Sports

UGA out of College Football Playoff; Alabama, Clemson, ND, Oklahoma are in

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The College Football Playoff committee revealed Sunday afternoon the top four teams that will compete for a national championship.

Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and Oklahoma are in. The Georgia Bulldogs are out and finish No. 5 in the rankings.

No. 1 Alabama will face No. 4 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Notre Dame will face off in the Cotton Bowl. Both semifinals are set for Saturday Dec. 29.

No. 4 Oklahoma earned the final spot over the Bulldogs and Ohio State.

The Bulldogs will have to wait to see which New Year Six bowl game it will attend. Those bowl games will not be announced until 3 p.m., an hour after the complete top 25 is revealed at 2 p.m.

Most bowl predictions have the Bulldogs and the Texas Longhorns heading to the Sugar Bowl at the Mercedes Benz Superdome. Georgia hasn’t played in the Sugar Bowl since it defeated Hawaii in 2008.

Stay with WSBTV.com and Channel 2 Action News for the latest on Georgia's bowl destination.

[RELATED: Georgia suffers second loss to Alabama, falls in SEC Championship 35 - 28]

Head coach Kirby Smart made a case for his team in SEC Championship postgame conference, but his team's resume was not enough for the committee.

"We most definitely have one of the best four teams in the country. … Do you want the four best teams in or not? … Ask the coach on the other sideline. I promise you he doesn’t want to play us," Smart said.

What did the playoff committee look at?

The 13-member playoff committee evaluated each team’s conference championships, strength of schedule, head-to-head results and results against common opponents.

These were the resumes for the three teams based on those factors. You can see the full committee protocol here.

  • Oklahoma: Big 12 champion; 1 loss to Texas 48-45 in October; No. 34 SOS
  • Ohio State: Big Ten champion; 1 loss to Purdue 49-20; No. 48 SOS
  • Georgia: SEC runner-up; 2 losses to LSU 36-16, Alabama (35-28); No. 26 SOS

[PHOTOS: UGA takes on Alabama at SEC Championship]

Something important to remember is that committee members with any conflict of interest have to recuse themselves from the vote involving that team.

Oklahoma Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione and Ohio State Director of Athletics Gene Smith served on the committee. Both directors recused themselves when the Sooners and Buckeyes were deliberated.

Former Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer also stepped out when Oklahoma is discussed. His son Shane is an Oklahoma assistant coach.