New Year's Day offered two vastly different College Football Playoff games as Texas needed a do-or-die fourth down conversion in overtime to squeak past Arizona State while Ohio State mopped the Rose Bowl turf with Oregon. The Buckeyes and Longhorns will square off in the semifinals of the first-ever 12-team tournament on Jan. 10 in the Cotton Bowl in what figures to be exactly the type of high-stakes tilt between two storied programs everyone's been clamoring to see.
Considering that all the CFP contests except for one has been a blowout, there's some genuine hunger for a competitive game. On First Take this morning, Stephen A. Smith threw some water on rising hope of a four-quarter thriller by sharing that he's concerned about what the Longhorns will bring to the table if they can't tighten up their operation.
