And then there were four.
With wins from Oregon, Indiana and Ole Miss on New Year’s Day, the College Football Playoff semifinals are now set. Here, we’ll take a look at the updated bracket, upcoming schedule and analyze the implications of the day’s results.
Orange Bowl: Oregon 23, Texas Tech 0
Rose Bowl: Indiana 38, Alabama 3
Sugar Bowl: Ole Miss 37, Georgia 34
Fiesta Bowl: Miami vs. Ole Miss on Thursday, Jan. 8 at 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Peach Bowl: Oregon vs. Indiana on Friday, Jan. 9 at 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)
The bye week has proven to be quite the curse in the College Football Playoff.
With Texas Tech’s loss to Oregon to start Thursday’s slate, teams with a first-round bye dropped to 0-6 since the 12-team format was instituted last season. Granted, part of that last season was how the tournament was seeded, with the four highest-rated conference champions given the bye. That meant No. 9 Boise State and No. 12 Arizona State were able to skip the first round and unsurprisingly fell to Penn State and Texas, respectively.
Still, last year’s two highest-ranked teams—Oregon and Georgia—both were one-and-done in 2024’s tournament, while No. 2 Ohio State and No. 4 Texas Tech didn’t survive this season (another caveat worth noting here—Oregon was favored over the Red Raiders on Thursday).
Indiana finally ended the winless streak for the teams with a bye, blowing out Alabama in a win that has them looking like the definitive favorites to win the national championship.
Indiana will get a rematch with Oregon, a team it already beat 30-20 in October.
But Ole Miss made it 1-7 for the bye-week teams with their electrifying win over Georgia, setting up a fascinating showdown with Miami.
The Hurricanes’ shocking upset of Ohio State has them looking like a major threat to win it all, especially given how thoroughly they dominated in the trenches (153 rushing yards, only 45 rushing yards allowed, five sacks defensively). Ole Miss has been battled-tested in the SEC and just knocked off Georgia, but the Hurricanes have now beaten Notre Dame, Texas A&M and Ohio State and have given up just 17 total points in the CFP. Miami’s defense is real.
Trinidad Chambliss will test that unit. It should be a fantastic matchup.
