By Nicholas Rydzewski, Kai Gannon, and Cole Edwards

The New Year’s six are six college football games that rotate on hosting the college football semifinals, which then determines who plays in the college football national championship game. The rotation is set on a three-year cycle with the following pairings: Rose-Sugar, Orange-Cotton, and Fiesta-Peach. 

Game 1: Peach

As the first of the 6, the Peach Bowl kicked off on December 30, 2021, in Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Also known as the Atlanta Falcons Stadium) between the Michigan State Spartans and the Pittsburgh Panthers. In the first half, the Spartans were losing 14-10. This was only to make a comeback and win 31-21. QB Peyton Throne threw 50 times with 29 completions for 354 yards and three TDs. Opposing quarterback Davis Beville had nothing to compare.

Game 2: Cotton

On the day of the New Year, the 1st seed Alabama played the 4th seed Cincinnati at AT&T stadium in Arlington, Texas. In the first half of this matchup, Alabama was beating Cincinnati 17-3. It wasn’t too much of a blowout yet, but in the end, Alabama beat Cincinnati 27-6, with Cincinnati only scoring two field goals throughout the entire game. Alabama’s running back Brian Robinson Jr. rushed for a career-high of 204 rushing yards while the team as a whole gained 304 yards on the ground.

Game 3: Orange 

Also, on New Year’s eve, 2nd seed Michigan faced off against the 3rd seed Georgia at Hard Rock Stadium (The Miami Dolphins Stadium) in Miami, Florida. In the first half of this game, the Bulldogs led by a whopping 24 points! Michigan’s fate was already set by halftime. The ending score was 34-11 in a blowout by Georgia. Some honorable players from the game included Quarterback Stetson Bennet for the bulldogs; he threw for 310 yards, three TDs, and 0 interceptions. 

Game 4: Fiesta

The first of 3 on New Year’s day, the 5th seed Notre Dame faced off against the 9th seed Oklahoma State in State Farm Stadium (The Arizona Cardinals Stadium) at 1 P.M. Phoenix, Arizona. In the first half of this game, Notre Dame was beating Oklahoma State 28-14, but by the end of the 3rd quarter, the score was 31-28, Oklahoma in the lead. By the end of the game, Oklahoma State won with a score of 37-35. This was a very exciting game for many reasons, but one of them would be that the QBs combined for nine passing touchdowns and 880 yards!

Game 5: Rose

At 5:00 P.M. On New Year’s Day, the game between the 6th seed Ohio State and 11th seed Utah will be played in Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, Calif. In the first half of this matchup, Utah was up by two touchdowns and seemed to have this game in the bag. Well, if you agreed with me, you would have been wrong. Ohio State rallied back to beat Utah in a very exciting matchup, winning the game 48-45, a combined score of nearly 100.

Game 6: Sugar

The very last of these games, 7th seed Baylor and 8th seed Ole Miss took off at 8:45 on New Year’s day at Caesars Superdome. In the first half of this game, Baylor started off with a 7-0 lead. By the third quarter, Ole Miss had tied the game up 7-7, but it wasn’t enough for Ole Miss because Baylor had scored two more touchdowns making the score 21-7 by the last second. Even though Ole Miss lost the game, they still got a 96-yard pick-six to score their only touchdown of the game.