In a college football season unlike any other, there's still some familiarity in the College Football Playoff.
Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State are all back in the CFP semifinals. At least two of those three schools have played in every CFP since the playoff's inception in 2015.
Joining the three stalwarts in the semifinals is Notre Dame. The Irish (10-1) are coming off their lone loss of the season to Clemson in the ACC championship game. Notre Dame, traditionally a football independent, competed as an ACC team for the first time this season as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Alabama and Notre Dame will meet in The Rose Bowl Game Presented by Capital One on Jan. 1 at 4 p.m. ET, followed by Clemson and Ohio State in the Allstate Sugar Bowl at 8 p.m. Both games will air on ESPN.
In the history of the College Football Playoff, no one-loss SEC team was ever left out -- until this year.
Texas A&M is on the outside looking in despite an 8-1 season that saw the Aggies' lone loss come against Alabama in the second week of the season.
"Seven straight SEC wins," coach Jimbo Fisher said after Saturday's win over Tennessee. "Some schools ain't even playing seven games.
"I don't care what league you're in. If you're gonna pick the best four teams, we're one of them."
Selection committee chairman Gary Barta, the Iowa athletic director, said Notre Dame's extra victory against a ranked opponent pushed the Irish over the top.
Instead, the Aggies were ranked No. 5 ahead of No. 6 and Big 12 champion Oklahoma. The Sooners (8-2) jumped unbeaten Cincinnati (8-0) out of the American Athletic Conference.
While the Crimson Tide and Fighting Irish will play in the Rose Bowl Game, they won't be headed to California this year. That game has been moved from the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California, to AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, because of the growing number of COVID-19 cases in Southern California, along with the inability for players' and coaches' families to attend because of state restrictions during the pandemic.
"Just so excited that everybody that's involved understands how important that was, and we're grateful to the Rose Bowl to make that change," Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly told ESPN. "I know it was difficult. ... I'm just really grateful that everybody was able to sit down, think about it [and decide] that this made sense to get the families to the game. It wasn't really about the fans, because our guys have done fine without fans, but this was really about the families."
The Tide (-17.5) and Tigers (-6.5) have opened as favorites at Caesars Sportsbook by William Hill in the two semifinal games.
"We understand that if we don't play to our standard, we could be beaten down pretty bad," Kelly told ESPN. "Our guys recognize what they'll need to do relative to the mental preparation of playing a great football team in Alabama. Now we're much better prepared than we were in 2012 in terms of the physicality on both lines. I think we have the ability to move the football, certainly. ... We've been humbled about the way we play, and this team has always come back with a resilience and an edge about them."
Alabama had the most straightforward path to the playoff. The Crimson Tide went 11-0 and won another SEC championship. Alabama had just one game canceled this season, though coach Nick Saban did test positive for COVID-19 and had to miss the team's 42-13 Iron Bowl win over Auburn.
Clemson is 10-1, with its one loss coming to Notre Dame in a game the Tigers played without quarterback Trevor Lawrence after he tested positive for COVID-19. Clemson was able to avenge that loss, as a healthy Lawrence led the Tigers to an ACC title game romp over the Irish in the rematch on Saturday.
And then there were the Buckeyes, whose season didn't start until Oct. 24 as the Big Ten reversed its decision not to play football at all. Despite having three games canceled due to COVID-19 issues, Ohio State was dominant throughout the season, scoring fewer than 38 points just once en route to a 6-0 season that resulted in another Big Ten championship.
The College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T will be played Jan. 11 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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