After a week-and-a-half off, the College Football Playoff will resume Dec. 31 with the first quarterfinal matchup, followed by the three remaining games New Year’s Day. The first round of the first 12-team CFP saw nothing but lopsided contests, but that’s been the norm in the history of the CFP. Entering the 2024 quarterfinals, the average margin of victory in a CFP game is 18.7 points. The top eight seeds remain in this year’s edition, so we’ll see if that leads to more competitive games.
Here’s a look at each of the four contests.
One team’s Fiesta Bowl perfection will end in this game as Penn State is 7-0 all-time in the bowl, while Boise is 3-0. This will be the first-ever meeting between the programs, and it could allow PSU, in part, to rewrite its narrative of not winning big games. The Nittany Lions have lost 15 of their last 16 versus AP Top 10 teams, while Coach James Franklin’s 5-14 record versus Top 15 teams is the worst by any head coach in FBS history (min. 15 games). He’s hoping his explosive offense and stout defense help improve that mark as Penn State thrives with both connecting on big plays and preventing them. The defense has allowed just 4.4 yards per play, the fewe fifth-st in FBS, while the offense ranks eighth with 6.6 yards per play.
Boise is led by Heisman runner-up Ashton Jeanty, whose chase of college football history is a subplot. Jeanty is 132 rushing yards shy of breaking Barry Sanders’ single-season record of 2,628 yards set in 1988. With Jeanty leading the way, and with an offense that has the lowest turnover percentage in the nation, the Broncos are as good as anyone on that side of the ball. However, they weren’t quite as potent as the season went on. After averaging 43.6 points over their first 10 games, Boise State averaged just 24 over its last three. The team will also have to defy history in this game as 10.5-point underdogs; double-digit dogs are 0-9 in CFP history.
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