New Year's Six bowl matchups announced
-- The next group of bowl selections are in, and Western Michigan is going to row its boat to the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic.
Mid-American Conference champion Western Michigan and coach P.J. Fleck -- whose "row the boat" battle cry has become a signature phrase for the 13-0 team -- will play Wisconsin in the Cotton Bowl. Western Michigan is one of two unbeaten teams left in the FBS, with Alabama being the other.
The other New Year's Six matchups go like this: Michigan against Florida State in the Capital One Orange Bowl, Penn State against USC in the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual and Auburn against Oklahoma in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
This will be the first appearance in the Orange Bowl by the Wolverines since Tom Brady threw four touchdown passes to beat Alabama and cap the 1999 season.
Florida State is in the Orange Bowl for the 10th time and will play at Hard Rock Stadium for the second time this season. The Seminoles beat Miami there during the regular season after blocking a potentially game-tying extra point in the final moments.
The 103rd edition of The Granddaddy of Them All will match two venerable football programs that have emerged from bad times since their last trip to this postseason showcase.
USC (9-3) will meet Penn State (11-2) in a rematch of the 2009 Rose Bowl, won 38-24 by the Trojans.
Western Michigan and Wisconsin are both making their first Cotton Bowl appearances.
The Broncos (13-0), at No. 15 in the final CFP rankings, beat two Big Ten teams, Northwestern and Illinois, on the road early this season.
The No. 8 Badgers (10-3) had a six-game winning streak before the Big Ten championship game, where they had a 28-7 lead before losing 38-31 to Penn State while giving up the most points they had all season.
It's the fifth time Western Michigan and Wisconsin have played, the first since 2000.
Auburn and Oklahoma will square off for the first time since the Sugar Bowl in 1972, which the Sooners won 40-22.
The Orange Bowl is Dec. 30. The Rose, Cotton and Sugar bowls are all Jan. 2.
In other bowl games:
Information from ESPN's Brett McMurphy and The Associated Press was included in this report.?