The College Football Playoff field is down to the final eight with this week’s quarterfinals set to cut that group in half.

The field represents a well-varied mix of NIL spending and roster construction strategies. Some of college football’s biggest spenders are predictably in the final eight but there are multiple success stories here of schools really getting the most out of less resources. 

Ahead of the CFP quarterfinals, we’re taking a look at how each football program’s NIL spending stacks up after talking to multiple people with knowledge of the space. 

The deepest of pockets

The Rose Bowl participants — plus the team that could play the winner in the Cotton Bowl – make up the top of the NIL spending market of the teams left in the College Football Playoff. 

Ohio State

Ohio State famously has a $20 million roster, according to athletic director Ross Bjork, as an all-in approach to 2024 included adding Kansas State quarterback Will Howard, Alabama defensive back Caleb Downs and Ole Miss running back Quinshon Judkins. Brian Schottenstein, the co-founder of The Foundation collective, told On3 before the season that roughly 10 players made $1 million or more each. That alone would put Ohio State ahead of many of its Power Four peers in total NIL spending in 2024. 

To put Ohio State’s spending in perspective, Opendorse president Blake Lawrence, whose company works with more than 100 Division I programs, believes less than five football programs spent $20 million or more in 2024 based on his company’s data.

“There are very few collectives that actually had $20 million dollars to spend a year,” Lawrence told CBS Sports. “There’s all kinds of rumors and hearsay but in reality everything’s been inflated about how many schools actually have $20 million to spend.”

Oregon

Oregon, the No. 1 overall seed and Ohio State’s Rose Bowl opponent, has one of the best-run NIL operations, Division Street, in the country. As CBS Sports previously detailed here, Nike co-founder and Oregon super booster Phil Knight badly wants to see his beloved Ducks win a national championship and is doing everything he can to make it happen. Including in the case of five-star signee Na’eem Offord, working with him on a new shoe. 

“Phil Knight is bankrolling that whole thing and wants to see them win a national title,” an NIL agent, who has done multiple deals with Division Street, previously told CBS Sports. “They are really, really aggressive with money.” 

Last portal cycle, Oregon added key contributors like Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel and Texas A&M receiver Evan Stewart. Earlier this month, it signed the nation’s No. 5 Class of 2025 recruiting class, according to 247Sports. Six quality transfer additions since then have Oregon with the No. 3 overall class as it stands right now. 

Texas

Texas has one of the best-funded operations in college football, according to multiple sources who have done deals on behalf of players. Texas has two well-known quarterbacks (Quinn Ewers, Arch Manning) and spent big to upgrade the offense this offseason with Houston receiver Matthew Golden and Alabama receiver Isaiah Bond. Clemson defensive back transfer Andrew Mukuba, who made third-team All-SEC, might have been the best addition with 52 tackles, four interceptions and four tackles for loss this season. 

Texas One Fund, the non-profit NIL collective associated with Texas, spent $13.3 million in 2023 based on its 2023 tax filing, according to Sportico. The Longhorns signed the nation’s top overall recruiting class in 2025, according to 247Sports, featuring five five-star prospects. 

Plenty of money, but not as flashy

Georgia

Like Alabama with Nick Saban before he retired, Georgia benefits from a bit of a Kirby Smart discount of players willing to take less to come to Athens for a chance at a national championship and the hopeful long-term benefits of being properly developed for the NFL. Georgia makes sure its top talent is well-compensated and isn’t afraid to go after top players in the portal like it did with running back Trevor Etienne, but it is not quite as aggressive a spender as SEC peers like Texas and Tennessee. The Bulldogs have cleaned up in high school recruiting, though, recently signing the nation’s No. 4 recruiting class headlined by five-star defensive linemen Elijah Griffin and Isaiah Gibson. 

Notre Dame

Notre Dame may be under the radar in its spending but the football program is well-funded. The Fighting Irish added a top-flight, and well-compensated, transfer quarterback in Duke’s Riley Leonard. 

The Friends of Notre Dame (FUND) collective generated $20.5 million in revenue based on its 2023 tax filing, according to Sportico. The FUND, co-founded by former quarterback great Brady Quinn, plans to close up shop Dec. 31 and transition its support to for-profit collective RALLY. 

Working to climb a tax bracket

Penn State

Putting it in the lens of its top Big Ten foes, Penn State isn’t quite at the level of Ohio State or even Michigan, with its recent splurge for No. 1 overall 2025 recruit Bryce Underwood. The Nittany Lions have lost some key contributors to bigger paydays elsewhere like receiver Keandre Lambert-Smith — who was regarded as a no-big-deal loss by fans but had a terrific season for Auburn — but they’ve made strides to try to close the gap. 

Penn State deserves credit for retaining a team that has a good quarterback, two quality running backs and a strong offensive front. 

Small but mighty

Arizona State is actively working to ramp up its NIL efforts and head coach Kenny Dillingham has been candid about his team being underpaid in NIL. The playoff run has helped with retention — in-state rival Arizona, meanwhile, has been plagued with defections after a disappointing season — and the Sun Devils have already added multiple players who look like future contributors in this year’s transfer portal cycle. 

“They and Boise State punch well above their weight and aren’t too far behind,” said one source with knowledge of the NIL market. 

Adding Michigan State transfer quarterback Sam Leavitt was one of the best transfer moves in college football this year. 

Boise State did a terrific job holding on to Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty amid heavy outside interest but the Broncos are in a different NIL ballpark than the elite Power Four spenders like Ohio State and Oregon. Still, Boise State is good at maximizing its resources and an athletic department that has earned kudos for its creative NIL approach.

“We might not have what everyone else has but we definitely have enough and we’re going to continue to push forward,” Boise State coach Spencer Danielson recently said about his program’s NIL efforts.