The Ole Miss Rebels are in the field of 12 for the College Football Playoff which is exhilarating for fans. Less fun is the fact that the first two rounds feature opponents the Rebels have already played during the 2025 regular season.
There was only one rematch in the history of the four team playoff, in 2021 between Alabama and Georgia after the two teams met in the SEC Championship Game just a few weeks prior. The Crimson Tide handled the previously undefeated Bulldogs, 41-24, but it was Georgia that
got the last laugh.
A little over a month later, Kirby Smart finally defeated Nick Saban and brought a national championship back to Athens for the first time since 1980 with a 33-18 victory. So while a rematch, it was not even a rematch from a regular season contest.
The first regular season rematch came with the expansion of the field from four to 12 last year. Last season Oregon had an impressive victory over Ohio State, introducing themselves to the BIG10 in a big way. They met again in the Rose Bowl for a CFP Quarterfinal and the Buckeyes dominated, 41-21, on their way to a national championship themselves.
The 2025 field features two first round rematches after there only ever being two rematches total in the history of the CFP. Alabama travels to face an Oklahoma team they lost to while Ole Miss hosts a Tulane squad they beat by five touchdowns early in the year.
It doesn’t stop there. Were Ole Miss to buck the trend and beat the same team twice in one season, they would need to the trend they just bucked, to be unbucked as they would face the only team to beat them this year in the Georgia Bulldogs. The only other potential rematches would come in the National Championship game and would be either a third contest between Georgia and Alabama or a repeat of the BIG10 Championship game.
So what does this mean for Ole Miss? How do you want to spin it? If the rematch has taken place in the Quarterfinal or later, the team that lost the first matchup, won the second… a great trend for the Rebs.
If you look at just rematches in general, the very small sample size of data says Ole Miss should be very concerned. Obviously context matters, Ole Miss trounced this same Tulane team on this same field by five touchdowns. Now will the Tulane QB have his worst game of his life again, probably not, but the Rebels should not have much of a problem in Round 1 despite the trend of rematches.
