College Football Playoff Rankings 2015: Final Standings and Semifinal Prediction

The selection committee got it right.

After a great weekend of conference championship games, which also ensured no chaos would happen, the final four in the College Football Playoff is what was expected after Saturday concluded.

The Clemson Tigers clinched the No. 1 seed and will take their 13-0 season into the Orange Bowl to take on the Oklahoma Sooners. And after grinding out a win over the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Big Ten Championship Game, the Michigan State Spartans will face the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Cotton Bowl.

The top 10 was unchanged for the most part, although I did think the Ole Miss Rebels would pass the North Carolina Tar Heels for No. 10, even if that would've meant something in the overall bowl picture.

Here they are, for the final time this year, the CFP rankings as well as predictions for the semifinal matchups.

Orange Bowl: No. 4 Oklahoma vs. No. 1 Clemson

The first semifinal matchup will feature two Heisman Trophy candidates at quarterback who each present problems to their opposition.

Baker Mayfield and Deshaun Watson can both be considered dual-threat quarterbacks. Even though Mayfield (420) doesn't have has many rushing yards as Watson (887), they're both threats to use their arms and legs when they have the football.

Watson needed to provide a stellar performance to catch up to—or distance himself from—Alabama running back Derrick Henry in the Heisman race. He did that Saturday in the ACC Championship Game, throwing for 289 yards and three touchdowns in the Tigers' 45-37 win over North Carolina.

Most, including his head coach, Dabo Swinney, feel that Watson's play Saturday against the nation's 10th-best defense was more than enough to give him the trophy in New York this upcoming weekend, per Dan Hope of OrangeandWhite.com:

Brady Fredericksen of the Ledger also thinks Watson should be the favorite to win the award:

Yet, despite the fact that Clemson is the No. 1 team in the country, they're not favored in the contest. At least not yet. Odds Shark's latest lines had the Sooners favored by 3.5 points, which might be the most baffling thing of this entire bowl schedule.

However, Andrea Adelson of ESPN.com feels that will play well into the Tigers' favor:

The reason why the Sooners are considered the favorites is because of Mayfield's play. Since the loss to Texas on Oct. 10, the walk-on quarterback has thrown 21 touchdowns to only two interceptions. He's only thrown five picks all year, which gives you an idea on how efficient he's been.

Chuck Carlton of the Dallas Morning News shared his thoughts on Mayfield in the Heisman consideration:

I'm leaning more toward what Adelson said in regards to Clemson. This team has not been taken seriously all year despite being the No. 1 team in the country. The Tigers, led by Watson, will show why they should be taken seriously when they beat the Sooners in a close, entertaining game.

Prediction: Clemson 37, Oklahoma 34

Cotton Bowl: No. 3 Michigan State vs. No. 2 Alabama

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

We've been down this road before.

Just one season ago, the Alabama Crimson Tide were a near double-digit favorite over the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Sugar Bowl. The Buckeyes won that game, and eventually won the national championship.

Odds Shark has Alabama opening at 9.5-point favorites over the Big Ten champion Spartans. If there was a time to put a good amount of money on an almost double-digit underdog, this would be it.

Forget the fact that Mark Dantonio is a coaching disciple of Nick Saban, and that alone provides reason why this game should be close. But the Spartans may be the toughest defense the Tide have faced all year.

Statistically speaking, the Spartans (20.2 points per game) allow more points on average than the Florida Gators did when they met Alabama in the SEC title game. However, there may be no defense playing better right now than Michigan State. The Spartans have allowed 16 points or less in their last four games, including only 14 to Ohio State.

The argument can be made that if Ezekiel Elliott received more carries in that game, the result would be different. But that game has instilled confidence in Michigan State that it can beat anyone. Kevin McGuire from College Football Talk definitely thinks so:

And if there's a defense that can concoct the perfect game plan to stop running back Derrick Henry, it would be Michigan State. The Spartans have allowed 3.6 yards per carry and have only given up five rushing touchdowns in the last five games. Henry's 1,986 rushing yards have accounted for 36.2 percent of Alabama's offense this year. Take that out, and Alabama is in trouble against this defense.

Michigan State didn't need Connor Cook to beat Iowa. The Spartans may need him to do better than complete 50 percent of his passes to beat the Tide, but it'll be on the defense to win. They should get it done.

Prediction: Michigan State 23, Alabama 20

Stats courtesy of Sports-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.