CFB 12-Team Bracket Set

As Conference Championship weekend finished, the world of college football was on its toes waiting for Sunday morning to see what 12 teams had a shot at winning the national championship. The biggest story going into selection Sunday was whether SMU or Alabama would make the final slot as the 11 seed.

Alabama’s resume of a win over the newest SEC Champion Georgia and four other top 25 teams would have most believing that the eye test would fall to the Crimson Tide. However, three losses during the season certainly doesn’t look as good when you factor in that two of the three losses were to unranked teams, including a crushing 24-3 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners, who had yet to truly find their footing in the SEC until taking down the Crimson Tide, crushing the hopes of back-to-back SEC championships.

SMU’s resume did not have the significance of difficult opponents, but going 11-1 during the regular season and making your conference championship surely looked better to other sets of eyes. They weren’t even in talks of missing the playoffs as the original tight race was between the Miami Hurricanes and the Alabama Crimson Tide. But as the ACC championship played on, SMU fans watched in dismay as the Clemson Tigers manhandled them during the first half of their game. College football fans watched in awe, knowing that a win by SMU or a blowout win by Clemson would propel a three loss Alabama team into the playoffs. But the Mustangs stormed back, almost making a miraculous comeback before Clemson’s kicker drilled a 56-yard field goal as time expired to win the ACC championship and clinch their spot in the playoffs.

As Sunday rolled around, college football fans questioned if the playoff committee would punish SMU for simply playing another game, but the final spot was taken by the Mustangs, leaving Alabama out of the first ever 12-team playoff.

The matchups for the first round of the playoffs will be Clemson traveling to play Texas, Tennessee traveling to play Ohio State, SMU traveling to play Penn State, and Indiana traveling to play Notre Dame, with Arizona State, Oregon, Boise State, and Georgia receiving the first-round byes.

The first playoff game of the new era kicks off on December 20th, with Notre Dame hosting the Indiana Hoosiers at Notre Dame’s historic field. It seems only fair that the first playoff game of this amazing college football season would be an in-state rivalry game.

Whether you will be watching from home or forking over some cash to attend one of these historic games, the 2024 season of College Football is set to have an ending just as spectacular as the season itself.