The 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship game is set. No. 1 Georgia will face No. 3 TCU at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Monday. It’s a David vs. Goliath battle as the defending champion Bulldogs put their crown on the line against a Horned Frogs side considered the greatest of four teams to reach this season’s CFP.
Georgia got here with a thrilling 42-41 win over No. 4 Ohio State in the Peach Bowl semifinals. The Bulldogs found themselves down 38-24 early in the fourth quarter, but put up three scoring streaks to rally and win. Quarterback Stetson Bennett IV found wide receiver Adonai Mitchell for a 10-yard touchdown to complete a five-play, 72-yard drive with just 54 seconds left. Bennett finished the game with 398 passing yards and three touchdowns with most of his work in the fourth quarter. It was only the second this season that the Dawgs found themselves in a one-score game.
TCU reached the title game after pulling off the biggest upset in playoff history. The Frogs beat No. 2 Michigan 51-45 as an eight-point underdog in a wild Fiesta Bowl that saw the Frogs’ 18-point lead shrink to as little as three early in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Max Duggan threw two interceptions and completed just 14 of 29 passes for 225 yards, but made enough key plays to give his offense a chance. Wide receiver Quentin Johnston caught six passes for 163 yards, and the TCU defense had two picks of six. TCU’s win was the first victory for a Big 12 team in the CFP.
Let’s take a look at where each team stands ahead of the CFP National Championship before our college football experts at CBS Sports provide their top picks for the game.
Georgia No. 1 (14-0), Peach Bowl champion
Georgia is supposed to be here. The Dawgs won their first national title since 1980 last year and started the 2022 season as one of the favorites to win the crown again. They did what was expected of them, even if things looked a little different. Last season, Georgia had what many considered one of the greatest defenses in college football history, as they towered over their opponents. This year, the Dawgs’ defense is still one of the best in the country, but it hasn’t been as dominant.
There were times this season when it looked like Georgia was playing with their food. After announcing his comeback with authority in a 49-3 win over Oregon in the season opener, the Dawgs have been messing around in games against Kent State, Missouri and Kentucky. However, when it came time to handle business, Georgia did it repeatedly. he crushed rival Auburn, ended Tennessee’s dreams of a perfect season, spanked Florida once again, and scored 50 points over LSU in the SEC Championship Game. After beating Ohio State in the Peach Bowl, Georgia has a shot at becoming the first team to win back-to-back national titles since Alabama (2010-11) and the first to do so in the CFP era.
3 TCU (13-1), Fiesta Bowl champion
You know there’s always that team that tells you “no one believed in us” even though they won multiple conference titles and were favorites to win it again this year? Well, if the frogs tell you no one believed in them, believe it. No one believed in them. TCU went 5-7 last year and fired longtime coach Gary Patterson. Sonny Dykes crossed town from SMU to take over the program, and the Frogs started 2022 unranked with particularly low expectations. They started the season with three straight wins on a lackluster non-conference roster. It wasn’t until TCU beat No. 19 Oklahoma 55-24 that he got respect.
TCU debuted at No. 17 on the AP Top 25 the following week and only went up from there. The win over Oklahoma was the first of four straight wins over ranked opponents. TCU added a fifth win over a ranked team by beating Texas 17-10 on the road in mid-November. The Frogs were masters of the comeback, being regularly knocked to the mat to bounce back and keep fighting until their opponents finally cracked. Duggan started the season as a substitute, but an injury to QB Chandler Morris left the door open for Duggan to get back to work – and he never gave in. Duggan finished the season as a Heisman Trophy finalist, and his resilience was a perfect reflection of the Frogs as a whole. Now the team that started the season unranked and wasn’t supposed to be here has a chance to shock the world again.
Georgia vs. TCU first pick, predictions
No. 1 Georgia opens as a 13-point favorite over No. 3 TCU in Los Angeles, according to Caesars Sportsbook.
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