{"id":84906,"date":"2026-01-07T10:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T15:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=84906"},"modified":"2026-01-07T10:14:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T15:14:15","slug":"cfb-playoff-semifinals-regional-misalignment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2026\/01\/07\/cfb-playoff-semifinals-regional-misalignment\/","title":{"rendered":"CFB Playoff Semifinals Regional Misalignment"},"content":{"rendered":"

The CFB Semifinals have a regional misalignment problem. On Thursday night, No. 10 Miami and No. 6 Ole Miss will travel to Phoenix to play in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl<\/a>. Then, on Friday night, No. 5 Oregon and No. 1 Indiana will square off in a B1G rematch at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta. Go ahead, read those last two sentences again. No, we won’t complain about the rankings. The fact that Indiana is the only team in eight opportunities to win a quarterfinal game after a bye. Or how the B1G has passed the SEC for supremacy. We disagree on that, but we will make that argument another day.<\/p>\n

No, what we are here to complain about is that BOTH of our semifinal games are severely misaligned and are costing fans too much money, and just don’t make any sense! Last Word’s Andrew<\/a> and Drew<\/a> have your game analysis. We are here to solve the people’s problems. Let’s take a closer look at each of the semifinal games.<\/p>\n

CFB Playoff Semifinals Regional Misalignment<\/h2>\n

Vrbo Fiesta Bowl<\/h3>\n

Ole Miss Rebels\u00a0<\/strong>
\nLocation:<\/strong> Oxford, Mississippi
\nClosest Airport:<\/strong> Memphis International Airport (unless you’re Charlie Weiss Jr.<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n
Distance to Phoenix<\/td>\n1,508 miles<\/td>\nDistance to Atlanta<\/td>\n331 miles<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
How long is the drive?<\/td>\n21 hours, 16 minutes<\/td>\nHow long is the drive?<\/td>\n4 hours, 45 minutes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
How much are flights?<\/td>\n\n

Budget airlines: $133 \u2013 $220<\/p>\n

Average\/Typical: $250 \u2013 $435<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

How much are flights?<\/td>\nBudget airlines:
\n$88 – $150 Average\/Typical:
\n$170 – $359<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Miami Hurricanes\u00a0<\/strong>
\nLocation:<\/strong> Coral Gables, Florida
\nClosest Airport: <\/strong>Miami International Airport<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n
Distance to Phoenix<\/strong><\/td>\n2,360 miles<\/td>\nDistance to Atlanta<\/td>\n662 miles<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
How long is the drive?<\/strong><\/td>\n1 day, 9 hours<\/td>\nHow long is the drive?<\/td>\n9 hours, 26 min<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
How much is a flight?<\/strong><\/td>\n\n

Budget airlines: $145 \u2013 $220<\/p>\n

Average\/Typical: $250 \u2013 $475<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

How much is a flight?<\/td>\nBudget airlines:
\n$49 \u2013 $95 Average\/Typical: $120 \u2013 $240<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

We have two teams from the bottom right corner of the United States. Yet, rather than put them in the capital of the South, Atlanta, for the CFB Playoff semifinal, the committee sent them to Arizona. It just is crazy and doesn’t make any damn sense. The option to fly or drive is available to both fan bases. Flights are easy in and easy out. Again, Atlanta is the capital of the South. This one is just baffling and is one of our biggest antagonists to what is driving our gears about the games this weekend.<\/p>\n

Chick-fil-A PeachBowl<\/h3>\n

Oregon Ducks<\/strong>
\nLocation:<\/strong> Eugene, Oregon
\nClosest Airport: <\/strong>Portland International Airport<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n
Distance to Atlanta<\/td>\n2,616 miles<\/td>\nDistance to Phoenix<\/td>\n1225 miles<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
How long is the drive?<\/td>\n1 day, 14 hours<\/td>\nHow long is the drive?<\/td>\n17 hours, 48 minutes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
How much is a flight?<\/td>\n\n

Budget airlines:
\n$158 \u2013 $225<\/p>\n

Average\/Typical: $280 \u2013 $495<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

How much is a flight?<\/td>\n\n

Budget airlines:
\n$105 \u2013 $190<\/p>\n

Average\/Typical: $240 \u2013 $410<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Indiana Hoosiers<\/strong>
\nLocation:<\/strong> Bloomington, Indiana
\nClosest Airport:<\/strong> Indianapolis Airport Authority<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/colgroup>\n\n\n\n\n
Distance to Atlanta<\/td>\n516 miles<\/td>\nDistance to Phoenix<\/td>\n1,679 miles<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
How long is the drive?<\/td>\n7 hours, 28 min<\/td>\nHow long is the drive?<\/td>\n23 hours, 59 minutes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
How much is a flight?<\/td>\nBudget airlines:
\n$63 \u2013 $120 Average\/Typical: $165 \u2013 $400<\/td>\n		How much is a flight?<\/td>\nBudget airlines:
\n$118 \u2013 $215 Average\/Typical: $280 \u2013 $600<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
<\/div>\n
This one is a bit of a tougher sell. Oregon is somewhat isolated in the Pacific Northwest. We even had to look for flights out of Portland, which is still a two-hour drive from the Ducks’ campus. Driving can be an option for Phil Knight and Duck fans if they were in Phoenix; it is all but a non-starter for the game in Atlanta.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
For the Hoosiers, we are departing from Indianapolis. Hardly a major aviation hub, but a touch more centrally located for both locations. While Atlanta is the preferred route for driving, perhaps a trip down Route 66 might make a CFB Playoff semifinal trip even more memorable. Phoenix again seems to be the best bad option.<\/div>\n

Can’t We Just Be At Home?<\/h3>\n
Best bad option? What does that mean? Well, let’s face it, these games should be on the highest-seeded college campus. Yes, I am asking for one more trip to the Grove. While Carson Beck<\/a> may want to forget his last trip to Oxford, this would be another must-see TV moment for the viewers at home and for Oxford itself. The first-round matchup was estimated to generate over $70 million for the greater Oxford community. Bloomington would also make an ideal semifinal location. A little snow, a little cold, and a whole lot of Cignetti. While this may not happen for a while, it sure could prove a better alternative for what we have now. Regardless, we will be there watching. Here are your CFB Playoff Semifinal predictions.<\/div>\n

Vrbo Fiesta Bowl
\n<\/strong>Ole Miss 31
\nMiami 27<\/p>\n

Chick-fil-A PeachBowl
\n<\/strong>Oregon 17
\nIndiana 15<\/p>\n

Main Photo: Ayrton Breckenridge\/Clarion Ledger \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The CFB Semifinals have a regional misalignment problem. On Thursday night, No. 10 Miami and No. 6 Ole Miss will travel to Phoenix to play in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl. Then, on Friday night, No. 5 Oregon and No. 1 Indiana will square off in a B1G rematch at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4424,"featured_media":84919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7361,7,5,2,35605,35634,17,35582,35602,3],"tags":[6734,5144,1306,1261],"class_list":["post-84906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bowl-games","category-acc","category-bigten","category-featured","category-indiana-hoosiers","category-miami-hurricanes","category-news","category-ole-miss-rebels","category-oregon-ducks","category-sec","tag-carson-beck","tag-curt-cignetti","tag-fiesta-bowl","tag-peach-bowl"],"modified_by":"Kate Pearson Halyburton, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4424"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84906"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84906\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84928,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84906\/revisions\/84928"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}