By Andy Stine

astine@altoonamirror.com

Penn State will host its first ever College Football Playoff game against Southern Methodist University on Dec. 21 at noon to kick off its playoff journey.

SMU, which fell to Clemson in Saturday night’s ACC championship, went 11-2 this season.

The winner of the game will face No. 3 Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Eve at 7:30 p.m.

Oregon drew the No. 1 seed and will play in the Rose Bowl against the winner of No. 8 Ohio State and No. 9 Tennessee. No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Boise State, and No. 4 Arizona State also secured first round byes.

In other first round matchups, No. 5 Texas hosts No. 12 Clemson, and No. 7 Notre Dame hosts 10th-seeded Indiana in an in-state matchup on Dec. 20 at 8 p.m.

More can be found in Monday’s edititon of the Mirror.