As the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff prepares to kick off, it’s time for the most important people on each team to leave an indelible mark on the game. It’s win or go home on perhaps the grandest stage the game has seen.
Here are the most important people in the CFP first round.
Kevin Jennings | SMU quarterback
On paper, Saturday’s game (noon ET, TNT/MAX) between No. 6 Penn State (11-2) looks like a bad matchup for No. 11 SMU (11-2). Penn State will present problems SMU hasn’t seen this season.
But the Nittany Lions haven’t faced a dual-threat quarterback like Jennings. Penn State head coach James Franklin has a scary comp for the SMU quarterback.
“[Jennings] can extend plays, can make big plays, does a really good job of keeping his eyes down the field. I think that’s his style of play,” Franklin said, per Daniel Mader of Sports Illustrated. “I don’t know if we have anybody else that we have played this year that’s similar to him, but his game really reminds me a lot of Lamar Jackson.”
Ryan Day | Ohio State head coach
Fair or not, Day is under intense scrutiny following No. 8 Ohio State’s disappointing loss to rival Michigan. Day has lost four in a row to the Wolverines and his leadership was questioned after the postgame melee at midfield. All eyes will be on his Buckeyes (10-2) as they host No. 9 Tennessee (10-2) in primetime Saturday (8 p.m. ESPN/ABC). Day must win to hush the critics and prove his team has moved on from the Michigan loss.
But former Ohio State AD Gene Smith, who hired Day in 2018, is tired of the criticism of the coach.
“You got the second-winningest coach [by percentage] in the history of Ohio State, and you keep reading about the pressure,” he told ESPN. “Well, that’s what you signed up for. But this win-or-lose-your-job mentality is absolutely ridiculous.”
Riley Leonard | Notre Dame quarterback
On Friday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN/ABC), Leonard and No. 7 Notre Dame (11-1) will go against the nation’s best rushing defense in No. 10 Indiana (11-1). In what is expected to be snowy conditions, Leonard must protect the ball. In his past five games, he has thrown for 10 TDs and two interceptions.
“He’s got great mobility,” Indiana coach Curt Cignetti said of Leonard, per On3.com. “He can throw the ball well also. Backs are good. There may be a little wrinkle that we haven’t seen yet, but for the most part we’ve seen this kind of stuff and seen it through the years.”
Texas RBs and offensive line
The No. 5 Longhorns (11-2) were dreadful running the ball in the SEC Championship Game loss to Georgia, compiling 31 yards on 28 carries. Against No. 12 Clemson (10-3) on Saturday (4 p.m. ET, TNT/MAX), they must be better. Quarterback Quinn Ewers will undoubtedly move the ball efficiently passing, but the ground game must return to form (164.4 yards per game in 2024) to move on.
James Pearce | Tennessee defensive lineman
Pearce, one of the best edge-rushers in the nation, is projected to be a top-15 pick in the NFL Draft. Per Pro Football Focus, he has 104 QB pressures over the past two seasons. Ohio State has a banged-up offensive line, so Pearce could wreak havoc for Tennessee on Saturday.
Dabo Swinney | Clemson head coach
With the Tigers in the CFP, the rumblings of discontent among Clemson’s fan base seem to have subsided. Swinney is one of two CFP coaches (Georgia’s Kirby Smart is the other) with a national championship on his resume. But he’ll need to dig deep to find a game plan that takes down Texas on the road.
Per FanDuel as of Thursday, Clemson is an 11.5-point underdog. Per ESPN’s FPI, Clemson has a 1.1% chance to win the national title — the lowest chances among the 12 CFP teams.
The home crowds
The beauty of college football is the charged-up campus atmospheres that make certain places so difficult to play in for visiting teams. The stadiums of all four host teams — Ohio State, Penn State, Texas and Notre Dame — ranked in the top 25 of EA Sports’ toughest places to play. It’s time for fans of those teams to back up EA’s ranking.
