With the first game of the 2025-2026 College Football Playoffs kicking off Friday, December 19th at 8:00 pm, this postseason is looking to be one for the ages. The mix of familiar playoff powerhouses such as Alabama, Ohio State, and Georgia competing with hungry new faces like Ole Miss and Texas Tech set the stage for a historic postseason.
Led by the 2025 Heisman trophy winner, Fernando Mendoza, the Indiana Hoosiers are the top dogs heading into the playoffs. After beating Ohio State 13-10 in the Big Ten Championship and finishing the regular season with a record of 13-0, Indiana is the popular choice to win the National Championship.
“I think Indiana is going to win,” says college football fan Enzo Benighil (‘26). “No other teams compared to IU this year, especially since they beat OSU.”
While Indiana is one of the clear favorites, Texas Tech is also generating buzz around Skyline. “They’ve had a really good season so far,” says fan Garrett Comer (‘27). “They will be fired up and motivated.”
Led by senior linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, the Red Raiders look to continue their success after beating BYU in the Big 12 championship 34-7. “I think Texas Tech [will win],” says fan Ayden Schlecht (‘26). “They have Jacob Rodriguez, and their defense is extremely strong.”
While conference champions Indiana and Texas Tech are favorites to take home the trophy, the Oregon Ducks are a common choice to be sent home early.
“Oregon is trash,” says Benighil. “They don’t have enough good players. They’ll collapse like they did against Ohio State last year.” After losing to Indiana at home 30-20, the Ducks don’t have the same edge and winning mentality as some of the other teams.
Last year, the National Championship was played between the #7 seed Notre Dame and the #8 seed Ohio State. The trend in the past has been underdogs and lower-seeded teams making it deep into the playoffs.
“[8 seed] Oklahoma will make a run,” says Comer. “They’ve been playing well this season. They have a fairly easy run.” With Quarterback John Mateer leading the way with 2,578 passing yards and wide receiver Isiah Sategna putting up 948 receiving yards, the Sooners look to tear up some CFP brackets.
“If the QB plays how he should and how he played at the beginning of the season, they’ll be top 3 in the country,” says Schlecht.
Although 12 schools earned their spot to play for the national championship, teams like Notre Dame (10-2) and BYU (11-2) just missed the cut. Although Notre Dame was the first team out, many Skyline football fans agree with the decision to leave them out of the bracket, due to their lack of quality wins this season.
“You need to play actual teams if you want to make the playoffs,” says Benighil.
With the top five highest-ranked conference champions getting an automatic bid into the playoffs, the decision to leave Notre Dame out was partly due to them being an independent CFB team, meaning that they are not officially part of a conference.
“If you don’t play good opponents, and you lose to the good opponents you play, you don’t deserve to make the playoffs,” says Schlecht.
With this being the 2nd year of the new expanded College Football Playoffs with 12 teams rather than four, fans are mixed on whether they like the new format or not.
“I do like the format,” says Comer. “It gives more teams an opportunity to make a run that they wouldn’t have had a chance in the past.”
The decision for the CFP committee to expand the playoffs has also received backlash from college football fans. “I prefer the old format,” says Schlecht. “Teams are getting special privileges because they are money teams. The committee is favoring teams that bring in a lot of money over teams with better records.”
