One of the biggest college football games of the year takes place tonight. In Game 2 of the College Football Playoff semifinal, the Michigan Wolverines take on the Georgia Bulldogs. The matchup, which is also the Orange Bowl, will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN. It will also stream on ESPN.com and the ESPN app.
Michigan (12-1) is playing in its first College Football Playoff after having a memorable regular season. The Wolverines took down Ohio State for the first time since 2011 and went on to win the Big Ten Championship. The team is led by running back Hassan Haskins who has rushed for 1,294 yards and 20 touchdowns this season. Defensive lineman Adian Hutchinson had a Heisman-like year with 15.5 tackles for loss and 14 sacks.
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“It’s just a blessing to be down here with the team and this great weather out here in Florida,” Haskins told reporters this week, per 247 Sports. “We’ve just did like different events, like Cade said earlier. We just did team bonding. We went to the beach one day, and we did different events like that, so they’re definitely bringing the team closer and just bonding.”
Georgia (12-1) was the No. 1 team in the country for half the season. The Bulldogs dipped in the rankings after losing to Alabama in the SEC Championship but still have a good chance of winning it all due to them having arguably the best roster in the country. Anchored by defensive lineman Jordan Davis and linebacker Nakobe Dean, Georgia has the No. 1-ranked defense in all of college football. The running game is also strong as running backs Zamir White and James Cook have rushed for over 1,300 yards and 17 touchdowns combined.
“The fact that you’re in the playoff, it makes the practices so much more energetic, the work ethic so much better, and coming off the loss at the SEC Championship, certainly disappointing, but it was also a little bit of an awakening for our guys of where the brutal truths and how can we work on those,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart told reporters this week, per 247Sports. “You grow probably the most you grow in a year after a loss, and things are made a lot more relevant to you when you have those.”
