It's preferable not to overthink things sometimes. The selection committee for the College Football Playoff chose correctly. There are no ifs, and, or buts about it—we would have been given preference over everyone.
Greetings, Mr. Saban.
The real deserved Football Four is now in order: The College Football Playoff without Alabama or Clemson has never occurred before. TCU moved from being unranked to excellent. Mulligan was granted to Ohio State. If you have even a bit of adrenaline coursing through your veins, you're already anticipating a potential Michigan-Ohio State rematch because the Big Ten got two teams in.
This is the first time, for better or worse, that two teams have made the playoffs after dropping their most recent contest (TCU, Ohio State). In addition, four of the top 10 teams in the final CFP Rankings have recently suffered defeats. By the way, prepare for more of that in the 12-team playoff.
The opponents and conditions for CFP IX are tantalizing. No. 4 Ohio State entered and took a seat on the sofa. Despite having an unbeaten regular season, No. 3 TCU had to fight for its position. Although the team lost on the field, Max Duggan, the quarterback, may have taken home the Heisman Trophy. In the meanwhile, K-State won the Big 12 championship for the first time in 19 years.
A Ryan Day coaching purge may have been indirectly avoided thanks to Utah's win against USC. You had to be there nine days ago when Michigan humiliated the Buckeyes on their own field. The levels of anger and sadness were extreme. The Utes are to blame or to thank for the Buckeyes' second opportunity. Along with Day, Jim Knowles, the defensive coordinator for Ohio State, has an opportunity to make amends.
Now the Buckeyes can pack that embarrassing setback from November 26 in the overhead compartment of their travel to Atlanta for the Peach Bowl semifinal. It may happen sooner than anybody anticipated for Michigan to suffer a third straight defeat. 44 days after their first encounter, if the Buckeyes and Wolverines win their semifinal games, they will compete for the national title.
In 1995–1997, Ohio State last suffered three straight defeats against Michigan. You might recall that the Wolverines won their final national title in 1997, which was also the last one to be given away without a championship game (BCS/CFP) being played.
No. 1 Georgia and No. 2 should be favorites in the semifinals. We ought to support that title game, perhaps. They are a carbon copy of the square-jawed coaches who employ special teams, strong defenses, and game-manager quarterbacks to get the desired outcomes.
There is a retribution element in Michigan. Regardless of anyone it faces in the playoffs, Georgia will be the superior team.
That is not meant to minimize underdogs. Duggan has demonstrated that he is unstoppable. C.J. Stroud, Ohio State's quarterback, is a Heisman contender, while the team's defense is at its best since 2019. This squad gets another fantastic chance to show the components are still in place after the OSU team had all it needed to win it all.
The benefit of slipping onto the field for the Buckeyes? The Bulldogs will compete in their third game of the year at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, their temporary home. There's that and the fact that the Dawgs have already scored 99 points in two games at The Benz.
TCU, a private university with 9,000 undergraduate students, became the first institution from Texas to be admitted to the CFP. Winning would be appreciated by the Big 12 as a whole. The league currently has one representative, Oklahoma, and is 0-4 in the CFP. The Pac-12, which missed the field for a sixth consecutive season, is the only other Power Five conference without a national title during the CFP era.
Georgia's Kirby Smart will be in his seventh CFP game as an assistant or head coach and is considered a playoff favorite. That is approximately a fourth of all playoff contests ever held. The cumulative experience of the other three coaches is four. Smart not only has a strategy for the upcoming four weeks, but he also has the squad to carry it out.
Let's examine each of the contests.
Peach Bowl: (1) Georgia vs. (4) Ohio State
30 points could be the magic amount when playing against Georgia's defense. Can Ohio State overcome a stifling defense with its blazing offense? The odd thing is that LSU actually surpassed that amount in the SEC Championship Game, amassing 500 passing yards in the process. However, the Tigers suffered a 20-point defeat. They were essentially playing in garbage time for the first three quarters.
This season, Georgia showed its adaptability. A year ago, Stetson Bennett IV was the second-leading passer in the SEC, but now he looks over his shoulder. Against Tennessee, the Dawgs had a chance to score 50 points, but they were stopped in the second half. For some reason, they battled Missouri valiantly.
Georgia basically avoided the gateway as the rest of the globe went transfer crazy. However, Kirby Smart should be commended for keeping the reigning champs focused. The hardest part about winning a championship, according to conventional wisdom, is having to do it again. And the Dawgs are aiming to win consecutive championships for the first time in the CFP era.
Ohio State received the ultimate mulligan after shanking a shot into the bushes versus Michigan. What does it do with the additional chance now? At this point, it really doesn't matter how we got here, Day remarked.
That may be the case, but Ohio State will need to make those crucial plays. Georgia leads the country in both offense and defense in the red zone. For the whole season, only 28 times have opponents reached the UGA 20. (just 17 scores). Two defensive backs, Kelee Ringo and Christopher Smith, who ought to be All-Americans, drastically reduce the field.
In plays of forty yards or more, the Buckeyes finished third nationally and second among Power Five teams. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, their finest wide receiver, was absent at the time. He has till December to recover. In any case, Ohio State will have to match Georgia's physicality. That has been a season-long question. The squad that coined the phrase will have to be faced if the Buckeyes are to succeed in using physical intimidation.
Fiesta Bowl: (2) Michigan vs. (3) TCU
Following Ohio State's victory in 2017, Michigan appeared to be at its best. Although Harbaugh and his team won't acknowledge it, they appeared to be happy just to have made it to the CFP.
That statement was confirmed by the outcome. In the Orange Bowl semifinal, the Dawgs destroyed the Michigan Wolverines 34-11. Call it a teaching moment. Michigan has a chance to win the championship going into this playoff. It matches up nicely with Georgia because it is one of just two unbeaten teams.
Horned frogs come first, though. They were the second team to move from being unranked to the playoffs after being selected seventh in the Big 12 preseason. Sonny Dykes of TCU is still a contender for coach of the year despite the defeat on Saturday. Dykes tapped into the portal, much as Lincoln Riley did at USC, to add 14 new players.
They represent both fate and the possibility of anarchy in this playoff. They have fought back from deficits of at least seven points in five of their victories. Duggan looks like the sort of quarterback Harbaugh, a man of blood and guts, could use at quarterback.
Duggan will need to be stopped, Michigan. As a result of his 110-yard running performance against K-State, he is the best quarterback in the Big 12. Wide receiver Quentin Johnston has grown into a top draught pick. Kendre Miller, a running back, had 1,300 yards in the air. The problem? On offensively, TCU has the most strength.
Can the Wolverines' hammering offense fend off the TCU Frogs' defense? Donovan Edwards, a Michigan running back who has taken over for the injured Blake Corum the past two weeks, has amassed 400 yards on the ground—nearly half of his season total. J.J. McCarthy, the quarterback, has recently been handed increased throwing responsibility.
Michigan will maintain control of the ball as normal (fourth in a time of possession). The crucial remaining minutes will test TCU's ability to respond against the No. 3 defense in the country. Duggan will require assistance if TCU does. Against K-State, he nearly passed out from tiredness.
Now that Duggan and the rest of CFP have four weeks to regroup, they can breathe easier.
Click here for more trending news
You can also follow us on our Twitter page
You can also follow us on our Tumblr page
You can also follow us on our Pinterest page