Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State claimed the top four seeds while SMU edged out Alabama for the final at-large spot in the debut 12-team College Football Playoff.
The decision to go with SMU comes after the Mustangs lost 34-31 to Clemson in the ACC championship game. That earned the Tigers an automatic bid to the playoff as one of top five conference champions.
Alabama went 9-3 in the regular season with wins against Georgia, South Carolina, LSU and Missouri. But the Crimson Tide also lost to 6-6 teams in Vanderbilt and Oklahoma, the latter by 21 points. SMU finished 11-2 and joined Oregon as the only Power Four teams to go unbeaten in conference play.
The rest of the field followed the blueprint laid out in last week’s penultimate playoff rankings.
The Ducks, Bulldogs, Broncos and Sun Devils were given a bye into the quarterfinals and will face the winners from the opening round. ASU made a late-season charge to the Big 12 title capped by Saturday’s 45-19 win against Iowa State. Boise earned the automatic bid given to the highest-ranked Group of Five conference champion.
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This group was followed by No. 5 seed Texas, No. 6 Penn State, No. 7 Notre Dame, No. 8 Ohio State, No. 9 Tennessee, No. 10 Indiana, the No. 11 Mustangs and the No. 12 Tigers.
These teams will meet on the home field of the higher-ranked team in games scheduled for Dec. 20-21. Texas will host Clemson, the Nittany Lions will face SMU, Notre Dame will take on Indiana and Ohio State will meet Tennessee.
The winner between the Nittany Lions and Mustangs will take on Boise State in the quarterfinals. Oregon will take on OSU or Tennessee; the Ducks beat the Buckeyes 32-31 in the regular season. ASU will meet the Longhorns or Tigers and Georgia will face either the Fighting Irish or Hoosiers.
What is the College Football Playoff schedule?
The four highest-rated conference champions are given byes into the field. The first-round games will be on campus either on Dec. 20 or Dec. 21.
Winners of those games will advance to the quarterfinals. The Fiesta Bowl will be played on Dec. 31. The Sugar Bowl, Rose Bowl and Peach Bowl will be played Jan. 1.
The Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl will host the semifinals on Jan. 9 and Jan. 10, respectively.
The championship game will be played Jan. 20 in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
First-round games (with seeding)
No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Texas
No. 11 SMU at No. 6 Penn State
No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Notre Dame
No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State
Quarterfinals
Fiesta Bowl: No. 3 Boise State vs. Penn State-SMU winner
Peach Bowl: No. 4 Arizona State vs. Texas-Clemson winner
Sugar Bowl: No. 2 Georgia vs. Notre Dame-Indiana winner
Rose Bowl: No. 1 Oregon vs. Ohio State-Tennessee winner
College Football Playoff rankings Top 25
1. Oregon (13-0)
2. Georgia (11-2)
3. Texas (11-2)
4. Penn State (11-2)
5. Notre Dame (11-1)
6. Ohio State (10-2)
7. Tennessee (10-2)
8. Indiana (11-1)
9. Boise State (12-1)
10. SMU (11-2)
11. Alabama (9-3)
12. Arizona State (11-2)
13. Miami (Fla) (10-2)
14. Mississippi (9-3)
15. South Carolina (9-3)
16. Clemson (10-3)
17. Brigham Young (10-2)
18. Iowa State (10-3)
19. Missouri (9-3)
20. Illinois (9-3)
21. Syracuse (9-3)
22. Army (11-1)
23. Colorado (9-3)
24. UNLV (10-3)
25. Memphis (10-2)
(This story has been updated to change a video and add a gallery.)