INDIANAPOLIS – Michigan earned the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff and will play Alabama in the Rose Bowl semifinal.
The semifinal game will be on Jan. 1, 2024, in Pasadena, California. Michigan vs. Alabama will kickoff at 5 p.m. on New Year’s Day.
The other semifinal game will be No. 2 Washington vs. No. 3 Texas, featured in the night game slot. The College Football Playoff title game is scheduled for Jan. 8 in Houston.
The Wolverines polished off a second-straight 13-0 regular season with their win over Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game on Saturday night. It’s the third year in a row that Michigan has won the conference title.
With a third-straight win over 11-1 Ohio State, a win at 10-2 Penn State, and a 26-0 thumping of Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game, Michigan put together one of the strongest resumes in the sport. Obviously, the CFP committee agreed.
Alabama broke into the playoff with a win over Georgia in the SEC title game. The Crimson Tide lost to Texas early in the season but won the final 11 games to stay alive.
Even though Alabama was the last team to get into the field, this might be the most dangerous of the four teams.
Other than Michigan, only Washington and Florida State managed to finish undefeated among Power Five programs.
This is the first time ever that Michigan has been ranked atop the College Football Playoff rankings, and it’s the program’s first No. 1 ranking of any kind since 1997.
Michigan went into Saturday as the No. 2 team in the CFP poll, and it looked like the Wolverines would hold the second seed for the third consecutive season. But Georgia’s loss to Alabama bumped Michigan to the top of the rankings.
Florida State, despite being undefeated, ended up ranked No. 5, followed by Georgia at No. 6.
---> AP Top 25: Michigan is No. 1 for first time in 26 seasons, Georgia’s streak on top ends at 24 weeks
