College Football Playoff Championship 2016: Odds and Predictions for Matchups

After a wild 14 weeks of college football, the speculation is finally over.

The College Football Playoff committee announced its final rankings Sunday and set up two potentially exciting semifinal games.

Let's take a look at the matchups, odds, predictions and breakdowns of each game.

Date	Bowl	Matchup	Odds	Spread Prediction
Dec. 31	Cotton Bowl	No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 3 Michigan State	Alabama -10	Michigan State
Dec. 31	Orange Bowl	No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 4 Oklahoma	Oklahoma -3.5	Clemson
Jan. 11	Championship Bowl	TBA	N/A	N/A

Tigers Will Lose the Only One That Matters

It's been an unbelievable season for the No. 1 Clemson Tigers. They've passed every test in front of them on the field en route to a 13-0 season and ACC Championship.

With three Top 10 wins on their resume, the Tigers deserve the No. 1 ranking. Yet they aren't even favored in the semifinal matchup against the No. 4 Oklahoma Sooners.

The CFP committee overlooked an awful loss to the 5-7 Texas Longhorns and chose to focus on the team Oklahoma has been since then—which is one of the best in the nation.

In seven games after the loss, Oklahoma outscored its opponents by an average of 52-19. Sure, they beat up on the lowly Kansas Jayhawks, but they also knocked off three ranked teams to finish the season in the Baylor Bears, TCU Horned Frogs and Oklahoma State Cowboys.

According to ESPN Stats & Info, the Sooners may have some extra motivation in the Orange Bowl:

The numbers say Oklahoma should win as well. The Sooners are ranked No. 1 in the ESPN Football Power Index, and as ESPN analytics writer Sharon Katz noted before the final rankings were announced, the Sooners have a great chance to win the national championship:

Quarterback Baker Mayfield is a big reason Oklahoma is favored. He has thrown for 3,389 yards, 35 touchdowns and just five interceptions this season. However, Clemson has a pretty good quarterback of its own.

Deshaun Watson can throw the ball (3,512 yards, 30 touchdowns), but his 887 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground add a separate dimension to his game, as ESPN Stats & Info showed:

Both teams should be able to put up points, so it will come down to which defense plays better. Clemson allowed 20.2 points per game this season in a weak ACC, while the Sooners yielded 20.1 in a Big 12 Conference known for offense.

The Tigers gave up 37 points to the No. 10 North Carolina Tar Heels in the ACC Championship Game, and while UNC has a great offense, so do the Sooners.

It should be a close one, but look for Oklahoma to get one extra stop in what should be a great game.

Prediction: Oklahoma wins, 34-31.

Talent, Toughness Abound in Cotton Bowl

The Cotton Bowl should be another great matchup despite the double-digit spread. The No. 3 Michigan State Spartans come in as the underdog even after finishing 12-1 and Big Ten champions.

They were the only team to beat the No. 5 Iowa Hawkeyes.

However, the ESPN FPI agrees at least somewhat with the spread, ranking Alabama No. 2 and Michigan State No. 14.

ESPN's FPI gives Alabama a pretty good chance of winning the game, per Katz:

ESPN Stats & Info provided other numbers that prove both teams belong in the playoff, including one that showed the Crimson Tide played 10 games in which an average FBS team would have a 75 percent chance of losing.

The Spartans, on the other hand, finished 12-1 against a tough schedule. ESPN Stats & Info said an average Top 25 team would have less than a 14 percent chance of accomplishing the feat.

While numbers are all fine and well, they don't always tell the whole story. At this point in the season, every team is good, and sometimes the will to win can make a difference.

After Michigan State defeated Iowa, Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio sounded like his team embodied that sentiment exactly, per ESPN.com: "Our football team knows how to win. We can play it out. We don't count ourselves out. When some things aren't going so well, we keep playing as evidence by the game."

Alabama head coach Nick Saban surely has his team believing it can win, which is what it has done all but once this year.

During their current 10-game win streak, the Crimson Tide have allowed an opponent to break 20 points just once. Michigan State, on the other hand, scored a combined 33 points in its two toughest games against Iowa and the No. 7 Ohio State Buckeyes.

However, it does have history on its side, per Mike Hall of the Big Ten Network:

That will be enough for the Spartans to beat the spread, but not the Tide.

Prediction: Alabama wins, 24-20.