Urban Meyer did not mince words when assessing the opening round of the College Football Playoff.
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The former Urban Meyer coach called the first slate of games "awful" and took particular issue with the inclusion of James Madison Dukes and Tulane Green Wave in the field.
Meyer argued that the playoff should feature the 12 best teams in the country, not a structure driven by automatic inclusions.
"It was awful," Meyer said. "It's really not fair to have those two teams, James Madison and Tulane. It's not the best 12 teams in America. It's not even close. When I saw it, I thought that's not fair to the players involved. It's not fair to the coach. And it's certainly not fair to the teams that were left out."
Under current rules, at least one Group of Five program is guaranteed a spot in the College Football Playoff. This season, both James Madison and Tulane made the field, aided in part by a down year for the ACC.
“It was awful.”@CoachUrbanMeyer on the first round of the #CFBPlayoff @nhtsagov #drivesober pic.twitter.com/NwrVipudX4
— The Triple Option (@3xOptionShow) December 24, 2025
The on-field results did little to quiet critics. Blowout wins by Oregon and Ole Miss showed the growing gap between power conference programs and their non-power counterparts.
How many Group of Five teams should be included, if any, remains a hot-button topic. So do broader questions about the playoff format itself, which has drawn criticism dating back to its earliest versions.
When a figure as prominent as Meyer is willing to speak so bluntly, it is a fair bet the conversation around playoff structure is far from over.
