2018 Peach Bowl (December)


The 2018 Peach Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 29, 2018. It was the 51st edition of the Peach Bowl, and the second Peach Bowl to be played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium. 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 Michigan Wolverines of the Big Ten Conference and the Florida Gators of the Southeastern Conference. Going in to the bowl, the Michigan defense had given up an average of 263 yards per game, the best in the nation. Florida was the highest-ranked team that did not appear in the preseason AP top 25 poll.

Teams

The game featured the Michigan Wolverines of the Big Ten Conference and the Florida Gators of the Southeastern Conference 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.

Michigan Wolverines

After finishing their regular season with a 10–2 record, 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, DL Rashan Gary, and LB Devin Bush Jr., sat out the game in order to focus on the 2019 NFL Draft.

Florida Gators

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

Game summary

Scoring summary

Statistics

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