The official bracket is in! The day has come when many college football fans hope to see their team picked for a chance to take home a national title. On Sunday, December 7th, the College Football Selection Committee released its official 2025-26 college football bracket, and the final Top 25 ranked teams in the nation.
Taking the number one spot this year was the Indiana Hoosiers (Indiana University), who finished the regular season with a perfect 13-0 record after upsetting a tough, previously number one-ranked Ohio State. This also led to the Hoosiers winning the Big Ten Conference Championship. Following the Hoosiers are number two Ohio State, number three Georgia, and number four Texas Tech. These four teams receive an automatic first-round bye. Continuing the list are number five Oregon, number six Ole Miss, number seven Texas A&M, number eight Oklahoma, number nine Alabama, number ten Miami, number eleven Tulane, and finally number twelve James Madison.
In terms of being snubbed, many college football fans were surprised to see that Notre Dame did not secure a spot in the College Football Playoff Bracket. This Notre Dame team was shocked to not see their school in this bracket as well. The same day, only hours after being left out of this bracket, the Fighting Irish declared its withdrawal from bowl contention.
Despite beating a number seven ranked Penn State in week six, UCLA had quite the disappointing season. The Bruins finished their season with a 3-9 record and cannot qualify for any bowl this season after losing to Ohio State back in November.
On the other hand, USC definitely showed more improvement from last year’s 7-6 record season. Although the team faced tough losses against number six Oregon and number thirteen Notre Dame, they still showed decent results. The Trojans finished their season with a 9-3 record and finished ranked number sixteen in the final Top 25 national rankings. Notable wide receiver for the Trojans, Makai Lemon, had a phenomenal season and played a big role in the team’s success this season. Lemon finished the regular season with 11 touchdowns and 1,156 receiving yards. USC is not done yet this season as they await to play in the Alamo Bowl against TCU (Texas Christian University) on December 30th at 6p.m. PT.
On Monday, January 19th, we will find out who will take home the big NCAA College Football Championship title!
