Xavier Watts and Notre Dame's fierce defense will be tasked with smothering Penn State on Thursday in the Orange Bowl, launching the College Football Playoff semifinals. The Irish are slight favorites to advance.

Penn State and Notre Dame will square off at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami for a spot in the national title game. If the Nittany Lions win, they’ll face either Ohio State or Texas in the CFP final at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Jan. 20.

Penn State and Notre Dame play in the College Football Playoff semifinals. The teams have played 19 times, including 12 consecutive years from 1981 to 1992.

Texas and Ohio State arrived for the College Football Playoff semifinal game at the Cotton Bowl before the snow expected to hit the North Texas area

Now, Ryan Day and the Bucks prepare for Texas in the Cotton Bowl. Another tough task as Ohio State must play the Longhorns in their own backyard with Dallas being just a short three-hour drive from Austin.

Wednesday is travel day for both No. 8 seed Ohio State and No. 5 seed Texas as kickoff for Friday’s playoff semifinal at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas approaches. The Longhorns are set to arrive first at approximately 4:30 p.

It took most of the season, but two games into the newly-extended College Football Playoff, the Ohio State Buckeyes look like the team everyone thought they should be this season. The Buckeyes have what is believed to be the most expensive roster in all of football;