Round two of the 2025 College Football Playoff is set, and the matchups are largely what everyone expected heading into the quarterfinals. However, the upcoming matchups are primed for an incredible New Year's Eve and New Year's Day fill with action-packed college football. 

The first round of the playoffs was full of ups-and-downs, to say the least. Friday night's game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Alabama Crimson Tide was an instant classic and the Tide were able to come out on top. 

Day two, on the other hand, was interesting.

Miami and Texas A&M was simply a sloppy and boring game on both sides. The two teams combined for five total missed field goals and three turnovers, resulting in a final score of 10-3. Then, the afternoon and evening slates were riddled with totally unfair matchups.

Tulane never stood a chance against Ole Miss, while James Madison showed fight late against Oregon, but just didn't have the athletes to run with the Ducks. While Saturday was a fairly boring day of football, it set the scene for an all-around solid set of quarterfinal matchups.

Cotton Bowl Classic: No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 10 Miami - New Year's Eve, 7:30 PM

The headliner of the quarterfinals will take place in Dallas, TX. Whenever these two logos are next to each other, everyone immediately thinks back to the instant classic that was the 2003 National Championship Game. Both programs are two of the biggest "blue bloods" in college football, and it will be fun to see them on the field together again next weekend.

As for the game on the field, my expectations are very low. Miami's offense leaves so much to be desired, and the fact that they could only score 10 points on a Texas A&M defense that just gave up 27 to Texas, 31 to South Carolina, and 40 to Notre Dame is a scary proposition. Luckily, the Hurricanes' defense can compete, but they are going to have to be significantly better on the offensive side of the ball on New Year's Eve.

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Orange Bowl: No. 4 Texas Tech vs. No. 5 Oregon - New Year's Day, 12:00 PM

This will be a fascinating matchup to get New Year's Day off and running.

On Oregon's side, the Ducks have shown to be an elite team at times, but have also found themselves in dogfights when they have had to play in unique situations. This was clear when looking back to the program's contest in Happy Valley, or their dogfight at Kinnick Stadium, or even the slop fest in Madison. This will be a challenging environment for the Ducks, 9:00 AM PST on the beach, all the way across the country.

For Texas Tech, they get their toughest test to this point in the year. When healthy, they haven't played a close game all year long. The Red Raiders dominate their opponents and truly haven't been properly tested at any point in the year, largely in part due to the quality of the Big 12 Conference. New Year's Day will answer a lot of questions for what they are as a football team.

Rose Bowl: No. 1 Indiana vs. No. 9 Alabama - New Year's Day, 4:00 PM

The Grand Daddy of them all, the Rose Bowl!

The Indiana Hoosiers need to be on high alert heading into this matchup, and if they need evidence as to why, just watch the 2025 Rose Bowl. Ohio State went to Pasadena and completely the No. 1-seed Oregon Ducks. Part of that was due to the fact that Ohio State was the best team in the country, and the other part was that Oregon hadn't played in nearly a month.

The Hoosiers have all the ingredients to make a run at the entire thing; they just need to be on their "A game" against a Crimson Tide team that is gritty enough to surprise them.

Sugar Bowl: No. 3 Georgia vs. No. 6 Ole Miss - New Year's Day, 8:00 PM

I am concerned about this one for Ole Miss.

The Rebels were able to play their first game without former head coach Lane Kiffin against a Tulane team that simply isn't the best. They rolled through that game without any issue. 

Now, they face one of the better teams in College Football that has its eyes on making a run at the entire thing. The 'Dawgs look like their old self under Kirby Smart, and the last time we saw them on the field, they crushed Alabama. I don't think that the Rebels will be able to keep this one close.