No. 1 Clemson to face No. 4 Oklahoma in Orange Bowl

The College Football Playoff is in its second season as the deciding factor for the NCAA Division I Football Champion. But committee chairman Jeff Long said there was no debate this week.

Which brings us to Clemson and Oklahoma, two teams that play the more wide-open style of offense that has given Alabama fits in several SEC games the last few seasons. Penn State was victorious in the conference’s first Pinstripe Bowl appearance last season. By expanding the field, a college football tournament would most likely include the conference champion from each of the “Power 5” conferences (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, PAC 12, SEC).

In my view, if quarterback Connor Cook’s shoulder is fully healthy for the December 31 game, the Spartans should, at the least, keep things very close vs. Alabama.

Ohio State and Stanford, ranked sixth and seventh in the country, respectively, were not particularly close to sneaking in, Long said.

So it’s no surprise that No. 1 Clemson, No. 2 Alabama, No. 3 Michigan State and No. 4 Oklahoma are the chosen ones.

The programs meet again on New Year’s Eve, this time with a national championship game berth on the line.

Much of the talk after the announcement was the fact Michigan State moved ahead of Oklahoma in the final rankings to set up the matchup with Alabama. “It has been a fun season for us, and it’s great to be able to go pole to pole as the No. 1 team”.

The Spartans, which went 11-1 in the regular season, used a late drive to beat Iowa, 16-13, in the Big Ten championship game.

The Tigers tried to ease star quarterback Deshaun Watson into the 2015 season.

“I would not be in this position as a head coach had I not been afforded the opportunity to come to Michigan State by Nick”, Dantonio said.

“We know we’re going to have to play our best four quarters of the year, ” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. You can look down Alabama’s body of work and it’s an impressive group of teams that they’ve beaten, and then the same with Michigan State.

Speaking of teams with a habit of always showing up at the end, the Seminoles have landed a meaty New Year’s Six assignment in their transition from Jameis Winston to a new era of championship performers. This time, after months of arguing, there is no controversy.

– Oklahoma also defeated four teams that finished in the committee’s top 25: No. 11 TCU, No. 16 Oklahoma State, No. 17 Baylor and No. 23 Tennessee.

Top-25 games are based on current selection committee rankings.

Iowa never trailed by more than one possession.

Both coaches downplayed the significance of the results from the bowl game last season.

And it seems redundant to point out how Michigan State falls short. The Hawkeyes have a decent resume to speak of, but not one that is better than Stanford’s. The Crimson Tide typically dominate conventional teams that have similar styles to Alabama, and it’s possible this will follow that trend.

Not much separated the two sides at half, with Iowa owning a thin 6-3 lead over Michigan State. The Spartans lost in the Independence, Sun and Aloha bowls in Saban’s first three years, but were 9-2 in his final season before he left to start his job at LSU and they then won the Citrus Bowl over Florida. Derrick Henry broke Herschel Walker’s single-season conference record in rushing for 1,986 yards. Stanford had been to only one Rose Bowl since 1971 until David Shaw became head coach, but this will be its third in four seasons. And although Michigan State had a string of national titles in the 1950s and ’60s and has experienced a resurgence under ninth-year coach Mark Dantonio, it has tended to be overlooked in favour of Big Ten rivals such as Michigan and Ohio State. “Ultimately Michigan State’s two wins against top 10 teams gave them the edge”. But players have not disagreed with defensive coordinator Brent Venables telling media, “It’s tough (playing 10 games in a row), but we’ve won them all, but you’d be naive to believe that it doesn’t affect you somehow”. Both players like to talk, so this could prove to be an intriguing matchup. En route to the Playoff, Oklahoma beat Baylor, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and TCU – four of the five teams that beat the Sooners in 2014.