Oregon leads at No. 1, SMU in over Alabama in final 12-team College Football Playoff bracket

The final College Football Playoff rankings are in. Here's what you need to know.

College Football Playoff rankings: Final Top 25

Here's what the 12-team field looks like

Here is the final tournament bracket.

HOW IT WORKS: Here's everything you need to know for how the 12-team CFP works

Top four seeds

1 seed — No. 1 Oregon
2 seed — No. 2 Georgia
3 seed — No. 9 Boise State
4 seed — No. 12 Arizona State

Oregon and Georgia were the obvious picks as the top two seeds in the 2024 bracket after Oregon finished undefeated as the Big Ten champion and Georgia defeated the previous No. 2 ranked team Texas to take the SEC title.

The final two seeds went to Boise State and Arizona State. The Broncos were ranked higher than the Big 12 and ACC champions entering the week, and held steady. Arizona State got the final playoff bye over Clemson. The Sun Devils only have two losses compared to Clemson's three losses, outweighing Clemson beating a higher-ranked team for a conference championship.

First round games

(12 seed) No. 16 Clemson at (5 seed) No. 3 Texas
(11 seed) No. 10 SMU at (6 seed) No. 4 Penn State
(10 seed) No. 8 Indiana at (7 seed) No. 5 Notre Dame
(9 seed) No. 7 Tennessee at (8 seed) No. 6 Ohio State

This is the first year of the 12-team College Football Playoff. The four highest-ranked conference champions receive the top four seeds, with the fifth-highest-ranked conference champion also being guaranteed a playoff spot.

Home teams

Texas only fell to No. 3 after losing to Georgia in overtime in the SEC championship. The CFP committee ranked Texas over a one-loss Notre Dame and a two-loss Penn State. Following Texas was No. 4 Penn State the loser of the Big Ten championship. The committee did not hold losses from the Longhorns or the Nittany Lions against either program, keeping both above the Fighting Irish, which didn't play during conference championship weekend.

The final home game went to Ohio State, as the rankings of teams that didn't play during conference championship week did not change. Three of the four home games are in cold-weather outdoor stadiums.

The last teams in

No. 8 Indiana was the second-to-last at-large team in the playoffs and will get to stay in-state to visit Notre Dame. The Hoosiers were locked into the bracket as it didn't play a conference championship game.

No. 10 SMU was the last team in after losing to Clemson in the ACC championship. The Mustangs were ranked No. 8 entering the week but lost on a last-second field goal as time expired. SMU got the final spot over Alabama.

LAST WEEK'S RECAP: Clemson, Georgia, Arizona State and Boise State win conference championships

First team out

No. 11 Alabama is the first team out. The Tide didn't play in a conference championship game while the team ranked ahead of it, SMU, lost its conference championship game. Alabama had more ranked wins than SMU, but also had more losses than SMU.

LOOKING AHEAD: 2024-25 College Football Playoff schedule, dates, TV channel, sites

Teams by conference

Currently, the Big Ten leads all conferences with four teams in the projected CFP field.