After four-plus months of on-field results and politicking by coaches, athletic directors and fans, the College Football Playoff selection committee announced Sunday the 12-team field.
The biggest question coming into Sunday was who would earn the final at-large spot between Alabama and SMU.
The committee put SMU (11-2) in the field one night after it lost 34-31 to Clemson on the last-second field goal in the ACC championship game. Alabama (9-3) is out after not making its conference title game.
That decision will be debated for a long time. As the for the rest of the bracket, here’s how it shook out:
The final College Football Playoff bracket. (Hassan Ahmad/Yahoo Sports)
First-round byes
1. Oregon (13-0, Big Ten champion)
2. Georgia (11-2, SEC champion)
3. Boise State (12-1, Mountain West champion)
4. Arizona State (11-2, Big 12 champion)
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First-round matchups
No. 12 Clemson (10-3, ACC champion) at No. 5 Texas (11-2, at-large): Dec. 20, 8 pm. ET
No. 11 SMU (11-2, at-large) at No. 6 Penn State (11-2, at-large): Dec. 21, noon ET
No. 10 Indiana (11-1, at-large) at No. 7 Notre Dame (11-1, at-large): Dec. 21, 4 p.m. ET
No. 9 Tennessee (10-2, at-large) at No. 8 Ohio State (10-2, at-large): Dec. 21, 8 p.m. ET
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Full CFP field, byes, first-round matchups
Byes
1. Oregon 2. Georgia 3. Boise State 4. Arizona State
First-round playoff matchups No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Notre Dame, Dec. 20, 8 ET, ESPN No. 11 SMU at No. 6 Penn State, Dec. 21, Noon ET, TNT No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Texas, Dec. 21, 4 ET, TNT No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State, Dec. 21, 8 ET, ESPN
The College Football Playoff bracket is set. (Hassan Ahmad/Yahoo Sports)
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12 things to know about the 12-team field
The 12-team playoff field features:
– two of the top six running backs in the country – the top four defenses in the country – seven of the top 20 in athletic budget
SMU coach Rhett Lashlee reacts to playoff inclusion
The full CFP rankings
Playoff teams in bold
1. Oregon
2. Georgia
3. Texas
4. Penn State
5. Notre Dame
6. Ohio State
7. Tennessee
8. Indiana
9. Boise State
10. SMU
11. Alabama
12. Arizona State
13. Miami
14. Ole Miss
15. South Carolina
16. Clemson
17. BYU
18. Iowa State
19. Missouri
20. Illinois
21. Syracuse
22. Army
23. Colorado
24. UNLV
25. Memphis
Oregon favored to win CFP championship
Here are every team’s odds to win the national title (via BetMGM):
Oregon: +325
Georgia: +350
Texas: +375
Ohio State: +450
Penn State: +700
Notre Dame: +1200
Tennessee: +2500
SMU: +3500
Clemson: +4000
Arizona State: +4000
Indiana: +5000
Boise State: +5000
Committee values strength of schedule
Perhaps in response to Nick Saban’s tirade about the importance of strength of schedule, CFP chair Warde Manuel makes it clear they do take it into consideration.
Warde Manuel: “I want to make sure everybody understands that we value strength of schedule.”
CFP chair Warde Manuel said the committee had “quite a debate” over Alabama and SMU.
“The way SMU played in that (ACC title) game, losing on a last second FG. We felt like in this case SMU had the nod above Alabama, but it’s no disrespect to Alabama’s strength of schedule.”
Shortly after it was announced that Clemson will play in Austin, Texas in the first round, Dabo Swinney exclaimed: “I’m gonna meet Matthew McConaughey!” 😂
Saban isn’t making much sense. Strength of schedule should be a factor but you can’t put a 9-3 team ahead of an 11-1 team just because they have a harder schedule
They’re yapping all about how good Alabama’s wins are and completely ignoring their embarrassing losses. It’s a clown show. Losses matter. The games on the field matter.
A reminder: The strength of schedule argument is largely on realignment and by association commissioners and rightsholders who consolidated leagues and made it certain that HALF the teams in a league wouldn’t play each other. That leaves a schedule that is an annual crapshoot in…
