The 12-team College Football Playoff was a great success during the 2024 season.
It was the first season with the format, and it worked great. Ohio State, the eighth seed going into the CFP, ran the table and won its first National Championship in a decade. Ohio State beat Tennessee, Oregon, Texas, and Notre Dame to win the title in January.
The 12-team format is back for a second year in 2025, and while former Florida and Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer is excited about it, he’s not happy that the sport is losing big non-conference games.
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“I am really fearful we will never, or very rarely see, marquee nonconference matchups. You’re going to see the 50-7 preseason games for the first few weeks of the season. Big Noon will have to be at one of them, unfortunately,” Meyer said on “The Triple Option” podcast, (first transcribed by On3).
Some big programs are scared of playing other programs since they don’t want to suffer an early loss to start the season. They don’t want to be put behind the eight-ball going into conference play.
College football fans will at least see some good non-conference games to start the 2025 season, including Ohio State-Texas. It will be a rematch of the Cotton Bowl in the College Football Playoff and will take place in Columbus on August 30.
Both teams will be contenders for the national title since they return a ton of talent on both sides of the ball.
LSU will also play Clemson on the road on August 30, which will be a blast. Seeing one of the top teams in the SEC play one of the top ACC teams is always awesome. South Carolina will play Virginia Tech on August 31, while TCU will play North Carolina on September 1.
College football fans will have more than their fill of great games after that weekend. We’ll see if Meyer’s concerns become a reality for the 2026 season, though.
Related: Urban Meyer Says College Football Playoff Format Will Change In 2025
