It is two weeks later than usual, but college football's regular season is finally over. It is time to talk about the College Football Playoff and how it has transformed now that conference championship week is in the books.
The No. 1 seed will be Alabama, which has been dominant all season long and is now the SEC champion after a 52-46 win over Florida. The Crimson Tide are projected to face Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. The Fighting Irish took it on the chin in the ACC Championship Game, suffering a 34-10 loss to Clemson that will drop them drop down to the No. 4 seed in this season's CFP.
Notre Dame gets the nod over Texas A&M due to its better wins, including the one earlier in the season over Clemson. Yes, the Tigers were short-handed in that game, but the CFP Selection Committee cannot assume, even with Saturday's result, that the outcome of that game would have been different if both teams were at full strength. Notre Dame also beat North Carolina on the road, while Texas A&M has wins over two teams with winning records -- Florida and unranked Auburn.
The Tigers will jump up to the No. 2 seed after that dominant performance. Clemson will face expected No. 3 Ohio State, which capped a relatively short undefeated season with a 22-10 grind-it-out win over Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship Game. The Clemson-Ohio State semifinal will take place in Arlington, Texas, after being moved out of the Rose Bowl because California is not allowing fans to attend sporting events.
College Football Playoff
| Date | Game / Loc. | Matchup | Prediction |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Jan. 11 |
National Championship |
Title game | Semifinal winners |
|
Jan. 1 |
CFP semifinal |
Semifinal |
(2) Clemson vs. (3) Ohio State |
|
Jan. 1 |
Sugar Bowl |
Semifinal |
(1) Alabama vs. (4) Notre Dame |
Oklahoma won the Big 12 title 27-21 over Iowa State, avenging a loss to the Cyclones from earlier in the season. The Sooners are projected to head right back to Dallas to play in the Cotton Bowl against Florida, which will get into the New Year's Six despite being a three-loss team.
Oregon won the Pac-12 title on Friday night despite not even winning its division. The Ducks filled in for division winner Washington and beat USC in Los Angeles, 31-24. Oregon is predicted to play in the Fiesta Bowl against Iowa State, which is expected to remain ahead of Indiana in the final CFP Rankings. The Hoosiers were idle the last two weeks due to COVID-19 issues.
The Peach Bowl is expected to feature Georgia, which was off Saturday, going up against Group of Five representative Cincinnati. The Bearcats beat Tulsa 27-24 to win the AAC title and will be the highest-rated conference champion from the Group of Five. In fact, they are going to be rated highly enough to be an at-large team without the automatic berth.
Finally, in the Orange Bowl, the highest-rated ACC team remaining is North Carolina, so the Tar Heels will represent the league in that game. They are predicted to face Texas A&M, which is the highest-rated team left from either the SEC or the Big Ten.
New Year's Six bowl games
| Date | Bowl / Location | Matchup | Prediction |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Jan. 2 |
Orange |
ACC/ND vs. SEC/Big Ten |
North Carolina vs. Texas A&M |
|
Jan. 2 |
Fiesta |
At-large vs. At-large |
Oregon vs. Iowa State |
|
Jan. 1 |
Peach |
At-large vs. At-large |
Georgia vs. Cincinnati |
|
Dec. 30 |
Cotton |
At-large vs. At-large |
Oklahoma vs. Florida |
Jerry Palm will have a complete set of 2020 bowl projections available later Saturday night.
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