Three teams are in play for the Orange Bowl. What to know about possible matchups
The 12-team College Football Playoff field is set.
And for three teams, the path to a national championship could include multiple trips to Hard Rock Stadium.
Texas Tech, James Madison and Oregon are the three schools that could potentially play in the Orange Bowl, a CFP quarterfinal, on Jan. 1 (noon, ESPN). Eighteen days later, the national championship game will be held at Hard Rock Stadium for the second time in the CFP era.
Texas Tech is guaranteed a spot in the Orange Bowl after receiving a first-round bye as the No. 4 seed. The Red Raiders will face the winner of the No. 5 Oregon vs. No. 12 James Madison first-round matchup.
Texas Tech (12-1) advanced to the playoff field by winning the Big 12. Oregon (11-1) was an at-large selection from the Big Ten, while James Madison (12-1) received the last guaranteed spot into the field by winning the Sun Belt.
For all three of Texas Tech, Oregon, and James Madison, the quarterfinal matchup will mark a historic first-ever appearance in the Orange Bowl.
All of the New Year’s Six bowl games — the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Peach, and Fiesta Bowl — are now part of the College Football Playoff every year since the field expanded from four teams to 12. Four of the six games are quarterfinals, while the remaining two are semifinals. The bowls rotate each year., with each bowl being a semifinal once every three years and a quarterfinal the other two years.
For this year’s playoff, the Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl are quarterfinals, while the Peach Bowl and Fiesta Bowl are the semifinals. The Orange Bowl was a semifinal last season.
Prior to playoff expansion, each New Year’s Six bowl was a playoff semifinal once every three years.
This story was originally published December 7, 2025 at 1:08 PM.
.JPG)