2018 Sugar Bowl
| 2018 Allstate Sugar Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| CFP Semifinal 84th Sugar Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 1, 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Mercedes-Benz Superdome | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | New Orleans, Louisiana, US | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP |
Jalen Hurts, QB (Offensive) Daron Payne, DT (Defensive) |
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| Favorite | Alabama by 3.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Land Clark (Pac-12) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Halftime show | Million Dollar Band (Alabama) Clemson Tiger Marching Band (Clemson) |
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| Attendance | 72,360 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN, ESPN Deportes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers |
Joe Tessitore, Todd Blackledge, Holly Rowe, and Laura Rutledge (ESPN) Bill Rosinski, David Norrie and Ian Fitzsimmons (ESPN Radio) |
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| Nielsen ratings | 11.5 (21.6 million viewers) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 2018 Sugar Bowl was a College Football Playoff semifinal bowl game that was played on January 1, 2018 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. The 84th Sugar Bowl game, it matched two of the top four teams selected by the Selection Committee-Alabama from the SEC and Clemson from the ACC to compete to face the winner of the Rose Bowl (Georgia) in the 2018 College Football Playoff National Championship played on January 8, 2018, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. It was one of the 2017–18 bowl games that concluded the 2017 FBS football season. Sponsored by the Allstate insurance company, the game is officially known as the Allstate Sugar Bowl.
The contest was televised on ESPN and ESPN Deportes, with a radio broadcast on ESPN Radio and XM Satellite Radio, with kickoff at 8:00 p.m. CT (9:00 p.m. ET).
Teams
The #1-ranked Clemson Tigers, champions of the Atlantic Coast Conference, faced the #4-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide, co-champions of the SEC West Division (along with Auburn who won head-to-head over Alabama.) This was the third consecutive year in which Clemson and Alabama met in the CFPs, though the previous two meetings were in the CFP Championship Game.