I'll be shocked if they don't rematch the two SEC entries in the first round.
Looking at the $$$ and potential for attracting for 3 games the greatest possible nationwide viewership of key (money-spending) demographics (and that is exactly what every person with any influence on these matchups is doing)...
None of these teams really represents a large audience market. You might think Atlanta, except that just as many Atlantans hate Georgia as follow them. Most Atlantans immigrated there from somewhere else.
(And Alabama fans spend their money locally--mostly because they can never successfully connect to amerzon.com.)
So the best chance of drawing a half-national audience ('cause there's no draw here west of the Mississippi) would be to have a Cinderella story. Even better if Cinderella Cincinnati could go up against one of those "SEC bullies" from the troglodyte south.
But if they can't have Cinderella, next best would be Michigan. Maybe they could draw from the Chicago audience (Lord knows those poor people will be sheltering in their homes!). I'm just not sure how they will spin Harbaugh. The sports media needs to make every championship about something higher and more important to the progress of society... rather than the competition of character and competence that it is.
But... that's old school thinking. It could now be that the advertiser-desirable younger, football watching demographic may no longer have any geographical identity, and think only of who plays the best football. Maybe younger football fans in Boston actually like the SEC, for the quality of its football, more so than a Boston College.
Not sure if this anecdotal evidence fits into this conversation, but I get to talk with high school students from all over the US, and it is striking how many follow an NFL team, but have no interest in any college team.