The College Football Playoff Bye Record Puts the Schedule on Blast

The Oregon Ducks advanced to the semifinals of the College Football Playoff with their 23-0 shutout win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Orange Bowl. Since the playoff expanded to 12-team last season, teams that are coming off a bye are 0-6.

Oregon Defeats Texas Tech in Orange Bowl

Oregon Ducks Texas Tech Red Raiders First Round Bye College Football Playoff Orange Bowl Indiana Hoosiers Ohio State Buckeyes — Jan 1, 2026; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Oregon Ducks quarterback Dante Moore (5), head coach Dan Lanning and defensive back Brandon Finney (4) throw oranges following the 2025 Orange Bowl and quarterfinal game of the College Football Playoff against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Oregon was the No. 5 ranked team in the 12-team playoff bracket this season. In their first round game, the Ducks beat the No. 12 James Madison Dukes by a final score of 51-34. Oregon’s quarterfinal opponents, Texas Tech, was ranked No. 4 and earned a first round bye.

So far, the bye has not been friendly to teams that have played in the quarterfinals, as they are 0-6. Oregon was on the other side of this last season, as they earned the No. 1 ranking and first round bye in the playoff.

The Ducks ended up losing right away in the quarterfinals to the No. 8 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. Ohio State went on to win the national championship. This season, Ohio State was ranked No. 2 in the playoff and earned the first round bye. They lost their first game to the Miami Hurricanes, ending their chance to repeat as national champions.

Is the bye a disadvantage for teams? The stats would back that up in the sample size given for the 12-team playoff so far.

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Teams Coming Off Bye Struggling

The way the playoff format is currently set up, teams that earn a first round bye have nearly a full month off between games. The four teams this year that earned the bye were the Indiana Hoosiers, Ohio State Buckeyes, Georgia Bulldogs, and Texas Tech Red Raiders. The last time they all saw the field was on conference championship week in back in the first week of December.

Is the amount of time between the games the reason for the teams with bye losing so often? Teams that don’t get the bye play an extra game in between this layoff and can use it as a tune up for their next matchup.

The flip side of this argument is that the bye guarantees a quarterfinals spot. Crazy things can happen during the course of a football game and in a single elimination tournament. Another argument in favor of the bye is the extra game can result in additional injuries.

On the surface, getting a bye seems like the no brainer advantage, but it is interesting that those teams have struggled. Will this phenomenon of teams with the bye losing in their first game continue? If it does, would the playoff schedule change to have less time in between games for the teams with the byes?

Oregon’s next game will be in the Peach Bowl against the winner of the Indiana Hoosiers-Alabama Crimson Tide Rose Bowl. Oregon has yet to face Alabama before but did play Indiana earlier in the season. The Hoosiers handed the Ducks their lone loss of the season.