ARLINGTON, Texas — And now, 15 thoughts from Notre Dame 27, Penn State 24 and Ohio State 28, Texas 14 — two much-needed, much-enjoyed fourth-quarter finishes in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
1. The camera operators for the mammoth video board at AT&T Stadium love their crowd shots. There were several between every play. Friday night’s Ohio State-Texas Cotton Bowl provided them with an endless supply of dudes in Buckeyes jerseys flashing the Block O and women in cowboy boots giving the Hook ’Em sign.
When Ohio State’s Jack Sawyer stripped Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers, picked up the ball and returned it for a game-sealing 83-yard touchdown, that board morphed into a long montage of euphoric Buckeyes fans mixed with Longhorn surrender cobras. Moments earlier, No. 5 seed Texas was at the 1-yard line, possibly about to send this Playoff semifinal to overtime. Now, with one remarkable play, No. 8 seed Ohio State was on its way to Atlanta.
A pair of dramatic semifinals on back-to-back nights give us a Jan. 20 clash between the Buckeyes and No. 7 seed Notre Dame in the first all-Midwest national championship game since … well, ever.
JACK SAWYER SCOOP-AND-SCORE 😱
Ohio State is one step closer to advancing to the national championship!
