The first ever 12-team College Football Playoff field is officially set.
Four teams — Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State — received a bye into the semifinals of the College Football Playoff. Those four teams were the four highest-ranked conference champions, which is why they got a bye despite not being the four highest-ranked teams in the final College Football Playoff ranking. Four other teams — Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame and Ohio State — will host a home game in the first round.
The remaining four teams are Tennessee, Indiana, SMU and Clemson. You can see the full bracket:
College Football Playoff bracket thoughts? pic.twitter.com/FUOkNEornj
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) December 8, 2024
The biggest question after Saturday was whether Alabama or SMU would get into the 12-team field.
SMU finished the year 11-2 after losing a close game to Clemson in the ACC Championship Game on Saturday night. Alabama had a more difficult schedule but lost three games, two of which were against unranked opponents in Vanderbilt and Oklahoma. The Crimson Tide also lost to Tennessee.
Had SMU been left out, they essentially would have been punished for reaching the ACC Championship Game. Head coach Rhett Lashlee delivered some strong comments about his team’s CFP resume after Saturday night’s loss, and the committee agreed with him.
