If you woke up this morning, grabbed a coffee, and started scrolling through your TV guide for cfb football games today, you probably noticed something a bit eerie. The screen is blank. Well, not blank, but it's certainly not filled with the usual Saturday chaos of marching bands and 100-yard dashes.
It's Saturday, January 17, 2026. Usually, this is the holiest day of the week for a college football nut. But today? Silence.
Honestly, it’s a weird feeling. We’ve spent months conditioned to park ourselves on the couch from noon until midnight. Now, we’re in that strange, late-January limbo. All the bowl games are in the rearview mirror. The semifinals—those absolute slugfests where Indiana and Miami punched their tickets—are over. We are basically in the eye of the storm.
Where did the CFB football games today go?
The short answer is the calendar. Since the College Football Playoff expanded to 12 teams, the schedule has been stretched out like a piece of gum. We just finished a grueling stretch of quarterfinals and semifinals that bled into the second week of January.
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Right now, the teams are in Miami. They’re practicing, dealing with media days, and trying to keep their nerves under control. There are no cfb football games today because the NCAA and the TV networks want your undivided attention for the big one on Monday night. It’s a bit of a bummer if you had your heart set on a Saturday triple-header, but that’s the new reality of the postseason.
Instead of college ball, the airwaves are dominated by the NFL divisional round. It’s a crowded sports landscape, and CFB is taking its one last breath before the National Championship.
The Path to Monday Night
If you haven't been keeping track of how we got to an empty Saturday, let’s look at the carnage. This hasn't been a normal season.
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- Indiana's Dominance: The Hoosiers, led by Curt Cignetti, have been an absolute buzzsaw. They didn't just win their semifinal against Oregon; they dismantled them 56-22. It was a statement.
- Miami's Home Stand: The Hurricanes are technically the "road" team for the final, but they’re playing in their own backyard at Hard Rock Stadium. They took down Ole Miss in a 31-27 thriller at the Fiesta Bowl to get here.
- The Heisman Factor: We're seeing some of the best quarterback play in years, and both these teams are loaded with NFL-ready talent that’s currently hunkered down in South Florida hotels.
What to watch since there are no cfb football games today
Since the college slate is dry, you've basically got two choices: pivot to the pros or catch up on the madness you missed.
The NFL is taking over the Saturday slot. You've got the Buffalo Bills traveling to Denver to take on the Broncos at 4:30 p.m. ET on CBS. If you’re a late-night person, the San Francisco 49ers are hosting the Seattle Seahawks at 8:15 p.m. ET on FOX. It’s not college ball, but it’ll keep the withdrawal symptoms at bay.
If you really need a college fix, ESPN and ABC are running "Championship Drive" specials all afternoon. You can see the breakdown of how No. 1 Indiana and No. 10 Miami actually matched up during their respective runs. It’s mostly talking heads, but the highlights from Indiana’s Rose Bowl win over Alabama are worth a rewatch just for the sheer shock value.
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Setting the Stage for Monday, January 19
The real cfb football games today search should probably be a search for "Monday night plans." The National Championship kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET at Hard Rock Stadium.
- Broadcast: ESPN (and the usual "Megacast" options on other channels).
- The Matchup: No. 1 Indiana vs. No. 10 Miami.
- The Stakes: Indiana is looking for its first-ever national title in the modern era. Miami is looking to bring "The U" back to the mountaintop for the first time in over two decades.
It's kinda wild to think about. Indiana, a basketball school, is the heavy favorite. Miami, the team that barely scraped into the top ten during the regular season, is the one playing in their home city. The storylines are thick, which is why the organizers aren't diluting the brand by putting games on today.
Making the most of the gap
Don't let the lack of Saturday games get you down. This is the perfect time to get your setup ready for Monday. Check your streaming subscriptions, make sure your internet isn't going to flake out, and maybe figure out a food situation that doesn't involve waiting two hours for a delivery driver during the first quarter.
- Check the lines: Indiana opened as an 8.5-point favorite. If you're into that sort of thing, watch how the money moves today.
- Injury reports: Keep an eye on the news feeds. Both teams had some "dings" in the semifinals, and these extra days off are crucial for the star playmakers.
- Weather: It’s Miami in January. It’ll be mid-70s and perfect, but Hard Rock Stadium can get loud when the humidity drops and the crowd gets rowdy.
The wait is almost over. While there are no cfb football games today, the silence is just the preamble to what might be the most watched championship in the 12-team era.
To prepare for the big game on Monday night, verify your ESPN+ login credentials and clear your schedule for the 7:30 p.m. ET kickoff to ensure you don't miss the opening drive of Indiana vs. Miami.