Viewer’s guide to the new College Football Playoff

After years of waiting for a bigger and better College Football Playoff, the moment has finally arrived. The bracket is set and the games are here.

The inaugural 12-team field has a few surprises after a season wrought with chaos. Alabama was the last team out as the CFP committee selected SMU for its last at-large spot. Ohio State, Notre Dame, Penn State and Texas are all hosting playoff games on campus in the first round for the first time ever. Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State await the winners on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day in the quarterfinals.

Here’s everything you need to know in our viewer’s guide to the new College Football Playoff.

No. 10 Indiana at No. 7 Notre Dame
Dec. 20, 8 p.m. ET | Location: South Bend, Ind. | TV: ABC/ESPN | Line: Notre Dame -7

No. 11 SMU at No. 6 Penn State
Dec. 21, Noon ET | Location: State College, Pa. | TV: TNT | Line: Penn State -8.5

No. 12 Clemson at No. 5 Texas
Dec. 21, 4 p.m. ET | Location: Austin, Texas | TV: TNT | Line: Texas -12

No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Ohio State
Dec. 21, 8 p.m. ET | Location: Columbus, Ohio | TV: ESPN | Line: Ohio State -7.5

Fiesta Bowl: No. 3 Boise State vs. SMU/Penn State winner
Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m. ET | Location: Glendale, Ariz. | TV: ESPN | Line: TBD

Peach Bowl: No. 4 Arizona State vs. Clemson/Texas winner
Jan. 1, 1 p.m. ET | Location: Atlanta, Ga. | TV: ESPN | Line: TBD

Rose Bowl: No. 1 Oregon vs. Tennessee/Ohio State winner
Jan. 1, 5 p.m. ET | Location: Pasadena, Calif. | TV: ESPN | Line: TBD

Sugar Bowl: No. 2 Georgia vs. Indiana/Notre Dame winner
Jan. 1, 8:45 p.m. ET | Location: New Orleans, La. | TV: ESPN | Line: TBD

Orange Bowl: TBD
Jan. 9, 7:30 p.m. ET | Location: Miami, Fla. | TV: ESPN

Cotton Bowl: TBD
Jan. 10, 7:30 p.m. ET | Location: Dallas, Texas | TV: ESPN

Jan. 20, 7:30 p.m. ET | Location: Atlanta, Ga. | TV: ESPN

Nearly seven years in the making, the expanded College Football Playoff will make its debut this season with Indiana at Notre Dame on Friday. How will it all shake out over the next month?

Here are our expert predictions for how the inaugural 12-team playoff will unfold.

Making the title case for all 12 teams

More teams than ever have national title dreams in late December. At the moment, there are six teams that can legitimately call themselves contenders and six teams that are long shots — at least according to the betting odds.

But you can make an argument for any of the 12 teams in the postseason to win the College Football Playoff. Here is the case for each team in the field.

First-round players to watch, keys to the game

For the first time ever, there will be College Football Playoff games on campuses. Notre Dame-Indiana will get things started on Friday night before the three games on Saturday. Here’s what you need to know about each matchup, including how the teams got there, players to watch and keys to each game.

Indiana at Notre Dame | SMU at Penn State | Clemson at Texas | Tennessee at Ohio State

12 things to know about the expanded 12-team field

We know the 12 teams in the new College Football Playoff field. Let’s talk about the 12 things that you need to know as the action kicks off with first-round games Dec. 20-21.

Biggest problems facing CFP remain

There was plenty of politicking and whining in the buildup to the final College Football Playoff rankings show, and many of the biggest problems are self-inflicted.

Dan Wetzel argues that if these three simple changes were made, there would be a whole lot less complaining, and the sport would be in a much better place.

Will CFP format change again in the near future?

The SEC’s title hopes are down to Georgia, Texas and Tennessee after Alabama was left out of the College Football Playoff, and its commissioner is already mulling potential changes to the playoff format.

Ross Dellenger reports on potential CFP format changes that are being considered, including changes to the first-round bye rule, designating more automatic berths for certain conferences and expanding the field.

It’s the most glorious time of the year and it’s a bit different this season. The 12-team College Football Playoff has given us more games and also juggled the bowl schedule. Bowl season began on Dec. 14 and now ends on Jan. 4 for the non-playoff bowls. After Jan. 4, there are still three playoff games to go as the national championship game is on Jan. 20. Here is the complete schedule of games.