How all three Big Ten teams stack up in the CFP field
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The final 2025–26 College Football Playoff bracket is set after the committee wrapped things up on Sunday afternoon. The Big Ten sends three teams into the 12-team field and is chasing a rare three-year run of national champions after Michigan won in 2023 and Ohio State followed in 2024.
The conference holds the top two seeds, with the Indiana Hoosiers earning the No. 1 spot and Ohio State right behind them at No. 2. Oregon lands as the No. 5 seed and enters the postseason eager to redeem last year’s brief CFP appearance. Here’s a look at each Big Ten contender and the path ahead toward a national championship.
No. 5 Oregon Ducks
Dan Lanning’s Ducks put together a strong 2025 campaign, finishing 11–1 with their only loss coming against top-seeded Indiana. Oregon drew a favorable first-round matchup and will host No. 12 seed James Madison on December 20 at 7:30 ET in Eugene. As of Wednesday, December 10, the Ducks are 21.5-point favorites at home. If they advance, they will face the Big 12’s undefeated Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Capital One Orange Bowl in Miami, a major challenge against one of the nation’s best defenses.
A win there would send Oregon to the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta on January 9 to meet the winner of Indiana or the Alabama–Oklahoma matchup. The road is filled with formidable opponents, but if the Ducks can knock off the Hoosiers, Crimson Tide, or Sooners, they would return to Miami with a national championship on the line.
No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes
Ohio State’s route to a second straight national title looks difficult, but last season’s path looked even tougher, nd it handled things with authority. In 2024, the Buckeyes routed No. 9 seed Tennessee in a frigid playoff opener in Columbus, then stunned top-seed Oregon in the Rose Bowl before taking down Texas in the Cotton Bowl. Ohio State capped it off with a 34–23 win over Notre Dame to secure the national title. This year’s bracket appears slightly more manageable, though still demanding.
Ohio State will face the winner of No. 10 seed Miami or No. 7 seed Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. A victory there would likely lead to a showdown with Georgia, provided the Bulldogs advance past the Tulane–Ole Miss winner. Many analysts expect Georgia to move on, setting up a compelling rematch of the 2022 Peach Bowl in which Ohio State missed a potential game-winning field goal as time expired. A Buckeye win in that rematch would send them to Miami with a shot at back-to-back national championships.
No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers
Indiana enters the postseason undefeated and fresh off its first outright Big Ten championship since 1945. Curt Cignetti has engineered one of the most remarkable turnarounds in modern college football, altering long-standing assumptions about what is possible in this sport. The question now is what the Hoosiers must do to claim their first national title.
With a first-round bye, Indiana awaits the winner of the Oklahoma-Alabama game, which is scheduled for December 19 in Norman. The Hoosiers will face that winner in the Rose Bowl on January 1 at 4 PM ET. If Indiana prevails, it will meet the winner of the Texas Tech and the Oregon–James Madison matchup. Oregon’s heavy advantage over JMU suggests the Ducks are the more likely opponent, making a potential Texas Tech–Oregon winner the probable quarterfinal hurdle.
That quarterfinal survivor would then meet Indiana in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta on January 9. If the Hoosiers advance from that semifinal, they will head to Miami with a chance to win their first national championship and further cement Cignetti’s blueprint as one that could reshape roster building across the sport.
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This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Big Ten teams in the CFP and their path to a national championship
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