Playoff Pairs: Alabama-Washington and Ohio State-Clemson

Would expanding the playoff help eliminate this problem?

“How humbled and honored we are to have this opportunity”, Franklin said.

The Trojans will face the Big Ten champions on January 2 in the 103rd edition of the Granddaddy of Them All. Penn State defeated Wisconsin, 38-31, Saturday night to win the Big Ten championship. Temple’s 34-10 defeat of the Midshipmen in the American Conference Championship Game ended that concern.

“I hate to tell you, but there are no underdogs in this playoff”, Swinney said. “I think we certainly are one of the best teams in the country, but I think there’s some great teams out there”. Western Michigan would get the Group of 5 automatic, then the two highest ranked teams remaining, Ohio State and Michigan, claim the final two slots.

Ohio State is the first non-conference champion to qualify for the College Football Playoff in its three years of existence. Which two teams would secure a playoff berth out of those three?

And the strength-of-schedule argument is where it gets all the more gut-wrenching for Penn State.

Penn State fans will have legitimate gripes with the committee’s decision. Both Big Ten powerhouses could definitely have run the table had they’ve made the College Football Playoff. That’s not discounting the rest of the conference.

This will be the second meeting against Ohio State in the last four years after the programs had met just once in history prior to the 2013 season. Wisconsin was in that conversation this year.

The circumstances are different in so many ways this time, starting with the fact the Penn State has more ground to make up than those Buckeyes and an extra loss on its resume. Those games in the mid- to late-90s were legendary. The Nittany Lions went undefeated in 1994. MI won the national title in 1997.

If chalk prevailed, the second round would feature Alabama versus Washington, while Clemson would advance to take on Ohio State.

Ohio State isn’t going away under Urban Meyer.

Petersen has never coached against Saban, and that will change on December 31 when their teams meet at the Peach Bowl in one of this year’s College Football Playoff semifinals. That’s the power of Jim Harbaugh.

The Buckeyes (11-1) lost their bid for the Big Ten title with a loss to Penn State on October 22. Ohio State receives approximately 13,000 tickets for the game and, should general public tickets be available after priority requests from season ticket holders, faculty, staff and students are fulfilled, a public sale will commence beginning with those individuals on the waiting list.

What should truly define the Fiesta Bowl, however, is in each team’s narrow margin for error.

“Obviously I acknowledge the difficulty of the task, but I’m not sure what I advise my members right now, because we’ve been telling them that non-conference schedules matter, and one of the four has an exceedingly weak non-conference schedule”, Bowlsby said. “Are you kidding me?”

MORE: What is the ideal College Football Playoff plan?

As it is, the victor will have vanquished one elite rival only to face another, whether a still-unbeaten Alabama team or a Washington squad fresh off a significant upset.

Not so in Year 3. With five major conferences vying for four playoff spots, easy math says one will be left out of the field every year. That may not be much of a consolation for Penn State, however, as the Nittany Lions came oh so close to securing a playoff bid.

The inclusion of Ohio State represents a milestone for the playoff: No team had reached the national semifinals without winning its conference. And the year after that. The Nittany Lions should be proud to be a part of it again.