College Football Playoff, 1998

The matchups are in
Associated Press

Orange Bowl: Utah vs. Virginia Tech, December 31st, 4:30 ET
Sugar Bowl: Auburn vs. Boise State, December 31st, 9 ET
Rose Bowl: California vs. Iowa, January 1st, 4:30 ET
Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma vs. Syracuse, January 1st, 9 ET

And the Super Six...

Peach Bowl: Pittsburgh vs. Tennessee, December 30th, Noon ET
Cotton Bowl: Texas vs. LSU, December 30th, 4:30 ET
Gator Bowl: Florida State vs. Georgia, December 30th, 8 ET
Sun Bowl: Colorado vs. Arizona State, January 3rd, 2 ET
Tangerine Bowl: Michigan vs. Louisville, January 3rd, 7 ET
Holiday Bowl: USC vs. Wisconsin, January 3rd, 10:30 ET

I will now break for several days as I put CFB98 on the Alternate History Wiki. Comments are encouraged.
 
(We're back after a three-month hiatus)

Super Six: Day 1 Recap
AP

Pittsburgh 29, Tennessee 17

Tyler Palko threw for 333 yards, and Pitt's Peach Bowl victory over Tennessee helped vindicate a Big East being heavily criticized by the national media.

The Panthers answered an early score from Gerald Riggs Jr. with 20 unanswered points. The score stood at 23-14 at the half before Pittsburgh's defense took over, holding the Vols to a field goal to ice the win.

Texas 31, LSU 23

Cedric Benson came out firing with 187 yards and a trio of touchdowns, and Texas pulled away late to seal a Cotton Bowl victory versus the Tigers.

Midway through the fourth quarter, the game was tied when Benson took an option pitch to the house to give Texas a seven point lead. Texas later scored again and held off the Bengals to clinch victory.

Georgia 41, Florida State 27

David Greene brought the heat with a 300+ yard performance, and Georgia took down FSU in the Gator Bowl on the strength of a huge 24-point fourth quarter.

Georgia took their last lead with 4:28 left on a Greene pass to Leonard Pope. Later, Danny Ware punctuated the victory with a 23 yard run.
 
Hokies end Utes' perfect season
AP

Mike Imoh grounded out 150 rushing yards, Brandon Pace nailed three chip-shot field goals, and Virginia Tech upended Utah 23-13 in the Orange Bowl to snap the Utes' 16-game winning streak.

Tech got off to a dynamic start, grabbing a 10-0 lead on a long Imoh run and a Pace field goal while stopping the Utes on a fourth and eight deep in Hokie territory.

The second quarter brought more of the same as Virginia Tech extended their lead to 20-3 and forced Utah into several punts. A scoreless third quarter was followed by a last-ditch Ute comeback attempt.

Utah cut the lead to 10 with :26 left, but it proved too little, too late as Bryan Randall (11-20, 111 yards) knelt down after Tech recovered the onside kick to kill the clock.

Virginia Tech will make its first trip to the semifinals since 1999, when the Hokies played for the national championship.
 
Boise State rebounds to shock Auburn
AP

For the second time New Year's Eve, another undefeated team bit the dust as Boise State rang in 2005 with a 33-31 Sugar Bowl upset of Auburn led by 155 yards from Lee Marks.

The Broncos came back from a substantial deficit to roll into the semifinals as a symbol of hope to "Little Five" teams everywhere.

Auburn struck early when Jason Campbell (24-25, 351 yards) nailed Courtney Taylor as the Tigers went up 7-0. BSU kept pace throughout, however, courtesy of a Marks run and a long Tyler Jones field goal. These offset a Ronnie Brown run and saw that Auburn's lead after the first stanza was only 14-10.

The Broncos then stripped Carl Stewart and recovered the ball, enabling Jared Zabransky (19-22, 277 yards) to nab a 17-yard score that gave the Broncos their first lead.

Auburn then slammed the door on the Bronco defense for eight minutes en route to an eleven point lead cut to three by a late Jones field goal.

The Tigers led by eight late in the third quarter when Marks pounded up the middle on third-and-five to cut Boise's deficit to one. Boise State got what proved to be the winning field goal from Jones with 13 minutes left.

Boise State chewed up five minutes of clock before fumbling inside the Auburn 10 yard line. Auburn drove down to the Boise State 25 when John Vaughn just barely hooked a 42 yard field goal wide right as time expired.

Boise State plays Virginia Tech for the first time in the semifinal round.
 
Arrington's big day paces Cal to victory
NYT

JJ Arrington set a new Rose Bowl record with 248 rushing yards and added four touchdowns, and California put together a dazzling 45-26 victory over Iowa to role into the BPA semifinals.

Arrington also had 79 receiving yards and a touchdown for the Golden Bears, who will play Oklahoma or Syracuse in the semifinals.

Arrington went to work after an early field goal put Iowa up 3-0, hauling in a 65-yard pass and pushing in a score on third-and-goal.

California led by 15 at the half, when, to offset a Kyle Schlicher field goal, Aaron Rodgers (19-29, 301 yards) tossed a thirty-nine yard score.

Iowa then absolutely dominated the third quarter, as Drew Tate (19-36, 411 yards) went 73 yards (to Clinton Solomon) and 60 yards (to Scott Chandler) to contribute to an Iowa deficit of just 24-23 entering the fourth.

Ten seconds into the last period, Iowa took their second and final lead with a 48-yard field goal. Cal then completely shut the Hawkeyes down, putting three touchdowns on the board, all Arrington runs (of 30, 1, and 65 yards, respectively)

Iowa still leads the all-time series 3-2, which includes the 1959 Rose Bowl. Cal is seeking its first national title of any kind since 1937.
 
Syracuse throws scare into Oklahoma, loses in nail-biter
USAT

Diamond Ferri of Syracuse came one shy of being the first player since 1972 to pick off five passes of the game, and the Orange threw a massive scare into No. 2 Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl before falling 17-14.

Ferri's 4 picks came in a day in which Jason White of Oklahoma threw for 343 yards and a touchdown but also was intercepted five times, including Ferri's four.

Syracuse was only able to muster a pair of field goals from Collin Barber in the first half to counter a White TD strike to Brandon Jones.

The Sooners seemingly "pulled away" when the dynamic Adrian Peterson (127 yards on 26 carries) punched in for a touchdown and Trey DiCarolo added a field goal to make it 17-6.

But the Orange fought back, scoring on a 21 yard scamper by Walter Reyes with 8:24 to play to cut it to 17-14.

Oklahoma's chance to kill clock was negated with a White pick, but Syracuse was unable to take advantage and was forced to punt with inside of five minutes remaining. The Sooners then ran the clock down to 1:10 before Trey DiCarlo shanked a 41-yard field goal wide right.

A frantic final drive for the Orange ended with Perry Patterson Jr. being forced out of bounds as time expired. Oklahoma faces California in next week's semifinal in New Orleans.
 
Super Six: Day 2 Recap
AP

Colorado 20, Arizona State 13

Bobby Purify rushed for 190 yards, and Joel Klatt hooked up with Ron Monteilh for an 11 yard score with 2:15 to play as Colorado took down the Sun Devils in the Sun Bowl.

Colorado had blown a 12-3 halftime lead. Arizona State's final drive ended in a fourth-and-ten incompletion at their own 49 with 36 seconds left.

Louisville 48, Michigan 29

Mike Hart of Michigan had three touchdowns but Eric Shelton and Michael Bush combined for four scores and 264 yards as Louisville won its last game as a Conference USA member 48-29 over the Wolverines in the Tangerine Bowl.

A defensive struggle seemed on the horizon in the first quarter, after which the Cards led 3-0, but a scoring rampage built a huge Cardinal lead that swelled to 41-15 early in the fourth quarter.

USC 30, Wisconsin 0

LenDale White had 130 yards and 2 touchdowns, picking up the slack for a rare off day for Reggie Bush, and USC shut out the Badgers in the Holiday Bowl to compete a solid one-loss season.

White electrified a partisan crowd with a 70-yard run on the second play from scrimmage. Wisconsin got 127 yards from Anthony Davis.
 
Virginia Tech ends Boise State's run with defensive-minded win
AP

Bryan Randall threw for 155 yards and ran for a key score, and Virginia Tech beat Boise State 20-9 in a slugfest to take aim at its first national championship.

The first quarter was a whole lot of nothing, as the teams punted six times and Boise State missed a field goal. Tech, however, wasted no time getting on the board in second quarter with a field goal. Eddie Royal then scored the game's first touchdown by taking a punt 94 yards to the house.

Boise State responded with three field goals to cut the Virginia Tech lead to eight but badly bungled a pair of would-be game-tying drives.

Virginia Tech plays the winner of Oklahoma-California next week for the national championship.
 
Golden Bears headed to title game after gritty W over Oklahoma

JJ Arrington added to his already big postseason, rushing for 110 yards and scoring a key touchdown, and California upset Oklahoma 14-9 to advance to the national championship game.

The Golden Bears have beaten now USC and Oklahoma, No. 1 and No. 2 in the final pre-playoff poll.

The Bears defense stifled Oklahoma weapon Adrian Peterson, who is expected to be in the Heisman Trophy running, holding him to 99 yards.

Arrington punched the rock in from three yards out early in the first quarter to account for the only score of the first half, after which Cal led 7-3. Cal's Aaron Rodgers found Geoff McArthur late in the third quarter for a score that proved to be the difference.

Trey DiCarlo nailed three field goals for Oklahoma but also missed three.

California advances to meet Virginia Tech for the national title. Both teams have one loss, Cal's to USC and Virginia Tech's to NC State. This is a rematch of last year's Insight Bowl, which Cal won 52-59 over the Hokies.
 
ARRINGTON DOMINANT; CAL WINS NATIONAL TITLE
AP

JJ Arrington continued his monster postseason, putting 236 yards and a pair of touchdowns on the board, and California blasted Virginia Tech 34-6 to claim its first national championship since 1937.

Aaron Rodgers threw for 244 yards to stamp his seal on the emphatic rout, more than Virginia Tech's entire offense accumulated in the last BPA National Championship Game.

The Golden Bears finished off a near-perfect season in which their only blemish came to USC, who they later defeated in the Pac-10 Championship Game.

Cal went up 7-3 after the first quarter as Arrington scored from a yard out to give Cal a lead. That lead was extended to 10-3 as time expired when Tom Schneider booted a 30-yard field goal.

Another Schneider field goal made it 13-3 Cal in the third quarter.

When Virginia Tech cut the lead to 13-6 with 12:33 to play, the Golden Bears kicked into high gear. A Rodgers strike to Jonathan Makonnen gave Cal a solid two-touchdown lead with 9 minutes left, but it was not the play of the day.

After Virginia Tech punted, Arrington took a snap out of the Wildcat formation for the Bears and dashed 79 yards for a score. Already being hailed as one of the greatest plays in Cal football history, it marked the death knell for Tech.

Bryan Randall has 118 yards through the air for the Hokies.

"There's no team in America this team couldn't beat, as you guys all saw," Jeff Tedford offered at the Bears' postgame celebration. Aaron Rodgers added in an ABC interview, "I told the guys at halftime to R-E-L-A-X. They took my advice, and look what happened."
 
Top