Championship weekend is over and we are mere hours from official College Football Playoff rankings and bowl announcements.
Arizona State, Georgia, Clemson and Oregon won Power 4 league titles a day after Boise State and Army claimed conference crowns on Friday night.
In the new, expanded 12-team playoff, the five highest-ranked conference champions will make the field along with the next seven highest-ranked teams. The four highest-ranked conference champions will be awarded first-round byes, with the other eight teams meeting at the campus sites of the Nos. 5-8 seeds.
From there, the quarterfinals and semifinals will be played in what had been the New Year’s Six bowls, with this season’s national championship game scheduled for Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
All of that is just the tip of the iceberg, though. Apart from the playoff is the 36-game slate of bowls, from the Cricket Celebration Bowl on Dec. 14 to the Bahamas Bowl on Jan. 4.
ESPN bowl gurus Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach are projecting every postseason matchup one final time before the official ones are unveiled on Sunday.
Dec. 20-21 — ABC/ESPN or TNT Sports*
Bonagura: No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Notre Dame
Schlabach: No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Penn State
Bonagura: No. 11 Alabama at No. 6 Ohio State
Schlabach: No. 11 SMU at No. 6 Texas
Bonagura: No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Texas
Schlabach: No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Notre Dame
Bonagura: No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Penn State
Schlabach: No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State
CFP quarterfinals
Tuesday, Dec. 31
CFP Quarterfinal at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl
State Farm Stadium (Glendale, Arizona)
7:30 p.m., ESPN
Bonagura: No. 5 Notre Dame vs. No. 4 Arizona State
Schlabach: No. 5 Penn State vs. No. 4 Arizona State
Wednesday, Jan. 1
CFP Quarterfinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta)
1 p.m., ESPN
Bonagura: No. 6 Ohio State vs. No. 3 Boise State
Schlabach: No. 6 Texas vs. No. 3 Boise State
CFP Quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential
Rose Bowl (Pasadena, California)
5 p.m., ESPN
Bonagura: No. 9 Tennessee vs. No. 1 Oregon
Schlabach: No. 8 Ohio State vs. No. 1 Oregon
CFP Quarterfinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl
Caesars Superdome (New Orleans)
8:45 p.m., ESPN
Bonagura: No. 7 Texas vs. No. 2 Georgia
Schlabach: No. 7 Notre Dame vs. No. 2 Georgia
CFP semifinals, national championship game
Thursday, Jan. 9
CFP Semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl
Hard Rock Stadium (Miami Gardens, Florida)
7:30 p.m., ESPN
Bonagura: No. 6 Ohio State vs. No. 2…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at www.espn.com – Notre Dame Fighting Irish…