J.J. PostDec 31, 2025, 09:34 AM ET
Is this the season of the rematch in college football?
Prior to the 2025 season, rematches in the College Football Playoff were a relative rarity. With only four teams in the field for the majority of the playoff's existence, it wasn't especially common for two teams that already played earlier in the season to meet again in the playoff bracket.
But when the playoff expanded to 12 teams, an increase in both bids and title pathways made rematches more likely -- the first 12-team playoff in 2024 produced as many rematches (one) as there had been in the entire 10-year history of the four-team system. This year, though, the number of rematches has spiked. Two of the four games in the first round of the 2025 College Football Playoff alone were rematches. Now, in the quarterfinals, Georgia and Ole Miss will meet up in another rematch. And if both Ohio State and Indiana advance to the title game, a fourth rematch would be in the cards.
The Bulldogs took down the Rebels when the two SEC squads met in mid-October. The good news for Ole Miss, however, is that revenge has proved to be a compelling factor in the short history of playoff rematches. In three of the four total playoff rematches, the team that lost the earlier matchup came out on top.
Is this the start of a trend that will hold true for the rest of the playoff's existence? Or merely an aberration resulting from having only a few examples? The Rebels will look to add another data point suggesting the former on Thursday.
Here's how the four rematches in College Football Playoff history have played out.
Alabama 34, Oklahoma 24, 2025 season
The strongest point on Oklahoma's College Football Playoff hosting résumé during the 2025 season was its impressive mid-November win over then-No. 4 ranked Alabama in Tuscaloosa. But the Sooners' regular-season victory over the Crimson Tide didn't hold much weight in the playoff game in Norman.
Contrary to the final score, the first win by a road team in a true away game in the 12-team playoff era looked decidedly unlikely early on. Alabama struggled out of the gates, with Oklahoma racing out to a 17-0 lead. The Crimson Tide proceeded to hit back with 27 unanswered points, however, and eventually delivered the decisive blow in the fourth quarter to advance to the quarterfinals.
Ole Miss 41, Tulane 10, 2025 season
On the sideline, things were decidedly different in Ole Miss and Tulane's playoff rematch compared to the two schools' regular-season contest. Both teams' head coaches had already taken another job: At Ole Miss, Pete Golding replaced Lane Kiffin -- who decamped for LSU at the regular season's end -- and Jon Sumrall coached his final game for the Green Wave after accepting the Florida job.
On the field, though, the rematch was all but a mirror image of the earlier Ole Miss-Tulane clash. In September, the Rebels offense rolled with 548 yards in a 45-10 win. In the playoff, Ole Miss' offense racked up 497 total yards in a 41-10 win.
Ohio State 41, Oregon 21, 2024 season
Ohio State and Oregon's meeting during the 2024 regular season was a nail-biting thriller -- the teams traded fourth-quarter scores before the Ducks inched ahead on a late field goal and held on to win by one point in Eugene. But when the two teams faced off again at the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day, it was another story entirely.
The future national champion Buckeyes looked unstoppable off the blocks, scoring on six of their seven drives in the first half en route to an impressive 34-8 halftime lead. Ohio State only scored once more in the second half, but its clinically efficient first thirty minutes proved more than enough to avenge the regular season loss.
Georgia 33, Alabama 18, 2021 season
For most of the 2021 college football season, Georgia seemed to be in pole position to win the national title -- cruising to an undefeated regular season, with just one of its wins being decided by one score, in Week 1 against Clemson. Against Alabama in the SEC championship game, however, the Bulldogs came up short, falling 41-24.
Luckily, Kirby Smart's squad had a short collective memory. After beating Michigan in the playoff semifinal, Georgia and Alabama played again to decide the national championship. There, a late Kelee Ringo pick-six sealed the Bulldogs' first national title in decades -- as well as vengeance for the SEC championship result.
