Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Washington selected for college playoff

The guessing game is over. Unburdened by game preparation, the Buckeyes coaches earned an extra week of recruiting just before the dead period that starts December 12, during which coaches can not have in-person contact with recruits.

“Had Washington had a stronger strength of schedule, I do not think that conversation would have been as hard”, said Committee Chair Kirby Hocutt, who is also the athletic director at Texas Tech. The Sooners have recorded nine straight SU wins, while the Tigers have lost two of three SU, both on the road.

A view of the Big Ten Championship trophy held by members of the Penn State Nittany Lions after defeating the Wisconsin Badgers in the Big Ten Championship.

“The Huskies rank fourth nationally in scoring offense, averaging 44.5 points per game”.

Here are the four teams in the playoff and their seeds. Take the highest-ranked non-Power 5 team and give it a spot, creating the chance for one of the Cinderella stories that make the NCAA Basketball Tournament so popular.

No. 1 Alabama was no surprise as they remained undefeated throughout the season. Both games are on New Year’s Eve. The pairings have set up a potential rematch. Clemson remains in control of its destiny in the Atlantic Coast Conference, with a rivalry date with SC preceding a return appearance in the conference championship game.

Several times, Hocutt cited Penn State’s noncompetitive loss and Ohio State’s strong non-conference victory at Oklahoma.

ASSOCIATED PRESS Penn State’s Saquon Barkley catches a touchdown pass ahead of Wisconsin’s T.J. Watt during the second half of the Big Ten championship game Saturday night in Indianapolis. MI lost two of its final three games on its way to a 10-2 finish. But you can also say that if Penn State beat Pitt it would have benefited from playing a hard non-conference schedule. “I’m not going to do any predictions, but I have to think it will be fascinating to see what happens”.

The victor of the Ohio State-Clemson matchup will take on the victor of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl between the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide and No. 4 Washington Huskies in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on Monday, January 9.

We would eliminate the conference championship games, and the bowls would be reduced to a total of twenty, and only the conference champs would be considered for playoff spots.

With Washington and Clemson winning their respective conference championships this weekend, the final debates came down to the exclusion of Penn State, the champions of arguably the best conference this season, the Big Ten.

Washington is 0-4 all-time against Alabama, most recently losing 28-6 in the 1986 Sun Bowl. Penn State on the other hand, only faced two ranked schools, that being MI and the Buckeyes. The Lions made their first-ever bowl appearance in the Rose Bowl against USC in 1923, a 14-3 loss. The matchup of the two hottest teams in the country should offer plenty of intrigue. He’s thrown for 2,411 yards and 20 touchdowns against two interceptions while rushing for 320 yards and five touchdowns. The OVER is 13-4 in Penn State’s last 17 games.

If there is a pattern to be found in the committee’s work over three years it may be this simple: For the most part, the teams are ranked by the number in the loss column. They are the first team to reach the CFP without winning a conference title. They vaulted ahead of MI, the third-place finisher in the Big Ten East Division, after their stirring 38-31 comeback win over Wisconsin in Saturday night’s Big Ten Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, the Nittany Lions’ ninth consecutive win after a 2-2 start. The 49-10 loss at MI also apparently was a factor.

At least there was no quibbling with Alabama, which wrapped up a 13-0 season Saturday by dusting Florida in the SEC title game.

The Sugar Bowl pits Big 12 champion Oklahoma against Auburn.

This will be the third time the programs match up in the Rose Bowl – the first was in 1923 and the other in 2009.