Playoff Pairs: Alabama-Washington and Ohio State-Clemson

Beat the Buckeyes in their return trip to the desert, the Tigers could get another shot at the top-ranked Crimson Tide, who play Washington in the Peach Bowl.

“Our guys would have obviously loved to have been in the playoff, but they’re also excited about the opportunity to play in a big bowl game”, Franklin said during an interview on the ESPN CFP selection show Sunday afternoon (h/t Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports). The Nittany Lions won the Big Ten, regarded this season as the nation’s toughest league, and finished its season with a nine-game winning streak, which included a victory over Ohio State in October. Penn State was 2-2 after a 49-10 loss to MI on September 24, but the Nittany Lions are flawless ever since.

“Had Washington had a stronger strength of schedule”, Hocutt said, “I don’t think the conversation would have been as hard”. The Crimson Tide will be bidding for a second straight title and five total under head coach Nick Saban since 2009. He said performance over the entire 13-week season favored the Huskies as well. He added there was “no reservations among the committee at all” about Ohio State’s playoff pedigree without a conference championship on its final résumé.

“I think this is going to be interesting about strength of schedule because you think of it, if Oklahoma didn’t play us, they’d be in”, Meyer said.

Hocutt acknowledged there was some concern over the strength of Washington’s schedule, but said that the Huskies’ quality wins were enough to remove any doubt.

Commence debate – the pairings are in, and Penn State and MI are out. In another big game, Big Ten champion Penn State, ranked No. 5, will face ninth-ranked USC in the Rose Bowl on Jan 2.

But, he added Sunday, 99 percent of his players are excited and happy for the chance to play Southern California in the Rose Bowl on January 2 in Pasadena, Calif.

Winner: The Pac-12. Back in the semifinals (thanks to Washington) after a one year-absence. You did win the Big 10 championship and you deserve it.

Wisconsin will get to play undefeated Western Michigan in the Cotton Bowl. Clemson won that game as well, 17-15, in what would be legendary coach Woody Hayes’ final game as coach. Much as we’d like to ring the bell for the Bay Area game, it’s hard to muster enthusiasm for Utah, which lost its last two games, against IN (6-6).

Alabama cruised into the playoffs for the third straight year with a 54-16 victory against Florida in Saturday’s Southeastern Conference championship game.

Earlier this year, Tuberville received a two-year extension through 2019 but his stock fell quickly as the season went into disarray. Washington State is 12-1, with a home loss to USC. All four teams own national championships, although it was 25 years ago for No. 4 Washington and 35 years ago for No. 2 Clemson. Their downfall came because they failed to close out Ohio State in the regular season finale which, in turn, caused them to lose two of the last three games.

Alabama got all 61 first-place votes in the poll. No. 2 Clemson Tigers (+3.5)Clemson bagged the ACC title on Saturday, but had to hold off a Virginia Tech comeback to do so, perhaps explaining why the Tigers (12-1 SU, 6-7 ATS) swapped spots with idle Ohio State in the CFP rankings.

One thing that may not be on the team’s mind but rather on the fans’ is payback. An eight-game playoff wouldn’t forever rid us of the rancor the College Football Playoff committee has provided.