Georgia, Michigan, TCU, and Ohio State Selected for College Football Playoff

The four team field for the College Football Playoff was selected following conference championship games over the weekend. As has been known to happen, one conference has two teams in the field, but this time it’s not the SEC, although an SEC school is the #1 seed.

Last year’s champions, the Georgia Bulldogs, beat LSU 50-30 in the SEC championship game to complete a 13-0 season and earn a chance to repeat as national champs. Georgia is the top seed. The only other undefeated team, Michigan (13-0), earned the #2 seed after beating Purdue 43-22 in the Big Ten championship game. The Wolverines helped themselves a great deal by beating then #2 and undefeated Ohio State 45-23 in Columbus in the regular season finale.

Those two berths were obvious, but after that, it gets interesting. TCU, the previous #3 ranked team, went into the Big 12 championship game versus Kansas State at 12-0. But the Wildcats beat TCU 31-28 in overtime, dropping the Horned Frogs’ record to 12-1. The #4 team going into the weekend, USC, was 11 -1 going into the Pac-12 championship game against Utah. The Utes handed USC it’s only loss of the regular season, a 43-42 nail biter that came down to a successful two point conversion with 48 seconds left. In the Pac-12 Championship Game, USC led 17-3 in the second quarter, but Utah came back to tie it at 17 at halftime, and then outscored USC 30-7 in the second half for a 47-24 wipeout. The Trojans dropped to 11-2 and in unimpressive fashion, eliminating them from consideration for the CFB.

The selection committee decided that TCU’s overtime loss would not eliminate them, and the Horned Frogs retained the #3 seed. And despite not playing in a conference championship game, Ohio State, the only other school in a Power Five conference with just one loss (11-1), was selected as the #4 seed. This left out contenders Alabama (10-2), Tennessee (10-2) and Clemson (11-2), but all three had two losses. With Michigan and Ohio State in, the Big 10 had two schools in the CFB for the first time.

The semifinals will feature Michigan vs. TCU in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona, and Georgia vs. Ohio State in the Chick-fil-a Peach Bowl in Atlanta, both on December 31st. The CFB National Championship game will be Monday January 9th at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

Here’s some highlights of the Michigan—Purdue game: