"To say that we haven’t thought about that, of course we have. Everybody’s thought about that."
For the fourth time in nine seasons, the College Football Playoff will feature two teams from the same conference after No. 2 Michigan and No. 4 Ohio State clinched a spot in this year’s semifinals.
Alabama and Georgia have done it twice before, creating an all-SEC national championship in 2018 and 2022, while Clemson and honorary ACC member Notre Dame did it during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, though both fell in the semifinals.
If the Buckeyes and Wolverines are victorious in the Peach and Fiesta bowls later this month, it would lead to a rematch of Michigan’s 45-23 win in Columbus from just eight days ago and mark the first-ever postseason matchup between the two Big Ten rivals.
That said, the stakes could not get any higher than a hypothetical matchup at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Jan. 9, 2023, with 321 days of bragging rights and the national title on the line.
“You don’t want to get ahead of yourself, but that would be unbelievable,” head coach Ryan Day said during his press conference on Sunday afternoon. “It would be historic to have that opportunity. To say that we haven’t thought about that, of course we have. Everybody’s thought about that.”
Of course, it would be foolish for either team to dream about the possibilities, though, as the defending national champion Bulldogs and third-ranked TCU could just as easily make it a Big Ten-less national championship.
“If someone said at the beginning of the year that you get to go play the national champs in Georgia, let’s go do it,” Day said. “You’ve got to go play those guys in order to play for a national championship.
“That’s where our focus is going to go, and then we’ll go from there. They’re a very good team … Big challenge for everybody across the board, but something that – going into the season – we knew we were going to be in this situation to go play for it all and Georgia was going to be in the way.”
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