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INDIANAPOLIS — Undefeated Oregon pulled off the expected and grabbed the top spot in the College Football Playoff. Underdog Clemson pulled off a last-second stunner and stole one of the last ones.
In between, Georgia’s quarterback got hurt, Alabama’s hopes grew murkier and the selection committee settled in to create a first-of-its-kind 12-team postseason bracket that promises only one sure thing: a 100% chance of enraging at least some slice of college football’s rabid fan base.
The drama began – and ended – when No. 17 Clemson blew a three-touchdown lead Saturday night, then got a 56-yard field goal to win with no time left, nosing its way into the 12-team playoff with a 34-31 victory over No. 8 SMU.
That game, for the Atlantic Coast Conference title, killed off any small chance of a placid, predictable Selection Sunday.
It presented the committee with a choice it was hoping it wouldn’t have to make: Take the Crimson Tide (9-3) with three losses and the Southeastern Conference resume. Or take SMU, which has only two losses and showed so much heart in the comeback against Clemson that even the opposing coach was lobbying for the Mustangs (11-2).
“That’s a playoff football team,” said Clemson’s Dabo Sweeney, who is going to the playoffs for the seventh time himself. “SMU, they better be in the dang playoffs. What a comeback by those guys.”
SMU coach Rhett Lashley wasn’t arguing.
“It doesn’t matter what I say, but it would be incredibly wrong” if SMU were left out, he said. “I think it would be unprecedented. It would set a really bad precedent. It would break all the principles of what we’ve been told.”
The committee’s most scrutinized decision will dictate whether the SEC puts three or four teams into this year’s tournament, and whether the ACC gets one or two. The bracket reveal show begins Sunday at 9 a.m. PT on ESPN.
The Big Ten is all but certain to have four, led by Oregon, a 45-37 winner over Penn State in a game that cemented the Ducks (13-0) as the postseason favorite.
The SMU loss also shook up the first-round bye discussion. Arizona State, which started the day with a 45-19 clobbering of Iowa State for the Big 12 title, now looks poised to be the fourth-best conference champion. The top four move directly into the quarterfinals.
That is, of course, assuming the committee keeps the Sun Devils ahead of Clemson. ASU was ranked 15th in the last ranking, two spots ahead of the Tigers.
Georgia QB suffers an injury, but the Dawgs get a big break
There won’t be any second-guessing about giving Georgia a first-round bye after its 22-19 overtime victory over No. 2 Texas in the SEC game.
But to say the Bulldogs (11-2) are one of the four best teams in the country right now might be stretching it.
They got outgained by more than 100 yards by the Longhorns; they have two losses; they also have a big question mark at quarterback after Carson Beck left the game with an injured hand.
The committee has taken injuries into account before – it left Florida State, with injured QBs dotting their roster, out of the four-team playoff last year.
That won’t happen to Georgia, but it will force a conversation about who really deserves these byes.
They are currently projected to go to teams that were ranked 1 (Oregon), 5 (Georgia), 10 (Boise State) and 15 (Arizona State) a mere week ago and whose rankings probably will only change by a spot or two come Sunday.
Indiana asks, why aren’t we a home team?
Everything else will be a matter of analytics, statistics, the “eye test” and some semblance of an attempt by the committee to avoid a rebellion in conference headquarters and coaching offices across the country.
First-round games will be played on four campuses on Dec. 20-21, so home-field advantage means a lot.
Curt Cignetti, the coach of No. 9 Indiana, was among those watching Saturday’s games unfold and asking “How are we, right now, not seeded for a home game?”
The Hoosiers lost the biggest game on their schedule, 38-15 to Ohio State, which was ranked three spots higher than Indiana after its own loss, 13-10 to Michigan.
Other teams to watch
Notre Dame: As an independent, the Irish were never eligible for a bye, but will be at home the first weekend, presumably as the No. 5, 6 or 7 seed. Could we be headed for an in-state 7-vs-10 first-round game between the Fighting Irish and Indiana?
Texas: The Longhorns are 11-0 against the world and 0-2 against Georgia. The committee has indicated it’s not inclined to penalize title-game losers that much, so Texas could finish as high as No. 5 and seemingly no lower than No. 7. A potential quarterfinal between Arizona State and Texas (as a 3-6 or 4-5 matchup) would seem like a fun Southwestern-themed fit for the Fiesta Bowl, but those two could also conceivably meet in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta instead … pending how the seeds shake out.
Penn State: Coach James Franklin said he felt the Nittany Lions showed enough against Oregon to stay at home for the first game, but “we’ll be excited about whatever opportunity comes.” Penn State lost to Ohio State on its home field in the regular season, so where those two teams get ranked could become a talking point but Penn State and Notre Dame appear likely to jockey for the 6 seed.
Ohio State and Tennessee: Last week, they would have been paired in an 8-9 game at Ohio State – fair enough, except the AP Top 25 had them flip-flopped, which would have given home field to the Vols. The 8-9 winner would head to the Rose Bowl to face Oregon on New Year’s Day.
Boise State: The win Friday night puts Heisman Trophy hopeful running back Ashton Jeanty in the playoffs – and with a bye, no less. Love the underdog, love the playoffs, but does anything make sense about, say, Alabama playing Texas for the right to face the Mountain West champ in the Fiesta Bowl?
Miami: They were first team out last week, will probably be the second team out this week and, along with the loser in the SMU-Alabama debate, a great example of how expanding the playoffs does not make the college postseason perfect.
Saturday’s title game results …
SEC – No. 5 Georgia 22, No. 2 Texas 19 (OT): Gunner Stockton, a little-known backup who had barely played for Georgia, came off the bench after an injury to Carson Beck and led the Bulldogs to an improbable overtime victory in Atlanta.
The Bulldogs (11-2) won their third SEC title under Coach Kirby Smart, but the trophy comes with an even bigger prize – a first-round bye in the playoff. Georgia is assured of playing in the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal game on New Year’s Day in pursuit of its third national title in four seasons.
Texas (11-2, No. 2 CFP ) was denied an SEC title capper on its first season in the league and will host a first-round game on either Dec. 20 or 21. Both of its losses have been to the Bulldogs, who prevailed 30-15 when the powerhouse programs met in Austin during the regular season.
But the big question for Georgia amid the celebration was the health of Beck, the two-year starter who went down on the final play of the first half with an injured throwing arm.
Stockton, a third-year sophomore, had played only six games in his college career – all of them mere mop-ups of blowout wins. He guided the Bulldogs to a touchdown and two field goals before taking a hard hit on a run in overtime that sent his helmet flying.
Beck, who could barely lift his arm, came back in the game for first-and-goal at the 4. All he had to do – and could do – was hand off to Trevor Etienne, who powered into the end zone to end the first overtime game in the SEC championship’s 33-year history.
Big Ten – No. 1 Oregon 45, No. 3 Penn State 37: Dillon Gabriel threw four touchdown passes and Oregon outlasted Penn State in Indianapolis, giving the Ducks a first-round bye and almost certainly the top seed in the playoff.
The Ducks (13-0, No. 1 CFP) are only unbeaten team in FBS – barely. They nearly blew a 15-point lead in the final four minutes, ending the Nittany Lions’ last gasp by intercepting Drew Allar’s pass with 1:54 left on a wild, wacky championship weekend.
Jordan James ran for for two scores to help Oregon win its first league title since 2020 in the Pac-12, this one coming in its first year in the Big Ten.
Penn State (11-2, No. 3 CFP) also is expected to make the first 12-team playoff field despite having its four-game winning streak snapped after failing to convert a 2-point conversion early in the fourth quarter – leaving it down 38-30.
Oregon then capped a 75-yard drive with James’ 12-yard touchdown run to make it 45-30 with 7:28 to go.
ACC – No. 18 Clemson 34, No. 8 SMU: Cade Klubnik threw for 262 yards and four touchdowns, Nolan Hauser kicked a 56-yard field goal as time expired and Clemson knocked off SMU in Charlotte, North Carolina, to earn a spot in the playoff.
Hauser’s field goal was the longest in ACC championship game history.
Bryant Wesco had eight catches for 143 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter for the Tigers (10-3, No. 17 CFP), who needed a win to get into the expanded 12-team playoffs. Jake Briningstool added two short TD receptions as Clemson improved to 9-1 in ACC championship games under Coach Dabo Swinney.
Kevin Jennings threw for 310 yards and three touchdowns and ran a score for SMU (11-1, No. 8 CFP), which had gone 8-0 in the regular season in its first year since in the ACC after moving over from American Athletic Conference.
The mistake-filled loss cost the Mustangs a shot at a first-round bye in the CFP and potentially could keep them out of the field altogether.
Big 12 – No. 12 Arizona State 45, No. 16 Iowa State 19: Cam Skattebo ran for 170 yards and two scores while adding a touchdown catch as Big 12 newcomer Arizona State beat Iowa State in Arlington, Texas, to secure a spot in the playoff.
The Sun Devils (11-2, No. 15 CFP), with their 34-year-old head coach Kenny Dillingham, will be the only Big 12 team in the expanded playoff field after being the preseason pick to finish at the bottom of their new 16-team league. They have a six-game winning streak and one of their two losses came in a game when redshirt freshman quarterback Sam Leavitt was out with injury.
Iowa State (10-3, No. 16 CFP), which already had the first 10-win season in the program’s 133-year history, trailed 24-10 before turnovers in its own territory on its first three drives after halftime. Arizona State capitalized with Leavitt throwing touchdowns each time.
Xavier Guillory had touchdown catches of 8 and 21 yards in a 71-second span, and Skattebo turned a third-down swing pass into a 33-yard score for a 45-10 lead that he punctuated with his second Heisman Trophy pose of the day. Leavitt finished 12 of 17 passing for 219 yards.
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