We were one field goal away from getting a spicy matchup of Ohio State and TCU, but the Horned Frogs taking on the Georgia Bulldogs provides a great matchup nonetheless.

Let’s start with the Bulldogs. They had to scratch and claw to take down the Buckeyes, including a couple of blown coverages that allowed huge plays. Quarterback Stetson Bennett IV was stymied early and often before taking advantage of a defense that was really aggressive and got burned. The offense had a renewed ability to take the ball deep with Arian Smith and Adonai Mitchell. The one element that could become a major factor was the injury to tight end Darnell Washington. The Bulldogs thrive using 12 and 13 personnel with their tremendous tight ends, but that will be limited without the dominant force of Washington if he can’t go.

The Horned Frogs proved that they could match the physicality of Michigan and if they can do it against the Wolverines, they have a chance against the Bulldogs. Some of what happened could be considered "unsustainable" as they had two goal line stands and two pick-sixes. They can’t expect that to be duplicated, but the offense held their own. Max Duggan made some plays but it was the running game that made the difference with 263 yards on the ground. Star running back Kendre Miller injured his right knee early in the game and couldn’t continue after trying early in the third quarter. His backup Emari Demercado was great in his place rushing for 150 yards on just 17 carries. They will need Miller back to really put it to the Bulldogs defense.

The game itself is going to be a fascinating one, as the big question will be if Hypnotoad can match the Bulldogs physically. After their performance against Michigan, I think they will and can cover the 13.5-point spread. In fact, I think they will find a way to win this game. The Horned Frogs feel special and it’s not like we haven’t seen big underdogs win a national title before. 2002 Ohio State, 2006 Florida and 2014 Ohio State are the ones that come to the forefront and TCU will find a way to join them.

— Tyler Forness

What an incredible bowl season despite all the opt outs and pregame transfers. The two semifinal playoff games collectively were the best games we have witnessed in the playoff era. The National Championship game will have to be extraordinary to live up to what we experienced this last weekend. It’s obvious the oddsmakers, and most experts, give the TCU Horned Frogs very little chance of pulling off the unthinkable as 13.5-point underdogs in this matchup. And quite frankly, I tend to agree.

It’s hard to find even one significant edge that TCU has over Georgia in this game. Offensively, both teams are averaging over 39 PPG with TCU averaging 40.3 while Georgia averages 39.2. Georgia’s defense is top 10 in total yards (292.2), rush ypg (77.0) and scoring (12.8), TCU’s defense is significantly weaker as they rank 74th in total yards (384.6), 64th in rush ypg (149.0), and 57th in scoring (25.0). The one area Ohio State was really able to exploit Georgia was in the passing game, but it took two future first-round picks, Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka, balling out in order to do so. While TCU has a potential first rounder in Quentin Johnston, they don’t have enough around him to truly threaten the Georgia secondary.

There just aren’t a lot of realistic ways I envision TCU pulling off this upset without a couple defensive scores and a complete meltdown by Georgia. The real question is whether we should take TCU with the points at +13.5. While the Horned Frogs are 10-3-1 against the spread this year, to keep this game within two touchdowns would be a major victory. Personally, I’d lay the points with Georgia in this matchup.

— Josh Chevalier