(CNN) — Alabama, Oregon, Florida State and Ohio State are the four universities who will play in the inaugural College Football Playoff, the selection committee announced Sunday.
No. 1 Alabama will play No. 4 Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl, and No. 2 Oregon will play No. 3 Florida State in the Rose Bowl. Both games will take place on January 1, 2015, and the winners will face off in the National Championship Game on January 12.
There were no surprises in the top three selections, but there was plenty of controversy over which team should get the fourth and final spot. Ohio State got the nod after stomping the Wisconsin Badgers 59-0 in the Big 10 championship game on Saturday.
One of the five major football conferences — the Big 12 — was left out of the playoff picture. Its conference co-champions, Baylor and Texas Christian University, finished 5th and 6th in the final rankings, respectively. TCU dropped from 3rd last week to 6th, despite defeating Iowa State decisively, 55-3, on Saturday. Baylor also won on Saturday, and beat TCU by a field goal, 61-58, earlier in the year.
