College Football Playoff 2018: New Year’s Six projections after Week 1

Capital One Orange Bowl: Alabama vs. Auburn

The first time we saw the Orange Bowl host a semifinal game, it was that of the No. 1 vs No. 4 seeds in the playoff rankings. So it is pretty obvious why we have the Alabama Crimson Tide here but probably some questions of why we chose the Auburn Tigers as the fourth seed.

Well, after their Week 1 win over the Washington Huskies, if the updated AP Poll isn’t already out, they should be ranked near the top five or in it. And if Alabama is the one-seed, it obviously won the SEC conference and most likely went undefeated.

For Auburn, it would be getting in on the same route Alabama did just a season ago. The Tigers would fall just short of the SEC title game but squeeze into the final spot for the playoff.

This could be one of the greatest Iron Bowl matchups in the history if Alabama and Auburn’s historic rivalry. And it’s hard beating a team twice, just ask Auburn in 2017. This semifinal matchup sounds unlikely to some, but it’s formality as happened before, and history tends to repeat itself.