Oregon, Georgia, Boise State, Arizona State earn top spots in College Football Playoff

Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Oregon (13-0) was awarded the top position in the 12-team College Football Playoff on Sunday with No. 2 Georgia (11-2), No. 3 Boise States (12-1) and No. 4 Arizona State (11-2) also earning first-round byes.

Also earning spots in the field from the selection committee are No. 5 Texas (11-2), which will host No. 12 Clemson (10-3), No. 6 Penn State (11-2), which will play at home against No. 11 Southern Methodist (11-2); No. 7 Notre Dame (11-1) at home against No. 10 Indiana (11-1); No. 8 Ohio State (10-2) hosting No. 9 Tennessee (10-2).

Falling short were Alabama (9-3) as the first team out and Miami (10-2) the second one.

Michigan Athletic director Warde Manual, the NCAA selection director, said there was "quite a debate" in selecting SMU over Alabama. Alabama had three losses thought the school Georgia 41-34 and SMU had a weaker schedule.

"We value strength of schedule," Manuel said. "That's why Alabama is a three-loss team ranked ahead of other teams that have two losses. It is something we talked about quite a bit. But in the balance of it and the way SMU played in that game, losing on the last-second field goal, great win by Clemson, great game. We just felt that in this particular case, SMU still had the nod above Alabama. But it's no disrespect to Alabama's strength of schedule. It's merely looking at the entire body of work for both teams."

Winning their respective conferences and earning automatic spots are Oregon (Big Ten), Georgia (Southeastern), Clemson (Atlantic Coast), Arizona State (Big 12) and Boise State (Mountain West). In the conference title games, Oregon defeated Penn State 45-37, Clemson edged SMU 34-31, Arizona State won 45-19 over Iowa State and Boise State beat UNLV 21-7.

The tournament is broken down with four teams from the Big Ten (Oregon, Penn State, Ohio State, Indiana), three from the SEC Georgia, Texas, Tennessee), one from the Big 12 (Arizona State), two from ACC (Clemson, SMU), one from Mountain West (Boise State), independent (Notre Dame).

There will be four rounds of play with the first four games played at higher rated schools with one game Dec. 20 at 8 p.m.(Indiana at Notre Dame); three on Dec. 21 at noon (SMU at Penn State), at 4 p.m. (Clemson at Texas) and at 8 p.m. (Tennessee at Ohio State).

The quarterfinal games will take place Dec. 31 in the Peach Bowl in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, 1 p.m.; Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., 5 p.m.; Fiesta Bowl in State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., 7:30 p.m.; the Sugar Bowl in Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, 8:45 p.m. EST.

The semifinals are scheduled for Jan. 9 in the Orange Bowl in Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Gardens, Fla., 7:30 p.m.; and Jan. 10 in the Cotton Bowl in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, 7:30 p.m.

The 2025 CFP National Championship Game will be played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 20.

All of the first-round will be televised on ABC/ESPN except for Clemson-Texas and SMU-Penn State on TNT/Max. ESPN will broadcast all the later-round contests.

Teams not participating in the football players can be invited to other 36 bowl games.

Some of the teams are playing in different conferences this year.

Texas moved from the Big 12, Oregon and Arizona State from the Pac-12 and SMU from the American Athletic.

Before the expansion there were four teams from 2014 to 2023 with Michigan winning the title. And before that the Bowl Champion Series had two teams from 1998 to 2013