College Football Playoffs: Now cut it down to four

An 11th-seeded Arizona State in the semifinals, No. 1 seed Ohio State scoring late to win, Oklahoma rallying to beat Florida and USC knocking off LSU.

It's December Madness, BABY!

That is what college football should be about. Not waiting to see which teams are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 by voters and computers to determine who plays for the national championship and sitting around the last few weeks of the season waiting to watch the Motor City Bowl.

Oh well, one can dream.

How did we get to this point? We started with 16 based on the parameters written here. Then we had first-round results last week and now we are down to the Final Four.

And speaking of dreams, No. 11 Arizona State is keeping its Cinderella season alive, advancing to the semifinals after upsetting No. 3 seed Virginia Tech 28-14.

Rudy Burgess caught all four touchdown passes, finishing with nine catches for 146 yards.

Virginia Tech struggled on offense the entire game as Brandon Ore had just 42 yards rushing and Sean Glennon threw two interceptions. Xavier Adibi had one of the best games of his career, picking off two passes, recording six tackles and a sack, but it wasn't enough to help the Hokies stop Burgess.

Other quarterfinal results

No. 7 Southern California 28, No. 2 LSU 23: John David Booty threw for 306 yards and three touchdowns, including a 3-yarder to Vidal Hazelton midway through the fourth quarter to pretty much seal the deal for the Trojans.

Flynn threw a late touchdown to Demetrius Byrd, but the two-point conversion failed and so did the onside kick attempt, ending the season for LSU.

Hazelton finished with 91 yards receiving and two touchdowns, while Fred Davis had 74 yards receiving and a score. LSU's Byrd had a game for the ages, catching 10 passes for 211 yards and three scores, but it wasn't enough.

USC linebacker Keith Rivers led the defense with eight tackles, including four for a loss and guided a strong USC defense that held Jacob Hester to just 34 yards rushing.

No. 1 Ohio State 31, No. 9 West Virginia 28: Todd Boeckman scored from 4 yards out on a quarterback draw with 2:32 left to help the Buckeyes rally and knock off the Mountaineers. The Mountaineers stormed out to a 21-7 lead, but the Buckeyes charged back behind the running of Chris Wells and a 79-yard punt return by Brian Hartline.

Wells finished with 126 yards rushing and three touchdowns, while Malcolm Jenkins led the defense with eight tackles. West Virginia was led by Pat White, who had 91 yards rushing and two touchdowns and also threw for another. Steve Slaton had a disappointing game, rushing for 17 yards on 14 carries.

No. 4 Oklahoma 35, No. 12 Florida 28: Sam Bradford threw four touchdowns, including a 22-yarder to Malcolm Kelly with 3:42 remaining, allowing the Sooners to advance to the semifinals.

Down 28-27, Oklahoma looked like it was content with lining up for the go-ahead field goal, but Bradford found Kelly down the sideline for the touchdown. Bradford hit Joe Jon Finley for the two-point conversion.

Tim Tebow had one last chance to guide the Gators down for a tying TD, but was sacked on fourth down to end the game. Tebow finished with 260 yards passing with two TDs passing and one rushing, but was sacked six times.

Looking ahead

We got some great matchups in the semifinals -- No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 4 Oklahoma. Easily two of the top teams in the country and should be a great one featuring two of the best youngsters in the game -- Sam Bradford and Chris Wells. The big question will be can the Buckeyes defense keep the Sooners offense in check?

And in the other semifinal the powerhouse Trojans take on the sleeper of the tournament Arizona State. USC won earlier in the year 44-24, but the Sun Devils are hot. Can the Sun Devils pull the upset?

Now if you look at the original bracket, the Ohio State/Oklahoma game is schedule to be in the Rose Bowl, while USC/Arizona State is slated for the Orange Bowl. But we here are very accommodating to the needs of fans and travel purposes, so we are going to flip the bowl games to keep USC/Arizona State out West.

NCAA take note, that's how you can make the fans happy with a playoff and make people stop hating you.

Till next week ...