2014–15 College Football Playoff

The 2014–15 College Football Playoff was a single-elimination postseason tournament that determined the national champion of the 2014 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was the inaugural edition of the College Football Playoff (CFP) and involved the top four teams in the country as ranked by the College Football Playoff poll playing in two semifinals, with the winners of each advancing to the national championship game. Each participating team was the champion of its respective conference: No. 1 Alabama from the Southeastern Conference, No. 2 Oregon from the Pac-12 Conference, No. 3 Florida State from the Atlantic Coast Conference, and No. 4 Ohio State from the Big Ten Conference.

The playoff bracket's semifinal games were held at the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day, part of the season's slate of bowl games. In the Rose Bowl semifinal, Oregon defeated Florida State by a margin of thirty-nine points. The second semifinal, at the Sugar Bowl, Ohio State upset Alabama by seven. As a result of their victories, Ohio State and Oregon faced each other in the national championship game, held on January 12 in Arlington, Texas. In that game, Ohio State defeated Oregon, 42–20, to win the first CFP national championship and their eighth national championship in school history.

The victory was Ohio State's first championship since the 2003 Fiesta Bowl and the third for head coach Urban Meyer. Ohio State running back Ezekiel Elliott won Most Valuable Player honors after scoring four touchdowns in the national championship game, which broke viewership records and became the most-watched cable television broadcast in history with an average viewership of over 33 million. The playoff semifinals finished the sweep as the Sugar Bowl (28.27 million) and Rose Bowl (28.16 million) slotted in as the second- and third-most-viewed cable broadcasts.