GRAPEVINE, Texas - Welcome to the College Football Playoff, Tulane.
The No. 20 Green Wave dismantled No. 24 North Texas, providing the selection committee with its first answer of conference championship weekend.
The committee gathered Friday night at its headquarters in the Gaylord Texan resort to watch Group of 5 conference championship games that will impact its final ranking on Selection Day. It was only the beginning of conference championship weekend, but how these games unfolded with the committee watching will determine its five highest-ranked conference champions -- and how that order will impact the contenders around them.
Here's an early look at what Friday night's results meant to the playoff race, starting with the Sun Belt and the American Conference.
Tulane 34, North Texas 21
With Tulane's win against North Texas, the American champs locked up a spot in the playoff, as they will be the committee's fourth-highest ranked conference champion. The Green Wave will earn the No. 11 seed and face the committee's No. 6 team on the road in the first round. If the committee keeps Ole Miss at No. 6, Tulane will get a rematch against the Rebels. Ole Miss beat Tulane 45-10 on Sept. 20 in Oxford and will have home-field advantage again as the higher seed.
James Madison 31, Troy 14
With Friday's win against Troy, JMU's path to the playoff is straightforward: Duke needs to beat Virginia and win the ACC. If that happens, the committee will reward JMU with the No. 12 seed as its fifth and final conference champion -- and it would come at the expense of the ACC champion, which would be excluded. The question is if the conference will be excluded entirely, though -- or if No. 12 Miami will still sneak in, even without playing this weekend. That could happen if BYU loses to Texas Tech in the Big 12 title game and drops behind Miami -- putting the Canes right below No. 10 Notre Dame. In that scenario, the committee could look at Miami's season-opening win against the Irish as one of several tiebreakers it uses to separate comparable teams.