GRAPEVINE, Texas — The first College Football Playoff expanded the national championship race, made the regular season even more intriguing and produced a final four with major star power.

Nick Saban’s No. 1 Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Urban Meyer’s No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes at the Sugar Bowl.

Marcus Mariota, this season’s Heisman Trophy front-runner, and second-seeded Oregon vs. Jameis Winston, last season’s Heisman Trophy winner, and defending national champion Florida State at the Rose Bowl.

The winners will meet on Jan. 12 in Arlington, Texas, at the home of the Dallas Cowboys.

After six weeks of ranking teams, the selection committee shuffled its deck Sunday and dealt the Big 12 out.

“We’re smarting today,” Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said.

TCU, which had been third in the rankings last week, ended up sixth. Big 12 co-champion Baylor moved up a spot to No. 5, but both were squeezed out by Ohio State, which won over the committee with a doozy of a closing statement in its conference championship game: a 59-0 victory against Wisconsin for the Big Ten title.