2016 Peach Bowl Playoff semifinal, Alabama vs. Washington : Date, location, and everything to know

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There’s no question that the 2016 Peach Bowl will be the most important edition of the New Year’s Eve mainstay in its history.

The Peach Bowl has been frequently contested on New Year’s Eve for most of its existence, and has most often matched second-tier teams from the ACC and SEC for a primetime clash in Atlanta. But with the introduction of the College Football Playoff, the Peach Bowl has soared in prestige, now sitting on a plateau with the more esteemed bowls in the New Year’s Six.

Last year’s Peach Bowl was its second as a member of that elite club, and maybe the most momentous Peach Bowl in history, as upstart Houston upset ACC runner-up Florida State in stunning fashion after entering the game as a touchdown underdog.

Still, the Peach Bowl has never featured a top-five team before. In 2016, the Peach Bowl will have two. Alabama’s No. 1 overall, of course, and a Penn State-Washington-Michigan debate over the No. 4 seed doesn’t deny that any of those teams is elite. This should be fun. Alabama, by virtue of being the top seed in the Playoff, gets the short drive to Atlanta for what might feel like a home game.

The Peach Bowl has been sponsored by the Atlanta-founded Chick-fil-A since 1997, and was known as the Chick-fil-A Bowl from 2006-13. Since 2014, however, it has used both the sponsor-less name that it used from its inception in 1968 to that first corporate partnership in 1997 and the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl official name it bore from 1997 to 2005.

This will be the last Peach Bowl in the Georgia Dome, where it has been held since 1993. When the Atlanta Falcons open Mercedes-Benz Stadium in 2017, the Peach Bowl will follow to the NFL tenant’s new digs.

Here is everything you need to know in preparation for this year’s Peach Bowl:

Date and time: Dec. 31, 3 p.m. ET

TV channel: ESPN

Location: Atlanta

Stadium: Georgia Dome

Last year’s score: Houston 38, Florida State 24

Last year’s attendance: 71,007

Teams with the most all-time appearances: Clemson, 8

Teams with the most all-time wins: LSU, 5

Alabama (13-0, 8-0 in SEC)

Alabama made its mark throughout the season by continuing to pass the tests. First came the 52-7 win over USC at AT&T Stadium on opening weekend. Then a 48-43 road win over Ole Miss, the team which beat the Tide in 2014 and 2015. October featured three ranked teams and two road games against Arkansas, Tennessee, and Texas A&M. Bama beat them by a combined 77 points. The 10-0 win over LSU in Tiger Stadium wasn’t pretty, but the Tide took care of business, regardless. Alabama finished the regular season with a 30-12 win over Auburn in the Iron Bowl, and then destroyed Florida in the SEC Championship.

Alabama has been so good all season, and they’ve shown they can beat you in several different, but equally terrifying, ways. Statistically, Alabama has been dominant on both sides of the ball.

On offense, that starts with quarterback Jalen Hurts, who’s been running the zone read to perfection, or at least close to it. He threw for over 2,500 yards and 21 touchdowns, and rushed for another 923 and 12 touchdowns during the regular season.

Jonathan Allen and Reuben Foster led perhaps the country’s best defense, which is littered with All-Americans and has become an offensive, touchdown-scoring force in its own right. The Tide are terrifying.

We’ll see if Alabama can keep rolling now. It’s hard not to like its chances.

Washington (12-1, 8-1 in Pac-12)

If there was a surprise team this season, it has to be the Washington Huskies. At 4-0 heading into a Friday night matchup against No. 7 Stanford in the fall, the Huskies were looking to make a statement. That they did, blowing out the Pac-12 North preseason favorite Cardinal, 44-6. From there, Chris Petersen’s team won the next four straight, including a signature win over No. 17 Utah.

The Huskies fell to USC on Nov. 12, but rebounded to win their next two, including a 44-6 win over No. 23 Washington State in the Apple Cup to clinch the Pac-12 North. Then UW beat Colorado in the Pac-12 Championship.

The Huskies have been quite productive on offense, ranking inside the top five overall in the nation according to S&P+. UW quarterback Jake Browning leads the way in the passing game, where he’s worked brilliantly with receivers John Ross and Dante Pettis. Running back Myles Gaskin has gone over 1,000 yards for the year. The defense is loaded with playmakers and has a dangerous secondary.

Leading Washington to its first Pac-12 title game, as well as the first 11-win season since Rick Neuheisel’s team in 2000, Petersen has proved that he’s been building something special since his hiring in 2014.