College Football Playoffs.

[C-40]

Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Notre Dame to play in CFP semifinals

The unevenness of a season played in the midst of a pandemic contributed to one of the most controversial semifinal pairings of the College Football Playoff era. Players and coaches were sidelined by COVID-19, and numerous games were canceled as the sport limped to a tense finish line with the final CFP rankings revealed on Sunday. No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 Notre Dame will meet in The Rose Bowl Game Presented by Capital One on Jan. 1 at 4 p.m. ET, followed by No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Ohio State in the Allstate Sugar Bowl at 8 p.m. Both games will air on ESPN. Notre Dame earned a playoff berth despite having been dominated in the ACC championship by Clemson on Saturday, losing by 24 points. CFP chairman Gary Barta explained the decision to include the Irish over No. 5 Texas A&M, saying it was "based on the complete analysis of the résumé" and the Irish having an additional win over a ranked team. Ohio State, meanwhile, was selected having only played six games, five fewer than its fellow semifinalists. Three of the Buckeyes' games were canceled because of COVID-19 cases.Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher had taken aim at Ohio State's schedule following the Aggies' win over Tennessee on Saturday."Seven straight SEC wins. Rather than having top seed Alabama play closer to home in New Orleans, the CFP chose to place the Crimson Tide in the Rose Bowl. The game was moved from Pasadena, California, to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, because of the growing number of COVID-19 cases in Southern California, along with the inability for players' and coaches' families to attend because of state restrictions during the pandemic.

 

[C-40]

Barta said the decision was made to reward No. 1 Alabama with the opportunity to play in front of the most fans possible since only 3,000 fans will be allowed in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium vs. 16,500 at Cowboys Stadium. The Rose Bowl will mark the first time these two teams have met since Alabama beat Notre Dame 42-14 in the BCS National Championship game at the end of the 2012 season. "We're much better prepared than we were in 2012 in terms of the physicality on both lines," Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said. "I think we have the ability to move the football, certainly. ... We've been humbled about the way we play, and this team has always come back with a resilience and an edge about them, and they will against Alabama." The Sugar Bowl will serve as a more recent rematch, though, as Ohio State will look to avenge last year's playoff semifinal loss to Clemson. "The margin for error is tiny when you play a team like Clemson," Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. "So we have to learn from what happened last year and win all those 50-50 plays. We have to do a great job in all three phases. We've got to do a great job in the red zone, we've got to do a great job on third down. We have to do all those things that matter in big games, and if we do that, it will give us our best chance." The Tide (-17.5) and Tigers (-6.5) have opened as favorites at Caesars Sportsbook by William Hill in the two semifinal games. The College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T will be played Jan. 11 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Click Here For Complete Story

 

[C-40]

2020 Bowl Games:
College football bowl games were set on Sunday for the 2020-21 postseason slate. The wild process of college football bowl game selections went down all day long on Sunday as FBS teams filled slots in the postseason. It all started with the announcement of the four College Football Playoff teams, and it continued with the release of the final CFP Rankings and rest of the New Year's Six games before culminating late in the afternoon once every one of the bowl games is announced.

Check out the complete CFP field

(5) Texas A&M vs. (13) North Carolina

 

[C-40]

Fields' day: No. 3 Ohio State routs No. 2 Clemson 49-28

Numbers have fueled Ohio State all year. There was 29-23, the score of last season's painful playoff loss to Clemson. Six, the number of games the Buckeyes played in this pandemic-altered season, which a lot of people thought was too few for them to deserve a return trip to the College Football Playoff. Then there was No. 11, where Clemson coach Dabo Swinney placed Ohio State on his ball-ot in the final regular-season coaches' poll. Fields threw six touchdown passes to outshine Trevor Lawrence, and No. 3 Ohio State buried the second-ranked Tigers 49-28 in the Sugar Bowl semifinal Friday night. The Buckeyes (7-0) head to the CFP title game for the first time since the inaugural playoff to face No. 1 Alabama on Jan. 11 at Hard Rock Stadium in South Florida. Ohio State beat the Crimson Tide in the semifinals on the way to the 2014 national championship. Lawrence was 33 of 48 for 400 yards and three total touchdowns in what is expected to be the junior's final college game.

Click Here For Complete Story

 

[C-40]

Roll Tide! No. 1 Alabama beats Notre Dame 31-14 in Rose Bowl

With Heisman Trophy finalists DeVonta Smith and Mac Jones, the top-ranked Crimson Tide rolled into its fifth CFP championship game in six seasons. Smith caught three of Jones' four touchdown passes and Najee Harris ran for 125 yards with a high-hurdling highlight in a 31-14 victory over No. 4 Notre Dame in a CFP semifinal Rose Bowl played inside about 1,400 miles from Pasadena, California.Alabama missed the CFP last year for the only time since the four-time playoff debuted at the end of the 2014 season. The Buckeyes were the initial CFP champions, after beating the top-seeded Tide 42-35 in a semifinal that year. Notre Dame (10-2, No. 4 CFP), in football's final four for only the second time, has lost seven consecutive New Year's Six games since 2000.

Click Here For Complete Story

 

[C-40]

No. 1 Alabama wins national title 52-24 over No. 3 Ohio St

The celebration was at once familiar and unique. The confetti cannons sent a crimson and white shower into the air and Alabama players ran to the sideline to grab their championship hats and T-shirts. It's a rite of passage if you have played for the Crimson Tide under coach Nick Saban. This time, though, the band playing the fight song was a piped -in recording, and when "Sweet Home Alabama" blared, only a few thousand Tide fans were still in the stadium to sing along. Smith, who finished his freshman season by catching the 2017 national championship-winning touchdown pass from Tua Tagovailoa, ended his Alabama career as the leading career receiver in Southeastern Conference history and the most outstanding offensive player of his third title game. Jones, who finished third in the Heisman voting, was 36 for 45 for a CFP championship-record 464 yards and five touchdowns. In one of maybe the most overlooked seasons a quarterback has ever played, Jones set a single-season record for passer efficiency rating at 203. Harris, who was fifth in the Heisman race, had 158 yards from scrimmage on 29 touches, scoring three times to give him an SEC record 30 touchdowns this season.

Click Here For Complete Story