Nebraska Football Enters the Pigskin Madness Playoff

The Rest of the Sugar Region

Urban Meyer and his 1-seed Ohio State Buckeyes took on the winner of the First Four game between the Sun Belt’s Troy Trojans and the ACC’s Wake Forest Demon Deacons in which the Trojans prevailed 37-18.

A nice win for the men of Troy didn’t muster up enough momentum to upset the Buckeyes, however, as they were outscored 44-29 and sent packing.

The right to take on Ohio State was determined in a shootout between Brian Kelly’s snake-bitten Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the always scrappy BYU Cougars.

The Irish would move on thanks to a brilliant offensive display from junior QB DeShone Kizer and sophomore RB Josh Adams, 55-29.

The battle to take on Nebraska in the second round was a good one, pitting the Oklahoma State Cowboys against the underperforming UCLA Bruins.

In this game, however, the Bruins hit their stride behind an enormous offensive display by Josh Rosen. His 350-plus yards and four touchdowns were just enough for Bruins to beat the Cowboys 34-31 in another giant upset.

Yet another upset was in store in the matchup that pitted the 11-seed San Diego State Aztecs against the 6-seed Tennessee Volunteers.

It took three overtimes, but Donnel Pumphrey’s 41 attempts and 230 yards finally lifted the Aztecs past the sputtering Volunteers to the next round, 32-26.

The Aztecs would meet the winner of a Big Ten-ACC clash between the supremely talented Florida State Seminoles and the Michigan State Spartans.