Rece Davis' Blunt Response to ESPN's College Football Playoff Critics

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By J.C. Shelton | Last updated Jan 6, 2025 7:15 PM ET

Critics of ESPN's involvement with the College Football Playoff aren't hard to find, and network host Rece Davis issued a blunt statement regarding comments he has received following the quarterfinals.

The longtime "College GameDay" host revealed on Monday that he got a laugh from a number of responses to his posts after last week's games, which featured some unexpected outcomes.

Each of the top four seeds lost in the quarterfinal round, including No. 1 seed Oregon, No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Boise State and No. 4 Arizona State. That means each of the conference champions that made the 12-team field, also including No. 12 Clemson, were bounced out of the playoff before the semifinals.

After Davis noted on the "College GameDay" podcast that he doesn't pay attention to the vast majority of social media comments, he admitted that he had a "chuckle" at those saying that ESPN didn't get the teams that it wanted in the final four.

The network signed a $7.8 billion deal with the playoff in the spring of 2024 that provides ESPN with exclusive rights to the postseason through the 2031 season.

“The thing that has sort of made me chuckle has been the, ‘Haha, ESPN, you didn't get the teams you wanted,'" he said. "Oh really?… We're not rooting for anybody, but are you kidding me?... The semifinals should just be fantastic theater and nostalgia and teams trying to rise up because none of them have won a national championship in at least a decade.”

To Davis' point, the teams preparing for the semifinal round are four college football powerhouses with a wealth of history behind them. No. 8 Ohio State will face No. 5 Texas at the Cotton Bowl, and No. 6 Penn State will battle No. 7 Notre Dame at the Orange Bowl.

Each of those programs is ranked within the top eight winningest programs of all time, though the pinnacle of college football has been out of reach in recent years.

The last national championship among the four teams left is the Buckeyes' title in 2014. The Longhorns last won in 2005, followed by Notre Dame (1988) and Penn State (1986).

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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