Huskies will face Alabama in national football semifinal

But the snub of Penn State smacks of politics. This is Tom Allen’s team now, and we’ll see what happens against Utah in the Foster Farms Bowl. Oh, how quickly we forget.

“I mean, I wish we would have played”.

A win over Virginia Tech Saturday night helped secure a spot for the Clemson Tigers in the College Football Playoffs. However, it could be argued that Clemson should have two losses. It had a first-and-goal from the 3 and got in the end zone. If those Clemson Tigers show up in this contest, this game will get out of hand quickly.

Ohio State had the best overall resume with three wins against top-10 teams. There are three teams from the Pac-12 ranked in the top 25.

So what gives? I’m not the only one who doesn’t get it either. The two semifinal winners will play for the national championship in Tampa on January 9.

Michigan State is a 13-point underdog at Penn State and, if Ohio State beats Michigan earlier in the day, would love to mess up the Nittany Lions’ opportunity to go to the Big Ten championship game.

They were champion of what is universally acknowledged as the nation’s best conference.

More than a few Buckeyes fans were saying that past year after Big Ten champion Michigan State, the only team to beat OSU in 2015, was obliterated 38-0 by Alabama in a national semifinal.

Positives: The Huskies simply took care of business. If college football teams were ranked by votes of the electoral college, Alabama would have all 538 electors.

Perhaps it’s because everyone just assumes Nick Saban’s team will win it all.

Negatives: The Huskies didn’t play much of a non-conference schedule. UW defeated Rutgers, Idaho and Portland State – all at home – in September.

“Obviously, as you know for certain – I think everyone does – Penn State had the edge when it came to the strength of schedule that they played over the course of the season”, selection committee chairman Kirby Hocutt said. Penn State has lost twice.

The fifth-ranked Nittany Lions – winners of nine straight, including a huge comeback against No. 8 Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game – won’t be part of the four-team playoff. Simply put: The committee wouldn’t have been able to save face by leaving the Huskies out. Next year we’ll be standing here talking about some other way it fell out. Be careful what you wish for.

Now for the tie-breaker: Penn State made it to the Big Ten title game, something Ohio State did not do.

Franklin arrived at Penn State in 2014 and took over a program heavily sanctioned by the NCAA for the university’s role in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

The two teams have experienced quarterbacks. Penn State played Pitt, Temple and Kent State out of conference.

The Nittany Lions used that victory to propel themselves to first place in the Big Ten’s East Division.

Throughout this season, most people saw MI as the team to beat in the Big Ten. Penn State’s initial Big Ten title was delivered by the women’s volleyball squad, winning the first of its 16 Big Ten crowns during the 1992-93 academic year, one year after some Penn State sports began competing in the conference. Ohio State’s J.T. Barrett and Clemson’s Deshaun Watson are friends off the field and looking forward to the matchup. So If Clemson does these 2 things they will win this game.

“Everything came together that second quarter and we kept it going the rest of the game”, McSorley said. The Horned Frogs were ranked No. 3 by the committee through Week 15, then won their regular-season finale over Iowa State 55-3 but slid all the way to No. 6 in the rankings the following week.

Will OSU live up to its reputation as one of the four best teams in college football?

“What I do know is that we just won the toughest conference in college football”, Franklin shouted to the raucous celebration inside Lucas Oil Stadium.

And let’s not forget that there were two undefeated teams.

One spot left. It seems Michigan (No. 6) would be the next in.