After a wild 2021 college football regular season, Sunday’s College Football Playoff selection show arrived with little in the way of drama after the way conference championship weekend shook out. With Alabama thumping Georgia in the SEC title game, they locked themselves into a spot and the Dawgs, the lone undefeated Power 5 team entering the weekend, were a lock win or lose, meaning there would be a pair of SEC squads making the field.
From there, Cincinnati took care of business in the AAC title game against Houston to polish off a 13-0 season, the only undefeated season in FBS football this year, and punch their ticket — helped by No. 5 Oklahoma State getting beaten by Baylor in the Big 12 title game. The last chance for chaos was in the Big Ten, but Michigan mowed down Iowa in a 42-3 win in Indianapolis to lock themselves in and make a strong case for the No. 1 overall seed.
The only question for the Committee on Sunday was what order they would put those four teams in, and whether they’ll set up the SEC Championship rematch for the semifinals or split them up.
1. Alabama
2. Michigan
3. Georgia
4. Cincinnati
That means the two semifinal matchups will be Alabama-Cincinnati in the Cotton Bowl and Michigan-Georgia in the Orange Bowl on New Year’s Eve, as the committee chose not to set up the rematch of the SEC title game immediately and instead leave it as a possible national title game matchup.