College Football Playoffs: Indiana, Oregon, Ole Miss, Miami reach semifinals

And then there were four.

The quarterfinals for the College Football Playoff series were completed on Thursday. Top-ranked Indiana and No. 5 Oregon cruised to victories, No. 6 Mississippi prevailed in a seesaw battle during the second half to edge No. 3 Georgia, while No. 10 Miami stunned No. 2 Ohio State, the defending national champions.

Indiana, which smothered ninth-seeded Alabama 38-3 in the Rose Bowl on Thursday, advanced to a Jan. 9 semifinal date at the Peach Bowl. The Hoosiers (14-0) earned a rematch against Oregon, a team they defeated 30-20 on Oct. 11.

It was Indiana’s first Rose Bowl victory and its first bowl victory since the 1991 Copper Bowl. Alabama (11-4), meanwhile, suffered its worst loss by points since a 35-point loss to Arkansas in 1998.

Quarterback Fernando Mendoza, the Heisman Trophy winner, passed for 192 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Hoosiers.

Oregon blanked Texas Tech 23-0 in the Orange Bowl to reach the semifinals, forcing four turnovers and registering four sacks. It was the Ducks’ first bowl game shutout victory since a 14-0 victory against Penn in the 1917 Rose Bowl.

The Ducks (13-1) held the Red Raiders (12-2) to season lows in passing yards (215), rushing yards (78) and first downs (nine).

“They’ve earned this opportunity,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said after the game. “I told them go get their pound of flesh today. They did that today.”

According to ESPN Research, the two other teams that shut out their opponents in the CFP both went on to win the national championship (Alabama in 2015 and Clemson in 2016).

In the other quarterfinal games, Ole Miss and Miami advanced to a Jan. 8 semifinal showdown at the Fiesta Bowl.

In Thursday’s late game, Lucas Carneiro’s 47-yard field goal with six seconds left and a safety on the ensuing kickoff gave Mississippi (13-1) a dramatic 39-34 victory against Georgia (12-2) in the Sugar Bowl.

The Rebels rallied from a 21-12 halftime deficit but then blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. Georgia tied the game 34-34 with 55 seconds left in regulation on Peyton Woodring’s 24-yard field goal.

But Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss completed a 40-yard pass on third down to De’Zhaun Stribling, giving the Rebels the ball at the Georgia 30. Three incompletions later, Carniero nailed his game-winning kick.

Carneiro had already broken Sugar Bowl records with field goals of 55 and 56 yards earlier in the game.

There were six seconds left, so when Georgia fielded the kickoff it attempted a lateral -- but the ball rolled across the field and hit the end zone pylon for a safety with one second left.

That led to a wild series of laterals after Georgia recovered an onside kick. The Rebels were finally able to secure the tackle and the victory.

Chambliss, a transfer from Division II Ferris State who came in as an injury replacement in September, threw for 362 yards and two touchdowns.

The biggest surprise occurred on New Year’s Eve, when Miami took a 14-0 lead and then churned out a 24-14 victory against Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl.

Keionte Scott’s 72-yard interception for a touchdown in the second quarter gave the Hurricanes (12-2) a two-touchdown lead. While the Buckeyes (12-2) trimmed Miami’s lead to 17-14, the Hurricanes used a five-minute, 70-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter to clinch the game, converting a pair of third-down conversions and icing the game when ChaMar Brown scored on a 5-yard run with 55 seconds left in the game.

Miami defensive ends Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor combined for three sacks in the first half, but the game’s momentum swung toward the Hurricanes when Scott stepped in front of Julian Sayin’s pass and returned it for a touchdown.

© 2025 Cox Media Group