Michigan State ranked No

The junior had at least 22 carries against each of Alabama’s remaining SEC opponents, including a whopping 90 in the last two games.

“Clearly, Clemson No.1”. The Spartans have an eleven point margin of victory for the 2015 season, the slimmest margin of any of the four teams.

The Spartans and the Crimson Tide will kick off at 8 p.m.in Arlington, Texas in the second game of the day following the semifinal opener between top ranked Clemson and number-4 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.

Alabama running back Derrick Henry (2) and Alabama head coach Nick Saban celebrate after the second half of the Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game against Florida, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015, in Atlanta. Sure, there may have been some insane upsets early, but the chalk won out as the tournament went on and the most deserving teams made the final weekend.

Long then killed more buzz by saying there was no debate about which team deserved the top seeding.

What it does take into account is strength of schedule, which allowed the one-loss teams — Alabama, Michigan State and Oklahoma — to overcome the blemishes on their resumes.

Long said bumping Michigan State past Oklahoma had nothing to do with avoiding the possibility of having the Sooners play close to home in the Dallas area.

Clemson trounced Oklahoma 40-6 in last year’s Russell Athletic Bowl as senior quarterback Cole Stoudt threw for 319 yards and three touchdowns while Oklahoma quarterback Trevor Knight threw for 103 yards and three interceptions.

But this time, Sunday’s backslide by Oklahoma did not prove to be a deal-breaker in the Sooners’ playoff hopes. Michigan State is coached by Mark Dantonio, who was Saban’s secondary coach with the Spartans from 1995 to ’99. The common opinion is that an eight-team playoff would make room for every Power 5 champion, but tying down multiple spots, much less five of the eight, would be a big mistake. “The ultimate motivation right now is winning a national championship”. The last three columns are merely for reference. In the end, the games played out where there is really no argument against the teams going to the Playoff.

The Tigers tried to ease star quarterback Deshaun Watson into the 2015 season. Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables meet his old team and the re-energized offensive under new coordinator Lincoln Riley. Lawson leads the nation with 22.5 tackles for loss and is both an effective run stopper and an edge rusher. “So we look at that – again, I’m explaining looking at the body of work”. Alabama has the next-best odds, at 34%. The Crimson Tide typically dominate conventional teams that have similar styles to Alabama, and it’s possible this will follow that trend. And Michigan State’s stunning victory in Columbus. The Spartans lost in the Independence, Sun and Aloha bowls in Saban’s first three seasons, but did win the Citrus Bowl over Florida his final season – after he had already left to start his job at LSU. UNC, 14-17 in 31 previous bowl appearances, will play in a bowl game for the seventh time in eight years and for the third straight year under head coach Larry Fedora.

Only this time, the stakes will be a bit higher.

Clemson, however, is the only undefeated team this season in the Football Bowl Subdivision, improving to 13-0 Saturday night with a 45-37 outlasting of North Carolina in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game. (With quarterfinals and semifinals on campus-which would make being in the top four critically important-and the final at a neutral site.) I’d love to see Stanford, Iowa, Ohio State and Notre Dame get a crack at these teams in a playoff.