Who will win the first 12-team College Football Playoff? Six teams received at least one vote in our poll of 30 college football writers and editors The athletea big change from 10 years of postseason tournaments that only had four teams in the field.

Although Oregon received the majority of votes, there was a lot of variety as our staff filled out their rounds ahead of the first round, which begins Friday night with Indiana at Notre Dame. In fact, even No. 12 seed Clemson, which suffered three losses, received a national championship vote.

Here’s who we picked and how these predictions compare to Austin Mock’s forecasting model:

First round

Not surprisingly, the consensus of our 30 voters is chalk.

According to BetMGM, the better-seeded player has a lead of at least 7.5 points in every first-round game. Mock’s projections give each favorite at least a 65 percent chance of winning, and our closest staff poll has Tennessee getting 11 votes to win at Ohio State, in a matchup that will undoubtedly present the Buckeyes with challenges, especially of the sort and way their offensive line played in the season loss to Michigan.

Quarterfinals

Despite being the only undefeated team in the country, Oregon ended in a difficult tie as it will face the winner of Ohio State-Tennessee in the Rose Bowl. Mock’s model gives the Ducks just a 53 percent chance of getting through. Ohio State would be a rematch since Oregon beat the Buckeyes 32-31 in a thriller in Eugene in October.

Still, 25 of our 30 voters chose Oregon to win the Rose Bowl, compared to just five for Ohio State and zero for Tennessee. Anyone who picked the Buckeyes to beat Oregon also picked them to win the national title.

Arizona State is seeded fourth as Big 12 champions but sits 12th in the CFP Top 25 — nine spots behind Texas and four spots ahead of Clemson. Texas is the overwhelming favorite to beat Clemson and sweep the Sun Devils in the Peach Bowl to advance to the state semifinals in the Cotton Bowl. Only four players picked Arizona State to win and two picked Clemson.

Only three of 30 voters chose Indiana to beat Notre Dame, and in none of them did the Hoosiers manage to pull off two upsets and also defeat Georgia. However, the team is divided over a potential Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame: Fourteen of the 27 people picking Notre Dame to beat Indiana also have the Fighting Irish toppling the Bulldogs.

This is the least calcareous part of the mount. Most voters like to see Penn State win at home against SMU, but our staff likes to see Boise State revive its Cinderella status in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Eve. Historically, both the Nittany Lions (7-0) and Broncos (3-0) are undefeated in the Fiesta Bowl. Here, only half of the 22 voters who chose Penn State to win against SMU also chose the Nittany Lions to win against Boise State. Overall, Boise State gets 16 votes to win the Fiesta Bowl, Penn State has 12 and SMU has two votes.

Mock’s model disagrees, with Penn State beating both SMUs And Boise State 48 percent of the time.

Semifinals

Whoever emerges from the Oregon-Ohio State-Tennessee trio could face a tough draw in the Cotton Bowl semifinals against Texas, which plays close to home. Still, two-thirds of our staff want Oregon to win the Cotton Bowl, while only five chose Ohio State, four chose Texas and one wanted No. 12 seed Clemson to make a surprise run to the national title game.

Although Mock’s model puts Georgia, Penn State and Notre Dame’s chances of advancing to the national title game at 20 to 29 percent each, our staff has largely focused on either Georgia or Notre Dame. Georgia received 15 votes to win the Orange Bowl, while Notre Dame received 12 votes, while Penn State only received two and Boise State received one.

National Championship

It’s difficult to go undefeated, but 17 of our 30 voters believe Oregon can come out on top with a 15-0 record and become the first new national champion since Florida in 1996. That’s a big step up from the Ducks, who received 10.7 percent of our votes in the preseason and 6.7 percent of the votes in the midseason.

Only four teams received preseason votes to win the national title: Ohio State (57.1 percent), Georgia (28.6 percent), Oregon (10.7 percent) and Alabama (3.6 percent). By midseason, that number increased to five: Texas (50 percent), Ohio State (36.7 percent), Oregon (6.7 percent), Georgia (3.3 percent) and Clemson (3.3 percent).

Meanwhile, the field of possible national champions was whittled down to just 12, but six teams received at least one vote to win it all. Here is a case for each of these six teams:

Oregon: Every other team has a weakness that was exposed at some point. The teams that pose the biggest threat to Oregon — Ohio State, Texas and Georgia — looked vulnerable the last time they took the field. Oregon’s defense showed some weaknesses against Penn State, but the Ducks showed they can win a shootout if they need to. And Dillon Gabriel is the quarterback I would want if I could pick a playoff QB to lead a deep run. –Austin Meek

Ohio state: Ohio State put together a terrible game plan against Michigan that cost the Buckeyes dearly. I expect Ohio State to play a lot looser, emphasizing putting the best players in the country in the right spots and maximizing potential mismatches to its advantage. —Scott Dochterman

Texas: The Longhorns have the best and deepest roster. For all the attention paid to Texas’ quarterbacks and offensive-minded head coach, it’s the defense that has carried the Longhorns: They allow just one point per drive, the lowest in the FBS. And when the offense gets going, Texas is tough to beat. —Sam Khan Jr.

Georgia: Georgia is talented, extremely battle-tested (six games against top-16 teams) and, most importantly, will be in top form all season long – with the exception of quarterback Carson Beck, of course. Additionally, the title game will take place in Atlanta. – Stewart Mandel

Notre Dame: Notre Dame’s defense will get the job done. I love how this team responded to the loss to Northern Illinois and it will impact the playoffs as well. The Irish were written off after that defeat and Marcus Freeman’s group showed impressive determination to overcome it. – Daniel Shirley

Clemson: Quinn Ewers hasn’t looked 100 percent since September, Arizona State has to fly all the way to Atlanta for its quarterfinal and the Rose Bowl winner could be on a roll heading into the semifinals. Ten years of CFP history have taught me that if something good can happen to Clemson in late December, this usually does. Cade Klubnik was just strong enough, Bryant Wesco Jr. is on a Justyn Ross-like path late in the season, and I can’t help but think Dabo Swinney has the perfect mentality for tournament football. —Eric Single

So what matchup will we see for the national championship on January 20th in Atlanta?

Stewart Mandel evaluated all 36 possibilities after the bracket was announced. Our 30 voters came up with eight matchups, with No. 1 Oregon vs. No. 2 Georgia being the most common with a third of the vote. Twenty-seven of the 30 players played at Oregon, Ohio State or Georgia at least once, including two who picked Georgia over Texas for the third time this season.

A special thanks to our only voter who chose the Clemson vs. Boise State chaos bracket.

(Photo of Jalon Walker and Dillon Gabriel: Tim Warner, Ali Gradischer / Getty Images)