Fans decked out in orange and purple watched in nervous anticipation as Nolan Hauser’s 56-yard field goal attempt rose into the air. As the final seconds of the first overtime period ticked away, the ball dropped over the crossbar and the Clemson faithful could exhale in relief as their Tigers claimed their 22nd ACC title and an automatic spot in the College Football Playoff. But this game was important not only to the Clemson and SMU fans in attendance at Bank of America Stadium. Just ask the fans from Tuscaloosa.

After eight appearances in the ten seasons of the four-team Playoff, including replacing an undefeated Florida State in controversial fashion last season, Alabama will be conspicuous in its absence from the first iteration of the 12-team postseason competition.

Following a weekend of conference championship clashes, the College Football Playoff Committee deliberated for the final time on Sunday before announcing the bracket for this year’s Playoff. That field includes the ACC runners-up SMU. Despite the narrow loss to Clemson, the Mustangs were deemed worthy of a place ahead of perennial postseason contenders Alabama. SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee expressed his elation to ESPN, stating “when the announcement happened, honestly, I got emotional, just because I’m so happy for our kids.”

SMU’s inclusion, along with a Clemson side ranked outside the top 12 but taking the last automatic spot as the fifth-ranked conference champion meant the #11 ranked Alabama were pushed out of the bubble.

As reported by The Athletic, Playoff Committee chairman Warde Manuel explained the decision to omit the Crimson Tide on the ESPN selection show as follows: “We looked at the number of wins Alabama had against ranked opponents. We looked at SMU’s schedule. They were undefeated in conference. Their losses were to ranked teams. But we also looked at Alabama’s losses to unranked teams. It was quite a debate.”

The other teams included in the Playoff bracket likely required much less debate as there was little surprise outside of the Alabama omission. However, the seeding may not have been quite as expected due to how results on the championship weekend played out.

Georgia claimed a first-round bye following an attritional 22-19 overtime victory over a favoured Texas in the SEC championship game in Atlanta that saw QB Carson Beck knocked out of the game on the last play of the first half with an injury to his throwing arm. Backup Gunner Stockton managed to lead the Bulldogs on a game-winning overtime drive that culminated in a four-yard Trevor Etienne touchdown and the SEC crown.

Not many would have expected Arizona State to achieve a first-round bye, with the Sun Devils ranked bottom of most preseason Big 12 power rankings, but that’s exactly what they did with a dominant 45-19 win over Iowa State. Under Kenny Dillingham, the youngest head coach in college football, Arizona State’s inaugural Big 12 season has been nothing short of a revelation, with powerful and dynamic running back Cam Skattebo propelling them to the title and the fourth seed thanks in large part to Clemson muddying the waters later in the day.

Boise State is another beneficiary of Clemson’s win as they are pushed further up the seeding order to three. UNLV managed to limit the output of superstar running back Ashton Jeanty when the schools met in the regular season, but not this time. The Broncos dominated UNLV as Jeanty ran for 209 yards. The bye will afford Jeanty an extra week to rest his almost certainly weary legs as he looks to surpass Barry Sanders single season FBS rushing record of 2,628 yards.

Few doubted Oregon’s status as the number one ranked team and favourites to claim the National Championship as they headed into their conference championship tilt with Penn State. The outcome was as expected, but the game was far from one-sided as the Ducks had to fend off a strong comeback push from the Nittany Lions led by gutsy performances from QB Drew Allar and TE Tyler Warren. The 45-37 win cemented Dan Lanning’s team in top spot, but could they be susceptible to an upset, especially with second-round games also taking place at neutral bowl venues?

Following the loss to Georgia, Texas finds itself as the fifth seed, followed by Penn State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Tennessee and Indiana, with the aforementioned SMU and Clemson closing out the seeding. With seeds five to eight hosting the first-ever home playoff games, the opening round of the Playoff shapes up as follows:

The home team will be favoured in all of these matchups and it seems likely that they will be the schools to progress. Tennessee going up against Ohio State has the most potential to be a barnstormer with the reward (or punishment) for victory being having to face Oregon. Penn State may be the happiest with the hand it’s been dealt with SMU and Boise State as their obstacles on the route to the semi-final.

However the games pan out, we now have a month of meaningful postseason college football to look forward. Come January 21^st, when the two remaining schools meet in Atlanta to duke it out for the National Championship, we’ll know whether the new format has been able to provide the competitive postseason drama that fans have long been craving.