The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Penn State Nittany Lions are getting ready for the Orange Bowl on Thursday night, which will double as a College Football Playoff semifinal. It’s also a game where each team is going to rely on its star players.

The No. 9 seed Tennessee Volunteers (10-3) made their first-ever playoff appearance. Although their first-round game did not go as planned, as they lost 42-17 to the No. 8 seed Ohio State Buckeyes (12-2), many positives remain to take away from the season.

The Big Ten and SEC have played five head-to-head games during Bowl Season. The Big Ten is 4-1 in those contests, the only loss being Iowa ‘s 27-24 Music City Bowl loss to Missouri. The conference also boasts two CFP Semifinal participants ( Ohio State, Penn State) to the SEC’s one ( Texas ).

This was the lowest number of wins Alabama had achieved in a season since 2007, the inaugural season under legendary head coach Nick Saban. On "The Paul Finebaum Show," SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum noted that DeBoer has significant work ahead to turn things around. "I think that next year he has to change the direction," Finebaum said.

Paul Finebaum compared current conversations around Georgia to another SEC powerhouse with high expectations. On Monday's McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning, Finebaum addressed a perception that the SEC is no longer a dominant entity.