The dust hasn't even settled yet, and honestly, the 2025 NCAA football playoffs have already turned the entire sport on its head. If you thought the move to a 12-team bracket was going to be a smooth transition, you haven't been paying attention to how college football actually works. It was beautiful, messy, and deeply confusing for about three weeks straight.
Everyone spent the summer arguing about whether the "G5" teams deserved a seat at the table. Then James Madison and Tulane actually showed up. Sure, the scoreboards didn't always look pretty by the fourth quarter—Oregon putting up 51 on the Dukes comes to mind—but the atmosphere on those campus sites for the first round? Unmatched.
The First Round: When Home Field Actually Mattered
The 2025 NCAA football playoffs kicked off with a vibe we haven't seen in the postseason, basically ever. Usually, these games are played in sterile NFL stadiums with corporate logos everywhere. Not this time. We had Alabama traveling to Norman, Oklahoma, on a Friday night in December.
Think about that.
The Crimson Tide, a 9-seed, had to walk into Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium to settle a regular-season grudge. Alabama won 34-24, but the real story was Zabien Brown’s 50-yard pick-six that basically sucked the oxygen out of the stadium. It felt like a true college game, not a television product.
Then you had Miami. Everyone was ready to write off the Hurricanes after they squeezed past Texas A&M 10-3 in a game that honestly felt like it was played in 1940. It was ugly. It was muddy. But the 'Canes defense under Mario Cristobal proved they could win a fistfight in a phone booth. That win set the stage for one of the most improbable runs in the history of the sport.
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The Quarterfinal Shakeup: Indiana is Very Real
If you told a casual fan three years ago that the Indiana Hoosiers would be the No. 1 seed in the 2025 NCAA football playoffs and would absolutely dismantle Alabama in the Rose Bowl, they’d have asked you to take a breathalyzer. But here we are.
Indiana 38, Alabama 3.
It wasn't a fluke. Fernando Mendoza looked like a surgeon, throwing three touchdowns and never letting the Tide breathe. The Hoosiers didn't just win; they dominated the line of scrimmage in a way that usually only happens when Bama plays a directional school in September. It was a statement that the Big Ten’s new hierarchy doesn't just start and end with Ohio State and Michigan anymore.
Speaking of Ohio State, their exit was the shock of the tournament. After winning the title in early 2025 against Notre Dame, the Buckeyes looked like a lock to repeat. Then they met Miami in the Cotton Bowl. The Hurricanes' defense sacked Julian Sayin five times. Five. Miami walked away with a 24-14 win, and suddenly, the "underdog" from the ACC was the team nobody wanted to play.
The New Year’s Day Scoreboard
- Rose Bowl: Indiana 38, Alabama 3
- Sugar Bowl: Ole Miss 39, Georgia 34
- Orange Bowl: Oregon 23, Texas Tech 0
- Cotton Bowl: Miami 24, Ohio State 14
The Sugar Bowl was the pick of the litter. Trinidad Chambliss and the Rebels played a brand of "video game" football that Georgia simply couldn't keep up with. It was a shootout that came down to the final possession, proving that Ole Miss could survive the departure of Lane Kiffin and still be a terrifying out in January.
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Semifinal Drama and the Peach Bowl Blowout
By the time we got to the semifinals, the bracket was basically a graveyard for the "blue bloods." No Georgia. No Ohio State. No Alabama.
In the Fiesta Bowl, Miami stayed true to form. They played Ole Miss in a game that felt like a seesaw. Carson Beck—who has been the steady hand for the Hurricanes—orchestrated a drive for the ages, scrambling for a 3-yard score with 18 seconds left on the clock. Miami won 31-27. The Hurricanes are the ultimate "survive and advance" team of this era. They don't always look like the best team, but they find a way to be the last ones standing.
On the other side, Indiana continued their path of destruction. They met Oregon in the Peach Bowl and it was a bloodbath. 56-22.
The Hoosiers are doing something historically weird. They are the first team in the history of the 2025 NCAA football playoffs—or any version of the CFP—to win two playoff games by more than 30 points. Oregon has a high-octane offense with Dante Moore, but Indiana’s secondary, led by guys like D'Angelo Ponds, turned the Ducks into a one-dimensional mess.
What This Means for the Future of the Sport
The 12-team format was supposed to protect the big brands, but instead, it exposed them to more opportunities to fail. We are seeing a shift where roster depth and portal management are outweighing traditional recruiting rankings. Indiana’s roster is a patchwork of savvy veterans and portal finds, and they are outplaying teams with nothing but four and five-star recruits.
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The 2025 NCAA football playoffs also proved that the "bye week" is a double-edged sword. While Indiana and Miami (who played in the first round) both reached the final, teams like Georgia and Ohio State looked a little rusty after their time off.
Key Takeaways for Fans
- Don't ignore the ACC/Big Ten middle class. Teams like Miami and Indiana are no longer just "spoilers"; they are the standard.
- Home field is the real prize. The energy in the first-round campus games was significantly higher than the neutral-site quarterfinals.
- The "Group of 5" isn't a charity case. James Madison and Tulane didn't win, but they forced the big boys to play their starters well into the fourth quarter, which has a cumulative effect on the rest of the tournament.
Moving Toward the Championship
As we look at the matchup between Indiana and Miami at Hard Rock Stadium, it’s clear that the 2025 NCAA football playoffs have changed the internal math for every program in the country. You don't need to be perfect in September anymore. You just need to be healthy and hot in December.
For those looking to get ahead of the 2026 cycle, keep a close eye on the transfer portal entries immediately following the championship. The "Indiana Model" of aggressive portal rebuilding is going to be the blueprint for every mid-tier Power Four school trying to make a run next year.
Next Steps for the Offseason:
- Audit your team’s NIL collective: The 2025 playoffs showed that depth wins in a 12-team era, and depth costs money.
- Re-evaluate the "Bye Week" strategy: Coaches will likely be looking at how Indiana stayed sharp during their run versus how the rested teams fell flat.
- Watch the coaching carousel: With Lane Kiffin's move to LSU and the success of Pete Golding at Ole Miss, the market for "CEO-style" coordinators has never been higher.