AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Texas Longhorns will start the first 12-team College Football Playoff at home.
Coming off a 22-19 overtime loss to Georgia in the Southeastern Conference championship, the CFP selection committee awarded Texas the No. 5 seed. They'll face No. 12 Clemson in the first round at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium at 3 p.m. CT, Dec. 21 on TNT. The Longhorns are No. 3 in the final CFP rankings.
"It's an exciting time in college football," Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian said. "We're fortunate that we've earned the right to be in the playoffs and compete with Clemson. Dabo (Swinney) and I go way back, and he's done a great job. He modernized a lot of the coaching philosophies that a lot of us use today."
Undefeated Oregon is the No. 1 seed after winning the Big 10 Conference championship 45-37 over Penn State. Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State are the other conference champs who have byes into the quarterfinals. Georgia is seeded No. 2, the Broncos are No. 3 and the Sun Devils are No. 4.
Boise State is No. 9 in the final CFP rankings but gets a bye because they are the third-highest ranked conference champion. Arizona State is No. 12 in the rankings and is the fourth-highest ranked conference champ. They'll play the winner of the Texas-Clemson game in the Chick-fil-a Peach Bowl at noon Jan. 1 on ESPN/ABC
Texas finished its first season in the SEC with the best regular season record at 7-1, losing 30-15 to Georgia, only to lose to the Bulldogs again in the championship game Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
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Clemson upset Southern Methodist 34-31 behind a 56-yard field goal as time expired to win the Atlantic Coast Conference championship, giving the 3-loss Tigers an automatic bid to the CFP. Clemson is ranked No. 16 in the final rankings and is led by Westlake High School standout quarterback Cade Klubnik.
Sarkisian said he's "a big fan of Cade."
"We recruited him hard," Sarkisian said. "He's got a great competitive spirit and he's a winner. You saw that when he was at Westlake. There are a lot of cool storylines to this game, and that's definitely one of them."
Another is Texas safety Andrew Mukuba transferring from Clemson before the start of this season. Sarkisian said the guys started joking that this game is the "Mukuba Bowl" after the matchup was announced.
"We get another opportunity at DKR, and that's part of the beauty of this new format. You get a home game," Sarkisian said. "We're going to need 105,000-strong a week from Saturday in round one."
SMU was the last team in the playoff field with the No. 11 seed, earning a spot over a 3-loss Alabama team that played a stronger schedule. The Mustangs were ranked No. 10 in the final rankings and will face sixth-seeded Penn State. The Crimson Tide and Miami were the first two teams left out.
Sarkisian said the team will get the next three days off before hitting the practice field again. The layoff is similar to a bye week during the regular season, and that's how the coaching staff is going to treat it. The rest will help Kelvin Banks Jr. get his ankle ready to go, and receiver Isaiah Bond is getting an MRI on his ankle following an injury against the Bulldogs. Sarkisian said he's unsure of the severity of Bond's injury.
