By Chris Vannini
-The Athletic
Dec. 7, 2025
Updated 1:23 pm EST
In the most dramatic reveal in the 12-year history of the College Football Playoff, the selection committee chose Alabama and Miami (Fla.) for the final two at-large spots, leaving Notre Dame out of the field.
In a controversial decision, the committee did not drop Alabama from its No. 9 ranking despite a blowout loss in the SEC championship on Saturday, and it flipped Miami and Notre Dame from a week ago, despite neither playing on Saturday. BYU was slotted between Notre Dame and Miami in the rankings last week, but BYU losing to Texas Tech on Saturday and dropping down a spot created a need to directly compare Miami with Notre Dame. Miami won that head-to-head, beating Notre Dame in September.
The top eight selections were as expected, though with an unknown order previously. In the end, the committee went with 1. Indiana, 2. Ohio State, 3. Georgia and 4. Texas Tech, which get first-round byes to the quarterfinals around New Year’s Day. Then there was 5. Oregon, 6. Ole Miss, 7. Texas A&M and 8. Oklahoma, which will host first-round games on campus in less than two weeks.
At the bottom of the bracket was No. 11 seed Tulane, the American Conference champion, and No. 12 seed James Madison from the Sun Belt. It’s the first time in the history of the Playoff that two teams from so-called “Group of 5” conferences have made the field, and it’s the result of Duke, with an 8-5 overall record, winning the ACC championship on Saturday night. The 12-team CFP field includes five automatic spots for conference champions and seven at-large spots. But Miami’s at-large selection meant the ACC was not shut out.
The resulting first round matchups are Oregon vs. James Madison (winner plays Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl), Ole Miss vs. Tulane (winner plays Georgia in the Sugar Bowl), Texas A&M vs. Miami (winner plays Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl), and Oklahoma vs. Alabama (winner plays Indiana in the Rose Bowl).
The debate between Alabama, Miami and Notre Dame was the biggest point of controversy. Alabama suffered a blowout loss in the SEC championship but did not move in the rankings, while BYU suffered a blowout loss in the Big 12 championship and dropped, setting up the direct Notre Dame-Miami comparison. The committee had kept Notre Dame ahead of Miami in every single set of rankings this year, only changing them at the last moment, after a weekend in which neither played.
“The way BYU performed in their championship game, a second loss to Texas Tech, was worthy of Miami moving ahead of them in the rankings,” committee chair Hunter Yurachek said on ESPN. “Once we moved Miami ahead of BYU, we had that side-by-side comparison that everybody had been hungering for. … The one metric we had to fall back on was the head-to-head.”
-The Athletic
Dec. 7, 2025
Updated 1:23 pm EST
In the most dramatic reveal in the 12-year history of the College Football Playoff, the selection committee chose Alabama and Miami (Fla.) for the final two at-large spots, leaving Notre Dame out of the field.
In a controversial decision, the committee did not drop Alabama from its No. 9 ranking despite a blowout loss in the SEC championship on Saturday, and it flipped Miami and Notre Dame from a week ago, despite neither playing on Saturday. BYU was slotted between Notre Dame and Miami in the rankings last week, but BYU losing to Texas Tech on Saturday and dropping down a spot created a need to directly compare Miami with Notre Dame. Miami won that head-to-head, beating Notre Dame in September.
The top eight selections were as expected, though with an unknown order previously. In the end, the committee went with 1. Indiana, 2. Ohio State, 3. Georgia and 4. Texas Tech, which get first-round byes to the quarterfinals around New Year’s Day. Then there was 5. Oregon, 6. Ole Miss, 7. Texas A&M and 8. Oklahoma, which will host first-round games on campus in less than two weeks.
At the bottom of the bracket was No. 11 seed Tulane, the American Conference champion, and No. 12 seed James Madison from the Sun Belt. It’s the first time in the history of the Playoff that two teams from so-called “Group of 5” conferences have made the field, and it’s the result of Duke, with an 8-5 overall record, winning the ACC championship on Saturday night. The 12-team CFP field includes five automatic spots for conference champions and seven at-large spots. But Miami’s at-large selection meant the ACC was not shut out.
The resulting first round matchups are Oregon vs. James Madison (winner plays Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl), Ole Miss vs. Tulane (winner plays Georgia in the Sugar Bowl), Texas A&M vs. Miami (winner plays Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl), and Oklahoma vs. Alabama (winner plays Indiana in the Rose Bowl).
The debate between Alabama, Miami and Notre Dame was the biggest point of controversy. Alabama suffered a blowout loss in the SEC championship but did not move in the rankings, while BYU suffered a blowout loss in the Big 12 championship and dropped, setting up the direct Notre Dame-Miami comparison. The committee had kept Notre Dame ahead of Miami in every single set of rankings this year, only changing them at the last moment, after a weekend in which neither played.
“The way BYU performed in their championship game, a second loss to Texas Tech, was worthy of Miami moving ahead of them in the rankings,” committee chair Hunter Yurachek said on ESPN. “Once we moved Miami ahead of BYU, we had that side-by-side comparison that everybody had been hungering for. … The one metric we had to fall back on was the head-to-head.”
