On December 20, 2025 in South Bend Indiana, The University of Notre Dame and The University of Indiana faced off in the first ever College Football Playoff game hosted on a college campus.
This was a revolutionary concept because, before this, only four teams made the playoffs. This led to controversy every year, with fans complaining about their team being snubbed and complaints about voters favoring certain conferences.
This culminated in one of the most notorious playoff snubs when, in 2024, an undefeated Florida State was left out of the playoffs and replaced by a two-loss Alabama team due to Florida State’s quarterback being injured.
In an attempt to address all of the problems with the four-team playoff system, a twelve-team system was created, which rewarded conference champions with a first round bye, guaranteed the best non-Power-Five team a playoff spot and made it so that as long as a team has won ten games, they were likely to achieve a playoff spot.
Even though the first round was filled with blowouts, the atmosphere was still electric because games were hosted on college campuses.
The best example of this is when Notre Dame and Indiana faced off in South Bend. The game drew 13.4 million viewers even though it was not a competitive game.
And, as expected, as more and more teams were eliminated, the quality of play became some of the best postseason football to ever be seen.
Most importantly, the playoff fulfilled its purpose of crowning an undisputed national champion. The 2025 National Champions, Ohio State University, defeated the top five teams in the country on their path to the national championship.
Despite what the doubters said, the playoffs lived up to the hype and have earned five anchors.
