Bleacher Report
No. 7 Notre Dame gained the first-ever sport within the 12-team Faculty Soccer Playoff period after defeating No. 10 Indiana 27-17 on Friday night in South Bend.
Notre Dame will now play Georgia within the Faculty Soccer Playoff quarterfinals on Wednesday, Jan. 1 at 8:45 p.m. ET in New Orleans.
This is a take a look at the present bracket and the remaining CFP schedule.
First Spherical
- Friday, Dec. 20: No. 7 Notre Dame 27, No. 10 Indiana 17
- Saturday, Dec. 21: No. 11 SMU at No. 6 Penn State (-8), 12 p.m. ET, TNT/Max
- Saturday, Dec. 21: No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Texas (-13), 4 p.m. ET, TNT/Max
- Saturday, Dec. 21: No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State (-7), 8 p.m. ET, ABC/ESPN/Watch ESPN
Quarterfinals
- Tuesday, Dec. 31: No. 3 Boise State vs. No. 6 Penn State/No. 11 SMU on the Fiesta Bowl, 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/Watch ESPN
- Wednesday, Jan. 1: No. 4 Arizona State vs. No. 5 Texas/No. 12 Clemson on the Peach Bowl, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN/Watch ESPN
- Wednesday, Jan. 1: No. 1 Oregon vs. No. 8 Ohio State/No. 9 Tennessee on the Rose Bowl, 5 p.m. ET, ESPN/Watch ESPN
- Wednesday, Jan. 1: No. 2 Georgia vs. No. 7 Notre Dame (-1.5) on the Sugar Bowl, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN/Watch ESPN
Semifinals
- Thursday, Jan. 9: TBD vs. TBD on the Orange Bowl, 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/Watch ESPN
- Friday, Jan. 10: TBD vs. TBD on the Cotton Bowl, 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/Watch ESPN
Nationwide Championship Sport
- Monday, Jan. 20: TBD vs. TBD at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, 7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/Watch ESPN
Notre Dame operating again Jeremiyah Love’s 98-yard landing run 4 minutes into the sport set the tone for a dominant victory.
Bleacher Report @BleacherReport
JEREMIYAH LOVE GOES 98 YARDS 🤯🔥
THE 12-TEAM CFP IS OFFICIALLY HERE 🍿 pic.twitter.com/zCOZ2E0yWO
Riley Leonard later added a five-yard landing cross to Jayden Thomas within the second quarter and a one-yard TD run within the fourth quarter, the latter for a 27-3 lead following a PAT.
Indiana’s offense confirmed indicators of life late within the sport, with quarterback Kurtis Rourke throwing landing passes to Myles Value for seven yards and Omar Cooper Jr. for 38 within the ultimate 1:27. Nevertheless, it was too little and too late as Notre Dame had this sport in hand for a lot of your complete contest.
Notre Dame now strikes on to play Georgia, which can nearly actually be with out Carson Beck. The quarterback suffered a UCL damage to his proper elbow, and UGA is making ready to play the CFP with out him, per Mark Schlabach and Chris Low of ESPN.
Gunner Stockton fared properly within the second half and time beyond regulation of UGA’s 22-19 win over Texas within the SEC Championship Sport, however he might have a troublesome take a look at towards a Notre Dame protection that is been dominant most of the time this 12 months and simply shut down Indiana.
UGA does have large expertise on either side of the ball, although. The B/R NFL Scouting Department has eight gamers (together with Beck) within the high 100 of its 2025 NFL draft massive board, with security Malaki Starks sitting at fourth.
In the end, this has the makings of a troublesome, low-scoring sport through which each defenses come to play.
As for the remainder of the primary spherical, Penn State, Texas and Ohio State are heavy favorites and for good causes.
SMU could have a really powerful process going into chilly and windy State Faculty to beat host Penn State, which has a formidable two-headed speeding assault in Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, the nation’s finest tight finish in Tyler Warren and a ferocious protection guided by edge Abdul Carter.
SMU’s explosive offense (38.5 PPG) might nonetheless discover their type on this sport, however the protection has had its points this season and particularly within the SEC Championship Sport towards Clemson. Merely put, the Mustangs might not be capable to sustain with the Drew Allar-led PSU offense, particularly with an all-world expertise like Warren proving unstoppable at occasions.
Texas has outscored its opponents by 21.1 factors per sport and went 11-0 towards groups not named Georgia. The Longhorns have an extremely deep expertise pool at operating again and extensive receiver, which ought to assist issues on condition that wideout Isaiah Bond (high ankle sprain) is a longshot to play Saturday, per ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Clemson, on paper, is the weakest group within the subject, and the Tigers have not regarded like world beaters after dropping 17-14 to South Carolina earlier than almost blowing a 31-14 fourth-quarter lead towards SMU. Nevertheless, it is not inconceivable to see Cade Klubnik put the Tigers on his again right here. He did simply that towards SMU with 262 yards and 4 touchdowns.
In Columbus, Ohio State will return to the scene of one in every of its most disappointing video games in current program historical past, a 13-10 residence loss to close three-touchdown underdog and arch-rival Michigan. That loss marked 4 in a row towards the Wolverines and prevented OSU from heading to the Large Ten Championship Sport. The vibes, merely put, are horrible proper now, with explicit ire pointed at head coach Ryan Day.
Nonetheless, OSU is a tremendously proficient squad. If OSU remembers to concentrate on its energy (e.g. getting the ball persistently to its finest gamers, e.g. extensive receiver Jeremiah Smith), it ought to come away with the win.
However Tennessee is not going to go down with out a combat. If Dylan Sampson (1,485 speeding yards, 22 touchdowns) and big-play menace Donte’ Thornton (25.9 yards per reception) get going, then Tennessee might give Ohio State severe issues on protection. In the end, do not be shocked if this sport turns right into a shootout.
We’ll discover out quickly sufficient how the primary spherical develops, beginning with SMU at Penn State on Saturday at midday ET. The sport will air on TNT and stream on Max.
