Fiesta Bowl 2016: Known Info Before Final Playoff Rankings Reveal

The Fiesta Bowl has long been a major staple of the college football bowl season, all the way back to its origins in 1971. Despite its lengthy, proud tradition, the Fiesta Bowl will nevertheless be making some historic firsts in 2016.

With the advent of the College Football Playoff in 2014, the Fiesta Bowl worked its way into the rotation of bowl games—dubbed the New Year's Six—that would host one of the two national semifinals. It's a three-year rotation among the bowls to host a semifinal, and this year will be the Fiesta Bowl's first crack at it.

The CFP selection committee won't make its final determinations until 12 p.m. ET on Sunday, so the Fiesta Bowl's participants aren't yet set in stone. But based on the results of the conference championship games, we do have a fairly strong idea of who might be participating, although there is still time for some last-minute controversy.

Fiesta Bowl Viewing Info

When: Saturday, Dec. 31, at 3 p.m. or 7 p.m. ET

Where: University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona

Watch: ESPN

Live Stream: WatchESPN

Thanks to No. 1 Alabama's dominance, the Fiesta Bowl is likely going to be contested between the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds when the committee makes its final rankings.

Butch Dill/Associated Press

The Crimson Tide demolished No. 15 Florida 54-16 in the SEC Championship Game and will surely maintain their status as the top team in the nation. The other national semifinal is the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, which is much closer to Alabama than Arizona.

According to CollegeFootballPlayoff.com, convenience factors into determining which teams play where: "When assigning teams to sites, the committee will place the top two seeds at the most advantageous sites, weighing criteria such as convenience of travel for its fans, home-crowd advantage or disadvantage and general familiarity with the host city and its stadium. Preference will go to the No. 1 seed." 

This simply makes too much sense for the committee, so look for Alabama to take its 13-0 record to the Peach Bowl against whichever team ends up in the No. 4 seed.

Heading into the conference championships, the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds were Ohio State and Clemson, respectively. 

The Tigers made their fans sweat in the ACC title game against Virginia Tech, but they managed to stave off an upset and win by a score of 42-35. Clemson would seem to then be the most likely Fiesta Bowl participant, as it would presumably stand pat or perhaps jump up a spot ahead of the idle Buckeyes.

AJ Mast/Associated Press

The Buckeyes weren't in action on Saturday due to No. 7 Penn State owning the head-to-head tiebreaker with them in the Big Ten East. Penn State took on No. 6 Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game, with the Nittany Lions pulling off a come-from-behind 38-31 win.

A Power Five conference championship with only two losses might seem plenty good enough to get Penn State into the playoff, but if the committee does decide to pick it, it will likely be as a No. 4 seed. So if the Nittany Lions make it, don't expect them to head to the Fiesta Bowl.

Current No. 4 Washington demolished No. 8 Colorado 41-10 to win the Pac-12 Championship Game on Friday. Considering their win was more impressive than Clemson's and that the Buckeyes didn't play, the Huskies have a fair shot of moving up and playing in the Fiesta Bowl.

The Seattle Times' Matt Calkins argued the Huskies deserve a trip to Arizona:

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In Week 3, Michigan beat Colorado, 45-28, in Ann Arbor. The Huskies' win over the Buffaloes was far more lopsided, and it came on a neutral field. Additionally, the Wolverines were trailing before Colorado quarterback Sefo Liufau left the game with an injury.

This is significant for two reasons. The first is that there is absolutely no argument you can make for Michigan (10-2) to leapfrog the Huskies in the rankings now. The second is that most people view Michigan as the equivalent to Ohio State, as last weeks' double-overtime loss in Columbus would suggest.

In other words, Washington's résumé suddenly looks just as strong, if not stronger than the Buckeyes'. The Huskies' loss to USC is just as forgivable as OSU's loss to Penn State — and the Huskies have a conference title that Ohio State does not have.

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As the last team in heading into championship weekend, Washington still figures to be in the most precarious position heading into the final selection. Penn State had a tougher strength of schedule than the Huskies, but the latter also only has one loss to Penn State's two.

Another possibility, however remote, is that the committee decides to go with conference champions only and bounces Ohio State. It would be a cruel punishment for a deserving team that didn't have a chance to make one last case for its inclusion this weekend, but in a scenario where five teams are deserving of making the playoff, it's still one possible outcome.