Everything changed in 2014. Before that, we had the BCS, a system basically designed to make everyone angry by using computer math to pick two teams. Then came the Playoff. Suddenly, the college football playoff national championship scores weren’t just numbers on a scoreboard; they became the definitive closing argument for who actually owned the season.
People obsess over these scores. They bet their mortgages on them. They argue in bars about whether a 65-7 blowout is more impressive than a 26-23 overtime thriller. Honestly, looking back at the last decade-plus of title games, the scores tell a story of total dominance, heartbreaking collapses, and a massive shift in how the game is played.
Remember the first one? Ohio State 42, Oregon 20. Everyone thought Oregon’s "blur" offense would run the Buckeyes ragged. Instead, Ezekiel Elliott ran for 246 yards and four touchdowns. That score set the tone. It told the world that even in a new era, big-bodied, physical football still won championships.
The Night the Scoreboard Broke: Georgia 65, TCU 7
You can’t talk about college football playoff national championship scores without mentioning the 2023 massacre in Inglewood. It was uncomfortable to watch. Georgia didn't just win; they deleted TCU from the record books for four quarters.
By halftime, the score was 38-7. Most people at the stadium were already looking for the exits or the nearest bar. Georgia's 65 points remain the highest ever scored by a single team in a CFP title game. It was a 58-point margin. That’s not a football game. That’s a felony.
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What’s wild is that people expected a fight. TCU had just beaten Michigan in a high-scoring semifinal. But the talent gap was a canyon. When you see a score like 65-7, it reminds you that sometimes the Playoff doesn't find the two best teams—it just finds the victim for the shark.
Why Blowouts Keep Happening
Critics say the Playoff was supposed to give us better games. Instead, we've had more than a few lopsided results:
- Alabama 52, Ohio State 24 (2021): DeVonta Smith had 215 yards in one half. Just one half.
- Clemson 44, Alabama 16 (2019): This was the night Trevor Lawrence became a legend and Nick Saban looked human.
- LSU 42, Clemson 25 (2020): Joe Burrow threw five touchdowns and basically ended the debate about the greatest single-season team ever.
Breaking Down the 2025 and 2026 Title Results
The world of college football just went through its biggest shakeup yet with the expansion to 12 teams. More teams should mean more parity, right? Sorta.
In the 2025 Championship, we saw a classic "blue blood" battle. Ohio State faced off against Notre Dame at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The final score was Ohio State 34, Notre Dame 23. It wasn't as close as the eleven-point gap suggests. Notre Dame actually jumped out to a 7-0 lead after a grueling 18-play drive that took up nearly ten minutes of the first quarter. Then the Buckeyes woke up.
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They scored 31 unanswered points. Will Howard, the transfer QB, looked like a pro. Quinshon Judkins was a monster on the ground. Notre Dame tried to make it a game late with two scores in the fourth quarter, but a 56-yard bomb to Jeremiah Smith on 3rd-and-11 basically iced it. It was a professional win for Ryan Day, finally getting back to the mountaintop after years of "just missing it."
The 2026 Indiana Fever Dream
Then we get to 2026. If you told anyone three years ago that Indiana would be the #1 seed in the College Football Playoff, they’d have you committed. But Curt Cignetti is apparently a wizard.
The 2026 road to the final saw Indiana absolutely demolish the giants. They beat Alabama 38-3 in the quarterfinals. They hung 56 on Oregon in the semis. As we sit here in January 2026, the matchup is set: #1 Indiana vs. #10 Miami at Hard Rock Stadium.
Miami is the ultimate "chaos" team this year. They weren't even supposed to be here, but they knocked off Ohio State and Ole Miss to get a home-field advantage in the title game. Everyone is waiting to see if the score will reflect Indiana's season-long dominance or Miami's "destiny" run.
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Every College Football Playoff National Championship Score To Date
If you’re looking for the raw data, here is how the scoreboard has looked every year since the format began.
- 2015: Ohio State 42, Oregon 20
- 2016: Alabama 45, Clemson 40
- 2017: Clemson 35, Alabama 31
- 2018: Alabama 26, Georgia 23 (OT)
- 2019: Clemson 44, Alabama 16
- 2020: LSU 42, Clemson 25
- 2021: Alabama 52, Ohio State 24
- 2022: Georgia 33, Alabama 18
- 2023: Georgia 65, TCU 7
- 2024: Michigan 34, Washington 13
- 2025: Ohio State 34, Notre Dame 23
The average winning score across these games is roughly 40 points. If you're a betting person, you generally want to look at the "Over." These games usually start fast, even if the defenses tighten up in the third quarter.
What These Scores Tell Us About the Future
Low-scoring grinders are dead. You aren't going to see many 13-10 scores in a national title game anymore. The rules favor the offense, the athletes are too fast, and the coaches are too aggressive.
Even Michigan’s 2024 win over Washington, which felt like a "defensive" game, ended up 34-13. That’s still nearly 50 total points. The 2025 Ohio State win followed a similar script—get to 30 and you probably win.
The trend is clear: to win a ring, your quarterback has to be able to put up three to four touchdowns, minimum. Defensive shutouts like we saw in the old days of the 1970s just don't happen on this stage. The last time a team was held under 10 points in a title game was TCU in 2023. Before that? You have to go back to the BCS era.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Bettors
- Watch the "Middle Eight": In almost every high-scoring CFP game, the winner is decided in the last four minutes of the second quarter and the first four of the third. Ohio State’s 31-point run against Notre Dame in 2025 started exactly in that window.
- Fade the "Cinderella" Score: As much as we love the underdog, the scores show that when a team like TCU or Washington makes the final, they often run out of gas or get overwhelmed by depth. Indiana in 2026 might be the exception, but history says the blue bloods usually cover the spread.
- The 30-Point Threshold: If you’re tracking college football playoff national championship scores live, the 30-point mark is the magic number. Only one team (Alabama in 2017) has won a CFP title scoring fewer than 33 points, and they needed overtime to do it.
The expansion to 12 teams has made the path harder, but the final score remains the only metric that matters. Whether it's a blowout or an OT thriller, these games are the heartbeat of the sport. Keep an eye on the 2026 final between Indiana and Miami; if the season trends hold, we're looking at a high-flying affair that might just rewrite the record books again.