Oregon leads College Football Playoff; SMU in over Alabama

Little movement was expected between the committee’s penultimate top-25 rankings, released Tuesday, and Sunday’s finale, as committee chairman and Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel had said teams participating in that one Not playing in conference championship games over the weekend were essentially frozen.

The 48 hours leading up to the bracket release went largely as expected, with many favorites winning their conference championship games; The exception, however, came when Clemson capitalized on a last-second field goal to upset SMU and win the ACC Championship game on Saturday. SMU, which just a week earlier had been projected as conference champions for a possible top-four berth, suddenly found its resume thrown into a debate with other major contenders like Alabama, which had more losses but more top-25 finishes. were able to record victories for the last available place.

Ultimately, SMU emerged as one of the group’s biggest winners when the playoff selection committee picked up the Mustangs despite losing in the title game and left out perennial powerhouse Alabama.

Manuel said the committee debated extensively the merits of SMU and Alabama.

“The way SMU played in that game, losing on a last-second field goal, we felt like SMU had the edge over Alabama in that one,” Manuel said, “but that’s not disrespect the strength of Alabama in the game plan.”

Former Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban suggested teams need to tighten up their scheduling going forward, speaking on ESPN.

“Play more good games,” Saban said. “Instead of playing eight SEC games, maybe we should play 10.”

The top four seeds were secured this weekend as Oregon beat Penn State to win the Big Ten, Georgia beat Texas in overtime for the SEC title, Arizona State won the Big 12 over Iowa State and Boise State beat UNLV and Mountain West won.

Since numbers 1 through 4 receive a bye, the playoffs begin on December 20th and 21st with a first round between teams ranked 5th through 12th, played at the home stadiums of the higher seeded overall team.

These matchups are now set:

• Clemson, Texas
• Indiana at Notre Dame
• SMU at Penn State
• Tennessee at Ohio State

The winners of the first round advance to the quarterfinals, which will be played at the Fiesta Bowl, Rose Bowl, Peach Bowl and Sugar Bowl, where they will play against one of the top four seeds on December 31 and January 1. The seedings mean that 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 face Arizona State.

The dates of the remaining college football playoffs:

Semifinals: 9th–10th January, in the Cotton Bowl and Orange Bowl.

championship: January 20, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.