College Football Playoff Rankings: Alabama vs. Kansas State, Penn State vs. Utah in New Year’s Six bowl games
The College Football Playoff for the 2022 season was announced earlier Sunday with Georgia, Michigan, TCU and Ohio State making the four-team field in that order. The Bulldogs will face the Buckeyes in the Peach Bowl semifinal as Georgia begins its national championship defense, while the Wolverines and Horned Frogs will meet in the Fiesta Bowl semifinal with TCU becoming the 14th team to advance to the CFP in its nine-year history. Here’s a look at 2022 College Football Playoff and what each team brings to the table.
With the top four teams set, our attention Sunday turned to the final CFP Rankings and the resulting New Year’s Six bowl placements. While most of the spots are determined by conference assignments, such as in the Rose Bowl, others take location and matchup into consideration. With the CFP Selection Committee apt to occasionally make changes on a whim, not much could be known for sure until the announcement came down Sunday afternoon.
One of the games cemented was the aforementioned Rose Bowl with back-to-back Pac-12 champion Utah returning to face Penn State, the 11th-rated team by the CFP but highest-ranked Big Ten team not in the playoff field. Kansas State also locked up a spot in the Sugar Bowl by virtue of winning the Big 12; Alabama is their opponent as the highest-ranked SEC team not in the playoff. Clemson also took its spot in the Orange Bowl as the ACC champion with Tulane out of the AAC clinching a Cotton Bowl appearance as the highest-ranked Group of Five champion.
Let’s take a look at the playoff field and New Year’s Six matchups before we get to the final CFP Rankings of the 2022 season. You can also check out the complete 2022-23 bowl schedule and follow our 2022 Bowl Games live announcements page.
College Football Playoff
|
Jan. 9 |
National Championship |
Title game | Semifinal winners |
|
Dec. 31 |
Peach Bowl |
Semifinal |
(1) Georgia vs. (4) Ohio State |
|
Dec. 31 |
Fiesta Bowl |
Semifinal |
(2) Michigan vs. (3) TCU |
New Year’s Six bowl games
|
Jan. 2 |
Rose |
Big Ten vs. Pac-12 |
(11) Penn State vs. (8) Utah |
|
Jan. 2 |
Cotton |
at-large vs. at-large |
(10) USC vs. (16) Tulane |
|
Dec. 31 |
Sugar |
SEC vs. Big 12 |
(5) Alabama vs. (9) Kansas State |
|
Dec. 30 |
Orange |
ACC vs. SEC/B1G/ND |
(6) Clemson vs. (7) Tennessee |
College Football Playoff Rankings, Dec. 4
- Georgia (13-0)
- Michigan (13-0)
- TCU (12-1)
- Ohio State (11-1)
- Alabama (10-2)
- Tennessee (10-2)
- Clemson (11-2)
- Utah (10-3)
- Kansas State (10-3)
- USC (11-2)
- Penn State (10-2)
- Washington (10-2)
- Florida State (9-3)
- Oregon State (9-3)
- Oregon (9-3)
- Tulane (11-2)
- LSU (9-4)
- UCLA (9-3)
- South Carolina (8-4)
- Texas (8-4)
- Notre Dame (8-4)
- Mississippi State (8-4)
- NC State (8-4)
- Troy (11-2)
- UTSA (11-2)