Oregon is the No. 1 seed, Alabama is out, and the real fun is about to begin after the final 12-team bracket for the College Football Playoff was set Sunday.

No. 1 Oregon was followed by Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State as the four conference champions who will receive first-round byes.

The fifth automatic bid went to Clemson, which secured the No. 12 seed by beating SMU 34-31 in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game Saturday night. That result also punted Alabama from the bracket.

The Crimson Tide (9-3) were No. 11 in Sunday’s final rankings but became the first team out of the bracket when Arizona State won the Big 12 and Clemson the ACC. Those two teams moved into the top 12 and knocked out Alabama.

SMU (11-2), which was No. 8 last week, fell to No. 10 in the final rankings but hung on to its playoff spot as the final at-large team.

Alabama, No. 13 Miami, No. 14 Ole Miss and No. 15 South Carolina were the other teams that were left out after spending the past week making their case to get in.

“We just felt, in this particular case, SMU had the nod above Alabama,” said Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, the chair of the selection committee. “But it’s no disrespect to Alabama’s strength of schedule. We looked at the entire body of work for both teams.”

SMU will play at No. 6 Penn State (11-2) in the first round. Clemson (10-3) will go to No. 5 Texas (11-2). Both of those games are on Dec. 21.

The other first-round games that will be played at campus sites are No. 10 Indiana (11-1) at No. 7 Notre Dame (11-1) on Dec. 20; and No. 9 Tennessee (10-2) at No. 8 Ohio State (10-2) on Dec. 21.

“When the announcement happened, honestly, I got emotional,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said. “They’ve won 22 games in the last two years. They laid it all on the line last night and we lost a heartbreaker at the end to a great opponent. We’re just happy that we get a chance to prove we continue to belong.”

The second-round games will be played in the traditional New Year’s bowls on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.
On New Year’s Eve, the Fiesta Bowl will have Boise State (12-1) facing either Penn State or SMU.

On New Year’s Day, No. 4 seed Arizona State (11-2) gets Texas or Clemson in the Peach Bowl; Oregon (13-0) will await the Tennessee-Ohio State winner in the Rose Bowl; and SEC champion Georgia (11-2) takes on the Indiana-Notre Dame winner in the Sugar Bowl.

The CFP semifinals are Jan. 9-10 in the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl, and the CFP National Championship is Jan. 20 in Atlanta.

The teams that did not qualify for the CFP will still get to play in other bowls during Decemeber and early January. Those match-ups will be announced later Sunday.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF SCHEDULE
First round
Dec. 20
7 p.m. ABC – Indiana (11-1) at Notre Dame (11-1)
Dec. 21
11 a.m. TNT – SMU (11-2) at Penn State (11-2)
3 p.m. TNT – Clemson (10-3) at Texas (11-2)
7 p.m. ESPN – Tennessee (10-2) at Ohio State (10-2)

Quarterfinals
Dec. 31
6:30 p.m. ESPN – Boise State (12-1) vs. Penn State-SMU winner (Fiesta Bowl)
Jan. 1
Noon ESPN – Arizona State (11-2) vs. Texas-Clemson winner (Peach Bowl)
4 p.m. ESPN – Oregon (13-0) vs. Ohio State-Tennessee winner (Rose Bowl)
7:45 p.m. ESPN – Georgia (11-2) vs. Notre Dame-Indiana winner (Sugar Bowl)

Semifinals
Jan. 9
6:30 p.m. ESPN – Orange Bowl, Teams TBA
Jan. 10
6:30 p.m. ESPN – Cotton Bowl, Teams TBA

National Championship
Jan. 20
6:30 p.m. ESPN – CFP National Championship, at Atlanta