Indiana no. 1 in CFP. Alabama and Miami in, Notre Dame out

Nobody paying attention over the past 24 months would be surprised to see Indiana leading the way into this year’s College Football Playoff.

But anyone paying attention over the last 24 hours knew the only sure thing beyond the Hoosiers was that the playoff selection committee was destined to get picked apart when it released the pairings for this season’s 12-team bracket on Sunday.

Most of that second-guessing came from Notre Dame, which was passed over in favor of Alabama and Miami for two of the bracket’s bubble spots. The Fighting Irish dropped two notches in the CFP rankings over the last two weeks, to No. 11, despite a 10-game winning streak, winning their finale by 29 points and simply sitting on the couch Saturday.

“There is no explanation that could possibly be given to explain the outcome,” Irish athletic director Pete Bevacqua told Yahoo Sports, hours after the bracket was revealed and Notre Dame said it would skip bowl season altogether. “We feel like the playoff was stolen from our student-athletes.”

Notre Dame’s loss was Alabama’s gain. The Crimson Tide didn’t move an inch the CFP rankings despite a 28-7 loss to No. 3 Georgia that looked worse than that.

No. 10 Miami didn’t play, either, but the Hurricanes’ 27-24 win over Notre Dame in Week 1 played a role once the teams were grouped right next to each other after BYU lost its game on Saturday and dropped one spot.

“Everyone can spin the metrics in favor of the team or teams they support,” committee chairman Hunter Yurachek said. “You’re always going to have controversy. That’s why we debated for so long, 9, 10 and 11, into the early-morning hours, and woke up at sunrise to do the same thing — make sure we got it right.”

The committee’s other key decision was choosing James Madison over Duke for the final spot. The selection left the Atlantic Coast Conference champion out of the mix, but didn’t fully exclude the ACC because Miami made it. 

REST OF THE BRACKET 

The rest of the field includes No. 2 seed Ohio State, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Texas Tech, all of which joined Indiana in getting first-round byes.

The Hoosiers moved up to No. 1 with their 13-10 win over the Buckeyes on Saturday — their first Big Ten title since 1967 — and the teams’ 1-2 positioning sets up a possible rematch in the national title game Jan. 19.

Then it was No. 5 seed Oregon, followed by Mississippi, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Alabama, Miami, American champion Tulane and James Madison of the Sun Belt.

The playoffs start Dec. 19 with No. 9 Alabama at No. 8 Oklahoma. On Dec. 20, it’s No. 10 Miami at No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 11 Tulane at No. 6 Ole Miss and No. 12 James Madison at No. 5 Oregon.

The winners move to the quarterfinals, which will feature Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve, then Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl, Indiana in the Rose Bowl and Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1.