College Football Playoff predictions: Clemson-Iowa, Alabama-Oklahoma in semis
— -- Oklahoma fans, you can stop worrying about that loss to Texas.
Iowa fans? You now have the team to beat in the Big Ten.
The College Football Playoff selection committee shook up its top four on Tuesday, with No. 1 Clemson and No. 2 Alabama followed by No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 4 Iowa.
Notre Dame, which was No. 4 last week, dropped to No. 6 behind No. 5 Michigan State. The Irish struggled with five turnovers, including three in the red zone, in their 19-16 win over Boston College. Michigan State beat Ohio State, which dropped the Buckeyes from No. 3 to No. 8.
After struggling to beat Florida Atlantic on Saturday, SEC East champ Florida dropped from No. 8 to No. 12. Oregon was another big mover in the opposite direction, as it jumped from No. 23 last week to No. 17 after winning five straight with quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. in the lineup.
Here's what the bracket would look like today:
As for the other major bowls, here's a projection based on the current rankings:
The Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual still gets the Pac-12 champ, which would be No. 9 Stanford, but because Iowa is in the semifinal, the Rose Bowl gets the next-best Big Ten team, which would be No. 5 Michigan State. With Oklahoma and Alabama in a semifinal, the Allstate Sugar Bowl would get the next highest-ranked Big 12 team, which would be No. 7 Baylor, and the next highest-ranked SEC team, No. 12 Florida.
Because of geography, proximity and fan interest, the Fiesta Bowl would probably get a marquee matchup of No. 6 Notre Dame against No. 8 Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. The highest-ranked conference champion from a Group of 5 conference is guaranteed a spot in a New Year's Six bowl, so No. 15 Navy would likely face No. 10 Michigan in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
The selection committee doesn't try to avoid rematches in the semifinals, but it does in the other New Year's Six bowls, so it would avoid having Notre Dame-Navy or Michigan-Ohio State in either the Peach or Fiesta bowls.
Here's what New Year's Eve and New Year's Day would look like, based on current rankings:
Dec. 31
12 p.m. ET -- Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl: No. 10 Michigan vs. No. 15 Navy
4 p.m. ET or 8 p.m. ET -- Capital One Orange Bowl: No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 4 Iowa (semifinal No. 1)
4 p.m. ET or 8 p.m. ET -- Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic: No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 3 Oklahoma (semifinal No. 2)
Jan. 1
1 p.m. ET -- Fiesta Bowl: No. 6 Notre Dame vs. No. 8 Ohio State
5 p.m. ET -- Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual: No. 5 Michigan State vs. No. 9 Stanford
8:30 p.m. ET -- Allstate Sugar Bowl: No. 7 Baylor vs. No. 12 Florida
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