The Clemson Tigers won a thriller that came down to a clutch field goal by freshman Nolan Hauser as time expired to clinch the ACC Championship with a 34-31 win over No. 8 SMU.
Meanwhile, Oregon took care of business and came away with a 45-37 win over No. 3 Penn State in the Big Ten Championship. With those two finals, we now have what should be the 12-team College Football Playoff field.
There will be questions about SMU and Alabama for the last at-large spot. Truthfully, there's no way that the Mustangs should be left out after playing the game they did against Clemson. SMU has a better record and they would've easily been in before the ACC Championship, so there's no reason the Ponies should be out after a thriller against Clemson.
The real question: How does the committee handle seeding? Does SMU stay ahead of Clemson in the rankings? Does Clemson jump Arizona State — who just dominated Iowa State — for the final top-four spot?
Here's a look at our projected field ahead of the committee's selection show on Sunday.
First-Round Byes
1) Oregon Ducks
2) Georgia Bulldogs
3) Boise State Broncos
4) Clemson Tigers
Now, some of you may be asking: Why would a three-loss Clemson team be ranked ahead of Arizona State? Well, Clemson just beat the No. 8 team in the country and Arizona State beat the No. 16 team in the country. They were only two spots between one another coming into this week, and the Tigers are now one of only four teams — joining Oregon, Georgia, and Ohio State — as teams in the field that would actually have a win over a team in the field.
We'll see if that's correct — there's most definitely an argument for Arizona State and, honestly, both teams should get a bye ahead of Boise State — but it feels like that's the narrative the committee will go by.
First-Round Matchups
12) Arizona State Sun Devils at 5) Notre Dame Fighting Irish
11) SMU Mustangs at 6) Penn State Nittany Lions
10) Indiana Hoosiers at 7) Texas Longhorns
9) Tennessee Volunteers at 8) Ohio State Buckeyes
For the rest of the field, we've got Notre Dame, Penn State, Texas, and Ohio State as the home teams, hosting Arizona State, SMUm Indiana, and Tennessee.
The College Football Playoff selection show will take place at noon E.T. on ESPN.