The 2025–26 College Football Playoff was a single-elimination postseason tournament that determined the national champion of the 2025 NCAA DivisionI FBS football season. It was the 12thedition of the College Football Playoff (CFP) and the second to include 12 teams.
The teams selected represented six conferences. The Southeastern Conference (SEC) had five teams selected (No. 3 Georgia, No. 6 Ole Miss, No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 8 Alabama, and No. 9 Oklahoma), and the Big Ten Conference had three (No. 1 Indiana, No. 2 Ohio State, and No. 5 Oregon). One team each was selected from the Big 12 Conference (No. 4 Texas Tech), the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC; No. 10 Miami), the American Conference (No. 20 Tulane), and the Sun Belt Conference (No. 24 James Madison).
The playoff bracket's four first round games were held on December19 and 20 at campus sites. The four first round winners—Oregon, Ole Miss, Alabama, and Miami—advanced to the quarterfinals. They played the top four seeds—Indiana, Ohio State, Georgia, and Texas Tech—on December31 and January1 at the Cotton Bowl Classic, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl, and Sugar Bowl. Quarterfinal winners advanced to the semifinals, held at the Fiesta Bowl on January8 and Peach Bowl on January9, and then to the CFP National Championship game on January19 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Games
The tournament is structured as a single-elimination bracket tournament, with 12teams playing a total of 11games. This was the second edition of the CFP to include twelve teams and the 12thCFP since its founding. As in the previous edition, the playoff field consists of the five highest-ranked conference champions, including at least one from the Group of Six conferences (G6), and the seven remaining highest-ranked teams. However, this playoff differs from the year prior in that the top four seeds, which carry a first-round bye, are assigned to the teams ranked Nos.1–4, rather than being assigned to the four highest-ranked conference champions. The final CFP rankings and the resulting bracket pairings were released by the committee on December7, concluding the weekend during which most conferences hold their championship games.
The first round games were held at campus sites and hosted by the higher-ranked team in each respective matchup. The quarterfinals and semifinals were hosted by six of the 2025–26 NCAA football bowl games. These bowls, commonly known as the New Year's Six, are some of the oldest and most prestigious bowl games. The championship was a standalone game and was also played at a neutral site, Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Schedule All times are Eastern Time • Schedule source
Round Date Time Matchup Game Location TV First round 8:00 p.m. Alabama 34, Oklahoma 24 First round(Campus sites) Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium • Norman, Oklahoma ABC/ESPN Noon Miami (FL) 10, Texas A&M 3 Kyle Field • College Station, Texas 3:30 p.m. Tulane 10, Ole Miss 41 Vaught–Hemingway Stadium • Oxford, Mississippi TNT/truTV/TBS/HBO Max 7:30 p.m. James Madison 34, Oregon 51 Autzen Stadium • Eugene, Oregon Quarterfinals 7:30 p.m. Miami (FL) 24, Ohio State 14 Cotton Bowl Classic AT&T Stadium • Arlington, Texas ESPN Noon Oregon 23, Texas Tech 0 Orange Bowl Hard Rock Stadium • Miami Gardens, Florida 4:00 p.m. Alabama 3, Indiana 38 Rose Bowl Rose Bowl • Pasadena, California 8:00 p.m. Ole Miss 39, Georgia 34 Sugar Bowl Caesars Superdome • New Orleans, Louisiana Semifinals 7:30 p.m. Miami (FL) 31, Ole Miss 27 Fiesta Bowl State Farm Stadium • Glendale, Arizona 7:30 p.m. Oregon 22, Indiana 56 Peach Bowl Mercedes-Benz Stadium • Atlanta, Georgia Championship 7:30 p.m. Miami (FL) 21, Indiana 27 National Championship Hard Rock Stadium • Miami Gardens, Florida
Bracket
Selection and teams
The 2025–26 CFP selection committee was chaired by Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek. Its other members were former Nevada head coach and athletic director Chris Ault, Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen, former Cincinnati and Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio, Utah athletic director Mark Harlan, former athletic director Jeff Long, sportswriter Ivan Maisel, Middle Tennessee athletic director Chris Massaro, former head coach Mike Riley, Miami (OH) athletic director David Sayler, former NFL player Wesley Walls, and Virginia athletic director Carla Williams. Until November13, the committee was chaired by Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades. He relinquished his position on the committee upon taking a leave of absence from Baylor and ultimately resigned as athletic director on November20. Yurachek replaced Rhoades as chair and Harlan was added to the committee as the new representative from the Big12 Conference. The thirteenth member of the committee, former college football player Randall McDaniel, stepped down on October20 for personal reasons but announced plans to return to the committee the following year.
The first CFP rankings of the season were released on November4, 2025. Two conferences were represented in the top six: Ohio State and Indiana, both from the Big Ten Conference, topped the initial rankings at Nos.1 and 2, while the Southeastern Conference (SEC) was represented by the next four teams with No.3 Texas A&M their highest-ranked. No.7 BYU and No.8 Texas Tech represented the Big12 Conference and Notre Dame, an FBS independent, was ranked at No.10. The highest-ranked team from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) was No.14 Virginia, and Memphis from the American Conference was the highest-ranked G6 team despite not being ranked in the CFP top25. BYU fell to No.12 in the November11 rankings after their road loss to No.8 Texas Tech, and No.18 Miami (FL) rose to No.15 after defeating Syracuse. Together with a loss by Virginia to Wake Forest, Miami became the new highest-ranked ACC team. South Florida (American) debuted in the CFP rankings at No.24 after a win over UTSA to become the new highest-ranked G6 team.
The following week of games saw two top ten teams lose: No.4 Alabama was upset by No.11 Oklahoma, while No.5 Georgia defeated No.10 Texas. As a result, Alabama fell to No.10 and Texas fell to No.17 in the November18 rankings. No.3 Texas A&M avoided an upset loss of their own to South Carolina with a school-record comeback to win by one point after trailing by 27points at halftime. No.24 South Florida fell out of the rankings following their loss at home to Navy; their American Conference foe Tulane replaced them at No.24 and became the new highest-ranked G6 team. The November25 rankings saw few changes from the previous week; the top five teams were unchanged while Oregon jumped to No.6 over Ole Miss after the Ducks defeated No.15 USC. Miami (FL) rose from No.13 to No.12, marking the ACC's debut in the top twelve, after a win over Virginia Tech.
The penultimate CFP rankings were released on December 2. Texas A&M fell from No. 3 to No. 7 following their first loss of the season at rival No. 16 Texas; this made Georgia, who rose to No. 3, the new highest-ranked SEC team. The loss also cost Texas A&M a place in the SEC championship, which was contested instead by Georgia and No. 9 Alabama. No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Indiana both finished the regular season undefeated after beating No. 15 Michigan and Purdue, respectively. This ensured they would play each other in the Big Ten championship, marking the first game between Big Ten teams ranked Nos.1 and 2 since the 2006 Michigan–Ohio State game. Texas Tech rose to No. 4 following a shutout victory over West Virginia—a game the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal called "laughable"—marking Texas Tech's first-ever top-four CFP ranking and making them the first Big 12 team of the season to be in position for a first-round bye. Ole Miss rose from No. 7 to No. 6 following their win at Mississippi State despite the departure of their head coach, Lane Kiffin, for LSU on November 30; Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding was elevated to permanent head coach.
The conference championship weekend began on December 5 with two games featuring ranked teams. No. 20 Tulane defeated No. 24 North Texas to win the American championship, making them "almost certain" to qualify for the playoff, according to CBS Sports, and the Sun Belt championship was won by No. 25 James Madison to "[keep] them alive" for the playoff, according to ESPN. The following day, No. 4 Texas Tech beat No. 11 BYU to win the Big 12 championship for the first time in school history, and Georgia defeated Alabama to win the SEC championship. Indiana defeated Ohio State to win the Big Ten championship, which CBS Sports reported "all but [secured]" the No. 1 seed for the Hoosiers. Finally, Duke upset No. 16 Virginia in the ACC championship, putting the ACC at risk of missing the playoffs altogether. In the final rankings, released on December 7, Indiana was seeded No. 1 and received a first-round bye, along with No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Georgia, and No. 4 Texas Tech. Oregon, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma remained at their positions at Nos. 5–8 after remaining idle during conference championship weekend, though No. 9 Alabama also maintained its ranking despite a 28-7 "blowout loss" in the SEC championship, according to Yahoo! Sports. BYU fell to No. 12 following their Big 12 championship loss, and Notre Dame fell to No. 11 after being jumped by Miami (FL) despite both teams being idle the preceding week. This caused both Notre Dame and BYU to miss the playoffs as they were bumped out in favor of the final two conference champions, No. 20 Tulane and No. 24 James Madison.
Notre Dame's exclusion, in particular, sparked controversy as the Fighting Irish had led Miami in every CFP poll until the final rankings despite Miami winning the teams' head-to-head matchup on August 31. Selection committee chair Hunter Yurachek explained Miami's late jump over Notre Dame by saying that the committee had not considered the head-to-head result until the teams were side-by-side in the polls, a rationale Nick Bromberg of Yahoo! Sports called "illogical" and a "flaw" in the rankings process, while Brandon Marcello of CBS Sports opined it was "nonsensical, if not outright misleading". Numerous college football personalities praised the committee's decision for honoring the head-to-head result, while others levied criticism against the committee for ranking Miami ahead of Notre Dame despite their identical records and neither team playing a game that week. Writing for ESPN, David Hale said that selecting Miami over Notre Dame was a "sensible conclusion" but that the selection committee went through a "ridiculous process" to get there. Carter Bahns of CBS Sports said that Notre Dame's exclusion was the "biggest surprise" of the playoff field, and Liam McKeone of Sports Illustrated wrote that the Irish had been "snubbed". Because they were left out of the playoffs, Notre Dame opted to decline a bowl bid, ending their season at 10–2; No. 12 BYU accepted their invitation to the Pop-Tarts Bowl against No. 22 Georgia Tech.