College Football Playoff: Ranking first-round CFP games and top bowl matchups

After a wild championship weekend, the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff has been set. 

Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State – all of whom won their respective conference championship games – earned first-round byes. Texas, Penn State, Notre Dameand Ohio State will host on-campus games in the first round, prompting fans to quickly look at some early weather forecasts. Clemson, Tennessee, Indiana and SMU round out the field.

There was some drama, of course, as the selection committee had to make the tough decision to include SMU or Alabama in that final slot. Clemson knocked off SMU late Saturday night in the ACC title game thanks to a walk-off 56-yard field goal to clinch an automatic bid. The loss left the Mustangs hoping the committee would do right by them. In the end, the Crimson Tide – who were outplayed by Oklahoma in late November – were left out and the Mustangs were rewarded with the No. 11 seed. 

CFP committee chairman Warde Manuel explained the discussion inside the room during ESPN's selection show:

"We looked at the number of wins that Alabama had against ranked opponents. We looked at SMU's schedule and they were undefeated in conference. Their losses were to ranked teams, but we also looked at Alabama's losses to unranked teams, and it was quite a debate. 

"We value strength of schedule. That's why Alabama as a three-loss team is ranked ahead of other teams that have two losses. It is something that we talked about quite a bit. But in the balance of it, in the way SMU played in that [ACC title game], losing on a last-second field goal – great win by Clemson, great game – we just felt like SMU, in this particular case, still had the nod at No. 10 above Alabama. But it's no disrespect to