Black eye for Buckeyes: Alabama joins Clemson, Georgia and Oklahoma

Alabama is in, winning the great debate over Ohio State to reach the College Football Playoff yet again.

The Crimson Tide got the nod Sunday for the fourth and final spot over the Buckeyes and will play Clemson on Jan. 1 in the Sugar Bowl. Oklahoma and Georgia will meet in the Rose Bowl semifinal a few hours earlier.

Crimson Tide or Buckeyes was the question facing the selection committee, the toughest call in the four-year history of the playoff.

The Tide had been more consistent and lost just once. The Buckeyes lost twice, including an embarrassing 31-point loss at unranked Iowa, but have the more impressive set of victories. Ohio State won the Big Ten, while Alabama did not even win its SEC West division.

The committee went with the Tide, and for the first time the playoff will include two teams from the same conference. Alabama joins SEC champion Georgia and an all-SEC title game on Jan. 8 in Atlanta is possible.

Ohio State was ranked fifth by the CFP, Wisconsin was sixth and Auburn was seventh. Southern California finished eighth, followed by Penn State and Miami. Washington was 11th and unbeaten UCF was 12th.

The rest of the New Year's Six bowls fell this way: Southern California (11-2) vs. Ohio State (11-2) in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 29; Washington (10-2) vs. Penn State (10-2) in the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 30; Miami (11-1) vs. Wisconsin (12-1) in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30; and Central Florida (12-0) vs. Auburn (10-3) in the Peach Bowl on Jan. 1.

Committee Chairman Kirby Hocutt said the Iowa loss hurt Ohio State, and that the Buckeyes were not close enough to the Tide for the Big Ten championship result -- a 27-21 victory over previously unbeaten Wisconsin -- to matter.

"As we saw Alabama play week in and week out, the selection committee believed Alabama was the better football team," Hocutt told ESPN. "When we looked at Ohio State, when you looked at their resume it was impressive, but it wasn't enough for the selection committee to place them in above Alabama."

The committee protocol states conference championships are to be considered if the teams are close, like a tiebreaker.

"In this case the margins weren't close enough to look at those other matters," Hocutt said.

Alabama (11-1) made it 4-for-4 in the playoff, the only team that has made them all. Coach Nick Saban told ESPN he trusted the committee would come to the right conclusion.

"I really do believe based on the total body of work that our team really deserved to be in," Saban said.

And for the third consecutive season, college football gets an Alabama-Clemson matchup in the playoff, though this time in the semifinals.

The Tide beat the Tigers in a classic national championship game in Glendale, Ariz., two seasons ago. The teams played another thriller last season and Clemson took the title in Tampa, Fla.

"Alabama's been the standard for a long time," Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney said.

Ohio State Coach Urban Meyer said he was not surprised that the Iowa loss cost the Buckeyes.

"I was kind of hoping we had those good wins. Three against the top 16 teams in America," Meyer told ESPN. "But I get it."

He added: "The bottom line is we had a tough road loss."

Clemson (12-1) is making its third consecutive playoff appearance, but the first without star quarterback Deshaun Watson. The Tigers won another Atlantic Coast Conference championship with Kelly Bryant as the quarterback.

Georgia (12-1) and Oklahoma (12-1) have never played. The Bulldogs have surged in their second season under Coach Kirby Smart. After winning eight games last season, Georgia won the SEC for the first time since 2005.

Oklahoma is in the playoff for the second time and will likely bring the Heisman Trophy winner. Quarterback Baker Mayfield is the favorite to win the award next weekend. If so, Mayfield will be the third player to go from winning the Heisman on to the playoff, joining Oregon's Marcus Mariota in 2014 and Alabama's Derrick Henry in 2015.

Sports on 12/04/2017