The College Football Playoff's first round came and went, and according to some, there wasn't much entertainment value to be had throughout the first four games of the 12-team field setup's second go-round.
While the Alabama Crimson Tide and Oklahoma Sooners were tied at halftime, the Tide turned in the second half and, before long, Bama had a two-score lead over OU in the 34-24 win at Gaylord Memorial.
Some found beauty in the Miami Hurricanes' 10-3 triumph over the TAMU Aggies to decide the Ohio State Buckeyes' Cotton Bowl Classic opponent, but it was objectively an ugly game from the offense and special teams standpoints.
As for the Ole Miss Rebels' 41-10 win over the Tulane Green Wave in Oxford, Mississippi, and the Oregon Ducks' 51-34 win over the James Madison Dukes at Autzen, the Group of 5 has quite the narrative to overcome in future fields because of how uncompetitive the games were.
CBS Sports' Will Backus believes the Sugar Bowl matchup between the Georgia Bulldogs and Ole Miss Rebels will be the only close game in the CFP's second round, with the Miami-Ohio State, Alabama-Indiana Hoosiers, and Oregon Ducks-Texas Tech Red Raiders also possessing blowout potential.
"No. 3 Georgia's Sugar Bowl showdown against No. 6 Ole Miss could be close. Those two actually faced off in the regular season. The Bulldogs scored 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to storm back for a thrilling 43-35 win. That was good television," Backus prefaced before saying, "The other three quarterfinal games seem primed for a letdown. The winner between No. 9 Alabama and No. 8 Oklahoma, ultimately, did not matter. The Crimson Tide earned a chance to get thrown into the Indiana meat grinder."
"Miami did well to go on the road and beat Texas A&M. The Hurricane team that showed up in the first round is going to get run off the field against No. 2 Ohio State. There may not be a ton of points scored by either team, but the Buckeyes should control proceedings comfortably from start to finish."
"No. 4 Texas Tech versus No. 5 Oregon is another potential banger. Don't be surprised if the Red Raiders cruise to victory, though, especially after the Ducks failed to completely rout what should have been a haplessly overmatched No. 12 James Madison in the first round."
Ohio State and Miami have better chance at fireworks than OSU and TAMU would have
Truth be told, the Buckeyes have a better chance to have an entertaining game against the Canes than they would've had against the Aggies.
Miami has a much more potent run game, and Carson Beck, while flawed, is more accurate than Marcel Reed. TAMU had better receivers, but not by a sizable margin. Defensively, the Aggies' defensive trenches had a better chance of mucking things up and halting big plays before they could begin. Against the Canes, while Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor cause havoc on the edges, there's a better chance of having success in the air than on the ground.
That translates directly to more entertainment value via Carnell Tate and Jeremiah Smith, and maybe some Max Klare, instead of just Bo Jackson.
In many ways, it worked out perfectly. Now, OSU isn't battling a team from Texas in the Lone Star State, and won't be playing a team that's not built to exploit a specific weakness like TAMU was.