The 2025 college football season is heading towards its epic conclusion as eight teams are vying for the College Football Playoff national championship. There were 12 teams selected to the playoff field for the second straight season and there was some controversy as to who would be in among non-conference championship game participants. Particularly two of them and one of them got in over the other and played in the First Round of the CFP, played exclusively at the higher seeded teams’ home fields. The top-four seeded teams received a first-round bye, which was a tweak from last year’s rankings where the top-four conference champions were awarded with a bye. Safe to say that this First Round featured a different batch of teams than last year’s playoff tournament with eight new teams and four new stadiums to host their first-ever CFP game.

We had four teams from the Southeastern Conference in the First Round, adding to the tally of five overall as the Georgia Bulldogs received a First-Round Bye. There were three teams chosen from the Big Ten, with Indiana and Ohio State receiving byes after they played each other in that conference’s championship game. Oregon was the fifth-ranked team and that meant they hosted the fifth-best conference champion in all of the FBS, which happened to be the James Madison Dukes with a 12-1 record out of the Sun Belt Conference. The Dukes got into the playoff over the ACC conference-champion team, which were the 8-5 Duke Blue Devils. Duke won a thrilling OT game over the Virginia Cavaliers, who would have gotten into the playoff field if they had won. Instead JMU was in along with Tulane, who beat North Texas in the American Conference championship game. Tulane was taking on the Ole Miss Rebels, which was coming off an interesting regular season where their head coach Lane Kiffin left the program to take the vacant head coach job at LSU on Nov 30. Defensive coordinator Pete Golding would take over as the head coach of a motivated Rebels team. The other SEC teams in the First Round were the Alabama Crimson Tide(who had a 10-3 record after getting beat by Georgia in the SEC championship game), the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas A&M Aggies. Alabama and Oklahoma faced each other after both were seeded in the eight and nine slots with the Sooners hosting on Fri, Dec 19. Meanwhile, the Aggies played host to the Miami Hurricanes at Kyle Field after the U was placed into the field over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who were incensed that they were left out of the playoff field following a good season of results. But losses to both Miami and Texas A&M to start out the season ironically came back to haunt the Irish. So, the First Round matchups were all set. Let’s see how each of them played out.

Following 17-0 Hole Early On, Bama Fights Back To Overcome The Deficit And Win A Rematch Game Over OU To Punch Their Ticket To The Rose Bowl For The Second Time In Three Years

The first game of this CFP was a good one, as the Alabama Crimson Tide were facing a 10-2 Oklahoma squad that was making its first appearance in the CFP since 2019. Both these red-colored teams played each other in an important game in November, where the Sooners beat the Tide at Bryant-Denny Stadium by a tight final score of 23-21. Oklahoma had a good second season in the SEC with their only losses coming against Ole Miss at home and the Texas Longhorns in their Red River Rivalry game at the Cotton Bowl Stadium. With QB John Mateer dealing with a thumb injury that he suffered early in the season, the Sooners were looking for their first CFP win ever under coach Brent Venables, who has a load of CFP experience with the Clemson Tigers in winning a couple of national championships as the defensive coordinator of those teams. Meanwhile, Alabama was in the CFP for its ninth appearance, leading all programs, in spite of an early-season loss to Florida State and the 28-7 loss to Georgia and the loss to the Sooners at home. But with impressive wins over top-tier teams such as Georgia, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, and Missouri, Bama had convinced the CFP selection committee that they belonged in this field. Whoever won this rematch game would have the right to go to the Rose Bowl Game, which both these teams had recent appearances in during the CFP era.

Oklahoma got off to a hot and blazing start, with a 17-0 lead early on in the second quarter and their defense forced Alabama into three drives without a first down picked up. But then Crimson Tide QB Ty Simpson turned things around with a couple of clutch passes for big yardage and a TD pass to wideout Lotzeir Brooks. Then Bama got a blocked punt and scored a field goal off that, then defensive back Zabien Brown picked off Mateer and ran it all the way back for a pick-6 that tied the game. The score was tied at 17 at halftime and then in the third quarter, Alabama took control with a couple of big chunk plays, including a deep touchdown pass by Simpson to Brooks. The Crimson Tide defense was stifling Mateer in giving him no space to make a big play and their offense got a field goal to push the lead to ten points. The Sooners eventually had something go their way and had a strong drive that ended with an early fourth quarter score on a Mateer TD pass to Deion Burks. But Alabama had a big rushing score by running back Daniel Hill to put them back up by ten points and Oklahoma tried to get down by one possession with two field goals attempted by kicker Tate Sandell, who missed both field goals as time ran out at Gaylord Family Memorial Stadium and the Crimson Tide won their first CFP game in four years. Alabama was going to the Quarterfinals Round, where as the nine seed in the 9-8 matchup they will play against the top seed in the CFP field in the Indiana Hoosiers, who have gone undefeated in a season filled with amazing moments by their Heisman Trophy-winning QB Fernando Mendoza. The Rose Bowl Game will feature one of the greatest college football programs in history competing against a scrappy underdog program looking to inject some championship pride into their veins. It will be a great matchup on a rainy New Year’s Day in Pasadena, Calif. Now onto the trio of games that occurred on First Round Saturday.

On A Warm, Windy Day In College Station Filled With Mishaps, Errors And Turnovers, The Canes Grind To A Surprise Win Over A&M At Kyle Field For First CFP Win In Program History

The opening game on Sat, Dec 20 was the Miami Hurricanes facing off against the Texas A&M Aggies. Both of these teams had good seasons to grant each of them an at-large bid into this tournament for the first time ever for both of them. The U was in over Notre Dame, whom they beat in an opening week game at Hard Rock Stadium, where the CFP National Championship game will be held this year(it will also host the annual Orange Bowl game). Meanwhile, the Aggies had a grand season where they got big wins in-conference over Florida, Missouri and South Carolina(a comeback from down 30-3), but they suffered a tough defeat to close out the regular season over the Texas Longhorns that denied them from going to the SEC Championship game. Instead, they had extra time to prepare for a home playoff game at Kyle Field, one of the most amazing venues in all of college football with their 12th Man fans screaming loud. The conditions were sunny but windy on this day game against the Hurricanes, making it a hard proposition for the kickers on both sides to deal with.

The game started with drives that ended in punts for both teams and then A&M had a good drive into Miami territory. But QB Marcel Reed got strip-sacked by DB Keionte Scott and the ball was recovered by defensive lineman Armando Blount in field goal range. The Hurricanes offense led by QB Carson Beck couldn’t do anything off that takeaway. The next scoring chance came from the Aggies, who went deeper into the territory of the Canes this time. In the red zone, a missed opportunity for a touchdown occurred, so Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko sent out his field goal unit. The kick by Jared Zirkel was from 23 yards out, an easy attempt to make even in super-windy conditions. However, when the kick went up, the ball was blocked by Miami defensive lineman Rueben Bain Jr and another player for Miami returned the ball forward for 11 yards. A massive blocked kick would prove to have massive repercussions in this game. The Hurricanes couldn’t do anything off that play and they had to punt it to the Aggies, who went three-and-out on their next drive. The ensuing punt was returned by wideout Malachi Toney for 55 yards well into A&M territory. The Miami offense was set up perfectly, but they couldn’t advance the ball that far. On fourth down, the Canes field goal unit came out and Carter Davis attempted a 47-yard field goal. But when he kicked the ball, it blew wide right of the goalpost and it was no good. The windy conditions in southeast Texas were sure showing themselves in this instance. In fact, after a drive for A&M that ended on a turnover on downs following a failed trick play, the Miami offense got back into field goal range only for Davis to miss another kick wide right, this one from 40 yards out. It was a scoreless first half at Kyle Field and even though it was a sunny day, the winds were making this a game of missed chances for both teams.

To start out the second half, the Hurricanes offense had a couple of big plays from Beck and running back Mark Fletcher Jr to get into the red zone. Following a few unsuccessful plays into the red zone, Davis came out to attempt his third kick of the game from 21 yards out, and the kick was good. The U had a 3-0 lead in this grinder of a game. As for the Aggies, their first drive of the second half didn’t go so good, as an intentional grounding foul on Reed led to him throwing a deep pass on third and long that was intercepted by defensive back Bryce Fitzgerald, who returned the ball for 36 yards to the 20-yard line of A&M. The Canes offense couldn’t pick up a first down and the field goal unit came on again. From 35 yards out, the winds still pushed the ball to the right and no good as Davis missed his third kick of the game. The Aggies couldn’t do anything off that mishap, but they did have a long drive that began the fourth quarter with a couple of lucky first downs and eventually a chance to tie the game with kicker Randy Bond, who was warming up on the sidelines since the blocked field goal in the second quarter. Bond attempted a 35-yard field goal and was able to glide it in with the wind gusts dying down a little bit. With the score tied at three, at this point whichever offense could drive themselves into the end zone for a touchdown would likely win the game. The next drive for Miami was a short one, as a Beck pass to Toney was forced out of Toney’s grasp and an A&M defender recovered the ball. Toney was ticked off at himself for making a boneheaded mistake, but his offensive teammates consoled him and urged him to keep his head in the game. The Aggies picked up a first down on the ensuing drive, but Reed got sacked a couple of times and with four minutes left in regulation had to punt the ball and Toney returned the ball for 10 yards. The first play of this huge drive was a golden run of 56 yards by Mark Fletcher into A&M territory and a scoring chance presented itself for the U. Another first down run by Fletcher occurred before the two-minute timeout and a couple of plays later Beck tossed a pitch pass to Toney, who ran the ball into the end zone for the huge touchdown. Miami had finally gotten a big score in this game and the PAT by Davis was good. With the lead 10-3, but still with some time left, all the Hurricanes defense needed to do was get one last stop on the Aggies offense. Marcel Reed would lead a daring drive with some clutch passes and rushes for first downs, as the clock stopped after each first down inside two minutes for the chain crew to reset the down markers. A big pass to wideout KC Concepcion got the ball to the five-yard line and Reed looked to crack the end zone in tying the game. But he threw a couple of incompletions and on 3rd and goal, Reed threw a ball into the end zone that was intercepted by Bryce Fitzgerald to end the game. The Aggies had come up a little short on this day and the Miami Hurricanes got their first ever CFP win in their program’s history. It was the biggest win in the last 25 years for this battered and bruised program from Coral Gables led by Mario Cristobal. Now as the 10th seeded team, the U had joined Alabama as road teams to win in the First Round of the expanded CFP. Their reward for this tough win was a date in the Cotton Bowl Classic against Ohio State on New Year’s Eve. The Hurricanes hadn’t played against Ohio State since the 2002 BCS championship game that was won by the Buckeyes. This quarterfinal matchup will sure be a good one to watch to close out the old year and lead into the New Year, where the reward for the winner will be a trip to the Fiesta Bowl on Thur, Jan 8, 2026. Buckle up for that matchup.

In First Game In Post-Lane Kiffin Era, Ole Miss Smokes Tulane With 41 Points In Blowout Win At Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Punching Ticket To SEC Rematch Duel Vs. Georgia At The Sugar Bowl

The middle game of the tripleheader was the six-seeded Ole Miss Rebels hosting the American Conference champion Tulane Green Wave in a battle between southern teams not far from each other. The Rebels had their best season in a long time in going 11-1, with their only loss being a road game at Sanford Stadium against Georgia in mid-October. Other than that blemish, Ole Miss had signature wins over LSU, Oklahoma and Florida on its resumé. But the most insane thing occurred after its regular-season concluding win over Mississippi State in the Egg Bowl. Their head coach for the past six seasons, Lane Kiffin, was in discussions with two fellow SEC programs to become the next head coach at one of them. The LSU Tigers had fired head coach Brian Kelly in late October after a disappointing four years of results that were not good enough to make it to the CFP and were courting Kiffin to be the next great leader of a program with a long line of successful head coaches that have won national championships in Baton Rouge. But the Florida Gators were in need of a program-changing head coach following 15 years of dismal results and firing previous coach Billy Napier in-season as well. So, Kiffin had discussions with Ole Miss to potentially take the offer from LSU while continuing to coach the Rebels in their upcoming CFP run. The brass in the athletic department wasn’t going to have it that way and Kiffin left Oxford on the last day of November, one week before the final CFP rankings were released, and went across the state line to the west to sign his contract with LSU for a boatload of money. Meanwhile, defensive coordinator Pete Golding was installed as the head coach for Ole Miss in this playoff run and he had to manage which assistants on the Rebels staff were going with Kiffin to Baton Rouge and which ones were permitted to return to their soon-expiring roles on the Ole Miss staff. Other than that, the Rebels had a strong roster with QB Trinidad Chambliss having a great season after coming over from Division-II powerhouse Ferris State. With offensive assets such as running back Kewan Lacy and wideouts Deuce Alexander and De’Zhaun Stribling, the Rebels were looking like a dangerous team in the First Round. They hosted a Tulane team that beat North Texas in the American Conference championship game and had their head coach Jon Sumrall as a coach-in-waiting hired at Florida ironically. With QB Jake Retzlaff, the Green Wave had a good season and snuck into the playoff field as the fourth-best conference champion at 11-2 with losses against Ole Miss and UTSA on the road. This was going to be a matchup between a motivated Rebels team and a solid Tulane squad.

Ole Miss started the game with possession and they had a couple of explosive plays, including a 20-yard TD run by Lacy for an early 7-0 lead. Tulane’s offense had a solid first drive into Rebels territory, but Retzlaff threw an interception that was picked off by cornerback Jaylon Braxton. The Ole Miss offense scored a touchdown off the pick and the rest of the first half was low-scoring and defensive. Both teams scored field goals and a red zone fumble by backup QB Austin Simmons(who came in for a banged-up Chambliss) kept the score somewhat close at 17-3 at halftime. In the second half, the Rebels pushed the lead up on a touchdown pass by Chambliss to Stribling and they scored 24 consecutive points, including two touchdowns off fumbles by the Green Wave. In the end, Ole Miss won by a blowout score of 41-10 and punched their ticket to the quarterfinals of the CFP. Their first playoff win in program history came to show that the Rebels didn’t need their departed leader in Lane Kiffin. They were just fine under Pete Golding, who got a game ball for his leadership. The upcoming Sugar Bowl will be a SEC rematch between Ole Miss and Georgia, with the Bulldogs having won the first game by a score of 45-37 in Athens. The New Year’s nightcap will be a good one and whoever wins will play in the Fiesta Bowl against the winner of the Cotton Bowl between Miami and Ohio State.

Oregon Ducks Soar Above James Madison To Return To CFP Semifinals Behind Dante Moore’s 4 TD Passes At Autzen Stadium

The final matchup of the First Round came between the Oregon Ducks and James Madison Dukes. Oregon had a solid season with only one loss to Indiana on their home field to garner a solid 11-1 record. After being Big Ten champions last season and receiving an automatic First Round bye, the Ducks were beaten by the eventual champion Ohio State Buckeyes in last year’s Rose Bowl Game. Oregon was facing an unlikely conference champion from the Sun Belt in James Madison, whom had won an FCS title just years prior and had an amazing first season in FBS under Curt Cignetti(the current head coach of the Hoosiers). The 2025 Dukes were coached by Bob Chesney, who had been hired by UCLA to be their next head coach and just like Jon Sumrall was permitted to coach in the first round game for his team. JMU’s first-ever CFP game was a tough one early on, as Oregon had five touchdown drives led by Dante Moore(a former UCLA prospect). The Dukes only mustered up a field goal in the first quarter and had another one blocked. Down 34-3, the Dukes scored a field goal before the half and Oregon clearly had a dominant stranglehold on this game. A blocked-punt return TD occurred for the Ducks as well as they held off James Madison, who scored 28 points in the second half. But the deficit was too high for the Dukes as Oregon won 51-34.

The Ducks were going to the CFP semifinals for a second straight year and are slated to face off against the Big 12 champion Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Orange Bowl on New Year’s Day. The winner of that game will play the winner of the Rose Bowl Game later that day(Alabama vs. Indiana) in the Peach Bowl on Fri, Jan 9. This CFP is off to a good start, but there will be more good games on the menu for New Year’s Eve and Day. With only three teams from last year’s eight-team quarterfinal field(Ohio State, Oregon, Georgia) and four first-time teams in the quarterfinals(Miami, Indiana, Ole Miss, Texas Tech), there is a competitive field spearheaded by the three-time CFP-champion Alabama Crimson Tide. College football fans from coast to coast will definitely enjoy the road to Miami Gardens and the National Championship game at Hard Rock Stadium on MLK Day.