Last Minute College Football Playoffs Change

Conference championship week has a way of stripping away the noise. Season-long credentials get stress-tested, reputations don’t always hold up, and the margins feel smaller than they did a month ago. Some ranked teams learned the hard way that a record alone doesn’t guarantee belonging, while others are left arguing how much a title game should actually count.

Now the debate turns louder; about officiating, playoff logic, and whether losses in the biggest moments should define a season. As paths open and close across conferences, the final shape of the 12-team bracket is coming into focus, even if the arguments around it are just getting started. Let’s take a deeper look.

Ohio State’s late stumble wasn’t the only result that drove the playoff conversation. Championship week exposed flaws, reopened old debates, and tightened the margin for error across the country as the race for the final CFP spots heads toward its finish.

Ohio State’s perfect season unraveled in the final minutes. With under three to play, Jayden Fielding missed a 27-yard field goal, and that was enough for No. 2 Indiana to hang on for a 13–10 win in the Big Ten Championship at Lucas Oil Stadium, snapping the Buckeyes’ unbeaten run.

Indiana’s upset of Ohio State marked the Hoosiers’ first Big Ten championship in 58 years, a drought that dated back to 1967.

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