Ohio State is the best team left in the College Football Playoff — and it's not close

As the quarterfinal round of the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff came to a close, there was one overarching theme: this was a lot of fun!

Penn State kicked off the quarterfinal round with an impressive 31-14 victory over Boise State in which they held Heisman runner-up Ashton Jeanty to a season-low 104 rushing yards on 30 carries, an average of just 3.5 yards per carry. Jeanty finished 27 yards shy of Barry Sanders' FBS single-season rushing yards thanks to a brilliant defensive performance by the Nittany Lions.

New Year's Day kicked off with a double-overtime thriller between Texas and Arizona State in which Quinn Ewers connected with Matthew Golden for a memorable 28-yard touchdown throw on fourth-and-13 to force a second overtime. Then, it was Andrew Mukubah who secured a game-winning interception to secure the victory for the Longhorns.

The nightcap featured a dominant showing by Ohio State freshman phenom Jeremiah Smith, who torched Oregon's defense with seven receptions for a season-high 187 yards and a pair of receiving touchdowns of 45 and 43 yards. The Buckeyes ended the Ducks' perfect season after losing to Oregon, 32-31, in the regular season.

Then in the final game of the quarterfinal round, Riley Leonard and Notre Dame put together a memorable performance to defeat Georgia, 23-10, in the Sugar Bowl. The victory came in the wake of a deadly terror attack in New Orleans early Wednesday, which is when the game was scheduled to be played. This led to the first postponent of a Sugar Bowl in its history.

With that, here is a look at my top takeaways from the CFP quarterfinal round.

1. Ohio State is the best team left in the College Football Playoff, and it's not close.

Did you know that Purdue didn't