COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF

IRVING, Texas (AP) — The College Football Playoff is set and it is historic: Cincinnati will play Alabama in the Cotton Bowl and Michigan will face Georgia in the Orange Bowl on New Year’s Eve.

Fourth-seeded Cincinnati becomes the first team to break through the CFP’s glass ceiling and make college football’s final four from a non-Power Five conference. The Bearcats won the American Athletic Conference and head into the postseason as the only unbeaten team in the country. Their reward will be a matchup with the defending national champions.

The Crimson Tide is in the playoff for the seventh time in its eight-year history.

Michigan is making its first appearance in the playoff. Georgia is in for the second time, and first since the 2017 season.

BOWL SELECTION DAY

Notre Dame against Oklahoma in Fiesta Bowl

UNDATED (AP) — Fifth-ranked Notre Dame will face No. 9 Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl in a matchup of two teams that just missed the College Football Playoff.

The Fighting Irish finished fifth in the final CFP rankings after coach Brian Kelly left for LSU last week. Defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman was promoted to head coach on Friday.

The Cowboys came up inches short of a possible CFP berth when Dezmon Jackson was stopped just short of the end zone pylon in the final seconds of a 21-16 loss to Baylor in the Big 12 championship game.

Among the other bowl matchups:

— No. 6 Baylor and No. 8 Mississippi will match up in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day.

— Utah will face Ohio State in the 108th edition of the Rose Bowl. The Utes will be making their first appearance in the Granddaddy of Them All on Jan. 1 after their 38-10 victory over Oregon in the Pac-12 championship game.

— Pittsburgh’s reward for its first ACC championship is a date with Michigan State in the Peach Bowl. Pitt beat Wake Forest 45-21 in the ACC championship game on Saturday night. The Dec. 30 Peach Bowl will be the Panthers’ first New Year’s Six bowl since 2004.

— No. 12 BYU draws upstart UAB as Independence Bowl opponent.

— Mountain West Conference champion Utah State will face Oregon State of the Pac-12 Conference in the inaugural LA Bowl on Dec. 18 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, the home of the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers of the NFL.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL-POLL

UNDATED (AP) — Alabama will head into the postseason the same way it started the regular season — as No. 1 in the nation.

The Crimson Tide reclaimed the top spot in The Associated Press college football poll after beating previously top-ranked Georgia. Defending national champion Alabama, which was No. 1 for the first six weeks of this season, jumped three spots after dominating the Southeastern Conference title game. The Bulldogs fell to No. 3.

In between, Michigan was No. 2 for a second straight week after winning the Big Ten Conference championship for the first time since 2004. Cincinnati slipped a spot to No. 4. The Bearcats are the only remaining unbeaten FBS team in the country.