2025-26 CFB Playoff Preview (First Round):
Alabama-Oklahoma, Miami-Texas A&M,
Tulane-Ole Miss, JMU-Oregon Take Stage
(DG’s “This Week In CFB” YouTube Show = Below)
By David Glenn
North Carolina Sports Network
(last updated Dec. 17, 2025)
The 2025-26 college football season continues Friday and Saturday with a compelling College Football Playoff schedule, in the midst of the continuation of bowl season.
Two of the four first-round playoff games (each previewed below) are rematches from the regular season: #9 Alabama at #8 Oklahoma (Fri., 8 p.m., ABC/ESPN), and #11 Tulane at #6 Ole Miss (Sat., 3:30 p.m., TNT/truTV/HBO Max).
Meanwhile, #10 Miami visits #7 Texas A&M (Sat., noon, ABC/ESPN) and #12 James Madison visits #5 Oregon (Sat., 7:30 p.m., TNT/truTV/HBO Max).
In other action this week, NC State is the first of North Carolina’s five bowl-bound teams to take the field, with the 7-5 Wolfpack taking on 8-4 Memphis in the Gasparilla Bowl on Friday afternoon in Tampa, Fla.
Below are more details on the “must-see TV” matchups from this week’s national schedule.
First, though, a couple of quick reminders about all four of these first-round playoff games.
Last year, when this 12-team format made its debut, the home teams not only won all four of these opening-round matchups, they then turned around and beat higher-ranked opponents in the quarterfinals, so that the last four teams standing were the #5, #6, #7 and #8 seeds.
That development surprised a lot of people and led to questions about whether it was a disadvantage to those top four seeds to have to sit and watch — and perhaps get a little rusty — while these slightly lower-ranked teams got to keep playing and perhaps build some momentum, which they ended up riding all the way to the national semifinals.
A year ago, remember, the championship game had #8 seed Ohio State defeating #7 seed Notre Dame. It seems highly unlikely that anything of that sort will play out this year, but it’s something worth watching here in Year Two of this expanded playoff format.
CFP First Round: Game One
#9 Alabama (10-3) at #8 Oklahoma (10-2), Fri., 8 p.m. (ABC/ESPN)
Regarding the Alabama-Oklahoma game specifically, three things jump out right away.
First, it’s an All-Southeastern Conference matchup — the only first-round game matching two teams from the same conference — and that league’s depth in football continues to be amazing, with five of this year’s 12 playoff participants.
Second, the Crimson Tide and the Sooners did play each other during the regular season, and the Sooners actually won that game — 23-21, in Tuscaloosa — in what was by far their most impressive victory of the season.
Both of these teams are brilliant defensively, and neither could run the ball much during their earlier matchup, which ultimately came down to turnovers and big plays. The Tide had a massive 406-212 advantage in total yards, but they turned it over three times.
The Sooners didn’t turn it over at all, and that ultimately proved to be the difference. Oklahoma, which hasn’t been great offensively this season, scored 17 of its 23 points off those three turnovers, and that was enough to claim that victory on the road.
This rematch is in Norman, on the Sooners’ home field, but Alabama — led by fantastic quarterback Ty Simpson — is widely regarded as the road team with the best chance to claim a playoff victory this week. That’s reflected in the fact that the Tide were the only visiting team listed as the betting favorite, albeit a very slight (one-point) favorite, heading into these four first-round matchups.
CFP First Round: Game Two
#10 Miami (10-2) at #7 Texas A&M (11-1), Sat., noon (ABC/ESPN)
The controversy heading into this one, of course, was that Miami got the final at-large bid to this year’s playoff, at the expense of teams such as Notre Dame and BYU.
While there’s plenty of room for sympathy for both the 10-2 Fighting Irish and the 11-2 Cougars, because those teams’ only losses were to playoff-caliber opponents (the Irish lost to only #10 Miami and #7 Texas A&M, and the Cougars lost to #4 Texas Tech twice), the CFP committee did its job well in most ways.
The one big thing the committee got wrong — and that’s why at least some of Notre Dame’s complaints were valid — was repeatedly listing the Irish over Miami despite the Hurricanes head-to-head victory during the regular season. It was just poor and unprofessional form to have the Irish ranked over the Hurricanes for four straight weeks, only to flip-flop them in the only rankings that actually mattered, despite neither playing any games immediately before that flip-flop. That stuff just can’t happen.
Now Miami (a three-point underdog) is the Atlantic Coast Conference’s only representative in this year’s playoff, and it’s up to the Hurricanes to show that the league should be viewed as more than an afterthought during football season.
Much like Alabama, Miami does have a legitimate shot of going on the road — even against a team from the mighty SEC — and posting a victory, mainly because of the Hurricanes’ dominant defense, led by pass-rushing end Rueben Bain Jr., the ACC’s Defensive Player of the Year.
Texas A&M is extremely well-coached under Mike Elko, who had two very good seasons at Duke immediately before taking the A&M job, but the Aggies aren’t consistent offensively, and that could be a problem against this UM team.
Remember, Texas just limited A&M to 17 points while handing the Aggies their only loss of the season, and A&M didn’t have to face playoff-caliber teams such as Georgia, Alabama, Ole Miss and Oklahoma during its SEC schedule this year.
In all likelihood, this game will come down to which quarterback, Miami’s sixth-year senior Carson Beck or A&M’s redshirt sophomore Marcel Reed, can be more effective — and minimize mistakes — against the other team’s outstanding defense.
One other player to watch is former NC State star KC Concepcion, who has been a first-team All-SEC player as a wide receiver and return man for A&M this season, his first in College Station after two years in Raleigh.
CFP First Round: Game Three
#11 Tulane (11-2) at #6 Ole Miss (11-1), Sat., 3:30 p.m. (TNT/HBO Max)
Generally speaking, the biggest difference between the top Power Four teams and the top Group of Six teams is at the line of scrimmage.
There are only so many enormous, athletic linemen to go around, and the Power Four programs tend to gobble them up, both while recruiting the high school ranks and nowadays via the transfer portal, where they can watch guys get bigger and stronger at other schools, then grab them just as they’re ready to be most effective, usually during their third, fourth or fifth year of college.
Tulane actually visited Ole Miss during the regular season this year, and the #1 reason that game turned into a 45-10 slaughter in favor of the Rebels is that the Green Wave just couldn’t compete at the line of scrimmage, especially on defense. Tulane couldn’t slow down Ole Miss in the running game, and Tulane couldn’t pressure Ole Miss in the passing game. Thus, the 45-10 final score.
One of the intriguing aspects of this Tulane-Ole Miss rematch is that, while each program saw its head coach hired away in recent weeks, only one of those coaches hung around to coach this week.
Everyone who has followed the Lane Kiffin saga knew that, once he decided to leave for LSU, there was no way Ole Miss was letting him coach the Rebels in the playoff. On the other hand, Jon Sumrall is leaving Tulane under far more pleasant circumstances, both staying for however long the Green Wave’s season stays alive and making a $100,000 donation to the program on his way out the door. Sumrall, as predicted for several years, is leaving for an SEC job, in this case the Florida Gators.
In terms of Xs and Os, Tulane had absolutely no answer during the regular season for dual-threat Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who threw for more than 300 yards and ran for more than 100 yards during the teams’ regular-season matchup. Similarly, the Green Wave just couldn’t protect their quarterback, Jake Retzlaff, who made some plays with his legs but was completely overwhelmed in the passing game.
It will be interesting to see how the Rebels (a 17-point favorite) react without Kiffin (the architect of their dynamic offense) on hand, but in the end it will be shocking if Tulane can go to Oxford and turn this into a competitive contest.
CFP First Round: Game Four
#12 JMU (12-1) at #5 Oregon (11-1), Sat., 7:30 p.m. (TNT/HBO Max)
While Duke, the 8-5 ACC champion, certainly had an argument to have the College Football Playoff committee rank the Blue Devils higher than James Madison, the 12-1 Sun Belt Conference champion, everyone knew that a five-loss team, even from a power conference, was in serious jeopardy of being left out, especially when compared to a pretty record like 12-1.
The Devils’ best point was that JMU played only a single game during the regular season against a Power Four opponent, and in that game the Dukes lost 28-14 at Louisville. In the end, though, the Blue Devils’ two losses to teams outside the Power Four — independent UConn and American Conference champion Tulane — led directly to their loss in this particular beauty contest.
Unfortunately for JMU, Oregon (a 21-point favorite) is a legitimate national championship contender, and the Ducks get to play this one on their home field.
While JMU was pretty competitive against Louisville before losing by two touchdowns, 11-1 Oregon is a lot better than 8-4 Louisville, especially on offense.
Rather than getting into the Xs and Os of this one, a game most don’t think will be very competitive, let’s just point out that three of JMU’s best players are products of the great state of North Carolina.
Starting quarterback Alonza Barnett III, a product of Grimsley High School in Greensboro, is a redshirt junior who recently was named the Sun Belt Player of the Year. Meanwhile, the Dukes’ starting cornerbacks are redshirt junior Justin Eaglin, from Pine Forest High School in Fayetteville, and redshirt senior Elijah Culp, a former Charlotte 49ers standout who previously starred for Mallard Creek High School in the Queen City.
