Alabama Crimson Tide, who won the SEC championship, picked as No. 1 team for first-ever College Football playoff

NEW YORK – Alabama, Oregon, Florida State and Ohio State will play for the national championship in the first College Football Playoff.
The four-team playoff was revealed on Sunday.
The CFP committee selected Alabama at No. 1, followed by No. 2 Oregon, No. 3 Florida State and No. 4 Ohio State.
“I don’t care who you play or how you get seeded,” said Alabama coach Nick Saban, whose team won the SEC Championship on Saturday. “There are going to be four good teams and probably some others who don’t get in.”
Alabama (12-1) will play Ohio State (12-1) in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans and Oregon (12-1) will take on Florida State (13-0) in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. The two national semifinals will be played on Jan. 1.
The winners will play in the College Football Playoff National Championship on Jan. 12 in Arlington, Texas.
The selection was not without controversy. TCU fell from third in the previous rankings to No. 6 after routing unranked Iowa State. Baylor was No. 5.
The Bears repeated as Big 12 champions with Saturday’s win over Kansas State and had a head-to-head victory over TCU on their resume. Asked if the CFP set up was working, Baylor coach Art Briles said Saturday “It’s not if we’re not in it.”
Ohio State emerged as the No. 4 team ahead of Baylor and TCU after its decisive 59-0 shutout over ranked Wisconsin to win the Big Ten championship.
“We think they overcame that (loss to Virginia Tech) with nine wins against bowl-eligible teams,” committee chairman Jeff Long said.
Each of the playoff contenders won Saturday to make the decisions very difficult for the 12 members of the selection committee.
Despite being undefeated, Florida State has had several close calls this season and its selection was in doubt. However, the Seminoles moved up from fourth last week to No. 3 after winning the ACC Championship Game over ranked Georgia Tech.
TCU coach Gary Patterson said the Horned Frogs did everything they could do get into the semifinals.
“We wouldn’t be thinking we’d be in this spot a year ago,” Patterson said.
The CFP replaces the Bowl Championship Series. The BCS matched the top two ranked teams in a national championship game.
The committee started ranking the top 25 on a weekly basis since late October and will reveal its latest top 25 later Sunday.
Instead of basing its selections by ballot, the committee ranks small groups by a series of votes. Each week, the committee started with a blank slate.