2026-01-06 09:21

Wohoooo, the quarterfinals are done, and we have the matchups for the semifinals, and I can tell you right now, that nobody would have guessed that setup.
It proofs, that the playoff system does give every team a chance and what you do with it, is up to you.

I hope you remember that controversial initially selected Miami did beat Ohio State in the 1st quarterfinal and did advance to the semis. Now they rest.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS QUARTERFINAL

Thur., Jan 1 2026
College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl.
#5 Oregon vs #4 Texas Tech
This did not go as I (or likely many) did expect it to go.
The 1st half was a bone grinder and only Oregon did score, while Texas Tech was ineffective or error prone.
Oregon made a field goal in each of the quarters, while TTU didn’t move the ball at all in the 1st quarter and in the 2nd we had an INT, a missed field goal, a lost fumble and a 3-and-out.
Man, Oregons defense was really on top in that game.
In the 3rd quarter did Texas Tech continue the offense worries, got the ball basically stolen from the QB, got stopped on 4th down and had another 3-and-out.
Oregon on the other side did score a TD and only late in the 3rd did Oregon show signs of problems with a thrown interception.
But the Ducks defense did get their offense out of trouble by intercepting the ball on the next Raiders drive and the offense said THANKS and added 3 points, now leading 16:0.
Oregon did even miss a field goal and added a TD later, while Texas Tech just did not get the offense going, until the game was over, and Oregon won 23:0.
Great performance by Oregon, really a weak showing by the Red Raiders.
Jacks BOWL Score: 21-16

College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the 2026 Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential
#9 Alabama vs #1 Indiana
This game started as expected, both teams had some drives, but with no points on it.
Then did Indiana win the field position battle at that time and got to field goal range and took the lead, starting of the 2nd quarter, 3:0.
And then the shit did hit the fan.
Alabama gambled on 4th and 1 on their own 34, missed the pass and Indiana did get a TD-drive out of that. 10:0 now.
A bit later did Alabama fumble and Indiana scored another TD out of that on the ensuing drive, going into the break 17:0.
Wow.
IN the 3rd did Alabama manage to do nothing, while Indiana did just punch them on the ground and especially in the air, scored another TD to lead 24:0.
On the next drive then finally a live sign of Alabama, but way too weak with a field goal.
Now Indiana in the zone, did score another TD and stopped Alabama, scored again and then the game was basically over.
Indiana won 38:3 and will play Oregon in the Semis.
Jacks BOWL Score: 22-16

College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl
#6 Ole Miss vs #3 Georgia
For me, this was the biggest stunner.
Ole Miss down the HC, with a great offense, but a defense, which can be beaten, against Georgia, who did play great over the season, winning the SEC. What can go wrong?
Well, ... a lot.
Ole Miss was the better offense team at the start and scored 2 field goals in the 1st quarter, while Georgia did get nothing.
Then came Georgia, scoring a TD, but also allowing a TD by Ole Miss and then scoring a TD on the next drive. UGA leading 14:12.
The next drive, Ole Miss in pursuit, fumbled the ball and Georgia returns it for a TD.
Georgia took a 21:12 lead into the halftime break.
But Ole Miss was not done.
After the Bulldogs did miss a long field goal try did Ole Miss march over the field and scored their 2nd touchdown of the game, which Georgia did answer with a field goal, end of the 3rd quarter.
So, 24:19 UAG, when Ole Miss did get the ball again and scored a TD beginning of the 4th quarter, to take the lead.
Then it went wild.
Georgia did fumble and Ole Miss extended the lead with a score, Georgia did score on the ensuing drive and stayed within a field goal margin.
Ole Miss did do nothing, and Georgia tied the game at 34.
The Rebels got the ball, less than a minute to play.
But here comes the dynamic offense of the Rebels, did get more or less only 1 great pass play going, but that for 40 yards, when it did matter most.
In field goal range did Ole Miss hit the kick and took the lead.
With 6 ticks left did Ole Miss then kick off, regularly, Georgia returned it, tried a lateral and the backward pass did bounce over the field and did get out of bounce, hitting the pilon for a safety.
So, Ole Miss won 39:34 and will play Miami for the Semis.
Jacks BOWL Score: 22-17

And there are a few bowls left to be played.

The FIFTH SET OF BOWLs from Thursday, 1st to Wednesday, 7th of January 2026.

Thur., January 2 2026
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl
Rice vs Texas State
After the 1st half I was wondering, what’s going on.
Texas State was leading 10:7 and we had a scoreless 1st quarter.
Then came the 3rd quarter and the expected beating of Rice did start and was not finished.
When the final whistle was given, Texas State had scored 31 points unanswered, and Rice got a field goal in garbage time to get to the final score of 41:10.
That was a beating, and I was wrong regarding the betting line. It was not enough.
Jacks BOWL Score: 23-17

AutoZone Liberty Bowl
Navy vs Cincinnati
Almost the same here, with Navy and Cincinnati at first just dancing around each other, with Navy leading 14:7 at the half.
Then did Navy slowly pull away and Cincinnati did not have the power to catch up, which led to a clear 35:13 win by Navy.
I did not see that margin coming, but once again did this bowl season prove, that there is no way to judge the teams on the field until the game is over.
Jacks BOWL Score: 24-17

Duke's Mayo Bowl
Wake Forest vs Mississippi State
THIs was one of the bigger surprises, even I did state I would not be surprised to see Wake Forst win.
I was surprised over the way they did win.
Wake Forest did control the game in total and there was no way the Bulldogs had a chance to come back.
We saw a 100-yard kickoff return TD by the Demons, after the Bulldogs went ahead 3:0.
We saw Wake Forest with a great drive for a TD, after another Bulldogs field goal.
We saw the Demons spotting MSU on the Wake Forst 8-yard line on 4th down.
We saw a 64-yard big play in the 3rd quarter for a TD by the Demons.
And another long drive after another Bulldogs field goal for the 30:12 lead.
Up to that was MSU only able to kick field goals.
Then finally did they have a drive for a TD, 30:20, into the 4th quarter then.
Then came a critical phase, where it did look like the Bulldogs would pull a comeback, scored another TD for 30:27.
But Wake Forest did just have another long drive and went 36:29 (with a defense 2-pointer!).
And here the Demons defense came in big, stopping the Bulldogs deep in their own half to force them to punt.
Comeback denied!
Wake Forest with another big play and suddenly the game was done.
With 2 minutes left to play did MSU try something, but not enough and failed on 4th down.
Wake Forst won 43:29.
Jacks BOWL Score: 24-18

Trust & Will Holiday Bowl
#17 Arizona vs SMU
A very strange game.
It did look like Arizona did not show up, at all.
At the half did SMU lead 24:0!
Then came a phase, where Arizona did try hard, but failed in the polishing process.
They came out of the break, and did play a 4th down at mid-field. Quite aggressive, with 1 yard to go and 24 points behind ... why not.
They failed and SMU did start margin to the endzone, only to throw an INT close the Wildcats endzone.
That did motivate the Wildcats for a long drive and a TD.
Next drive, another SMU INT!
And the Wildcats did go for it on 4th and 6 and failed, close the endzone.
So, no points.
The 4th quarter came, and it became a wild game.
The Wildcats stopped SMU and scored another TD, 24:12 now.
SMU was intercepted again, but as was Arizona on the next drive.
Just 3 minutes left and SMU did run down the clock, punted after 3 downs and Arizona did score quickly, only to fail on the onside-kick and lose the game 19:24.
SMU did not score a single point in the 2nd half and if only the Wildcats would have played better in the 1st half, the game would have been theirs.
But it was won by SMU, congratz.
Jacks BOWL Score: 24-19

And that’s that with the bowl games of this season.
There are only 3 games left, 2 semifinals and 1 championship game.
Unfortune the timing is as bad as last year, which means, the semi are on the upcoming weekend, and the championship game then 2 weeks later.

As info I have that in the FCS did playoffs (a 24-teams-playoff-bracket) was boiled down to the championship game on Monday the 5th and of the 2 teams, of which at least one team was never on anyones map to win it all, Montana State (the #2 seat) did beat Illinois State (an at-large-selection for the 24-teams-bracket) 35:34. It came down to OT in which Illinois State scored a TD first, but got their PAT blocked! Montana State did then try everything and got to a 4th and 10, did throw into the endzone and got that TD on that play. They kicked the PAT and won the game.
It's Montana States 1st national championship since 1985. Congratulation.

Now, onward to the college football semifinals.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS SEMIFINAL

Thur., January 8 2026
College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl
#10 Miami vs #6 Ole Miss
@State Farm Stadium, Glendale, Arizona
The Bowl exists since 1971 and is played in the home site of the Arizona Cardinals.
This season the bowl got one of the semifinals of the college football playoff system.
Independent teams had played the most games here, 21, and won 10, but since the conference did rotate and the BCS- and CFP-rules did basically s e l e c t any team from any conference if ranked high enough, every power-5-conference did play here several games and even group-of-5-teams did already play here.
The ACC had 3 games here, 2 wins. The SEC had 6 games with also 2 wins.
Miami was 4 times already here (Twice as Indy team, twice as Big East team) and lost all 4 games.
Ole Miss has its debut here.
I say, nobody did foresee THAT matchup for the semis.
We have Miami, which did start strong on the season, got a 5-0 start, then lost to Louisville and SMU within 3 weeks and finished with 4 additional wins for the regular season.
That left them out of the ACC Championship game, but thanks to a (so said) head-to-head-compare to Notre Dame got the #10 spot in the playoff rankings and kicked by that Notre Dame out (they were at #11 and left out, because 2 additional conference champions ranked lower had to be put in) and had to play a 1st round matchup against Texas A&M on the road.
They won 10:3 and went on to play Ohio State, winning 24:14.
Ole Miss on the other hand did play a great season also and lost only to Georgia during the season, which did left them in a 4-team-tie at spot number 3. They were ranked at #6 on the playoff rankings and had to play a 1st round matchup against Tulane, won 41:10, went onward to play Georgia again and won 39:34.
In 3 games of those 4 playoff games were Miami or Ole Miss underdogs.
So, now they have to play against each other to get to the Championship game.
Vegas has Miami favored by 3.5 points here, which does surprise me a bit, since Miami was so low ranked prior the playoffs and Ole Miss did take down Georgia.
But I guess taking down Ohio State did give a lot of respect back to Miami and that defense of Miami was really great.
And that will be the key here, the Miami defense against the Ole Miss high octane offense.
If Ole Miss can score, they will likely win.
If Miami can control the Rebels offense, they will win.
I’m not sure, who will have the upper hand here.
Both teams have some flaws, both did amazing stuff in the playoff games.
It will likely come down to turnovers and some crazy stuff you see in such games.
I go with Ole Miss here, valuing the offense a bit stronger than the Miami defense, but any winner would not surprise me.
Rebels win.

Fri., January 9 2026
College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
#5 Oregon vs #1 Indiana
@Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
This season this bowl got the second semifinal.
The bowl is played since 1968 and is played now inside the new home of the Atlanta Falcons.
The most participations since ever does have the SEC with 41 matches and of those 24 wins, including last year (3 game winning streak).
The BIG10 was so far 11 times in this bowl and is 3-8, but this season we have 2 BIG10 teams battling it out against each other.
Oregon did great, but lost that crucial game against Indiana mid-season, which left them out of the BIG10 Championship game. Ranked as #5 in the playoff ranks the team had to play in a 1st round game against James Madison and won 51:34, went on to play Texas Tech in the quarterfinal and won 23:0.
That is impressive, but Indiana did impress me more this season.
Not only did they win all games inside the BIG10, which did not happen since EVER (the had a season in 1945 with a tie and no losses, but never a season with only wins), they won also the conference championship game and became BIG10 champ for the 1st time since 1967 (which was a shared championship) and 1945 (in which they won the conference as lone team).
After that the team was ranked #1 in the playoff ranks, went on to beat Alabama in the quarterfinal, 38:3, and is now playing Oregon again, against they won during the season already by 10 points.
Now, all reset and do it again, I guess.
Indiana is favored by 3.5 points, likely fueled by that great defense stand Oregon had against Texas Tech.
Because I would have guessed, Indiana would get a higher betting line.
That offense of Indiana is really special and Oregon will likely have to play on all cylinders clicking to counter that.
Or they can pull again that defense up?
I don’t think so.
Interesting is, that the expected outcome has less points than that between Ole Miss and Miami.
I don’t think so.
But we will see.
I have made up my mind, that Indiana offense with their Heisman QB will play tough and great and Oregon will either go down in flames or fighting, will go down.
Hoosiers win.

'Til next time
Jack6 on BLOCK OF GRANITE

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