CFB Blitz: Takeaways from the playoff quarterfinals

College Football Blitz recaps the most important developments from the College Football Playoff quarterfinal games and examines their significance moving forward.

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The new Saban lives in Indiana

One team on the Rose Bowl field Thursday operated with machine-like precision in dominating its opponent, in the manner we grew accustomed to seeing when Nick Saban was coaching. The other team was Alabama.

Kalen DeBoer might run the Crimson Tide program now, but Curt Cignetti spent four years serving on Saban's initial staff in Tuscaloosa. In perhaps the greatest compliment we can give a coach, Cignetti's Hoosiers look very Saban-esque in the way they tactically pick apart their opponent with mistake-free football.

Only the saddest 28-yard field goal in Alabama history kept this from being a shutout by Indiana. The 38-3 final score now stands alone as the worst bowl loss ever suffered by the Crimson Tide.

Discipline was synonymous with Saban's Alabama teams. That's something Indiana has in spades, ranking second in the country with 29 yards in penalties a game. Unwilling to give the Crimson Tide any freebies, the Hoosiers saw just one flag Thursday.

Excellence on third downs can often be traced back to coaching and attention to detail, and Indiana was dominant in that scenario versus Alabama. The defense held the Tide to a ridiculous 3-for-13 on third- and fourth-down conversions, constantly ending drives and forcing a tired Alabama defense back on the field. On the other side of the ball, the nation's top third-down offense was once again surgical, going 9-for-14 in those situations.

Perhaps the biggest tribute to Saban is Cignetti's sideline demeanor. For most of the blowout, he resembled an incredibly frustrated high school principal on his way to suspend the same student for the third time this semester. Cignetti isn't content just to beat you: He wants to crush your will to compete and then do it over and over again.

Big brother Oregon

"Look, it's OK to win, but at least let them make a few nice plays."

Older brothers everywhere have heard that speech from their parents before heading into the backyard with a younger sibling. Dan Lanning could have said something similar to Oregon before the Orange Bowl, because that reflects what unfolded.

The 23-0 final might as well have been 73-0. That's how helpless Texas Tech seemed to get anything going on offense. Oregon posted seven tackles for loss and four sacks on just 62 Red Raiders plays in the win. Need visual proof? Here's Matayo Uiagalelei doing the honors to put this one out of reach.

The Ducks' defense was the question mark entering the Orange Bowl - which is natural when James Madison hangs 34 points on you at home and puts up over 500 yards of total offense. Consider that question answered, emphatically, with the third shutout in CFP history.

While Oregon's offense didn't cover itself in glory with its red-zone performance, it did enough to chew up plenty of possessions and keep an exhausted Texas Tech defense on the field. The Ducks held the ball for an eye-popping 17 more minutes than the Red Raiders in the game, with six separate drives lasting at least seven plays.

If that isn't a big brother reminding the younger sibling who runs the house, I don't know what is.

Schedule propped up Tech's offense

Football coaches spend every year pounding the mantra "defense wins championships" into their teams. However, they usually leave out the caveat: "unless your offense is completely useless." And that's another way to describe Texas Tech versus Oregon.

The Red Raiders' defense is as advertised, with an outrageously talented line. It could dominate any conference thanks to its ferocious pass rush. As for the offense? An asterisk should be attached to any of the Red Raiders' offensive stats thanks to a defense-optional Big 12 schedule.

Look through Texas Tech's opponents and you'll uncover a stat that could have foretold Thursday's performance. The Red Raiders didn't play a single top-30 defense all year en route to scoring 42.5 points per game - good for second in the country. Their offense relied on explosive plays, ranking second nationally in plays over 20 yards.

That worked during the season, but Oregon ain't taking the field in a Big 12 game anytime soon. Pit the Red Raiders against the Ducks' fifth-ranked defense and you get what we saw in the Orange Bowl.

Texas Tech was aggressive in the transfer portal to build up both sides of the line. It paid off, delivering the first CFP appearance in program history. This year, the Red Raiders should focus on the skill positions, with a clear upgrade needed at quarterback and receiver to take them to the next level.

Miami the bully on the CFP block

While most college football fans over the age of 35 associate "The U" with the best collection of skill-position talent we've ever seen, peak Miami dominated the trenches en route to punishing the rest of the sport. It took Mario Cristobal a few years to build up the lines in south Florida, but that is once again the case with Miami.

"We talked about it. Our guys talked a lot about being a physical, violent bunch," Cristobal said on the ESPN broadcast after Miami's 24-14 upset win over Ohio State on Wednesday.

It took Miami's defense exactly three plays to show violence would be a theme for the night, with Akheem Mesidor sacking Julian Sayin on the Buckeyes' third play of the game. The Hurricanes ultimately brought down the Ohio State quarterback five times on the night.

Only five teams allowed fewer sacks this season than the Buckeyes - and two of those programs (Army and Navy) actively avoid throwing the ball. However, there aren't many Mesidors or Rueben Bains on the Ohio State schedule, and that duo owned the trenches throughout.

Now sometimes the bully gets punched in the mouth, and the Buckeyes did hit back early in the second half. After being held scoreless in the opening frame for the first time since 2016, two touchdowns brought Ohio State within three.

However, the bully stood tallest in the biggest moment.

Full of momentum and holding the ball down three in the fourth, most would have bet on the Ohio State machine to keep churning and put up more points. The opposite occurred. A sack, a forced holding penalty, and another tackle for loss forced Ohio State to punt the ball back to Miami with just under 6 minutes to play.

The Hurricanes' finishing punch was perhaps the most impressive - a 10-play, 70-yard drive that featured eight running plays and 52 yards on the ground. The payoff: a touchdown in the final minute to make the final margin 10 points.

Day's rust hurts Buckeyes

Middle-aged men across the country returned home during the Christmas holidays, fired up the old Xbox in their parents' basement to play CFB, and immediately realized they're no longer the brilliant play-caller they used to be.

Ryan Day experienced that phenomenon in the opening half of the Cotton Bowl on Wednesday against Miami, only his struggles unfolded in front of millions of viewers instead of just your tipsy Uncle Paul and his two teenage sons.

Day announced earlier in the week that he would take over play-calling duties from Brian Hartline, with the offensive coordinator also juggling the job responsibilities of South Florida head coach after his hire earlier in December. He's no stranger to calling plays in Columbus, having done so in his first five years as head coach for the Buckeyes. However, he relinquished those duties to Chip Kelly last season and promptly won the national title. We'll let you decide if that is merely a coincidence or a direct result of the decision.

The offense certainly looked like it was led by a man who hadn't called plays since 2023 as the Hurricanes did whatever they wanted to the Buckeyes' line and made life hell for Sayin.

Miami's vaunted pass-rush lived in the backfield early, resulting in an eye-popping drive chart for the mighty Ohio State offense: five drives that went just 87 yards on 18 plays and resulted in four punts. The only drive that didn't end in a punt actually went even worse, with a lengthy pick-6 on a telegraphed wide-receiver screen resulting in the biggest Buckeyes' deficit since 2022.

Day and the offense figured things out a bit as the game went on, notably going to 12 personnel with two tight ends on the field for much of the second half. That resulted in Sayin getting plenty of protection and leading two lengthy touchdown drives. The final stat line was a respectable 332 total yards of offense at a 5.6-yard clip. However, you cannot give a team with a dominant pass-rush a 14-point head start - whether or not you have Jeremiah Smith.