The new, 12-team College Football Playoff brings with it a promise to be bigger, more exciting, more lucrative.
Perfect or 100% fair? Well, nobody ever believed that.
The first expanded playoff bracket unveiled Sunday left a presumably deserving Alabama team on the sideline in favor of an SMU squad — which will play at Penn State in the opening round — with a better record after playing a schedule that was not as difficult.
It ranked undefeated Oregon first but set up a possible rematch against Ohio State, the team that came closest to beating the Ducks this year.
It treated underdog Boise State like a favorite and banged-up Georgia like a world beater at No. 2.
It gave Ohio State home-field advantage against Tennessee for reasons it would take a supercomputer to figure out.
It gave the sport the multiweek tournament it has longed for but also ensured there will be plenty to grouse about between now and when the trophy is handed out Jan. 20 after what will easily be the longest college football season in history.
All of it will be sorted out on the field starting with first-round games on campuses Dec. 20 and 21, then over three succeeding rounds that will wind their way through traditional bowl sites.
Maybe Oregon coach Dan Lanning, whose undefeated Ducks are the favorite to win it all, put it best when he offered: “Winning a national championship is not supposed to be easy.”
Neither, it turns out, is figuring out who should play for it.
The Big Ten will lead the way with four teams in the tournament, followed by the SEC with three and the ACC with two. The lasting memory from the inaugural bracket will involve the decision that handed the ACC that second bid.
Alabama of the SEC didn’t play Saturday. SMU of the ACC did. The Mustangs fell behind by three touchdowns to Clemson before coming back to tie. But they ultimately lost 34-31 on a 56-yard field goal as time expired.
“We were on pins and needles,” SMU coach Rhett Lashley said. “Until we saw the name ‘SMU’ up there, we were hanging on the edge. We’re really, really happy and thankful to the committee for rewarding our guys for their total body of work.”
The Mustangs had only two losses, compared to three for the Crimson Tide. Even though SMU’s schedule wasn’t nearly as tough, the committee was impressed by the way the Mustangs came back against Clemson.
“We just felt, in this particular case, SMU had the nod above Alabama,” said Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, the chairman 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.”
Along with Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State got first-round byes
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 the fourth and final first-round bye.
All will play in quarterfinals at bowl games on Dec. 31-Jan. 1.
The opening-round matchups look like this:
• No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Texas, Dec. 21
• No. 11 SMU at No. 6 Penn State, Dec. 21
• No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Notre Dame, Dec. 20
• No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State, Dec. 21