College Football Playoff, 2022 New Year’s Six bowl projections after Week 4

College Football Playoff

Peach Bowl

1 Alabama v 4 Clemson 

Fiesta Bowl

2 Ohio State vs 3 Georgia 

In my projected playoff, I have the four dominant programs of the past decade all making the dance.

The fourth seed and first time on our projections are the Clemson Tigers. Their whole season was going to come down to whether quarterback DJ Uageilelei could bounce back from a brutal season in 2021. So far, DJ has bumped his completion percentage from 55.6% in 2021 up to 64.3% this year. It can’t be overstated how big of a jump this is for DJ and the offense.

Clemson faced and won their biggest challenge of the year to date, defeating Wake Forest on the road in overtime. The defense wasn’t great, but that just makes what the offense did all the more impressive. No rest for Clemson though, as they will host NC State this week in a huge game. I like the TIgers to win, and to make their run at another CFP, even if this team isn’t in the same class as previous Clemson squads.

It wouldn’t be a Clemson playoff without them having to face Nick Saban and Alabama. Alabama has looked strong in their two tune-up victories before the meat of their conference schedule kicks in. While Georgia has received all the love so far, Bama has a chance to take back the race for the top spot with some big-time games at Arkansas and Tennessee, sandwiched with a home battle against Texas A&M in between. If Bama gets through that unscathed, they should be #1.

On the other half of the bracket, I have Ohio State returning after missing out on the playoff last year. Right now, I don’t think there’s a better offense, and quarterback in the country than C.J. Stroud right now. Stroud has a 16 to 1 TD/INT ratio…yeah, that’s pretty good. While Jaxson Smith-Njigba has been injured. The supporting cast has not missed a beat. The Buckeyes look like one of the best teams in the country.

Facing off against the Buckeyes in the Fiesta Bowl is third-seeded Georgia. The Bulldogs, having laid waste to everyone so far, although they didn’t look dominant in a 39-22 win over Kent State. While I expect the Bulldogs to be ranked #1 or #2 for the entire regular season, their final ranking will come down to what they do in the SEC championship. Here, we’re projecting the Bulldogs will lose to Bama, fall to the #3 seed, and hope to repeat 2021 all over again.

College Football Playoff National Championship

1 Alabama v 2 Ohio State

Four weeks into our projections, and we continue to hold the line: Alabama vs Ohio State in the national championship. In a rematch from 2021, nearly all the pieces changed. Many teams (Georgia) will have something to say about this projection, but for now we project the biggest stars in the game to meet in the LAnd of stars.