Ranking Home Venues for the First Round of the College Football Playoff

The home venues for the first round of the 2025 College Football Playoff are set!

Autzen Stadium will certainly be feared heading into the College Football Playoff. / Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The College Football Playoff bracket is set, with 12 teams alive in postseason play with an opportunity to compete for a national championship.

No. 1 Indiana, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Georgia and No. 4 Texas Tech all earned first-round byes for being ranked in the top four and have spots reserved in the quarterfinals. The next four highest seeds were all awarded home field for the first-round of the playoff, which is set to begin on Dec. 19.

With No. 5 Oregon, No. 6 Ole Miss, No. 7 Texas A&M and No. 8 Oklahoma all set to host first-round matchups, it's time to rank the toughest venues for the opening weekend of the playoff.

1. Texas A&M's Kyle Field

Nov 15, 2025; College Station, Texas, USA; Fans cheer during the game between the Texas A&M Aggies and the South Carolina Gamecocks at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images / Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Capacity: 102,733

First-Round Opponent: No. 10 Miami Hurricanes

Texas A&M is one of the loudest stadiums in college football, and on paper, this first-round matchup between the Aggies and Miami Hurricanes has the most juice of any of the first-round matchups.

For one, it's not a rematch like Ole Miss-Tulane or Oklahoma-Alabama. Secondly, it's a tilt of two teams that beat Notre Dame, which has become quite the storyline since the Irish's perceived playoff snub.

Kyle Field will be rocking, and it's sure to be a raucous atmosphere for the visiting Hurricanes to contend with, in addition to a phenomenal opponent in A&M.

2. Oregon's Autzen Stadium

Oregon fans are illuminated in the late afternoon sun as the Oregon Ducks host the USC Trojans on Nov. 22, 2025, at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon. / Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Capacity: 54,000

First-Round Opponent: No. 12 James Madison Dukes

Oregon's Autzen Stadium will sneak up on you. While only holding 54,000 fans, it's earned a reputation as one of the loudest stadiums in college football. From the moment the Duck rides out of the tunnel on a motorcycle until the final whistle, the Autzen faithful will make life incredibly difficult on opposing teams.

James Madison's in for quite the road environment. in the school's first CFP appearance.

3. Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium

Oklahoma and LSU line up during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the LSU Tigers at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. Oklahoma won 17-13. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Capacity: 80,126

First-Round Opponent: No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide

In the first of two first-round rematches of regular season matchups (more on that in a moment), Oklahoma hosts Alabama in an SEC playoff tilt in Norman. Oklahoma already passed a steep test of going on the road to Bryant-Denny Stadium and defeating the Crimson Tide 23-21 on Nov. 15.

Now, a month later, Alabama will try to play road spoiler the same way the Sooners did to them on their own home field. Memorial Stadium will be raucous as OU tries to go 2-for-2 in matchups against a Crimson Tide team that some believe shouldn't even have made the CFP field.

4. Ole Miss' Vaught-Hemingway Stadium

Nov 8, 2025; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi Rebels cheerleaders run Ole Miss flags across the end zone after a touchdown during the second quarter against The Citadel Bulldogs at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

Capacity: 64,038

First-Round Opponent: No. 11 Tulane Green Wave

No. 11 Tulane should be prepared for the road environment that awaits them at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford. After all, this is also a rematch of a regular season matchup that took place on Sept. 20 in the same stadium, when the Rebels rolled to a 45–10 win.

The only question heading into this matchup is whether or not the Rebels will be as locked in as they need to be without Lane Kiffin. This is the head coaching debut of Pete Golding, who will have some members of the offensive staff back on the Rebels' sideline despite their offseason intentions of joining Kiffin in Baton Rouge.

It will be loud in Oxford once again, with the stakes even higher than they were the first time around. But circumstances make this one a little bit weird, and it could be an anxious home crowd supporting the best team in school history.

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