The College Football Playoff has been announced, and four conference champions will play on New Year's Eve for a chance to play in the National Championship. The Clemson Tigers stayed in the top spot of the College Football Playoff poll and will face the Big 12 Champion Oklahoma Sooners in the first playoff game Dec. 31. The Big Ten Champion Michigan State Spartans face the Alabama Crimson Tide in the second game and will meet in Arlington, Texas at AT&T Stadium.
Jeff Long, chairman of the CFP selection committee, said that the decision to choose the top four teams in the country was easy, and that Clemson was "clearly the No. 1 team in the country," via ESPN. Clemson is the only undefeated team left in the top four, and they won the ACC Championship game 45-37 on Saturday. Quarterback Deshaun Watson won the ACC player of the year and will look to lead his team to a National Championship game.
The Tigers face arguably one of the hottest teams at the end of the regular college football season in the Oklahoma Sooners. Head coach Bob Stoops has the Sooners as the third highest scoring team in (Division-I-A) college football, and they are currently averaging 45.8 points per game. Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield has had an incredible season and can tear defenses apart with both his arm and his legs. Mayfield has thrown for 3,389 yards and has rushed for 420 yards this season, and he is responsible for 42 touchdowns for Oklahoma's offense.
The winner of the first game on New Year's Eve will wait to see who wins a huge matchup between two of college football's strongest programs. The Alabama Crimson Tide are holding opponents to just 14.4 points per game this year, and head coach Nick Saban is looking to pick up his fourth National Championship. Alabama's defense is arguably the best in the country, and on the offensive side of the ball, they have the top running back in the country in Derrick Henry. Henry is a clear frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy and leads all of college football with 1,986 yards.
Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio will look to devise a strong game plan in stopping Henry, and the Spartans defense has played well down the stretch of this season. Michigan State handed the Iowa Hawkeyes their first loss on the year in the Big Ten Championship game and jumped into the third position in the CFP with that win. Senior quarterback Connor Cook is the leader on the field for the Spartans, but he faces arguably his toughest challenge in his career against Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide defense. The Spartans have faced Alabama before in the 2011 Capital One Bowl, but they lost 49-7.
The ACC, SEC, Big Ten, and Big 12 will represent the four teams in the CFP this year, and while Stanford won the Pac-12 title this year, a two-loss Pac-12 team was unlikely to get a top spot with the dominance of other conferences this season.
