Football Playoff Updates, College and High School

Tues. & Weds., Dec. 2-3, 2025

While we will dip into the wacky world of college football, first today, I will adamantly refuse to get into the whole Lane Kiffin leaving Ole Miss to take the more lucrative LSU job brouhaha.

After all, the Free Market is the Free Market. Just look to the Transfer Portal that Kiffin's leaving which just opened to the entire Ole Miss roster for the next 30 days.

Let's take a look at the current CFP rankings that were announced on Tuesday after the end of the regular season.

Remember, the final CFP poll that determines which 12 teams go to the playoffs and settles bowl assignments for the non-playoff teams comes out next Sunday after this weekend's round of Conference Championship Games.

Trouble Brewing

The first issue is that there are 15 teams in this iteration of the CFP Top 25 will not be playing in a Conference Championship Game this weekend.

These would include:

#5 Oregon (11-1)

#6 Ole Miss (11-1)

#7 Texas A&M (11-1)

#8 Oklahoma (10-2)

#10 Notre Dame (10-2)

#12 Miami of Florida (10-2)

#13 Texas (9-3)

#14 Vanderbilt (10-2)

#15 Utah (10-2)

#16 USC (9-3)

#18 Arizona (9-3)

#19 Michigan (9-3)

#21 Houston (9-3)

#22 Georgia Tech (9-3)

#23 Iowa (8-4)

The key here is to finish in the Top Ten after this weekend's slate of games. I believe that the teams currently ranked 13th or worse and not playing in a conference championship game are out of playoff contention.

It looks easy, but CHAOS

is just around the corner

The potential playoff chaos starts with the outcome of those championship games.

Power Four Conference

Championship Games

Big-10 Conference

#1 Ohio State (12-0) vs. #2 Indiana (12-0)

Win or lose, both teams are in the CFP, in my opinion.

Southeast Conference

#3 Georgia (11-1) vs. #9 Alabama (10-2)

Win or lose, Georgia is in the CFP, I believe.

On the other hand, if Alabama wins they are in, if they lose, I think they are out with those then three losses.

Big XII Conference

#4 Texas Tech (11-1) vs. #11 BYU (11-1)

Texas Tech is in the CFP, period.

If BYU wins to go to 12-1 and with a Conference Championship in hand, out goes Notre Dame, in goes BYU to the CFP.

Atlantic Coast Conference

#17 Virginia (10-2) vs. unranked Duke (7-5)

The ACC is a problem with the highest ranked ACC team being Miami (10-2) at #12.

Unfortunately, Miami finished ACC competition tied with FIVE schools for second place in the ACC behind Virginia. The Conference tie-breakers placed Duke (7-5) in championship game.

Currently, the last two spots in the CFP are reserved for the highest ranked Group of Five and the next highest ranked conference champion.

If Virginia wins, it would earn one of these two spots, but if Duke were to win, the ACC would be shut out of the CFP this season.

Group of Five Conference

Championship Games

American Athletic Conference

#20 Tulane (10-2) vs. #24 North Texas (11-1)

The winner of this one will likely earn the one CFP berth reserved for the highest ranked Group of Five Champion.

Conference USA

Kennesaw State (9-3) vs. Jackson State (8-4)

Conference USA won't be sending a team to the CFP this year.

Mid-American Conference

Western Michigan (8-4) vs. Miami of Ohio (7-5)

The Mid-American Champion won't make the CFP either.

Mountain West Conference

UNLV (10-2) vs. Boise State (8-4)

Same goes for the Mountain West's CFP chances.

Sun Belt Conference

#25 James Madison (11-1) vs. Troy (8-4)

If James Madison wins and Duke wins the ACC Championship game, then the fun starts as more than likely JMU would take that second highest ranked, not in the Top 12 ranking CFP spot.

This scenario would leave the entire ACC out of the CFP unless #9 Alabama losses to #3 Georgia and #11 BYU losses to #4 Texas Tech thus leaving the door open for idle #12 Miami of Florida being promoted into the #10 spot or higher.

Let the SEC's and ACC's weeping and gnashing of teeth begin!

Tuesday was also the Early Signing Day for NCAA football schools.

I loved the way that Delaware

announced their newest 19

Fighting Blue Hens

Football cards always peak my interests.

I always love a good throwback to

my 1950s Los Angeles Rams heroes

The C.I.F. State Semifinal Games

are being played this weekend

I thought some explanation of the somewhat complicated California high school should be given.

California Interscholastic Federation

is the governing body for all athletics

at the high school level in the state

That gives the C.I.F. jurisdiction over the 1,524 high schools in California that field athletic teams in any sport regardless of school enrollment.

 

The state is broken down into Ten Sections, the first number listed below refers to that Section's corresponding number on the above C.I.F. state map logo above.

 

Northern California’s Six Playoff Sections

615 Schools Total

1. Northern Section – 70 schools

2. North Coast Section – 169 schools

3. Sac-Joaquin Section – 198 schools

4. San Francisco Section – 15 schools

5. Oakland Section – 20 schools

6. Central Coast Section – 143 schools

 

Southern California’s Four Playoff Sections

909 Schools Total

7. Central Section – 101 schools

8. Los Angeles City Section – 128 schools

9. Southern Section – 556 schools

10. San Diego Section – 124 schools

In recent blog posts, I have mentioned a slew of different Sections and their numerous division champions.

In order to clear things up a bit, here are the breakdowns of the 11-man football Divisions by Section.

Northern Section

Four Divisions & One 8-Man Division

One Champion for every 14 Northern schools

North Coast Section

Eight Divisions & Two 8-Man Divisions

One Champion for every 17 North Coast schools

Sac-Joaquin Section

Eight Divisions & No 8-Man Division

One Champion for every 25 Sac-Joaquin schools

San Francisco Section

One Division & No 8-Man Division

One Champion for all 15 San Francisco schools

Oakland Section

One Division & No 8-Man Division

One Champion for all 20 Oakland schools

Central Coast Section

Five Divisions & No 8-Man Division

One Champion for every 29 Central Coast schools

Central Section

Seven Divisions & One 8-Man Division

One Champion for every 13 Central schools

Los Angeles City Section

Four Divisions & One 8-Man Division

One Champion for every 26 Los Angeles schools

Southern Section

Fourteen Divisions & Two 8-Man Divisions

One Champion for every 35 Southern schools

San Diego Section

Seven Divisions & One 8-Man Division

One Champion for every 16 San Diego schools

As for the next two week's C.I.F.-State Championship Football games, the schools that won Section titles last weekend now have been assigned to an appropriate new Division based on a formula that disregards school size while ranking what is called "competitive equity."

Eventually, there will be a grand total of 15 schools going home with C.I.F.-State Championship trophies which means that one out of every 102 California high schools wins a State crown. 

There are no State playoffs for 8-Man football.

The two highest ranked champions on this rating scale are from the North, De La Salle (12-0), and from the South, Santa Margarita (10-3). They go straight to the Open Division Championship Game on Saturday, December 13th.

The rest of the Section Champions are now in a new two week playoff with Semifinal Northern and Southern Regional games this weekend and those winners playing for C.I.F.-State Championships in fourteen other Divisions.

These Divisions below, the Open Division, are labeled 1-AA, 1-A, 2-AA, 2-A, etc.

The lower the number and the more A's the tougher the Division in theory. Thus, Division 5A is considered stronger than Division 6-AA.

We have three Ventura County high schools that won C.I.F.-Southern Section Championships this year.

C.I.F.-S.S. DIII Champion, Pacifica (14-0) is now competing in the State's Division 1-A.

Ventura (12-2), the C.I.F.-S.S. DVI Champion, is going to be vying for the State's Division 3-AA crown.

Finally, C.I.F.-S.S. DXII Champion, Grace (11-3) has been placed in Division 6-A for the State playoffs.

I got some great photos today from blog groupie Michael D'Antuono who now resides in Seattle.

He is a friend of the Head Basketball Coach at powerhouse O'Dea H.S. and the school is only a short walk from his home.

He attended O'Dea's game against Timberline tonight, a 92-56 destruction of the Blazers (0-1) by the home team Fighting Irish (2-0).

Michael looks like he is enjoying attending these O'Dea games More power to him.

What struck me was the pictures he sent me.

Championship Banners . . .

. . . in LOTS of different sports!

I liked the Wall of Honor, too.

Their Championship Trophies

were on display too

Michael mentioned that O'Dea opened its doors in 1923 and, not co-ed, has a student body of approximately 500 boys.

The O'Dea (12-1) football team will play for the Washington State 3-A Championship on Friday at the University of Washington's Husky Stadium against Mount Tahoma (13-0).

A chance for another banner and trophy for both schools. Should be a real barnburner.

Finally . . .

I believe in Yoda,

NO RUNNING FOR ME!