The New Year’s six bowls are some of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) biggest Division one football games. The six bowls (Rose, Orange, Peach, Fiesta, Cotton, and Sugar) are the most highly anticipated of the year. Two of the games rotate hosting the College Football Playoff (CFP) semifinal games. This years Peach and Fiesta Bowl represented the semifinal games.

The Cotton Bowl featured 10th-ranked Pennsylvania State beat 17th-ranked Memphis 52-39. 24th-ranked and Atlantic Coast Conference runner-up University of Virginia surprised many and keep the score close before ultimately losing 36-28 in the Orange Bowl against ninth-ranked University of Florida. The Pacific-12 Conference winner Oregon beat Big 10 Conference runner-up Wisconsin 28-27. In the final non-semifinal game the fifth-ranked University of Georgia beat seventh-ranked Baylor University 26-14.

The Peach Bowl was the first of the two CFP semifinals and it pitted first-ranked Louisiana State University against fourth-ranked Oklahoma. LSU was making their CFP debut while Oklahoma was looking for their first win in their forth appearance. LSU Quarterback and Heisman trophy winner (College’s best player) Joe Burrow made sure that Oklahoma would not be winning. He threw for over 400 yards and seven touchdowns in the first half, the score was 49-14 at halftime. He would run in for another TD and finish the day with 493 passing yards and eight total TDs, both CFP records. LSU would go on to win 63-28.

The Fiesta Bowl was the site of the last CFP semifinal game. It had second-ranked Ohio State University taking on third-ranked and defending national champions Clemson. It was all Ohio State at first as they had built a 16-0 lead at one point but the score was 16-14 at the half. Both teams would score a few more but a Ohio State interception with less than a minute left would seal the 29-23 win for Clemson. This means that the national championship game comes down to either number one LSU of number three Clemson on Monday January 13th.