College Football Playoffs: Eight teams to go

Dec. 12, 2007
We are down to eight teams.


Just to recap for you newcomers, we have a 16-team playoff bracket with 11 conference champions and five at-large teams. I explain the whole thing here. The at-large teams would best be selected by a committee, but since I don't have access to one of those, we based it off the BCS standings.


Now since this is more fantasy than reality, I turned to my PS2 and EA Sports' NCAA 2008 to determine who wins and advances each week.


Here are the results:


Heisman winner Tim Tebow wasn't ready to go home just yet.


With Georgia leading 28-21 at halftime, Tebow guided the Gators in the second half, eventually knocking off Georgia 45-28.


Tebow threw for 284 yards and four touchdowns, including two to Percy Harvin in the third quarter. Matthew Stafford struggled in the second half, throwing two interceptions as he tried to lead the Bulldogs from behind.


Knowshon Moreno finished with 129 yards and a touchdown for Georgia.


Other first-round results

No. 1 Ohio State 21, No. 16 Florida Atlantic 0: The Buckeyes got a little scare by the Sun Belt Conference champions early on, but Todd Boeckman shook off two first-half interceptions to help guide the Buckeyes past the Owls.


Chris Wells rushed for 129 yards and two touchdowns and a defense led by James Laurinaits held the Owls to 67 yards of total offense, including minus 20 rushing.


No. 2 LSU 42, No. 15 Central Michigan 3: Matt Flynn and Ryan Perriloux combined to throw for five touchdowns as the Tigers rolled past the Chippewas. Keiland Williams added 94 yards rushing, while Jacob Hester had 60.


The LSU defense sacked Dan LeFevour five times, and he completed only 8 of 23 passes for 63 yards.


No. 3 Virginia Tech 35, No. 14 UCF 17: The nation's leading rusher, Kevin Smith, was held to just 100 yards as Virginia Tech's defense dominated the Knights.


Vince Hall had eight tackles and two sacks, and Xavier Adibi returned an interception for a touchdown as the Hokies cruised into the second round. Brandon Ore added 114 yards rushing and two touchdowns.


No. 4 Oklahoma 24, No. 13 BYU 14: Sam Bradford threw for 320 yards and two touchdowns on 25-of-40 passing to lift the Sooners past the Cougars.


Bradford connected with Malcolm Kelly 10 times for 136 yards and a touchdown, while Allen Patrick added 91 yards rushing. Max Hall had 182 yards passing with two touchdowns and two interceptions for BYU.


No. 11 Arizona State 42, No. 6 Missouri 38: In a back-and-forth game, the Sun Devils pulled off the upset behind Rudy Carpenter's 346 yards passing and four touchdowns.


Missouri cut the lead to 35-31 when Chase Daniel found Martin Rucker for a 31-yard touchdown with 9:13 remaining, but Carpenter led Arizona State right down the field and pushed the lead to 11 points when he found tight end Brent Miller in the end zone with six minutes left.


Daniel finished with 333 yards passing and four touchdowns but also had three interceptions. Tony Temple had 147 yards rushing.


No. 7 Southern California 44, No. 10 Hawaii 21: John David Booty threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns to guide the Trojans to an early 20-0 lead and an easy victory over the Warriors.


Colt Brennan tried to guide Hawaii back but ended up throwing three interceptions to go along with 331 yards passing and three touchdowns.


No. 9 West Virginia 42, No. 8 Kansas 34: In one of the best games of the tournament, West Virginia pulled this one out in the fourth quarter.


With the game tied at 28, heading into the final period, the Mountaineers' Pat White stole the show. White finished with three passing touchdowns, including a 52-yarder to Darius Reynaud to give the Mountaineers the lead for good. Steve Slaton added 110 yards rushing and a fourth-quarter score.


Todd Reesing had 316 yards passing with three touchdowns and two interceptions for Kansas.

The next round
Let's take a quick look at what we could expect in the quarterfinals:

No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 9 West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl: Oh man, what could have been. Ohio State's fantastic defense against West Virginia's quickness on offense.

No. 2 LSU vs. No. 7 Southern California in the Cotton Bowl: Maybe the two best teams in the country, but only a quarterfinal game here. The winner has a great shot to win it all.

No. 3 Virginia Tech vs. No. 11 Arizona State in the Chick-fil-A Bowl: Can 11th-seeded Arizona State keep it going? It will have to go up against a tough defense.

No. 4 Oklahoma vs. No. 12 Florida in the Sugar Bowl: Wow! Another exciting matchup. Tim Tebow vs. Sam Bradford, two of the best young QBs in the game. And this is just to get to the semifinals!



College Football Playoff Bracket
First round Quarterfinals Semifinals National title
Results on Dec. 12 Results on Dec. 19 Results on Dec. 26 Results on Jan. 2
1 Ohio State (Big Ten)
16 Florida Atlantic (Sun Belt) Fiesta Bowl
1 Ohio State vs. 9 West Virginia Orange Bowl
1 Ohio State
vs.
4 Oklahoma National title
4 Oklahoma
vs.
7 Southern Cal
8 Kansas (at-large)
9 West Virginia (Big East)
5 Georgia (at-large)
12 Florida (at-large) Sugar Bowl
4 Oklahoma vs. 12 Florida
4 Oklahoma (Big 12)
13 BYU (MWC)
3 Virginia Tech (ACC)
14 Central Florida (C-USA) Chick-fil-A
3 Virginia Tech vs. 11 Arizona State Rose Bowl
11 Arizona State
vs.
7 Southern Cal
6 Missouri (at-large)
11 Arizona State (at-large)
7 Southern California (Pac-10)
10 Hawaii (WAC) Cotton
2 LSU vs. 7 USC
2 LSU (SEC)
15 Central Michigan (MAC)

By J. Darin Darst
http://www.sportsline.com/spin/story/10526389