INDIANAPOLIS – Penn State was seeded sixth and will face 11th-seeded SMU at Beaver Stadium in the first round of the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff, it was announced Sunday.
The Nittany Lions (11-2) and the Mustangs (11-2) will play at noon on Saturday, Dec. 21, on TNT. It will be their first meeting since Penn State’s 26-21 win in 1978 in State College.
Penn State lost 45-37 to Oregon in the Big Ten title game Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium. SMU lost 34-31 to Clemson for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship on a 56-yard field goal as time expired.
The Lions are making their first appearance in the CFP.
“Do I think our resume matches up with anybody in the country? Yeah, I think it does,” Lions coach James Franklin said immediately after the loss to Oregon. “We lost a one-possession game to the No. 1 team in the country. And earlier in the season I think we lost to the No. 3 team in the country at that time in a one-possession game.”
The Mustangs were the last at-large team in the field, the committee awarding the final spot to them ahead of Alabama (9-3). SMU is in its first season in the ACC after being in the American Athletic Conference.
The Penn State-SMU winner will advance to the quarterfinals and will take on third-seeded Boise State (12-1), the Mountain West champ, in prime time Dec. 31 in the Fiesta Bowl.
Running back Nick Singleton, who rushed for 105 yards against Oregon, said he believed the Lions had earned a home game in the playoff.
“For sure,” Singleton said. “But it’s not my decision. At the end of the day, I don’t care who we play. I don’t care if it’s home or away. I just want to go out and play.
“We can’t lose now. If we lose, we’re done. It’s the playoffs. We have to keep pushing.”
The top half of the playoff bracket has No. 1 Oregon (13-0), No. 4 Arizona State (11-2), No. 5 Texas (11-2), No. 8 Ohio State (10-2), No. 9 Tennessee (10-2) and No. 12 Clemson (10-3).
Penn State and SMU are in the lower half of the bracket with No. 2 Georgia (11-2), Boise State, No. 7 Notre Dame (11-1) and No. 10 Indiana (11-1).
The other first-round pairings are Clemson at Texas, 4 p.m. Dec. 21; Indiana at Notre Dame, 8 p.m., Dec. 20; and Tennessee at Ohio State, 8 p.m., Dec. 21.
The Clemson-Texas winner will advance to the quarterfinals against Arizona State, likely in the Jan. 1 Peach Bowl.
The Indiana-Notre Dame winner will meet Georgia in the quarterfinals, likely in the Jan. 1 Sugar Bowl.
The Tennessee-Ohio State winner will face Oregon, most likely in the Jan. 1 Rose Bowl.
The semifinals are scheduled for Jan. 9 (Orange Bowl) and Jan. 10 (Cotton Bowl).
The CFP national championship game is scheduled for Jan. 20 in Atlanta.
