Is 2025-26 the start of a new era in college football? Or is it a blip on the normal pattern?
There have been 11 CFB Playoff National Championships in the playoff era of college football. Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, and Georgia have won nine of those 11 (Bama three, with Clemson, Georgia, and Ohio State two each). Even in the two seasons when one of these four schools did not win the title, one or more of them made the semi-finals … until this year.
For the first time in the history of the college football playoff, the semi-finals will not feature Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, or Georgia. Clemson failed to make the twelve-team field, while Alabama, Ohio State, and Georgia all made the field but were all eliminated in the quarterfinal round.
With Miami vs. Ole Miss and Oregon vs. Indiana, a new final four is set—and perhaps a new era of college football is on the horizon.
Let’s take a look at the final four.
MIAMI
The Miami Hurricanes arguably have the most iconic brand of the last four teams standing. “The U” has won five national championships, but the last one was in 2001, twenty-five years ago.
Photo courtesy WSVN
The Hurricanes have not won a conference championship since joining the ACC in 2004, and have only made it to the ACC Championship Game once. For over two decades now, the question has been asked: “When will The U be back?” It seemed like every time Miami might just be back, something would happen and shatter those hopes.
But this year, Miami finished the regular season with a 10-2 record and secured its first-ever appearance in the college football playoff. In the first round, they made an immediate impact by going on the road to Texas A&M and defeating the Aggies at Kyle Field, holding them to only three points. Then, in the Cotton Bowl quarterfinal, they beat the defending National Champions, Ohio State, by double digits.
Truly, this is the closest that “The U” has been to being back in a really long time.
How far the journey for the Hurricanes goes this season remains to be seen, but in the semi-final at the Fiesta Bowl, they will stand across the field from a team that has been waiting even longer for a National Championship.
OLE MISS
The Ole Miss Rebels also find themselves in the College Football Playoff for the first time, the culmination of an exciting yet controversial season. The Rebels are 11-1, marking the first time the team has won 11 games in a single season.
Trinidad Chambliss of the Ole Miss Rebels (photo courtesy Augusta Press)
But it hasn’t been a smooth ride. Former head coach Lane Kiffin decided to leave Oxford for LSU before the season ended, leaving the program in a state of flux heading into the playoffs. Despite that setback, the players responded.
In the first round, they hosted AAC Champion Tulane and tore them apart, 41-10. Then, in the quarterfinal at the Sugar Bowl, they won a back-and-forth battle against the Georgia Bulldogs to avenge their only loss of the season.
The Rebels now find themselves in a position to win the school’s first bona fide national championship. Ole Miss has been crowned national champ three times, but each time it was by a minor service–in 1959 by Berryman, Billingsley, Dunkel, and Sagarin; in 1960 by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA); and in 1962 by the Litkenhouse Rankings. The Rebels have never been declared national champions via the AP or coaches’ polls.
That could change this year–if they can withstand a “hurricane” in the Fiesta Bowl in the semi-final round to get there.
OREGON
The Oregon Ducks have never won a national championship, claimed or unclaimed. However, for the last 15 or so years, the story for the Ducks has been so close, but no cigar. Three times at the threshold, but each time denied.
–Going back to the 2010-2011 season (in the BCS era), Oregon made it all the way to the BCS National Championship game but then lost to Auburn.
–Then, in the 2014-2015 season, Oregon was selected in the first-ever CFB Playoff. They seemed to be the team of destiny. Quarterback Marcus Mariota won the Heisman Trophy. In the semi-final at the Rose Bowl, they defeated the undefeated, reigning national champions Florida State, who had won 29 games in a row heading into the game, by a score of 59-20. However, they would once again lose in the National Championship game, this time to Ohio State. I
U of O’s Dan Lanning (photo courtesy AP)
-It happened again in 2024-25. Oregon once again felt like the team to beat. They went undefeated in the regular season, won the Big Ten Conference championship in their first season as a member of the Big Ten, and were given the number one seed in the first twelve-team playoff. However, they would be defeated in the quarterfinal round at the Rose Bowl, ironically enough, by eventual champion Ohio State.
So close, yet so far. This year, the Ducks made the playoffs once again. They hosted a first-round game against Sun Belt Conference champions James Madison, which they won easily. In the quarterfinal at the Orange Bowl, they defeated the Big 12 Conference champions, Texas Tech, in a shutout, 23-0.
Now the Ducks are one win away from being in the national championship game once again. But standing across the field will be the only team to defeat them this season, and also the most surprising story in the playoffs.
INDIANA
For many years, the Indiana Hoosiers were the losingest team in college football. In 139 years of play, Indiana has 719 losses, only 15 bowl appearances, a 4-11 record, nine All-Americans, three conference championships, and zero national championships.
IU’s Cignetti (photo courtesy NY Times)
The turning point that brought IU to where it is now came on November 30, 2023: Curt Cignetti was named the Hoosiers’ head coach. Since then, Indiana has gone 25-2. In Cignetti’s first season, Indiana went 11-1 and made the first twelve-team playoff. However, they lost to Notre Dame in the first round.
This season, Indiana is undefeated heading into the semi-finals as the #1-ranked team in the country, and claimed big wins along the way–defeating Oregon by ten points in Eugene, Penn State in Happy Valley for the first time in history, and vanquishing defending National Champion Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship game. The OSU victory gave the Hoosiers their first conference championship, shared in 1967 and won outright in 1945.
Then, in the quarterfinal round at the Rose Bowl, they faced Alabama, the gold standard in the sport for nearly 20 years, and tore them apart, 38-3. Now they face the Ducks for the second time this season.
My Take
Anyone who follows the sport knows it is tough to win twice in one season, but if any team can do it, I think it is Indiana. That said, no matter who wins the National Championship this season, it will be a true feel-good story.
Whether or not this marks the dawn of a new era in college football remains to be seen, but it certainly feels that way as traditional powers fall and new ones rise to take their place. That seems to be the order of the world, and that includes the world of college football.
