College Football Playoff: SMU gets final at-large spot over Alabama despite ACC title game loss

Posted by Admin December 8, 2024 Sports

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The College Football Playoff bracket is set. (Hassan Ahmad/Yahoo Sports)

The Mustangs got the final at-large berth in the College Football Playoff over Alabama. SMU lost 34-31 to Clemson on Saturday night in the ACC title game to drop to 11-2. Alabama (9-3) didn’t play on conference championship weekend.

SMU fell from No. 8 to No. 10 after the loss but stayed one spot ahead of Alabama in the rankings.

The bracket is made up of five conference champions and seven at-large teams. The top four conference champions get the four first-round byes and the fifth conference champion has to play in the first round. Clemson (10-3) was that final conference champion.

Clemson, however, didn’t jump SMU in the rankings. The Tigers got the final spot in the 12-team playoff with a No. 16 ranking and will play Texas in the first round.

First-round byes

1. Oregon (13-0, Big Ten champion)

2. Georgia (11-2, SEC champion)

3. Boise State (12-1, Mountain West champion)

4. Arizona State (11-2, Big 12 champion)

Those four spots aren’t a surprise. Oregon beat Penn State to win the Big Ten title on Saturday night while Georgia beat Texas for a second time in the SEC title game. Boise State took down UNLV in the Mountain West title game on Friday night, and Arizona State blew out Iowa State for the Big 12 championship.

The Sun Devils got the last bye because of the Mustangs’ loss. SMU had been penciled in for a bye week with a win over Clemson.

The teams getting byes in the playoff will play their first games at bowl sites. Oregon will be at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 and Georgia will play in the Sugar Bowl. Boise State draws the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 31 since it’s ahead of ASU. The Sun Devils will play in the Peach Bowl on Jan. 1.

First-round matchups

No. 12 Clemson (10-3, ACC champion) at No. 5 Texas (11-2, at-large) [Dec. 21, 4 p.m. ET, TNT]

No. 11 SMU (11-2, at-large) at No. 6 Penn State (11-2, at-large) [Dec. 21, noon ET, TNT]

No. 10 Indiana (11-1, at-large) at No. 7 Notre Dame (11-1, at-large) [Dec. 20, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN]

No. 9 Tennessee (10-2, at-large) at No. 8 Ohio State (10-2, at-large) [Dec. 21, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN]

There are no rematches or matchups between teams in the same conference in the first round. Texas and Penn State stayed ahead of Notre Dame despite their conference championship game losses.

The only movement among the teams playing in the first round came via the ACC. The conference was provisionally set to have only one team in the field with an SMU win. But Clemson’s win got the conference two spots in the playoff since SMU stayed ahead of Alabama.

SMU vs. Alabama

The decision to keep SMU in the playoff field over Alabama came down to the importance of conference title games. SMU lost to a top-20 team in a game it earned by winning the regular-season title in its conference. Alabama missed out on the SEC title because it lost to a 6-6 Oklahoma team by three touchdowns in the penultimate week of the season.

Alabama has better wins than SMU. That’s indisputable. It beat Georgia and has wins over South Carolina and Missouri, two teams ranked in the committee’s top 25. SMU doesn’t have a win over a team in the current rankings.

However, SMU’s only regular-season loss came to BYU and the Mustangs went undefeated in their first year in the ACC. Having a two-loss cushion over Alabama entering the title game turned out to be a deciding advantage.

The key takeaway after the first season with a 12-team playoff is much like the key takeaways from seasons with the four-team playoff: Bad losses to mediocre teams are extremely harmful to your playoff chances.

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 (10-2)

9. Boise State (12-1)

10. SMU (11-2)

11. Alabama (9-3)

12. Arizona State (11-2)