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Michigan reaches College Football Playoffs
By: Mike Stiles - Monday, December 6, 2021

(photo courtesy of CBS Sports)

(GRAPEVINE, TX) - Two SEC teams and the first Group of 5 team in the history of the College Football Playoff will play for the national title, as the CFP selection committee revealed No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Michigan, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Cincinnati as its top four teams Sunday on Selection Day. Alabama will face Cincinnati in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, and Michigan will face Georgia in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Dec. 31. The winners will play Jan. 10 in the national championship game in Indianapolis. It was a relatively drama-free weekend, as the committee's top four remained the same, just reshuffled, following the conference title games Saturday. Alabama's dominant performance in its 41-24 over Georgia in the SEC championship game catapulted the one-loss Crimson Tide to the top spot. CFP Selection Committee Chair Gary Barta says the way Alabama beat Georgia, controlling the game, is what moved the Crimson Tide into the top spot. Michigan's 42-3 dismantling of Iowa in the Big Ten championship game solidified the Wolverines at No. 2. Barta said the committee gave no consideration to avoiding a rematch between the Crimson Tide and Bulldogs in the first round when seeding the teams. Undefeated Cincinnati, which won a school-record 13 games, punctuated its résumé with a convincing 35-20 win against No. 21 Houston in the American Athletic Conference championship game. It was the Bearcats' second straight American title, and this will mark their second straight New Year's Six bowl appearance as the highest-ranked Group of 5 conference champion. Notre Dame and Ohio State finished fifth and sixth in the CFP rankings and head to the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl and the Rose Bowl, respectively.



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