Alabama is back in the College Football Playoff for a fourth straight season, meaning junior safety Minkah Fitzpatrick will participate in his third semifinal game on New Year’s Day.

But the Crimson Tide’s inclusion in the 4-team tournament was more uncertain than the past two -- and even three -- years after its 26-14 loss to then-No. 6 Auburn in the Iron Bowl.

Alabama spent Championship Saturday somewhere other than Atlanta for the first time in four seasons and waited to see what occurred in the Big 12 and Big Ten title games. With Ohio State narrowly defeating No. 4 Wisconsin, the Tide was selected ahead of the Buckeyes as the fourth seed on Selection Sunday, turning uncertainty into celebration in Tuscaloosa.

“We’re really excited and we’re really happy that the committee chose us,” Fitzpatrick said prior to the Nagurski Trophy banquet Monday in Charlotte, N.C. “We all think we deserved it. There’s a lot of other teams that thought they deserved it, but at the end of the day, they decided to pick us and that’s just how it rolled.”

No. 4 Alabama will face No. 1 Clemson in the Allstate Sugar Bowl semifinal on Jan. 1 in the third installment of the trilogy. The past two seasons, the Tide and Tigers have met in the national title game, splitting the series 1-1. The Sugar Bowl will be the rubber match.

And after falling short in a 35-31 game a year ago, Fitzpatrick is looking forward to playing the champions of the ACC again, this time for a chance to play for a national championship.

“It’s a lot fun,” Fitzpatrick said. “They’re a great team, they give us a great challenge every single time we play them and we entertain everybody that’s watching the game. It’s going to be a whole lot of fun to play. Like I said, they’re a great team, great athletes, great offense, great defense, great coaching, and it’s just a clash of two great programs.”

Although the Tigers ended Alabama’s hopes of repeating in 2016, and the loss still sits with a lot of the players that carried over from last season’s roster, Fitzpatrick said they aren’t using revenge as a factor in the early stages of their preparation for the semifinal.

“Just another game for us,” Fitzpatrick said. “Obviously it’s against Clemson, but we’ve just got to do our job, think of this game, the team that we’re going to be facing and that’s about it. We can’t be thinking about last year. I mean obviously we learned from it and now we’ve got to roll with what happened last year, but we’ve just got to keep moving.”

While he did not bring home the Nagurski Trophy -- the award was given to N.C. State’s Bradley Chubb -- Fitzpatrick could still win the Jim Thorpe and Chuck Bednarik Awards and the Lott IMPACT Trophy, as well as be selected as a first-team All-American.

The time between the end of the regular season and the postseason game also gives the do-it-all defensive back an opportunity to rest his lingering hamstring issue. Asked about his health and overall feeling four weeks ahead of Round 3 of Alabama-Clemson, Fitzpatrick said he and his teammates are nearing full strength for the first time in a long time.

“I’m feeling real good, real confident,” he said. “The team got to rest a little bit. We’ve been real beat up, so we’re going to get a couple people back. We’re going to train real hard, practice real, get everybody right and go out there and fight with Clemson.”

*** Quotes and video were obtained by Jake Rowe of Dawgs247.

Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).