College Football

College Football Playoff set: Alabama back at No. 1 while Michigan, Georgia, Cincinnati reach semis

Updated Dec. 6, 2021 12:22 a.m. ET

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By RJ Young
FOX Sports College Football Writer

After Alabama throttled Georgia, Michigan rubbed out Iowa and Cincinnati leaned on Houston to win their respective conference championships, it was all over but the crying.

The College Football Playoff selection committee ranked SEC champion Alabama No. 1, Big Ten champion Michigan No. 2, SEC runner-up Georgia No. 3 and AAC champion Cincinnati No. 4 in the largest shakeup of the perennial CFP participants since the format's inception eight years ago.

Michigan began the 2021 season unranked — receiving fewer points than Liberty and Texas Christian in the AP preseason poll — and mounted the largest charge into the CFP rankings by Selection Sunday since Ohio State pushed from No. 16 in the first-ever CFP rankings to earn entry into the semifinals.

The Wolverines demolished the Hawkeyes 42-3 at Lucas Oil Stadium to earn their first outright league title since 2003, first Big Ten championship game victory and first berth in the CFP.

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For UM coach Jim Harbaugh, it was his second huge win in a row in what has been the best season of his career in college football. He beat Ohio State for the first time just a week ago.

At this time last season, Harbaugh looked like he might not have the privilege of coaching Michigan again after the Wolverines finished 2-4 in the pandemic-shortened season, and athletic director Warde Manuel renegotiated his contract.

But with team captain and star defensive end Aidan Hutchinson and first-year defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald, the Wolverines' defense found its way back to the kind of outstanding play that had been a hallmark of the program for decades.

On the offensive side of the ball, running back Hassan Haskins set the school record for rushing TDs in a season (20) with two more against Iowa.

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Hassan Haskins breaks Michigan's school record with 20 rushing touchdowns in a season.

The Wolverines have a shot to win the national title, but first they’ll have to beat Kirby Smart and Georgia in the Orange Bowl on New Year's Eve in Miami. The Bulldogs opened as 7.5-point favorites at FOX Bet.

The Bulldogs looked unstoppable the entire regular season, running up the score on offense and fielding a generational defense that allowed fewer than seven points per game. Against the Tide on Saturday, though, Georgia looked pedestrian, giving up 41 points and 526 yards of offense — including 421 through the air.

The loss could prove to be a blessing for Smart, who will use this moment to demonstrate to his team that there’s work to do. But existentially, UGA has to come to grips once again with not being able to defeat Alabama. The Bulldogs could see the Tide in the national title game for the second time in four years, with that lingering feeling above their heads.

If there was still doubt about who will win the 2021 Heisman Memorial Trophy, Tide QB Bryce Young removed it with his 400-yard, three-touchdown performance against Georgia. In addition to most likely having back-to-back Heisman winners, Alabama's 41-24 victory makes the Tide the favorites to defend their national title.

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No doubt, Alabama will be a resounding favorite in the semifinal against the No. 4-ranked Cincinnati Bearcats — FOX Bet has the Tide favored by 14 — who are the only 13-0, undefeated team remaining in the country.

Cincinnati became the first Group of 5 program to earn an invitation to the CFP. And the Bearcats’ reward for this achievement is facing the best coach in the history of the sport and the most dominant program of the past 15 years.

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If the Bearcats beat Bama, they'll vindicate all those who advocated for their inclusion in the CFP. But if they lose, the matter in which they do will echo throughout the sport for years. 

This is the second consecutive year in which the Bearcats finished the regular season undefeated. In 2020, Cincinnati went toe-to-toe with a more talented UGA team in the Peach Bowl and nearly pulled out a win. There's an argument that Cincinnati was included in the CFP this year because of how the Bearcats finished the season last year.

Those two seasons — this one and that one — are difficult to ignore. So, too, would be an embarrassing loss to Alabama in the Cotton Bowl. 

The Bearcats are playing for more than themselves. They're playing for nearly half of the FBS teams — the G5 teams, who might not get a shot in future seasons if Cincinnati doesn't perform well this time.

RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of the podcast "The No. 1 Ranked Show with RJ Young." Follow him on Twitter at @RJ_Young, and subscribe to "The RJ Young Show" on YouTube. He is not on a StepMill.

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