The win over Florida on Saturday gave the Tide its only victory against a team with 10 wins this season.
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Alabama won 29-15 and earned a berth in the College Football Playoff.
Smart was expected to remain at Alabama through the playoffs, though Saban would surely carve out time for him to handle some of his new duties at Georgia. Both had four wins over top-25 teams.
There were four Power Five conference champions this year that finished undefeated, or with one-loss, and all four of them – Clemson, Alabama, Michigan State and Oklahoma – will play a semifinal for the chance to compete for the title.
For the second time in as many seasons, a Big 12 champion moved backward on the final day of deliberations by members of the College Football Playoff selection committee.
“We now have the full body of work to evaluate all of the teams”, selection chairman Jeff Long said in a statement. Much like Ohio State previous year, Oklahoma should be out to prove it’s still one of the best programs in the country. “The placement in semifinals take care of itself”.
Peach Bowl: Houston (12-1) vs. Florida State (10-2), December 31.
Michigan State’s gain was obviously Iowa’s loss, as the Hawkeyes dropped to No. 6 following their 16-13 defeat.
The committee placed Alabama in the second spot. It’s very likely the gap closes in the coming weeks, but as far as opening lines go, Alabama (-9) is borderline ridiculous. However, a win over Clemson probably would vault North Carolina over Ohio State.
“A lot of people looked at this team and undervalued them, but they were dialed in”, Swinney said.
These aren’t the same Sooners who the last few years helped rob Stoops of his “Big Game Bob” nickname.
Both semifinal games will have some interesting subplots. It’s a rematch of last season’s Russell Athletic Bowl, a 40-6 romp for the Tigers that served as a springboard of sorts on the way for Dabo Swinney’s team to be the last unbeaten club at the FBS level this season. The SuperBook made Oklahoma a 2.5-point favorite over Clemson.
It will be a matchup full of intrigue as former Michigan State coach Nick Saban brings his powerhouse team into a matchup of similar styles of dominant defenses and pro-style offenses. But Alabama and the Spartans were assigned to that venue.
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“It was enough for me to see the competitive spirit of that team to come through when they needed it most”, Saban said. That’s what I know and what we’ve studied before.
