Michigan State is headed back to California and not Florida after all.
The 19th-ranked Spartans will take on No. 21 Washington State in the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 28 in San Diego.
MSU (9-3) has never played in the Holiday Bowl before. The Spartans are 5-2 all-time against the Pac-12 Cougars (9-3), who defeated MSU 23-21 the last time the met in 1977.
A number of bowl analysts projected the Spartans to either the Citrus Bowl in Orlando or Outback Bowl in Tampa. However, those Florida bowl games appear to have gone in different directions.
Because Wisconsin is in the Orange Bowl because of contractual obligations with the Big Ten, the Citrus Bowl could not select a Big Ten team and instead has Notre Dame vs. LSU. Michigan got a berth to the Outback Bowl, where the Wolverines will face South Carolina.
MSU defeated U-M this season, 14-10, in Ann Arbor. The Spartans remained No. 16 in the College Football Playoff rankings, where they spent the final three weeks in the committee's rankings. The Wolverines (8-4) have not been ranked since losing at Wisconsin on Nov. 18.
Washington State is No. 18 in the committee rankings, while South Carolina _ like U-M _ is not ranked.
The Spartans' last trip to California was for the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 2014.
The four teams to make the national semifinals were revealed early Sunday afternoon by ESPN: No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 4 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, No. 2 Oklahoma vs. No. 3 Georgia in the Rose Bowl.
The Buckeyes were No. 5 in the final College Football Playoff rankings, while Wisconsin was No. 6.
It is the first time in the four-year history of the College Football Playoff that the Big Ten does not have a representative. Ohio State played in 2014 and 2016, while MSU was in the 2015 semifinals. The Buckeyes won the championship the first year, but those two programs also were shut out in the semifinals the past two years by a combined score of 69-0.
