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Irving, Texas – December 8, 2025
The Indiana Hoosiers, undefeated and improbable Big Ten champions, were crowned the No. 1 overall seed in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff on Sunday, earning a first-round bye and a guaranteed spot in the Rose Bowl quarterfinal on New Year’s Day. But the historic moment for Bloomington was quickly overshadowed by one of the most explosive controversies in playoff history: Notre Dame, riding a 10-game winning streak, was left out entirely.
The Fighting Irish (10-2) were ranked No. 11 in the final CFP poll, leapfrogged by three-loss Alabama and one-loss Miami for the last two at-large berths. Hours after the bracket was unveiled, Notre Dame announced it would skip bowl season altogether, forgoing extra practices and a likely New Year’s Six invitation in protest of what athletic director Pete Bevacqua called a decision that “stole the playoff from our student-athletes.”
Alabama, despite a 28-7 thrashing by Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, did not drop a single spot from its previous ranking of No. 9. Miami, idle this weekend, held at No. 10, largely on the strength of its Week 1 27-24 victory over Notre Dame, a head-to-head result the committee finally weighed heavily once BYU’s loss in the Big 12 title game reshuffled the bubble.
The committee’s other bombshell came at No. 12, where Sun Belt champion James Madison (12-1) was selected over ACC champion Duke (8-5). Duke’s stunning overtime upset of Virginia in the ACC title game gave the Blue Devils the conference crown, but their five regular-season losses—including one to unranked UConn—left them unranked and ultimately outside the field. The decision marked the first time a Power conference champion has ever been excluded from the playoff.
The four teams receiving first-round byes are:
No. 1 Indiana (13-0, Big Ten champion)
No. 2 Ohio State (12-1)
No. 3 Georgia (12-1, SEC champion)
No. 4 Texas Tech (12-1, Big 12 champion)
First-round matchups (December 19-20, on campus sites):
No. 8 Oklahoma vs. No. 9 Alabama
No. 7 Texas A&M vs. No. 10 Miami
No. 6 Ole Miss vs. No. 11 Tulane (AAC champion)
No. 5 Oregon vs. No. 12 James Madison (Sun Belt champion)
Indiana’s path to the January 19 national championship at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami would begin in the Rose Bowl against the Oklahoma-Alabama winner. Ohio State awaits the Texas A&M-Miami victor in the Cotton Bowl, Georgia faces the Ole Miss-Tulane survivor in the Sugar Bowl, and Texas Tech hosts the Oregon-James Madison winner in the Orange Bowl.
Committee chairman Hunter Yurachek acknowledged the marathon debates that stretched into Sunday morning, particularly over seeds 9 through 12. “Everyone can spin the metrics for the team they want,” he said on ESPN’s selection show. “We debated 9, 10, and 11 until sunrise to make sure we got it right.”
Notre Dame’s exclusion dominated the post-announcement conversation. After starting 0-2 with razor-thin losses to Miami and Texas A&M, the Irish won their final ten games by an average of nearly 30 points, including a 38-7 dismantling of USC and a 29-point rout of Stanford in their finale. Yet they fell two spots in the final two weeks while idle, a drop that left players, coaches, and fans furious.
The Irish quickly released a statement declaring they would decline any bowl invitation, becoming the first major program to opt out of the postseason entirely since the playoff era began. Coach Marcus Freeman called the ranking “indefensible,” while Bevacqua told reporters there was “no explanation that could possibly justify” the outcome.
Alabama becomes the first three-loss team ever selected to the playoff, and the Crimson Tide’s inclusion—paired with Miami’s head-to-head trump card—has reignited long-simmering debates about résumé versus eye test, late-season momentum, and whether conference championship games should carry punitive weight.
Meanwhile, James Madison and Tulane became the first two Group of Five programs to earn playoff spots in the same year, a landmark achievement made possible by Duke’s chaotic ACC title run. The Dukes, despite the conference crown, finished unranked and will now settle for a lower-tier bowl.
For Indiana, the moment was pure celebration. The Hoosiers upset Ohio State 13-10 in Saturday’s Big Ten title game behind quarterback Fernando Mendoza’s two touchdown passes and a defense that forced three turnovers. Bloomington streets filled with jubilant fans as the team that began the year unranked now stands atop college football.
As the playoff expands and the stakes skyrocket, Sunday’s selections served as both a coronation for one of the sport’s greatest Cinderella stories and a lightning rod that exposed every flaw in the selection process. With first-round games just 11 days away, the 2025 playoff is already living up to its promise: bigger, louder, and more controversial than ever.
