CFP: Michigan, Washington, Texas, Alabama to vie for title

Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama were selected by the College Football Playoff committee to compete for the national championship, leaving out Florida State – the first time in CFP history that an undefeated Power 5 champion fails to finish in the top four.

Michigan will face Alabama in the Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential, while Washington will face Texas in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Both semifinal matches will be played on New Year's Day and broadcast on ESPN.

“We’re playing the best,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said Sunday. “Tradition. Two true blue bloods of football, against Alabama.

“We're excited to play them. It's iconic. It's Alabama. It's Roll Tide. There's nothing better than playing in the Rose Bowl. I'm just going to enjoy the tradition of the Rose Bowl, playing against a great team.” like Alabama. It still makes sense.

The Wolverines and Huskies, undefeated conference champions, were the favorites to advance to the CFP. Michigan is making the playoffs for the third straight year. Washington, on the other hand, has only appeared in the CFP once before, losing in the semifinals during the 2016 season.

The decision for fourth place was between Alabama and Florida State, CFP selection committee chairman Boo Corrigan said Sunday.

Ultimately, though, Corrigan, the ACC athletic director at NC State, pointed to the season-ending injury to quarterback Jordan Travis in November as the main reason Florida State was left aside.

“Florida State is a different team without Jordan Travis,” Corrigan said. “One of the things we look at is player availability, and our job is to rank the top teams, and in the final decision it was Alabama at 4 and Florida State at 5. “

FSU (13-0) finished with a higher record (No. 3) than Alabama (No. 4). The Seminoles, who won the ACC title, also went 2-0 against SEC teams this season, including an emphatic win over LSU to open the season.

“It was a tough night,” Alabama coach Nick Saban told ESPN on Sunday. “I haven't slept much because there are a lot of good teams. Florida State is certainly a good team, and to go undefeated in their league, it's unfortunate that a good team had to be left out.

“But I really think our team has earned the right to be here. We beat No. 1 Georgia in the SEC championship game. They've worked hard all year to get better, and I'm really proud of what they were able to accomplish together, as a team.

The Seminoles finished in 5th place, despite winning the ACC with their third-string quarterback after backup Tate Rodemaker was ruled out of Saturday's game with a concussion.

Two-time defending national champion Georgia (No. 6), another team with a compelling argument for postseason inclusion, is also on the outside looking in.

Texas, which is back in national championship contention after booking its first trip to the postseason, opened as a 4-point favorite against Washington in the Sugar Bowl, according to ESPN BET.

Led by quarterback Quinn Ewers, the Longhorns went 12-1 and won the Big 12 championship in their first appearance in the conference title game since returning in 2017.

Texas' only loss came to Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry game – both schools will head to the SEC after this season – but the Longhorns' case for the playoffs was bolstered by their September win against the Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

“I'm just happy to be part of a team that can appreciate this much because they know what it's like to be overlooked at 5-7,” Ewers said. “I think in the back of our minds we always knew that if we were to win the Big 12 championship, other accolades would probably come with it. So I mean, our target now is on a national championship, that's on. “

The No. 2 seed Huskies are in the playoffs for the second time after losing to Alabama in the 2016 semifinals. They all but locked up their playoff spot with their victory over Oregon in the game Pac-12 championship game on Friday.

“The league has been as tough as it gets,” Washington coach Kalen DeBoer said Sunday. “…And so the fact that we represented the Pac-12 here last year, it's an honor. It's something that, obviously, we're very proud of as far as representation goes, but we would like representing the Pac-12 here last year in a great way.”

Like Texas, Alabama also proved that a big win can make up for an early loss. The Crimson Tide changed the momentum by ending Georgia's 29-game, 728-day winning streak with a 27-24 victory in the SEC championship game on Saturday.

At this point, it seemed inevitable that the SEC champion would make the playoffs, due to the league's dominance in the CFP since its inception – with a conference appearance every season since the playoffs began in 2014.

Saban's team faced challenges atypical for Alabama, struggling early in the schedule, including the home loss to Texas, while dealing with uncertainty at quarterback.

Jalen Milroe started and finished the season as the team's best quarterback, but Ty Simpson and Tyler Buchner had a chance to take over the position in Tommy Rees' first year as the team's offensive coordinator. Alabama.

“We've won 10 or 11 games in a row and beat the No. 1 team in the country, so we're not the same team we were when we played Texas earlier in the season,” Saban said Sunday. “We were kind of in transition at quarterback, it was unsettling. I think it affected our team.

“…It's just one of those years — and there have been other years like this — where, you know, someone who might have deserved it was left behind. And l 'Florida State certainly being undefeated, it was… you know, [they] did everything they could to make the playoffs and unfortunately, probably because of their quarterback injury, we won't get that opportunity. »

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said he thought it was good that Alabama wasn't punished for losing to the Longhorns in their early-season matchup.

“There's a lot of value in playing in these types of games early in the year, and obviously for the committee to recognize that, I think, is important because now hopefully this will continue to promote more games like this “there,” Sarkisian said. said.

Corrigan said the CFP selection committee relied on former coaches such as Chris Ault (Nevada), Jim Grobe (Wake Forest) and Joe Taylor (Florida A&M) to answer two questions during deliberations on the Alabama vs. Florida State: “Who do you want to play? Who don’t you want to play?”

Both answers led to the Seminoles' situation at quarterback after losing Travis, their team leader and ACC Player of the Year, to a broken leg against North Alabama on November 18. Because FSU's offense struggled to move the ball in both games without Travis. – victories against rival Florida and then Louisville – it became clear that this team was not the same, despite its first ACC championship victory since 2014.

Coach Mike Norvell slammed his fist on the table, emphatically pleading that the Seminoles were successful because they had won all their games — and did so by three quarters.

The play of FSU's defense was overlooked. In the two games since Travis was injured, the Seminoles have had a total of 13 sacks – and have held both of those opponents to zero or negative yards in the fourth quarter.

On Sunday, as he watched the selection show with his team, he could only lower his head as the Seminoles' fate was decided by the CFP committee.

“I just hurt our players, to be honest with you,” Norvell said Sunday. “It was one of the hardest times I've ever had to go through. … As we tell our team all the time: 'Your true identity comes out in times of great adversity.' And we faced it, and they exposed it. So it was really that feeling in the moment.”

Florida State, which has won 19 straight games – the second-longest streak in the country – will now travel to the Orange Bowl to face Georgia.

The Crimson Tide will now have a chance to win their fourth College Football Playoff title in the final year of the four-team format, but they will do so as an underdog.

Michigan opened as a 2-point favorite against Alabama in the Rose Bowl, according to ESPN BET.

“We're not going to go in there and say, 'Oh, this is Alabama, a team that's won and won and won and won and won.' No, we’re that team,” Michigan running back Blake Corum told reporters.

The CFP National Championship presented by AT&T will be played in Houston on January 8 (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN app).

“We accomplished many of our goals, and now winning it all is what we had on the goal sheet as well,” Harbaugh said. “That's where we're going to focus our attention on this next opponent and taking on Alabama in the final four, and we'll do what we always do. We'll play, we'll prepare, we'll practice and get ready. to give the best of ourselves.”

Andrea Adelson, Mark Schlabach, Tom VanHaaren and Dave Wilson of ESPN and The Associated Press contributed to this report.