RJ Young
FOX Sports College Football Analyst
INDIANAPOLIS — As 2nd-ranked Michigan neared its second Big Ten championship in as many years, a gentleman who worked as an events staff at Lucas Oil Stadium pulled off my coat.
“RJ!” he said.
I turned to meet him, somewhat unprepared. After a few pleasantries were exchanged, he showed me the Ohio State logo on his phone’s lock screen.
Then, as if voicing a secret, he asked, “Do you really think we have a chance?”
That’s all he wanted – a chance.
Can Ohio State beat Georgia?
RJ Young dives into the college football playoff semifinals.
I can only imagine the relief on his face – and on the faces of Ohio State fans across the country – when the College Football Playoff selection committee saw fit to rank the Buckeyes 4th and accept their invitation to the national semifinals extend.
Those fans don’t care that just two weeks ago their Buckeyes embarrassed their first home loss since 2000 to Michigan. (OK, yes, it matters.) They don’t care that the Buckeyes haven’t won the Big Ten title since 2020. (OK, that’s important too.)
But they knew their resume was the strongest among the teams battling for last spot in the playoffs. They knew their only loss was against a 13-0 opponent – one of just two remaining – and that they had managed to rack up 11 wins before Thanksgiving.
Top 4 in College Football Playoff Final Rankings:
- 1. Georgia (13-0)
- 2.Michigan (13-0)
- 3. TCU (12-1)
- 4. Ohio State (11-1)
Playoff matches:
- Peach Bowl: #1 Georgia vs. #4 Ohio State
- Fiesta Bowl: #2 Michigan vs. #3 TCU
They also knew they had a Heisman finalist in CJ Stroud as quarterback, and when the defense is playing well, their best matches are up against the best the sport has to offer.
And most importantly, their main competitor for fourth place in the CFP – USC – lost to Utah in the Pac-12 title game, ensuring the conference was banned from the CFP for the sixth straight year.
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham even thought of saying “You’re welcome” to OSU coach Ryan Day after successfully defending the Utes’ championship title.
Thanks to these factors, the state of Ohio now has what every competitor in the world desires – a second chance. And this time, I doubt they’ll be fooling around.
All hands are called on deck, and every hand must do its job if the Buckeyes are to win their first national title of the Ryan Day era — and their first since 2014. If the Buckeyes are in full health for the first time since Week 1 do well against defending champion Georgia in the Peach Bowl in Atlanta.
But that means a healthy Jaxon Smith-Njigba, a healthy TreVeyon Henderson, and a defense that’s said goodbye to the ego-crushing defeat Michigan inflicted in the latest installment of The Game.
If the Buckeyes can upset Georgia in a home game for the Bulldogs, they could earn a chance to play Michigan for the national championship.
And I’m sure the Wolverines wouldn’t have it any other way. But to do that, Michigan has to keep its end of the bargain. That means beating a TCU program steeped in courage and pride that dates back to the 19th century when the state of Texas was a country unto itself.
TCU is in while Alabama is left out
RJ Young reacts to the College Football Playoffs final standings.
The Horned Frogs won’t be easy to defeat – just ask Kansas State – and they’ll make you bleed to defeat them. However, that’s exactly the kind of game Michigan wants.
With a dynamo stuck in traffic in Donovan Edwards and a star quarterback in JJ McCarthy looking more mature with every game he plays, the Wolverines seemed poised to win their first national title of the century.
And if that championship has to come via victories over TCU, plus either a Georgia team that embarrassed the Wolverines last season or their most hated rival, so be it.
Ohio State and Michigan are competing in the CFP at the same time for the first time, and the pageantry and regionalism will ramp up a bit as two teams north and south of the Mason-Dixon line look to prove what kind of football is best.
That’s what sports are about. And I can’t wait to see the postseason.
The final standings of the college football playoffs:
- 1. Georgia (13-0)
- 2.Michigan (13-0)
- 3. TCU (12-1)
- 4. Ohio State (11-1)
- 5. Alabama (10-2)
- 6. Tennessee (10-2)
- 7. Clemson (11-2)
- 8 Utah (10-3)
- 9th State of Kansas (10-3)
- 10.USC (11-2)
- 11 Pennsylvania (10-2)
- 12 Washington (10-2)
- 13th Florida State (9-3)
- 14. Oregon State (9-3)
- 15.Oregon (9-3)
- 16. Tulane (11-2)
- 17th LSU (9-4)
- 18UCLA (9-3)
- 19 South Carolina (8-4)
- 20 Texas (8-4)
- 21. Notre Dame (8-4)
- 22nd Mississippi (8-4)
- 23. NC state (8-4)
- 24. Troy (11-2)
- 25.UTSA (11-2)
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RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and the host of The Number One College Football Show podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @RJ_Young and subscribe to The RJ Young Show on YouTube.
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