Ranking the hardest paths to the CFP Championship: Did Texas get lucky?

The College Football Playoff bracket is out. All the speculation, posturing, talk about "strength of record" and whether teams resumes' were strong enough to punch them a ticket into the field of 12 is over, and we know who has byes — Oregon, Georgia, Arizona State and Boise State — and what the first round matchups will be between the last conference champion (Clemson) and the seven at-large bids.

But the paths through the Playoff has become a topic of conversation recently, and after the full bracket was revealed on Sunday, those conversations won't stop. Top-seeded Oregon has a first-round bye, but awaits the winner of Ohio State and Tennessee, one of which gave Oregon its closest test of the year.

Penn State, meanwhile, does not have a first-round bye, but plays SMU in the first-round — if the Nittany Lions can beat SMU, then Boise State awaits in the quarterfinals. We respect SMU and Boise State, though, and the combination of playing both of those teams won't be easier than playing just one good team from the SEC or Big Ten.

Playing two teams in this bracket is probably harder than playing one, no matter how tough the one team is. Here are the teams with the hardest paths to the College Football Playoff.

Ranking the hardest paths to the College Football Playoff Final

1. Tennessee Volunteers

It's not a fun potential road to the end of the CFP for Tennessee, which starts with a trip to Columbus for a matchup with Ohio State, who ended up ranked No. 8 because it failed to make the Big Ten Championship game. But even though a loss to Michigan in the ultimate week of the season knocked OSU out of the top four, heading to Columbus in December for the first-ever home playoff game doesn't sound like a fun holiday trip.

If Josh Heupel's team can do the improbable and pull an upset against Ohio State, their reward will be... a matchup with top-ranked and undefeated Oregon in the quarterfinals. That's not a fair Christmas present!

And if, against all odds, Tennessee beats both Ohio State and Oregon, the Vols will be rewarded with a potential semifinal game against No. 3-ranked Texas. That would make three top-six ranked teams in three CFP games for Tennessee. That's a gauntlet.

2. Indiana Hoosiers

Indiana versus Notre Dame for supremacy in the state of Indiana is a fantastic storyline, but going into South Bend and coming out with a win remains a tough task for head coach Curt Cignetti and his team. But if Indiana can take over South Bend and hand Notre Dame a loss, their next task would be a quarterfinals matchup with SEC Champion Georgia.

Although Georgia starting quarterback Carson Beck suffered an "upper extremity injury," according to Kirby Smart, and his status in the CFP quarterfinal is unclear,

3. SMU Mustangs

Penn State was a few bad bounces away from capturing a Big Ten Championship, but instead it fell to No. 6 and SMU is the unlucky team that has to travel to Beaver Stadium and play at Penn State.

While SMU is happy to just be in the field as the No. 12 seed, it still can't be happy with its potential path to a national championship. A win over Penn State results in a game against No. 3 Boise State, which earned a bye by winning the Mountain West Championship.

Yes, Boise State is a Mountain West team, but by name only. The Broncos have one of the best running backs in college football history, and one loss to the top-ranked Oregon Ducks who are 13-0 and favorites to win the whole thing.

4. Clemson Tigers

An ACC victory only bumped Clemson up to No. 16, so Clemson enters the CFP as the lowest-ranked team by a comfortable margin. Still, playing SEC runner-up Texas in the first round won't be fun, and neither would playing Big 12 Champion Arizona State — which rolled over Iowa State in that conference title.

Getting through those two battles would likely result in a game against top-seeded Oregon. Just like Tennessee, Clemson is on the top of the bracket which feels more hostile and high-powered than the bottom of the bracket.