Jaydon Blue ran for 146 yards and two touchdowns, the last a 77-yard burst in the fourth quarter, and Texas beat visiting Clemson 38-24 on Saturday in the first round of the expanded College Football Playoff.

Blue’s fourth-quarter touchdown came after Clemson rallied from down 31-10 to 31-24 on Cade Klubnik’s third touchdown pass.

Texas (12-2) advanced to the Jan. 1 Peach Bowl to play Big 12 champion Arizona State.

Blue also scored on a 38-yard cut-and-dash burst in the second quarter.

Quintrevion Wisner added 110 yards rushing and two first-half touchdowns for Texas. Quinn Ewers passed for 202 yards and a touchdown.

Klubnik, who grew up in Austin, passed for 336 yards and rallied the Tigers (10-4) in the second half against a Texas defense that had given up just four passing touchdowns all season.

The runner-up in the Southeastern Conference, Texas is the only one of last season’s four playoff teams to make the new 12-team field. Clemson won the ACC championship to make the playoff. The Tigers were the No. 12 seed in their first appearance since 2020 and seventh overall.

The Tigers had three big fourth-down chances in the fourth quarter. They turned the first one into a touchdown when Klubnik threw to T.J. Moore. But they came up short on the next two. Keith Adams Jr. was stuffed at the Texas 1 and Klubnik’s pass at the Texas 26 was incomplete with just over a minute left.

PENN STate 38, SMU 10 >> Dominic DeLuca and Tony Rojas returned interceptions for touchdowns and the host Nittany Lions toyed with the mistake-prone Mustangs in a dominant victory in the opening round of the College Football Playoff.

Sixth-seeded Penn State (12-2) advanced to face fourth-seeded Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Eve by hounding SMU quarterback Kevin Jennings into three turnovers, including a pair of ill-thrown floaters in the first half DeLuca and Rojas converted into Pick-6s that sent the white-out crowd at wintry Beaver Stadium into a frenzy and SMU (11-3) into a funk from which it never recovered.

Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen ran for scores for the Nittany Lions. Drew Allar completed 13 of 22 passes for 127 yards.

Jennings, whose electrifying play fueled SMU’s undefeated regular-season sprint through the ACC, finished 20 of 36 for 195 yards with a late touchdown and three picks.

His flip to Brashard Smith on SMU’s second drive sailed over the running back’s head and into the arms of an awaiting DeLuca, who raced 23 yards to the end zone to give Penn State the lead. Early in the second quarter, Jennings scrambled to his right and threw against his body into triple coverage. Rojas snagged it and weaved 59 yards to stake the Nittany Lions to a 14-0 lead.

The defense’s early strike gave Allar and Penn State’s running game time to get settled. Allen finished off a nine-play 75-yard drive with a 25-yard touchdown dash to make it 21-0. Singleton then bulled over from a yard out late in the first half to make it 28-0.

And unlike the ACC title game against Clemson — when the Mustangs roared all the way back from a 17-point second-half deficit to tie it before falling on the final snap — this time there would be no rally.

The last two quarters were mostly a chance for the crowd of over 106,000 that braved temperatures in the low-20s with a pretty steady breeze to soak in the kind of big game victory that hasn’t happened quite as often as they would like during James Franklin’s largely successful 11-year tenure.

NOTRE DAME 27, INDIANA 17 >> Jeremiyah Love tied the Notre Dame record with a 98-yard touchdown run, Riley Leonard added two more scores and the Fighting Irish shut down the highest-scoring team in the CFP, overwhelming the visiting Hoosiers on Friday night.

The seventh-seeded Fighting Irish (12-1) won their 11th straight — and their first playoff victory. They’ll face second-seeded Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1. Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman got the biggest win of his three-year career by extending his Irish record to 12 victories over ranked teams in three seasons.

“There’s no place like Notre Dame,” Leonard said. “This is why you come here, this is why I came here — to play for a championship.”

Tenth-seeded Indiana (11-2) completed a magical season by finishing with its second fewest points this season on a cold, brisk night in the first CFP game ever played on a campus site. Both of the Hoosiers’ losses came to top-five opponents. Indiana set a single-season school record for wins but still hasn’t won at Notre Dame since 1898.

Notre Dame took control on its third offensive play when Love scooted around the right side of Indiana’s defense, eluded one tackle and sprinted down the sideline to make it 7-0. He matched Josh Adams’ longest run in school history, set in 2015 against Wake Forest.

Love finished with eight carries for 108 yards.

Indiana never recovered after Notre Dame made it 14-0 early in the second quarter.

Leonard’s 1-yard TD run late in the fourth gave him 15 this season to break Notre Dame’s season record by a quarterback.

Indiana scored both of its TDs in the final 1:27.

Notre Dame made it 14-0 on Leonard’s 5-yard TD pass to Jayden Thomas early in the second quarter.

Leonard was 23 of 32 with 201 yards. Jordan Faison caught seven passes for 89 yards.