The second year of the College Football Playoff is now, officially, set in stone. Clemson claimed the number one overall seed in this year’s four-team playoff field after completing a 13-0 regular season with a victory in the ACC Championship Game Saturday night. Clemson will take on Big 12 champion Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. The Cotton Bowl will once again pit the Big Ten and SEC on the same field in the first round with No. 2 Alabama squaring off against No. 3 Michigan State, with both teams winning their conference championship games on Saturday.
Clemson, Michigan State and Oklahoma will all be making their first appearance in the College Football Playoff. Alabama will be making their second straight appearance in the new playoff structure. The Crimson Tide were the top seed in the four-team field last year but made an early exit after losing in the Sugar Bowl against eventual national champion Ohio State.
Alabama taking on Michigan State makes for a terrific storyline as we get the SEC and Big Ten in the first round for a second straight season. Alabama will be looking to make up for last year’s early exit against the Buckeyes, but the more intriguing story will be Nick Saban going against Mark Dantonio. That should be a terrific matchup of tough-minded football coaches with solid defensive mindsets, and Dantonio of course, is a former Saban assistant. Dantonio was brought to Michigan State by Saban, and he remained in East Lansing as Saban pursued an opportunity at LSU. Things have worked out well for each, but Dantonio continues to look for an elusive national championship.
Oklahoma will also be looking to make up for last season’s bitter loss at the hands of Clemson in the Russel Athletic Bowl. Clemson embarrassed the Sooners in the bowl game, which continued Oklahoma’s 2014 trend of coming up small against its best opponents. Oklahoma has been on a hot streak of late though and has scored revenge against every team it lost to a season ago. Will Clemson be next?
This is going to be good.