Yahoo Sports 10 winners (SMU, Arizona State) and losers (Alabama) from the College Football Playoff's first 12-team bracket
The first 12-team College Football Playoff field is finally here with the CFP selection committee announcing the field and bracket Sunday, following the conference championship games.
Undefeated Oregon took the top seed, followed by No. 2 seed Georgia, No. 3 Boise State and No. 4 Arizona State, all of which will get first-round byes as the four highest-ranked conference champs. No. 5 seed Texas, No. 6 seed Penn State, No. 7 seed Notre Dame, No. 8 seed Ohio State, No. 9 seed Tennessee, No. 10 seed Indiana, No. 11 seed SMU and No. 12 seed Clemson make up the rest of the field.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF BRACKET: See the first 12-team CFP bracket for the 2024-25 national title
Despite expanding the field from four to 12 teams, there are still plenty of winners and losers here, as well as debates over included and snubbed teams, like SMU versus Alabama, getting in. Some things never change — though many college football fans were thrilled the Mustangs edged the Crimson Tide.
So now that we know who's in, who's out and who's getting a first-round bye, here's our take on the winners and losers from the first 12-team College Football Playoff bracket reveal.
Winner: SMU
To the relief of many — possibly every college football fan who doesn't root for Alabama — the playoff committee gave the two-loss Mustangs the advantage over three-loss Alabama and made them a No. 11 seed (but ranked No. 10). There was a lot of speculation about the committee possibly punishing SMU for playing in and losing the ACC title game against Clemson — especially after the Mustangs struggled in the first half. But they responded and took the Tigers to the wire before losing by a field goal. SMU's only other loss was another three-point one to BYU, and with the Mustangs over Alabama, it seems like the committee valued SMU's losses over Alabama's wins.
Loser: South Carolina
The Gamecocks got snubbed, and so much of it is the playoff committee's fault (more on that later). Of the three-loss teams who were eyeing the last at-large bid — South Carolina, Alabama, Ole Miss and Iowa State — the Gamecocks had maybe the strongest argument after beating now-ACC champ Clemson in the regular-season finale. Their losses were to Ole Miss, Alabama and LSU, and only two of those teams are still ranked. But when the playoff committee said idle teams during conference title weekend wouldn't be reevaluated, it did a tremendous disservice to a team with key wins over Texas A&M, Missouri and Clemson.
Winners: Campus playoff game hosts
College Football Playoff games on campus! This is one of the best changes to the playoff format this season, and home games in Austin, Happy Valley, South Bend and Columbus are going to be so fun for the schools and their fans. Sure, SMU probably isn't thrilled about playing a December game at Beaver Stadium and same goes for Tennessee at the Horseshoe. But hosting a playoff game is a big win for these teams that missed out on first-round byes. And college football fans end up winners here too.
Loser: Alabama
As we said, most college football fans probably consider Alabama's exclusion from the playoff as a win. But not the Crimson Tide and seemingly not Nick Saban either. Alabama was trying to join Clemson as a three-loss team in this year’s playoff, but the committee correctly couldn't ignore the team's two worst losses to 6-6 Vanderbilt and 6-6 Oklahoma. The Crimson Tide had the edge over SMU in strength of record (ninth vs. 15th), strength of schedule (16th vs. 60th) and win-loss records against teams over .500. But a two-loss team in a conference title game clearly meant more to the committee than a three-loss team who stayed home for conference championship weekend.
Winner: Boise State
The College Football Playoff committee put some respect on the Broncos, who won their Mountain West conference title in decisive fashion over UNLV. Led by Heisman contender Ashton Jeanty, Boise State is 12-1 with its lone loss a very respectable three-point defeat at No. 1 Oregon. The Group of Five conferences were always going to get at least one team in the playoff, but the Broncos weren't trying to sneak in. They were unquestionably in. They earned their first-round bye, they earned that rest and now they'll wait to play the winner of No. 6 seed Penn State against No. 11 seed SMU.
Loser: Army
Zero respect for the Black Knights from the playoff committee. It's not that they didn't make the playoff because that was going to be a challenge anyway. But NOT ONLY did they not make the playoff or even the top 12, but they also didn't even crack the top-20 teams as a one-loss American Athletic Conference champion that put up some serious style points on their way to a title. That's just wrong, even if AAC title game loser Tulane wasn't ranked. Yes, Army's one loss was a blowout to Notre Dame, but 11 wins are hard to come by regardless of conference. It certainly seems like it wasn't even considered and ended up a total afterthought.
Loser: Notre Dame
On the surface, the Fighting Irish are in a pretty good spot. They're a No. 7 seed hosting a first-round game against No. 10 seed Indiana, but they're ranked No. 5. Being ranked that high obviously means the committee values the 11-1 team whose only loss was a bad, early one to Northern Illinois. But because Notre Dame is so high, if it were in a conference and playing for a conference title, it might have earned a first-round bye. Or it might have ended up in the exact same spot. Either way, being an independent team has helped the Fighting Irish in some cases, hurt them in others and they might be wishing they had the possibility of a bye.
Winner: Arizona State
Helloooooo, Sun Devils! Forget that they're ranked No. 12; they're a No. 4 seed with a first-round bye after crushing Iowa State in the Big 12 championship game. Arizona State was picked to finish last in the Big 12 going into the season. Going into Week 15, it wasn't clear the Big 12 champ would even earn a first-round bye. But Cam Skattebo and co. changed that in the second half of the regular season. The Sun Devils are 11-2, on a six-game win streak and conference champs who, in the eyes of the committee, earned the bye. As a No. 4 seed, they'll play the winner of No. 5 seed Texas against No. 12 seed Clemson.
Loser: Miami (Fla.)
Long before Selection Sunday, the Hurricanes were in a rough spot and didn't have a clear path to make the playoff after losing two of their last three games to Georgia Tech and Syracuse. They had been exposed as a bit fraudulent for a while and were only a few points away from having more than two losses, but there was still a chance for a playoff berth, especially if the ACC title game ended in a massive blowout. It didn't, and Miami wasn't really a factor.
Loser: The College Football Playoff committee
Stop me if you've heard this before, but the CFP committee backed itself into a corner AGAIN with its weekly rankings and subsequent explanations, some of which don't make sense. Why would you not reevaluate teams idle during conference championship weekend when conference title games could make idle teams look better or worse? That pretty much guaranteed idle teams ranked lower than Alabama (e.g. South Carolina) last week couldn't move up.
Even when the committee shares its reasoning, it's often inconsistent, illogical and biased, which is why so many fans were bracing themselves for Alabama getting in over SMU. Thankfully, the committee made the right call there and didn't punish the Mustangs for losing a close conference championship matchup.
But as recently as Saturday's SEC title game, the committee was still getting criticized for botching last year's four-team playoff with Florida State. The committee messed its rhetoric and criteria up so much this year that it has some of us feeling sorry for the SEC's overlooked teams, like SOUTH CAROLINA.
An easy fix would be to only do playoff rankings the week going into conference championship weekend and then on Selection Sunday. That would keep the committee from setting arbitrary rules that then have to be followed for the rest of the rankings and limit how many explanations they offer and later contradict.
Bowlsby is spot-on all around. No one complains about not getting March Madness rankings in early February, and the CFP committee could follow suit and offer indicators and hints without late-season weekly rankings.
If the committee wanted to help itself, it'd listen to Bowlsby's and many others' suggestions for improvement. Maybe it will when it comes to auto-bids and first-round byes, but we're banking on the status quo for weekly rankings and ESPN's show.
More NCAAF!
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See the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff bracket for the 2024-25 national title
This article originally appeared on For The Win: 10 winners (SMU, Arizona State) and losers (Alabama) from the College Football Playoff's first 12-team bracket
