College Football Playoff, bowl projections after Week 12 - ESPN

The most meaningful result in terms of the College Football Playoff in Week 12 was Oklahoma's upset win at Alabama, leaving both teams at 8-2 on the season.

The win pushes the Sooners firmly into the mix for the CFP, while the Crimson Tide have lost their grip on a top-four seed — at least for the time being. It also creates an interesting dynamic among those two teams and Notre Dame as we try to figure out how those two-loss teams fit in the postseason mix.

The weekend's results also create a chain reaction beyond the CFP and throughout the bowl lineup.

As with last season's inaugural 12-team CFP, the five highest-ranked conference champions, plus the next seven highest-ranked teams, will make the field. Unlike last year, the four highest-ranked teams (not necessarily conference champions) will be awarded first-round byes. The other eight teams will meet in first-round games at the campus sites of seeds Nos. 5 through 8.

From there, the quarterfinals and semifinals will be played in what had been the New Year's Six bowls, with the national championship game scheduled for Jan. 19 at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium.

All of that is just the tip of the iceberg, though. Apart from the playoff is the 35-game slate of bowl games, beginning with the Cricket Celebration Bowl on Dec. 13.

We're here for all of it.

ESPN bowl gurus Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach are projecting every postseason matchup, including their breakdowns of how the playoff will play out, and we'll be back every week of the season until the actual matchups are set.

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Playoff picks | Quarterfinals
Semis, title game | Bowl season

First-round games (at campus sites)

Friday, Dec. 19
8 p.m., ABC, ESPN

Saturday, Dec. 20
Noon, ABC, ESPN
3:30 p.m., TNT