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SEC Sports
Georgia is headed to Miami to play in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at Capital One Orange Bowl where they'll take on No. 2 Michigan on Dec. 31, 2021. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. and ESPN will broadcast the game. On Thursday, ESPN provided its prediction on how the matchup between the Dawgs and Wolverines will unfold.
Jim Harbaugh's mission to build Michigan into a team that would truly reflect his personality took longer than expected, but it has happened. The Wolverines will make their CFP debut against a team that largely resembles them. Like Michigan with Aidan Hutchinson and David Ojabo, Georgia boasts elite defensive linemen such as Jordan Davis. Both teams are built around multiple rushing options, talented tight end play and unheralded but effective quarterbacks in Cade McNamara (Michigan) and Stetson Bennett IV (Georgia). Will Georgia consider a QB change after Bennett's struggles in the SEC title game? Coach Kirby Smart must guard against an Alabama hangover, or Georgia's four-decades-long national title drought will add another painful year. Michigan played its best football down the stretch and will outlast Georgia in a defensive struggle behind two Hutchinson-forced turnovers.
Prediction: Michigan 24, Georgia 21
ESPN has Alabama beating Cincinnati 38-27 in the CFP Semifinal at Cotton Bowl Classic, then beating Michigan 33-21 to repeat as national champions for the second time under head coach Nick Saban. Georgia opened as a 7.5-point neutral-site favorite on Sportsline and William Hill and that is where the line stands now. The Bulldogs are now 64-15 under sixth-year head coach Kirby Smart, with a 40-9 record in regular-season conference play. The teams have split the two previous matchups, both played in Ann Arbor, with Michigan winning 26-0 in 1957 and Georgia winning 15-7 in 1965.
"I think the fun is in the preparation," Smart said of playing in the CFP semifinal for a second time in five years. "The fun is in the atmosphere that you get to play in. I think when you get to talk about CFP it is a tremendous opportunity. No matter where you play, no matter where you are in the playoffs you have a grand opportunity. We have a very mature team, we have great leaders, I have full faith and confidence that our guys will handle it the right way. They are also going to be down there for almost a week, so it is not to think that if we were having a game here and it was a big game in Athens for a week our guys all prepare different ways. They spend their time in different locations. I have a lot of confidence that the seniors and the older players will have a good time, a good experience, and when it is time to be focused, be focused. You can’t focus 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and be at your best. We are trying to build to a moment of truth and built that kind of energy and focus where we need it to be at game time.”
The Bulldogs are coming off a 41-24 loss to Alabama in the SEC Championship and Michigan is coming off a 42-3 win over Iowa in the Big Ten Championship. Georgia will be making its 58th bowl game appearance, second-most of any program and the team is 33-21-3 all-time in bowl games. Georgia has the longest active bowl streak in the country at 25 consecutive bowl appearances.