Ohio State No. 2 In Final College Football Playoff Rankings, Will Play Winner Of Texas A&M and Miami

Ohio State’s path to a back-to-back national championship is now clear.

After its first loss of the season in the Big Ten championship, Ohio State was slotted as the No. 2 team in the final College Football Playoff rankings and will play against the winner of No. 7 Texas A&M and No. 10 Miami (Fla.).

The Hurricanes jumped Notre Dame in the rankings despite both teams being idle during conference championship weekend.

Ohio State’s first game will be in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 31 for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff. If the Buckeyes move on, their semifinal game will be in the Fiesta Bowl.

The Buckeyes missed out on a Rose Bowl berth due to their 13-10 loss to Indiana in the conference title game at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday. Indiana is unsurprisingly ranked No. 1 in the country and will play the winner of No. 8 Oklahoma and No. 9 Alabama in the quarterfinal.

After handily beating Alabama in the SEC championship, Georgia remained at the No. 3 spot and will play in the Sugar Bowl against the winner of No. 6 Ole Miss and No. 11 Tulane.

Then, at No. 4 is Texas Tech, which will play in the Orange Bowl against the winner of No. 5 Oregon and No. 12 James Madison.

Just missing the bracket was Notre Dame which was ranked No. 11 in the final rankings, but due to the top five ranked conference champions making it in, Tulane and James Madison made it in over the Fighting Irish.