Some of the biggest names in college football are in the mix for the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. So are a few that won’t command quite as many eyeballs.
The 56th Peach Bowl could be lucky and land a matchup from among Alabama, Penn State and Texas (besides Alabama-Texas, the two teams having already played this season). In the final year of the four-team playoff, bringing two top-10 teams that boast among the larger and more loyal fan bases to Atlanta would be a plum.
Or, the College Football Playoff selection committee could send Tulane and Missouri toward Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a pairing that would get hearts pumping at roughly the same rate that they were before the announcement of the matchup.
Peach Bowl CEO Gary Stokan will learn the assignment Sunday afternoon when the CFP announces the four-team playoff followed by the matchups for the New Year’s Six bowls, including the Peach Bowl on Dec. 30.
“All these brands – Texas, Alabama, Penn State – that’s a great situation we’re in,” Stokan told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday. “All those teams are potential for us with great brands – some of the best brands in college football.”
Next season, the format changes when the playoffs expand to 12 teams. The Peach Bowl will have a quarterfinals game on New Year’s Day 2025, and Atlanta will host the CFP Championship game 19 days later. In the 2025 season, the Peach Bowl will have a semifinal.
Through this season, the Peach Bowl has been in a rotation to be a CFP semifinal game or stage a game between two of the higher-ranked teams (with a few exceptions) outside the top four in years when they don’t have a semifinal.
To conclude this chapter of the Peach Bowl’s history, a Penn State-Alabama matchup – between college football heavyweights who haven’t played since 2011 – would add meaningful heft.
The pool of possible teams will remain fluid until the final rankings are made after the slate of conference championship games this weekend. But if form were to hold and rankings remained static from Tuesday’s update, the Peach Bowl’s most likely options would include No. 5 Oregon, No. 7 Texas, No. 8 Alabama, No. 9 Missouri, No. 10 Penn State and No. 22 Tulane (which is in the mix as the highest-ranking school from a non-power conference).
If you’re wondering about No. 6 Ohio State, the Buckeyes would go to the Orange Bowl to play No. 14 Louisville. The latter would go as the highest-ranking ACC team (assuming No. 4 Florida State wins the ACC title over Louisville and advances into the playoff) and the former would earn its Orange invitation as the highest-ranked non-champion team among the Big Ten, SEC and Notre Dame, per the Orange Bowl’s agreement with those entities.
Besides the Peach and Orange, the Cotton and Fiesta are the other two New Year’s Six bowls without semifinals this year. Oregon (or Washington, whichever loses the Pac-12 title game) likely would stay out west in the Fiesta Bowl. In six non-semifinal games in the NY6 era, the Peach has not entertained a team from west of Texas.
There are a couple of factors that affect the puzzle and the Peach’s chances at the most marquee game it can attain. Alabama and Texas can’t play each other as the CFP committee seeks to avoid regular-season rematches. Also, the destination for Tulane (or, if the Green Wave lose to SMU in the American Athletic Conference title game, the highest-ranking team from a Group of 5 conference) is uncertain.
With typically smaller followings, the G5 representative is something of a tagalong little brother in the NY6 conversation. The Cotton Bowl is unlikely for Tulane, as it went there last season (where it upset USC). If the CFP committee tries to have the NY6 bowls share the “opportunity” of hosting the G5 rep, the Fiesta would be the logical destination, as it has had a G5 team twice and less recently than the Cotton (three times in non-semifinal years) and Peach (three times).
While considerations of proximity ultimately could bring the Green Wave (or Liberty, ranked 24th and playing New Mexico State for the Conference USA title) to Atlanta, the CFP tabbing the Fiesta to play host to Oregon (or Washington) and Tulane would help arrange for bigger names to come to Atlanta.
In that case, Alabama, Texas, Missouri and Penn State would remain for the Cotton and Peach. Nothing against the Tigers, but one of these is not like the other. And, actually, on the subject of appealing brand names, Florida State would be a possibility if the Seminoles were to lose to Louisville in the ACC title game. (As the Cardinals would then play in the Orange Bowl.)
And, for that matter, Georgia losing to Alabama in the SEC title game would scramble the picture. That might make the Bulldogs a possibility for the Orange and enter Ohio State into the Peach/Cotton/Fiesta picture. The Buckeyes could be eliminated as a possibility for the Peach as they played Georgia in the CFP semifinal in Atlanta a year ago.
But back to the Alabama/Missouri/Penn State/Texas foursome for the Cotton and Peach. Eliminating Texas-Alabama, the other options are 1) Texas-Penn State and Alabama-Missouri; 2) Texas-Missouri and Alabama-Penn State.
The first option seems a non-starter as Alabama and Missouri are both in the SEC and, further, are scheduled to play next year. (Texas does join the SEC next year, but at least doesn’t play Missouri next season.)
Another question is whether the selection committee would take into consideration sending Alabama back to Atlanta less than a month after playing there for the SEC championship and likewise assigning Texas to Arlington, Texas, for the Cotton Bowl after playing the Big 12 title game there.
In an ideal world for the Peach Bowl, Alabama-Penn State will pop up next to its logo Sunday afternoon for an iconic matchup. Texas-Penn State would be inviting, too.
But don’t forget about Tulane-Missouri!
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