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College Football Playoff SMU Gets Final At-Large

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17 views10 pages

College Football Playoff SMU Gets Final At-Large

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samkyner
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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NCAAF Home News Scores/Schedule College Football Playoff Bracket How To Watch Standi

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College Football Playoff: SMU gets final at-large spot


over Alabama despite ACC title game loss
Nick Bromberg
Senior writer 292
Sun, Dec 8, 2024, 12:05 PM
CST · 4 min read

SMU is in the College Football Playoff.


The Mustangs got the final at-large berth in the College Football Playoff over Alabama. SMU lost 34-31 to
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Clemson on Saturday night in the ACC title game to drop to 11-2. Alabama (9-3) didn't play on
conference
NCAAF championship
Home weekend.
News Scores/Schedule College Football Playoff Bracket How To Watch Standi

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.

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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.

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

First-round byes
1. Oregon (13-0, Big Ten champion)
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2. Georgia
NCAAF (11-2, Home
SEC champion)
News Scores/Schedule College Football Playoff Bracket How To Watch Standi

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.

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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]

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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.

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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.

Final College Football Playoff rankings

1. Oregon (13-0)

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NCAAF Home News Scores/Schedule College Football Playoff Bracket How To Watch Standi

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)

13. Miami (10-2)

14. Ole Miss (9-3)

15. South Carolina (9-3)

16. Clemson (10-3)

17. BYU (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)
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24.NCAAF
UNLV (10-3) Home News Scores/Schedule College Football Playoff Bracket How To Watch Standi

25. Memphis (10-2)

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