Like a zombie back from the dead, Ohio State has risen to be the bad-boy crashers to the CFP party. Did they win their division…no. Did they win their conference…no. Did they have a marquee victory…er…um…Penn State. Yet, their 11-1 mark put them in contention if something crazy happened during the title games and something did happen, USC forgot to play any defense.
How did Ohio State get here?
I sort of said already, they went 11-1 and got a big help from Utah in the Pac 12 title game. In terms of their wins, the big reason was…PASSING! With possibly the best WR group in the nation and a Heisman level quarterback in C.J. Stroud, Ohio State could score in a hurry against basically anyone they played. Unfortunately against Michigan, they gave up just as big of plays en route to their only loss of the year.
How did Georgia get here?
Being defending champions and basically going wire-to-wire as the number one team. Alabama held it for a few weeks right at the start of the season, but after a narrow win at Texas, Bama dipped enough and UGA claimed the top spot. They went undefeated thanks to a killer defense and an offense that is way better than people give it credit for.
Why should we watch?
Other than being a semifinal…it is strength versus strength. UGA’s defense versus OSU’s offense. If OSU wins it is because they lit up the Dawgs’ secondary. If UGA wins it is because they made enough timely stops to slow OSU down…the same way Michigan did a few weeks ago.
Who should win…and should you bet?
I just don’t see the Buckeye defense being good enough against this physically punishing Georgia team. Throw in the game being in Atlanta as a glorified home game, things set up very well for the Dawgs. I have UGA covering the five point spread but I also have the game going over. Watch it be 42-31 and clear the over by about ten points. Dome conditions, two good offenses, one shaky OSU defense, I smell a lot of points.
How to watch?
- Date: Saturday, December 31st
- Time: 7:00 pm, central
- TV: ESPN
- Location: Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
Random Tidbit:
No matter the results, OSU is historically the far better program historically. We think of every SEC powers as being a blue blood but in reality UGA is a nice program having a historic run. Just look at these metrics from the guys over at Winsipedia:
- National titles: OSU 8, UGA 3
- All time winning percentage: OSU #1 in the nation, UGA #13
- League titles: OSU 39, UGA 15
- OSU has almost 100 more games won than UGA
- Consensus All Americans: OSU 92, UGA 39
- Heisman winners: OSU 7, UGA 2
- Draft picks: OSU 479, UGA 361
- First round picks, OSU 87, UGA 44
- Weeks in AP Poll: OSU 965, UGA 644
- Weeks at #1: OSU 102, UGA 36
Big Ten and Counting 