Now that the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff is down to four teams remaining — the size of the field the previous 10 seasons — things really don't look that much different. The final quartet includes two teams from the Big Ten,

Star power is abundant in Penn State vs. Notre Dame and Ohio State vs. Texas. Here are the players you won’t want to miss in this week’s national semifinals.

Some of it may be overboard, dancing on the grave of a not-dead patient by SEC haters who finally see their chance. Some of it is a chance to vent back at the loud pro-SEC voices, at ESPN and elsewhere. And a lot of this may be premature. New arrival Texas could still bring the SEC its sixth national title in eight years.