The 9 Biggest Comebacks In College Football Playoff History

It’s been a little over a decade since the College Football Playoff was introduced to decide a national champion, and we’ve been treated to plenty of drama since its inception. That includes a number of games where a team found itself with its back against the ropes before mounting a sizeable comeback to earn a victory.

These are the largest comebacks that have been staged in a College Football Playoff game

The College Football Playoff has featured plenty of tight games, lopsided blowouts, and more than a few contests where a team had to crawl out of a hole in order to punch its ticket to the next round or secure a national championship.

That includes the nine occasions where one school had to overcome a double-digit deficit to earn a victory, and here’s a closer look at those comebacks.

T-8. Notre Dame: 10 Points (2024*)

Penn State and Notre Dame earned a couple of victories before meeting in an Orange Bowl showdown that determined which school would get the chance to play in the national championship game for the first time in the College Football Playoff Era.

The Nittany Lions pulled out to a 10-0 lead midway through the second quarter before the Fighting Irish responded with a field goal to head into the locker room down 10-3 at halftime. They turned the tables by scoring a couple of touchdowns to take a 17-10 lead before Penn State knotted things up with a little more than 10 minutes to go in the fourth.

Notre Dame ultimately prevailed and earned the right to face off against Ohio State with the 27-24 victory before coming up short in the title game.

*This game was played in 2025 but took place during the 2024 college footbal season

T-8. LSU: 10 Points (2020)

It’s kind of hard to believe LSU needed to pull off a comeback to win a national championship against Clemson when you consider the Tigers from Baton Rouge cruised to a 42-25 victory in a game where Joe Burrow threw five touchdown passes while racking up 463 yards in the air.

However, the other Tigers in that contest had a 17-7 lead toward the start of the second quarter before LSU scored 21 unanswered points in the span of 10 minutes to take a 28-17 lead into the half. Clemson was able to get within three by scoring on their first offensive drive of the third quarter, but that was the last time they got on the board.

7. Alabama: 13 Points (2018)

We’re still waiting for the day a team wins a College Football Playoff game after trailing by exactly 11 or 12 points, so we’re jumping straight to a 13-point deficit courtesy of Alabama.

This also transpired in the national championship game, and the 13-0 lead that Georgia had after the first two quarters led to Nick Saban making the bold decision to yank Jalen Hurts in favor of Tua Tagovailoa, the freshman quarterback who took the field at the start of the second half.

That turned out to be a pretty good call, as he helped the Crimson Tide get on the board before the Bulldogs regained their 13-point lead with around seven minutes to go in the third. However, Alabama was able to force overtime, and Tagovailoa ensured he’ll always be a legend in Tuscaloosa when he connected with DeVonta Smith for the 41-yard touchdown pass that clinched the title.

T-5. Clemson: 14 Points (2017)

There are two teams that have secured a win in a College Football Playoff game after falling behind by a couple of touchdowns, and Clemson became the first to do so against Alabama in the national championship in 2017.

It was all Crimson Tide at the start of that contest, and they took a 14-0 lead after scoring with a little less than 11 minutes left in the second quarter. Clemson was able to get on the board a few minutes later, but the Tigers struggled to claw their way back into a game where Alabama was still up by ten heading into the fourth quarter.

However, Clemson was able to take their first lead of the game with exactly one second left, and the Tigers were crowned champions with the 35-31 win.

T-5. Georgia: 14 Points (2022)

Georgia had to battle back from a 14-point deficit on two occasions when they faced off against Ohio State in the Peach Bowl in 2022.

The Buckeyes pulled out to a 21-7  lead around four minutes into the second quarter, and while the Bulldogs were able to tie things up with around six minutes to go in the half, they once again found themselves trailing by a couple of touchdowns by the time the fourth quarter got underway.

However, Ohio State managed to blow that lead and sealed its fate after Noah Ruggles missed what would have been a game-winning 50-yard field goal as Georgia advanced to the national championship with the 42-41 win.

4. Ohio State: 15 Points (2015)

This is the second of three consecutive games that involved Ohio State, and it’s the only one where the Buckeyes were the team that pulled off the comeback instead of falling victim to one.

This one transpired when they faced off against Alabama in the Sugar Bowl in the first-ever College Football Playoff, a game where the Crimson Tide had a 15-point lead midway through the second quarter.

However, Ohio State managed to get within one by the time halftime rolled around and never trailed again after taking the lead at the start of the third en route to a 42-35 win and a victory over Oregon in the national championship.

3. Clemson: 16 Points (2019)

Ohio State was firmly in control for the bulk of the first half in the Fiesta Bowl in 2019, as the Buckeyes pulled out to a 16-0 lead toward the middle of the second quarter before Clemson surged back with a couple of touchdowns that made it 16-14 at the half.

They pulled out to a 21-16 lead before Ohio State responded with a touchdown of its own toward the beginning of the fourth quarter, but the Buckeyes were unable to stage the two-minute drill they needed to mount a comeback of their own in the 29-23 loss.

T-1. Georgia: 17 Points (2018)

Defense ended up being a bit of an afterthought when Georgia and Oklahoma met in the Rose Bowl in 2018. There was plenty of scoring in a first half where the Sooners had a 31-14 lead in the closing seconds before botching a squib kick that allowed the Bulldogs to get within 14 points heading into the last two quarters.

That ended up being a fairly pivotal error, as the two teams traded blows in the second half before heading to overtime with the score knotted at 45 points. They traded field goals in the first period, and Georgia blocked Oklahoma’s second attempt before scoring a walkoff touchdown.

Oklahoma became the first team to blow a 17-point lead in the College Football Playoff while setting a dubious record to beat, and they ended up becoming the second while matching that mark courtesy of…

T-1. Alabama: 17 Points (2025)

We’ll cap things off with the most recent entry on this list, which came courtesy of Alabama and at the expense of Oklahoma in the first round of the College Football Playoff in 2025.

The Sooners pulled out to a 17-0 lead with just under 11 minutes remaining in the second quarter, but it had disappeared by the time halftime rolled around thanks to a touchdown, field goal, and pick-six that shifted the momentum in favor of the Crimson Tide.

Alabama ultimately scored 27 unanswered points, and Oklahoma once again fell victim to a brutal collapse while seeing its season end after coming in on the wrong side of a  34-24 result.