On Friday night, the Ohio Bobcats will take on the undefeated Western Michigan Broncos at 7:00 pm EST in Detroit for the MAC Championship title and the Colorado Buffaloes will fight the Washington Huskies for the PAC-12 Championship title in Santa Clara, California at 9:00 pm EST. No. 128 Fresno State earns the honor – if that’s the right word – by virtue of going 1-11, as the only team in the FBS to lose more than 10 games.
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Wisconsin, which lost to both Ohio State and MI, is a small three-point favorite over the Lions.
The Alabama invitational, um, College Football Playoff is set, along with 38 other bowl games big and small.
The Crimson Tide and Huskies will square off in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia. Alabama would beat Wisconsin easily by three scores. Four of the top seven teams in last week’s college football playoff rankings were from the Big Ten. Selection committee chairman Kirby Hocutt made it clear that the 12-man committee did not.
“I think with the time we have”, Barrett said, “we’re going to be in a good place”. The Buckeyes were ranked No. 3 by the College Football Playoff selection committee and will face No. 2 Clemson on December 31 at 3 or 7 p.m. ET in Glendale, Ariz. The Buckeyes, led by QB J.T. Barrett and RB Mike Weber, have the more efficient attack. No. 2 Clemson (12-1) will meet No. 3 Ohio State (11-1) in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz.
Alabama would wipe the turf with a bewildered Wisconsin team.
Ohio State’s Urban Meyer said he empathizes with Penn State and would not mind seeing a system that rewards all conference champions.
USC finishing above Colorado in the final rankings means a matchup between the Trojans and Nittany Lions in the Rose Bowl.
The College Football Playoff’s field of four was unveiled Sunday. The Crimson Tide may do something no team has managed to do since the 19th century.
I’m Steve Inskeep here to help you argue about something other than politics – college football.
Now, it’s simply a matter of crowning a national champion.
This will be the second playoff appearance for both men. While the matchups feature teams that were shoo-ins for big bowls, they still bring some excitement to the table along with a solid amount of Big Ten tradition. The committee has spoken glowingly about the Buckeyes, who have wins over Oklahoma, Wisconsin and MI, but we have yet to see a team that did not win its conference get into the playoff.
The one interesting revelation in the final ranking is the placement of Penn State at No. 5. So the Tigers will wear the home jerseys in University of Phoenix stadium instead of the Buckeyes. The winners of the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl and Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl will meet in the College Football Playoff National Championship to be played at 8 p.m. ET on January 9 in Tampa, Fla. That pairing was finalized Saturday. This is the golden years of college football, man. But the Cornhuskers were a top-10 team in late October and their best victory of the season was against Minnesota.
The field was announced shortly after Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Washington learned their fates.
The College Football Playoff pairings were to be released later Sunday. Penn State played Pittsburgh, Temple, and Kent State in the conference and lost to the Panthers. Fewer debates, plus it could put some juice back into championship weekend, which has become a little anticlimactic. This is where Penn State has the distinct edge.
As for Oklahoma, which ran the table in the Big 12 to win its 10th title under coach Bob Stoops, it is off to the Sugar Bowl.
It would also bring Cinderella into college football’s postseason, providing an opportunity for a non-Power Five team to win a meaningful postseason game and an underdog conference championship game victor to move on and play for the national title.
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– No. 20 Florida dropped five spots after getting blown out by Alabama in the Southeastern Conference title game.
