Championship weekend delivered a blockbuster befitting of the first 12-team College Football Playoff.

In Atlanta, it took overtime, but Georgia, even after two regular-season losses, claimed the SEC by beating Texas and stealing an all-important first-round bye from the Longhorns, who will still host a quarterfinal against 12-seed Clemson.

Top-ranked Oregon and Penn State engaged in an offensive shootout in Indianapolis. But despite a late effort from the Nittany Lions, the Ducks proved once again why they are both still undefeated and ranked atop the college football world. Dan Lanning’s 13-0 team doesn’t just get a first-round bye — they’ll be playing in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.

In the land of underdogs and surprises, Arizona State and Boise State made loud statements in their respective Big 12 and Mountain West championship games, earning improbable — but well-deserved — first-round byes. Who would have seen that coming four months ago? Not the Big 12 media, which predicted the Sun Devils to finish last in the conference.

And finally, in Charlotte, Dabo Swinney and Clemson (with an assist from Syracuse last week) resurrected their once-lost season and found themselves with another conference championship and a spot in the playoff by beating SMU on a last-second field goal. The Mustangs had to sweat it out overnight, but in the end, they — not Alabama, not Ole Miss, not South Carolina and not Miami — found themselves in the playoff field as well. Their reward? A trip to Happy Valley to face No. 6 Penn State.

After months of rankings, seedings and countless debates, we have a 12-team bracket that brings about plenty of enticing questions and intriguing possibilities.

Can Oregon run the table and go 16-0 and finally get the coveted national championship the program craves? Will Georgia once again show itself to be the sport’s flagship program a year after missing out on the playoff? How far will the Cinderella runs of Boise State and Arizona State go? Is a sleeping giant such as Notre Dame, Ohio State or Tennessee better positioned for a run after not having to play in a conference championship? Or will the new format bring about more chaos and produce a double-digit-seed semifinalist, maybe even a familiar winner like Clemson?

Here are our full picks for the inaugural, 12-team College Football Playoff.

Andrea Adelson

First round

Texas 28, Clemson 14
Ohio State 27, Tennessee 24
Penn State 24, SMU 23
Notre Dame 38, Indiana 17

Quarterfinals

Texas 33, Arizona State 30
Oregon 35, Ohio State 31
Penn State 38, Boise State 35
Notre Dame 23, Georgia 20

Semifinals

Texas 31, Oregon 30
Notre Dame 27, Penn State 24

National title game

Texas 31, Notre Dame 27

---

Kyle Bonagura

First round

Texas 31, Clemson 21
Ohio State 28, Tennessee 24
Penn State 31, SMU 17
Indiana 31, Notre Dame 24

Quarterfinals

Oregon 35, Ohio State 28
Arizona State 31, Texas 28
Penn State 38, Boise State 24
Georgia 42, Indiana 38

Semifinals

Oregon 42, Arizona State 31
Georgia 28, Penn State 24

National title game

Oregon 31, Georgia 24

---

Bill Connelly

First round

Texas 35, Clemson 16
Ohio State 17, Tennessee 10
Penn State 31, SMU 20
Notre Dame 24, Indiana 23

Quarterfinals

Oregon 28, Ohio State 21
Texas 31, Arizona State 17
Penn State 24, Boise State 20
Notre Dame 20, Georgia 16

Semifinals

Oregon 35, Texas 31
Notre Dame 23, Penn State 21

National title game

Oregon 28, Notre Dame 27

---

David Hale

First round

Texas 45, Clemson 27
Ohio State 28, Tennessee 27
SMU 30, Penn State 28
Notre Dame 42, Indiana 10

Quarterfinals

Texas 34, Arizona State 21
Ohio State 32, Oregon 31
SMU 36, Boise State 33
Notre Dame 21, Georgia 20

Semifinals

Ohio State 27, Texas 24
Notre Dame 35, SMU 28

National title game

Ohio State 27, Notre Dame 24

---

Eli Lederman

First round

Texas 41, Clemson 31
Ohio State 24, Tennessee 20
Penn State 31, SMU 28
Notre Dame 34, Indiana 17

Quarterfinals

Texas 30, Arizona State 13
Oregon 35, Ohio State 34
Boise State 28, Penn State 20
Notre Dame 24, Georgia 16

Semifinals

Oregon 24, Texas 20
Notre Dame 27, Boise State 17

National title game

Oregon 27, Notre Dame 24

---

Chris Low

First round

Texas 31, Clemson 14
Ohio State 27, Tennessee 24
Penn State 35, SMU 21
Notre Dame 24, Indiana 20

Quarterfinals

Texas 34, Arizona State 24
Ohio State 30, Oregon 28
Boise State 28, Penn State 27
Georgia 24, Notre Dame 21

Semifinals

Ohio State 31, Texas 30
Georgia 34, Boise State 21

National title game

Georgia 28, Ohio State 23

---

Max Olson

First round

Texas 31, Clemson 20
Ohio State 17, Tennessee 14
Penn State 41, SMU 35
Indiana 24, Notre Dame 21

Quarterfinals

Texas 27, Arizona State 17
Oregon 35, Ohio State 13
Penn State 31, Boise State 21
Georgia 27, Indiana 10

Semifinals

Oregon 37, Texas 31
Georgia 20, Penn State 17

National title game

Oregon 34, Georgia 27

---

Adam Rittenberg

First round

Texas 24, Clemson 16
Ohio State 26, Tennessee 19
Penn State 34, SMU 23
Notre Dame 31, Indiana 21

Quarterfinals

Texas 33, Arizona State 20
Oregon 38, Ohio State 35
Penn State 35, Boise State 31
Notre Dame 19, Georgia 17

Semifinals

Oregon 31, Texas 21
Notre Dame 27, Penn State 26

National title game

Oregon 38, Notre Dame 27

---

Mark Schlabach

First round

Texas 24, Clemson 20
Ohio State 28, Tennessee 17
Penn State 34, SMU 24
Notre Dame 35, Indiana 21

Quarterfinals

Arizona State 24, Texas 21
Oregon 38, Ohio State 31
Penn State 27, Boise State 24
Georgia 24, Notre Dame 21

Semifinals

Oregon 38, Arizona State 27
Georgia 27, Penn State 21

National title game

Oregon 24, Georgia 20

---

Jake Trotter

First round

Texas 24, Clemson 12
Tennessee 21, Ohio State 20
Penn State 27, SMU 19
Notre Dame 31, Indiana 23

Quarterfinals

Arizona State 27, Texas 23
Oregon 35, Tennessee 28
Boise State 28, Penn State 27
Notre Dame 16, Georgia 14

Semifinals

Oregon 44, Arizona State 38
Notre Dame 20, Boise State 14

National title game

Oregon 30, Notre Dame 27

---

Paolo Uggetti

First round

Texas 27, Clemson 14
Tennessee 27, Ohio State 24
Penn State 34, SMU 20
Notre Dame 28, Indiana 17

Quarterfinals

Arizona State 27, Texas 24
Oregon 34, Tennessee 21
Penn State 31, Boise State 27
Notre Dame 21, Georgia 17

Semifinals

Oregon 38, Arizona State 27
Notre Dame 24, Penn State 20

National title game

Oregon 31, Notre Dame 20

---

Dave Wilson

First round

Texas 27, Clemson 17
Tennessee 34, Ohio State 31
Penn State 37, SMU 30
Notre Dame 24, Indiana 21

Quarterfinals

Texas 34, Arizona State 27
Oregon 30, Tennessee 24
Penn State 41, Boise State 24
Georgia 38, Notre Dame 27

Semifinals

Oregon 31, Texas 17
Georgia 28, Penn State 21

National title game

Oregon 28, Georgia 20

CHICAGO — Blackhawks goaltender Petr Mrazek is feeling much better after a rough couple of weeks.

Mrazek was activated from injured reserve on Thursday, and goaltender Drew Commesso was assigned to the minors. Mrazek backed up Arvid Soderblom for Chicago’s 3-1 victory against Seattle.

The 32-year-old Mrazek departed a 4-2 loss to Winnipeg on Dec. 7 with a left groin injury. Then he started to come down with the flu the next day.

“It’s a relief that it wasn’t anything serious,” Mrazek said. “I felt like I was just being more careful with it. In the past you stay in the net and you get it worse. Dealing with that and then with the flu, everything in one, was the thing. Just get through it and get back on track.”

Mrazek is 7-11-1 with a 2.83 goals-against average and .906 save percentage in 20 games. He has carried a heavy workload for Chicago over the past two seasons, but he said he didn’t think that contributed to the injury.

“I’ve been dealing with a couple of things personally as well, travel a lot between Chicago and different cities,” he said. “So I think just everything came together. I felt like maybe just the body said it was enough, needed a mental break as well and get back on track now.”

Mrazek did not offer any specifics on what he has been dealing with on the personal side.

Captain Nick Foligno said it was good to have the goaltender on the ice for the morning skate before the matchup with the Kraken.

“He’s a big part of what we’re trying to do here, and he’s a great goalie,” he said. “To see him feeling good and back out is really important for our group. He brings a lot of energy.”

Kaapo Kakko doesn’t believe his criticism of the New York Rangers led to his being traded to Seattle on Wednesday night, although Kraken general manager Ron Francis believes the player’s candor might have accelerated a deal.

Kakko, 23, candidly disagreed with coach Peter Laviolette’s decision to make him a healthy scratch for the Rangers’ loss in St. Louis on Sunday. “I know we’re losing games, but I think it’s just easy to take the young guy and put him out,” he said.

Kakko also noted that while his line hadn’t generated a lot of offense — the forward had four goals and 10 assists in 30 games for the Rangers — opponents hadn’t scored much when he was on the ice at 5-on-5. “I’ve not been the worst guy, [but] that was me out of the lineup,” he said Tuesday

The next day, the Rangers traded Kakko to the Kraken for defenseman Will Borgen, a third-round pick and a sixth-round pick in the 2025 NHL entry draft.

An NHL source indicated that the Rangers weren’t reacting to Kakko’s comments in making that trade — that the move was made to continue to reshape the struggling team and because Kakko is a restricted free agent next summer to whom the Rangers weren’t ready to commit long term.

Kakko also believed his comments weren’t the catalyst for the trade.

“I don’t think it’s because of that. The team was playing not well enough. I was kind of waiting something is going to happen, and I knew also it might be me,” said Kakko of the Rangers, who are 3-11-0 in their past 14 games. “I mean, with those comments, I was kind of frustrated and I was honest and then that’s what I thought at the time.”

But Francis feels Kakko’s criticism might have hastened the trade.

Francis said that he and Rangers GM Chris Drury had talked about a Kakko trade for at least a week before it happened but that interest picked up in recent days.

“I would think when he was a healthy scratch that Chris got a lot of calls, not just from me. That tends to be the nature of the beast in our business. We had already started having conversations when the comments came out,” he said. “So it’s kind of an awkward situation. You’ve got a disgruntled guy in your locker room. So did that speed things up? It probably did, but at the end of the day, I think Chris wasn’t just going to do something to do something. But could have been a factor as well.”

Kakko had been vocal during his time with the Rangers about his role and the ice time he received. He admitted on Thursday that there were discussions with management about a trade last season to give him a fresh start with another team, but he stopped short of characterizing those talks as “demanding” a trade.

“Last year was kind of bad year for me. I wasn’t good enough, to be honest,” he said regarding a season when he had 13 goals and six assists in 61 games.

Rather than get that fresh start, Kakko re-upped with the Rangers in June on a one-year contract worth $2.4 million.

“I didn’t have a contract after the last season. We were thinking about what’s the best thing for me and for the team. We talked about it a little bit, but then [I] ended up signing with the Rangers and wanted to play for them,” he said.

But 31 games into this season, the Rangers are a disappointment in the Eastern Conference, sitting in sixth place in the Metro Division. They already traded captain Jacob Trouba to Anaheim in a bid to shake up the roster. Then it was Kakko’s turn.

He said he realized something was afoot when he emerged from a hotel sauna in Dallas to discover that he had missed three phone calls from Drury.

Kakko said he’s looking forward to getting started with the Kraken, seeing the trade to Seattle as a second chapter for his NHL career. In 330 NHL games, he has 61 goals and 70 assists (131 points). His career best in goals was 18 in 2020-21.

“I liked my time in New York, but it never worked out the way we wanted. I think this is a new chance for me over here, and then we’ll see how it goes,” said Kakko, who again will be a restricted free agent after the season.

Francis said the Kraken intend to give Kakko a chance to make an immediate impact, playing him in their top six forwards and giving him power-play time.

“We’ll see what the coaches want to do there, but he’s played 300 games but he’s still only 23 years old. So we just think there’s the potential for upside, and that’s why we made the deal,” Francis said.