The 12-team College Football Playoff that will eventually crown a national champion was unveiled Sunday, with top-seeded Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State earning the top four seeds and first-round byes in the bracket.
As part of the playoff’s expansion from four teams to 12 this season, its 13-member selection committee selected the five highest-ranked conference champions, plus seven at-large teams. Only the four highest-ranked conference champions were eligible to earn top four seeds and the reward of byes into the quarterfinals. The rule meant the committee’s final top 25 rankings differed from its seedings.
The 12-team bracket, by seedings:
1. Oregon (13-0)
2. Georgia (11-2)
3. Boise State (12-1)
4. Arizona State (11-2)
5. Texas (11-2)
6. Penn State (11-2)
7. Notre Dame (11-1)
8. Ohio State (10-2)
9. Tennessee (10-2)
10. Indiana (11-1)
11. SMU (11-2)
12. Clemson (10-3)
Little movement between the committee’s penultimate top 25 ranking, which was released Tuesday, was expected, and Sunday’s finale because the committee chair, Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, had said teams not participating in conference championship games this weekend were essentially frozen in order.
The 48 hours before the bracket reveal went mostly to expectations, as many favorites won their conference championship games; however, an exception was when Clemson upset SMU on a last-second field goal to win Saturday’s ACC championship game. SMU, which was projected for a possible top four seed as a conference champion just one week ago, suddenly had its résumé thrown into a debate with other at-large candidates such as Alabama, which had more losses but more top 25 victories, for the last at-large spot.
Ultimately, SMU became one of the bracket’s biggest winners when the committee included the Mustangs despite its title-game loss, leaving out perennial powerhouse Alabama.
Manuel said the committee strongly debated the merits of SMU and Alabama.
“The way SMU played in that game, losing on a last-second field goal, we felt like in this case SMU had the nod above Alabama,” Manuel said, "but it’s no disrespect to Alabama’s strength of schedule."
Former Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban suggested on ESPN that teams would need to stiffen their scheduling in the future.
“Play more good games,” he said. “Instead of playing eight SEC games, maybe we should play 10.”
The top four seeds were secured this weekend when Oregon beat Penn State to win the Big Ten, Georgia beat Texas for the SEC title in overtime, Arizona State won the Big 12 over Iowa State and Boise State beat UNLV to win the Mountain West.
With seeds 1-4 earning byes, the playoff will begin Dec. 20-21 with a first round between teams seeded 5-12, played at the home stadiums of the higher-seeded at-large teams.
Those matchups are now set:
- Clemson at Texas
- Indiana at Notre Dame
- SMU at Penn State
- Tennessee at Ohio State
First-round winners will advance to the quarterfinals, hosted at the Fiesta Bowl, the Rose Bowl, the Peach Bowl and the Sugar Bowl, where they will play one of the top four seeds on either Dec. 31 and Jan. 1. The seedings mean the winner of Ohio State-Tennessee will face Oregon, the winner of Indiana-Notre Dame will face Georgia, the winner of SMU-Penn State will face Boise State, and the winner of Clemson-Texas will play Arizona State.
The dates of the rest of the College Football Playoff:
Semifinals: Jan. 9-10, at the Cotton Bowl and the Orange Bowl.
Championship: Jan. 20, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.