The top-four teams in the College Football Playoff were released Sunday and the big loser appears to be Penn State.

The Nittany Lions were left out of the final four despite claiming the Big Ten championship Saturday night with a win against Wisconsin.

Alabama (13-0), which remained atop the rankings throughout, will face Washington (12-1) in the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Eve. The Huskies claimed the Pac-12 championship with a win over Colorado Friday night.

Clemson (12-1) moved up to No. 2 after winning the ACC championship Saturday night. The Tigers will face Ohio State (11-1) in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Eve. The Buckeyes dropped to No. 3 and were the only team in the final four that was not a conference champion.

“It was detailed, it was difficult conversation and we looked a lot of things,” CFP committee chairman Kirby Hocutt said. “We looked at one-loss Washington, that loss being against a top 10 opponent compared to a two-loss Penn State team. One loss they were not competitive in that game and the other loss was to an 8-4 team. We talked about strength of schedule. Strength of schedule favored Penn State. Had Washington had a stronger strength of schedule I don’t think the conversation and discussion would have been as difficult.”

Hocutt said while Washington’s strength of schedule has been a concern for the committee, the group pointed out the Huskies quality wins as a factor in the decision including wins over Stanford, Utah, Washington State and Colorado.

Washington coach Chris Petersen addressed the committee’s concern on ESPN.

“All we can do is play who is on our schedule,” Petersen said. “This schedule was made before we even got here at Washington. As a coach, you can’t worry about that and just go play. That’s for everybody else to figure out.

“All we can do is put our best foot forward with whoever is in front of us and our guys have done that throughout the year.”

The semifinal winners will meet in the national championship game on Monday, Jan. 9, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla.

The remaining games that compose the New Year’s Six access bowl games — Rose, Sugar, Orange and Cotton — will select the highest-ranked remaining teams that fill their criteria. Those matchups will be determined Sunday afternoon.

The selection committee is composed of 12 members: Hocutt, Barry Alvarez, Jeff Bower, Herb Deromedi, Tom Jernstedt, Bobby Johnson, Jeff Long, Rob Mullens, Dan Radakovich, Condoleezza Rice, Steve Wieberg and Tyrone Willingham.

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The full playoff rankings:

1. Alabama

2. Clemson

3. Ohio State

4. Washington

5. Penn State

6. Michigan

7. Oklahoma

8. Wisconsin

9. USC

10. Colorado

11. Florida State

12. Oklahoma State

13. Louisville

14. Auburn

15. Western Michigan

16. West Virginia

17. Florida

18. Stanford

19. Utah

20. LSU

21. Tennessee

22. Virginia Tech

23. Pittsburgh

24. Temple

25. Navy