Notes and observations entering an exciting opening round of College Football Playoff games:

n For the vast majority of its existence, major college football was one of the most exciting spectator sports in the country, albeit with a glaring shortcoming — the lack of a true on-the-field game to determine its national champion.

That all changed with the advent of a four-team playoff tournament following the 2014 season, replacing the ineffective Bowl Championship Series (BCS).

Nonetheless, the original four-team CFP format left much to be desired, as several teams with a strong argument for inclusion — think the 2016 Big Ten Conference champion Penn State Nittany Lions — were left on the outside looking in.

The CFP field was expanded to 12 teams last season, but again, there were glitches, as champions from weaker conferences received precedence over teams that were actually ranked higher but did not win titles in their conferences.

This season, the format was tweaked, with several teams with the higher rankings getting accorded at-large playoff berths. But the system is still not without controversy.

Selection Sunday on Dec. 7 left Miami and Alabama relieved and happy about being selected for the CFP field, and Notre Dame fuming over its exclusion.

Alabama didn’t win its conference championship game, and neither Miami or Notre Dame — which has never pursued a conference affiliation — played in one.

That hurt the 10-2 Fighting Irish’s playoff chances, but not nearly as much as its season-opening, 27-24 head-to-head loss to the 10-2 Hurricanes in Miami that directly preceded ND’s 41-40 overtime home-field loss to CFP qualifier Texas A&M. Notre Dame, which opted not to participate in a non-CFP bowl game after the selection committee’s decision, also lacked a signature victory this season, with a 34-24 victory over USC its only win against a ranked opponent.

With the exception of its season-opening victory over the Fighting Irish, Miami’s resume was also fairly unimpressive, including losses at home to Louisville and on the road at SMU – both of which are non-playoff teams.

But the Hurricanes, seeded 10th in the CFP field, got the playoff nod and will open the tournament with a road game Saturday against seventh-ranked Texas A&M.

Alabama is another story. The Crimson Tide lost three games this year, including a 28-7 setback to CFP third seed Georgia in the Southeastern Conference championship game. The fact that the Tide reached the title game in the rugged SEC, despite losing there, no doubt helped their cause, as did their 24-21 regular-season victory on the road against Georgia. ‘Bama also had impressive conference wins over Vanderbilt and Tennessee in its meat-grinder SEC schedule that apparently was enough to convince the selection committee to overlook the Tide’s egregious non-conference season-opening loss on the road to Florida State, which had a losing record this year.

Ninth seed Alabama will look to silence its doubters tonight, when the Crimson Tide visits eighth seed Oklahoma for a first-round playoff game.

The bottom line is that while Notre Dame might have had some justification for its disappointment, the regular-season results provided more justification against including the Irish in the CFP field.

n Speaking of arguments, there wasn’t one to dispute the selection of Indiana University senior quarterback Fernando Mendoza for the Heisman Trophy this year, despite the initial protests of Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, who later apologized for his comments.

Mendoza threw for 3,323 yards and 31 touchdowns this season in leading top-ranked, undefeated and CFP top seed Indiana to the Big Ten Conference championship and a quarterfinal berth in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day against the Alabama-Oklahoma winner. Carrying a 13-0 record into the New Year, the Indiana program enjoyed its first-ever perfect regular season after having had only three previous seasons in its history — 1945, 1967 and 2024 — in which the Hoosiers either won the Big Ten championship or achieved nine or more wins.

n The Sherrone Moore mess at Michigan is more proof that one person’s misdeeds often affect so many other people.

The Wolverines prepare for their Dec. 31 Cheez-it Citrus Bowl matchup against Texas with the focus of interim coach Biff Poggi being as much to look over the emotional welfare of the program’s betrayed and devastated players as it is to win their bowl game.

n Hollidaysburg native Garrett Clawson, an upstanding young man who has worked his way up to the position of assistant special teams coach this year with the Wolverines after leaving SMU to take the Michigan job in the 2024 offseason, is still a member of the Michigan coaching staff. He endured Moore’s dismissal of former special teams coordinator J.B. Brown on Dec. 3. Brown had helped open the door at Michigan for Clawson, who had previously been on the coaching staffs at SMU and Old Dominion.

n Texas Tech, seeded fourth in the CFP field, could be the sleeper in the entire tournament field. The fourth-seeded Red Raiders are 12-1 after their 34-7 Big 12 Conference championship win over BYU, and Tech — which earned a CFP first-round bye — brings a powerful offensive attack that has averaged over 42 points per game into its New Year’s Day quarterfinal-round game in the Orange Bowl against the winner of Saturday’s opening-round matchup between fifth-seeded Oregon and 12th-seeded James Madison.

n Better late than never, but it says here that Penn State made a home-run coaching hire in Matt Campbell, who had been a catalyst in completely turning around what had been a dormant football program at Iowa State. And credit is also due to Campbell for retaining current interim Penn State coach Terry Smith on the Nittany Lions’ staff as associate head coach.

n American Athletic Conference champion Tulane qualified for the CFP this season as the tournament’s 11th seed, and will play a first-round game on the road against sixth-seeded Ole Miss Saturday afternoon. Nobody will be hoping for a Green Wave upset more than former Bishop Guilfoyle standout George Geishauser, who was a two-year defensive starter for Tulane back in the early 1980s and will be part of the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame’s 2026 induction class.

John Hartsock can be reached at jhartsock@altoonamirror.com