Moving the Chains: Takeaways from College Football 2025 – CFP Quarterfinal Games

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Taking the games one at a time in the order they were played:

#10 Miami and #2 Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl.  It was obvious from the opening kickoff that Miami was the better team and wanted it more, a testament to head coach Mario Cristobal.  Miami’s defense limited the Buckeye offense to a single first down, 9 total yards, and less than 4 minutes of possession time in the first quarter.  Then early in the second quarter, the Hurricane offense drew first blood with a TD for an early 7 – 0 lead.  

Following a 59-yard pass play that put the Buckeyes into Miami territory for the first time, Keionte Scott intercepted a Julian Sayin pass and returned it 72 yards for a score to extend the Hurricane lead to 14 – 0.  Calling it a pick-six doesn’t do it justice – it was more of a ‘snatch-and-grab’ – because it literally turned the game around on a dime.  

Despite an Ohio State rally in the second half to pull them within a field goal at 17 – 14, Miami responded with a game-clinching touchdown with under a minute left in the game.  Final score: Miami – 24, Ohio State – 14. 

It’s worth noting that the game was essentially free of penalties.  The Buckeyes had two for 15 yards, while the Hurricanes had none. 

After the game, Buckeye head coach Ryan Day took responsibility for ‘not getting the guys ready to play,’ which instantly raised a couple of questions, the first is how is that even remotely possible, particularly for a coach who has been involved in more than his fair share of big games and should know his way around the block?  The second is whether or not he could become the first coach to lose his job with a resume that includes a National Championship and a career record of 82 – 12 (89%).  If so, he has no one to blame but himself: his post-game comments may have sealed his fate.  

#5 Oregon and #4 Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl.  Neither team’s performance reflected their respective 12 – 1 records in the first half.  The Red Raiders were limited to 23 plays in the less than 8 minutes their offense had the ball, resulting in just 3 first downs and 88 total yards – 50 of them on a run by J’Koby Williams.  It was reminiscent of the other playoff team from Texas, the Aggies of Texas A&M, who were also held scoreless in the first half of their first-round loss to Miami.

Oregon wasn’t much better in the first 30 minutes.  In the 22+ minutes they had the ball, they only scored on a pair of field goals for a 6 – 0 halftime lead.  The Ducks’ passing game was good, accounting for 203 yards, but their running game was not: they lost 5 yards.   

When Oregon’s Matayo Uiagalelei literally stripped the ball from the hands of Tech QB Behren Morton just minutes into the second half, the offense took over and scored a touchdown for a 13 – 0 lead that – sorry, Red Raider fans – put the game out of reach.  

The star of the game was Oregon freshman Brandon Finney, who recovered a fumble and had two interceptions – one of them in the end zone.  A close runner-up was the Duck defense, which held Texas Tech 265 yards below their season average of 480 yards per game and pitched a shutout against a team averaging more than 44 points per game.  Final score: Oregon – 23, Texas Tech – 0.

Now for a brief timeout:

What is it with teams from the Lone Star State?  Here are their respective most recent playoff appearances:  

• In 2022, #3 TCU lost to Georgia 65 – 7 in the National Championship.
• In 2024, #5 Texas lost to Ohio State 28 – 14 in the semifinals (although they did beat Arizona State in the quarterfinals in double overtime).
• #7 Texas A&M lost to Miami 10 – 3 in the first round this year.
• Which brings us to this year’s quarterfinals and this loss by #4 Texas Tech.  

#9 Alabama and #1 Indiana in the Rose Bowl.  Down 3 – 0 early in the second quarter, Alabama opted to go for it on 4^th and 1 from their own 35-yard line – but the Indiana defense was up to the task and forced a turnover on downs.  

The decision by Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer to take that *ill-fated chance was the turning point in the game, because 2 minutes later the Hoosiers had a 10 – 0 lead, courtesy of a 21-yard TD pass from Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza to Charlie Becker, who made a brilliant fingertip catch.  Mendoza threw for another score just before halftime to give the Hoosiers a 17 – 0 lead going into the locker room.  Coincidentally, it was the same score Alabama came back from in their first-round win over Oklahoma.  

*More on this later, when another coach will ask DeBoer to hold his beer.

Unfortunately for Alabama, Indiana was not Oklahoma.  Besides shutting out the Crimson Tide for the first 30 minutes, the Hoosier defense also limited them to 5 first downs and 93 total yards.  It wasn’t much better in the second half, as Alabama was held to 6 first downs and another measly 100 yards of offense.  

Meanwhile, Indiana racked up 3 more TD’s for a crushing 38 – 3 win.  Mendoza ended the game with 14 completions in 16 attempts for 192 yards and 3 TD’s while adding several critical runs to keep drives alive, thereby paving the way for the other Mendoza, his brother Alberto, to close out the game behind center.  Mendoza – Fernando, that is – put on a clinic that showed the Heisman committee made the right choice for this year’s most outstanding player.

With the loss, Kalen DeBoer is back on the hot seat in Tuscaloosa, which may or may not be deserved depending on your point of view.  Were the Crimson Tide that bad, or were the Hoosiers simply that good?  My take is that for this game it took two to tango.  

And for those who say Alabama shouldn’t have been included in the playoffs to begin with, remember that they beat #8 Oklahoma in the first round, and not many people had a problem with the Sooners being included in the playoffs.  

#6 Mississippi and #3 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.   When Georgia returned a fumble by Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacy 47 yards for a touchdown to turn a 2-point deficit (14 – 12) into a 2-score deficit (21 – 12) right before halftime, it appeared the Bulldogs would move on to the semifinals, as they hadn’t lost a game when leading at halftime in 7 years.  But as Lee Corso always said, not so fast …

At the start of the 4^th quarter, Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss engineered a drive for a touchdown and a 2-point conversion, a sequence you had to see to believe – equal parts Patrick Mahomes and  Harry Houdini – that gave Ole Miss a 27 – 24 lead.  Then, on Georgia’s subsequent possession – and this is where Kirby Smart asked DeBoer to hold his beer – they rolled the dice and went for it on 4^th down from their own 30-yard line.  On that ill-fated play, Bulldog quarterback Gunner Stockton was sacked for a loss.  Ole Miss quickly scored another touchdown to extend their lead to 10 points. 

Georgia answered with a TD of their own, cutting the Ole Miss lead to 3 points with just over 7 minutes left in the game.  Ole Miss had the ball with the intent of taking some time off the clock, and had it not been for the officials missing a blatant face mask call – which would have given the Rebels an automatic first down – that may have been what happened.  Instead, Ole Miss was forced to punt, which gave Georgia a chance to tie the game.

Faced with another 4^th down, this time from their own 48-yard line, Georgia went for it again, only this time they were successful.  After that, 3 defensive penalties on Ole Miss – all resulting in automatic first downs for Georgia – allowed the Bulldogs to get close enough for a field goal to tie the game at 34 with just under a minute left in the game.  For a moment, it appeared that Georgia had a chance to pull out the win in overtime, thereby making Smart’s disastrous call on 4^th down an afterthought.  But not so fast …    

Because Chambliss still had a few more tricks up his sleeve.  A pair of clutch throws got Ole Miss well within field goal range for Lucas Carneiro, who already had field goals of 55 and 56 yards.  This one, from 47 yards, was automatic, giving Ole Miss a  37 – 34 lead with 6 seconds left to play.  

On the ensuing kickoff, Georgia attempted a lateral that hit the pylon and resulted in a safety.  The officials ruled there was still 1 second left on the clock.  Then Georgia recovered an onside kick that Ole Miss didn’t even attempt to cover.  The officials ruled that no time came off the clock, so Georgia had time for one last play that ended up resembling the finish of the 1982 Cal-Stanford game – known simply as ‘The Play’ (if you’re unfamiliar, Google it) – only there wasn’t a touchdown or trombone player.  Final score Ole Miss – 39, Georgia – 34. 
Worth noting: In the first 2 years of the 12-team playoff format, the top 4 seeds – who all had a bye in the first round – have lost 7 of the 8 quarterfinal games.  More on this next week when #6 Ole Miss plays #10 Miami in the Fiesta Bowl on January 8, and #5 Oregon plays #1 Indiana in the Peach Bowl on January 9.