RSM's Grant Calcaterra Returns To SoCal For 2018 Rose Bowl

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, CA — It will be a New Year's Day homecoming celebration for some players in the Oklahoma and Georgia College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Rose Bowl New Year's Day in Pasadena, the College Football Playoff announced Sunday. Grant Calcaterra, a graduate of Santa Margarita Catholic High School in Rancho Santa Margarita, freshman second-string tight end for Oklahoma will have quite a cheering section in the most anticipated game.

The matchup was determined by the final CFP rankings, which are made by a 13-member committee of five former coaches, four athletic directors, two former administrators, a college president and a former sports reporter.

The Sugar Bowl will be this season's other semifinal, and will match Clemson and Alabama.

When assigning teams to sites, the committee places the top two ranked teams at the most advantageous sites, weighing criteria such as convenience of travel for its fans, home-crowd advantage or disadvantage and general familiarity with the host city and its stadium. Preference goes to the top- ranked team.

Defending national champion Clemson was first in the final CFP rankings, followed by Oklahoma, Georgia and Alabama.

The College Football Playoff Semifinals annually rotate among the New Year's Six bowl games -- the Rose, Cotton, Fiesta, Peach, Orange and Sugar bowls.

Big 12 Conference champion Oklahoma (12-1) has won eight consecutive games and 18 of its past 19.

The Sooners are quarterbacked by Heisman Trophy favorite Baker Mayfield, who leads the Football Bowl Subdivision in passing efficiency rating, 203.8; completion percentage, .710; yards per pass attempt, 11.8; yards per completion, 16.6; and pass plays of 20-plus yards, 75.

He was second in touchdown passes with 41.

Oklahoma is first among FBS teams in total offense -- averaging 583.3 yards per game -- and are fourth in scoring, averaging 44.9 points per game.

Southeastern Conference champion Georgia (12-1) is fourth in scoring defense, allowing 13.2 points per game; second in passing defense, allowing 158.3 yards per game; and fourth in total defense, 270.9 yards.

Oklahoma's roster includes one player from Los Angeles County, redshirt sophomore third-string nose guard Dillon Faamatau, an alumnus of Norwalk High School and Cerritos College; and Calcaterra, a graduate of Santa Margarita Catholic High School in Rancho Santa Margarita.

There are five other Sooners from California -- junior Curtis Bolton, a reserve linebacker from Murrieta; sophomore Caleb Kelly, a starting linebacker from Fresno; junior Dru Samia, the starting right guard from Sacramento; and freshman Addison Gumbs, a reserve linebacker from Hayward in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sophomore cornerback Jordan Parker from Pittsburg in the San Francisco Bay Area suffered a season-ending knee injury while blocking for a punt return in the season opener against UTEP.

Sophomore Marquise Brown, leads Oklahoma with 981 receiving yards, was the leading receiver for College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita in 2016 following a high school career at Chaminade-Madonna High School in Hollywood, Florida.

No Georgia players played on the high school level in California. Second- string receiver Ahkil Crumpton played at Los Angeles Valley College in Van Nuys in 2015 and 2016 after graduating from West Catholic High School in Philadelphia.

Both teams will be making their second appearances in the Rose Bowl. The Bulldogs defeated UCLA, 9-0, in the 1943 Rose Bowl, scoring all their points in the fourth quarter. The Sooners defeated Washington State, 34-14, on New Year's Day 2003.

The game will be the first matchup between the two teams. Georgia will be playing in California for the first time since 1960 when it lost to USC, 10- 3, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Oklahoma will be playing in the state for the first time since its 17-14 victory over Oregon in the 2005 Holiday Bowl in San Diego.

Tickets are available at ticketmaster.com or by calling (800) 653- 8000. Those tickets may sell out Sunday, Rose Bowl Game Media Director Karen Linhart told City News Service.

A limited number of tickets will be released at 9 a.m. Tuesday on Ticketmaster, Linhart said.

City News Service, with Ashley Ludwig, Patch News Editor