Ranking All Four Potential College Football Playoff National Championship Matchups

Indiana, Oregon, Mississippi and Miami still have a chance to hoist the trophy, but which title game would be the most entertaining of the bunch?

Green and yellow confetti falls as Oregon advanced to the College Football Playoff semifinals. / Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The second year of the 12-team College Football Playoff has delivered what many hoped it would: a fresh set of programs within two wins of a national championship. No. 1 Indiana, No. 5 Oregon, No. 6 Mississippi and No. 10 Miami boast just a single CFP semifinal appearance between them previously, making for a pair of matchups that will be filled with desperation and desire.

The question, however, is if the quarterfinal upsets will lead to less excitement across the final three games. Everyone loves a Cinderella team in the NCAA basketball tournaments until the Final Four is a dud.

But in the case of this season’s CFP semifinalists, there’s still plenty of talent and plenty of intrigue. Indiana has a chance to cement one of the most impressive turnarounds in sports history. Oregon is back within two wins of its first national championship for the first time since the inaugural CFP. Ole Miss is on the doorstep of the final after Lane Kiffin left the team before the playoff, leaving the Rebels with a new head coach and a makeshift staff. And Miami was the final team into the field this season, but has legitimized its inclusion with an impressive victory over reigning champion Ohio State.

With that in mind, let’s preface the rankings by saying there’s the potential for all four possible matchups being great. Some just stand out more than others, so without further ado …

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No. 4: Indiana vs. Miami 

Putting any game that features a Heisman Trophy winner like Fernando Mendoza at No. 4 is difficult, but the Hoosiers match up exceptionally well against the Hurricanes. Miami was 40th in passing yards allowed this season, and Mendoza getting the ball to Indiana’s deep rotation of skill players promises to be a challenge for any of the remaining defenses. On the other side, Indiana has plenty to confuse Carson Beck and the Canes offense. The Hoosiers have allowed just five rushing touchdowns all season, which doesn’t bode well for a Miami offense that’s heavily reliant on running back Mark Fletcher Jr. Indiana also has the defensive backs in D’Angelo Ponds and Louis Moore to slow down star freshman receiver Malachi Toney. One of the most intriguing chess matches within this game will be how the Indiana offensive line, one of the best units in the nation, holds up against the Miami front that just demolished Ohio State in that area. Still, it’s hard to see the Hurricanes, the last team into the field and the one with perhaps the biggest holes, keeping up with the Hoosiers—a statement that’s still hard to wrap our heads around in the new year.

No. 3: Oregon vs. Miami 

Better known as the Mario Cristobal Bowl, this matchup pits the two programs with the strongest remaining track records of success against one another. And still, that means no national championships for either side in 25 years. These rankings aren’t based solely off of exciting offenses, but it’s clear the Canes possess the weakest group of the bunch, as the only one of the final four to rank outside the top 10 in scoring offense (Miami is 30th). Both defenses are excellent though and loaded with talent. Teitum Tuioti and Bryce Boettcher will lead the way for the Ducks, while Akheem Mesidor and Rueben Bain Jr. helm a tenacious front for the Hurricanes that completely derailed Ohio State in the quarterfinals. But if this is the matchup, all eyes will be on Cristobal, who shockingly left Eugene, Ore., for South Florida after a 10-win season in 2021. The move has worked out for both sides, as Miami is back in the championship mix for the first time since the early aughts and Dan Lanning has fully reestablished Oregon among college football’s elite, even with the jump to the Big Ten. This would be a game filled with high-priced talent and plenty of physicality between the two biggest brands left in the bracket. 

No. 2: Oregon vs. Ole Miss 

Non-Indiana division, the quarterback duel in this hypothetical matchup is the stuff of national championship dreams. Dante Moore, though quiet in the quarterfinal against Texas Tech, carved up James Madison in the opening round and delivered in the clutch on more than one occasion this season. Injuries have started to chip into the Ducks’ surefire depth at the skill positions, but players like Noah Whittington and Kenyon Sadiq are still available to play in the semis and make Oregon difficult to deal with. Then, for Ole Miss, there’s Trinidad Chambliss. The Ferris State transfer may not have been a Heisman finalist, but when it comes to college football’s most electrifying player, the start of the playoff may have been enough to award him the honor. What Chambliss did against Georgia, looping around pass rushers, firing strikes to receivers and playing one of his best collegiate games in the biggest moments, is what made him one of the most compelling stories in the sport this season. He and star running back Kewan Lacy have the ability to flip games instantaneously, but Oregon’s defense is just as good if not better than Georgia’s. If the Rebels take down Miami in the semifinals, Chambliss would look to complete the triple crown of heroic performances against the Ducks—and that alone makes this matchup worth watching.

No. 1: Indiana vs. Ole Miss

Two things can be true: This may very well be the most lopsided matchup of the bunch. It’s also almost guaranteed to deliver some of the most exciting moments and features the two programs that have been at the center of the biggest stories in the sport this season. Indiana entered the season as the losingest program in college football history, but what Cignetti has done in just two seasons is already sports-movie worthy. The Hoosiers are nearly flawless: third in the nation in scoring offense, second in scoring defense, tied for first in turnover margin, led by the Heisman Trophy winner and just two wins away from college football’s first 16–0 season. Indiana, against every historical trend, is this season’s steadiest program. On the other sideline would be perhaps the exact opposite. Kiffin left Ole Miss for rival LSU on the eve of the Rebels’ selection to their first playoff. The coming weeks have been littered with reports of staff leaving with Kiffin on the plane to Baton Rouge and/or pulling double duty with recruiting and playoff preparation, making Pete Golding’s job as the new head coach all the more complicated. Plus, Kiffin is getting compensated by his new employer (LSU) for what his old employer (Ole Miss) is accomplishing while no longer doing anything to contribute to the Rebels’ success. The webs are tangled, but the storylines are juicy. The football promises to be excellent as well, if Indiana’s Rose Bowl onslaught and Ole Miss’s Sugar Bowl resiliency are any indication.

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