The field is set for the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff following Sunday's reveal.
The first round of games, pitting the Nos. 5 through 12 seeds, begins with the first game on Friday, Dec. 20 and continues through Saturday, Dec. 21.
The top four seeds -- Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State -- earned byes. They'll jump into the action in the quarterfinals, which begin with the Fiesta Bowl on Tuesday, Dec. 31 and run through Wednesday, Jan. 1, with the Peach Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl.
The first-round games:
- Dec. 20, 8 p.m. ET: Indiana (No. 10 seed) at Notre Dame (No. 7); winner plays Georgia (No. 2) in the Sugar Bowl.
- Dec. 21, 12 p.m. ET: SMU (No. 11) at Penn State (No. 6); winner plays Boise State (No. 3) in the Fiesta Bowl.
- Dec. 21, 4 p.m. ET: Clemson (No. 12) at Texas (No. 5); winner plays Arizona State (No. 4) in the Peach Bowl.
- Dec. 21, 8 p.m. ET: Tennessee (No. 9) at Ohio State (No. 8); winner plays Oregon (No. 1) in the Rose Bowl.
Alabama and Miami were the first and second teams out of the playoff, respectively.
Last season's four playoff teams -- Michigan, Washington, Texas and Alabama -- produced a combined 18 first- and second-rounders in the 2024 NFL Draft, including first-round QBs J.J. McCarthy and Michael Penix Jr.
It might be tough to match the pizzazz of last season's games, at least from an NFL draft perspective, but there are still some notable prospects who will have the chance to improve their draft stock against a strong field of competition in the expanded playoff.
One of the most intriguing ones is Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty. A Heisman Trophy candidate and college football's leader in rush yards, all-purpose yards and touchdowns, Jeanty is one of the most exciting RB prospects to come around in recent years.
Jeanty's Broncos earned a first-round bye with their win over UNLV in the Mountain West title game on Friday night. They await the winner of the 6-11 game between SMU and Penn State. If the Nittany Lions win, Jeanty will face his toughest test yet. PSU's defense features several standout prospects, including edge rusher Abdul Carter up front.
There are talented quarterbacks in the playoff field, but how many of them end up being in the 2025 draft class -- and how many are truly highly regarded prospects -- remains to be seen. Georgia's Carson Beck hasn't had his finest season, and he suffered what coach Kirby Smart called an "upper extremity injury" in Saturday's SEC Championship Game against Texas. He left the contest after suffering the injury on the last play of the first half before returning to hand the ball off on the game-winning final play in overtime. His status for the quarterfinal game against either Notre Dame or Indiana remains up in the air as of this writing.
Texas' Quinn Ewers and Penn State's Drew Allar are two highly talented but polarizing QB prospects who'll be in action in Round 1. Both can help their future draft stocks with strong performances and extended playoff runs.
Indiana, the darlings of college football this season, feature an Aidan O’Connell-esque prospect in Kurtis Rourke, who will duel with Notre Dame and QB Riley Leonard up the road in South Bend, Indiana, in the opening game.
Oregon's Dillon Gabriel lacks prototypical size for the position, but perhaps a run to the national tidal game could change his arc as a prospect.
