College Football Playoff overreactions: Best postseason we've seen, Curt Cignetti on Hall of Fame track

The quarterfinal round of the College Football Playoff provided plenty of material for overreactions

Parity has arrived in college football, and with it comes what may be the greatest College Football Playoff we've ever seen. The games have largely delivered, with more than half the matchups competitive, and even a Group of Five program like James Madison putting up a respectable showing against Oregon in the first round.

The quarterfinal showdown between Georgia and Ole Miss became one of the most thrilling playoff games ever broadcast. But this year, it's not just the quality of the contests that matters -- it's the results. The four semifinalists this playoff has produced are unmatched in intrigue.

Gone are the Ohio States, the Georgias, the Alabamas. They were culled early. All that remains are four teams with compelling stories.

No. 1 Indiana boasts the top seed and has been largely dominant, but historically, the Hoosiers are an unsuccessful program that has never come this close to a national title. No. 5 Oregon has all the resources in the world, yet a national championship still eludes the Ducks.

No. 6 Ole Miss fits the scrappy underdog role perfectly after former coach Lane Kiffin departed for LSU before the Rebels' current playoff run. Coach Pete Golding is quickly becoming a local hero in Oxford, Mississippi.

No. 10 Miami has navigated a difficult path. The Hurricanes traveled to face 11-1 Texas A&M in the first round and then toppled reigning national champion Ohio State in the quarterfinals, passing both tests with flying colors and making the ACC proud.

Ratings be damned. People will still watch -- it's college football, after all -- and this year's semifinalists all come with great stories to tell.

Curt Cignetti is the next Nick Saban 

The comparison is too obvious. On the surface level, Cignetti's mannerisms are spot on. He's never satisfied. He wore the same Grinch-like expression of general annoyance that he had when Alabama attempted an ill-fated first down as his team opened up a 38-3 lead late in the Rose Bowl. 

He didn't crack a smile until the postgame interview, when Indiana's Pat Coogan and his fellow offensive linemen were named the offensive MVP's of Indiana's dominant CFP quarterfinal win against the Crimson Tide. I've already made the statement that Cignetti is the best coach in modern college football. 

Now it's clear that he's on a Hall of Fame track. It's only appropriate that he once coached under Nick Saban, and he made one of the biggest statements of his coaching career by dragging Saban's former team through the mud. 

Indiana looked a lot like the dominant Alabama teams of yore in the process. The Hoosiers were the more physical team, by far. They dominated the trenches on both sides of the ball, leaned on a physical running game and relied on a pinpoint-accurate quarterback that made big throws whenever he was called upon. 

It's hard to overstate the quality of work Cignetti has done at Indiana. He's turned a historic bottom-feeder into a consistent national competitor in no time at all. With the culture he's established and the way he's worked a transfer portal, this feels like the start of a years-long dynasty. 

Stop pretending Alabama is Alabama

For a new dynasty to rise, another must fall. Alabama has understandably struggled in the wake of Nick Saban's departure. It was unrealistic to expect anyone who succeeded him — except maybe Curt Cignetti in an alternate universe — to reach the elite standard he set over 17 seasons with the Crimson Tide.

It's also time for college football decision-makers to accept that Alabama isn't Alabama anymore. At least, not the Alabama of the Saban era. The Crimson Tide were arguably shoehorned into the CFP. By most metrics, they were an above-average team -- not one that deserved a shot at a national title over the likes of Notre Dame or even BYU.

Yet the selection committee made Alabama the first nonconference champion three-loss team to ever make the playoff -- just one day after the Crimson Tide were exposed in a 28-7 loss to Georgia in the SEC Championship Game.

Yes, Alabama did win a playoff game against an equally unimpressive Oklahoma squad. But the quarterfinals made clear that the Crimson Tide are a shadow of what they once were.

Alabama wilted against Indiana's physicality. When they fell behind 17-0 in the second quarter, the players looked less than enthused. The mental edge and the desire to be elite appear long gone.

Kalen DeBoer is a good coach and deserves time to sort things out, but his program isn't the giant that television executives and committee members seem to expect it to be.

The transfer portal has supplanted development 

Why waste time on high school recruiting and development anymore when the transfer portal, if utilized properly, is an instant ticket to success? All four of the teams left in the CFP have leaned on the portal to revitalize their respective rosters. 

As evidence of that, all four starting quarterbacks were transfer acquisitions. All four had a top 25 transfer haul during the 2025 cycle, according to 247Sports' rankings: 

• Miami -- No. 3 (19 transfers) 
• Ole Miss -- No. 4 (30 transfers) 
• Oregon -- No. 5 (11 transfers)
• Indiana -- No. 25 (23 transfers) 

Ole Miss has added at least 20 transfers each year since 2022. The Rebels have won at least 10 games in three out of four seasons. 

While Indiana's transfer haul may not have been as flashy as its fellow semifinalists, some of the Hoosiers' most important players came from the portal. Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza is the headliner, but Indiana also got top running back Roman Hemby (Maryland), linchpin offensive lineman Pat Coogan (Notre Dame) and star defensive lineman Stephen Daley (Kent State), who, though he is out for the CFP with injury, played a crucial role in helping the Hoosiers get to this point. 

It wouldn't be prudent to completely abandon high school recruiting, but there's an obvious correlation between good portal management and team success. Resources are better spent on a tailor-made transfer with college experience than an unproven five-star fresh out of the prep ranks.