UPDATE 12:10 p.m. Sunday: DALLAS (WKZO-AM) — Clemson is the top seed in the final College Football Playoff standings and will play No. 4 Oklahoma in the semifinals.
The other semifinal will feature No. 2 Alabama against No. 3 Michigan State. Clemson won the ACC championship Saturday with a 45-37 win over North Carolina.
The 13-0 Tigers will face the Big 12 champion Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl on New Year’s Eve.
Alabama clinched the SEC championship with a 29-15 win over Florida and will meet the 12-1 Spartans in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 31.
The winners of those semifinals will meet in for the national championship on Jan. 11 in Glendale, Ariz.
Michigan State isn’t the only team going to a Bowl Game over the next month. Four football teams from Michigan and ten teams from the Big Ten have been invited to take part in postseason action.
The Michigan Wolverines will play the Florida Gators in the Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day.
The Western Michigan University Broncos play Middle Tennessee State in the Bahamas Bowl on Christmas Eve.
Central Michigan will play the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the Quick Lane Bowl at Ford Field.
Other Big Ten bowlers include the Iowa Hawkeyes, who will play Stanford in the Rose Bowl, Ohio State will play Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl, Northwestern will play Tennessee in the Outback Bowl, Wisconsin will play USC in the Holiday Bowl, Indiana will take on Duke in the Pinstripe Bowl in New York and Penn State will play Georgia in the Taxslayer Bowl.
Nebraska, which finished its season with a 5-7 record, will play UCLA in the Foster Farms Bowl.
ORIGINAL STORY: INDIANAPOLIS (WKZO) — The Big Ten Championship wasn’t so much a game as it was a grind, and, for most of the showdown between Iowa and Michigan State, it was a defensive masterpiece on both sides.
It took the longest pass completion Iowa has made all year to put them ahead, and then it took the most time consuming drive the Spartans have assembled all year to win the game.
At the end of it, L.J. Scott powered through a pile of Hawkeyes and reached the football out into the end zone to score the game-winning touchdown in the final minute.
Fifth-ranked Michigan State took down No. 4 Iowa 16-13 in the Big Ten Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium, and have likely won a spot in the national college playoffs.
Scott ran for 73 yards and a touchdown. Kicker Michael Geiger hit three of five field goals.
Iowa QB C.J. Beathard threw for 216 yards, a touchdown and an interception as the Hawkeyes fell to 12-1.
Iowa was held to 52 rushing yards on 24 carries.
Top-ranked Clemson, Alabama, Stanford and Michigan State took the wins in the major conferences.
The final rankings will be released Sunday, establishing which teams will play for the national crown.
– John McNeill
