The College Football Playoff will be set once the conference championship games are over, but right now it looks like it will be Alabama, Clemson and Oklahoma along with the winner of the Michigan State-Iowa game. The Final Four should be very competitive this season and whoever wins the Big Ten conference title should make it in.
UPDATE: Alabama has won over Florida. CHECK here for UPDATES and SCORES for the games.
Coming into the weekend, the five teams in the CFP rankings are the same with Clemson number one, Alabama number two, Oklahoma number three and Iowa number four. Michigan State comes in at number five and the two teams will play on Saturday night in the Big Ten conference championship game
Alabama is playing against Florida for the SEC championship and many see the Crimson Tide as the heavy favorites, while Clemson takes on North Carolina. UNC could play spoiler for the whole thing if they can get a win over Clemson, but that will be a tough task. Oklahoma has won the Big 12 and they are going to make it, while Michigan State is looking to take down Iowa so they can sneak into the number four spot.
The Hawkeyes come into the game undefeated after going through the regular season 12-0 and they would like to finish things off in the Big Ten title game. North Carolina has won 11 straight games coming into the ACC championship and they would really make things wild if they can win over number one Clemson. Alabama is going to get the chance to make a run at things with the matchup against Florida and teams like Ohio State and Stanford will be watching and looking for upsets.
If those teams win their conference championships they still should be in line to get some big bowl games, but everyone is looking to get into the CFP. The schedule for the College Football Playoff will be on New Year's Eve and the semifinal games will be the Cotton Bowl and the Capital One Orange Bowl. Those games will be on ESPN and the National Championship game will come later in January on January 11 from University of Phoenix Stadium.
Prediction for Final Four: Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma, Michigan State.
If those predictions hold, the matchups will be Alabama taking on Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl game, while Clemson and Michigan State will play in the Orange Bowl. The other major games include the Fiesta Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl and teams like Iowa/MSU, Stanford, Baylor, Ole Miss, Ohio State and Notre Dame could be in line for those games.
