The tracking page is up-to-date for all of the other 41 bowl games. All that’s left is the final.
As usual, all times Eastern and all predictions wrong.
Monday, January 9
7:30: Texas Christian vs. Georgia (College Football Playoff Championship Game @ Inglewood, CA; ESPN): I have a bad feeling about this. I watch both of the semi-finals intently, and enjoyed the most competitive pair of semis in the history of the playoff. That said, the way the two games went does not provide me much hope for this one. I think that TCU played extremely well and frustrated Michigan, but the Wolverines also shot themselves in the foot plenty. Georgia doesn’t really shoot themselves in the foot. While TCU’s defense did plenty of frustrate Michigan, I think Georgia’s freakish tight ends present tremendous matchup issues for the undersized Horned Frogs defense. Ohio State had the talent at quarterback and wide receiver to actually beat the best defense in the country. TCU relies much more on running the ball. This just doesn’t seem like a good matchup for the Horned Frogs at all, and in the end I think they will be very lucky to even cover.
SP+ line: UGA -12.2
Vegas line: UGA -12.5
Watchability tier: IV
Previous meetings: Four. The first was the 1941-42 Orange Bowl, which Georgia won 40-26. That game was apparently Georgia’s first ever bowl game. They didn’t meet again until the 1980 season, when TCU traveled to Athens and lost 34-3. They did the same eight years later, losing again 38-10. Finally, they most recently bet in the 2016 Liberty Bowl, where UGA won 31-23. As a side now, I miss when UGA went to Liberty Bowls.
Last bowl game: At twenty-six straight bowl games, Georgia owns the longest active bowl streak. The first game in the streak was the 1997-98 Outback Bowl, a 33-6 win over Wisconsin. Last season they beat Michigan 34-11 in the Orange Bowl, and then defeated Alabama in the CFP Championship Game 33-18. Most recently, they defeated Ohio State 42-41 in the Sugar Bowl. TCU bowled for the first time since the (in)famous 2018 Cheez-It Bowl, where they lost 10-7 to Cal. (Though they were eligible in 2020.) They got here by defeating Michigan 51-45.
Announcers: Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit