No more games. No more discussions. The 2022 College Football Playoff field has been selected with No. 1 Georgia squaring off against No. 4 Ohio State and No. 2 Michigan facing No. 3 TCU. There was more drama than honestly there should have been — thanks to USC and TCU losing their respective conference championship games — but the committee ultimately got it right.
While the inclusion of Ohio State, a team that didn’t play this week because it lost in a blowout to Michigan to end the regular season, is kind of boring, you can understand it. The Buckeyes have just the one loss, along with wins over then-No. 5 Notre Dame and then -No. 13 Penn State. It’s resume is not particularly overwhelming, but only one loss will get you in.
What the committee really got right, however, was keeping TCU in and at No. 3. I think Georgia and Michigan would have stayed Nos. 1 and 2 with a win or a loss, but they won so that was an easy lock. TCU dropped a close, overtime game to a top-10 team, giving the Horned Frogs their first loss of the season. If they were dropped out or below Ohio State, that would be just punishing teams for actually making championship games.
Also, we don’t have a rematch between Michigan and Ohio State in a semifinal. That’s great news!
There was a lot of discussion and online jokes over Saturday evening and into Sunday morning — including from head coach Nick Saban — about a team like Alabama also sneaking in from the No. 6 spot. But two losses for the Crimson Tide and no SEC title game appearance kept them out.
The playoffs start Saturday, December 31.
