It’s No. 2 Clemson and No. 3 Ohio State in the other national semifinal, to be played at the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona.
It’s the Huskies’ first national playoff berth in the three-year history of the CFP.
After much discussion for the first 30 minutes on ESPN’s selection show, the top three teams — Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State — were announced, and then there was another short debate about who would be No. 4.
Finally, the Huskies were announced.
“It was a little nerve-wracking. I think you guys drew it out a long as you possibly could,” UW coach Chris Petersen said a short time later on ESPN.
The Peach Bowl is scheduled for Dec. 31 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The two semifinal winners will play for the national championship in Tampa on Jan. 9.
On Friday night, the Huskies won their first Pac-12 championship since 2000 with a 41-10 victory over Colorado in Santa Clara, Calif.
There was much public debate about whether Washington, ranked No. 4 by the CFP committee last week, would lose its place in the top four based on Penn State’s victory in the Big Ten championship Saturday night. The case for Penn State (11-2) was it won what is widely regarded as the best conference and handed Ohio State its lone loss.
The Huskies have been knocked all season for an out-of-conference strength of schedule that ranks 127th out of 128 FBS teams. UW defeated Rutgers, Idaho and Portland State — all at home — in September.
“Had Washington had a stronger strength of schedule I don’t think the conversation would have been as difficult,” CFP chair Kirby Hocutt said during an ESPN interview.
The Huskies’ resume features a 44-6 rout of then-No. 7 Stanford, a 31-24 victory at then-No. 17 Utah, a 45-17 rout of then-No. 23 Washington State and Friday’s Pac-12 championship romp — “a very convincing” victory, as Hocutt described it.
UW’s lone loss was a 26-13 defeat at home to a USC team ranked No. 10 by the CFP this week.
Washington is 0-4 all-time vs. Alabama. Their last meeting was at the 1986 Sun Bowl, where Alabama won 28-6. They also played in 1978, 1975 and at the 1926 Rose Bowl, won by the Crimson Tide 20-19.
Alabama, the defending national champion, is in the CFP for the third year in a row.
“It’s certainly the biggest challenge we’ll ever face,” Petersen said. “We’ve got nothing but respect for those guys.”
The game against Alabama will be a reunion of sorts for the Huskies and former UW coach Steve Sarkisian, who has been working as an offensive analyst for Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide this season.
Former UW assistant Tosh Lupoi is also the Alabama coaching staff.
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