Orange Bowl 2018: Known Info Before Final Playoff Rankings Reveal

The 2018 Orange Bowl has the potential to go down as one of the most memorable individual showdowns in the history of college football.

After the final College Football Playoff rankings are released Sunday afternoon, No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 Oklahoma will head to south Florida for a December 29 matchup at a time to be determined.

As the top seed, the Crimson Tide get to choose which game they would like to play in, and since the Cotton Bowl is too close in vicinity to Oklahoma, they will opt to play at a more neutral site.

The Orange Bowl is familiar territory for the Crimson Tide, as they have visited the game on eight previous occasions, with the most recent appearance coming in 2000.

This year's Orange Bowl will mark the second time the Sooners participate in the game as the No. 4 seed in the playoff, as they fell to top-seeded Clemson in 2015.

Once the dust settles on the debate surrounding the No. 4 seed, we'll have 27 days to hype the matchup between Heisman Trophy favorite Tua Tagovailoa of Alabama and his closest contender, Oklahoma counterpart Kyler Murray.

Grant Calcaterra with a 18-yard touchdown catch from Kyler Murray vs. Texas Longhorns

In anticipation of the increased Heisman debate and potential playoff matchup, the Oklahoma athletic department sent out a comparison of the two quarterbacks, per CBS Sports' Barrett Sallee:

Tagovailoa showcased his talents throughout the season, but he wasn't able to shine in the SEC Championship Game, as Jalen Hurts closed out the game for the Crimson Tide.

While he was banged up Saturday, Tagovailoa should be ready to go for Alabama's next game, as Nick Saban noted, per AL.com's John Talty:

"Tua actually sprained his ankle in the first half. He came back and played. The other injury he got stepped on—his foot—which I don’t think is significant. We are going to evaluate his ankle tomorrow but I don’t think it is something that would keep him out. Maybe for a little while but we probably won’t practice for a couple weeks anyway. We’ll know more about that tomorrow."

Oklahoma has plenty of reasons to brag about Murray's credentials, as he threw for 379 passing yards in the Big 12 Championship win over Texas.

At the very least, the Orange Bowl will produce fireworks, with both signal-callers trying to one-up each other.

But before we reach the playing of the game, we have to trudge through the tiring debate of which programs deserve to be in the playoff.

Jeffrey McWhorter/Associated Press

Although Georgia put up a valiant effort against Alabama in the SEC Championship Game, it shouldn't qualify with two losses compared to an Oklahoma team that has a conference title and avenged its only defeat of the campaign.

Ohio State has a case to make the final four as a one-loss Big Ten champion, but its ugly road loss to Purdue could be the deciding factor in its failure to get in and go to the Rose Bowl instead.

Once the criticism over the No. 4 seed dies down, we will have plenty of time to break down how amazing of a spectacle the Orange Bowl could be.

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.