The 11 Biggest Blowouts In College Football Playoff History

The 2024 season marked the first year the College Football Playoff expanded to 12 teams, and the initial slate of games featured some very lopsided contests that led to plenty of people debating the merits of the new format. However, those criticisms were greeted by arguments that noted this was far from the first time a supposedly talented team got taken behind the woodshed.

 

The College Football Playoff was initially rolled out to determine who would be crowned national champion at the end of the season that kicked off in 2014, and there have been plenty of games that turned into a bloodbath since it was introduced.

However, none of them featured one team absolutely dominating its opponent like the contests on this list.

Georgia-TCU: 57 Points

TCU was the most unlikely member of the quartet that comprised the College Football Playoff in 2022 and earned the right to face off against Georgia in the championship game with a 51-45 win over Michigan in the first round.

The top-seeded Bulldogs were expected to walk away with the win as 13-point favorites, and they didn’t have any trouble covering the spread in a game where they pulled out to a 10-0 lead and responded to a TCU touchdown with 55 unanswered points to hand the Horned Frogs the most embarrassing loss in CFP history.

Oregon-Florida State: 39 Points

Oregon and Florida State played the first game in College Football Playoff history when they met in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day in 2015, and it was a pretty tight affair through the first two quarters when you consider the Ducks headed into the locker room with an 18-13 lead at halftime.

The two teams traded touchdowns at the start of the third quarter before Oregon kicked things into high gear while taking advantage of a turnover-prone Seminoles squad that surrendered 27 points in that frame and another 14 in the final one en route to being handed its first loss of the season in pretty brutal fashion.

Alabama-Michigan State: 38 Points

There have only been two shutouts since the College Football Playoff was introduced, and each of them makes an appearance on this list.

The first comes courtesy of Alabama, which met Michigan State in the semifinal on New Year’s Eve in 2015 in a Cotton Bowl showdown featuring two 12-1 schools.

The Spartans were firmly outplayed by the Crimson Tide team that would end up beating Clemson in the national championship game, as they weren’t able to post a single point against an Alabama juggernaut that scored 38 of them.

LSU-Oklahoma: 35 Points

Oklahoma was the only team to make the College Football Playoff in 2019 that didn’t have an undefeated record and faced some very stiff competition against top-ranked LSU in the first round.

Joe Burrow showed why he won the Heisman Trophy during a patently absurd Peach Bowl performance where he threw seven touchdowns and passed for a staggering 493 yards in the air as the Tigers carved up a Sooners defense that shouldered the bulk of the blame for the 63-28 blowout.

Clemson-Ohio State: 31 Points

Clemson was responsible for the second (and most recent) shutout to transpire in the College Football Playoff, which unfolded when they met Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Eve in 2016.

Deshaun Watson had a fairly sloppy game on the passing front with a couple of interceptions to his lone touchdown in the air, but he was responsible for two of the three TDs the Tigers had on the ground in a game where the defense kept the Buckeyes off of the board.

Alabama-Clemson: 28 Points

As things currently stand, three College Football Playoff games have been decided by exactly 28 points, and Alabama was involved in two of those contests (both of which took place in the national championship game).

The title bout that took place on January 7, 2019 marked the third time Alabama and Clemson had played for the title in the span of four years, and the Crimson Tide were hoping to get some revenge after losing by four points in their previous matchup.

Unfortunately, Trevor Lawrence capped off his stellar freshman year with a bang while ensuring the Tigers would remain undefeated by handing Alabama their biggest loss since Nick Saban took over in 2007 with the 44-16 win.

Alabama-Ohio State: 28 Points

Alabama ended up on the right side of this mismatch at the expense of Ohio State, which was hoping to secure its second title since the advent of the College Football Playoff Era when the two teams met in Miami to cap off the COVID season.

The Crimson Tide got on the board with a touchdown on their opening drive before Ohio State responded in kind, and it seemed like we were in for a pretty tight game based on how things were looking in the first quarter.

However, Alabama eventually took control and pulled out to a 35-17 lead by halftime before stepping on the gas after heading back out onto the field and securing the trophy with a 52-24 victory.

Penn State-SMU: 28 Points

SMU capped off its first season in the ACC with the conference championship that clinched its spot in the College Football Playoff, but the Mustangs got brought back down to earth when they headed to Happy Valley to face off against Penn State in the opening round.

The Nittany Lions scored 28 unanswered points in the first half and never had to worry about a comeback, as the 10 points SMU was able to put up when everything was said and done were a moot point in the 38-10 loss that brought their season to an end.

Clemson-Notre Dame: 27 Points

The 2018 season marked the first time Notre Dame earned a spot in the College Football Playoff, and the Fighting Irish headed into their Cotton Bowl showdown with Clemson hoping to secure their first national title in three decades.

However, the Tigers extinguished those hopes and dreams in a game where both teams posted three points in the first quarter before Clemson exploded for 20 to take a 23-3 lead into the second half and ultimately walked away with the 30-3 victory.

Ohio State-Tennessee: 25 Points

It was hard to blame Tennessee fans for feeling good about their prospects against Ohio State when you consider the Buckeyes were coming off the loss to Michigan that brought their regular season campaign to an incredibly ignominious end.

However, the Buckeyes wasted no time proving they’d put that game behind them by pulling out to a 21-0 lead before the first quarter had even come to an end while rolling to a 42-17 win.

Georgia-Michigan: 23 Points

The 2021 Orange Bowl featured an undefeated Michigan team going up against a 12-1 Georgia squad that was listed as a 7.5-point favorite, and anyone who bet on the Bulldogs to cover the spread didn’t have to stress too much.

Kirby Smart’s guys pulled out to a 17-0 lead toward the start of the second quarter and increased it to 24 points by the time the halftime rolled around.

The Wolverines were able to put a small dent into that margin of defeat by the time the game came to a fairly merciful end but didn’t have much to celebrate in the wake of the 34-11 rout.