RJ Young
FOX Sports College Football Analyst
INDIANAPOLIS — As No. 2-ranked Michigan edged closer to its second Big Ten championship in as many years, a man working as event staff at Lucas Oil Stadium pulled my coat.
“RJ! ” he said.
I turned to meet him, slightly taken aback. After a few pleasantries were exchanged, he showed me the Ohio State logo on his phone’s lock screen.
Then, as if uttering 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 the faces of Ohio State fans across the country — when the college football playoff selection committee saw fit to rank the Buckeyes No. 4 and extend their invitation to the national semi-finals.
It doesn’t matter to those fans that their Buckeyes embarrassingly lost to Michigan at home for the first time since 2000 just two weeks ago. (OK, yeah, that matters.) It doesn’t matter to them that the Buckeyes haven’t won the Big Ten title since 2020. (OK, that matters, too.)
But they knew their resume was the strongest among the teams vying for the final playoff spot. They knew their only loss was to a 13-0 opponent – one of two remaining – and they had managed to pick up 11 wins before Thanksgiving.
The top four in the final college football playoff standings:
- 1. Georgia (13-0)
- 2. Michigan (13-0)
- 3.TCU (12-1)
- 4. Ohio State (11-1)
Elimination matches:
- Peach Bowl: No. 1 Georgia vs. No. 4 Ohio State
- Fiesta Bowl: No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 3 TCU
They also knew they had a Heisman runner-up at quarterback in CJ Stroud, and, when the defense plays well, their best games against the best the sport has to offer.
Crucially, their main rival for fourth place in the CFP — USC — lost to Utah in the Pac-12 title game, ensuring the conference would be kicked out of the CFP for the sixth straight year.
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham even thought about telling OSU coach Ryan Day, “You’re welcome” after the Utes’ successful defense of the championship title.
Now, thanks to these factors, Ohio State has what every competitor in the world wants: a second chance. And this time, I doubt they’re having fun.
All hands will be called to the deck, and every hand must do its job if the Buckeyes are going to win their first national title of the Ryan Day era – and their first since 2014. If the Buckeyes are fully healthy for the first time since Week 1, they face off well against defending national champion Georgia at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta.
But that means a healthy Jaxon Smith-Njigba, a healthy TreVeyon Henderson and a defense that has grown from the bruising defeat to the ego inflicted on it by Michigan in the latest edition of The Game.
If the Buckeyes can upset Georgia in what is essentially a home game for the Bulldogs, they could earn a shot at playing Michigan for the national championship.
And I’m sure the Wolverines wouldn’t want it any other way. But to do that, Michigan will have to hold its end of the bargain. It will mean beating a TCU program that is steeped in courage and pride that dates back to the 19th century, when the state of Texas was a country in its own right.
TCU is in, while Alabama is left out
RJ Young reacts to the final college football playoff standings.
Horned Frogs won’t be easy to defeat – just ask Kansas State – and they’ll make you bleed to beat them. That’s exactly the kind of game Michigan wants, though.
With a dynamo at fullback in Donovan Edwards and a star quarterback in JJ McCarthy looking more mature with every game he plays, the Wolverines looked set to win their first national title of the century.
And if that championship has to come through wins over TCU, plus a Georgia team that embarrassed the Wolverines last season or their most hated rival, then so be it.
Ohio State and Michigan are in the CFP at the same time for the first time, and the pageantry and regionality will increase a bit with two teams north and south of the Mason-Dixon line looking to prove what football brand is the best.
That’s what sports are all about. And I can’t wait to see the playoffs unfold.
The final college football playoff standings:
- 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)
- 9. Kansas State (10-3)
- 10. USC (11-2)
- 11. Penn State (10-2)
- 12. Washington (10-2)
- 13. Florida State (9-3)
- 14. Oregon State (9-3)
- 15. Oregon (9-3)
- 16. Tulane (11-2)
- 17. ASU (9-4)
- 18. UCLA (9-3)
- 19. South Carolina (8-4)
- 20.Texas (8-4)
- 21. Notre Dame (8-4)
- 22. Mississippi State (8-4)
- 23. NC status (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 podcast “Number one in college football.“Follow him on Twitter at @RJ_Young and subscribe to “The RJ Young Show” on YouTube.
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