Clemson, Oklahoma and Georgia were locks to make the fourth edition of the College Football Playoff after winning their conference championship games on Saturday, and finishing with one loss each. That fourth spot was up for grabs, with most eyeballs turning to two-loss Big Ten champion Ohio State -- which lost to unranked Iowa by 31 points, and one-loss Alabama, which lost the Iron Bowl to Auburn last month and didn't win the SEC West.

In the end, the Crimson Tide prevailed in the eyes of the committee.

"The selection committee looked at a one-loss Alabama team with that loss coming against the final ranking No. 7 team Auburn in a very competitive game," selection committee chairman Kirby Hocutt said on ESPN. "We compared that to a two-loss Ohio State team -- obviously with one loss at home to No. 2 Oklahoma -- but more damaging was the 31-point loss to unranked Iowa. We spent a great amount of time last night into the morning -- beginning at 7:30 this morning -- talking about the full body of work. Now that the complete season is in front of us, the selection committee just favored Alabama's full body of work over that of Ohio State. It was consistent over the course of the year, as we saw Alabama play week-in and week-out, our rankings showed when we start with a clean piece of paper every week, that Alabama was the better football team."

It's clear based on how the committee voted that unexplainable losses are far more impactful than big wins, because the Buckeyes do have more signature wins than the Crimson Tide.

"When you looked at Ohio State, the win over Wisconsin, winning the Big Ten Championship, when you look at the resume and wins over CFP top 25 times, it was impressive," Hocutt said. "But it wasn't enough for the selection committee to place them over Alabama. The selection committee has continued to be impressed with Alabama's performance on the field. We believe we got it right this week and that Alabama is the No. 4 team."

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It's also clear that the "eye test" trumps conference championships, which is part of the selection criterion for the committee.

"Alabama was clearly the No. 4 ranked team as a non-champion," Hocutt said.

Alabama is the only team to make the College Football Playoff in each of its four years of existence. It is the second team in as many years to make it without a conference title, after Ohio State got in over Big Ten champion Penn State a year ago. With SEC champion Georgia also in, this is the first year in which two teams from the same conference will participate in the four-team tournament.

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The Crimson Tide will play No. 1 Clemson in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Night, with No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 3 Georgia playing the other national semifinal in the Rose Bowl earlier that afternoon in Pasadena, California.