The expanded College Football Playoff brought some drama in its first year.
And, in a somewhat surprising change from the four-team postseasons of the past decade, big brands have been left out.
Alabama was punished with three losses and handed over to SMU. The announcement was a big question mark after the Mustangs lost a heartbreaking ACC Championship Game against Clemson on a 56-yard field goal at Horn.
Alabama had a much better win over SEC champion Georgia. But they also had two bad losses to Vanderbilt and Oklahoma. SMU's two losses were by a combined six points to BYU and Clemson.
So after all the talk about how dominant the SEC would be after adding Oklahoma State and Texas, they ended up with fewer bids than the Big Ten (four). Somewhere, Greg Sankey is pissed.
Other than that, there really weren't that many surprises. Undefeated Oregon State earned the top seed as expected, Georgia ranked second, Mountain West champion Boise State earned its third bye, and Arizona State earned its fourth bye.
Texas, the top at-large seed, will host No. 12 Clemson in the opening game.
Penn State earned the No. 6 seed and will play SMU.
The 7-10 game is a state showdown between Notre Dame and Indiana, with the most interesting first-round matchup pitting Ohio State against Tennessee, with the winner taking on Georgia in the quarterfinals.
