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College Football Playoff: The biggest names look ahead to the quarterfinals

<i>Matt Cashore/USA Today Sports/Reuters via CNN Newsource</i><br/>Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Riley Leonard celebrates with head coach Marcus Freeman after scoring a touchdown during the second half against the Indiana Hoosiers at Notre Dame Stadium.
Matt Cashore/USA Today Sports/Reuters via CNN Newsource
Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Riley Leonard celebrates with head coach Marcus Freeman after scoring a touchdown during the second half against the Indiana Hoosiers at Notre Dame Stadium.

By Jamie Barton, CNN

(CNN) — The stars of college football have spent time with their loved ones, eaten their Christmas meals and opened their presents, but it’s now time to get back to the action.

With the quarterfinals beginning on Tuesday, players and coaches will be dreaming of going one step closer to getting their hands on the National Championship Trophy.

Here’s what they had to say.

No. 6 Penn State vs No. 3 Boise State, December 31 @ 7:30 p.m. ET

By the time we’ve seen in the new year, one of these teams will have done something it has never done in 10 appearances between them: lost a Fiesta Bowl.

It will be a classic case of offense vs. defense as the teams meet for the very first time. The Boise State Broncos rank sixth in total offense and fourth in scoring offense this season, whereas the Penn State Nittany Lions are in the top 10 for scoring defense, rush defense and total defense.

Penn State enters the game as the favorite, but you cannot write off any team that Ashton Jeanty is a member of. The Heisman finalist’s 2,497 rushing yards this season are the fourth-most in FBS single-season history.

Penn State head coach James Franklin

“It all starts and revolves around (Ashton) Jeanty. In any other year, I think the guy wins the Heisman and you could make the argument that he should have won it this year. He is hard to tackle… It’ll be a definite challenge for us.

“We want to be very aggressive. We don’t want to have any regrets and (we will be) playing to win. I think it’s a mentality that everybody has to embrace and be on the same page with.”

Penn State quarterback Drew Allar

“The culture we have inside the locker room, between players, coaching staff and support staff is second to none. I think that’s what makes us different at the end of the day. We all have the same goal and we’re all in alignment with each other. It’s different now, but I think that’s one of our strengths as a program, in general, is just the culture.”

Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson

“Please count us out. That’s what Boise State football has been built on – people thinking we can’t do something and then we work our tails off to find a way to prove people wrong.

“I think the world of their team. Don’t know Coach Franklin but think highly of him, a ton of respect for him, what he’s done over the years… They’re a touchdown away from being Big Ten champs and probably being No. 1 seed in the playoffs.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us. It’s a phenomenal opponent that we’re going to meet down in Arizona and we’re excited to go put the ball down.”

Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty

“For me, I want to play against the best of the best in competition. This is the biggest platform to do that in college football right now, against one of the best teams in the nation. This is always the best thing to me: to play against the best competition.

“Nobody had us picked to come to the playoffs. They had us picked to win the conference like they do every year. But in terms of going against what you call the Power Four or the more elite teams, per se, nobody ever has us picked to win. Just the same mentality what we’ve been doing. We already proved people wrong, but we still got to do that. We still got that chip on our shoulder. We’re still fully aware that people are counting us out.”

No. 5 Texas vs No. 4 Arizona State, January 1 @ 1 p.m. ET

Texas is the most likely of any of the eight remaining teams to advance to the semifinals, according to ESPN Analytics.

Despite the excellence of quarterback Quinn Ewers, it was the Longhorns’ running game that proved crucial in their first-round win over Clemson, with a 77-yard rushing TD from running back Jaydon Blue ensuring the victory.

In the absence of injured star wide receiver Jordyn Tyson, the Sun Devils will have to rely on their own RB Cam Skattebo if they are to have any chance at the Peach Bowl. The 20-year-old finished fifth in the Heisman voting, having been the only player in the country to record 1,000-plus yards rushing and 400-plus yards receiving.

Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian

“We were in that Big 12 for 27 years, we won four. This is their (Arizona State’s) first year, and they won the Big 12 Championship. It’s a really hard thing to do… The last two months, I think they’re playing as good football as anybody in the country.”

Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers

“It’s the stuff you think about as a kid, for sure. You never know if it was actually going to happen or not, but now we are actually in the situation. I don’t think it’s really sunk in what’s really going on around me, and just the blessings that I’ve been able to be a part of.”

Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham

“This (Texas) is a team that preseason could win a national championship, last year could have won a national championship, this year could win a national championship. All you want to do is to have the opportunity to compete versus the best. Any competitor regardless of what you do, you want a chance to compete versus the very best. And if you don’t want to do that, then you are not a competitor.

“We’re 14-point underdogs and rightfully so. We’re playing a really good football team. But at the same token, I’m excited to see our guys go compete as hard as they can, compete for as long as they can compete, play smart and tough football, take care of the ball and be about the team for 60 minutes and see what happens.”

Arizona State running back Cam Skattebo

“It’s always something extra in your own mind, but it’s just another game. Like I said, we got to play our game. We have to constantly do what we do, we have to play the same game we played against Wyoming. We have to play the same game we played against BYU. We have to play the same game we played against Utah. We have to play the same football – we play it all year. And if we do that, we’ll be just fine.”

No. 8 Ohio State vs No. 1 Oregon, January 1 @ 5 p.m. ET

Despite being ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25, having beaten the Ohio State Buckeyes in October, and having gone 13-0 this season, the Oregon Ducks are slight underdogs coming into the Rose Bowl.

A lot of that has to do with the run that Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith is on. The freshman was instrumental in the Buckeyes’ 42-17 win over Tennessee in the first round, getting on the end of two TD passes from QB Will Howard.

But it is the Ducks who have gone unbeaten to this point, and in Dillon Gabriel, they have a quarterback who was third in the Heisman voting and dominated the Buckeyes when the teams last met.

Should they go all the way, Oregon would claim its first-ever College Football Playoff Championship and would become just the second ever 16-0 team since Yale in 1894.

This is the most intriguing matchup in the quarterfinals.

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day

“It’s about execution. It’s about our preparation. It’s about how we go about our meetings, how we go about our walk-throughs, how we go about our practices, so that when we get out to Pasadena we’re executing at a high level. That’s what it comes down to. Is it super exciting? I guess not, but it is what it is. But our guys have played this team before, so there’s a reference point. I think both teams are in different places than they were when we played last time. I think we’re different.

“There was just an overall balance and confidence about the group coming off the game (against Tennessee in the first round) to know that we already have a playoff win under our belt. It will give us confidence going into the game. And also knowing our opponent I think also gives us confidence. So all of those things led to a great day yesterday. A lot of pep in everybody’s step and looking forward to a great week of preparation.”

Ohio State quarterback Will Howard

“You know I said the moment we were walking off that field (after the loss to the Ducks in October), we were gonna see these guys again, whether it was in the Big Ten or here, and here we are, man. We knew we were gonna get another crack at these guys. It’s hard to beat a team twice and we’re hungry. We’re ready for this opportunity. I’m just so fired up that God blessed us with a second chance at this thing because in life you don’t get a lot of second chances. It’s a blessing and we just gotta not let it pass us by.”

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning

“Getting an opportunity to play great teams is what it’s about. This part of the year, when you play great teams, that gives you some extra motivation to go work really hard and be prepared and be ready to be out there on the field. Ohio State is a great team. The path to the end is tough, which is exciting for our team and certainly for me.

“They’re a really good team. I don’t know if there’s a more talented team in the nation.”

Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel

“They are a really talented group, you know, they’re really good. That’s no secret as well. You look at the statistics and what they’ve been able to do but also even playing them when we did, they’re an extremely talented group, so we know we have our hands full and know that both teams have evolved since that meeting a while ago. So, you know, we’re excited. The Rose Bowl is amazing and can’t wait to kick it off.”

No. 7 Notre Dame vs No. 2 Georgia, January 1 @ 8:45 p.m. ET

Forty-five years to the day since Georgia defeated Notre Dame in the 1981 Sugar Bowl to complete a perfect 12-0 season and secure its second ever claimed national championship, the two teams meet again.

The Bulldogs are 3-0 against the Fighting Irish, and Georgia head coach Kirby Smart is 6-2 in the playoffs, but Notre Dame go into the game as favorites.

Bulldogs QB Carson Beck has just declared for the NFL Draft having undergone season-ending elbow surgery, and the Georgia defense has been uncharacteristically poor.

Contrast that with the Irish’s defense, which in Xavier Watts, Jaiden Ausberry and Rylie Mills has three championship-level players, and it is hard to see history repeating itself.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman

“To be a part of the last eight teams in the College Football Playoff, you’re grateful and it speaks volumes about this football program, about our players, coaching staff and everybody involved, the work they put in and so continue to do that. Everybody knows it’s a big game coming up, but the approach, the preparation must continue to have some consistency in what we’ve done, but then there’s gotta be a little bit of elevation as I always say every single week, we’ve got to do it a little bit better.”

Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard

“I mean this is obviously why I came to Notre Dame, to compete here. I remember leaving Duke, which I didn’t wanna do, but I was thinking to myself like, ‘I’m gonna go out swinging, like I wanna compete for it all.’ And here we are, so kind of a dream come true for me.”

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart

“We’re excited, very honored to be playing a really good Notre Dame team. I have so much respect for Coach Freeman, his staff, everything they’ve been able to accomplish this year. I remember watching them, early in the year when they got to play at (Texas) A&M and had a huge win in the night game in our conference, so I have a lot of respect for them. We’re looking forward to getting down to New Orleans, always one of the most traditional bowl games, or in this case playoff games, there has been.”

Georgia offensive guard Tate Ratledge

“He (backup QB Gunner Stockton, who will replace the injured Carson Beck) plays with a lot of emotion and just seeing the way he’s carried himself and done everything the right way in his prior years leading up to this moment. Gunner is just a guy you want to block for. I mean he’s just a great guy. Like I said, plays with emotion, brings everybody with him and now he has the whole team behind him ready to roll.”

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