Jameis Winston and his defending champ Florida State teammates came into the first ever CFP semifinal in 2015 riding a 29-game undefeated streak … and got summarily smacked down in Pasadena by Oregon. The Ducks made the Seminoles look like their feet were stuck in quicksand for the majority of the game. It didn’t end well for the team from Tallahassee as Oregon would roll 59-20. Winston would finish with nearly 350 yards passing on his way to being selected by the Bucs at No. 1 in the NFL Draft that June.
This was easily the most embarrassing loss we’ve ever witnessed from Alabama in the Nick Saban era. In a highly anticipated championship game in 2019, many were expecting the Crimson Tide to claim yet another title behind the arm of Heisman finalist Tua Tagovailoa. Little did they know that a true freshman playing on the other sideline would look like the Heisman candidate instead. Trevor Lawrence and Clemson completely dominated Alabama for nearly the entire game. Clemson looked like the better team in every way, and made Alabama look like a whimpering puppy by the middle of the third quarter. Clemson would coast to a 44-16 win, and the title.
Notre Dame is no stranger to getting their dignity completely taken from them on national TV, but the Cotton Bowl against that same Clemson squad at the end of the 2018 season gave America the perfect opportunity to ridicule the Fighting Irish once again. Notre Dame often plays their win into these big showcase games by playing subpar competition, and then gets squashed by clearly superior teams. What a waste of a spot. Clemson would go on to win 30-3.
The Spartans got run over like dead possum on a two-lane road in the middle of the night. The semifinal game between Michigan State and Alabama after the 2015 season showed us exactly why every team that thinks they deserve a seat at the table, most often does not. Michigan State was able to do absolutely nothing effectively against the Crimson Tide. They couldn’t even rush for more than 30 yards in the entire game! Heisman winner Derrick Henry mostly took it easy on them until he decided to strip a Spartan defender of his manhood by stiff-arming him to the turf. Alabama won the game 38-0.
Ohio State got thrown around like a rag doll in the semifinal game following the 2016 season. The culprit? Eventual champ Clemson. Deshaun Watson ate up the Ohio State defense like a 10-piece wings with ranch (Ed. note: Ahem, Donovan … OR blue cheese OR lemon pepper), and the Ohio State offense had absolutely no answer. On paper, it might have been the most embarrassing loss in the history of Ohio State football, but I’ll let “The” OSU fans decide that for themselves. The Tigers would win the game, 31-0.
Now let’s move on to some of the brightest moments ...
At the end of the 2019 season, LSU’s Joe Burrow had arguably the best performance in back-to-back CFP games that we’ve ever seen. The man had eight total touchdowns in the semifinal game versus Oklahoma, throwing for almost 500 yards and completing 74 percent of his passes. He would follow that up with a championship game performance against Clemson that saw the Heisman Trophy winner put up six total touchdowns and 521 yards of total offense. Obviously, LSU would win the chip that season and end up as one of the best teams in college football history.
Like him or not, Nick Saban is one of the greatest coaches in college football history and one of the greatest coaching decisions of his career would ultimately decide the 2016 National Championship game against Clemson. In the fourth quarter, with the score tied at 24, it was blatantly obvious that Alabama’s defense wasn’t going to be able to stop Deshaun Watson and the Clemson offense. So Saban decided to try an onside kick to steal a possession from Dabo Swinney and Tigers. Needless to say, it worked to perfection and the Crimson Tide would go on to win. 45-40, for Saban’s fifth championship.
Watson and the Clemson Tigers were out for revenge when they matched up with Alabama for the second year in a row in the 2017 national championship game. Watson looked like a stud all game long against a highly talented Alabama defense. They even hit Watson so hard that game they made him spin like a helicopter. Through it all, Watson would score four total touchdowns including the game-winner with only one second left in the game.
The semifinal Rose Bowl matchup between Georgia and Oklahoma in 2018 might be the best game we’ve ever seen in the College Football Playoff era. That’s saying something given the previous game was won in the final second. This double-OT thriller saw Georgia barely squeak past Baker Mayfield, who accounted for four touchdowns and nearly 290 yards. Future NFL running backs Sony Michel and Nick Chubb would both run for more than 140 yards in the game while averaging 10+ yards per carry. Georgia would go on to lose to Alabama in the championship game that season ...
The Alabama offense was absolutely abysmal in the first half of the 2018 title game against Georgia. The Crimson Tide literally had zero points at halftime. That all changed when Tua Tagovailoa replaced Jalen Hurts after halftime. Tagovailoa would lead Alabama on the comeback trail and eventually win the game in overtime with a 41-yard deep pass to DeVonta Smith. It’s now one of the most memorable plays in recent college football history. Tagovailoa finished the game with three passing touchdowns and was named offensive player of the game.