College Football Playoff committee announces New Year's Six matchups

The College Football Playoff field is set with Alabama as the top seed, but deciding that bracket isn't the committee's only role. The group is also responsible for setting the matchups in the other four New Years' Six bowl games.

The committee announced Sunday that the Rose Bowl will be a matchup between the No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes and the Pac-12 champion No. 11 Utah Utes. The Buckeyes climbed in the final CFB Playoff rankings of the year, but never had much of a shot at getting in after losing to the Michigan Wolverines in their regular season finale. Utah made a late surge, bouncing back from September losses to BYU and San Diego State to win 10 straight, including blowout wins over Oregon in two of the last three weeks.

In the Sugar Bowl, the Big 12 champion No. 7 Baylor Bears will play the No. 8 Ole Miss Rebels. Baylor climbed into longshot CFB Playoff contention by avenging an early season loss to Oklahoma State with a win in a rematch in the Big 12 Championship. Ole Miss finished with 10 wins in the regular season for the first time in school history, but lost to both Alabama and Auburn in October.

The No. 5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, whose only loss was against the playoff-bound Cincinnati Bearcats, will play the No. 9 Oklahoma State Cowboys in the Fiesta Bowl. Oklahoma State was just inches away from beating Baylor in the Big 12 Championship, which would've likely secured the team a spot in the CFB Playoff.

Rounding out the New Years' Six bowls is the Peach Bowl which will feature the No. 12 Pittsburgh Panthers and No. 10 Michigan State Spartans. Pittsburgh finished strong in 2021 with wins in its last five games of the season, including its first ever ACC Championship Game victory, where it beat Wake Forest, 45-21. Michigan State, on the other hand, lost to Purdue and Ohio State in November after climbing to No. 3 in the rankings.