Michigan State Will Have A Shot At The National Title, And Four Other Michigan Schools Go Bowling

In a year full of spectacular finishes, it was refreshing to see Michigan State win a game the old fashioned way, with a nine minute, 22 play, 82 year drive to finish off Iowa in the Big Ten championship game, 16-13. Somewhere Duffy Daugherty was smiling.

But the win was bigger than noraml, because it also firmed up New Year's Eve plans for Spartan fans everywhere, as they'll be playing in the Cotton Bowl for a chance at the national title.

The College Football Playoff pairings were announced on Sunday and Sparty gets to play an old friend, former coach Nick Saban, who has his Alabama Crimson Tide back in the playoffs for a second straight year. Alabama won the SEC crown by thrashing Florida 29-15. That game will be played at AT&T Stadium in Dallas in the Cotton Bowl Classic.

Meanwhile, undefeated Clemson remained the number one seed after defeating the UNC Tar Heels in ACC Championship game by a score of 45-37 and will face the number four seed Oklahoma Sooners. Those two teams will face off New Year’s Eve in the Orange Bowl in Miami.

The winner of each game will face off for the College Football Championship on January 11th in Glendale, AZ.

Three other Michigan schools earned berths in bowl games, with Michigan advancing to the Citrus Bowl on New year's Day, facing Florida of the SEC. Western Michigan will get a nice holiday in the balmy Bahamas, after accepting an invitation to play Middle Tennessee in the Bahamas Bowl on December 26. The Chippewas of Central Michigan will travel no farther than Detroit, where they play Minnesota on December 28 in the Quick Lane Bowl.

In other New Year's Six matchups as part of a record 41 bowls, Stanford faces Iowa in the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual, Ole Miss and Oklahoma State meet in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, the BattleFrog Fiesta Bowl pits Ohio State against Notre Dame, and Group of 5 representative Houston squares off against Florida State in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.