Dec. 4 (UPI) — The NCAA on Sunday announced the four participants in the NCAA College Football Playoffs with the top two teams unbeaten, No. 1 Georgia and No. 2 Michigan, and the other spots secured by one-loss teams, No. 3 Texas Christian and No. 4 Ohio State.
Georgia (13-0), the defending champion, will face Ohio State (11-1) on Dec. 31 in the Peach Bowl in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, just 72 miles from its home Athens campus. Michigan (13-0) will travel across the country to Arizona for the Fiesta Bowl at State Farm Stadium in Glendale against Ohio State (11-1).
The national championship will be played Jan. 9 at Los Angeles Stadium at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif.
A 13-member committee of former coaches and players, current athletic directors and a retired media member decides on the top 25 rankings and top bowl pairings.
Michigan defeated Ohio State 45-23 in Columbus on Nov. 26 to advance to the Big Ten championship as the East Division winner. In that game Saturday, Michigan beat Purdue 43-22 in Indianapolis. Purdue ended the regular season at 8-5.
Missing out on the playoffs were a pair of two-loss teams from the Southeastern Conference, No. 5 Alabama and Tennessee both at 10-2.
However, they were invited to one of the top six bowl games.
Alabama will face No. 9 Kansas State (10-3) of the Big 12 in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Dec. 31 and Tennessee will play No. 7 Clemson (11-2) of the Atlantic Coast Conference in the Orange Bowl in Miami on Dec. 30.
The Rose Bowl pits No. 8 Utah (10-3) against No. 11 Penn State (10-2) on Jan. 2 in Pasadena, Calif., in a traditional matchup of the Big Ten and Pac 12 teams. Penn State’s only losses were to Ohio State and Michigan.
The Cotton Bowl will be played on Jan. 2 in Dallas between No. 16 Tulane (11-2) of the American Athletic Conference and Southern California (11-2) of the Pac-12.
On Saturday, Georgia captured the SEC title, defeating Louisiana State 50-30 in Atlanta. The Tigers finished the regular season at 9-4 in the SEC West.
If Georgia and Michigan advance to the final, it will be a rematch of the semifinals at the Orange Bowl, won by the Bulldogs 34-11 last Dec. 31. Those are the only two CFB playoffs appearances by the Wolverines.
Georgia then beat Alabama 33-18 for the national championship at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Jan. 10. It was Georgia first Division I football title since the 1980 season.
Alabama earlier defeated Cincinnati in Dallas on Dec. 31.
Since the four-team setup began in 2014, Alabama has missed out on the games only in 2019-20 with titles in 2015, 2017 and 2020.
Going into the weekend, the rankings were Georgia followed by Michigan, TCU and USC
TCU kept its third position, despite losing to Kansas State 31-28 in overtime in the Big 12 championhip game in Arlington, Texas.
This is will be TCU’s first appearance in the semifinals. Oklahoma is the only Big 12 team to previously participate in it: 2015-16, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20 but the Sooners have never won that game.
But on Friday, USC lost to Utah 47-24 at the Pac-12 Championship in Las Vegas.
This helped clear the way for Ohio State to be invited to the semifinals after trips in 2014-15, 2019-20, 2020-21.
“They have a lot of good players,” Georgia coach Kirb Smart said of Ohio State in an interview on ESPN. “Because we recruited some of the same. When make final four, it doesn’t matter [the position.”
Clemson, a champion in 2016 and 2018, on Saturday won the Atlantic Coast title, beating North Carolina 39-10 in Charlotte, N.C.
The College Football Playoff will expand from four to 12 teams starting with the 2024/25 season.
