It is always something... Fresh off their fifth win of the season and third in SEC play, the Georgia Bulldogs enter play in Week 8 as one of the undisputed 10 best teams in the country. No. 9 Georgia will welcome No. 5 Ole Miss Between the Hedges in what could be an early College Football Playoff preview. Both teams have given off early vibes as being among the 12 teams to make it in this year.
That being said, everyone's path into the playoff is and will be different. As is the case with last year's tournament, seeding is everything. No, this is not just about getting the top overall seed or one of the four first-round byes. It is about getting one favorable matchup after another with each and every stage of the tournament. For a team like Georgia, the road to Miami was never going to be that easy.
So what we are going to do today is look at who would be making the playoff if the season ended today, based solely on ESPN's Football Power Index. We will be taking the 12 teams with the best playoff percentage chances and putting together at field. Georgia has been a playoff-caliber team all season long, but it has fluctuated up and down as to where it would be seeded in this tournament.
Without further ado, let's see who would be making the College Football Playoff at this point in time.
Projected College Football Playoff bracket ahead of Week 8
Looking at this week's playoff percentages from FPI, here is who will likely make the playoff field.
- Ohio State Buckeyes (6-0): Projected Big Ten champion (95.8 playoff percentage)
- Indiana Hoosiers (6-0): Projected Big Ten runner-up (92.6 playoff percentage)
- Alabama Crimson Tide (5-1): Projected SEC champion (84.5 playoff percentage)
- Miami Hurricanes (5-0): Projected ACC champion (80.8 playoff percentage)
- Texas A&M Aggies (6-0): Projected SEC runner-up (78.7 playoff percentage)
- Georgia Bulldogs (5-1): Projected SEC at-large (72.0 playoff percentage)
- Texas Tech Red Raiders (6-0): Projected Big 12 champion (69.4 playoff percentage)
- Oregon Ducks (5-1): Projected Big Ten at-large (62.8 playoff percentage)
- Ole Miss Rebels (6-0): Projected SEC at-large (59.9 playoff percentage)
- Memphis Tigers (6-0): Projected AAC/Group of Five champion (42.3 playoff percentage)
- BYU Cougars (6-0): Projected Big 12 runner-up (37.4 playoff percentage)
- Texas Longhorns (4-2): Projected SEC at-large (33.6 playoff percentage)
For further reference, these would be the first four teams out of the College Football Playoff field.
- 13. LSU Tigers (5-1): SEC (32.5 playoff percentage)
- 14. South Florida Bulls (5-1): Projected AAC runner-up (30.5 playoff percentage)
- 15. USC Trojans (5-1): Big Ten (30.0 playoff percentage)
- 16. Tennessee Volunteers (5-1): SEC (28.6 playoff percentage)
Georgia would be the No. 6 overall seed and the third of five SEC teams to make it in. Based on where the other teams are situated, the Dawgs will likely finish the season at 10-2 with their second loss to presumably Texas at home. Otherwise, how would a two-loss Texas team make the field of 12? This is when it starts to get really good in forecasting how the second half of the season were to unfold here.
Now that we know who will be playing in this tournament, let's see the matchups and first-round byes.
Projected College Football Playoff first-round matchups and byes
Here are the four teams that will get a first-round bye, as well as the four first-round matchups of note.
- No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes (BYE)
- No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers (BYE)
- No. 3 Alabama Crimson Tide (BYE)
- No. 4 Miami Hurricanes (BYE)
- No. 5 Texas A&M Aggies vs. No. 12 Texas Longhorns
- No. 6 Georgia Bulldogs vs. No. 11 BYU Cougars
- No. 7 Texas Tech Red Raiders vs. No. 10 Memphis Tigers
- No. 8 Oregon Ducks vs. No. 9 Ole Miss Rebels
Ohio State, Indiana, Alabama and Miami will have all earned first-round byes in this bracket. Ohio State will have beaten Indiana to win the Big Ten. Alabama will have beaten Texas A&M to win the SEC. Miami will have emerged out of the ACC in what will be a one-team league this season. The four first-round matchups offer great intrigue, based in large part of Memphis being the No. 10 seed in all this.
Texas A&M would get to host in-state rival Texas after presumably losing Lone Star in Austin. The Aggies are not losing twice in a row to the Longhorns. Georgia should have not any problem beating a BYU team that lost to Texas Tech in the Big 12 title bout. Texas Tech gets such an easy home draw with Memphis coming to town. As for the last one, Oregon has more bodies than Ole Miss does now.
So now that we know who is moving on to the national quarterfinals, here will be those matchups.
Projected College Football Playoff bracket national quarterfinals
These would be the four national quarterfinal designations and who will be playing in each of them.
- Rose Bowl: No. 8 Oregon Ducks vs. No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes
- Orange Bowl: No. 7 Texas Tech Red Raiders vs. No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers
- Sugar Bowl: No. 6 Georgia Bulldogs vs. No. 3 Alabama Crimson Tide
- Cotton Bowl: No. 5 Texas A&M Aggies vs. No. 4 Miami Hurricanes
Oregon will have to go back to their house of horrors to take on Ohio State in the Rose Bowl. Not sure that it is going to work out for the Ducks this time either... Indiana will pick the Orange Bowl, which will make things harder for Texas Tech from an overall travel perspective. This would then set up a frightening Sugar Bowl for the Dawgs, as they will have to take on Alabama over in New Orleans now.
For as much as Georgia would love to avenge its loss to Alabama, this game will be played below The Mason-Dixon Line, so the Crimson Tide will unfortunately roll... Texas A&M may get Miami out of its comfort zone in the Cotton Bowl, but even this game being in the Aggies' glorified backyard may not be enough to thwart a well-rested Miami team. All of the teams who had a bye will be moving on here.
Let's take a look to see who will be playing who in the national semifinals in this playoff simulation.
Projected College Football Playoff bracket national semifinals
These would be the two matchups of note in this College Football Playoff bracket simulation.
- Peach Bowl: No. 4 Miami Hurricanes vs. No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes
- Fiesta Bowl: No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers vs. No. 3 Alabama Crimson Tide
Ohio State and Miami will meet in Atlanta for the Peach Bowl, while Alabama and Indiana will duke it out in the Fiesta Bowl. Over in Phoenix, it will come down to coaching, as Curt Cignetti gets the best of Kalen DeBoer in the biggest game ever for Indiana. In the Peach Bowl, the Miami pass rush proves too much for Julian Sayin to navigate. Ohio State's season ends where it did last year, but way worse.
With Miami and Indiana moving on, who is going to win the national championship in Miami's stadium?
Projected College Football Playoff bracket national championship
Indiana will have played in Miami Gardens twice this year, but not as many times at the Canes will...
- College Football Playoff National Championship: No. 4 Miami Hurricanes vs. No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers
For as great of a ride it has been for the Indiana Hoosiers, they will suffer their second loss on the season by falling to the Miami Hurricanes at their house of worship. Miami will have had to have lost at least one game during the regular season to be seeded No. 4. Once again, it is so hard to see a No. 1 seed ever winning this team because of the national quarterfinals matchup. Miami feels like the team.
As far as what it means for Georgia, getting Alabama in a national quarterfinal is about as rough as it gets. This will only be made worse by the physical game BYU will have given the Dawgs at Sanford Stadium. If Georgia did not have to play Alabama at any point in the tournament, it would be for the better. Georgia could conceivably win it all, or get as far as No. 2-seeded Indiana did in this bracket.
Until proven otherwise, it is getting so incredibly hard to pick Georgia to ever beat Alabama now...