BYU moved up one spot to No. 16 in the final College Football Playoff rankings released Sunday, as the national semifinal and New Year’s Six bowl matchups were announced.
The Cougars (10-1) end the regular season in the CFP rankings for the first time in the seven years of the CFP. Coastal Carolina (11-0), which handed the Cougars their lone loss of the season, was No. 12 and outside of the New Year’s Six bowls.
The CFP semifinal matchups were announced Sunday, as No. 1 Alabama will play No. 4 Notre Dame in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 — a game that will be moved to Arlington, Texas, because of the pandemic — while No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Ohio State will face each other semifinal in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1.
The CFP national championship game will take place Jan. 11 in Miami, Florida.
In the other New Year’s Six bowls, No. 8 Cincinnati will play No. 9 Georgia in the Peach Bowl, No. 5 Texas A&M will match up against No. 13 North Carolina in the Orange Bowl, No. 10 Iowa State and No. 25 Oregon play in the Fiesta Bowl and No. 6 Oklahoma will play No. 7 Florida in the Cotton Bowl.
Before the final CFP selection show began, the last Associated Press poll of the regular season came out. BYU moved up a spot to No. 13 in the Week 16 poll.
The top 5 include Alabama at No. 1, followed by Clemson, Ohio State, Notre Dame and Texas A&M.
The Pac-12 had two teams ranked in the AP poll — Oregon re-entered the poll at No. 25 after beating USC in the league’s title game, while the Trojans fell eight spots to No. 21.
There will be a final AP poll following the bowl season.
BYU will play UCF in the Boca Raton Bowl on Tuesday at 5 p.m., with the game televised on ESPN.