College Football Playoff Rankings 2024: Official Committee Poll for Final Week

It has arrived.

After an entire season of twists, turns, upsets and debates, the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff bracket was revealed Sunday. To the surprise of nobody, the undefeated Oregon Ducks are the first-ever No. 1 seed in the 12-team era.

But the majority of the focus was on which team would occupy the final at-large spot between Alabama and SMU. Ultimately, the selection committee went with the Mustangs.

Here is a look at where they and everyone else ended up in the bracket, which can look different than the rankings since the five-highest ranked conference champions get an auto bid and the four-highest-ranked conference champions get a first-round bye.

First-Round Byes

First-Round Matchups 

Full Top 25 Rankings

There were a handful of questions heading into Sunday’s bracket reveal, but one of them stood out above the rest.

Yes, it was unclear whether Boise State or Arizona State would be the No. 3 seed among the four highest-ranked conference champions that received a first-round bye. Yes, cases could be made for Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Tennessee when it came to ranking teams in the Nos. 5 through 9 spots.

All of those debates were important, as seeding and home-field advantage and the paths each create will play a major factor in which teams advance to the quarterfinals and semifinals.

Still, the biggest argument was for the last spot between SMU and Alabama.

The Mustangs controlled their own destiny for a spot in the field and a first-round bye going into Saturday’s ACC Championship Game. However, they lost in stunning fashion as time expired when Clemson’s Nolan Hauser drilled a 56-yard field goal to send Clemson to the CFP as the conference champion.

It seemed like the Tigers were going to cruise when they jumped out to a 24-7 halftime lead and 31-14 advantage heading into the fourth quarter. Yet two touchdown passes from Kevin Jennings and a field goal by Collin Rogers tied the game before a long kick return from Adam Randall helped the Tigers get into field-goal range in the final seconds.

Clemson was something of a bid-stealer since it wasn’t going to be in the CFP without winning the conference, which left the debate for the last at-large spot between Alabama and SMU.

Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney left little doubt where he stood after the game:

On the one hand, putting Alabama in would mean punishing SMU for losing at the last second in a conference championship game when the Crimson Tide were sitting at home with three losses.

One of those losses was a particularly ugly 24-3 blowout to a 6-6 Oklahoma team that hasn’t defeated another FBS team since September.

On the other hand, Alabama is ninth in strength of record and 16th in strength of schedule compared to SMU at 15th in strength of record and 60th in strength of schedule, per ESPN’s metrics.

The Crimson Tide’s victories over Georgia and South Carolina were far better than any of the Mustangs’ wins, with the best one likely coming at Louisville on Oct. 5.

In simplest terms, this was a debate between a team with more losses—including an ugly one—and a harder strength of schedule against a team that played an extra game with fewer losses and fewer quality wins.

The committee went with the Mustangs, but somebody was going to be unhappy regardless of how it unfolded.