College Football Playoff: Buckeyes in for Big Ten, will play Alabama

The Ohio State Buckeyes are in.

After a 59-0 blowout over Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game on Saturday night in Indianapolis, the Buckeyes earned the fourth and final spot in the College Football Playoff.

The Buckeyes will take on the top-ranked Alabama Crismon Tide, the Southeastern Conference champions, in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day. The other national semifinal features No. 2 Oregon against No. 3 Florida State in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.

The committee placed teams in the Rose or Sugar Bowl based on location, with preference give to the higher seed. The winners of each semifinal will advance to the national championship at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Tx.

Urban Meyer's team entered the final weekend as the No. 5 team in the selection committee's top-25 rankings. The four teams ahead of the Buckeyes - Alabama, Oregon, TCU and Florida State - all won.

CFP Chairman Jeff Long, the athletics director at Arkansas, said on ESPN after the selections that the Buckeyes' performance in the Big Ten championship game propelled them ahead of Baylor and TCU.

The Buckeyes weathered an early season loss to Virginia Tech, which at the time looked to kill their playoff dreams along with the loss of Heisman Trophy hopeful Braxton Miller and then J.T. Barrett to win 10 straight games, including nine over bowl-eligible teams en route to a conference title.

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