The first round of the 2025 College Football Playoff was 50 percent battle of attrition and 50 percent blowout. For the second year running, first round Playoff games were held on campus, but home field advantage was no assurance of victory. We round up all of the weekend’s CFP action and take a look at the quarter-final bracket:

Alabama 34 @ 24 Oklahoma
Crimson Tide fight back for first ever road win in CFP.

There are many that thought that Alabama did not deserve a spot in the Playoff, that a team like Notre Dame should have been given the nod ahead of them. At first it looked like those critics were right, with the Crimson Tide finding itself down 17-0 against an Oklahoma side known for stout defence and grinding out tough wins.

Finding themselves in such a situation, it would be understandable for Alabama players to lose faith. Fortunately for the Crimson Tide, their quarterback’s belief was unshakable as he led a phenomenal comeback, with his 232 yards and two touchdowns enough to see them overcome the Sooners.

“There wasn’t a doubt in my mind at all,” Ty Simpson said, sharing his confidence in himself and the team after the game. “I mean, the guys that we have, the players, the coaches. Like, 17-nothing, it’s nothing to us. Give us the ball, we’ll go down, do what we do”

Freshman receiver Lotzeir Brooks had a breakout performance with 79 yards and two touchdowns after not having a single score in the regular season, prompting head coach Kalen DeBoer — carrying the weight of expectation in his second year in charge — to be effusive in praising a team that earned the first Playoff win of his tenure and a spot in the Rose Bowl to face top seed Indiana.

“I couldn’t be more proud of these guys,” DeBoer said. “Resiliency. It’s been kind of a theme all season long, but it showed up tonight on the road. Down 17, coming back the way we did — just one score at a time, staying the course.”

Resiliency is the trait that also carried Oklahoma this far in the competition, having eked out wins when their offense has struggled, including a win earlier in the season over Alabama. Sooners QB John Mateer, who hasn’t reproduced the level of production he had before requiring surgery on a hand injury, threw for 307 yards and two touchdowns, but it was his interception, returned for a touchdown, that allowed a way back in for Alabama.

Having been reeled in, Oklahoma fought to keep pace with their visitors and found themselves within ten points late in the fourth, but suffered from a string of special teams errors including punter Grayson Miller letting the ball slip out of his hands, giving up excellent field position early in the second quarter. Tate Sandall, the current holder of the Lou Groza Award as the nation’s best kicker, missed crucial fourth quarter kicks from 36 and 51 yards that would have cut into Alabama’s lead and given the Sooners a fighting chance, and head coach Brent Venables, despite feeling that his team played well, was left to rue the costly mistakes.

“It was a really good game that had some really great moments for the Sooners…,” he said. “…and obviously, some really ill-timed moments as well — coaching, playing, the things that have helped us be successful all year long. Tonight, when we needed it the most, we just didn’t have what it takes.”

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Miami 10 @ 3 Texas A&M
Hurricanes respond to disrespect with dominant defense.

Despite not featuring in the ACC title game, the Playoff Committee saw fit to include a Miami team that, like Alabama, many did not feel deserved a place at the table.

The Hurricanes therefore came into College Station with a chip on their shoulder and a point to prove.

“We don’t take kindly to disrespect,” defensive lineman and persistent game-wrecker Reuben Bain said. “Some people said some things they shouldn’t have said.”

Bain was referring specifically to comments made by Texas A&M offensive lineman Trey Zuhn, who suggested that his rival wouldn’t be ‘a threat that we need to worry about too much’. They certainly did need to worry, however, as Bain accounted for five tackles (four for a loss), three sacks and a blocked field goal.

“We sat in the locker room for like 15 minutes [after the game] just saying how crazy it was for us to win this game in this kind of way,” Bain said, reflecting on the unlikely outcome.

DB Bryce Fitzgerald also had a big part to play in the defense that stifled the Aggies. Fitzgerald was responsible for two interceptions, including the pick in the endzone with 24 seconds left on the clock that thwarted A&M’s attempt to tie the game.

“He’s a quick study,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said in praise of the freshman. “He’s never flinched. He spends every waking minute studying but, when the lights come on, some guys just kind of have ‘it’. He’s that guy. He just knows what to do and how to do it.”

Cristobal further praised the improvement of a defensive unit that accounted for six sacks and kept Aggies QB Marcel Reed contained. “A year ago, we had a tough time stopping people on defense. This was one of those games where we felt like we were holding good and knocking them back. The confidence that [the defense] brings is off the charts, and they were the difference today.”

A&M struggled upfront, unable to withstand the constant pressure from Miami’s defensive front.

“We lost the game on the line of scrimmage, and I think it got worse in the second half,” Aggies coach Mike Elko explained. “We just couldn’t keep them off of us. We couldn’t get the run game established. We became one-dimensional. Once we became one-dimensional, they were able to tee off.”

Miami was able to lean on Mark Fletcher Jr.’s career high 172-yard rushing performance but, ultimately, it was Malachi Toney’s 11-yard reception from Carson Beck that proved the difference and sees the ‘Canes headed to the Cotton Bowl to face Ohio State. Earlier in the fourth quarter, Toney had the ball knocked out of his hands for a fumble that the Aggies recovered. The home team were unable to capitalise on the turnover, however, allowing Toney to find redemption in the endzone.

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Tulane 10 @ 41 Ole Miss
Rebels respond to losing coach with resounding win.

Ole Miss had to tune out the noise of the media circus that surrounded the sudden departure of former head coach Lane Kiffin to LSU, but Rebels fans who had been clear in sounding their disappointment in Kiffin’s decision were in fine voice come the end of the game.

“To finally be the last voice, it kind of hit me some,” newly-promoted head coach Pete Golding said of the fans chanting his name. “And, then, just more excited for the players, how they responded. Some of those hugs will get you a little bit, you know?”

Ole Miss started strongly, needing only three plays in a 75-yard drive to get on the scoreboard in under a minute. The game quickly turned into a rout with QB Trinidad Chambliss throwing for 282 yards and a touchdown, with an additional 36 yards and two scores with his legs before he left the game late in the first half with an injury. Standout running back Kewan Lacy was also injured on the same drive as Chambliss, but both eventually returned to the game, Lacy amassing 87 yards and a touchdown, to set a school record with 21 touchdowns on the season.

“He banged his shoulder up, but, obviously, came back in the game and fought through that,” Golding revealed. “We’ll address it here going forward, but he went back in the game and it’s a bruised shoulder.”

Tulane coach Jon Sumrall said his team ‘looked a little slow on the perimeter, kind of similar to the first time we played this bunch’, referring to their clash with Ole Miss in the regular season. “They’re very talented. Hats off to them. They made plays. We didn’t make plays. Some of that was because of them, some of that was we didn’t do a very good job. But yes, the first two drives, it’s like you blink and you look up and it’s 14-0.”

Sumrall, like Kiffin but in less controversial fashion, is also departing for pastures new at Florida, and discussed his feelings for his now former team.

“I told them it doesn’t change how I feel about them,” he said. “I love this group. Love each guy on that team. This team will walk together forever as champions because we won a conference championship, right? So, while the outcome tonight sucks — I’m not happy with it and there’s nothing about it I feel good about — I still feel good about this football team because we hoisted a championship trophy two weeks ago.”

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JMU 34 @ 51 Oregon
HC Lanning dissatisfied with Ducks’ dismantling of G5 opponent.

Oregon were in control from the off in what looked set to be a complete rout of James Madison, ending the first half with a 34-6 lead, but took their foot off the pedal and allowed the Dukes to fight back — and even outscore them 28-17 in an impressive second half showing.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Oregon coach Dan Lanning was unimpressed with the way his team finished the game against a G5 opponent that many critics were decrying as devaluing the Playoff with their inclusion.

“There’s a standard here, certainly a standard of performance,” Lanning said of the Ducks programme. “Our players know that, and they know what championship football looks like — and the second half didn’t look like that. To not be able to come out and have the same success in the second half that we had the first half is certainly disappointing, and I think our players will certainly learn from that.”

Lanning’s sentiments were shared by Ducks’ defensive coordinator, and newly appointed head coach of Cal, Tosh Lupoi.

“It’s a bittersweet feeling, but we get to move on and are very thankful for that,” Lupoi admitted. “If we play anywhere remotely close this next game [to] the way we did in the second half, then we’re going to have a disappointing feeling after the game.”

Despite his coach’s feelings about the team’s performance, QB Dante Moore had an impressive showing with 313 yards and four touchdowns. Whilst Moore played well, he also took on board the message from his head coach.

“The whole team understands that this wasn’t our best game but, at the end of the day, we won,” he reasoned. “In the playoffs, if you lose, you go home. We’re glad we won.”

Moore further expanded on how the team looks to the coach for guidance, explaining that ‘Coach Lanning is our leader and we go as he goes’.

“Everybody knows how Coach Lanning is,” he continued. “He’s psycho. He’s going to put that fire under us — and it’s needed. We don’t want everyone to get satisfied, and we never have been all year.”

Sun Belt champions James Madison are the first team from their conference to reach the Playoff, and Dukes coach Bob Chesney recognised the accomplishment of just reaching the tournament.

“In order to accomplish what we did to get here, I think there are things we should be really proud of,” he noted. “Obviously, ending it on this night the way it ended is not ideal but, at the same time, it doesn’t take away from what we did during the course of the year.”

Chesney can rightly feel proud of his team, and his own accomplishment in bringing them this far, as he departs to become the new head coach of UCLA.

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College Football Playoff Quarter-Finals:

Cotton Bowl
AT&T Stadium, Arlington
Miami vs Ohio State
December 31st 2025

Orange Bowl
Hard Rock Stadium, Miami
Oregon vs Texas Tech
January 1st 2026

Rose Bowl
Rose Bowl, Pasadena
Alabama vs Indiana
January 1st 2026

Sugar Bowl
Caesars Superdome, New Orleans
Ole Miss vs Georgia
January 1st 2026