College football’s final four no surprise

In a foursome that turned out obvious even if the order within it did not, three old mainstays and one dazzling debutant made the College Football Playoff on Sunday.

The 13-member selection committee chose No. 1 LSU, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Clemson and No. 4 Oklahoma, with LSU the alluring party-crasher.

The choice for No. 1 between LSU and Ohio State presented the committee’s thorniest assignment.

The semifinalists will collide on Dec. 28, when LSU meets Oklahoma in one national semifinal at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, while Ohio State will meet Clemson at the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona.

It’s the second straight year in which three playoff qualifiers arrive with spotless records, with Oklahoma’s bummer at Kansas State on Oct. 26 the only loss among the quartet’s 52 games.

The other four major bowl games, announced three hours after the playoff teams, went like this: No. 9 Florida (10-2) vs. No. 24 Virginia (9-4) in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30, for Virginia’s first New Year’s Six bid; No. 6 Oregon (11-2) vs. No. 8 Wisconsin (10-3) in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1; No. 5 Georgia (11-2) vs. No. 7 Baylor (11-2) in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, for Baylor’s first Sugar Bowl berth since 1957; and No. 10 Penn State in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 28 against No. 17 Memphis (12-1).

LSU, meanwhile, makes its playoff debut after finishing the first five seasons with rankings of Nos. 23, 20, 20, 17 and 11.

LSU splashed 621 points across a bold season, second only to Ohio State’s 633 and ahead of Clemson’s 605, and they became a playoff certainty even before their 37-10 demolition of thenno. 4 Georgia on Saturday in the Southeastern Conference championship game.