Undefeated Oregon secured the top spot in the first 12-team College Football Playoff standings announced Sunday, while SMU – despite a loss in the ACC Championship Game – edged out Alabama to take the final spot.

No. 2 seed Georgia (11-2), No. 3 seed Boise State (12-1) and No. 4 seed Arizona State (11-2) received first-round byes that matched the four highest-seed conference teams. Champions were guaranteed.

Clemson (10-3), which unexpectedly won the ACC title with a last-second 56-yard field goal, missed a first-round bye and was seeded 12th. The Tigers play at No. 5 seed Texas (11-2).

The other first-round matchups are No. 11 seed SMU (11-2) vs. No. 6 seed Penn State (11-2), No. 10 seed Indiana (11-1) vs. No. 7 seed Notre Dame (11-1). ) and No. 9 seed Tennessee (10-2) and No. 8 seed Ohio State (10-2).

These first-round games will be played at home venues on December 20th and 21st, with all four home teams favored to win by one or more touchdowns, according to ESPN BET.

The biggest debate at Sunday’s unveiling was what the committee would do with SMU. Heading into the ACC Championship Game, the Mustangs were ranked No. 8 and remained undefeated in league play. SMU coach Rhett Lashlee and ACC commissioner Jim Phillips insisted that should be enough to make it, regardless of what happened against Clemson.

CFP Selection Committee Chairman Warde Manuel said during the ESPN selection show that it was “quite a debate” between SMU and Alabama for the last overall spot.

“We value a good schedule,” said Manuel. “That’s why Alabama is a three-loss team, ahead of other two-loss teams. We’ve talked about this quite often. But given the record and the way SMU played in this game, the loss in the last game is…” Second field goal, great win by Clemson, great game. We just felt like SMU still had the edge in this particular instance, but that is no disrespect to the strength of Alabama teams.”

Although the committee had said teams should not be penalized for losing in a conference championship game, it gave itself leeway by saying much of it would be decided based on the game itself.

“I think what we’ve done and said is (for) these teams, we’re going to look at recent games and use them as a data point to determine how we rank the teams,” Manuel said. “If you look at the games that were played very closely, you can see that these teams were not penalized in the terminology that people use.”

“…SMU played a game against Clemson and lost by three. For us it was just a matter of watching the games. We watched these games together, saw the outcome of these games and saw how these teams played. You’ve earned the right to do this. “Participate in these conference championships, and we make it a point to watch these games and see the results and the outcome.

SMU trailed Clemson by 17 points before tying the score with 16 seconds left. However, Clemson got within field goal range in two games and won 34-31 to clinch an automatic spot in the ACC. Afterwards, Lashlee said it would be “criminal” and “wrong on so many levels” for the committee to decide to exclude SMU from the playoffs.

“We watched the selection show,” Lashlee told ESPN on Sunday. “…Until we saw SMU there, you were just on the sidelines. Just really, really happy. I am grateful to the committee for rewarding our boys for all their work, for their consistency and performance and for their style of play throughout the year.

“We probably had our worst quarter in football last night in the first quarter, but the way our team responded I think just shows the composition of our team in the championship. I’m grateful for that and for the opportunity to keep playing.”

Alabama (9-3) didn’t play on Saturday, but was the last team in the field in the second-to-last rankings. The Crimson Tide finished 11th in the final rankings.

A quick schedule comparison shows that Alabama has a lead over SMU in several categories – it ranks higher than SMU in record strength (No. 9; SMU was 15th) and ESPN’s FPI (fourth; SMU ranked 13th).

While Alabama has a 41-34 victory over SEC champion Georgia and two other top-25 wins, the Crimson Tide have three losses, including two against .500 teams – 40-35 against Vanderbilt and an ugly 24-3 Away loss to Oklahoma November 23rd.

SMU, meanwhile, has two losses by a total of six points to ACC champion Clemson and 10-2 BYU. While the Mustangs have not picked up a win against a team currently ranked in the top 25, they have a 5-2 record against teams over .500. Alabama is 5-1 against teams over .500, but has two additional losses to 6-6 teams.

“I would say as an athletic director, you have to plan the non-conference games that you think are best for your team,” said Manuel, who is Michigan’s AD. “I’m not lamenting the fact that we played Texas at home. I’m not going to complain about us playing Oklahoma on the road next year. I’m looking forward to these games. If we do well, it will give us a boost, and if not, we have to rethink how the season is going and play the games that lie ahead.

“Win the games you’re supposed to win, (that) you should win on paper, and then play the other games as they come. But I want to make sure everyone understands: We value the strength of people’s schedules. “Alabama has three losses.” “They’re ranked 11th in the country.”

The ACC found itself in a similar situation on Selection Day last season when its undefeated conference champion Florida State was eliminated from the four-team playoffs in favor of one-loss SEC champion Alabama.

There was concern all week that the ACC could once again lose a playoff spot to the SEC and Alabama, but there were also real questions about the value of conference championship games when teams ranked in the top 12 represented those games are, losses could be eliminated.

Among the other teams that felt they had what it took to make the 12-team field, Miami (10-2) was the next team to be eliminated after Alabama. Manuel said last week that these teams would essentially be locked in and have no chance of advancing to the top 12.

South Carolina finished the season with six straight wins, but lost straight to Alabama and Ole Miss. Miami, meanwhile, lost two of its last three games but had a better record against bowl teams on the road (4-2). ) than Alabama (1-3).

Boise State defeated UNLV 21-7 in the Mountain West championship game to earn its bye. The Broncos have the 81st-ranked schedule but have been primed for a first-round bye since Nov. 19, when they edged ahead of the top-ranked Big 12 team.

Arizona State, ranked No. 15 as of Sunday, defeated Iowa State 45-19 in the Big 12 championship game to move up to No. 12 in the rankings, giving it a final bye against the ACC champion Tigers in the first round.

The four quarterfinal games will be in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl (Boise State vs. the SMU/Penn State winner), Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (Arizona State vs. the Clemson/Texas winner) and Rose Bowl presented by Prudential (Oregon vs. Tennessee /Ohio State winner) and Allstate Sugar Bowl (Georgia vs. Indiana/Notre Dame winner) on December 31st and January 1st.

The two semifinal games will take place on January 9th and 10th at the Capital One Orange Bowl and the Goodyear Cotton Bowl.

The CFP National Championship presented by AT&T is scheduled for January 20th at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.