Follow live updates and reaction to the 12-team College Football Playoff field.

SMU will take part in the first 12 College Football Playoff teams, but not Alabama.

The Crimson Tide became the first team off the field when the selection committee released its final rankings on Sunday, laying the groundwork for the first extensive pro-style playoffs in major college football history: four rounds, 11 games in a month.

“We looked at the number of wins Alabama had against ranked opponents. We looked at SMU’s schedule – they were undefeated in the conference. Their losses came against ranked teams. But we also looked at Alabama’s losses to unranked teams. It was quite a debate,” committee chairman and Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said on ESPN’s selection show.

The Big Ten’s undefeated Oregon will be No. 1, followed by SEC champion Georgia at No. 2, Mountain West champion Boise State at No. 3 and Big 12 champion Arizona State at No. 4. They all get the No. 1 seed. Round-robin games up to the quarterfinals, which will be played in traditional bowl games on December 31st and January 1st.

The first round games to be played on campus on December 20th and 21st are:

No. 5 Texas vs. No. 12 Clemson, which earned its chance by winning the ACC with a 56-yard walk-off field goal on Saturday night. The first meeting between the Longhorns and Tigers will take place on Saturday, December 21st. The winner will then face Arizona State in the Peach Bowl.

No. 6 Penn State vs. No. 11 SMU, which even after its heartbreaking loss to Clemson came into the game as the last pick ahead of the Crimson Tide. The game will be the first of a tripleheader on Saturday, December 21st. The winner will face Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.

No. 7 Notre Dame vs. No. 10 Indiana in a rarely played intrastate battle. The Fighting Irish and Hoosiers have played 25 times, but only once since 1958 (1991). The winner will then face Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. Notre Dame will host the first game in the new format on Friday evening, December 20th.

No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 9 Tennessee in an SEC-Big Ten matchup played as a tripleheader nightcap on Dec. 21. The winner plays Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

The semifinals will be played on January 9th in the Orange Bowl and on January 10th in the Cotton Bowl. The newest championship in college football history will be played on January 20th at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

After playing conference championship games on Friday and Saturday, there was only drama between Alabama and SMU on Sunday.

In one corner, the mighty Crimson Tide with 13 national championships, six since 2009. In the other corner, the Mustangs, who took nearly four decades to work their way back from the NCAA death penalty to power conference football.

After a 34-31 loss to Clemson on a last-second field goal in the ACC Championship Game on Saturday night, the Mustangs (11-2) landed at No. 10 in the committee’s final top 25, two spots lower than they were at the start of the weekend but one Leading over the Crimson Tide and good enough to secure the last of seven total offers.

Alabama was ranked higher than No. 12 Arizona State and No. 16 Clemson, but those teams earned their way into the field by winning their conferences.

Alabama (9-3) praised its strong schedule, which included three wins against committee-ranked teams, including SEC champion Georgia. The Crimson Tide also lost twice to Vanderbilt and Oklahoma, neither of which broke the .500 mark, in their first season since the resignation of legendary coach Nick Saban.

SMU did not defeat a committee-ranked team, but the Mustangs’ only losses were by a combined five points to BYU and Clemson, with a combined record of 20-5.

“We value the strength of the schedule, which is why Alabama is three losses ahead of the other two-loss teams,” Manuel said.

The Tide also finished ahead of No. 13 Miami (10-2) and No. 17 BYU (10-2) in the committee’s final Top 25.

Alabama made the four-team CFP eight times in 10 years.

A year after Alabama knocked undefeated Florida State out of the final four-team version of the CFP, the ACC gave coach Kalen DeBoer’s Tide the benefit of the doubt.

The Big Ten fielded four teams (Oregon, Penn State, Ohio State and Indiana), the SEC fielded three (Georgia, Texas and Tennessee) and the ACC fielded two (Clemson and SMU). The Big 12 was the only Power 4 conference to end up being a one-bid league.

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(Photo: Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images)