Who were the biggest winners and losers of new 12-team CFP? Ryan Day, the SEC and more

Ohio State s run to the national championship in the first installment of the 12-team College Football Playoff made Ryan Day the biggest winner of the season.

Day needed to win a national championship to validate himself after yet another loss to rival Michigan at the end of the regular season.

He needed a Playoff run to survive the wrath of his biggest critics the Buckeyes faithful and he accomplished it Monday night in Atlanta .

Advertisement Now, Day stands at the top of the sport, in prime position to compete with Georgias Kirby Smart for the crown of College Footballs Best Coach.

Of course, Day wasnt the only winner from this years 12-team Playoff.

Collectively, commissioner Tony Petitti and the Big Ten can take a large victory lap.

The league landed four teams in the field, placed two in the semifinals and took home the national championship trophy for the second year in a row.

There were some losers, too.

Well work our way up from Loserville to Winners Lane.

Losers Whats happened to the greatest conference ever assembled? The SEC won 13 of the 17 national championships from 2006 through 2022 but hasnt had a representative play for a title in each of the last two seasons.

Greg Sankey, Paul Finebaum and Lane Kiffin have some explaining to do.

How is it that the mighty SEC the league that cried about getting only three teams into the field had just one school (newcomer Texas) win a Playoff game? Paul Finebaum: "The Big Ten, at the moment, owns college football.

And there's no way you can say it doesn't...

it's an uncomfortable feeling for the SEC, which has owned the sport.

But it's a reality this morning." pic.twitter.com/B1KR8efVDS Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 21, 2025 Maybe its time to reconcile with the fact that the SECs run of dominance is over.

Legendary coach Nick Saban is on TV now, and the transfer portal appears to have become a great equalizer.

The good old days of stacking rosters three-deep at every position with high school All-Americans is all but over.

Yes, SEC programs have adjusted to the new world and continue to use all possible avenues to acquire talent.

Nearly half (47) of the top 100 players in the 247Sports transfer portal rankings have committed to SEC schools.

And with the vast majority of the 2025 high school recruiting class already signed, SEC schools have six of the top eight classes in the nation in the 247Sports Composite.

Advertisement But if the SEC falls short of winning the national title again in 2025, well probably need to start asking if the right head coaches are in place at some of the leagues top programs.

Dan Lanning had it rolling.

The Ducks were 13-0, Big Ten champions and the No.

1 seed in the CFP.

Then, Ohio State completely dismantled Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

Lanning, 38, isnt going anywhere anytime soon.

Hes 35-6 in three seasons in Eugene, and Phil Knights money is still bankrolling one of the most talented rosters in the game.

But this marked the second year in a row Oregon had a team good enough to win a national title but lost to a conference rival in a big game.

At some point, you have to get over the hump.

Lanning and Oregon simply havent done so yet.

For my money, Smart, 49, is still the best coach in the game.

Hes won three SEC titles, two national championships and knows how to rebuild a roster in the current landscape.

But Smart is entering 2025 with a bit of pressure on him after his teams short Playoff run.

Surprisingly, Georgia got pushed around by Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl loss.

Smart didnt forget how to coach.

He just got beat by a more prepared team.

Josh Heupel has led the Volunteers to two top-10 finishes in the last three years.

You have to go back to 1999 and 2001 to find a time when fans on Rocky Top could brag about that.

Does that mean the Volunteers had a good run this season? Not necessarily.

Nico Iamaleava finished 14 of 31 for 104 yards in the Playoff loss and looked nothing like the savior Tennessees collective thought it was paying big bucks for when he signed.

Tennessees defense, meanwhile, got roasted by Will Howard , Jeremiah Smith and TreVeyon Henderson in Columbus.

It was an ugly ending to a season in which the lower end of expectations were met.

Advertisement Gray area If it were possible to separate the head coach from the team in defining winners and losers from this years field, this would be the team/coach to do it.

The Nittany Lions proved theyre a worthy top-10 team and Playoff contender by dominating SMU at home and then beating Boise State to reach the semifinals.

James Franklin then showed us in the Orange Bowl why his program has a ceiling on it, blowing the lead twice to Notre Dame while falling to 1-15 all-time against top-five teams.

Great coaches and great teams find a way to win big games.

Franklins record speaks for itself.

GO DEEPER Way too early Top 25 for the 2025 college football season Dabo Swinney taught us his Tigers are still the best the Atlantic Coast Conference has to offer but also still not nearly as good as they were in the glory days.

Clemsons defense used to be elite when Brent Venables ran it.

That defense simply wasnt good enough when it mattered this season, most notably when Texas shredded the Tigers for 292 rushing yards in the first round of the CFP.

Swinney upgraded the unit when he hired Tom Allen away from Penn State this month .

Hes even signed three players out of the transfer portal this cycle.

Still, dont confuse this Clemson with the one Swinney had sitting on top of the college football world in 2016 and 2018.

Theres a lot more work to be done before this Clemson is that Clemson again.

Steve Sarkisian is already the second-best coach in the SEC, and hes been in the league for only one season.

The scoreboard says that Texas lost by two touchdowns, but the Horns came closer than anybody else to beating Ohio State in the postseason.

Jack Sawyer s 83-yard fumble return late in the fourth quarter of the Cotton Bowl spoiled Texas comeback bid and potentially the best game of the CFP.

Does that mean Texas lived up to expectations and Sark deserves a pat on the back? Probably.

But nobody in Austin feels good about losing in the semifinals for the second year in a row.

Advertisement Winners Group of 5 schools will almost always operate at a disadvantage in this system, but Boise State coach Spencer Danielson rode star tailback Ashton Jeanty about as far as he could.

The Broncos had a stellar 12-2 season, earned the No.

3 seed and then got beat by a better team in the Fiesta Bowl.

You might say it was a disappointing ending, but keep in mind that all four teams with a bye lost in the quarterfinals.

Losing a heartbreaker to Clemson in the ACC Championship Game and getting smoked 38-10 in State College wasnt the way Rhett Lashlee wanted SMUs dream season to end.

But the Mustangs triumphant first season in the ACC was the perfect tone-setter for where SMU wants to be in the years ahead.

Curt Cignetti was playing with house money and delivered big results in Year 1 in Bloomington, leading the Hoosiers to their first season with 10-plus wins in school history.

Yes, some of us might remember that Indiana trailed Notre Dame 27-3 in the fourth quarter of the first Playoff game, but theres no scenario in which this was not a great season for Cignetti and company.

How do you pull a proud Power 4 program up off the mat? You follow Kenny Dillinghams blueprint.

He reeled in running back Cam Skattebo from Sacramento State, rebuilt the Sun Devils roster and shocked the college football world by leading ASU to the Big 12 championship.

If not for a late defensive breakdown against Texas, the Sun Devils would have won the Peach Bowl and created a really interesting matchup in the Cotton Bowl against Ohio State.

Instead, were waiting to see what Dillingham does for an encore in 2025.

The Irish still havent won a national championship since 1988, but Marcus Freemans team exorcised some demons in 2024.

Beating SEC champion Georgia in the Sugar Bowl was huge for a program badly in need of a signature victory over a team from the South.

Advertisement Rallying to beat Penn State in the Orange Bowl despite a rash of injuries proved Freeman is one of the best coaches in the game.

Yes, the Irish fell behind big against Ohio State in the national title game.

But they fought back and proved that they belong on the sports biggest stage.

That will help Freeman win a lot of recruiting battles in the years ahead.

(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic ; Photos: Doug Murray / Icon Sportswire; Todd Kirkland / Getty Images; John Adams / Icon Sportswire; David Zalubowski / AP Photo).

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