In the first year of the 12-team expanded College Football Playoff, eight teams played in what was called the “first round.”
Of the four games, one was not met with the same ire as the other three and it was Texas’ 38-24 win over Clemson at home in Austin.
Clemson took a 7-0 lead on the opening drive and Texas responded to tie it at the end of the first quarter. While Texas was in the driver’s seat for most of the game, Clemson opened the fourth quarter with a touchdown drive to make it 31-24.
BUY TICKETS FOR THE PEACH BOWL
The Tigers had a chance to cut the deficit to a touchdown later in the fourth on a three-minute drive but the Texas defense stuffed Clemson running back Keith Adams Jr. at the Texas 2-line.
The win sends the Longhorns to Atlanta for the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day where they play Big 12 champion Arizona State.
Notre Dame beat Indiana 27-17 Friday night. Saturday morning Penn State beat SMU 38-10 and Ohio State beat Tennesee 42-17. SMU’s head coach Rhett Lashlee and Tennessee’s head coach Josh Heupel both expressed disappointment in their teams not performing well on the CFP stage.
While the CFP system is imperfect, selecting certain teams over “more deserving ones” brought a fair share of controversy. Fans took to social media to explain their disappointment in the early games while praising Texas.
#CFBPlayoff #TENvsOSU #CLEMvsTEX Texas got revenge vs. Clemson, in one of the best games I’ve seen all season, these are the playoff games you hope for. Unlike the blowout loss of SMU, some teams just shouldn’t be in the playoffs. Hope this game is great, too.
— Essential Employee (🇺🇸) (@chris_drop) December 22, 2024
I feel like the home teams have a big advantage .. But so far best game has been Clemson vs Texas
— DJ✌🏽🏀⚽️ (@mrfantastic08) December 22, 2024
Clemson at least showed heart and Indiana KINDA made it interesting with that onside kick. Clemson-Texas was the best first round game (IMO) and that was a 5 vs. 12.
— Teran Rodriguez (@TeranRodriguez1) December 22, 2024
Best game of the 12-team CFP. Clemson hung in there after going down, credit to them for hanging in there! Texas run game made the difference for them.
— Drew Nixon (@drewbnix) December 22, 2024
Three games in and all 14+point games. Not totally surprising. Texas/Clemson was the most competitive, which most saw coming. Maybe one day we will have a better system to create a more competitive field.
— Donald Andrews (@donaldeandrews) December 22, 2024
The American-Statesman is on Facebook and X for more information. Your subscription makes work like this possible. Get access to all of our best content with this tremendous offer.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: College Football Playoffs: Texas vs Clemson game ‘best’ among fans
