It’s finally here! The College Football Playoff semifinals begin tonight as Notre Dame takes on Penn State at 7:30 p.m. ET in the Orange Bowl, with Texas-Ohio State set to follow on Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET in the Cotton Bowl.
Going into the Final Four a simple question has emerged: Can anyone stop Ohio State?
Ohio State is a 6-point favorite over Texas in the Cotton Bowl at DraftKings Sportsbook and Jordan says the biggest surprises of the previous round were how closely Arizona State played Texas and on the other side, how thoroughly Ohio State dominated No. 1 Oregon. Jordan says the underlying numbers supported Ohio State being a favorite in that Oregon despite it being a No. 8 vs. a No. 1, but the way the Buckeyes took the Ducks to the woodshed was incredible. Ohio State has now emerged as the clear national title favorite, sitting at -130 on DraftKings Sportsbook, and Peter says Ohio State is the best team in the country, with a bunch of stars and wizardry on offense. At the same time, Ohio State is giving up less than a point per drive to opponents, so their defense is operating at astounding level as well. So once they get rolling on both sides of the ball, Peter says they’re liable to out-class just about anybody.
Peter also points out that once Ohio State lost to Oregon by a point earlier in the year, they began blitzing and rotating new guys into the secondary, which took their defense to another level. So Peter says not only are they talented, but they’re smart too.
Jordan wonders if there is a case to be made that we’re all succumbing to case of recency bias, especially in light of Texas barely getting by Arizona State. Have we already seen the peak version of Ohio State? Peter says yes, but we have to remember that the Ohio State performance against Oregon was a response to yet another loss to Michigan. So perhaps they’re not as good as they were last week, but they’re also not as bad as people thought they were after losing to the Wolverines. Peter thinks the Buckeyes are operating at peak efficiency and that will likely extend to the next game or two that they play.
Jordan is curious how creative Texas will and needs to get. Will we see more of Arch Manning? He thinks Steve Sarkisian will have to coach outside the box to make up for the talent gap. And Peter says he better because for long stretches during the Longhorns’ win over Arizona State it looked like they assumed they would win by attrition and that just didn’t work.
At the end of a pretty compelling playoff, Peter is going with the Buckeyes to win the national title, while Jordan wants to be a bit of a contrarian and will side with the Fighting Irish, who are +450 to win the national title on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Watch or listen to the whole show below and make sure to keep an eye on the Underdogs podcast feeds on Apple and Spotify as well as the new Underdogs YouTube page for future episodes!
Watch or listen the full episode below!
AUDIO:
Is Ohio State The Shoo-in For National Title?
We’re down to the College Football Playoff semi-finals! On this episode of “Underdogs,” Jordan and Peter make their picks for the much-anticipated Notre Dame vs. Penn State and Ohio State vs. Texas matchups.
VIDEO:
Be sure to check out more episodes of Underdogs on the Underdogs YouTube page and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts! You can also follow Peter on X at @PeterKeatingNJ and Jordan at @JordanBrenner.
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