If January’s College Football Playoff National Championship Game between Ohio State and Alabama left a bad taste in your mouth, we’ve got good and bad news for you, should Sporting News’ recent bowl game matchup predictions come to fruition.
The good news is, head coach Ryan Day would not have to wait long to test his theory that a contest between the two programs may have gone differently if COVID-19 didn’t hamper the Scarlet and Gray program’s preparations. That’s because Sporting News envisions the Buckeyes and Crimson Tide running it back this season in a CFP semifinal.
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The bad news for Buckeye fans though, is that the publication does not look favorably upon Ohio State in a 2021 rematch of last season’s national title game.
That’s right, Sporting News has selected –– stop me if you’ve heard this before –– Alabama and Clemson as the two teams it expects to find their way into the CFP championship game for all the marbles once again this season, a contest that would give one team an upper hand in the current 2-2 split between the powerhouse programs during the playoff era.
That’s all well and good, but let’s back it up for a second. Exactly when, where and how will the Bama-Buckeye rematch take place in 2021, you ask? Sporting News suspects Day and Nick Saban will meet at the Capital One Orange Bowl in Miami, with the semifinal taking place on Dec. 31.
As for how, that remains to be seen, but even with the departing talent from the Alabama roster, it would be hard to argue that an Ohio State team that must replace its elite starting quarterback could be favored against the Tide given the one-sided nature of last year’s result.
“Didn’t we just watch this game? Both programs sent 10 players to the 2021 NFL Draft, but there is more than enough talent on both sides for a third CFP playoff matchup,” Sporting News’ Bill Bender wrote. “The Buckeyes are loaded at receiver, and Alabama should be better on defense. What will Ryan Day do differently after last year’s CFP championship game loss?”
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As for the other playoff semifinal, Sporting News thinks Dabo Swinney and company will both take on and defeat Lincoln Riley’s Oklahoma Sooners, who finished this past season red-hot after a coupe early-season missteps, and feature who many believe to be the top returning QB in the country in Spencer Rattler.
Still, Bender doesn’t believe it will be enough to top the Tigers.
“This would be the more entertaining matchup given it features two of the top three quarterbacks in SN’s Top 25 QB rankings,” he wrote. “Clemson’s D.J. Uiagalelei and Oklahoma’s Spencer Rattler would put on an offensive show in this one. Which program faces more pressure? The Sooners are 0-4 in CFP semifinals, and the Tigers have been routed in their last two appearances.”
Sporting News projected just one other Big Ten program to appear in a New Year’s Six bowl game, with Wisconsin getting a crack at USC in the next Rose Bowl, although a couple of Ohio State’s other conference rivals were pegged to get some interesting matchups with blue-chop programs.
The publication sees Penn State taking on Florida in the VRBO Citrus Bowl, while Michigan is slotted for an Outback Bowl showdown with 2019 national champion LSU.
