2022 College Football Playoff bowl games: Georgia, Michigan, TCU and Ohio State fill the four-team field

After winning their first SEC championship since 2017 on Saturday night, the defending national champion Georgia Bulldogs remained atop the pack as the No. 1 seed in the college football playoffs, as determined by the CFP selection committee on Sunday. . Georgia, 13-0 for the first time in program history, leads the four-team field as it seeks to defend its national title and become the first consecutive champions of the CFP era.

Michigan, also going 13-0 for the first time as the only other undefeated Power Five program this season, returns to the playoffs for the second straight year as the No. 2 seed after a blowout victory against Ohio State last week and a win in the Big Ten Championship game against Purdue.

TCU (12-1), who fell in the Big 12 Championship Game but won the No. 3 seed due to terrific play and 12-game winning streak to open the season, crashed the party this season. The Horned Frogs are only the second Big 12 team to reach the playoffs in the nine-year history of the playoff format and the first Big 12 team to do so without winning their league crown. They are also the second team to qualify for the playoffs after starting the season without an AP Top 25 ranking (Michigan, 2021).

Ohio State (11-1) returns to the playoffs despite staying home through conference championship weekend. The Buckeyes enter at No. 4 with their only loss to the Wolverines two weeks ago after an 11-0 start. This makes the Big Ten the second conference to place two members in the same playoff field; the SEC has done it twice before. (Notre Dame made the 2020-21 playoffs, with Clemson, after playing an ACC schedule amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s not a permanent league member.)

Two SEC teams, Alabama (10-2) and Tennessee (10-2), are placed just outside the field of four teams in fifth and sixth place, respectively.

No. 1 Georgia will face No. 4 Ohio State in the Peach Bowl Semifinals, to be held in Atlanta on December 31. Michigan No. 2 and TCU No. 3 will also meet on New Year’s Eve at the Fiesta Bowl, which will take place in Glendale, Arizona. The 2022 CFP National Championship is scheduled for Monday, January 9 at SOFI Stadium in Inglewood, Calif.

Georgia is making its second straight playoff appearance and third overall. He has twice qualified from the semi-finals for the national championship and is 1-1 in those games.

Michigan is also making its second straight playoff appearance, and it’s hoping for a different outcome this time if it meets UGA again. The Wolverines haven’t won a national championship since 1997, a season before the formation of the BCS, meaning UM has never won a dedicated national title game.

Making its playoff debut, TCU is targeting its first national championship since 1938. Horned Frogs coach Sonny Dykes is the third to coach a team at CFP in Year 1 (Lincoln Riley with Oklahoma, Ryan Day with Ohio State), although he is the only coach to do so who has not been elevated from a position on the previous coaching. TCU is the 14th team to play in the CFP.

Ohio State is by far the most experienced program in the field, making its fifth playoff appearance and third in the last four seasons. The Buckeyes won the first CFP national championship after the 2014 campaign, but are only 1-3 in CFP games since.

Georgia is 1-0 all-time against Ohio State with their only meeting coming in the 1993 Citrus Bowl (21-14), while TCU and Michigan have never met on the gridiron.

Playoff terrain may be set, but that’s not the only thing that happens in the playoffs. Discover CBS Sports bowl protrusions as well as the whole Bowl Schedule 2022-23.