The College Football Playoff quarterfinals are in the books. Every game was decidedly different and every game saw the team that had a bye lose.
The Penn State Nittany Lions quickly led the Boise State Broncos 14-0 before finding themselves in a dogfight that required a huge fourth-quarter performance. The Texas Longhorns burst out to a 14-3 lead over the Arizona State Sun Devils but briefly fell apart in the fourth quarter and needed overtime heroics to survive and advance. And for the second straight round, the Ohio State Buckeyes put together an almost perfect 60 minutes, this time avenging one of their two regular-season losses and walloping the Oregon Ducks in Pasadena, California.
Finally, the Allstate Sugar Bowl, postponed a day, between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Georgia Bulldogs turned into the defensive showdown it was always meant to be.
With that, the semifinals are set. Here are the key takeaways from the quarterfinal games:
Jump to a game:
Notre Dame-Georgia
Ohio State-Oregon
Texas-Arizona State
Penn State-Boise State
