The inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff has been set.
In the College Football Playoff Selection Show on Sunday, we were treated to seeing the 12-team playoff field revealed.
Coming into Sunday, we knew that Oregon, Georgia, Clemson, Arizona State, and Boise State would earn automatic qualifiers by being the five highest-ranked conference championships. In addition, Penn State, Texas, Ohio State, Tennessee, Indiana, and Notre Dame all had essentially earned at-large bids.
That left two big questions: Where would these teams be seeded and which team would the College Football Playoff committee put in as the last at-large bid, a two-loss SMU team that lost on a last-second field goal or a three-loss Alabama team?
With all of this behind us, the College Football Playoff committee unveiled their final ranking and the 12-team field.
Here's a look at the field for the College Football Playoff.
First-Round Byes:
1) Oregon Ducks
2) Georgia Bulldogs
3) Boise State Broncos
4) Arizona State Sun Devils
First-Round Games:
12) Clemson Tigers at 5) Texas Longhorns
11) SMU Mustangs at 6) Penn State Nittany Lions
10) Indiana Hoosiers at 7) Notre Dame Fighting Irish
9) Tennessee Volunteers at 8) Ohio State Buckeyes
The big news of the day was that the Alabama Crimson Tide were left out of the College Football Playoff. The Tide, who thought they'd be a shoe-in for the last at-large bid, saw their playoff hopes dashed by Clemson in the ACC Championship.
The Tigers ended up being a bid-stealer with freshman kicker Nolan Hauser nailing a 56-yard field goal at the buzzer to give Clemson a 34-31 win over SMU. The Mustangs, who had an 11-1 record coming into the game, were awarded because of that regular season performance — as they should have been — and this gives us the field.
The times of the games in the first-round will be determined shortly.
Saturday Blitz will be providing complete coverage and analysis from the fallout of the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff.