Clemson vs. Oklahoma, 2015 Orange Bowl semifinal results: Tigers dancing to the Championship

Update: Playoff exec Bill Hancock has now commented, and it’s basically what we expected below.

Last year’s inaugural College Football Playoff had roughly everything its organizers and fans could’ve hoped for: entertaining games (even a lopsided Rose Bowl featured the end of a dominant Florida State team hated by casual fans), compelling players (the last two Heisman winners and plenty of star power across the board) and three of the sport’s blue bloods (Alabama, FSU and the eventual national champions, Ohio State).

He was attended to for a minute on the field before being helped off by training staff. There’s no word yet on his status for the rest of the game.

Oklahoma safety Ahmad Thomas is getting a rare opportunity to play in his hometown. The Miami Central graduate doesn’t get many chances to come to South Florida with the Sooners, but with Oklahoma in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Orange Bowl, he may well be playing in front of friends and family that can’t normally get to Norman.

Early in the second half of the Orange Bowl, Thomas tried to stop Clemson running back Zac Brooks. He might not have wanted that to happen in front of his friends.

During a second-quarter Oklahoma possession in Thursday’s Orange Bowl, Baker Mayfield completed a pass to Sterling Shepard for 27 yards on the Clemson sideline. A Tigers assistant performed an impressive jump while the ball was in the air, and four Clemson assistant coaches were in the area to argue the call.

Following the play, Clemson’s sideline received a 15-yard sideline interference penalty.

The first of two College Football Playoff semifinals kicks off at 4 p.m. ET on New Year’s Eve, as the No. 1 Clemson Tigers take on the No. 4 Oklahoma Sooners at the Capital One Orange Bowl.

Streaming broadcast of the Orange Bowl is available on WatchESPN, and it’s also on ESPN.

The Playoff on New Year’s Eve is a bizarre experiment. It’s kind of arrogant, but so is assuming most people prefer luxurious parties that don’t have TVs to watching major sports championships with friends. Some people have to work, but everybody else will figure out how to handle this, and we’ll all have a good time.

So, let’s talk about the Orange Bowl semifinal in Miami! (4 p.m. ET, ESPN and WatchESPN)

If Vegas is correct, Alabama will win the College Football Playoff over Oklahoma. Bovada lists that as the most likely scenario, at 13/5 odds, with the reverse result of the same matchup as the second-most likely, at 7/2 odds.

The advanced stats would agree with those odds, as the S&P+ ratings give Alabama a 42 percent chance to win it all. Four of our 10 SB Nation analysts also chose the Tide to win the national championship, while two each picked Oklahoma, Michigan State and Clemson.

For the last 15 years, college football’s national champion has recruited more four- and five-star prospects than two- or three-star prospects over its previous four classes. Most of the teams those champs have faced in the championship game have, too.

In the inaugural College Football Playoff, the streak looked to be in jeopardy as Ohio State went into the final as a slight underdog. But the Buckeyes who met the mark crushed Oregon, which had not.

Ty and Dan break down the Clemson-Oklahoma and Alabama-Michigan State games in the build up to the 2015 College Football Playoff with some help from SB Nation’s Shakin The Southland, The Only Colors and Roll Bama Roll, as well as Allen Kenney from BlatantHomerism.com.

Two of the hottest teams in college football will kick off the College Football Playoff on Dec. 31 when No.1 Clemson and No. 4 Oklahoma face off in the Orange Bowl. The Tigers are the country’s last undefeated program after ripping through the ACC and ranked opponents like No. 8 Notre Dame, No. 9 Florida State and No. 10 North Carolina. The Sooners can’t match that perfect record thanks to an early-season 24-17 loss to 5-7 Texas, but wins over No. 11 TCU, No. 16 Oklahoma State and No. 17 Baylor have validated their late run to football’s final four.

ESPN and oddsmakers, via OddsShark, like the Sooners, but neither by more than four points. The prediction swung in the opposite direction on SB Nation’s panel of writers. Seven of our 10 featured writers picked the Tigers to advance to the National Championship Game.