The dynasty builders have all fallen. Ohio State, Georgia, and Alabama — programs that combined to win seven of the first eleven College Football Playoff championships — are out, eliminated in the quarterfinals by a collection of teams that have spent decades, if not entire histories, chasing a national title.
For the first time in CFP history, the championship will belong to a program that has never won one.
A Historic Final Four Takes Shape
Indiana, Oregon, Ole Miss, and Miami are the last four standing.
Of those, only Miami has hoisted a national championship trophy in the modern era, and that came in 2001, when Larry Coker’s Hurricanes steamrolled Nebraska 37-14 in the Rose Bowl behind a roster that would eventually produce 38 NFL Draft picks.
The Rebels’ lone title came in 1960, shared with Minnesota. Indiana and Oregon? They’ve never won one. Not once in their combined 230-plus years of football history.
History will be made in the 2025-26 CFB Playoffs. But this isn’t parity. This is programs like Indiana, Oregon, Miami, and a resilient Ole Miss squad practicing what’s always been preached by coaches, sometimes fruitlessly.
With a strict adherence to excellence, not just in language but in action, these teams set themselves apart. Therein lies the difference in a chaotic post-transfer portal era. Talent does matter, but coaching, execution, and day-to-day, down-to-down consistency matter more than anything else.
The quarterfinals delivered a bloodbath. Fernando Mendoza threw three touchdown passes, Indiana’s defense thoroughly throttled Alabama, and the top-seeded Hoosiers roared into the College Football Playoff semifinals with a 38-3 victory in the 112th Rose Bowl.
Indiana outgained Alabama 407-193, steadily delighting a decidedly pro-Indiana crowd that celebrated a program once synonymous with losing now standing 14-0 and two wins from a national championship.
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Ole Miss advanced to the Playoff Semifinals after a 41-10 first-round victory vs. Tulane and a 39-34 win against Georgia in the Quarterfinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Trinidad Chambliss willed the Rebels past Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs with the kind of fourth-quarter improvisation that separates good quarterbacks from special ones.
Miami will appear in the Semifinals following a 10-3 first-round win at Texas A&M and a 24-14 upset over Ohio State in the Quarterfinal at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic. The Hurricanes’ relentless pass rush ended the defending champions’ bid for back-to-back titles.
Finally, the Big 12 Conference champion Texas Tech Red Raiders, a team on their own mission to upset the established order, were shell-shocked by the Oregon Ducks’ defense after a 23-0 win on New Year’s Day in the Orange Bowl. This was the first shutout in the College Football Playoff in 10 years.
The Semifinal Matchups Offer Revenge Opportunities for Two Teams
The first semifinal takes place at the Fiesta Bowl, with Ole Miss and Miami set to play out a fascinating chess match. The Rebels lead the series 2-1 overall, and the Hurricanes have been waiting 75 years to level the score. This time, there will be a national championship at stake.
The Peach Bowl offers a rematch with juice. The series between the Hoosiers and Ducks met in Big Ten play this season, when Indiana waltzed into Eugene and walked out with a 30-20 win. Oregon wants revenge. Indiana wants to finish what it started.
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There’s poetry in this bracket. Indiana has never won a national title in football. The Hoosiers have just three Big Ten titles in program history, in 1945, 1967, and 2025. Oregon is probably one of the best schools to never win a national title.
And yet here they are. The programs that spent generations watching Alabama, Ohio State, and Georgia hoist trophies now have an unobstructed path to the mountaintop. No Nick Saban lurking in the bracket. No Urban Meyer waiting. Just four teams desperate to end droughts ranging from 24 years to forever.
Whoever wins on Jan. 19 will be a first-time champion. College football hasn’t seen this kind of wide-open finish in the College Football Playoff era. We may never see it again.
