Three of four CFP spots are locked up — who gets the nod?
Alabama, Notre Dame, Clemson are in, but who’s No. 4? Oklahoma? Ohio State?
Championship Saturday is over in college football. Bowl selection Sunday is coming up.
Top-ranked Alabama, No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Notre Dame are all expected to land berths in the four-team College Football Playoff when the field is announced today. The Crimson Tide won the SEC championship 35-28 over Georgia, the unbeaten Fighting Irish were idle, and Clemson won the ACC title over Pittsburgh 42-10.
The fourth and final berth is where the intrigue lies. Georgia could become the first two-loss team to make the playoff. Or maybe it will go to Oklahoma, which beat Texas 39-27 for the Big 12 championship. Or maybe it will go to Ohio State, which beat Northwestern 45-24 for the Big Ten title.
SEC CHAMPIONSHIP >> Jalen Hurts spent most of the season watching from the sideline, cheering on the guy who took his job and hoping for one more chance to lead the Alabama Crimson Tide. He didn’t pout. He didn’t gripe. He didn’t transfer.
On Saturday, Hurts got the call. Boy, did he respond.
Hurts threw for one touchdown and ran for another with just over a minute to go, rallying No. 1 Alabama to a 35-28 victory over No. 4 Georgia in the Southeastern Conference championship game in Atlanta. It was a stunning twist on the scenario that played out less than 11 months earlier on the very same field.
The Crimson Tide is headed back to the College Football Playoff, along with Clemson and Notre Dame.
“I’ve probably never been more proud of a player than Jalen,” coach Nick Saban said.
If they had pitched this script to Hollywood, it would’ve been laughed out of the room for being too implausible. In last season’s national title game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, between these same two teams, Tua Tagovailoa replaced an ineffective Hurts at the start of the second half with Alabama trailing Georgia 13-0. The replacement threw three touchdown passes, including a 41-yarder in overtime that gave the Tide a stunning 2623 victory.
Tagovailoa struggled as Georgia put quite a beating on him. He was picked off twice as the Bulldogs built a pair of two-touchdown leads.
Finally, with just over 11 minutes remaining, Tagovailoa went down for good after one of his own linemen
stepped on his right foot as he attempted to throw.
Enter Hurts, who posted a 26-2 record as the starter before Tagovailoa claimed the job.
He calmly guided the Crimson Tide (13-0, No. 1 CFP) to a game-tying touchdown with a 10-yard pass to Jerry Jeudy, capping a 16-play, 80-yard drive that consumed more than 7 minutes .
After Georgia (11-2, No. 4 CFP) was stuffed on a fake punt near midfield , Hurts took matters into his own hands for the winning score. Spotting an opening up the middle, he took off on a 15-yard TD run with 1:04 remaining .
Hurts completed 7 of 9
passes for 82 yards, to go along with five carries for 28 yards in less than a quarter of action.
“It kind of feels like I’m breaking my silence,” Hurts said.
BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP >> Kyler Murray had another Heisman Trophy-worthy performance, Oklahoma’s muchmaligned defense made some big key plays, and the fifth-ranked Sooners won yet another conference title. Now the 12-time Big 12 champions wait to find out if all of that is good enough to get back into the College Football Playoff.
Murray, the A’s top draft pick in the summer baseball draft, was 25-of-34 passing for 379 yards and three touchdowns as the Sooners beat No. 9 Texas 39-27 in the Big 12 championship game in Arlington, Texas, avenging their only loss and making their case for their third playoff appearance in four years.
BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP >> Dwayne Haskins added five more touchdown passes to his single-season record, and No. 6 Ohio State topped No. 21 Northwestern 4524. Ohio State relied on its staunch defense to hold off a second-half charge from Northwestern for its second straight Big Ten championship. The Buckeyes (12-1, 9-1 Big Ten, No. 6 CFP) won their third title in five years and their fifth consecutive game. Haskins finished 34 of 41 with 499 yards.
The Wildcats (8-5, 8-2) trimmed a 24-7 halftime deficit to 24-21 midway through the third quarter. ACC CHAMPIONSHIP >> Travis Etienne ran for 156 yards and two touchdowns, Trevor Lawrence threw two short scoring passes to Tee Higgins, and No. 2 Clemson beat Pitt 42-10 to become the first team to win four straight Atlantic Coast Conference championships.
Clemson (13-0, CFP No. 2) is expected to face thirdranked Notre Dame, which was idle Saturday, in the College Football Playoffs on Dec. 29. The Tigers ran for 301 yards and four touchdowns and averaged 9 yards per carry on a dreary, rain-soaked night in which Lawrence was limited to 118 yards passing in the game played in Charlotte, North Carolina.
AAC CHAMPIONSHIP >> Darriel Mack shrugged off two early turnovers to rush for three second-half touchdowns and rally UCF past Memphis 56-41 in the American Athletic Conference championship game. With the redshirt freshman filling in for injured McKenzie Milton, the Knights (12-0, No. 8 CFP) won their second straight league title and extended the nation’s longest winning streak to 25 games. Mack also threw for 348 yards and two TDs without an interception. MOUNTAIN WEST CHAMPIONSHIP >> Ronnie Rivers scored on a 1-yard run in overtime to give No. 24 Fresno State a 19-16 victory over No. 19 Boise State in the snowy championship game. Fresno State (11-2, No. 25 CFP) won its first conference title since 2013, beating the Broncos (10-3, No. 22 CFP) on their blue turf for the first time in 10 tries. Rivers scored after Boise State’s Haden Hoggarth made a 23-yard field goal on the opening overtime possession.
UC DAVIS WINS FCS PLAYOFF GAME >> Jake Maier threw for 310 yards and a touchdown, and host UC Davis beat Northern Iowa 23-16 in the second round of the FCS playoffs. It was the first FCS playoff appearance for No. 6 seed UC Davis (10-2), which will play at thirdseeded Eastern Washington (10-2) in a quarterfinal this weekend.