When are the College Football Playoff quarterfinals? Schedule, bracket, more

After the 2025-26 CFP kicked off with on-campus games in Round 1, the quarterfinals will be comprised of four major bowl games.

National semifinal berths are on the line in the College Football Playoff.

After the 2025-26 CFP kicked off with on-campus games in Round 1, the quarterfinals will be comprised of four major bowl games: the Cotton, Orange, Sugar and Rose Bowls.

The playoff's top four seeds -- No. 1 Indiana Hoosiers, No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes, No. 3 Georgia Bulldogs and No. 4 Texas Tech Red Raiders -- received first-round byes and were assigned to quarterfinal bowl games. There was no reseeding after the opening round, as the CFP follows a bracket format.

The undefeated Hoosiers will play in the Rose Bowl and take on the No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide. The Crimson Tide, who own the most national titles in the CFP era, rallied past the No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners 34-24 in the first round. Indiana, led by Heisman Trophy winning-quarterback Fernando Mendoza, is seeking its first bowl game victory since 1991.

The reigning champion Buckeyes will continue their repeat bid in the Cotton Bowl against the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes. Miami, the lowest seed to advance, scored the game's only touchdown inside the final two minutes of regulation to take down the No. 7 Texas A&M Aggies 10-3 in its CFP debut. And points could be hard to come by yet again for the Hurricanes, as Ohio State's top-ranked defense is allowing fewer than 10 points per game (8.2).

The Sugar Bowl will feature an SEC showdown between the conference champion Bulldogs and No. 6 Ole Miss Rebels. The Rebels, after seeing head coach Lane Kiffin depart for LSU, rolled past the No. 11 Tulane Green Wave 41-10 in their CFP debut. The first meeting between Georgia and Ole Miss in October saw the Bulldogs score 17 unanswered points in the fourth quarter for a 43-35 home win.

Texas Tech will play its first-ever CFP game when it takes on the No. 5 Oregon Ducks in the Orange Bowl. The Big 12 champions boast the No. 2 scoring offense (42.5 points per game) and No. 3 scoring defense (10.9 points per game) in the nation. They'll be up against an Oregon team that raced out to a 34-6 halftime lead over the No. 12 James Madison Dukes en route to a 51-34 victory. The Ducks were stunned in last year's CFP quarterfinals, when their bid for a perfect season ended with a blowout Rose Bowl loss to Ohio State.

So, from the schedule to the bowl locations and more, here's what to know about the CFP quarterfinals:

When are the next CFP games?

The quarterfinals will be played from Wednesday, Dec. 31 to Thursday, Jan. 1.

What are the College Football Playoff matchups in the quarterfinals?

Here's what the bracket looks like for the quarterfinals:

• No. 4 Texas Tech vs. No. 5 Oregon
• No. 1 Indiana vs. No. 9 Alabama

• No. 3 Georgia vs. No. 6 Ole Miss
• No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 10 Miami

What is the College Football Playoff schedule for the quarterfinals?

Ohio State and Miami will square off on New Year's Eve, with the other three games scheduled for New Year's Day:

• Cotton Bowl -- No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 10 Miami: Wednesday, Dec. 31 at 7:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. CT/4:30 p.m. PT
• Orange Bowl -- No. 4 Texas Tech vs. No. 5 Oregon: Thursday, Jan. 1 at 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT/9 a.m. PT
• Rose Bowl -- No. 1 Indiana vs. No. 9 Alabama: Thursday, Jan. 1 at 4 p.m. ET/3 p.m. CT/1 p.m. PT
• Sugar Bowl --  No. 3 Georgia vs. No. 6 Ole Miss: Thursday, Jan. 1 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT/5 p.m. PT

Where are the Cotton, Orange, Sugar and Rose Bowls being played?

Here are the sites of the quarterfinal bowl games:

• Cotton Bowl: AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas
• Orange Bowl: Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida
• Rose Bowl: Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California
• Sugar Bowl: Caesars Superdome in New Orleans

Where to watch, stream the CFP quarterfinals

All four quarterfinal contests will air on ESPN. They can also be streamed on ESPN.com and the ESPN app.

What are the CFP semifinal dates, locations?

The semifinals will be played from Thursday, Jan. 8 to Friday, Jan. 9. The Fiesta Bowl will be played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, followed by the Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

The winners of Ohio State-Miami and Georgia-Ole Miss will play in the Fiesta Bowl, while the winners of Texas Tech-Oregon and Indiana-Alabama will meet in the Peach Bowl.

When, where is the CFP national championship game?

This season's national champion will be crowned on Monday, Jan. 19. The national title game is set for 7:30 p.m. ET at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida -- the same venue as the quarterfinal Orange Bowl.