No. 1 LSU gets Oklahoma; Clemson, Ohio State to meet
Defending national champions. Undefeated and owners of a 28-game winning streak, longest in the nation.
The Clemson Tigers are one heck of a No. 3 seed.
Clemson will play secondseeded Ohio State in prime time Dec. 28 in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona, looking to make it three national championship in four seasons.
“We’re just excited to be in it,” said Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, who has spent much of the last month playing up how his team was being disrespected by being relegated to third in the rankings after starting the season No. 1 in the polls.
The other semifinal matches No. 1 LSU and No. 4 Oklahoma.
The selection committee revealed the pairings Sunday and the final four was no surprise. The only mystery involved which would be the top seed among three undefeated teams that have been hammering opponents most of the season. The 13-member committee went with Southeastern Conference champion LSU. The Tigers (13-0) will face the Big 12 champion Sooners
(12-1) in the Peach Bowl, four hours before the Fiesta Bowl kicks off.
“Anytime, anywhere, anybody, we ready to play,” LSU coach Ed Orgeron said on ESPN.
Clemson opened as a twopoint favorite against the Buckeyes. LSU was an 11 ½-point favorite against the Sooners.
LSU used a convincing victory against Georgia on Saturday to move up. Ohio State (130) had been atop the committee’s rankings last week, but the Buckeyes slipped to No.
2 after coming from behind against Wisconsin to win the Big Ten title.
The national championship game is Jan. 13 in New Orleans. The No. 1 seed has yet to win the CFP in five years.
The Tigers and Buckeyes flip-flopped at No. 1 a couple of times throughout the committee’s six weeks of ranking teams and chairman Rob Mullens said the debate was similar each week.
“Every weekend one of the them has done something to move above the other,” said Mullens, the athletic director at Oregon. “LSU’s performance against a No. 4 ranked Georgia
compelled the committee to put them just ahead of Ohio State.”
The rest of the New Year’s Six bowls were:
▫ Oregon vs. Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl Jan. 1.
▫ Georgia vs. Baylor in the Sugar Bowl Jan. 1.
▫ Florida vs. Virginia in the Orange Bowl Dec. 30.
▫ Memphis vs. Penn State in the Cotton Bowl Dec. 28.
The final four fell into place thanks to the favorites winning their conference championship games and Utah losing the Pac12 title game to Oregon. The Utes had been No. 5. That left three undefeated Power Five champions, a fourth with one loss and nobody else with a legitimate case to claim a spot.
The intrigue was about the top seed, knowing Clemson was likely locked into No. 3. The Tigers have been mauling opponents for the last two months, but the ACC has not provided Clemson any topflight competition. Ohio State has five victories against CFPranked teams, including Wisconsin twice. LSU has four, all of which were ranked in the top 13. Clemson’s only game against a team that made the committee’s final rankings was its 62-17 victory Saturday against Virginia.