UNDATED (WTVB) – The College Football Playoff is set, and Alabama is in for a fourth straight season. Clemson, Oklahoma and Georgia were pretty well set as the top three teams after conference championship game victories Saturday, but the fourth spot had plenty of intrigue between the Crimson Tide and Ohio State.
In the end, Alabama made it a perfect 4-for-4 in CFP appearances since the system began in 2014, with the committee citing Ohio State’s 31-point loss to Iowa in early November as too much for the Buckeyes to overcome despite a resume that included wins over fellow top-10 teams Wisconsin and Penn State.
That means Clemson and Alabama will square off for a third straight season in the CFP, this time in the semifinals at the Sugar Bowl. Oklahoma and Georgia will meet in the Rose Bowl, the first time in 16 years the game in Pasadena will be played without a team from either of its traditional Pac-12 or Big Ten conferences.
Michigan State, Michigan and Central Michigan are going bowling. The 16th-ranked Spartans will play 18th-ranked Washington State in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego on December 28, 2017. The 8-and-4 Wolverines will take on South Carolina in the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Florida on New Year’s Day.
Central Michigan will face Wyoming on December 22 in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise, Idaho. Western Michigan University missed out on a bowl this year.