Texas Tech heading to Orange Bowl, where upstart JMU or Oregon will be waiting

By Canadian Press on December 7, 2025.

MIAMI LAKES, Fla. (AP) — The Dukes got in over Duke, and facing the Ducks is their reward.

Bob Chesney will be bringing his UCLA team to Oregon next year, which would have been his first time going up against the Ducks. But he’s about to get an unplanned preview of that matchup when he takes James Madison to Eugene, Oregon for the biggest game in program history.

James Madison finished at No. 24 in the final College Football Playoff rankings this season, but the combination of being the champions of the Sun Belt Conference and being ranked ahead of Atlantic Coast Champion Duke was enough to give Chesney and the Dukes the No. 12 seed on the 12-team playoff bracket before he leaves for UCLA.

Oregon, the No. 5 seed, and James Madison both have 12-1 records.

The winner of the Oregon-James Madison game will face No. 4 Texas Tech (12-1), the Big 12 champion, in the Orange Bowl in Miami Gardens, Florida on Jan. 1 at noon, the first of three CFP quarterfinals scheduled for that day.

None of those three teams have ever played in the Orange Bowl. If Oregon gets there, it’ll mean the Ducks will be playing at Hard Rock Stadium, the place where Miami — and former Oregon coach Mario Cristobal — play home games.

Chesney has been at James Madison for just two seasons, going 9-4 last year and winning the Boca Raton Bowl, then going 12-1 and counting this season.

Oregon was the top seed in the playoff last year, then fell 41-21 in quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl to eventual champion Ohio State. In the four-team playoff era, the Ducks beat Florida State 59-20 in the semifinals following the 2014 season, then fell 42-20 to Ohio State in the final that year as well.

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Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press