No. 1 Indiana humiliating mighty Alabama 38-3 in a CFP quarterfinal<\/a> was not particularly surprising to anyone who watched the two teams this season, but it was simultaneously incomprehensible to anyone who ever watched college football before 2024. The now 14-0 Hoosiers did much the same thing to Alabama that Alabama used to do<\/a> to the likes of Notre Dame, Michigan State, Washington and other postseason foes under Nick Saban.<\/p>\n It was college football\u2019s ultimate \u201cchanging of the guard\u201d moment.<\/p>\n And then four hours later, Ole Miss knocked off Georgia.<\/p>\n 2.<\/strong> College football is a fundamentally different sport today than it was just two years ago, when it was still largely the same closed-off country club for the nation\u2019s traditional programs. Case in point: The 2025 semifinals<\/a> feature two schools, Indiana and Oregon, that have never won a national championship; a third, Ole Miss, that last won one in the early \u201960s; and Miami, making its return after getting kicked out of the club 20 years ago.<\/p>\n Who among them eliminated three of the four most recent national champions, Ohio State, Georgia and Alabama, in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n How fun is this?<\/p>\n 3.<\/strong> Who would have guessed the same Ole Miss team whose coach ditched them<\/a> on the eve of the Playoff would be the last SEC team standing in the Playoff? Apparently not Lane Kiffin.<\/p>\n The guy left for LSU to win a national championship, and now his old team might beat him to it.<\/p>\n 4.<\/strong> Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss had a performance for the ages Thursday night in New Orleans, leading his sixth-seeded team to a 39-34 Sugar Bowl upset of No. 3 Georgia in one of the most thrilling games of the CFP era. The Ferris State transfer<\/a> kept springing away from what looked like a sure sack to find a receiver downfield, helping his team build a 34-24 lead. And then when Georgia came back to tie it with less than a minute left, he hit De\u2019Zhaun Stribling for a 40-yard gain to set up Lucas Carneiro\u2019s game-winning 47-yard field goal.<\/p>\n But the Ole Miss defense deserves a lot of credit, too. The game turned when the Rebels, down 21-19, held the Dawgs to a field goal. Chambliss caught fire shortly after, and Suntarine Perkins\u2019 fourth-and-2 sack gave Chambliss short field to go up 10. Most importantly, after two pass interference penalties gave the Dawgs a first-and-goal with the chance to reclaim the lead, Ole Miss instead held them to a game-tying field goal. Chambliss did the rest.<\/p>\n \n Trinidad Chambliss threw two touchdowns and completed 30 of his 46 passes in the win over Georgia. (Chris Graythen \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n 5. <\/strong> So now let\u2019s take a moment to comprehend just how unusual it is what Ole Miss is doing. Its head coach left for a conference rival the day after the Rebels\u2019 last regular-season game. Defensive coordinator Pete Golding suddenly became the new head coach<\/a>, debuting in the CFP. Five assistants, including OC Charlie Weis Jr., have already begun working for Kiffin at LSU but will presumably be sticking around for at least another week until next Thursday\u2019s Fiesta Bowl date with Miami \u2014 right as the transfer portal officially opens this Friday.<\/p>\n It speaks to just how resilient college players can be. It turns out Nick Saban and everyone else who thought Ole Miss should let Kiffin stick around for the CFP were more concerned about the upheaval than the Rebels themselves were.<\/p>\n 6.<\/strong> The all-SEC Sugar Bowl was a thrilling game, but the SEC as a whole is having a disastrous postseason. The league has gone 2-6 in CFP\/bowl games when not facing each other. Only Ole Miss over Tulane in the first round and Texas over coach-less Michigan in the Citrus Bowl have prevailed. The types of schools SEC fans have long mocked \u2014 Illinois (over Tennessee), Houston (over LSU), Virginia (over Missouri) \u2014 have beaten them in bowls.<\/p>\n Granted, those non-CFP games can be deceiving in the age of opt-outs. But a telling result came in the Dec. 31 ReliaQuest Bowl, when the teams combined had just one player missing. Vanderbilt, a 10-2 squad boasting the Heisman runner-up (Diego Pavia), could not stop 8-4 Iowa, falling 34-27<\/a>. Vandy, of course, was one of the seven\u00a0SEC teams commissioner Greg Sankey said \u201cmerited inclusion\u201d in the CFP.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Big Ten is 9-4 this postseason. Maybe Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti should have been the one lobbying for seven teams.<\/p>\n 7.<\/strong> Indiana\u2019s meteoric rise under Cignetti<\/a> has been the best thing to happen to college football in many years. The Hoosiers have broken every glass ceiling that kept programs of its ilk down for most of the sport\u2019s history. And it truly never would have been possible before the transfer portal and name, image and likeness.<\/p>\n Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza was at his very best against Alabama, with perfectly placed touchdowns to Charlie Becker and Omar Cooper Jr. But the game got out of hand because Indiana manhandled the Tide in the trenches. Center Pat Coogan, a transfer from Notre Dame this season, was named Rose Bowl MVP by ESPN\u2019s broadcast team. And despite being without top pass-rusher Stephen Daley, the Hoosiers got to Bama QB Ty Simpson (and later Austin Mack) with blitzers like Devan Boykin and Rolijah Hardy.<\/p>\n 8.<\/strong> After IU running back Roman Hemby crossed the goal line to make it 38-3 with 10 minutes left, Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit said the quiet part out loud. \u201cAlabama being humiliated by this Indiana team,\u201d said Fowler. \u201cYeah, this is embarrassing,\u201d added Herbstreit. It became the program\u2019s most lopsided defeat since 1998.<\/p>\n While Kalen DeBoer\u2019s Tide won their first-round game at Oklahoma and were not expected to beat Indiana, getting blown out in both the SEC Championship Game (28-7 to Georgia) and this one will make for a tense offseason in Tuscaloosa. DeBoer was always going to face impossible expectations while succeeding Saban, but his first two teams have combined to lose eight games. Saban lost eight across his last five seasons.<\/p>\n DeBoer got the Alabama job thanks to his remarkable two-year run with Michael Penix Jr. at Washington, but his offense has looked like that one in only bits and pieces. He badly needs some portal upgrades, especially in the running game.<\/p>\n Chris Fowler: “Alabama being humiliated by this Indiana team.” <\/p>\n Kirk Herbstreit: “Yeah, this is embarrassing.” \ud83c\udfc8\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f #CFP<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/QpvIVah0PV<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) January 2, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n 9.<\/strong> Indiana first made us realize, oh, these guys are for real, when they went to Eugene and shut down Oregon\u2019s offense in a 30-20 upset. The fifth-seeded Ducks haven\u2019t lost since, and now get a semifinal rematch with the Hoosiers in next Friday\u2019s Peach Bowl after blanking No. 4 Texas Tech 23-0<\/a> in the Orange Bowl.<\/p>\n The Red Raiders\u2019 vaunted defense did everything it could to give their team a chance, holding Oregon to 3.8 yards per play and 1.4 yards per rushing attempt. But their offense looked hapless. Quarterback Behren Morton, the Big 12\u2019s top-rated passer, threw for just 137 yards with two picks and got stripped on a Matayo Uiagalelei sack in the third quarter to set up a short Oregon touchdown that broke the defensive stalemate.<\/p>\n Offense was not Tech\u2019s strength to begin with, but it served its purpose in Big 12 play. Oregon\u2019s defense was a step up, though, in talent and athleticism, and it dominated from beginning to end.<\/p>\n 10.<\/strong> At this point, I\u2019d be reluctant to pick anyone against Indiana, much less a team it already beat by double digits on the road this season. But nor would I rule out Oregon<\/a>. That first game was nearly three months ago, on Oct. 11, in QB Dante Moore\u2019s third Big Ten start. He kicked it into gear shortly thereafter. The Ducks have held six of their eight opponents to 16 points or less since then.<\/p>\n On the flip side, this year\u2019s Oregon offensive line is not on the level of Lanning\u2019s previous units. They got largely dominated Thursday by Texas Tech\u2019s star D-linemen David Bailey, Lee Hunter and Romello Height, making it difficult to finish drives. (The Ducks went 4-of-19 on third downs.) Offensive coordinator Will Stein may need to get extra creative to crack the Hoosiers\u2019 stout D.<\/p>\n \n Indiana handled Oregon in their first matchup, but can an improved Dante Moore lead the Ducks to a win? (Kevin C. Cox \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n 11.<\/strong> The Orange Bowl was Texas Tech\u2019s chance to prove itself on a bigger stage than the Big 12\u2019s regular season can provide. Obviously, it did not. This was still a historic season for the 12-2 Red Raiders, which won their first Big 12 title and should finish in the top 10 for the first time in school history. Cody Campbell and Co. got their money\u2019s worth, but the program still has ground to climb if it hopes to compete for national championships<\/a>.<\/p>\n But hey, I said the same thing about Indiana after its first-round exit last year. The portal opens Friday, and Joey McGuire\u2019s team is widely expected to splurge for Cincinnati QB Brendan Sorsby. He\u2019s talented, but to this point, inconsistent. But hey, I said the same thing about Mendoza when Indiana landed him.<\/p>\n 12.<\/strong> I will happily sell my remaining shares of my \u201cI still don\u2019t fully trust Mario Cristobal\u201d stock. After four years of mostly steady progress marred by inexplicable losses, the Miami alum has built a program fully capable of winning the national title<\/a> following the Canes\u2019 24-14 takedown of defending champ Ohio State. The last team into the field has now knocked off an 11-1 SEC team, Texas A&M, and a 12-1 Big Ten team that spent most of the season at No. 1 in the polls to reach the program\u2019s highest perch in 23 years.<\/p>\n The \u201cU\u201d isn\u2019t fully back, but Cristobal has his alma mater much closer to the pinnacle than predecessors Randy Shannon, Al Golden, Mark Richt or Manny Diaz ever got.<\/p>\n 13.<\/strong> Cristobal took several bites at the apple back at Oregon, winning both the Pac-12 and a Rose Bowl in 2019 and knocking off a top-three Ohio State team on the road in his final season there. But that 2021 team imploded down the stretch, at which point he left for Miami only to go 12-13 his first two seasons. Cam Ward led his third team to 10 wins but missed out on a Playoff berth with a season-ending loss at Syracuse. This year\u2019s team nearly did the same with midseason defeats to Louisville and SMU.<\/p>\n But when finally given its chance by the committee, Rueben Bain and the Miami defense overwhelmed the Buckeyes\u2019 offensive line in the first half, with Keionte Scott\u2019s pick six of Julian Sayin opening a 14-0 lead. And when Ohio State got within 17-14 in the second half, Carson Beck<\/a>, Mark Fletcher Jr. and the offense drove down the field and salted away the game.<\/p>\n Now the Canes face Ole Miss in Arizona, where they\u2019ll need to get after Chambliss like they did A&M\u2019s Marcel Reed and Ohio State\u2019s Sayin. I have no idea who will win. If it\u2019s Miami, though, I don\u2019t think they\u2019re going to have much trouble filling Hard Rock Stadium for this year\u2019s national championship game.<\/p>\n 14.<\/strong> It\u2019s hard to call this a \u201cbad\u201d season for the Buckeyes when they won 12 games and ended their Michigan drought, but it ended with no Big Ten championship and no CFP wins. The Buckeyes underachieved for 12 games in 2024 but got in, got hot and won the trophy. This year, they started 12-0 and at times looked unbeatable, but peaked in late November and didn\u2019t make it to January<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s probably how it\u2019s going to be now year-to-year for annual contenders like Ohio State and Georgia. It\u2019s not enough to have the \u201cbest\u201d team; it\u2019s got to follow the right trajectory.<\/p>\n![\"Trinidid](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2254313946-scaled.jpg\")
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