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2019–20 College Football Playoff

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2019–20 College Football Playoff
Season2019
Semifinals
Championship
Teams invited
ChampionsLSU (1st CFP title, 4th overall title)

The 2019–20 College Football Playoff was a single-elimination postseason tournament that determined the national champion of the 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was the sixth edition of the College Football Playoff (CFP) and involved the top four teams in the country as ranked by the College Football Playoff poll playing in two semifinals, with the winners of each advancing to the national championship game. Each participating team was the champion of its respective conference: No. 1 LSU from the Southeastern Conference, No. 2 Ohio State from the Big Ten Conference, No. 3 Clemson from the Atlantic Coast Conference, and No. 4 Oklahoma from the Big 12 Conference.

The playoff bracket's semifinal games were held at the Peach Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl on December 28, 2019, part of the season's slate of bowl games. The Peach Bowl semifinal saw LSU defeat Oklahoma by a margin of thirty-five points, and Clemson defeated Ohio State by six points in the Fiesta Bowl semifinal. Following their semifinal wins, LSU and Clemson advanced to the national championship game, held on January 13 in New Orleans. In the championship game, LSU beat Clemson 42–25 to win their first CFP national championship and their fourth national championship in school history.

Bracket

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Semifinals Championship
December 28 – Peach Bowl
Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
  1   LSU 63  
  4   Oklahoma 28   January 13 – National Championship
Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans
 
      1   LSU 42
December 28 – Fiesta Bowl
State Farm Stadium, Glendale 		    3   Clemson 25
 
  2   Ohio State 23
  3   Clemson 29  
This bracket:


Selection and teams

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The 2019–20 CFP selection committee was chaired by Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens. Its other members were Iowa athletic director Gary Barta, former Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer, former The Arizona Republic reporter Paola Boivin, Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione, former head coach Ken Hatfield, Robert Morris University president Christopher B. Howard, former NFL player Ronnie Lott, Arkansas State athletic director Terry Mohajir, USA Football chairman and former Army chief of staff Ray Odierno, former Texas A&M head coach R. C. Slocum, Georgia Tech athletic director Todd Stansbury, and Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin.[1]

The first CFP rankings of the season were released on November 5, 2019. Ohio State from the Big Ten Conference led the poll, followed by No. 2 LSU and No. 3 Alabama from the Southeastern Conference (SEC) followed. The Big Ten was also represented by No. 4 Penn State; No. 5 Clemson from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and No. 6 Georgia, from the SEC, rounded out the top six.[2] The ensuing week's games saw two top-six teams lose: No. 2 LSU defeated No. 3 Alabama, 46–41, and No. 4 Penn State suffered an upset loss at No. 17 Minnesota.[3][4] As a result of their losses, Alabama dropped to No. 5 and Penn State to No. 9;[5] LSU jumped Ohio State for the No. 1 spot despite Ohio State's 59-point win over unranked Maryland the week prior.[6][5] After rising to No. 8,[5] Minnesota lost to No. 20 Iowa the next week,[7] dropping them down to No. 10, though the top seven remained the same in the November 19 rankings.[8] The slate of games played on November 23 included a win by No. 2 Ohio State over No. 8 Penn State and an upset loss by No. 6 Oregon to unranked Arizona State,[9][10] causing minor changes in the following rankings: Ohio State returned to the No. 1 spot and Utah replaced Oregon at No. 6.[11] A missed field goal by Alabama's Joseph Bulovas ended the team's final possession in their Iron Bowl rivalry game at No. 15 Auburn, sealing a three-point loss that "wiped away the ... Crimson Tide's playoff hopes" according to ESPN.[12] Alabama dropped to No. 12 in the penultimate rankings—the Associated Press similarly reported that the team was certain to miss the playoff for the first time since the CFP's establishment.[13]

During the following weekend, each conference played its respective championship game. The Pac-12 championship, played on December 6, resulted in an upset win for No. 13 Oregon over No. 5 Utah, all but ending Utah's playoff chances.[14] Each of the top three teams in the CFP rankings won their conference championship: No. 1 Ohio State beat No. 8 Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship,[15] No. 2 LSU defeated No. 4 Georgia to win the SEC championship,[16] and No. 3 Clemson won the ACC championship over No. 23 Virginia.[17] The Big 12 championship between No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 7 Baylor went into overtime before Oklahoma secured a seven-point win, prompting Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley and Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby to advocate for OU's inclusion in the playoff field.[18]

The College Football Playoff field, and the full final CFP rankings, were released on December 8, 2019.[19] Pat Forde, writing for Sports Illustrated, said that the four-team field had the potential to be the strongest in CFP history and remarked that the only difficult decision for the committee to make was whether to rank LSU ahead of Ohio State or vice versa.[20] Ultimately, LSU was picked No. 1 while Ohio State and Clemson followed at Nos. 2 and 3. Oklahoma jumped into the playoff field at No. 4 following their Big 12 championship victory. LSU and Oklahoma were assigned to the Peach Bowl semifinal while Ohio State and Clemson were set to play in the Fiesta Bowl semifinal. Pac-12 champions Oregon jumped to No. 6 in the final poll and were assigned to the Rose Bowl against No. 8 Wisconsin, while Georgia fell to No. 5 and were matched with No. 7 Baylor in the Sugar Bowl. No. 8 Florida and No. 24 Virginia were assigned to the Orange Bowl, and the Cotton Bowl Classic matched No. 10 Penn State and No. 17 Memphis.[19]

2019 College Football Playoff rankings top six progression
No. Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Final
1 Ohio State (8–0) LSU (9–0) LSU (10–0) Ohio State (11–0) Ohio State (12–0) LSU (13–0)
2 LSU (8–0) Ohio State (9–0) Ohio State (10–0) LSU (11–0) LSU (12–0) Ohio State (13–0)
3 Alabama (8–0) Clemson (10–0) Clemson (10–0) Clemson (11–0) Clemson (12–0) Clemson (13–0)
4 Penn State (8–0) Georgia (8–1) Georgia (9–1) Georgia (10–1) Georgia (11–1) Oklahoma (12–1)
5 Clemson (9–0) Alabama (8–1) Alabama (9–1) Alabama (10–1) Utah (11–1) Georgia (11–2)
6 Georgia (7–1) Oregon (8–1) Oregon (9–1) Utah (10–1) Oklahoma (11–1) Oregon (11–2)

Key:  Team increased ranking from previous week   Team decreased ranking from previous week   Team selected to College Football Playoff 

Playoff games

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Semifinals

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Peach Bowl

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Main article: 2019 Peach Bowl
2019 Peach Bowl
Quarter 1 2 34Total
No. 4 Oklahoma 7 7 7728
No. 1 LSU 21 28 7763

at Mercedes-Benz Stadium • Atlanta, Georgia

  • Date: December 28, 2019
  • Game time: 4:00 p.m. EST

The Peach Bowl semifinal matched No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 1 LSU for the third time; each of their prior meetings had also occurred in the postseason, with Oklahoma winning the 1950 Sugar Bowl and LSU winning the 2004 Sugar Bowl.[21]

Fiesta Bowl

[edit]
Main article: 2019 Fiesta Bowl (December)
2019 Fiesta Bowl
Quarter 1 2 34Total
No. 3 Clemson 0 14 7829
No. 2 Ohio State 10 6 0723

at State Farm Stadium • Glendale, Arizona

  • Date: December 28, 2019
  • Game time: 8:00 p.m. EST

Championship game

[edit]
Main article: 2020 College Football Playoff National Championship
2020 College Football Playoff National Championship
Quarter 1 2 34Total
No. 3 Clemson 7 10 8025
No. 1 LSU 7 21 7742

at Mercedes-Benz Superdome • New Orleans, Louisiana

  • Date: January 13, 2020
  • Game time: 7:00 p.m. CST

References

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  1. ^ "Year-by-year CFP selection committee membership". College Football Playoff. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
  2. ^ "Sooners, Cowboys listed in College Football Playoff's first ranking of 2019". KOCO-TV. November 5, 2019. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  3. ^ "Joe Burrow leads No. 2 LSU past No. 3 Alabama in 46–41 thriller". ESPN. Associated Press. November 10, 2019. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  4. ^ Johnson, Randy (November 22, 2024). "Gophers vs. No. 4 Penn State stirs vivid memories from Minnesota's 2019 home triumph". Minnesota Star Tribune. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  5. ^ a b c Northam, Mitchell (November 13, 2019). "LSU is the new No. 1 in the Top 25 College Football Playoff rankings for Week 12". National Collegiate Athletic Association. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  6. ^ Hartman, Marcus (November 11, 2019). "Defense redeems itself by treating Terps like twerps". Dayton Daily News. Dayton, Ohio. p. C1. Retrieved April 30, 2025 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  7. ^ Morehouse, Marc (November 16, 2019). "No. 20 Iowa 23, No. 8 Minnesota 19: The Pig and the glory". The Gazette. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  8. ^ Kelley, Kevin (November 19, 2019). "College Football Playoff Rankings for Nov. 19, 2019 released". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  9. ^ "No. 2 Ohio State tested but tops No. 9 Penn State 28–17". CBS Sports. Associated Press. November 24, 2019. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  10. ^ "Jayden Daniels, Arizona State upset No. 6 Oregon". Sports Illustrated. Associated Press. November 23, 2019. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  11. ^ Russo, Ralph D. (November 26, 2019). "Ohio State jumps LSU to No. 1 in CFP rankings". Salisbury Post. Associated Press. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  12. ^ "No. 16 Auburn upends No. 5 Alabama's playoff hopes, 48–45". ESPN. Associated Press. November 30, 2019. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  13. ^ Russo, Ralph D. (December 4, 2019). "Ohio St., LSU, Clemson, UGA in prime position". Staten Island Advance. Staten Island, New York: Associated Press. p. B4. Retrieved April 30, 2025 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  14. ^ "No. 13 Oregon ends No. 5 Utah's playoff hopes with 37–15 win". ESPN. Associated Press. December 7, 2019. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  15. ^ Baird, Nathan (December 8, 2019). "One good half is good enough: Buckeyes spot Badgers 21–7 lead, then blow them away in second half". The Plain Dealer. Cleveland, Ohio. p. C4. Retrieved April 30, 2025 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  16. ^ Guilbeau, Glenn (December 8, 2019). "LSU routs Georgia, 37–10, for SEC championship". The News-Star. Monroe, Louisiana. p. D1. Retrieved April 30, 2025 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  17. ^ Lentz, Zach (December 8, 2019). "Tigers rout Virginia for 5th straight title". The Times and Democrat. Orangeburg, South Carolina. p. B1. Retrieved April 30, 2025 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  18. ^ Hawkins, Stephen (December 8, 2019). "OU prevails in overtime". Longview News-Journal. Longview, Texas: Associated Press. p. C1. Retrieved April 30, 2025 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  19. ^ a b Blinder, Alan (December 8, 2019). "The College Football Playoff is set, and L. S. U. is No. 1". The New York Times. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  20. ^ Forde, Pat (December 8, 2019). "Loaded College Football Playoff field could be its strongest yet". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on June 9, 2020. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  21. ^ Shipp, Sonny (December 27, 2019). "LSU vs. Oklahoma: preview and predictions". 247Sports. Retrieved May 6, 2025.
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