It is not about making the College Football Playoff anymore for Georgia, but rather where the Bulldogs will be seeded in this year's 12-team tournament. According to ESPN's Football Power Index, Georgia has a staggering 81.5-percentage chance to make the field entering Week 10. That is the fifth best in the country, but third in the SEC behind Texas A&M at 96.0 and Alabama at 92.4 percent.
While Georgia is comfortably inside the College Football Playoff bubble entering yet another week, they may not get the necessary break they are hoping for, which is to avoid playing Alabama in a neutral-site affair for as long as possible. Alabama has the fourth-best odds to make the playoff behind Indiana (96.8), Ohio State (96.4) and Texas A&M (96.0). Maybe the Dawgs will catch a break?
After Saturday's slate of games, these would be the 12 teams in Heather Dinich's playoff bracket.
- Ohio State Buckeyes (7-0): Projected Big Ten champion
- Indiana Hoosiers (8-0): Projected Big Ten runner-up
- Alabama Crimson Tide (7-1): Projected SEC champion
- Texas A&M Aggies (8-0): Projected SEC runner-up
- Georgia Bulldogs (6-1): Projected SEC at-large
- Ole Miss Rebels (7-1): Projected SEC at-large
- Miami Hurricanes (6-1): Projected ACC champion
- Oregon Ducks (7-1): Projected Big Ten at-large
- Vanderbilt Commodores (7-1): Projected SEC at-large
- BYU Cougars (8-0): Projected Big 12 champion
- Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (8-0): Projected ACC runner-up
- Memphis Tigers (7-1): Projected AAC/Group of Five champion
Let the record show Notre Dame would be her first team out, as we have to get the Group of Five in.
A few days later, Dinich placed all Power Four teams and a few Group of Five teams into these pods.
- Would be in (12): Alabama, BYU, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Memphis, Miami, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
- On the cusp (3): Notre Dame, Texas Tech, Virginia
- Work to do (19): Boise State, Cincinnati, Houston, Iowa, James Madison, Louisville, Michigan, Missouri, Navy, North Texas, Oklahoma, San Diego State, South Florida, Tennessee, Texas, Tulane, UNLV, USC, Washington
- Would be out (17): Arizona, Arizona State, California, Duke, Illinois, Iowa State, LSU, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Pittsburgh, SMU, TCU, UCF, Utah, Wake Forest
- Out (25): Arkansas, Auburn, Baylor, Boston College, Clemson, Colorado, Florida, Florida State, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Michigan State, Mississippi State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Rutgers, South Carolina, Stanford, Syracuse, UCLA, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Wisconsin
Should Alabama be the No. 3 seed as Dinich forecasts, Georgia will be getting the break that it needs!
Georgia can have its cake and eat it too with this latest playoff bracket
On paper, Georgia is one of a handful of teams that has the necessary depth and overall coaching accumen to conceivably win this year's national championship. Of the 12 teams listed in Dinich's field, the top-eight seeds all have somewhat of a shot. While Indiana and Ole Miss may have the coaching to run the gauntlet, a lack of depth may prove problematic. The other six have the bodies to survive it.
Not to say that there are any real coaching disadvantages among the top eight, but only Kirby Smart and Ryan Day have won the College Football Playoff before. Curt Cignetti, Kalen DeBoer and Dan Lanning have all been to at least once before. This would be untrodden territory for Mario Cristobal, Mike Elko and Lane Kiffin leading programs. Once again, Georgia is on the good side of things here.
For as great of head coaches as Smart and Day are, DeBoer seems to be the one who could instill fear in the opposition. He has beaten Smart twice. Oregon had a Washington problem when DeBoer was in Seattle. Again, these are are all strong coaches, but everything has to come together week over week over week to come out on top in the playoff. For Georgia, just avoid Alabama for a while.
Georgia can beat anyone in this field, but it also capable of losing the first playoff game it plays again.