The 2018 Peach Bowl was a college football

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...

played on December 29, 2018. It was the 51st edition of the

Peach Bowl The Peach Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Atlanta, Georgia since December 1968. Since 1997, it has been sponsored by Chick-fil-A and is officially known as the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. From 2006 to 2013, it was officially r ...

, and the second Peach Bowl to be played in

Mercedes-Benz Stadium Mercedes-Benz Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Opened in August 2017 as a replacement for the Georgia Dome, it serves as the home stadium of the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL ...

. The game was one of the College Football Playoff New Year's Six bowl games, and one of the 2018–19 bowl games concluding the 2018 FBS football season. Sponsored by the Chick-fil-A restaurant franchise, the game was officially known as the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. The game featured the

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni and its sports fans are often collectively referred to as th ...

of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

and the

Michigan Wolverines The Michigan Wolverines comprise 29 varsity sports teams at the University of Michigan. These teams compete in the NCAA's Division I and in the Big Ten Conference in all sports except women's water polo, which competes in the NCAA inter-divisio ...

of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conferen ...

. Going in to the bowl, Florida was the highest-ranked team that did not appear in the preseason AP top 25 poll. Michigan's defense had given up an average of 263 yards per game, the best in the nation.

Teams

The game featured the

of the

(SEC) and the

of the

in their fifth meeting against each other. Michigan had won each of its prior games against Florida, most recently in the 2017 Advocare Classic by a score of 33–17.

Florida Gators

After finishing their regular season with a 9–3 record (5–3 in conference), the Gators were selected to their third Peach Bowl appearance. This was their 44th bowl game appearance.

Michigan Wolverines

After finishing their regular season with a 10–2 record (8–1 in conference), the Wolverines were selected to their first Peach Bowl appearance. This was their 47th bowl game appearance, tied for 11th-highest total all-time among FBS schools. Several Michigan players, including RB

Karan Higdon Karan Higdon (born September 8, 1996) is an American football running back who is a free agent. He played college football at Michigan. Early years Higdon grew up in Sarasota, Florida, and attended that city's Riverview High School where he ...

, DL Rashan Gary, and LB

Devin Bush Jr. Devin Marquese Bush Jr. (born July 18, 1998) is an American football inside linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Michigan. Early years Bush was born in 1998. He is the son ...

, sat out the game in order to focus on the

2019 NFL Draft The 2019 NFL Draft was the 84th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players for the 2019 NFL season. The draft was held on April 25–27 in Nashville, Tennessee. The first round was held on April ...

Game summary

Scoring summary

Statistics

Note: 74,006 was the officially announced attendance figure; "turnstile count" subsequently reported as 68,413.

References

External links

*
Box score
at

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:2018 Peach Bowl (12)

Peach Bowl Florida Gators football bowl games Michigan Wolverines football bowl games 2018 in sports in Georgia (U.S. state) December 2018 sports events in the United States 2018 in Atlanta