College Football Playoff set: Penn State hosts SMU in opening round as 12-team field decided
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — SMU will visit Penn State in the opening round of the College Football Playoff with the winner advancing to face Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.
The Mustangs lost 34-31 to No. 13 Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game but earned the No. 11 seed as the CFP's last at-large selection over Alabama on Sunday. SMU's berth gave the ACC two teams in the 12-team playoff a year after unbeaten Florida State was left out of the four-team bracket.
Penn State earned the CFP's No. 6 seed after losing 45-37 to top-ranked Oregon in the Big Ten championship.
The game will be played at noon Dec. 21 at Beaver Stadium. It will be broadcast on TNT and streamed on MAX.
The winner will face No. 8 Boise State and electric running back Ashton Jeanty at Glendale's State Farm Stadium on Dec. 31. The Mountain West champion Broncos (12-1) were awarded the No. 3 seed in the CFP over Big 12 champion Arizona State.
Boise State has a strong history at the Fiesta Bowl, starting with its wild win over Oklahoma in 2007. The Broncos lost to Oregon by three early in the season, then closed the season with 11 straight wins.
SMU captured the last open spot in the College Football Playoff, edging Alabama in a first-of-its-kind, 12-team bracket that placed undefeated Oregon No. 1.
The expanded bracket marks a new era for college football, though the Alabama-SMU debate made clear that there is no perfect formula for identifying a champion.
“We just felt, in this particular case, SMU had the nod above Alabama,” said Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, the chair of the selection committee. "But it’s no disrespect to Alabama's strength of schedule. We looked at the entire body of work for both teams."
The tournament starts Dec. 20-21 with four first-round games involving teams seeded 5-12. It concludes Jan. 20 with the national title game in Atlanta.
Georgia, the SEC champion, was seeded second; Boise State, the Mountain West champion, earned the third seed; and Big 12 titlist Arizona State got the fourth seed and final first-round bye.
All will play in quarterfinals at bowl games Dec. 31-Jan. 1.
Clemson stole a bid and the 12th seed with its crazy win over SMU -- the result that ultimately cost Alabama a spot in the field. The Tigers moved to No. 16 in the rankings, but got in as the fifth-best conference winner.
