Ohio State led by 21 after barely 11 minutes. Penn State led by 28 after 29. Texas spotted Clemson a touchdown, then went on a 31-3 run. Indiana trailed longer in one half in South Bend than in the previous 12 games combined.

Instead — fittingly, given the theme of this first round of on-campus games turned out to be anticlimactic mismatches — sixth-seeded Penn State’s defense ran onto the field and quickly grabbed another interception, and a 38-10 rout against 11th-seeded SMU that eventually would become unwatchable was back on.