{"id":23813,"date":"2025-12-26T20:00:56","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T01:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/2025\/12\/26\/cfp-quarterfinals-bracket-and-schedule\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T20:00:57","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T01:00:57","slug":"cfp-quarterfinals-bracket-and-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/2025\/12\/26\/cfp-quarterfinals-bracket-and-schedule\/","title":{"rendered":"CFP Quarterfinals Bracket and Schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Introduction to the CFP Quarterfinals<\/h2>\n<p>The College Football Playoff (CFP) has reached its quarterfinal stage, with national semifinal berths on the line. Following the on-campus games in Round 1, the quarterfinals will feature four major bowl games: the Cotton, Orange, Sugar, and Rose Bowls. <\/p>\n<h2>Top Seeds and Their Matches<\/h2>\n<p>The playoff&#8217;s top four seeds &#8212; No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers, No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes, No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs, and No. 4 Texas Tech Red Raiders &#8212; received first-round byes and were assigned to quarterfinal bowl games. There was no reseeding after the opening round, as the CFP follows a bracket format. The undefeated Hoosiers will play in the Rose Bowl against the No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide. The Crimson Tide rallied past the No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners 34-24 in the first round. Indiana, led by Heisman Trophy winning-quarterback Fernando Mendoza, is seeking its first bowl game victory since 1991.<\/p>\n<h2>Other Quarterfinal Matches<\/h2>\n<p>The reigning champion Buckeyes will continue their repeat bid in the Cotton Bowl against the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes. Miami scored the game&#8217;s only touchdown inside the final two minutes of regulation to take down the No. 7 Texas A&amp;M Aggies 10-3 in its CFP debut. The Sugar Bowl will feature an SEC showdown between the conference champion Bulldogs and No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels. Texas Tech will play its first-ever CFP game when it takes on the No. 5 Oregon Ducks in the Orange Bowl. The Big 12 champions boast the No. 2 scoring offense and No. 3 scoring defense in the nation.<\/p>\n<h2>CFP Quarterfinals Schedule<\/h2>\n<p>The quarterfinals will be played from Wednesday, Dec. 31 to Thursday, Jan. 1. Ohio State and Miami will square off on New Year&#8217;s Eve, with the other three games scheduled for New Year&#8217;s Day:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cotton Bowl &#8212; No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 10 Miami: Wednesday, Dec. 31 at 7:30 p.m. ET\/6:30 p.m. CT\/4:30 p.m. PT<\/li>\n<li>Orange Bowl &#8212; No. 4 Texas Tech vs. No. 5 Oregon: Thursday, Jan. 1 at 12 p.m. ET\/11 a.m. CT\/9 a.m. PT<\/li>\n<li>Rose Bowl &#8212; No. 1 Indiana vs. No. 9 Alabama: Thursday, Jan. 1 at 4 p.m. ET\/3 p.m. CT\/1 p.m. PT<\/li>\n<li>Sugar Bowl &#8212; No. 3 Georgia vs. No. 6 Ole Miss: Thursday, Jan. 1 at 8 p.m. ET\/7 p.m. CT\/5 p.m. PT<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Locations of the Quarterfinal Bowl Games<\/h2>\n<p>The sites of the quarterfinal bowl games are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cotton Bowl: AT&amp;T Stadium in Arlington, Texas<\/li>\n<li>Orange Bowl: Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida<\/li>\n<li>Rose Bowl: Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California<\/li>\n<li>Sugar Bowl: Caesars Superdome in New Orleans<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Watching and Streaming the CFP Quarterfinals<\/h2>\n<p>All four quarterfinal contests will air on ESPN. They can also be streamed on ESPN.com and the ESPN app.<\/p>\n<h2>CFP Semifinals and National Championship<\/h2>\n<p>The semifinals will be played from Thursday, Jan. 8 to Friday, Jan. 9. The Fiesta Bowl will be played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, followed by the Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. This season&#8217;s national champion will be crowned on Monday, Jan. 19, at 7:30 p.m. ET at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>The CFP quarterfinals promise to be exciting, with top teams facing off in crucial matches. The winners will advance to the semifinals, one step closer to the national championship. With the schedule set and the locations confirmed, fans can start making plans to watch their favorite teams in action.<\/p>\n<h2>FAQs<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Q: When are the CFP quarterfinals?<br \/>\nA: The quarterfinals will be played from Wednesday, Dec. 31 to Thursday, Jan. 1.<\/li>\n<li>Q: Where can I watch the CFP quarterfinals?<br \/>\nA: All four quarterfinal contests will air on ESPN and can be streamed on ESPN.com and the ESPN app.<\/li>\n<li>Q: What are the locations of the quarterfinal bowl games?<br \/>\nA: The locations are AT&amp;T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (Cotton Bowl), Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida (Orange Bowl), Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California (Rose Bowl), and Caesars Superdome in New Orleans (Sugar Bowl).<\/li>\n<li>Q: When is the CFP national championship game?<br \/>\nA: The national title game is set for 7:30 p.m. ET on Monday, Jan. 19, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.<br \/>\n<br \/>\nNational semifinal berths are on the line in the College Football Playoff. After the 2025-26 CFP kicked off with on-campus games in Round 1, the quarterfinals will be comprised of four major bowl games: the Cotton, Orange, Sugar and Rose Bowls. The playoff&#8217;s top four seeds &#8212; No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers, No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes, No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs and No. 4 Texas Tech Red Raiders &#8212; received first-round byes and were assigned to quarterfinal bowl games. There was no reseeding after the opening round, as the CFP follows a bracket format. The undefeated Hoosiers will play in the Rose Bowl and take on the No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide. The Crimson Tide, who own the most national titles in the CFP era, rallied past the No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners 34-24 in the first round. Indiana, led by Heisman Trophy winning-quarterback Fernando Mendoza, is seeking its first bowl game victory since 1991.<br \/>\nThe reigning champion Buckeyes will continue their repeat bid in the Cotton Bowl against the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes. Miami, the lowest seed to advance, scored the game&#8217;s only touchdown inside the final two minutes of regulation to take down the No. 7 Texas A&amp;M Aggies 10-3 in its CFP debut. And points could be hard to come by yet again for the Hurricanes, as Ohio State&#8217;s top-ranked defense is allowing fewer than 10 points per game (8.2).<br \/>\nThe Sugar Bowl will feature an SEC showdown between the conference champion Bulldogs and No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels. The Rebels, after seeing head coach Lane Kiffin depart for LSU, rolled past the No. 11 Tulane Green Wave 41-10 in their CFP debut. The first meeting between Georgia and Ole Miss in October saw the Bulldogs score 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter for a 43-35 home win.<br \/>\nTexas Tech will play its first-ever CFP game when it takes on the No. 5 Oregon Ducks in the Orange Bowl. The Big 12 champions boast the No. 2 scoring offense (42.5 points per game) and No. 3 scoring defense (10.9 points per game) in the nation. They&#8217;ll be up against an Oregon team that raced out to a 34-6 halftime lead over the No. 12 James Madison Dukes en route to a 51-34 victory. The Ducks were stunned in last year&#8217;s CFP quarterfinals, when their bid for a perfect season ended with a blowout Rose Bowl loss to Ohio State.<br \/>\nSo, from the schedule to the bowl locations and more, here&#8217;s what to know about the CFP quarterfinals:<\/p>\n<h3>When are the next CFP games?<\/h3>\n<p>The quarterfinals will be played from Wednesday, Dec. 31 to Thursday, Jan. 1.<\/p>\n<h3>What is the CFP schedule for the quarterfinals?<\/h3>\n<p>Ohio State and Miami will square off on New Year&#8217;s Eve, with the other three games scheduled for New Year&#8217;s Day:<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>Cotton Bowl &#8212; No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 10 Miami: Wednesday, Dec. 31 at 7:30 p.m. ET\/6:30 p.m. CT\/4:30 p.m. PT<\/li>\n<li>Orange Bowl &#8212; No. 4 Texas Tech vs. No. 5 Oregon: Thursday, Jan. 1 at 12 p.m. ET\/11 a.m. CT\/9 a.m. PT<\/li>\n<li>Rose Bowl &#8212; No. 1 Indiana vs. No. 9 Alabama: Thursday, Jan. 1 at 4 p.m. ET\/3 p.m. CT\/1 p.m. PT<\/li>\n<li>Sugar Bowl &#8212; No. 3 Georgia vs. No. 6 Ole Miss: Thursday, Jan. 1 at 8 p.m. ET\/7 p.m. CT\/5 p.m. PT<br \/>\n<h3>What are the Cotton, Orange, Sugar and Rose Bowl locations?<\/h3>\n<p>Here are the sites of the quarterfinal bowl games:<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>Cotton Bowl: AT&amp;T Stadium in Arlington, Texas<\/li>\n<li>Orange Bowl: Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida<\/li>\n<li>Rose Bowl: Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California<\/li>\n<li>Sugar Bowl: Caesars Superdome in New Orleans<br \/>\n<h3>Where to watch, stream the CFP quarterfinals<\/h3>\n<p>All four quarterfinal contests will air on ESPN. They can also be streamed on ESPN.com and the ESPN app.<\/p>\n<h3>When, where are the CFP semifinals<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Introduction to the CFP Quarterfinals The College Football Playoff (CFP) has reached its quarterfinal stage, with national semifinal berths on the line. Following the on-campus games in Round 1, the quarterfinals will feature four major bowl games: the Cotton, Orange, Sugar, and Rose Bowls. Top Seeds and Their Matches The playoff&#8217;s top four seeds &#8212; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":23815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23813","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/media.nbcmiami.com\/2025\/12\/usa-jacob-rodriguez-fernando-mendoza-malachi-toney.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&fit=1500,846&w=1500&resize=1500,845&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23813"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23816,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23813\/revisions\/23816"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}