College Football Playoff Previews 2025: First Round Recap, Quarterfinals Preview
- Om Brown
- 3 hours ago
- 6 min read
After a great game on Friday night, the Saturday games of the First Round of the College Football Playoff were pretty underwhelming. Nevertheless, the stage for the Quarterfinals is set, with 4 intriguing matchups among the 8 remaining schools. How will the Quarterfinals play out, and what actually happened in the First Round? Let’s dive in!
First Round Predictions Record: 4-0 (ALA, MIA, MISS, ORE - Correct)
Total Predictions Record: 4-0
First Round Recap:
While the score may indicate that the game was somewhat close, it really wasn’t. Oregon was up 34-6 at the half and 48-13 at one point.
Play of the Game:
OU stormed out to a 17-0 lead in the second quarter, but Alabama chipped away and tied it up on a brutal pick-six from Sooners QB John Mateer before halftime. From there, the Crimson Tide built a 27-17 lead before Mateer cut it to three with a TD with 4:45 left in the game. A Daniel Hill 6-yard run made it a 10-point advantage to Bama, and a pair of Oklahoma missed field goals down the stretch ended their hopes of getting their first CFP win.
Play of the Game:
Ole Miss throttled the Green Wave 45-10 in September, and did the same thing in December. The Rebels are 1-0 post-Lane Kiffin.
Play of the Game:
This was an ugly fistfight of a contest, with Miami missing a trio of field goals due to strong winds and A&M getting one attempt blocked. The difference in this matchup, though, was Miami’s ability to run the ball. The U’s Mark Fletcher Jr. put up 172 yards on the ground while the Aggies had just 89 combined yards in that same category. The Hurricanes also won the sack battle with 7 compared to TAMU’s 2. Carson Beck threw the only TD of the game with around 2 minutes to go, and while Marcel Reed got the Texas A&M offense into the red zone, he chucked the game sealing INT to send Miami to the Cotton Bowl.
Play of the Game:
Quarterfinals Preview: Played at the Cotton, Sugar, Orange, and Rose Bowls
Miami went down to Kyle Field and beat the Aggies in a defensive battle, 10-3, while Ohio State lost in the Big Ten Title Game in a defensive slugfest of their own vs. Indiana, 13-10. After being ranked #1 for most of the year, the Buckeyes fell one spot due to the loss.Â
The Hurricanes rode RB Mark Fletcher Jr’s huge game on the ground to their win, but will go up against a great Ohio State defense. The pressure will fall on QB Carson Beck to make big plays with his arm, which is something that he has struggled to do his whole career in games like these. Ohio State has the luxury of a loaded offense with the best player in the country in WR Jeremiah Smith, as well as Heisman finalist QB Julian Sayin. While the Buckeyes are the superior team, I was impressed by the Canes’ defense in the First Round, while I wasn’t impressed with the Ohio State offense in the Big Ten Championship. Though I picked Ohio State in my bracket, I will go against my original selection here. Carson Beck will have a legacy game and find himself in the semifinals vs. his former team.
Score Prediction: Miami - 17, Ohio State - 16
X-Factor for the Game: Miami QB Carson Beck
In 9 career contests as a starter vs. Top-10 teams, Beck has thrown 7 INTs. However, his leadership and maturity this season at Miami is a big reason why they are in this spot. In the First Round, he had just 103 passing yards, but he did not turn the ball over, and he led a trio of drives into field goal range that didn’t pan out due to misses. He has experience in situations similar to this contest, and I think this is the game he finally gets over the hump.
Oregon throttled JMU to reach their second straight Quarterfinals, while Texas Tech blew through their schedule en route to a Big 12 title, with their only loss being in a game that QB Behren Morton didn’t play.Â
The Ducks have a high-powered offense led by QB Dante Moore, who accounted for 5 total touchdowns in the First Round, but the Red Raiders have one of the best defenses in the country along with the Lombardi Award winner, LB Jacob Rodriguez. This game will not come down to Oregon’s ability to put points on the board vs. the top run D in the nation. In my opinion, the pressure is on Morton to come through for the Tech offense. I think the Ducks narrowly escape this gritty matchup.
Score Prediction: Oregon - 23, Texas Tech - 19
X-Factor for the Game: Texas Tech QB Behren Morton
Morton has played the whole year through a hairline fracture in his right fibula, but reaggravated the injury in the middle of the season, missing a pair of games. Backup QB Will Hammond is out for the season with an ACL tear, making it imperative for Morton to be as healthy as possible vs. the Ducks' defense.
Indiana coach Curt Cignetti is the back-to-back Coach of the Year winner and is a branch of the Nick Saban tree. Alabama head man Kalen DeBoer was Indiana’s OC and QB coach in 2019 and is the successor to Saban. This matchup is jam-packed with storylines and talent for the nation's oldest bowl game.
The Heisman winner, Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza, has been great all season for the Hoosiers, efficiently getting the ball to his playmakers like WR Elijah Sarratt, who's caught 12 of Mendoza’s 33 TD passes in 2025. The most points the Indiana defense has given up this year was 24 against Penn State. Cignetti has possibly the most complete team in the country. Alabama has had a more up-and-down season with 3 losses, but are coming off a huge win vs. the Sooners. DeBoer needs a fast and efficient start, otherwise Indiana will bury the Tide early on. I think the inconsistencies of Bama are just too much for them to overcome.
Score Prediction: Indiana - 27, Alabama 14
X-Factor for the Game: Alabama’s Run Game
Alabama had a total of -3 rushing yards in the SEC Championship loss to Georgia. They have just one game in which a player has more than 100 yards on the ground. Indiana has a very good defense. If Alabama can’t run the ball, they will not advance, as it’ll put far too much pressure on QB Ty Simpson.
Ole Miss’ only loss of the year was to Georgia in a 43-35 shootout in Athens. This rematch looks much different with Pete Golding at the helm vs. Lane Kiffin, but the Rebels did put up 41 points in the First Round vs. Tulane. Georgia, on the other hand, have looked a bit like their old selves from 2022 and 2023, when they rode a dominant defense to back-to-back titles.
As cool as this Ole Miss season has been, with the drama of the Lane Kiffin departure and their emphatic win against the Green Wave, I am just not picking against Kirby Smart and the Bulldogs. The Dawgs are riding a 9-game winning streak and are the SEC Champions for the second straight year. Their defense has looked great as of late, and I believe they will continue that trend and get back to the semifinals.
Score Prediction: Georgia - 31, Ole Miss - 20
X-Factor for the Game: Georgia QB Gunner Stockton
Stockton’s first career start was in last season’s Sugar Bowl, when Notre Dame took down the Dawgs, 23-10. He looked inexperienced and lost, but that contest set him up for an effective 2025 campaign. While he hasn’t lit the world on fire, Stockton has played clean football that complements the Georgia defense. He will need to orchestrate another efficient game to keep the ball away from the high octane Rebels offense.
Final Thoughts:
Like last year, this year’s Quarterfinals features a great slate of matchups. While the storylines of Alabama vs. Indiana and the Ole Miss-Georgia rematch are the headliners, Miami vs. Ohio State and Oregon vs. Texas Tech are a pair of very good games as well. I can’t wait to tune into each of these four contests on New Years Eve and New Years Day! Check back in with me next year for a recap of the Quarterfinals and a preview of the Semifinals!