New Year's Six Bowls: Indiana and Coastal Carolina Snubbed

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We now know who will be playing on New Year's Day:

CFP Semifinals
Alabama vs. Notre Dame
Clemson vs. Ohio State

Cotton Bowl
Oklahoma vs. Florida

Fiesta Bowl
Oregon vs. Iowa State

Orange Bowl
UNC vs. Texas A&M

Peach Bowl
Cincinnati vs. Georgia

Indiana and Coastal Carolina got hosed by not being in these games. Oregon technically won the Pac-12, but wouldn't have been in the title game if not for Washington missing the game due to COVID-19 and needing to get replaced. Iowa State lost three games; Coastal Carolina went 11-0, including having a win over Louisiana, which beat Iowa State. Indiana, meanwhile, was 6-1 this season. Their only loss of the year was a one-score loss to Ohio State.

Coastal Carolina and Indiana are both ahead of Iowa State and Oregon in the AP rankings this week. College football continues to have a very weird system that is heavily tilted towards what will draw the best TV ratings.

Update: Here is what CFP chair Gary Barta said about why Iowa State is included here but Indiana is not:
























Indiana fans are going to be fuming over this explanation for awhile, given that Iowa State had two extra losses to Indiana. Iowa State did beat Oklahoma and Texas, but they later lost to Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game.










 












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Ryan Glasspiegel grew up in Connecticut, graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and lives in Chicago. Before OutKick, he wrote for Sports Illustrated and The Big Lead. He enjoys expensive bourbon and cheap beer.