Can long break be to blame for sluggish performances by teams with bye in CFP?

The College Football Playoff Quarterfinals are underway. So far, Penn State, Texas, and Ohio State have punched their tickets to the semifinals.

All three teams were higher seeds in their victories, as Boise State, Arizona State, and Oregon each received a bye after earning a top-four seed in the playoff.

It has been nearly a month since any of the teams with a bye have been in action, and maybe it showed during their quarterfinal performances.

Could the long layoffs be one of the reasons that the top seeds were defeated in the quarterfinals?

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All three losing teams were outscored in the first quarter of their quarterfinal matchups by a combined 42-3 score. Slow starts were evident, and the long layoff has to be partially to blame for that.

The combined scores of each game in the third quarter were 19-7 in favor of the teams that lost. Rust is a real issue in sports, especially one that is as physical as football.

The new College Football Playoff has its issues. The better teams won their games simply because they were better. However, a month away from live action isn't the recipe for success for any team.

This is an issue that the committee will need to look at before next season.

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