College football once owned Thursday nights in the fall, but in recent years, the NFL has taken over that primetime slot. While college football still airs games on Thursdays, the most prominent weeknight matchups, often from the ACC, Big 12, and Big Ten, are now played on Fridays.
With the NFL regular season over and the playoffs set to begin Saturday, fans won’t get to watch the NFL on Thursday night. Still, the absence of the NFL doesn’t mean there are no college football games to watch.
Miami and Ole Miss Clash in College Football Playoff Semifinal Showdown
The first College Football Playoff Semifinal game between the Miami Hurricanes (No. 10) and Ole Miss Rebels (No. 6) is tonight.
The Hurricanes come in riding high. They pulled a 10-3 upset over the Texas A&M Aggies (No. 7) in College Station. Then, they defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes (No. 2), who were the top-ranked team for most of the season and were favored to win the national title, 24-14.
The Rebels, seeded second, started their postseason by hosting the Tulane Green Wave (No. 11) for the second time this season. They won their first matchup in September 45-10, then repeated their success in the first playoff round, 41-10. Next, the Rebels came from behind to defeat the third-seeded Georgia Bulldogs of the SEC, 39-34, avenging their only loss this season — a 43-35 defeat to Georgia in October.
Miami vs Ole Miss Details
- Date:Â Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026
- Game Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
- Location: State Farm Stadium | Glendale, Ariz.
- Predicted Weather at Kick: 55°F (no precipitation expected, some cloud cover)
- How To Watch: ESPN, ESPN 2 (Field Pass with The Pat McAfee Show), SEC Network (Ole Miss Radio), ACC Network (Field Pass with ACC Huddle), ESPNU (SkyCast), ESPNEWS (Command Center)
We have had playoff semifinal games since 2014. That year, the Oregon Ducks defeated the Florida State Seminoles, and Ohio State took down Alabama, later winning the title. This is just the second year of the 12-team playoff.
Neither team has made the playoffs since it began. There was some preseason hype around Miami, but it’s a bit of a surprise they made it this far. The Hurricanes had regular-season losses to Louisville (at home on a Friday night) and SMU.
After a five-loss Duke upset Virginia in the ACC Championship Game, Miami jumped ahead of Notre Dame, whom they had defeated in week 1 of the regular season, and secured their postseason spot.
Ole Miss has gone through more turmoil. They lost their head coach, Lane Kiffin, to LSU after the regular season. Defensive coordinator Pete Golding, now leading the Rebels, is 2-0 with two playoff wins. Offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, Jr. will join Kiffin at LSU, but for now, he will continue to call plays for Ole Miss.
MORE: How To Watch Ole Miss vs. Miami: TV Channel, Date, Time, and More
Both teams feature transfer quarterbacks. Former Georgia signal-caller Carson Beck has spent nearly his entire college career in the limelight. Former Ferris State quarterback Trinidad Chambliss transferred to Ole Miss and was expected to be Austin Simmons’s backup. When Simmons was injured, Chambliss took over and never looked back.
Chambliss was the SEC Newcomer of the Year and had a fantastic season, completing 27-of-408 of his passes (66.4%) for 3,660 yards and 21 touchdowns, with only three interceptions, while adding 520 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground. Beck completed 296-of-398 passes (74.4%) for 3,313 yards with 27 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also rushed for a score. Beck earned a PFSN CFB QB Impact Score of 83.3 while Chambliss scored a 90.3.
Both teams hope their quarterbacks will play well tonight. A strong quarterback performance could mean the difference between going home and playing the winner of Friday night’s Indiana-Oregon rematch for the National Championship.
