College Football Playoffs Breakdown and Prediction
It’s been a long road but finally the College Football Playoffs are here. This year the TCU Horned Frogs will face the Michigan Wolverines in the first semifinal. In the second semifinal it will be the Georgia Bulldogs against the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Michigan vs TCU: This is Michigan’s second year in a row at the college football playoffs. Last season they got manhandled by the reigning national champs Georgia 34-11. Now that they are here again chalk up last season as a learning experience.
Michigan is one of the only two teams that is undefeated this season along with Georgia. Expect Michigan to keep the ball for a good amount of time with their running attack. They lost their top running back Blake Corum to a knee injury, but the next man up is more than prepared. Donovan Edwards picked up the workload in the Ohio State game rushing for 216 yards and scoring two touchdowns. Their quarterback J.J. McCarthy has thrown the ball more with Corum out, but a solid run game can keep those number down.
On the other side it’s the Cinderella of the playoffs the Horned Frogs. They were picked to finish seventh in the Big 12 preseason and became the second team to go from unranked to playoffs. The Horned Frogs have made comebacks in five games after being down by at least a touchdown.
Michigan will be hit with the task of stopping TCU quarterback Max Duggan. He is the leading quarterback rusher in the Big 12 after rushing for 110 yards in the Big 12 championship against Kansas State. Running back Kendre Miller is a 1,300-yard rusher and their wideout Quentin Johnston has made himself a high draft pick with his play this season. A lot of power on offense but the question is can they stop the run game of the Wolverines? Michigan’s defense is ranked No. 3 in the country and will do everything to contain Duggan.
Ohio State vs Georgia: Can Ohio State’s explosive offense score against the nation’s best defense? LSU was able to score at least 30 points and have a total of 500 yards only thing is they lost by 20.
Georgia’s quarterback Stetson Bennet IV has been great this season, he was a week-to-week type of quarterback last season but now he the SEC’s second leading passer. While the rest of the nation went crazy this offseason in the transfer portal Georgia stayed away. They kept the same team minus the guys that left for the draft and still made it to the No. 1 slot. The Dawgs are looking to become the first back-to-back champions in the CFP era.
After folding to their rivals up north Michigan, Ohio State has another chance to redeem itself and potentially set up a rematch in the championship game but first all eyes on the Dawgs.
If Ohio State wants to win, they have to hit on their big plays. 3rd downs will be crucial and so will getting down to the red zone and executing. Georgia is ranked No.1 in red zone offense and defense. Opponents have reached Georgia’s 20 only 28 times and scored just 17 times.
The Buckeyes are second among Power Five teams on plays for 40 plus yards. They did that without their best receiver in Jaxson Smith-Njigba. They will be without him as he recovers from his injury and focuses on the NFL. Physicality is the name of the game for Ohio State, if they can match up with Georgia, they might have a chance to pull off the upset.
Michigan will get pass TCU and it will be close.
Ohio State will pull it off against Georgia.
To lose to a team three times will hurt but Ohio State will avoid that and become national champions.
