The inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff field has been unveiled. Oregon was the No. 1 seed, Georgia was No. 2, Boise State was No. 3 and Arizona State completed the first round as No. 4. SMU, after losing the ACC title game to Clemson, entered as to general offered by Alabama.
The five highest-ranked conference champions were guaranteed spots in the field, and the next seven highest-ranked teams also entered. This meant that not every team ranked in the top 12 was guaranteed a bid. Clemson beat Alabama because they won their conference. The field was revealed Sunday on ESPN.
Indiana, Notre Dame last met in 1991
Indiana and Notre Dame’s campuses are separated by 200 miles in the Hoosier State, but the teams haven’t met since 1991 and prior to 1958.
Rick Mirer and Jerome Bettis led the seventh-ranked Irish to a 49-27 victory in South Bend on an 86-degree September afternoon in ’91.
The temperature will be slightly cooler when the teams meet at Notre Dame Stadium on December 20 or 21.
The winner plays Georgia. The Bulldogs have played Notre Dame three times, all high-stakes games, and have never faced Indiana.
Playoff field
#1 in Oregon
No. 2 Georgia
3 Boise State
4 Arizona State
No. 5 Texas
No. 6 Penn State
no 7 Notre Dame
No. 8 Ohio State
No. 9 Tennessee
no 10 Indiana
From 11 SMU
No. 12 Clemson
1st team Alabama away, 2nd team Miami
Alabama and Miami are out of the College Football Playoff, even though both finished ranked above 16th-ranked Clemson.
The ACC champion Tigers were the fifth-highest ranked conference champion.
Miami led the nation in offense this year and Alabama played a very tough SEC schedule, but had a particularly bad loss to Oklahoma late in the year.
The Tide was looking for a ninth trip to the CFP. Miami has yet to play in the CFP.
How far is it from Alabama to SMU? a lot
If the AP Top 25 is any indication, choosing between Alabama and SMU will be a brutal task for the committee.
The margin between Alabama and SMU in the AP Top 25: One point.
Alabama scored 838 points out of 62 voters in the AP poll. SMU scored 837.
If the AP Top 25 decided the bracket, it would be good for ‘Bama, bad for SMU
The final AP Top 25 of the regular season is out. No surprise: Oregon is #1.
The rest of the top 12: no. 2 Georgia, no. 3 Notre Dame, no. 4 Texas, no. 5 Penn State, no. 6 Ohio State, no. 7 Tennessee, no. 8 Boise State, no. 9 Indiana, No. 10 Arizona State, No. 11 Alabama and No. 12 SMU. ACC champion Clemson is No. 13.
So… what would that mean?
If the committee ranks the top 12 the same way the AP voters did this morning, these would be the matchups (remember, the four top-ranked conference champions will get the top four seeds and the fifth-ranked top-ranked conference No. 13 Clemson: makes the field.)
– No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Notre Dame. The winner gets No. 4 Arizona State. – No. 11 Alabama at No. 6 Texas. The winner gets No. 3 Boise State. – No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Penn State. Winner gets No. 2 Georgia. – No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State. Winner gets No. 1 Oregon. The first team to come out on this stage: SMU.
How to watch: ESPN’s all-day coverage of the CFP picks
ESPN’s selection show will begin at noon. It will last for four hours, and that’s nowhere near full coverage.
Here’s the big headline: Within the first 30 minutes or so of this show, you’ll know who made it into the 12-team field. In the first hour, you’ll learn about the full CFP Top 25.
There’s a two-hour pre-show starting at 10 a.m. on ESPN2 and ESPNU, and then three hours of post-show dissection from 4-7 p.m., split between ESPN and ESPN2.
There will also be two-hour shows on the SEC Network (starting at 6:00 p.m.) and the ACC Network (starting at 8:00 p.m.) to discuss the entire playoff and bowl game for these conferences. And back on ESPN starting at 8:30 p.m., there’s another 2-1/2 hour show discussing all of the day’s picks.
And if all that wasn’t enough, ESPN is planning digital shows at 1:00 p.m. (team reaction) and 3:00 p.m. (the championship picture) on its college football YouTube channel and Facebook page .
When are the playoff games?
The College Football Playoff begins on December 20th and ends on January 20th. There will be 11 games, all broadcast nationally.
Here’s how it will work:
First round matches
-Friday, December 20: Game at 8 p.m. (ABC/ESPN)
-Saturday, December 21: Games at noon (TNT), 4 p.m. (TNT) and 8 p.m. (ABC/ESPN)
Quarter finals
– December 31: Fiesta Bowl, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)
– January 1: Peach Bowl, 1 p.m. (ESPN)
– January 1: Rose Bowl, 5 p.m. (ESPN)
– January 1: Sugar Bowl, 8:45 p.m. (ESPN)
semi-finals
– January 9: Orange Bowl, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)
– January 10: Cotton Bowl, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)
national championship
– January 20: At Atlanta, 7:30 p.m. (ESPN)
How does CFP seeding work?
It’s a 12-team field for the College Football Playoff. That doesn’t mean the top 12 teams in Sunday’s final standings will enter the field. In fact, that probably won’t happen.
The five highest-ranked conference champions are guaranteed spots in the field, and the next seven highest-ranked teams also enter. This means that if one or more of the top-ranked conference champions are ranked below No. 12, some of the top-12 teams will be eliminated from the tournament.
The expectation this year is that the Big 12 winner won’t be ranked in the top 12, so the No. 12 team – it was Miami in the most recent rankings – would be out of the tournament.
Another nuance: The top four conference champions will have the top four seeds. That means Boise State (which almost certainly won’t be in the top 4) won’t be ranked any worse than No. 4. And Notre Dame, because it’s not in a conference, can’t be ranked any higher than 5.
The 1, 2, 3 and 4 seeds have first round byes. Seeds 5-12 will play first-round games with 5-8. There is no reseeding; the bracket will be set Sunday afternoon. The #1 seed will play the 8 vs. 9 winner, the #2 seed will play the 7 vs. 10 winner, the #3 seed will play the 6 vs. 11 winner, and the #4 seed will play the the Winner 5 against 12.
Who is on the CFP selection committee?
There are 13 members of the College Football Playoff selection committee. It is chaired by Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel.
The other members of the commission:
-Chris Ault, former Nevada coach
-Chet Gladchuk, Navy athletic director
-Jim Grobe, former Wake Forest coach
-Randall McDaniel, former Arizona State player
-Gary Pinkel, former Missouri and Toledo coach
-Mack Rhoades, Baylor athletic director
-Mike Riley, former Nebraska and Oregon State coach
-David Sayler, athletic director of Miami of Ohio
-Will Shields, former Nebraska player
-Kelly Whiteside, former sports reporter at USA Today, Newsday and Sports Illustrated
-Carla Williams, Virginia athletic director
-Hunter Yurachek, Arkansas athletic director