With the College Football Playoff selection show looming on Sunday afternoon, conference championship weekend took on some additional weight this season as playoff contenders had one final opportunity to impact the committee's decision.

The AAC (Army), Conference USA (Jacksonville State) and Mountain West (Boise State) each crowned a champion on Friday night, which served as an appetizer for a full day of football on Saturday.

The ACC (Clemson vs. SMU) and Big 12 (Arizona State vs. Iowa State) were both essentially elimination games in the playoff picture, with the winners each securing an automatic bid and the losers not part of the at-large conversation.

Meanwhile, the Big Ten (Penn State vs. Oregon) and SEC (Georgia vs. Texas) title games both featured matchups of teams expected to be part of the 12-team playoff in some capacity, but still carried major significance with a first-round bye and seeding on the line.

Ahead we've broken down all of the action from Friday and Saturday by highlighting the biggest winners and losers of the weekend, looking beyond simply the final result on the scoreboard.

Winner: Dual-Threat Quarterbacks on Friday Night

Army senior Bryson Daily and Jacksonville State senior Tyler Huff were the two most productive scrambling quarterbacks at the FBS level this season, and both showed out on Friday night while leading their respective teams to conference championship wins.

First, let's just look at their numbers from Friday:

• Daily: 25 carries, 126 yards, 4 TD; 2-of-2, 17 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT
• Huff: 23 carries, 167 yards, 1 TD; 11-of-15, 176 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT

Daily reached 100 yards rushing for the 10th time this season in the AAC title game against Tulane, leading the No. 24-ranked Black Knights to a 35-14 victory and improving their record to 11-1 overall. He leads all quarterbacks with 1,480 rushing yards and 29 rushing touchdowns, while also tallying 877 passing yards and eight touchdowns through the air.

The annual Army-Navy game is up next Saturday.

Huff, who transferred to Jacksonville State after winning 2023 SoCon Offensive Player of the Year at Furman, is now up to 1,343 rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns on the season. He was also more of a true dual threat with 2,179 yards and 13 touchdowns in the passing game.

The Gamecocks had won eight in a row before suffering a Week 14 loss to Western Kentucky, but that defeat was quickly avenged in the Conference USA title game a week later with a 52-12 blowout of that same Hilltoppers team.

Loser: Tulane's Late-Season Stumble

With no dominant team in the Big 12 race, a path began to emerge late in the season for both Boise State and Tulane to potentially reach the college football playoff if they could win out and take care of business in their respective conference championship games.

Here's how things looked for the top Big 12 contenders and those two mid-majors when the Week 13 playoff rankings were released:

11. Boise State
16. Arizona State
17. Tulane
18. Iowa State
19. BYU

That door slammed shut when Tulane lost to Memphis in Week 14, but the Green Wave still claimed a spot in the AAC championship game with a chance to secure a third straight 10-win season.

Alas, Bryson Daily and an Army rushing attack that piled up 335 yards on 57 carries proved to be too much, and Tulane dropped its second straight game to fall to 9-4 on the year.

From potentially shutting the Big 12 out of the playoffs to doubling their season loss total in just a few short weeks.

Winner: Ashton Jeanty's Final Heisman Trophy Case

The 2024 Heisman Trophy winner will be announced on Dec. 14, and Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty just wrapped up one of the most impressive seasons in college football history by a running back.

Will it be enough to hold off Colorado's dual-threat star Travis Hunter?

The Broncos punched their ticket to the college football playoffs by taking care of business against UNLV in the Mountain West title game on Friday night, and Jeanty was once again front and center with 32 carries for 209 yards and one touchdown in a 21-7 victory.

It was his sixth 200-yard rushing performance of the season, and brought his total to a staggering 2,497 yards with an impressive 7.3 yards per carry while pounding out 344 carries.

Only Barry Sanders (2,628, 1988), Melvin Gordon (2,587, 2014) and Kevin Smith (2,567, 2007) had more single-season rushing yards, and his performance was even more unique in today's pass-heavy offensive philosophy.

It's in the hands of the voters now, and if Jeanty does not win this year with the numbers he has put together on a team poised to contend for a title, we might never see another running back hoist the Heisman Trophy.

Loser: Iowa State's Run Defense vs. Cam Skattebo

Run defense had been a strength for the Iowa State Cyclones in recent years:

• 2023: 134.2 rushing yards per game, 39th in FBS
• 2022: 107.3 rushing yards per game, 14th in FBS
• 2021: 122.9 rushing yards per game, 21st in FBS
• 2020: 104.3 rushing yards per game, 8th in FBS

Despite the team's unexpected success this year en route to a 10-2 record and trip to the Big 12 championship game, they actually took a significant step backward in that area, allowing 173.7 yards per game on the ground to rank 98th in the nation.

That turned out to be a recipe for disaster against Arizona State star running back Cam Skattebo.

The 5'11", 215-pound bowling ball racked up 1,398 rushing yards and 19 rushing touchdowns during the regular season, averaging 5.7 yards per carry and 127.1 yards per game to lead the Arizona State offense.

On Saturday, he torched the Cyclones defense for 170 rushing yards and two touchdowns on only 16 carries, also adding two receptions for 38 yards and another score, and it repeatedly took multiple attempts to bring him down when he got into space.

The Sun Devils were picked to finish last in the Big 12 preseason poll, and now they are on their way to the College Football Playoff, with Skattebo the driving force behind their 11-2 record.

Winner: Ohio QB Parker Navarro Emerging from Kurtis Rourke's Shadow

Parker Navarro spent the last two years buried behind Kurtis Rourke on the quarterback depth chart at Ohio University, but when Rourke entered the transfer portal and landed at Indiana during the offseason, it opened the door for him to seize the starting job.

After attempting just 38 passes in 2022 and 2023, Navarro threw for 1,934 yards and 10 touchdowns during the regular season, leading the Bobcats on a five-game winning streak down the stretch.

That strong late-season push was capped off by a stellar performance against Ball State in Week 14 when he logged 169 passing yards, 110 rushing yards and five total touchdowns in a 42-21 victory to secure a spot in the MAC championship game.

He was the star again on Saturday in a lopsided 38-3 win over Miami (OH) to claim the MAC championship and a third straight 10-win season for the Bobcats, finishing 20-of-27 passing for 235 yards and two touchdowns while also tallying 67 yards and two scores on the ground.

Not many mid-major programs could lose someone like Rourke and still match the previous year's win total, and Navarro has been a big reason why Ohio continued to play at such a high level in 2024.

Winner: Georgia Avoiding Jordan Travis 2.0

The College Football Playoff committee set a significant precedent last season when it excluded a 13-0 Florida State squad from the four-team playoff field after quarterback Jordan Travis suffered a season-ending injury.

The Seminoles settled for an invite to the Orange Bowl, where they were promptly demolished in a 63-3 blowout loss to Georgia.

A year later, the tables turned on the Bulldogs.

Quarterback Carson Beck injured his arm on the final play of the first half in the SEC championship game, and aside from a hand-off on the final play of overtime, he did not return to action.

Both Georgia and Texas appeared to have a spot in the playoff field locked up heading into Saturday night's game, though the opportunity for a first-round bye was still on the line for the winner.

However, the stakes rose considerably when Beck went to the sidelines, as there was now a potential outside factor that could remove the Bulldogs from the 12-team field if the committee chose to put significant weight on a potential Beck absence.

Backup Gunner Stockton completed 12-of-16 pass attempts for 71 yards and threw an ugly interception in relief, but the Georgia defense held strong and running back Trevor Etienne delivered the game-winning touchdown run following a Texas field goal to begin overtime.

With that, the Bulldogs are now guaranteed a spot in the 12-team field, and the selection committee avoids having to make an impossible decision on Sunday.

Loser: Louisiana's Offense Without Ben Wooldridge

After consecutive 6-7 seasons following Billy Napier's departure for the Florida job, the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns took a step forward this season, flirting with a spot in the AP Top 25 rankings while finishing 10-2 during the regular season and clinching a spot in the Sun Belt title game.

A major reason for the team's success was quarterback Ben Wooldridge, who began his college career all the way back in 2018 when he redshirted as a true freshman at Fresno State.

Now in his third season at Louisiana, he put together a breakout performance, throwing for 2,392 yards and 17 touchdowns while leading the Sun Belt with 8.8 yards per attempt and a 159.4 passer rating.

Unfortunately, his season came to a premature end when he suffered a shoulder injury in Week 12 against South Alabama, though he still took home Offensive Player of the Year honors in the conference.

In his absence, the Louisiana offense struggled to get anything going against Marshall in the conference championship game, tallying just 255 total yards while going 2-for-16 on third down conversions in a 31-3 loss.

Winner: Oregon's Status as No. 1 Team in the Nation

With a 12-0 record and a signature win over Ohio State back on Oct. 12 on their resume, Oregon wrapped up the regular season as the No. 1 team in the nation.

Now they have cemented their status as the obvious No. 1 seed when the College Football Playoff field is revealed on Sunday, coming away with a thrilling 45-37 victory over a Penn State team that might have claimed the No. 1 seed themselves if they had come out on top in the Big Ten championship.

Quarterback Dillon Gabriel was his usual efficient self under center for the Ducks, completing 22-of-32 pass attempts for 283 yards and four touchdowns, though it was running back Jordan James who sealed the victory with a 3-yard score for his second rushing touchdown of the game with 7:28 remaining in the fourth quarter.

The Nittany Lions had one final chance to answer with just over two minutes to play, but their final drive was abruptly halted when Nikko Reed picked off Drew Allar on 2nd-and-1 coming out of the two-minute timeout.

The Ducks were by no means a juggernaut this season, narrowly surviving a tough early test against Boise State (37-34) and escaping a late scare on the road against Wisconsin (16-13), but in the end they were the best team in the country in 2024.

Now they need to stay hot to navigate the expanded 12-team playoff field.

Loser: SMU's Nerves During Sunday's CFP Selection Show

The eye test said that SMU belongs in the 12-team playoff field on Saturday night, but a 56-yard, game-winning field goal off the foot of kicker Nolan Hauser as time expired gave Clemson a 34-31 victory and the ACC championship.

Now the Mustangs' fate rests in the hands of the selection committee.

Oregon, Georgia, Boise State, Arizona State and Clemson have presumably each secured an automatic bid as the five highest-ranked conference champions.

Behind that group, Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Tennessee and Indiana all look like virtual locks to claim an at-large berth, which leaves just one remaining spot up for grabs.

It's not a promising sign for SMU that the committee slotted two-loss Miami behind three-loss Alabama in the latest update to the rankings following the Hurricanes loss to Syracuse in Week 14, clearly giving preference to the SEC over the ACC.

However, it's also entirely possible that a loss in the conference championship game will be viewed in a less harsh light than a second regular-season loss to a non-playoff team.

One thing is for sure, the Mustangs will be sweating on Sunday.