The College Football Playoff is a war between the old way (Ohio State and others) of roster building and the new (Miami and others)

It's Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama and Oregon vs. Miami, Ole Miss, Indiana and Texas Tech

Ohio State is still building its roster through recruiting while four of the eight playoff teams are leaning heavily on the transfer portal. (Photo courtesy of Ohio State)

IRVING, Texas — We started this season with a discussion of Ohio State’s roster building. Texas Tech, Indiana and Ole Miss would have heard that discussion and wondered what we were talking about.

Ohio State’s 2025 team is still built primarily through recruiting and retention. It’s supplemented by the transfer portal. That’s not the case for half of the remaining playoff field.

In fact, each College Football Playoff quarterfinal is a showdown of the new way and the old. There are four traditional powers built through strong recruiting classes, and four teams new to the playoff scene who relied more heavily on instant transfer impact.

On the old side: Ohio State, Georgia, Oregon and Alabama.

On the new side: Miami, Ole Miss, Texas Tech and Indiana.

The first four all were part of the old four-team playoff during its 10-year run. Alabama made it eight times, Ohio State five, Georgia three and Oregon one. The second four never made that smaller playoff.

The increased opportunity and changing strategy helped get them here.

Oregon and Miami are a bit more in the middle than the others. But in looking at the Top 30 players for each remaining team (the 30 players who have played the most snaps on offense and defense), the four transfer teams acquired at least one-third of their major players through the 2025 transfer portal. The four recruiting teams did not.

Here are four points of comparison that emphasize the two different paths to the playoff that are now open.

The difference in transfer activity is major

More than half of the most important players for Ole Miss arrived in the transfer portal this offseason. And Indiana, Texas Tech and Miami are close.

Of their Top 30 players, here’s how many players those four teams added this year, and how many of their Top 30 arrived as transfers at some point in their career.

Ole Miss: 17 and 21

Indiana: 12 and 20

Texas Tech: 12 and 18

Miami: 12 and 14

As we said, Oregon and Miami are more in the middle than the others. But for the other three teams, the difference in 2025 transfer activity is night and day. Georgia still barely hits the transfer portal at all. Here are their numbers for portal players added this year and how many of their Top 30 overall transferred in.

Oregon: 9 and 12

Ohio State: 4 and 10

Alabama: 3 and 10

Georgia: 2 and 4

That’s 53 transfers this year for the Transfer 4 (44 percent of their Top 30) and 18 transfers for the Recruiting 4 (15 percent).

Ohio State’s 2025 additions in their Top 30 are right tackle Phillip Daniels, tight end Max Klare, running back C.J. Donaldson and backup defensive end Beau Atkinson. Previous transfers really helped (hello Caleb Downs, Julian Sayin and Davison Igbinosun), but the team wasn’t rebuilt this year.

That’s Ohio State’s preferred method, with transfers as a supplement. As for the other strategy, I’ve wondered if you can really build a playoff team from the portal. Indiana did it last season, but so many of those players came with new coach Curt Cignetti from James Madison. They were new to the team but not to the coaches. Six of Indiana’s 20 overall transfers in its Top 30 are still from JMU.

But now there are examples beyond the Hoosiers. Texas Tech announced its transfer plan this offseason, executed it and made it work. Can you sustain as a playoff program through transfers? That’s the next question. But you can get this far.