No. 4 Ohio State makes its first appearance in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl and it will be on the largest of stages: a College Football Playoff semifinal matchup in prime time (8 p.m.) against defending national champion and No. 1 Georgia at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Game time is 8 p.m.
Ohio State is 11-1 on the season, was 8-1 and runner-up in the Big Ten East Division and was ranked in the Top 3 nationally all season. The Buckeyes are one of only two one-loss teams – TCU is the other – and both are in the CFP behind unbeaten Georgia and Michigan, both 13- 0, respectively.
THE BASICS
No. 4 Ohio State vs. No. 1 Georgia • Saturday, Dec. 31 • When: 8 p.m. ET • Where: Mercedes-Benz Stadium • TV: ESPN
• Radio: 97.1 The Fan
OHIO STATE AND THE CFP
- The 2022 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl is Ohio State’s 54th post-season bowl game all-time, the most among Big Ten teams. Ohio State has a 26-27 record all-time in post-season bowl games.
- 2022 is Ohio State’s ninth year playing in a New Year’s 6 (including CFP games) postseason game, or every year since the start of the CFP era. No other team has been to a New Year’s 6 game all nine years.
FIFTH COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF APPERANCE
- Ohio State has played in five of the nine College Football Playoffs since their inception in 2014.
- Ohio State won that inaugural CFP as a No. 4 seed with wins over No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Oregon.
- Coach Ryan Day has led Ohio State to three CFPs. His Buckeyes are 1-2 in CFP games with a last-second loss to Clemson in 2019 (29-23), a win over Clemson in 2020 (49-28), and a loss to Alabama in the 2021 CFP championship game (52-24).
CFP HISTORY
- The Chick-fi l-A Peach Bowl will be the seventh College Football Playoff game for Ohio State.
- Only Alabama (13) and Clemson (10) have played in more games.
- In the Buckeyes’ three wins, they’ve averaged 44.3 points per game and scored 42 or more each time. In their three losses, they’ve averaged just 15.6 points per game.
- Ohio State and Alabama are tied for the most all-time appearances in the College Football Playoff poll with 54.
- The Buckeyes’ average rank is 5.26, which is second only to Alabama at 3.02.
BUCKEYES IN BRIEF
- The Buckeyes finished the regular season with an 11-1 record with all 11 of its wins coming by double digits.
- Ohio State is Top 10 nationally in total offense (6th; 492.7) and 12th in total defense (303.9).
- The Buckeye offense is scoring 44.5 points per game – 2nd nationally – and has scored 55 of 58 times in the red zone for the second-highest percentage in the country (.948).
- Ohio State is tied for 4th nationally with 44 red zone touchdowns. Georgia is No. 1 with 48.
- Ohio State still ranks tied for 23rd nationally in turnover margin with 17 turnovers forced, vs. only eight turnovers for a plus-0.52 per game average.
- Ohio State has a Top 15 defense nationally. Ohio State is 12th in total defense (303.9).
- Ohio State has a Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl roster that includes 20 graduates.
DID YOU KNOW?
Ohio State was the most-watched college football team in 2022 with 70.3 million total viewers?
OHIO STATE GAME NOTES
https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/13_OSUvsUGA-FINAL.pdf
OHIO STATE 2022 MEDIA GUIDE
https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/2022-football-media-guide/
GEORGIA GAME NOTES
https://georgiadogs.com/news/2022/12/16/football-postseason-media-guide.aspx
BIG TEN CONFERENCE HOMEPAGE
https://bigten.org/sports/football
SIX ALL-AMERICANS
- A total of six Ohio State Buckeyes have earned All-American honors for the 2022 season
- WR Marvin Harrison Jr.
- OT Paris Johnson Jr.
- LB Tommy Eichenberg
- QB C.J. Stroud
- OT Dawand Jones
- SAF Ronnie Hickman
- Highlighting the group is unanimous first-team All-American Harrison Jr. and consensus All-American Johnson Jr.
- Harrison is Ohio State’s 37th unanimous All-American while he and Johnson are the 90th and 91st Buckeyes to achieve at least consensus status.
OHIO STATE POSTSEASON AWARDS
https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/2022-football-awards-hub/
100 YEARS OF OHIO STADIUM
https://ohiostatebuckeyes.com/the-shoe-100-the-game/
COURTESY OSU ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
