After winning their first SEC title since 2017 on Saturday night, the defending national champion Georgia Bulldogs retain the top seed in the College Football Playoff, as determined by the CFP Selection Committee on Sunday. Georgia led four teams 13-0 for the first time in program history as it looked to defend its national title and become the first back-to-back champions of the CFP era.
Michigan is also the only undefeated Big Five program this season with a 13-0 record for the first time, returning to the playoffs as the No. 2 seed for the second straight year after beating Ohio State with a win last week In Purdue’s Big Ten championship game.
TCU (12-1) lost the season’s game, despite losing in the Big 12 championship game, but earned the No. 3 seed on the strength of its strong performance and 12-game winning streak to start. The Horned Frogs are the second Big 12 team in the nine-year history of the playoff format to make the playoffs, and the first team in the Big 12 not to win a league title. They’re also the second team to make the playoffs after starting the season outside the AP top 25 (Michigan, 2021).
Ohio State (11-1) slipped back into the playoffs despite sitting at home on conference championship weekend. The Buckeyes, who lost to the Wolverines two weeks ago after an 11-0 start, are in fourth place. That makes the Big Ten the second league to place two members on the same playoff field; the SEC has done so twice before. (Notre Dame is in the 2020-21 playoffs with Clemson after being on the ACC schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is not a permanent member of the league.)
Two SEC teams, Alabama (10-2) and Tennessee (10-2), are four teams away from fifth and sixth, respectively.
No. 1 Georgia State will face No. 4 Ohio State in the Peach Bowl semifinals Dec. 31 in Atlanta. No. 2 Michigan State and No. 3 TCU will also meet on New Year’s Eve in the Fiesta Bowl, which will be held in Glendale, Arizona. The 2022 CFP National Championship is scheduled for Monday, January 9 at SOFI Stadium in Inglewood, CA.
|
January 9 |
national championship |
title game | semi-final winner |
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December 31 |
Peach Blossom Bowl |
semi-final |
(1) Georgia State vs. (4) Ohio State |
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December 31 |
carnival bowl |
semi-final |
(2) Michigan vs. (3) TCU |
Georgia made it to the playoffs for the second straight time and finished third overall. It has twice advanced to the national championship from the semifinals, 1-1 in those games.
Michigan also made the playoffs for the second straight time, and if it meets UGA again, it will hope for a different outcome this time. The Wolverines haven’t won a national championship since 1997, the season before the BCS was formed, meaning UM has never won a dedicated national championship game.
Making its playoff debut, TCU is seeking its first national title since 1938. Horned Frogs coach Sonny Dykes is the third team to lead a team to the CFP in its first year (Lincoln Riley with Oklahoma, Ryan Day with Ohio State), though he is the only coach to do so who has not Promoted to the position of coach. TCU is the 14th team to participate in the CFP.
Ohio State is by far the most experienced program in the field, making the playoffs for the fifth time and third in the past four seasons. The Buckeyes won the original CFP national championship after the 2014 campaign, but have gone 1-3 in CFP games since then.
Georgia is 1-0 all-time against Ohio State, whose only meeting was in the 1993 Citrus Bowl (21-14), while TCU and Michigan never met on the gridiron.
Playoff venues may have been decided, but that’s not the only thing going on in the playoffs.View CBS Sports bowl projection and the entire 2022-23 Bowl Schedule.
