As the projected top seeds, Georgia and Ohio State get a breather following conference championship weekend ahead of the expanded playoff’s first round games. They’ll get an extra week to rest and prepare for their first postseason matchups. In essence, this is how the first round of games would go with higher seeds as the host sites prior to going to bowl venues for the quarterfinals:
No. 10 Penn State (at-large) at No. 7 Ole Miss (automatic qualifier)
No. 12 Utah (automatic qualifier) at No. 5 Oregon (automatic qualifier)
No. 14 USF (automatic qualifier) at No. 3 Florida State (automatic qualifier)
No. 9 Notre Dame (at-large) at No. 8 Clemson (automatic qualifier)
No. 11 Michigan (automatic qualifier) at No. 6 Texas (automatic qualifier)
No. 13 LSU (at-large) at No. 4 Kansas State (automatic qualifier)
