The 2025 College Football Playoff field has officially been set, and there was one significant change in the final rankings that left everyone scratching their heads.
With Alabama having lost to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday, the biggest decision that the College Football Playoff selection committee faced was needing to exclude one of Alabama, Notre Dame or Miami from the 12-team tournament. Alabama, who had three losses but beat Georgia during the regular season, did not drop at all in the rankings after losing 28-7 to the Bulldogs on Saturday.
Alabama’s No. 9 ranking was not all that surprising, as most would agree the Crimson Tide should not be penalized for reaching their conference championship game and losing to a top-three team, especially after they already beat that same team earlier this season. What was more puzzling was the way the committee handled Miami and Notre Dame, who both finished the regular season 10-2.
Miami made the playoff and Notre Dame was the first team out. Here is the final bracket:
THE 12-TEAM CFP BRACKET IS SET‼️
— ESPN (@espn) December 7, 2025
Did your team make the cut? 🤔@CFBPlayoff pic.twitter.com/tkdTkChBrg
The final regular-season College Football Playoff rankings were released on Tuesday night. Notre Dame was ranked 10th and Miami was ranked 12th. Notre Dame does not have a conference affiliation and Miami did not reach the ACC Championship Game, so neither team played a game between the final CFP rankings and the unveiling of the playoff bracket.
Ultimately, the committee decided that Miami deserved to be ranked ahead of Notre Dame because the two teams played earlier this season, and Miami won 27-24. What everyone wanted to know was why the committee ranked the Fighting Irish ahead of the Hurricanes earlier in the week.
The CFP Committee remembering Miami already played and beat Notre Damepic.twitter.com/jA6CEO0s6E
— Underdog (@Underdog) December 7, 2025
The committee flipping Notre Dame and Miami without anything changing between those two teams last week is one of the greatest shams in the history of the playoff. What a total joke.
— Shehan Jeyarajah (@ShehanJeyarajah) December 7, 2025
I think that Miami should have been over Notre Dame, but then they should have been last week
One week ago Notre Dame was ahead of Miami. Now they're behind. Neither played.
— Seth Davis (@SethDavisHoops) December 7, 2025
Joke.
Stop the weekly rankings once and for all.
They had weeks to just put Miami over Notre Dame and waited for the last possible second #Ok
— Liam Blutman (@Blutman27) December 7, 2025
One of the main criteria the CFP selection committee uses is head-to-head competition. With Miami and Notre Dame both finishing 10-2, it seemed like the obvious choice to go with the team that won the regular-season matchup. Most people agreed with that decision.
The embarrassing part for the committee is that they essentially changed their mind and admitted a mistake. If Miami deserved to be in the playoff over Notre Dame, they should not have been ranked behind Notre Dame in the final regular-season CFP rankings. Even if the committee got it right, the way the situation was handled raised credibility questions.
