The 2025 College Football Playoff opens with a monumental first-round clash as the No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide travel to face the No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners at Gaylord Family–Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on Friday night.
This matchup between two traditional national powerhouses carries immense weight: the winner will immediately shift its focus to Pasadena, California, where a Rose Bowl quarterfinal berth awaits. The Playoff begins with this high-stakes rematch after Oklahoma narrowly defeated Alabama earlier this season in Tuscaloosa, setting the stage for a dramatic rubber match with the entire season on the line.
The victor in Norman will earn a coveted spot in “The Granddaddy of Them All,” the iconic Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. While the winning team will have time to rest and recover, a monumental challenge awaits: the undefeated No. 1 overall seed Indiana Hoosiers. Led by Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza and head coach Curt Cignetti, the 13-0 Hoosiers have been the revelation of college football this season.
The clash between Alabama and Oklahoma — two programs built on championship DNA — will determine which blue blood gets the opportunity to challenge the sport’s newest dominant force. The winner not only advances, but also earns the right to face the toughest test in college football while moving one step closer to a national title.
Here’s who and where the winner will play next.
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College Football Playoff bracket 2025
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Who will Alabama or Oklahoma play next?
Alabama or Oklahoma will advance to play No. 1 Indiana, the only undefeated team in the country, in the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day.
The 2025 season has been nothing short of historic for the Hoosiers, who completed a perfect 13-0 run to claim the No. 1 overall seed in the College Football Playoff. The perfect record was capped by a gritty victory over No. 1 Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship, where the stout Indiana defense suffocated the Buckeyes in a 13-10 win.
At the heart of Indiana's explosive success is quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who became the first-ever Hoosier to win the Heisman Memorial Trophy. Mendoza was arguably the best player in college football this season throwing for nearly 3,000 yards and a national-leading 33 touchdowns, while also being a threat on the ground. He won the Heisman over Vanderbilt's Diego Pavia, Notre Dame's Jeremiyah Love and Ohio State's Julian Sayin.
Fernando Mendoza's speech after winning the Heisman 👏 pic.twitter.com/l2xvqJzKju
— ESPN (@espn) December 14, 2025
The Hoosiers rank fifth nationally in total offense, tallying 41.9 points per game to go along with the second best scoring defense in America. With stars on both sides of the ball, whether its Elijah Sarratt or Omar Cooper Jr. Accompanying Mendoza or Aiden Fisher or Rolijah Hardy leading a stout defense that just shut out the defending champions on the biggest stage, Indiana has it all.
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Across the sidelines from Kalen DeBoer or Brett Venables will be the first ever head coach to win AP Coach of the Year in back-to-back years in Cignetti. Cignetti has guided the Hoosiers to a 24-2 record over two seasons, including the program's first-ever 13-0 regular season, its first outright Big Ten Championship since 1945, and the No. 1 overall seed in the CFP. Prior to his arrival, Indiana was the losingest program in major college football history.
Cignetti's historic coaching job has not just rebuilt a program — it has fundamentally reset the expectations for Indiana football, positioning the Hoosiers to challenge any opponent in the country as they pursue their first-ever national championship.
For whoever wins on Friday night, get ready for a battle at the Rose Bowl, where the Heisman winner, a historic coach and the No. 1 team in college football awaits.
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