College Football 2026 Semifinals Bracket, Odds, Betting Tips for Fiesta, Peach Bowls

Underdogs have been the story of the College Football Playoff through two rounds.

The Miami Hurricanes and Ole Miss Rebels won outright as underdogs in the quarterfinals to reach Thursday's Fiesta Bowl.

The Oregon Ducks and Indiana Hoosiers were favored in the last round, but only one of them entered the bracket as a top-four seed.

Miami and Indiana are the favorites on the spread for Thursday and Friday's semifinals. Both teams could easily win and buck the trend that was prominent through two rounds.

CFB Playoff Semifinal Odds

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.

Fiesta Bowl: No. 10 Miami (-3.5) vs. No. 6 Ole Miss (Over/Under: 52.5)

Peach Bowl: No. 5 Oregon vs. No. 1 Indiana (-3.5) (O/U: 48.5)

Picks

Miami and Indiana are clear favorites for good reason in their respective matchups.

Miami held the Ohio State Buckeyes and Texas A&M Aggies to a combined 17 points in the first two rounds.

The Hurricanes have not allowed more than 17 points across their last six games.

On the other hand, Ole Miss just let up 34 points to the Georgia Bulldogs and allowed all but one of its five ranked opponents to score at least 19 points.

The only ranked foe that didn't reach the 19-point mark against Ole Miss was the Tulane Green Wave in the opening round of the CFB Playoff.

Ole Miss needs a higher-scoring game to thrive, but it might not get that against the Miami defense.

Miami's won five of its last six games by double digits. It scored at least 24 points in those five double-digit victories. The lone exception was the opening-round 10-3 win over A&M.

All of the trends point toward Miami covering the 3.5-point spread, as well as the Under 52.5 cruising home on Thursday night.

Indiana feels like the safe bet on Friday night. After all, it beat Oregon by 10 points on October 11 and is coming off a 38-3 shellacking of the Alabama Crimson Tide in the Rose Bowl.

Indiana's defense has been better than Miami's of late, which is saying something given how well the Hurricanes have played since their last loss.

The Hoosiers allowed 23 points in their last four games. The last two performances against Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game and Alabama in the Rose Bowl stood out the most among that stretch.

Indiana has had no problem putting up points all season, so if Oregon runs into a brick wall on offense, the Hoosiers will be in position to run away with the victory yet again.

Oregon proved that its defense has improved in the quarterfinal round, but Indiana's defense has the more robust resume when it comes to holding teams under 14 points.

Picks:

Fiesta Bowl: Miami (-3.5), Under 52.5)

Peach Bowl: Indiana (-3.5), Under 48.5