College Football Playoff preview – Keys to Alabama-Cincinnati, Michigan-Georgia

So much for a complete transformation in the College Football Playoff.

With CFP mainstays Clemson, Ohio State and Oklahoma not advancing to their respective conference championship games, and Alabama looking rather ordinary over the last month of the season, there seemed to be a good chance we would have four not-so-familiar participants in this season’s playoff.

No. 1 Georgia had only appeared in the playoff once, No. 2 Michigan had never been before, and No. 4 Cincinnati was trying to become the first team from a Group of 5 conference to crash the big boys’ party.

So as long as the Bulldogs took down defending national champion Alabama in Saturday night’s SEC championship game, there was a chance none of the playoff’s usual suspects would be around this year.

Yeah, right.

College football isn’t about to crown a national champion without the Crimson Tide in the mix, and they’ll be back in the playoff for the seventh time in eight years after a stunning 41-24 victory over the Bulldogs on Saturday night. After being an underdog for the first time in 93 games, Alabama is the favorite to win it again.

“I think what these guys really wanted to gain was more respect,” Saban said Saturday night. “Not just the fact that they were underdogs, because I think we had a tremendous amount of respect for Georgia, their team, and what they accomplished. But you guys gave us a lot of really positive rat poison. The rat poison that you usually give us is usually fatal, but the rat poison that you put out there this week was yummy.”

Here’s a look at the CFP semifinals on New Year’s Eve:

No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide vs. No. 4 Cincinnati Bearcats
College Football Playoff Semifinal at Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic
When: Friday, Dec. 31 (time TBD)
Where: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
How to watch: ESPN and ESPN App
Opening line from Caesars Sportsbook by William Hill: Alabama (-13.5)

Just when the Crimson Tide looked rather ordinary in closer-than-expected victories over LSU, Arkansas and Auburn at the end of the regular season, they manhandled Georgia in Atlanta. The Tide will head into the playoff as the top seed and favorite to win their seventh national championship under coach Nick Saban, which would break his tie with legendary coach Paul “Bear” Bryant for most titles won at Alabama (Saban also won one at LSU in 2003, and his seven overall are the most in the sport’s history).

The Bearcats were the only FBS team to finish the season unbeaten after taking down Houston 35-20 in Saturday’s AAC championship game. They’ll become the first team from a Group of 5 conference to appear in the playoff and will face the monumental task of trying to knock off the Crimson Tide.

Key player for Alabama: QB Bryce Young. If Young wasn’t at the top of most Heisman Trophy ballots before the SEC championship game, he probably is now after dismantling Georgia’s top-ranked defense. Young, a redshirt freshman, completed 26 of 44 passes for 421 yards with three touchdowns and ran for 40 yards with one more score against the Bulldogs. His passing total…