INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The first big win of college football’s postseason goes to Boise State. The Broncos clinched the Mountain West Conference title Friday night and secured their spot in the sport’s first 12-team playoff.

The losers? Well, there was UNLV, which lost 21-7 to Heisman hopeful Ashton Jeanty and the Broncos in the conference title game. But more than that, it was the Big 12 that saw a path to a first-round bye in the playoffs blocked by Jeanty and Co.

Boise State will maintain or improve its 10th-place finish in the final College Football Playoff rankings, which will be released Sunday. This means the Broncos would almost certainly be no worse than the fourth-best conference defending champion and would have a bye in the first round.

Saturday’s Big 12 title game pits No. 15 Arizona State against No. 16 Iowa State.

The winner is in the playoffs. However, the only realistic way for either team to earn a bye (and the additional $4 million that comes with it) would be to combine that win – preferably a convincing one – with a loss by the Atlantic Coast Conference leader, No. 8 SMU, which plays No. 17 Clemson.

The Big 12 commissioner and Iowa State’s athletic director are among those already doing wrong. When the title games are over (Saturday) and the brackets are announced (Sunday), they won’t be the only ones.

The rest of the drama revolves around Alabama, SMU and Miami (so to speak)

Unless something completely unexpected happens, it will take either an SMU loss, a change of heart by the selection committee, or both to knock Alabama out of the round. If the Tide make it, the Southeastern Conference will have four teams in the playoffs.

Since the selection committee ranked the Crimson Tide last week at No. 11, one spot ahead of Miami, it looks very likely that the Tide will stay ahead of the Hurricanes of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The way the rankings went last week meant Alabama was in and Miami was out.

Not surprisingly, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, who saw undefeated Florida State get swept by Alabama in the four-team round last year, is not happy.

“Committee decisions should be based on facts, not perceptions,” said Phillips, whose talking points include Miami’s two losses compared to three for Alabama. “Not in the league you come from, not in the geography you sit in, but in your CV: What have you done? …Who did you lose to and who did you beat?”

Locks and proximity to locks

Boise State’s offer is a done deal.

Oregon, the top-ranked and only undefeated team in the country, is also there. But Saturday’s game against No. 3 Penn State is for the Big Ten title and a first-round bye.

If Penn State prevails, there’s an argument to be made that the Nittany Lions could end up on top.

In the SEC it’s No. 2 Texas vs. No. 5 Georgia. Unfortunately, Bevo won’t be in the building. The winner receives a bye and a championship. The loser should still be in, but if that loser is Georgia, the Dawgs could be headed to the first round.

Depending on how the groups pan out, these teams could face each other three times this season.

Kicking up dust on the home field

A handful of teams aren’t playing this weekend and don’t have much to worry about. No. 4 Notre Dame should get a home game. (Perhaps the independent Irish should get a bye too, but that’s a topic for another day.)

No. 9 Indiana, one of four Big Ten teams expected to make the playoffs, will likely be on the road.

In between lies No. 6 Ohio State and No. 7 Tennessee. In the round scheduled for last week, the 10-2 teams met in a first-round game played at the Horseshoe in Columbus, Ohio.

But their rankings have completely changed from the way AP Top 25 voters placed them, and the difference is very important. Like Ohio Stadium, Neyland Stadium in Knoxville offers over 100,000 seats and one of the best home field advantages in the game.

All of this prompted Vols athletic director Danny White to speak out and call for a return to computerized rankings used in a previous postseason (the Bowl Championship Series, or BCS) more than a decade ago.

“I’m going to criticize the fact that we don’t have a more objective, computerized ranking system that just makes it very clear,” White said in an interview with UT’s radio personalities. “Everyone understands what the parameters are and what it is.” That’s it. I think it would leave a lot less of the consternation that we’re seeing across the country right now.”

___

AP Sports Writer Aaron Beard contributed to this report.

___

Get AP Top 25 poll alerts and updates throughout the season. Sign up here. AP College Football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football