College football started their 12-team playoffs on Dec. 19 with the National Championship game being played on Jan. 19. The 12-team playoff was adopted by the College Football Playoff committee (CFP) last year and included more changes this year. The changes this year include Conference Champions not getting automatically favored to be the top four seeds in the bracket, but instead for all 12 teams to be seeded based off of their skills and how they have played throughout the year. This is due to lots of controversy over the seeding last year.
The first game of the playoffs was held at the Gaylord Memorial stadium in Oklahoma where they played Alabama on Dec. 19, 2025. While coming in as the home team and the favorite, Oklahoma proceeded to blow a 17-point lead against Alabama, where they eventually lost 34-24.
To finish off the weekend, the first round of the playoffs featured a three-game Saturday slate. The day started off with a defensive battle between Texas A&M against Miami, where Miami, the away team, ended up coming on top 10-3. The next game was played down in Mississippi, where Ole Miss hosted Tulane on Dec. 20, 2025. This game was a rematch from their regular season battle where Ole Miss ended up dominating 45-10. This time in the playoffs Ole Miss continued their domination, this time for the second time where they defeated Tulane 41-10.
After the weekend of games, teams got until New Years to practice and get ready for their next games. This started off with Miami and Ohio State playing in the Cotton Bowl Dec. 31, 2025 where Ohio State was favored in this game, especially since they were the reigning champions and have future high draft picks on both sides of the ball. Despite being favored and having the bye week, the Buckeyes lost to Miami 24-14. “I really thought that Ohio State would go back to back and win again this year. They are the best team on paper and should have beat Miami,” senior Bobby Ferris said.
Another fan favorite that also got a bye week through the first round was the Indiana Hoosiers. Led by second year coach Curt Cignetti, Indiana went undefeated in the regular season, winning the Big10 Championship over Ohio State on Dec. 6, 2025. Their impressive season was surprising to fans, as they have zero five-star recruits and were not projected to be good in multiple preseason rankings. With that being said, Indiana’s quarterback ended up winning the Heisman Trophy, given to the best player in college football. “I have been a longtime Indiana fan, even though they have been bad for so long, this is the year that they win the National Championship,” senior Wrik Datta said.
In the quarter-finals, Oregon, Ole miss, Indiana, and Miami all won their games, earning their spot in the semi-finals, which took place Thursday Jan. 8 and Friday Jan. 9.
In the round of the semi-finals, Indiana blew out Oregon 56-22, and Miami won a close game against Ole Miss 31-27. Miami and Indiana will face off in the National Championship on Monday, Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m..
