Fenton, MI — December 9, 2019
The College Football Playoff Selection had a fairly easy morning yesterday before announcing the top 4 teams that would compete for the National Championship. The rankings were decided on the field Saturday as Conference Championships played out pretty much as expected.
Ohio State, despite trailing at the half, came back to defeat Wisconson 34-21 and book their ticket.
The poor first-half showing allowed LSU, who trounced Georgia 37-10, to jump back into the number 1 spot in the rankings.
The Buckeyes fell to number 2 and will take on number 3 Clemson, who defeated Virginia 62-17.
The final playoff spot could have gone to Utah who entered the weekend ranked 5th, but the Utes lost to Oregon 37-15 Friday night in the Pac 12 Championship game.
That left an invitation open to the winner of Oklahoma and Baylor in the Big 12 Championship. In the best game of the weekend, the Sooners pulled out a 30-23 overtime victory to claim a spot versus LSU in the Playoff semifinal.
Playoff Matchups
LSU (1) takes on Oklahoma (4) in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, on Saturday, Dec. 28, at 4 pm ET, in Mercedes-Benz Stadium – Atlanta, GA.
Ohio State (2) faces Clemson (3) in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl, also on Saturday, Dec. 28, at 8 pm ET, in State Farm Stadium – Glendale, AZ. ESPN will televise both contests.
The winner meet in the College Football Playoffs National Championship
on Monday, Jan. 13, 2020, at 8pm ET, in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome – New Orleans, LA, also on ESPN
New Year’s Six Bowls
Goodyear Cotton Bowl Memphis (17) vs. Penn State (10) on Saturday, Dec. 28, 2019 – at Noon ET in AT&T Stadium – Arlington, TX
Capital One Orange Bowl Florida (9) vs. Virginia (24) on Monday, Dec. 30, 2019 – at 8 pm ET, in Hard Rock Stadium – Miami Gardens, FL
Rose Bowl Game Oregon (6) vs. Wisconsin (8) on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2020 – at 5 pm ET, in Rose Bowl Stadium – Pasadena, CA
Allstate Sugar Bowl Georgia (5) vs. Baylor (7) on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2020 – at 8:45 pm ET, in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome – New Orleans, LA
Michigan Gets Premier Opponent for Citrus Bowl Matchup
The 14th ranked Michigan Wolverines will take on the 13th ranked Alabama Crimson Tide in the Vrbo Citrus Bowl on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2020 – at 1 pm in Camping World Stadium
from Orlando, FL. the game will be on ABC.
The matchup between two of the winningest program in college football will feature two big-name coaches. Jim Harbaugh for Michigan and Nick Saban for Alabama will add some spice to the contest. This will be the 5th time the two schools have met on the gridiron, the most recent meeting was Alabama’s 41-14 victory on Sept. 1, 2012, the series is tied 2-2.
Michigan State Will Travel for Their Bowl Game
It looked for a while like Michigan State would be staying home for their bowl game. The Quick Lane Bowl was said to favor the Spartans making the short trip from East Lansing to Ford Field in Detroit. However, MSU (6-6) will travel to New York City to play in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl vs. Wake Forest (8-4) on Friday, Dec. 27, 2019 – at 3:20 pm in Yankee Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPN.
Both teams had similar seasons with fast starts early and losses mounting up later in the year. Michigan State had to win their last two games over Rutgers and Maryland just to become bowl eligible.
One Team Left Out
The NCAA requires College Football teams to have at least an even record of 6-6 to participate in a bowl game. Occasionally a 5-7 team will sneak in if there are not enough teams with equal won-lost records. This year 79 teams were eligible for the 78 bowl invitations available.
The Toledo Rockets were the odd-man-out. After losing their last 3 games and finishing 6-6, Toledo will be watching the bowl games from home instead of participating this year. In addition to that disappointment, Toledo saw their streak of 9 straight winning seasons go by the wayside with the triple losses to finish 2019.
The Complete List of 2019-2020 Bowl Games
| Date | Bowl | Teams |
| Dec. 20 | Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl | Buffalo vs. Charlotte |
| Dec. 20 | Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl | Kent State vs. Utah State |
| Dec. 21 | New Mexico Bowl | San Diego State vs. Central Michigan |
| Dec. 21 | FBC Mortgage Cure Bowl | Georgia Southern vs. Liberty |
| Dec. 21 | Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl | FAU vs. SMU |
| Dec. 21 | Camellia Bowl | Arkansas State vs. FIU |
| Dec. 21 | Mitsubishi Motors Las Vegas Bowl | Washington vs. Boise State |
| Dec. 21 | R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl | Appalachian State vs. UAB |
| Dec. 23 | Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl | UCF vs. Marshall |
| Dec. 24 | SoFi Hawai’i Bowl | Hawaii vs. BYU |
| Dec. 26 | Walk-On’s Independence Bowl | Miami vs. Louisiana Tech |
| Dec. 26 | Quick Lane Bowl | Pitt vs. Eastern Michigan |
| Dec. 27 | Military Bowl Presented by Northrop Grumman | North Carolina vs. Temple |
| Dec. 27 | New Era Pinstripe Bowl | Wake Forest vs. Michigan State |
| Dec. 27 | Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl | Oklahoma State vs. Texas A&M |
| Dec. 27 | SDCCU Holiday Bowl | USC vs. Iowa |
| Dec. 27 | Cheez-It Bowl | Air Force vs. Washington State |
| Dec. 28 | Camping World Bowl | Iowa State vs. Notre Dame |
| Dec. 30 | SERVPRO First Responder Bowl | Western Kentucky vs. Western Michigan |
| Dec. 30 | Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl | Mississippi State vs. Louisville |
| Dec. 30 | Redbox Bowl | Illinois vs. Cal |
| Dec. 31 | Belk Bowl | Virginia Tech vs. Kentucky |
| Dec. 31 | Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl | Florida State vs. Arizona State |
| Dec. 31 | AutoZone Liberty Bowl | Navy vs. Kansas State |
| Dec. 31 | Valero Alamo Bowl | Utah vs. Texas |
| Dec. 31 | NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl | Georgia State vs. Wyoming |
| Jan. 1 | Outback Bowl | Auburn vs. Minnesota |
| Jan. 1 | Vrbo Citrus Bowl | Alabama vs. Michigan |
| Jan. 2 | TickerSmarter Birmingham Bowl | Boston College vs. Cincinnati |
| Jan. 2 | TaxSlayer Gator Bowl | Tennessee vs. Indiana |
| Jan. 3 | Famous Idaho Potato Bowl | Ohio vs. Nevada |
| Jan. 4 | Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl | Tulane vs. Southern Miss |
| Jan. 6 | LendingTree Bowl | Louisiana vs. Miami (Ohio) |
College Football Playoff, New Year’s 6 games
| Date | Bowl | Teams |
| Dec. 28 | Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic | Penn State vs. Memphis |
| Dec. 28 | Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (CFP semifinal) | LSU vs. Oklahoma |
| Dec. 28 | PlayStation Fiesta Bowl (CFP semifinal) | Ohio State vs. Clemson |
| Dec. 30 | Capital One Orange Bowl | Florida vs. Virginia |
| Jan. 1 | Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual | Wisconsin vs. Oregon |
| Jan. 1 | Allstate Sugar Bowl | Georgia vs. Baylor |
| Jan. 13 | College Football Playoff championship | TBD vs. TBD |
List Courtesy of the Sporting News
