the lowest scoring playoffs in history. These are very elite defenses with the final 8. The rematch between Mississippi and Georgia is by far the most interesting. They played a very strange game when they met earlier this year. Georgia scored a touchdown or field goal on every possession they had. There was no cheapies involved. The drives were all over 70 yards. Mississippi did the same thing until their first drive of the 4th quarter. This was when Georgia took their first lead of the game. I will be shocked if this rematch follows the same pattern. I expect all the games to be hard fought defensive games. Turnovers and special teams will be the keys to victory in all four games. A college football fans dream come true will start on New Year’s Eve.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 