1. CFP Semifinal: Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl
Georgia 42, Ohio State 41
Pre-Bowl Matchup Ranking: 1
Pre-Bowl Ranking: 2021: 9, 2020: 7, 2019: 13
Post-Bowl Ranking: 2021: 7, 2020: 2, 2019: 3
This almost never works like it should.
The best matchup in the College Football Playoff semifinals has been the best game in bowl season a few times – Ohio State and Clemson played one amazing Fiesta Bowl at the end of the 2019 season, and Georgia and Ohio State’s double-overtime Rose Bowl in 2018 was an all-timer.
Could Ohio State show up stronger after the way it got rolled by Michigan in the regular season finale? Could Georgia fight back after getting hit with several haymakers? Oh yes, and oh yes.
TCU will have a little something to say about it, but this felt even bigger after the way the first semifinal went down. Michigan had already blown its chance, making the Fiesta Bowl the possible national championship. That might not be fair or turn out to be right, but the stakes became a whole lot higher.
It was a clean game without a ton of mistakes. Both offenses were great, both defenses had their moments, and the stars came out to shine. Ohio State QB CJ Stroud was brilliant. He got the team into field goal range with a chance to win it. Georgia QB Stetson Bennett was brilliant. He silenced a slew of Heisman-finalist haters with a game-winning drive for the ages.
The missed Buckeye field goal at the end might have soured the aesthetic of the game – Noah Ruggles’ bomb never had a chance – but the timing of the finish couldn’t be more perfect.
The best and most important game of the 2022 college football season ended 15 seconds after it turned 2023.
5 Thoughts on Georgia’s Peach Bowl win over Ohio State
Bowl Rankings 2022-2023
Bowls of Sad | Instant Memory Dumped Bowls
Just Bowls | Very Good Bowls | Great Bowls
Classic Bowls No. 8 | No. 7 | No. 6 | No. 5 | No. 4
No. 3 | No. 2 | No. 1 | Bowl Scoreboard
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