The time for debating which teams belong in the College Football Playoff and which teams should be seeded higher is over. It's time to start the actual games. The inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff is slated to begin Friday with the first of four opening-round games that are played on different campuses.
Here is a look at the full schedule as the 12 teams battle for the national championship. First-Round Games * Odds are courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook , as of Monday at 4 p.m.
ET. Second-Round Games Semifinals National Championship Game National Champion Prediction: Oregon Ducks There have been narratives this season that there are no dominant teams and that Penn State got an easier path to the semifinals for losing to Oregon in the Big Ten Championship Game than the No. 1 Ducks got for winning the conference title.
None of it is going to matter on Jan. 20. Oregon was a dominant team this season, and it has an undefeated record and three wins over teams in the CFP (Boise State, Ohio State and Penn State) to prove it.
Had an SEC powerhouse like Georgia or Alabama finished the season as the only undefeated team in the nation, there would be no suggestions there wasn't a dominant team. Alas, the Ducks are going to eliminate any doubt when they win it all. The cliche of defense wins championships doesn't ring entirely true in the CFP era, as the winner of nine of the 10 national championship games since moving on from the BCS has scored more than 30 points.
Six of those.
