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The Michigan Wolverines became the first team to make the College Football Playoffs without being a ranked team entering the season. Now, in order to cash in on this rare opportunity, the Maize and Blue need to pull off an upset over Georgia in the semifinals at the Orange Bowl.
Kickoff at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida on New Year’s Eve is at 7:30 p.m. ET with the winner advancing to the National Championship Game on January 10 against the survivor of the other semifinal game as Alabama takes on Cincinnati earlier in the day in the Cotton Bowl.
— gambling911 (@gambling911) December 30, 2021
Michigan enters with a 12-2 record and its biggest win of the Jim Harbaugh Era came on Thanksgiving Weekend when the Wolverines finally beat their arch rival, Ohio State, in dominating fashion, 42-27. Michigan followed that up by routing Iowa, 42-3, in the Big 10 Championship Game, punching its ticket to the playoffs.
As for Georgia, Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs were the top-ranked team in the nation for the entire season, winning winning 11 straight games by 24 points or more, but dreams of a perfect season came to a crashing halt in the SEC Championship Game earlier this month when Alabama handed them their first defeat of the season against 12 wins.
Despite the 41-24 loss to Bama, Georgia still leads the country in scoring defense, allowing just 9.5 points per game, and is second in total defense (254.4 yards per game). But the SEC Title Game definitely proved there are chinks in the armour as the Crimson Tide put up 41 points and totalled 536 yards of total offense.
With that said, expect the Wolverines, who rank No. 12 in the nation with 37.7 points per game, to find some running room and use the play-action pass to their advantage against the Bulldogs, whose pass rush should be neutralized by a Michigan offensive line that is ranked No. 2 in the country in sacks allowed. The same could be said for the Georgia offense, which operates behind an offensive line that is also Top 5 in the country in protecting its quarterback, and ranks seventh in scoring offense with 39.4 points per game.
Michigan has gone over the total in seven of its last nine games as an underdog and is also 35-16 to the over when facing winning teams. This total is a shade too low, so let’s play over the 45 points at the Orange Bowl where perfect football conditions are in the forecast.
- Tommy V, Gambling911.com Sports Handicapper
