Alabama makes College Football Playoff, headed to Oklahoma in first round
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Alabama is into the College Football Playoff.
For the fourth straight season, Alabama football fans were sweating it out on Selection Sunday as the College Football Playoff committee revealed the final field of teams competing for the national championship.
The Crimson Tide’s status was in doubt after being dominated by Georgia in Saturday’s SEC Championship Game, losing 28-7 and opening the door for teams to jump them in the rankings.
But Alabama’s overall resume—which included 10 wins, 7 SEC wins and 3 wins over teams ranked in Sunday’s top 25—was still enough for the committee to keep the Tide in the field.
Next up: A Friday night rematch with Oklahoma. Keep reading to see the full schedule for this year’s playoff.
College Football Playoff bracket
Most of the field was known before the selection committee revealed the final bracket, with just some seeding to be clarified. But now we finally have the first-round matchups which include:
- No. 12 James Madison at No. 5 Oregon | Dec. 20, 6:30PM | TNT
- No. 11 Tulane at No. 6 Ole Miss | Dec. 20, 2:30PM | TNT
- No. 10 Notre Dame at No. 7 Texas A&M | Dec. 20, 11AM | ABC
- No. 9 Alabama at No. 8 Oklahoma | Dec. 19, 7PM | ABC
The top four seeds have a bye into the quarterfinals, awaiting the winners of the first round games. Those matchups will include:
- No. 1 Indiana vs. winner of Alabama/Oklahoma | Jan. 1, 3PM | ESPN | Rose Bowl
- No. 4 Texas Tech vs. winner of James Madison/Oregon | Jan. 1, 11AM | ESPN | Orange Bowl
- No. 3 Georgia vs. winner of Tulane/Ole Miss | Jan. 1, 7PM | ESPN | Sugar Bowl
- No. 2 Ohio State vs. winner of Miami/Texas A&M | Dec. 31, 6:30PM | ESPN | Cotton Bowl
That puts five total SEC teams in the field, the most ever in a single year for any conference. Notre Dame and BYU were the first two teams out of the field.
If Alabama makes a run to the semifinals, it would play in Atlanta again on Jan. 9. The rest of the schedule includes:
- Fiesta Bowl semifinal | Jan. 8, 6:30PM | ESPN
- Peach Bowl semifinal | Jan. 9, 6:30PM | ESPN
- National Championship | Jan. 19, 6:30PM | ESPN
Alabama at Oklahoma
The Crimson Tide is headed to Norman for the first round, making its first College Football Playoff appearance in the Kalen DeBoer era.
Alabama will hit the road in the first round, traveling face fellow SEC team Oklahoma. The two teams met in Tuscaloosa earlier this season with the Sooners winning 23-21.
The game will be played on Friday, Dec. 19 with kickoff scheduled for 7PM on ABC and ESPN.
There has only been two other all-SEC matchups in the College Football Playoff era with Alabama losing to Georgia in the 2021 national championship game and Alabama beating Georgia in the 2018 national championship game.
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