The Road to Miami & the 2029 National Championship
Boone Tillman // Sooner Born • Published: December 10th, 2029
The 2029 College Football Playoff was thrown for a loop after the dust settled on championship weekend with a pair of upsets after Ohio State ended USC's undefeated season and the North Carolina Tar Heels shocked the nation by downing the first-ranked Hurricanes. As a result, those same Tar Heels and the 16th-ranked Sun Belt Champion Coastal Carolina missed the opportunity to make the playoffs as one of the top five-ranked conference championships.
"Obviously, we are very disappointed in the final decision of the CFP committee," said University of North Carolina Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham after the final bracket was announced, "but, we also understand that if we had won more games, we wouldn't have found ourselves in this situation."
Coastal Carolina athletic director Chance Miller echoed a similar sentiment, acknowledging that an early loss in conference play halted their momentum in the AP polls.
In a written statement, Hunter Yurachek, the CFP selection committee chair, acknowledged the difficulties of finalizing this year's bracket in particular.
"This is the first time that we've had the majority of our conference champions in the first round of the bracket. As a result, there are a number of teams who were on the bubble that ultimately stayed there due to that circumstance."
Of the four teams that secured the first-round bye, only the Oklahoma Sooners claimed their conference championship, as they rocketed up to the overall number one seed after their 49-9 dismantling of the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Their reward? What many are calling the toughest path to the National Championship at Hard Rock Stadium.
"Pittsburgh is a nice story, but no one thinks they're sliding past USC," said one anonymous athletic director, "So Oklahoma is going to have to face either Ohio State or Georgia in the Cotton Bowl, then either Tennessee or USC in the Sugar Bowl. That is an insanely hard schedule compared to what either Miami or Notre Dame may have to face, which will likely be each other."
"We haven't ducked the smoke all season, and we aren't going to start now," proclaimed Armando Leon when asked about the difficult schedule ahead of the Sooners despite earning the number one overall seed.
The National Awards ceremony will be held this weekend, December 15th, before the first round of the College Football Playoff will officially kick off on Friday, December 21st.
#12 Pittsburgh (10-2) will travel to Los Angeles to face #5 USC (12-1) with the winner traveling to the Fiesta Bowl to face #4 Tennessee.
Big Ten champion #9 Ohio State (12-2) makes the trip south to Athens to clash with the #8 Georgia Bulldogs (10-2) between the hedges. The #1 overall seeded SEC champion Oklahoma Sooners (12-1) await the winner in the Cotton Bowl.
Big 12 champion #11 Texas Tech (11-2) will trek to The Blue as they face Pac-12 Champion #6 Boise State (13-0) for the honor of traveling to the Orange Bowl in a veritable home game for the #3 Miami Hurricanes (11-2).
Lastly, American champion #10 Tulane (11-2) heads north for a showdown with #7 Missouri. The #2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish lie in wait for the winner in a Peach Bowl clash.
