The school’s football playoff committee receives many complaints every year because groups that have had the opportunity to play for the championship are left out.
But for both one and both pots that enthusiasts had to endure, they were given a classic. For improved player organization, there have been individual performances that will be recorded in the culture of school football.
For more than six seasons, the playoffs have given us many memories, much about water coolers, cemented the game’s biggest stars and took us to tomorrow’s stallions.
Yes, Alabama and Clemson are richly represented here, but that’s because at least one of the groups has reached the playoffs every year since its inception. Oklahoma and Notre Dame are visibly absent as they never made it to the name game, the Fighting The Irish will have the chance to upload their names to the list on Friday.
Let’s take a look at the performances (individual and team) of the first six years of the playoffs, taking into account the performances at the time they mattered to the fullest and adding weight to the highlights and large-scale statistics in the national championship games.
The first semi-final of the school football playoffs was held at the Rose Bowl between No. 2 Oregon Ducks and Florida State Seminoles No. 3.
While the game was announced as a clash between 2013 Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston and 2014 catcher Marcus Mariota, it became a one-sided issue, with Head Coach Mark Helfrich’s Ducks dominating a 59-20 victory.
Oregon’s problems in general were the top problems ever scored in the playoffs until LSU’s 63-28 loss in the Oklahoma semifinals last year.
Mariota pitched for 338 yards and a pair of touchdowns opposed to an interception and ran for 62 yards and scored in a hasty offense that averaged 20. 2 seconds consistent with the game, according to ESPN Stats.
Unusually, the Ducks’ defense bent their wings to face the challenge. The unit forced five ball losses, and head coach Jimbo Fisher’s Seminoles allowed 27 problems in the third quarter after being behind only five at the start of the break.
Oregon couldn’t gain momentum in the name game, wasting 22 numbers with the No. 4 Ohio State. Still, the Ducks had offensive functionality for all ages, and the defense appeared when it mattered in that case.
It is difficult to identify a single team in the 2017 semi-finals (which followed season 16), when the two winners proved to be too defensive for their opponents.
That’s what, in spite of everything, made the problems between the No. 2 Clemson and Alabama No. 1 in that year’s name game was so extraordinary. I’ve waited for you.
Clemson shut down urban Meyer’s team like no one had before. The Buckeyes Tigers’ 31-0 demoralization was the only time a Meyer-trained team ruled. Also the first time Ohio State had been closed since 1993 in opposition to Michigan.
“Ohio State is rarely very used to that, I’m not used to that, and we probably wouldn’t get used to it,” Meyer said, according to The Football Four (Ben Kercheval of H/T CBS Sports). tactics with co-offensive coordinator Tim Beck and then hired Kevin Wilson.
In the other semi-final, Alabama’s seven most sensible ones made life difficult for Washington Quarterback Jake Browning, who captured five catches and released two interceptions in a 24-7 defeat.
Huskies head coach Chris Petersen gave the impression of having a team that could compete with Crimson Tide, a 258. 8-yard average consistent with passes consistent with the game, but head coach Nick Saban’s number one defensive kept the Washington offensive at 194 yards total (150 passes). ).
Is it a trap to come with the two semi-finalists on the same slide?Probably, but they were just as impressive.
Everyone is taking Oklahoma aside because the Sooners are 0-4 in the semi-finals of school football playoffs, yet it’s ridiculous to act like they’ve never been around the name game.
The nearest head coach, Lincoln Riley, reached the Finals in 2018. That’s when Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield made an exhibition opposite the Georgia Bulldogs. Unfortunately for the Sooners, they couldn’t prevent the UGA’s hasty attack.
Sony Michel crossed the punch line for a 27-yard landing in overtime, and the Bulldogs earned a spot against Alabama with a wild 54-48 victory at the Rose Bowl.
The two NFL All-Star pitchers helped free coach Kirby Smart’s recent good fortune in Athens.
Michel finished with the game’s offensive MVP award, with a total of 181 yards in just 11 hauls, and also scored four touchdowns in total. Nick Chubb had one of his games since returning from a knee injury with 14 runs for 145 yards and two runs.
It’s the beginning of the finale for Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops, who shot midway through the 18-year season nine months later.
Mayfield then decided on first overall pick through the Cleveland Browns in the 2018 NFL Draft.
Let’s stop by and end up opting for Oklahoma.
The previous slide described a Sooners team that had had defensive difficulties even though he was about to win in overtime against Georgia. Defensive fights are nothing new to OR, however, last season’s semi-final loss to LSU No. 1 probably provided a new dip.
The No. four Sooners gave Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow 63 problems and showed no resistance in a 35-point loss.
Chief Coach Ed Orgeron’s Tigers led 49-14 in halftime before stepping on the accelerator, but also neutral. Without that, it is known how many problems they would have scored in front of coordinator Alex Grinch’s defense.
LSU offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger did a masterful task after his daughter-in-law, television journalist Carley McCord, one of five people killed in a plane crash on his way to the peach bowl semi-finals.
Burrow did not find out until after the game, when ESPN’s television team inadvertently announced the news to him. The quarterback finished with 493 yards and seven touchdowns.
Justin Jefferson hit 14 passes for 227 yards and four touchdowns. It didn’t matter that Biletnikoff Prize winner Ja’Marr Chase had only two receptions and the offensive part Clyde Edwards-Helaire only two races, while Thaddeus Moss and Terrace Marshall Jr. took over.
On our first (but indeed not the last) episode of Alabama vs. Alabama. Clemson, let’s take a look at Trevor Lawrence’s title-winning game at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on January 7, 2019.
Unlike the other two times those powers clashed in the national championship, this is not a competition, in fact, the No Tigers. 2 won 44-16.
The functionality of head coach Dabo Swinney Clemson with the media after the game:
“I mean, our boys had tiger’s eye, but I’m very proud, and after our seniors can pass out 15-0 and be the most productive of all time, we talk a lot about the most productive of all time, all year round. We’ve never been in that conversation. But tonight, there’s no doubt about it. First team 15-0, to beat Notre Dame and beat Alabama to do so, this team won thirteen games in 20 issues or more and led through an amazing senior organization, an amazing organization. “
Alabama Quarterback Tua Tagoistence launched two costly interceptions, and the first Crimson Tide could not let go in front of a seven-man defensive front. A team with an average of 47. 2 points consistent with the game did score in the last 44 minutes.
Lawrence, a rookie, finished with 347 yards per air and three landings. It’s even more painful because Lawrence contacted Justyn Ross, who had escaped the state through recruitment, for 153 yards and a landing on six receptions.
It’s a young man’s motion opposed to a team of veterans. Nick Saban’s business technique for Swinney’s family circle environment.
The latest in Clemson-Alabama history is far from being written, but the definitive episode is a surprising victory for the Tigers.
If you’re into redemption stories, Alabama’s Jake Coker has been into school football in recent years.
Possibly not to place him on Crimson Tide’s list of probably top football heroes, however, for a two-game streak at the biggest level of the sport in 2016, the Florida state’s move from Mobile, Alabama, provided a lot of heroism, culminating in a 45-40 win over Clemson in the national name game.
Everyone knew Derrick Henry was on his way to the playoffs; After all, he won the Heisman Trophy. And in fact, he’s not out of the game opposed to Clemson, racking up 158 yards in 36 hauls and scoring three touchdowns.
But maybe it was Coker’s heroism that made all the difference.
As the opposite game approached no. 3 michigan State, the game manager had eclipsed 250 yards once in the season, but set the Spartans on fire for 286 yards and a couple of scores in 25 of 30 passes in a 38-0 win.
Then, as opposed to Clemson, he completed 16 of 25 passes for 335 yards and two touchdowns, the personal record, either in the final closed O. J. Howard, who had 208 yards at the front desk.
“When you win a national championship with Alabama, that’s all you can ask for,” Coker said, according to Christopher Walsh of B/R. “It’s the most productive thing for me. I couldn’t be prouder. “
Although he fired five times, Coker persevered and, in doing so, helped pave the way for Alabama’s high-octane offenses that would remain under the tutelage of coordinators Lane Kiffin, Mike Locksley and Steve Sarkisian.
Ezekiel Elliott is one of the school football carriers who has never played.
But until the end of the normal 2014 season, he was an aspiring sophomore who had not yet become a megastar phenomenon. Upon entering the Big Ten championship game opposite Wisconsin, he had six games with more than a hundred yards on the court. that year, however, he kept the big numbers for the most important moments.
In a 59-0 beating through the Badgers, Elliott passed for 220 yards and a couple of touchdowns. It was just an appetizer.
While Cardale Jones made headlines in Ohio State’s 42-35 win over semi-final No. 1 of Alabama, he made an exhibition the moment he began his career after replacing J. T. Barrett (who replaced Braxton Miller), Elliott the most productive player on the field.
He burned the Tide for 230 yards in 20 hauls and scored two touchdowns to propel the Buckeyes into the school’s first playoff final against Oregon. Then he beat the Ducks.
An Oregon team that forced the state of Florida to five digits had no answer for Elliott. Urban Meyer continued to feed him, for 246 yards on 36 hauls and scoring four touchdowns in a 42-20 win.
“A monster,” Meyer said, describing Elliott’s performance, to Chuck Culpepper of The Washington Post.
It’s choosing either of Elliott’s two consecutive postseason games because they were as vital as a loser for Ohio State’s number four name race.
Apart from Burrow, Elliott’s two-game playoff functionality is the most productive of all time.
The only thing that lacks Joe Burrow’s functionality in the heroism of the 2020 school football playoffs is too surprising for closed games.
Instead, the person who called LSU possibly ended the bachelor season for a school quarterback by placing Oklahoma in a semi-final and then shaming a clemson full high school skill in the NFL in the national championship game.
The Ohio State play won the Heisman and then the name by completing 31 of 49 passes for 463 yards and five touchdowns. He connected with open receiver Ja’Marr Chase for 221 yards and two scores, but passed the ball to four other pins and added a score on the ground.
Those numbers weren’t as smart as their sooners annihilation (29 of 39 passes for 493 yards and 8 touchdowns in total), but Clemson is a much better team.
The Cincinnati Bengals then decided on Burrow as the first overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, and he looked like a franchise quarterback before suffering a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.
“I don’t know anything about heroes,” Burrow told Brooks Kubena of The Advocate. “But I know that this national championship will be remembered for a long time in Louisiana. Doing it in New Orleans is even more special. He will be remembered for a long time. “
LSU turned an 11-point lead at half-time into a 42-25 win even though Clemson had a defense that included supporter/supporter Isaiah Simmons and defensive backs A. J. Terrell, Tanner Muse and K’Von Wallace.
It was reduced to LSU with Burrow.
The first two performances on the list can be simply interchangeable. The only explanation for why the moment ended because it only included a portion.
But, man, what part it was.
Everyone who followed football at school knew Tua Tagovailoa, a freshman in Alabama, who had performed well to relieve incumbent Jalen Hurts while patiently awaiting his turn in Tuscaloosa.
While Georgia was leading 13-0 at half-time, SEC coach Nick Saban inserted Tagovailoa into the game for a painful Hurts. Tua never looked back, leading Tide in a setback while throwing 166 yards and three touchdowns. opposed to an interception.
The final draw came with a 41-yard strike against fellow freshman DeVonta Smith for a 26-23 victory after UGA threw a box to start overtime.
Tagovailoa put Alabama in a position to win twice, but Andy Pappanastos missed a 36-yard basket he would have won in regular time. Tagovailoa inexplicably took a 16-yard catch in Alabama’s first overtime game before throwing the deep ball at Smith.
“I just think we had to throw the ball, and I felt he could do better, and he did,” Saban told The Associated Press (h/t ESPN. com). “He did a smart job, he did something playing in the aerial game. Just a big win. I’m very pleased with the Alabama fans. Excellent for our players. I can’t. “
Perhaps it was the biggest moment of “welcome to school football” in recent memory, and Tagovailoa continued to have a stellar but injury-plagued career for Tide before being selected fifth overall through the Miami Dolphins in the April draft.
After the 2015 season, Clemson almost won his first name with Dabo Swinney, but could not find a way to prevent Alabama.
It looked like he would return the following year, but Star Quarterback Deshaun Watson put the Tigers on his shoulders and gave his team victory over Crimson Tide No. 1. Victory 35-31 for the first national name of the program since 1981.
But Watson’s pass did not make its functionality the largest in the history of school football playoffs; it’s all his game.
He made the leap from the most productive hope to the university’s wonderful quarterback, then to the legend of Swinney, and his last game is probably the most productive: he finished 36 of 56 passes for 420 yards and 3 touchdowns and ran for 43 yards. and a score.
Capturing 4 times through one of the most talented defenses ever assembled, the unit added defensive lineman Jonathan Allen and linebacker Reuben Foster, among others, but continued to throw darts and earned the respect of the nation.
“Unfortunately, I hate to say it, but Deshaun Watson is probably the most mentally difficult player I’ve ever played against,” Allen told Pro Football Talk Live before the NFL draft. “. . . He is by far the most productive player. ” I’ve played before. When I hear reporters say it’s a half-shift or end-of-shift guy, I’m surprised. I see it as one of the five most sensible options . . . He’s the genuine deal. “
The Houston Texans decided on Watson at number 12 overall in 2017, and followed a career in the NFL.
All statistics are courtesy of CFBStats. com and Sports Reference. Recruitment rating through the composite ratings of 247 Sports, unless otherwise indicated.
Follow Brad Shepard on Twitter at @Brad_Shepard.