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The Rose Bowl in Pasadena. | Photo by Terry Miller/HeySoCal.com
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Undefeated Michigan was ranked first in the final College Football Playoff rankings released Sunday and will face fourth-ranked Alabama in the Rose Bowl Game on New Year’s Day in a playoff semifinal.
Second-ranked Washington, which is also undefeated, will face third-ranked Texas in the Sugar Bowl, the other semifinal. The winners will meet for the national championship Jan. 8 in Houston.
When assigning teams to sites, the Selection Committee places the top two seeds at the most advantageous sites, weighing criteria such as convenience of travel for their fans, home-crowd advantage or disadvantage and general familiarity with the host city and its stadium. Preference goes to the No. 1 seed.
Michigan (13-0) defeated Iowa, 26-0, in the Big Ten championship game Saturday. Alabama (12-1) upset previously undefeated Georgia, 27-24, in the SEC Championship on Saturday, ending the Bulldogs’ 29-game winning streak.
“The little that I have seen is they’ve got a great defensive team,” Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said in a conference call Sunday. “They do a great job of attacking the ball and getting turnovers. They’re very productive on offense. Quarterback (J.J. McCarthy) is a good player, good runner, great balance.”
The Wolverines will be playing in the Rose Bowl Game for the 21st time, the second-most behind USC’s 34, and first time since New Year’s Day 2007, when they lost to USC, 32-18.
Alabama will be playing in its eighth Rose Bowl, the most among non-Pac-12 or Big Ten teams, and first since Jan. 1, 2021, when it defeated Notre Dame, 31-14, in a game moved to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Alabama last played in a New Year’s Day Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena in 1946, when it defeated USC, 34-14, the season before the agreement between what are now the Pac-12 and Big Ten conferences limited the game to teams to those conferences.
The Crimson Tide last played at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 7, 2010, when they defeated Texas, 37-21, in the BCS National Championship Game.
Washington is the third Pac-12 team to reach the playoff, which began with the 2014 season, following Oregon in 2014 and the Huskies in 2016.
The playoff field will be expanded to 12 teams for the 2024 season.
The 2024 Rose Bowl will begin at 2 p.m. and be televised by ESPN.
