| 2015–16 College Football Playoff | |
|---|---|
| Season | 2015 |
| Dates | December 31, 2015 – January 11, 2016 |
| Teams invited |
|
| Venues | |
| Champions | Alabama(1st CFP title, 16th overall title) |
← 2014–15 2016–17 → | |
The2015–16 College Football Playoff was asingle-elimination postseason tournament that determined thenational champion of the2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was the second edition of theCollege Football Playoff (CFP) and involved the top four teams in the country as ranked by theCollege Football Playoff poll playing in two semifinals, with the winners of each advancing to thenational championship game. Each participating team was the champion of its respective conference: No. 1Clemson from theAtlantic Coast Conference, No. 2Alabama from theSoutheastern Conference, No. 3Michigan State from theBig Ten Conference, and No. 4Oklahoma from theBig 12 Conference.
The playoff bracket's semifinal games were held at theOrange Bowl andCotton Bowl Classic on New Year's Eve, part of the season'sslate of bowl games. In the Orange Bowl semifinal, Clemson defeated Oklahoma by twenty points. The second semifinal, at the Cotton Bowl, saw Alabamashutout Michigan State, 38–0. As a result of their victories, Clemson and Alabama faced each other in the national championship game, held on January 11 inGlendale, Arizona. In that game, Alabama won by five points, giving them their first CFP national championship and their sixteenth claimed national championship in school history.
The playoff set streaming viewership records for the CFP, with both semifinals besting those of the previous year and the championship doing the same. Despite an overall viewership drop of 23 percent from the2015 championship, this year's championship set a record for unique viewers for an ESPN college football broadcast and ranked third among broadcasts of all sports in that category. The championship game received aNielsen rating of 15.8.
| Semifinals | Championship | |||||||
| December 31 –Orange Bowl Sun Life Stadium,Miami Gardens | ||||||||
| 1 | Clemson | 37 | ||||||
| 4 | Oklahoma | 17 | January 11 –National Championship University of Phoenix Stadium,Glendale | |||||
| 1 | Clemson | 40 | ||||||
| December 31 –Cotton Bowl AT&T Stadium,Arlington | 2 | Alabama | 45 | |||||
| 2 | Alabama | 38 | ||||||
| 3 | Michigan State | 0 | ||||||
The 2015–16 CFP selection committee was chaired byArkansas athletic directorJeff Long. Its other members wereWisconsin athletic directorBarry Alvarez, formerUnited States Air Force Academy superintendentMichael C. Gould,Texas Tech athletic directorKirby Hocutt, formerNCAA executive vice presidentTom Jernstedt, former head coachBobby Johnson, formerNebraska head coachTom Osborne,Clemson athletic directorDan Radakovich, formerUnited States secretary of stateCondoleezza Rice, formerBig East Conference commissionerMike Tranghese, formerUSA Today reporterSteve Wieberg, and former college head coachTyrone Willingham.[1]
The season's first College Football Playoff rankings were released on November 3, 2015.Clemson, from theAtlantic Coast Conference (ACC), was ranked No. 1. TheSoutheastern Conference (SEC) was represented by No. 2LSU and No. 4Alabama, while No. 3Ohio State represented theBig Ten Conference.Notre Dame, anFBS independent, andBaylor, from theBig 12 Conference, rounded out the top six.[2] Alabama rose to No. 2 the following week as a result of their win against LSU,[3] who dropped to No. 9.[4] The November 10 rankings also saw Notre Dame jump to No. 4 after beatingPittsburgh[5] andIowa rose to No. 6 following an eight-point win atIndiana.[6] The top five teams kept their rankings through to week 11, though a loss by No. 6 Baylor to No. 12Oklahoma saw them replaced in the top six byOklahoma State.[7][8] Several upsets shook up the following week's rankings: No. 9Michigan State defeated No. 3 Ohio State and No. 10 Baylor defeated No. 6 Oklahoma State.[9][10] As a result, Michigan State jumped to No. 5 and Baylor rose to No. 7.[11] Further, Oklahoma leapfrogged to No. 3 following a win over No. 18TCU and Iowa rose one spot to No. 4 after a win againstPurdue that saw the Hawkeyes clinch the Big Ten West Division.[12][11] The final week of the regular season saw only one change made to the top six, as No. 9Stanford's win over No. 6 Notre Dame[13] and No. 8 Ohio State's win over No. 10Michigan[14] were sufficient for the Buckeyes to replace the Fighting Irish in the No. 6 spot in the December 1 rankings.[15]
The following weekend saw many conferences play their championship games. No. 1 Clemson won theACC Championship over No. 10North Carolina to remain undefeated,[16] leadingSports Illustrated to declare them the "clear No. 1" entering the CFP. In Atlanta, No. 2 Alabama defeated No. 18 Florida for theSEC Championship, putting them at 12–1 and likely contenders for the playoff as well.[17] TheBig Ten Championship saw No. 5 Michigan State defeat No. 4 Iowa on a touchdown with 27 seconds remaining.[18] In thePac-12 Championship, No. 7 Stanford defeated No. 20USC.[19]
Ultimately, Clemson and Alabama were selected in the top two spots, while Michigan State rose to No. 3 and Big 12 champion Oklahoma was ranked No. 4 in the final CFP rankings.[20][21] Clemson and Oklahoma were assigned to theOrange Bowl, while Alabama and Michigan State were scheduled to play in theCotton Bowl Classic.[21] Iowa and Stanford, ranked No. 5 and No. 6, respectively, were slated to face each other in theRose Bowl.[22]
| No. | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clemson (8–0) | Clemson (9–0) | Clemson (10–0) | Clemson (11–0) | Clemson (12–0) | Clemson (13–0) |
| 2 | LSU (7–0) | Alabama (8–1) | Alabama (9–1) | Alabama (10–1) | Alabama (11–1) | Alabama (12–1) |
| 3 | Ohio State (8–0) | Ohio State (9–0) | Ohio State (10–0) | Oklahoma (10–1) | Oklahoma (11–1) | Michigan State (12–1) |
| 4 | Alabama (7–1) | Notre Dame (8–1) | Notre Dame (9–1) | Iowa (11–0) | Iowa (12–0) | Oklahoma (11–1) |
| 5 | Notre Dame (7–1) | Iowa (9–0) | Iowa (10–0) | Michigan State (10–1) | Michigan State (11–1) | Iowa (12–1) |
| 6 | Baylor (7–0) | Baylor (8–0) | Oklahoma State (10–0) | Notre Dame (10–1) | Ohio State (11–1) | Stanford (11–2) |
Key: Team increased ranking from previous week Team decreased ranking from previous week Team selected to College Football Playoff
| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 4 Oklahoma | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| No. 1 Clemson | 3 | 13 | 14 | 7 | 37 |
atHard Rock Stadium •Miami Gardens, Florida
A rematch of theRussell Athletic Bowl from the year before, the Orange Bowl semifinal was a matchup between No. 1 Clemson and No. 4 Oklahoma.[23] It was their fifth all-time meeting.[24] Each team scored once in the first quarter: Oklahoma capped their opening drive with aSamaje Perine touchdown rush, while Clemson'sGreg Huegel kicked a field goal on the Tigers' second possession. Clemson took the lead with ten points from its next two possessions but a touchdown pass fromBaker Mayfield toMark Andrews late in the second quarter gave the Sooners a one-point halftime lead. In the second half, Oklahoma, who lost both Perine andJoe Mixon to injury, failed to score, and the Tigers added touchdowns byWayne Gallman andHunter Renfrow to recapture and keep the lead. Clemson quarterbackDeshaun Watson, a finalist for theHeisman Trophy, was namedMVP alongside linebackerBen Boulware as the Tigers won by twenty to advance to the National Championship.[25]
| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 3 Michigan State | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No. 2 Alabama | 0 | 10 | 21 | 7 | 38 |
atAT&T Stadium •Arlington, Texas
The Cotton Bowl Classic semifinal matchup paired No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 Michigan State in their first meeting since a Crimson Tide victory in the2011 Capital One Bowl.[26] The game started scoreless through the first quarter, and Alabama struck first with a touchdown by running backDerrick Henry near the midpoint of the second quarter.[27] A field goal made the score 10–0 at halftime, but touchdowns fromCalvin Ridley,Cyrus Jones, and Henry in the second half cemented a "blowout" win for the Crimson Tide, according toThe Dothan Eagle.[28][29] The win was the ninth in nine attempts for Alabama head coachNick Saban against his former assistants and saw Derrick Henry, the Heisman Trophy winner, break the SEC single-season rushing touchdowns record of twenty-three early in the game.[29][30] Alabama's 38–0 win was the first shutout in any Cotton Bowl Classic game since1963.[28]
| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 2 Alabama | 7 | 7 | 7 | 24 | 45 |
| No. 1 Clemson | 14 | 0 | 10 | 16 | 40 |
atUniversity of Phoenix Stadium •Glendale, Arizona
In their first meeting since the beginning of the2008 season, No. 1 Clemson and No. 2 Alabama met in the National Championship game to conclude the 2015 season.[31] The Crimson Tide entered the contest as favorites by a seven-point margin.[32] Alabama scored first on a 50-yard touchdown rush by Derrick Henry, and Clemson responded on their next drive with a pass from Deshaun Watson to Hunter Renfrow to tie the game. Clemson scored another touchdown before the end of the first quarter to lead 14–7 but another Henry score tied the game at 14 points apiece going into halftime. A field goal and a touchdown apiece to begin the second half made the score 24–24 early in the fourth quarter.[33] Following theAdam Griffith field goal that tied the game, Alabama attempted and recovered anonside kick, allowing them to retain possession of the ball. TheAssociated Press called it "perhaps the boldest call of [Nick] Saban's career" andThe Anniston Star said that "the call was gutsy" and "the execution was flawless".[33][34] Alabama scored a touchdown two plays later on a pass toO. J. Howard and did not relinquish the lead for the rest of the game,[35] despite a national championship-record 40 combined points in the fourth quarter.[36]
Alabama's win gave them their fourth national championship in the previous seven seasons, the second team in history to do so afterNotre Dame from 1943 to 1949. The championship was the fifth for head coach Nick Saban and the sixteenth all-time for the Crimson Tide.[33][36] Clemson's loss in the national championship broke their 17-game winning streak, the second-longest in ACC history, and an even longer streak of 51 wins when leading at the end of the third quarter.[36][35]
The national championship game drew a viewership average of 25.7 million, a drop of 23 percent,[37] with aNielsen rating of 15.8.[38] Still, the championship game set an ESPN college football record for unique viewers at over 2.4 million, and ranked third among all ESPN broadcasts behind twoFIFA World Cup games.[39] The Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl ranked first and second among CFP semifinal streaming viewership, besting both of theprevious year's semifinals, and the championship game topped that of2015 in the same category.[40]
