ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The University of Michigan football team is headed to the Rose Bowl to play the University of Alabama on New Year’s Day. The competition between the two schools was decided on Sunday when the CFP (College Football Playoff) committee announced their picks for the schools that would be playing in the upcoming College Football Playoffs.

The 13-member committee chose U-M as the #1 team and Alabama as #4, cementing their schedules to meet up in Pasadena, California to play in the College Football Playoff Semifinal after Michigan clinched the Big 10 championship with a 26-0 victory over Iowa and Alabama won the SEC championship title in a 27-24 win over the the #1 ranked Georgia Bulldogs.

MORE NEWS: VIDEO: The City of Kentwood Keeps Its Ducks in a Row

The Michigan Wolverines ended their regular season 13-0 and the Alabama Crimson Tide ended up 12-1, having lost to the Texas Longhorns by ten points back in September.

The committee also choose the other two contenders for the national championship, picking the Washington Huskies (13-0, Pac 12 champion) as #3 to play against the #4 Texas Longhorns (12-1, Big 12 champion). They will play each other in New Orleans in the Sugar Bowl, also on New Year’s Day. The winners of the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl will play each other in the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship on January 8th.

The CFP choosing the Alabama Crimson Tide as #4 has been controversial for many who argue that the undefeated ACC champion team, the Florida State Seminoles, should get the slot instead.

However, many sports critics have voiced the fact that the current Florida State football team isn’t the same without their starting quarterback, Jordan Travis or even without their backup quarterback. CFP Commissioner Boo Corrigan said as much during an interview with ESPN when he acknowledged that the committee was tasked with picking the best teams and the committee thought that Florida State no longer met the criteria to be in the top 4.

So instead of Florida State being in the mix, the Michigan Wolverines and the Alabama Crimson Tide will meet up with the victors playing either Washington or Texas. It’s the first time Michigan and Alabama have faced each other since the Citrus Bowl in 2020 when Alabama won 35-16.

This is the third consecutive season that Michigan football has won the Big Ten Championship and has made it into the College Football Playoffs, all under Coach Jim Harbaugh. This is also the first time they are entering the playoffs as the top-ranked team in the country. Michigan has never made it all the way to the National Championship Game, having lost to Georgia and TCU in the Semifinals.

MORE NEWS: U.P. Legislators Move to Protect Local Power Sources from State Clean Energy Mandates

The Crimson Tide has made it to the playoffs eight times including this year. They have the most wins in the playoffs with three (2015, 2017 and 2020), beating Clemson, Georgia and Ohio State, all under the coaching of Nick Saban, who has also led his team to seven national championships over his tenure.

Despite the Florida State controversy, Coach Saban has said that his team deserves to be in the playoffs because of their upset over Georgia in the SEC playoffs and his teams’ improvements game-after-game. He said in an interview with ESPN after the playoff teams were announced, “It’s unfortunate that some good teams had to be left out. I really think that our team earned the right to be here…Beat No. 1 Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, they worked hard all year to improve and I’m really proud of what they’ve been able to accomplish as a team.”

Coach Saban went on to say, “This team has shown great resiliency all year long. We’ve been behind in several games, came back, came back in the second half…When you play teams like a Georgia, you play teams like we’re going to play in the Playoffs, they know how to win, so you have to go out there and prove that you know how to win in terms of being able to sustain for 60 minutes and keep making plays and keep playing hard. I think our guys have done that all year and they certainly were able to do it last night.”

After learning about the Semifinal matchup with Alabama, Michigan Coach Harbaugh said, “We’re going against the best. Tradition. Two true blue bloods of football, facing Alabama…We’re excited to face them. It’s iconic. It’s Alabama. It’s Roll Tide. It’s doesn’t get any better, to be playing in the Rose Bowl. Just going to appreciate the tradition of the Rose Bowl, playing a great team like Alabama. It always has meaning.”

Florida State Coach Mike Norvell, however, doesn’t have any cheery or optimistic words about the situation, with his team being put in the #5 slot and playing in the Orange Bowl against Georgia.

Coach Norvell said about his team being out of the race for the national championship, “I am disgusted and infuriated with the committee’s decision today to have what was earned on the field taken away because a small group of people decided they knew better than the results of the game. What is the point of playing games?”

This is the final year of the four-team playoff. In 2024 and beyond, the CFP will transition to a 12-team format.