Arizona State will play in Peach Bowl in College Football Playoff quarterfinals
Book your tickets now, Arizona State fans.
The Sun Devils received the No. 4 seed in the final College Football Playoff Rankings, and will play on New Year's Day in Atlanta.
The four quarterfinal games in the CFP will be played as traditional bowl games on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1. Arizona State had an outside shot to play in the Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix, 30 minutes from its campus, but that bowl slot went to No. 3 Boise State.
The Sun Devils will play the winner of No. 12 Clemson vs. No. 5 Texas in the Peach Bowl on Jan. 1 at 11 a.m. MST.
Clemson (10-3) got the final spot in the CFP with an automatic bid by beating SMU 34-31 in the ACC championship game. Texas (11-2) lost an overtime 22-19 heartbreaker to Georgia in the SEC championship to fall to the No. 5 seed. The Longhorns would have likely been the No. 2 seed with a win.
Texas will be heavy favorites to beat Clemson. The Longhorns' two losses came to Georgia, and many pundits think they're the most complete team in the nation.
Here are the final College Football Rankings, with the first-round and quarterfinal matchups and game times:
First Round CFP Games
Friday, Dec. 20
No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Notre Dame, 6 p.m. MST
Saturday, Dec. 21
No. 11 SMU at No. 6 Penn State, 10 a.m. MST
No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Texas, 2 p.m. MST
No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State, 6 p.m. MST
Quarterfinal CFP Games
Tuesday, Dec. 31
Fiesta Bowl: Penn State/SMU winner vs. No. 3 Boise State, 5:30 p.m. MST
Wednesday, Jan. 1
Peach Bowl: Clemson/Texas winner vs. No. 4 Arizona State, 11 a.m. MST
Rose Bowl: Tennessee/Ohio State winner vs. No. 1 Oregon, 3 p.m. MST
Sugar Bowl: Indiana/Notre Dame winner vs. No. 2 Georgia, 6:45 p.m. MST
More Arizona State & Big 12 Analysis
Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.