Four on the field for the national championship: Georgia, Michigan, TCU, Ohio State make College Football Playoff

Garry Smits, Florida Times-Union
·2 min read
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Kenny McIntosh and the Georgia Bulldogs will begin defense of their national championship in football on Dec. 31 in a semifinal game.
Kenny McIntosh and the Georgia Bulldogs will begin defense of their national championship in football on Dec. 31 in a semifinal game.

Georgia and Michigan were the top-two teams in the College Football Playoff. As the last two unbeaten FBS teams and conference champions, that was no surprise.

But the CFP selection committee threw a lifeline to the Ohio State Buckeyes on Sunday, eight days after Michigan crushed them at home 45-23.

Ohio State (11-1) was voted the No. 4 team in the CFP rankings, earning a semifinal spot against Georgia (13-0) in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta at 8 p.m. on Dec. 31. Michigan (13-0) will play No. 3 TCU (12-1) in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., at 4 p.m. the same day.

The two winners will play for the CFP national championship Jan. 9 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

In other New Year's Six bowls:

• Alabama (10-2) will represent the SEC in the Sugar Bowl on Dec. 31 as the highest-ranked conference team outside the College Football Playoff Final Four, and will play Big 12 champion Kansas State (10-3).

• Clemson (11-2) will play Tennessee (10-2) in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30. The Tigers qualified by winning the ACC championship game over North Carolina on Saturday and Tennessee is in Miami by being the highest-ranked available team from among the SEC, Big Ten or Notre Dame.

• Utah (10-3) will represent the Pac-12 in the Rose Bowl Jan. 2 against Penn State (10-2). The Utes beat USC in the conference championship game on Friday while the Nittany Lions will be the highest-ranked Big Ten team after Michigan and Ohio State.

• Tulane (11-2) will be in the Cotton Bowl by virtue of its victory over UCF in the AAC title game, and faces Southern California (11-2).

Other bowl matchups, including the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, will be announced by 5 p.m.

Contact Garry Smits at gsmits@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @GSmitter

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Georgia, Michigan, TCU, Ohio State in College Football Playoff