ESPN updates final projection for 12-team College Football Playoff field
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ESPN has released its final projection for the 2024 College Football Playoff.
Like others have, ESPN’s Heather Dinich is projecting SMU to earn the final at-large berth over Alabama in this year’s Playoff. Here’s Dinich’s full 1-thru-12 seeding projection for this year’s field:
- Oregon
- Georgia
- Boise State
- Arizona State
- Penn State
- Texas
- Notre Dame
- Ohio State
- Tennessee
- Indiana
- SMU
- Clemson
That ranking would create the following matchups in the first round of the CFP:
- Clemson at Penn State (winner gets Arizona State)
- SMU at Texas (winner gets Boise State)
- Indiana at Notre Dame (winner gets Georgia)
- Tennessee at Ohio State (winner gets Oregon)
As a reminder, first-round College Football Playoff games will be hosted on campus sites this season.
Here’s Dinich’s explanation for why SMU is in the field — and 1 spot above a Clemson team it just beat in the ACC Championship Game:
“Manuel said it was possible that SMU could drop below Alabama with a loss, but the Mustangs might not fall that far after losing to the ACC champs by a field goal as time expired. Even though Clemson beat SMU head-to-head, the committee might not move the three-loss Tigers up ahead of SMU. As the No. 11 seed, SMU would earn the final at-large bid.”
The final CFP rankings will be revealed on ESPN in a selection show starting at 12 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
