Darnell Sallins
December 8, 2024, 1:21PM
The 12-Team College Football Playoffs have been revealed Sunday afternoon. There were two questions being asked after Championship Weekend. First one being who will get the two-bye spots between Boise State, Arizona State, and Clemson? All three teams won their respective conference championship games. The other question being who gets the final spot in the playoffs between SMU and Alabama after the ACC Championship game?
The committee rewarded Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State with first-round byes as the four highest conference champions. Oregon is the only undefeated team in college football and Georgia defeated Texas for the second time with the latest meeting being for the SEC Championship. The first question was which of the remaining conference champions would get those two other byes. Boise State and Arizona State got the byes ahead of Clemson, who will play in the first round.
Next was to reveal the four teams that would host the first round in two weeks. Those four would be: Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame, and Ohio State. Texas slid to the fifth seed after losing to Georgia on Saturday in Atlanta. Penn State was slotted in the sixth seed following the lost to Oregon in the Big Ten Championship. Notre Dame and Ohio State didn't play in Championship Weekend, so they were slated seventh and eighth respectively.
The last piece to the playoffs was picking the road teams for the first round. Well, Clemson got the automatic bid for winning the ACC Championship so they will be on the road to Texas as the 12th seed. Tennessee and Indiana were already in the field before Championship Weekend, so they were slated ninth and tenth in the playoffs.
The final spot was between SMU and Alabama. SMU was ranked eighth going into the ACC Championship Game and Alabama was ranked 11th but not involved in Championship Weekend. The committee chose not to penalized SMU for losing to Clemson on a game-winning 56-yard field goal for Alabama. SMU gets the 11th seed and Alabama is the first team out with Miami being the second.
The committee rewarded SMU for playing the conference championship and making a 17-point comeback before losing over Alabama's 3-1 record against Top 25 teams and not playing in a conference championship game. Alabama can only blame themselves for losses to Vanderbilt in a shootout and probably the nail in the coffin, a 21-point loss at Oklahoma late in the season.
With this "ruling", the committee has made it clear that conference games do matter whether you win it or lose it because you are top two in your conference for the Power Four Conferences.
First Round Games:
10. Indiana at 7. Notre Dame December 20 8PM ABC/ESPN
11. SMU at 6. Penn State December 21 12PM TNT/MAX
12. Clemson at 5. Texas December 21 4PM TNT/MAX
9. Tennessee at 8. Ohio State December 21 8PM ESPN/ABC
Quarterfinals Games:
Fiesta Bowl: Winner of 6/11 Game vs. 3. Boise State December 31 7:30PM ABC/ESPN
Peach Bowl: Winner of 5/12 Game vs. 4. Arizona State January 1, 2025, 1PM ABC/ESPN
Rose Bowl: Winner of 8/9 Game vs. 1. Oregon January 1, 2025, 5PM ABC/ESPN
Sugar Bowl: Winner of 7/10 Game vs. 2. Georgia January 1, 2025, 8:45PM ABC/ESPN
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