A look at how each of the eight College Football Playoff teams in action fared during the first round


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The first round of the College Football Playoff is in the books, and it altered the perception around a couple of controversial bubble teams that endured unseemly struggles in the not-too-distant past. No. 9 seed Alabama and No. 10 seed Miami went on the road and won in hostile environments over No. 8 seed Oklahoma and No. 7 seed Texas A&M, respectively.

In the process, they justified -- to a not insiginicant degree -- their places in the bracket after both snuck in over a snubbed Notre Dame team. Had either lost, the ire of Notre Dame fans enraged by the Fighting Irish's exclusion would only have intensified.

Instead, frustration for those on the wrong side of the bubble for the 12-team field will be further directed at a system that allowed two Group of Five teams into the field. The struggles of both No. 11 seed Tulane and No. 12 seed James Madison in lopsided losses will only give fuel to the faction of college football's ecosystem yearning to tweak a format that guarantees access to the five highest-ranked conference champions.

JMU recovered from an early 34-3 deficit to go toe-to-toe with Oregon in the second half of a 51-34 loss, but it never truly threatened the Ducks. Tulane was just as hapless in a 41-10 loss at Ole Miss as it was in a 45-10 loss against the Rebels in September.

Against that backdrop, we are handing out grades evaluating all eight teams that played in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

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