College Football Playoff: No. 2 Michigan to play No. 3 TCU in Fiesta Bowl
INDIANAPOLIS — Just more than 11 months after J.J. McCarthy, Donovan Edwards and various Michigan football players stayed on the field of the 2021 Orange Bowl following their 34-11 College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Georgia, the Wolverines now know who they need to go through to get to the national championship in 2022.
No. 2 Michigan (13-0, 9-0 Big Ten) will face No. 3 Texas Christian University (12-1, 8-0 Big 12) on Dec. 31 at the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona.
The Wolverines are headed to Arizona because No. 1-seed Georgia (13-0, 9-0 SEC) elected to take on No. 4-seed Ohio State (11-1, 8-1 Big Ten) at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta. The Buckeyes snuck into the final playoff spot despite a 45-23 loss in the regular season finale to Michigan because USC lost in the Pac-12 title game Friday to Utah, 47-24.
The Fiesta Bowl is scheduled for 4 p.m. New Years Eve and the Peach Bowl for 8 p.m. New Years Eve. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN.
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Alabama (10-2) and its coach Nick Saban, who went on Fox at halftime of the Big Ten title game to plead the Tide's case for a spot, were the first team out, finishing the season at No. 5. Tennessee was ranked No. 6.
The main question before the ESPN selection show Sunday was if TCU's Big 12 title game loss, 31-28, to Kansas State in overtime, would be enough for Ohio State to leapfrog TCU (slight pun intended) and set up a rematch with Michigan.
"Please, please, bring it on," McCarthy said postgame about if he would want a rematch with OSU. "That would be truly a blessing if we got to play those boys again."
The only way for that to happen is both teams getting to the national championship game.
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Michigan won the Big Ten Championship on Saturday, 43-22, over Purdue for its second consecutive league championship, the first time its won back-to-back outright conference titles since 1991-92. It's also the first time in program history the Wolverines have won 13 games in a season.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan football to play TCU in Fiesta Bowl CFP semifinal
