AUSTIN, Texas — Give Clemson — especially quarterback Cade Klubnik — some credit for battling to give the College Football Playoff at least a pop of competitive, fourth-quarter juice on Saturday.
The Tigers made it a one-score game early in the fourth and then sought to do it again by driving to the Texas 5-yard line. Things got tense inside Darrell K Royal Stadium.
Then came a telling conclusion.
Three consecutive rushes were stuffed by the Longhorns, who were en route to a 38-24 victory to advance to play Arizona State in the quarterfinals.
The third game of the expanded College Football Playoff took place here and followed what was already becoming a familiar pattern.
* An incredible on-campus atmosphere that reinforces the positives of home playoff games, including potentially the quarterfinals in future years.
* A mostly non-competitive result — the Longhorns led by three scores for much of the game before the Tigers mounted some fight to make it at least interesting.
It followed Penn State’s 38-10 blowout of SMU earlier on Saturday and a 27-17 Notre Dame triumph over Indiana that wasn’t remotely as competitive as the score indicated. Both were physical mismatches.
In the final game of the first round, Ohio State blew out Tennessee, 42-17. The Buckeyes jumped the Vols 21-zip in the first quarter, causing frustrated fans to turn off their TVs.
If the College Football Playoff committee wants to overreact to the small sample size of the first three playoff games — and college football is a sport of overreaction — then there is a simple lesson.
Beware the team that can’t win the line of scrimmage.
For all the pyrotechnics of the modern offense, all the 7-on-7 influence, the CFP began with three games where one team was capable of manhandling the other.
The Longhorns used a road-grading offensive line that could open gaping holes in the Clemson defensive front. Conversely, their defensive line all but lived in the Tigers’ backfield, harassing (if not sacking) Klubnik all night.
Texas rushed for 292 yards, including Jayden Blue touchdown runs of 77 and 38 yards. Clemson went for just 76 on the ground.
“I always put up what it takes to win each game,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “One of the first bullet points was ‘Run to win.’ We have to run the football to win this game and we need to run the football to win in these playoffs.”
Notre Dame out-rushed IU, 193-63. Penn State dominated the ground game against SMU to the tune of 185-58.
That doesn’t count the defensive line pressures, which in State College contributed to three critical SMU interceptions (two returned for touchdowns). It was the same in South Bend, where Indiana kept punting despite trailing by three scores because, “our offense was doing nothing,” Hoosiers coach Curt Cignetti said. Ohio State sacked Tennessee QB Nico Iamaleava four times and pressured him constantly in the Buckeyes’ blowout win.
“That’s what I’m always going to believe in, an O-line/D-line-driven program,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said Friday. “Being able to run the ball on offense and to be able to stop the run on defense with your guys up front.”
It didn’t take long for social media to erupt in debate over how the selection committee blew it — namely by giving at-large bids to IU and SMU (Clemson got in via the ACC’s automatic bid).
It got so bizarre that at one point, ESPN basketball commentator Dick Vitale was clapping on social media at Ole Miss football coach Lane Kiffin, who had posted critically about Indiana and SMU.
“Did [your] Ole Miss [team] ever have a bad game?” Vitale, an 85-year-old currently battling cancer, chirped. “Look at film of your Kentucky and Florida games.”
At least Kiffin vs. Dickie V was more competitive than most of the on-field action.
Strength of schedule. Strength of record. Quality victories. Quality losses. Analytics. Data points.
They all come into play as the committee makes its picks, but in the end, who knows if any of it really mattered? Texas didn’t have a victory over a team ranked in the final CFP Top 25, lost its conference title game … and advanced. The résumés for Penn State and Notre Dame weren’t much better — the Lions beat No. 20 Illinois and the Irish handled No. 22 Army, but that was it.
What they all did have was the ability to block and tackle up front.
It was clear Texas was going to win this game on their opening drive — despite trailing 7-0 at the time. That’s when Kelvin Banks, Hayden Conner, Jake Majors, D.J. Campbell and Cameron Williams took the field and started violently pushing around the Clemson defense.
That allowed Quintrevion Wisner and Blue to blast through holes for first down after first down. The Longhorns hit the end zone on their first three drives, run-heavy affairs covering 75, 65 and 87 yards. It was basically over.
With its two recent national championships, Clemson has a much greater pedigree than IU and SMU, and a gifted passer in Klubnik who could keep them alive. Still, the script was mostly the same. One team could run the ball. The other couldn’t. From the start of the game it was clear the Longhorns would be able to bully their way to whatever result they wanted.
How does a selection committee quantify great line play? That’s the hard part. And there is the intellectual argument that winning — no matter how — is what should actually matter.
Reputation, let alone the eye test, suggests that the three-loss SEC teams that were left out of the field — Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina — would have fared better at the point of attack. Then again, who truly knows?
Non-competitive games happen in football — from the NFL playoffs to even the old two-team BCS or four-team playoff. It isn’t a cause for panic, although college football is a jittery pursuit that seems to thrive on knee-jerk moves.
In this case, it’s pretty obvious — three dominating victories built on dominating the line of scrimmage.
