In the first year of the 12-team expanded College Football Playoff, eight teams played in what was called the “first round.”
Of the four games, one was not met with the same ire as the other three and it was Texas’ 38-24 win over Clemson at home in Austin.
Clemson took a 7-0 lead on the opening drive and Texas responded to tie it at the end of the first quarter. While Texas was in the driver’s seat for most of the game, Clemson opened the fourth quarter with a touchdown drive to make it 31-24.
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The Tigers had a chance to cut the deficit to a touchdown later in the fourth on a three-minute drive but the Texas defense stuffed Clemson running back Keith Adams Jr. at the Texas 2-line.
The win sends the Longhorns to Atlanta for the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day where they play Big 12 champion Arizona State.
Notre Dame beat Indiana 27-17 Friday night. Saturday morning Penn State beat SMU 38-10 and Ohio State beat Tennesee 42-17. SMU’s head coach Rhett Lashlee and Tennessee’s head coach Josh Heupel both expressed disappointment in their teams not performing well on the CFP stage.
While the CFP system is imperfect, selecting certain teams over “more deserving ones” brought a fair share of controversy. Fans took to social media to explain their disappointment in the early games while praising Texas.
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