Winners and Losers of New Year's Day and CFB Playoff Semifinal Games
Happy New Year, college football fans! Monday's slate of games included a plethora of matchups, headlined by the College Football Playoff semifinals of No. 1 Michigan vs. No. 4 Alabama and No. 2 Washington and No. 3 Texas.
In the early-afternoon slate of games, No. 13 LSU beat Wisconsin 35-31, Tennessee cruised past Iowa 35-0 and No. 8 Oregon handled Liberty with ease, winning 45-6.
In the Rose Bowl semifinal, No. 1 Michigan beat Alabama 27-20 in an overtime thriller. In the Sugar Bowl semifinal, No. 2 Washington beat No. 3 Texas 37-31.
Let's run through the winners and losers from the New Year's Day games.
Winner: The Nico Iamaleava Hype Train Is Starting Early in Knoxville
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Tennessee will have a new quarterback under center in 2024, and Vols fans got a great first look at rising sophomore Nico Iamaleava on Monday afternoon. The former 5-star recruit from the class of 2023 has a highly anticipated Vol career as the No. 2 quarterback prospect from his class.
With Joe Milton III opting out of the game, he got his first start against Iowa in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl.
Iamaleava's debut did not disappoint, to say the least. The true freshman finished 12-of-19 passing for 151 yards and a touchdown. He also had three rushing scores, his first one that went 18 yards:
The Vols' new signal-caller then scored on Tennessee's next offensive possession, running in a three-yard touchdown to help his team go up 14-0 early. Tennessee's offense added three more scores in the second half to dominate Iowa with a 35-0 victory.
It's probably safe to say Tennessee's future under center is bright with Iamaleava in tow. For a guy who completed just 16 passes in four games for the Vols all season, his debut was pretty impressive. There will certainly be a ton of hype surrounding this young signal-caller heading into next season.
Loser: Hopes for a Group of Five NY6 Upset
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The Liberty Flames were the lone Group of Five representative in the New Year's Six bowl games. Liberty finished the regular season with a 13-0 record, including a C-USA championship game victory over New Mexico State.
But the Flames' hopes of keeping their dream undefeated season alive on a big national stage in the Fiesta Bowl fell flat. Although Liberty did score on the opening possession against Oregon to take an early 6-0 lead, the Ducks defense completely shut out the Flames for the rest of the day.
Liberty's offense didn't even have a drive lasting longer than eight plays the rest of the game. Oregon's defense also forced two turnovers on the day, picking off Flames quarterback Kaidon Salter in the first half, and Liberty receiver CJ Daniels also had a fumble in the second.
Sure, it would have been nice to see Liberty keep this one a bit more competitive, but there's no question the future is bright in Lynchburg. Head coach Jamey Chadwell led the Flames to their first undefeated regular season in 50 years in just his first season as Liberty's head coach.
With the CFP expanding to 12 teams starting next season, there's no question that playing well enough to be a Group of Five team in the playoff is the next big goal for this Liberty program.
Winner: Bo Nix Puts Exclamation Mark on a Fabulous Oregon Career
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What a remarkable collegiate career quarterback Bo Nix has had. He capped it off in his final college game with a sensational performance against Liberty in the Fiesta Bowl. The Ducks rolled to a 45-6 victory, and Nix finished with 363 yards passing, five touchdowns and completed 80 percent of his passes.
For all the bad rap that the transfer portal gets in college football nowadays, Nix is the perfect example of how it can help transform a player's career.
The son of a former 1990s Auburn starting quarterback, Patrick Nix, Bo started for the Tigers from 2019 to '21. He was the SEC Freshman of the Year in 2019, and upset then-No. 5 Alabama in the Iron Bowl that season. Following two up-and-down campaigns and a season-ending ankle injury in 2021, Nix transferred to Oregon for the 2022 season.
In Eugene, his career flourished, and the Ducks' signal-caller made himself into a future top NFL draft prospect. 2023 was his best season yet, finishing with 4,508 yards passing with 43 touchdowns and just three interceptions, adding 228 yards and six touchdowns on the ground. He was a Heisman Trophy finalist, unsurprisingly.
"This school has changed my life," Nix told the Pac-12 Network of Oregon in September. "This school just gave me an opportunity to be myself again and get out of the spotlight of, 'You're playing because your dad played here,' or 'You are only doing it because you are an Auburn fan' or this or that. But now I can just go do it because I love playing quarterback."
During the Ducks' win over Liberty, he broke the Oregon single-season record for passing yards and touchdowns thrown. Oh, and he set an NCAA record for completion percentage with 77.44 percent.
That's a pretty decent way to finish your college career, I'd say. Congrats to Nix on a fabulous campaign, and best of luck to him as he prepares for the next level.
Loser: Wisconsin's Chance to End a Disappointing Season with a Bowl Victory
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For a team that entered the 2023 season with some high expectations, Wisconsin fell pretty short of them this season. In the Citrus Bowl, the Badgers lost 35-31 to LSU in a game that felt like a microcosm of Wisconsin's whole season.
Although the Badgers led 28-14 early in the third quarter, Wisconsin's defense gave up 21 points in the final two frames. Not to mention, it was to a backup in LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, as Heisman winner Jayden Daniels opted out to prepare for the NFL draft. The Badgers offense managed just a field goal in their last five drives of the day.
Wisconsin quarterback Tanner Mordecai did have a big day numbers-wise, finishing with 378 yards passing and three touchdowns. But LSU's defense did a great job of keeping the Badgers out of scoring range in the second half to keep the Tigers in it.
For a team that could have been a real contender inside a wide-open Big Ten West this season, Wisconsin's disappointing loss feels a lot like how this year went in general for the Badgers. Wisconsin was 4-1 with a loss to Washington State the first half of the season. Then came losses to Iowa and three straight L's to Ohio State, Indiana and Northwestern.
In an expanded Big Ten, Wisconsin will play USC and Oregon next season, in addition to Alabama on Sept. 14. There's no question the Badgers could have used a stronger showing than a 7-6 record in Luke Fickell's first season in Madison. We'll see if Wisconsin can have a bigger season in Fickell's second campaign.
Winner: Michigan Finally Wins a Semifinal Game, Snapping 0-2 Streak
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The Wolverines entered Monday night's Rose Bowl with an 0-2 record in back-to-back playoff semifinal appearances. Sure, Michigan making it to the playoff is an achievement, but Jim Harbaugh was hired to compete for national championships. It was a knock against the head coach that he couldn't win the big game in the postseason. In fact, the Wolverines hadn't won a bowl game since the 2016 Citrus Bowl.
Well, Michigan finally got over that hump with an incredible win in overtime over Alabama. Obviously, Michigan overcoming its 0-2 record in semifinals is impressive, but the Wolverines doing so while dealing with the cloud of two NCAA investigations, and two separate suspensions of head coach Jim Harbaugh this season makes this feat feel even bigger.
This was also a special win for quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who finished with 221 yards passing, three touchdowns and no interceptions, including 25 yards rushing. McCarthy, who was also the starting quarterback during Michigan's loss to TCU last year, has used that as motivation this season.
"I think that the last couple of years I felt like we fell victim to paralysis by over analysis," McCarthy said last month via On3Sports. "And you know, just kind of getting over detailed with too many things and overthinking things. I feel like the first couple of weeks we really just took things kind of like, easing into things and you know, it's been kind of fresh every single day. So, yeah, I think that's gonna make the biggest difference, keeping the balance."
Next up for Harbaugh and Michigan—win the school's first national title since 1998.
Loser: Alabama Ends SEC's Title-Game Appearance Streak
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Alabama losing to Michigan in the Rose Bowl ended the SEC's chance to claim yet another national championship. It's been quite a while since the CFP National Championship Game didn't include an SEC representative.
For the first time in nine years, the conference won't have a team playing in the title game. Only the first four-team playoff's national title game in 2014 featuring Ohio State and Oregon didn't have an SEC team in it, until now. Alabama also misses the opportunity for the SEC to win a fourth straight national championship.
The College Football Playoff is expanding to 12 teams starting next season, so there will be more opportunities for possibly multiple SEC teams to get bids in the years to come. But Michigan putting an end to the conference's dominance in national title games makes the Wolverines' win that much more impressive.
Winner: The Rose Bowl and CFB Playoff
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The Rose Bowl playoff semifinal of Monday night certainly did not disappoint. We had ourselves a thriller of a game in Pasadena, California, and it went down to the wire.
On Alabama's first possession, Michigan managed to force an Alabama three-and-out. But Michigan's Semaj Morgan muffed the punt, setting up Alabama for its first touchdown of the day:
The Wolverines responded with a nice touchdown drive of their own.
The second half is when things started to go haywire. Following four punts from both offenses, Alabama put together an eight-play, 55-yard touchdown drive capped off by a Jase McClellan three-yard run. On Alabama's next possession following a Michigan three-and-out, Tide quarterback Jalen Milroe fumbled on second down to give Michigan the ball back on Alabama's 46-yard line.
Easy opportunity for the Wolverines to be able to capitalize on the short field, right? Nope! Michigan kicker James Turner missed on a 49-yard field-goal attempt.
Michigan's defense forced an Alabama punt after just five Tide plays, but the Wolverines nearly had a disaster on special teams yet again. Returner Jake Thaw fumbled the punt on the Wolverines 1-yard line, that nearly could have been an Alabama safety or touchdown if it had recovered it.
To overtime we went. Michigan had the ball first, and running back Blake Corum needed just two plays to score the go-ahead touchdown.
Michigan's defense stepped up huge during Alabama's ensuing possession. On 2nd-and-goal from the Michigan nine, the Wolverines stopped McClellan for a loss of five yards. Milroe managed to find Jermaine Burton to get the Tide to Michigan's 3-yard line, but it was still fourth down.
Following two timeouts by both teams, Alabama center Seth McLaughlin, who struggled with low and inconsistent snaps all game, snapped a low ball to Milroe, who was stuffed. The play appeared to be designed to just run him up the middle, but it was blown up by Michigan from the start:
What a game and finish we had here. The Rose Bowl seems to never disappoint in delivering unforgettable games.
Winner: Washington's Offensive Core Returning to Reach CFP Title Game
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The Washington Huskies' dream 2023 season isn't over yet. With the Huskies' 37-31 win over the No. 3 Texas Longhorns in the Sugar Bowl semifinal, Washington will play for its first national championship since 1991.
It's been incredibly cool to see this Washington team have this run. Especially considering that most of the Huskies' core offensive players in quarterback Michael Penix Jr., receivers Rome Odunze, Jalen McMillan and running back Dillon Johnson returned to Washington this season to try to win a title for the Huskies.
All four of them were eligible to enter the NFL draft but chose to come back for one more season. A big motivating factor? Realizing that winning a national title with this team was a real possibility.
"I mean, we're not going to sell ourselves short," Odunze said via Fox 13 Seattle last February. We know what the team has the potential to do. I mean, shoot, you all see our OC (Ryan Grubb) being recruited by Alabama (laughs).
"But yeah, I mean, with this staff, offense, defense, with (Kalen) DeBoer as a head coach, it was just a glimpse of our potential last season and knowing that we can put something together like that [a national title] again, we're going to go out there and we're not going to take any of it for granted and start strong and finish strong. If we do that, we should come out on top."
Washington offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb even turned down the open Alabama offensive coordinator job in the offseason to coach this team.
Penix finished the night with 430 yards passing and two touchdowns, including 31 yards rushing. McMillan had five receptions for 58 yards and a touchdown, and Johnson added two touchdowns on the night.
For such a talented group of players to have a chance to achieve the goal they returned to this team to accomplish is awesome to see. And that 1991 national championship Washington last won? It came on a 34-14 win over Michigan in the Rose Bowl. We'll see if history can repeat itself this time around.
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