College Football Playoff: New Year's Six bowl teams revealed

On3-Social-Profile_GRAYby:On3 Staff Report•12/04/22

A pair of Power 5 conference championship game upsets made the College Football Playoff picture a touch more interesting, and it certainly caused a bit of shifting around among the New Year’s Six bowl matchups.

No. 2 Michigan will open semifinal play against No. 3 TCU in the Fiesta Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 31 at 4 p.m. ET in Glendale, Ariz. The Peach Bowl between No. 1 Georgia and No. 4 Ohio State will kick off at 8 that same night in Atlanta. ESPN will be carrying both national broadcasts.

Here is the 2022 New Year’s Six bowl slate.

New Year’s Six Bowl Matchups

Jan. 9 – National Championship Game
Inglewood, Calif. – Semifinal winners

Dec. 31 – Fiesta Bowl, College Football Playoff semifinal
Glendale, Ariz. – No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 3 TCU

Dec. 31 – Peach Bowl, College Football Playoff semifinal
Atlanta – No. 1 Georgia vs. No. 4 Ohio State

Dec. 30 – Orange Bowl, 8 p.m. ET, ESPN
Miami – No. 7 Clemson vs. No. 6 Tennessee

Dec. 31 – Sugar Bowl, 12 p.m. ET, ESPN
New Orleans – No. 5 Alabama vs. No. 9 Kansas State

Jan. 2 – Cotton Bowl, 1 p.m. ET, ESPN
Arlington, Texas – No. 10 USC vs. No. 16 Tulane

Jan. 2 – Rose Bowl, 5 p.m. ET, ESPN
Pasadena – No. 8 Utah vs. No. 11 Penn State

Ohio State edges out Alabama in final College Football Playoff rankings

The only real decision that seemed to come down to the wire among the College Football Playoff teams, which were revealed on Sunday afternoon live on ESPN, was the No. 4 spot. Ohio State beat out Alabama.

Committee chairman Boo Corrigan explained why.

“Well I think you look at the big wins as well as part of this,” Corrigan explained. “And the win that Ohio State has over Notre Dame, the win they have over Penn State, compare that to Alabama with the wins over Texas, Mississippi State, some other close games. Again, keep in mind that the Michigan game did get away from them but it was a one-score game early in the fourth quarter.

“As we looked at the total body of work that we had the committee was comfortable with Ohio State at (No.) 4 and Alabama at (No.) 5.”