With October winding down, serious College Football Playoff conversations will commence shortly thereafter the Georgia Bulldogs' next game. Georgia will be on its second annual bye this weekend before facing arch rival Florida in The Cocktail Party on Nov. 1. The first College Football Playoff Rankings for the 2025-26 college season will be coming on Tuesday, Nov. 4 around 8:00 p.m. ET.
At 6-1 on the season and 4-1 in SEC play, Georgia stands a great chance of making the College Football Playoff as is. According to ESPN's Football Power Index, Georgia enters Week 9 with an 81.5-percentage chance of making the 12-team field. Any team that is over 75 percent at this stage of the game is approaching borderline lock territory. There are three teams above 90 percent at this time...
So while last week's College Football Playoff bracket simulation proved that seeding is once again everything for Georgia, can the Dawgs get a better draw this time around? Getting the big home win over Ole Miss now gives Georgia its second win over a ranked conference opponent. The Dawgs still have two ranked teams left on the schedule with Texas at home and vs. Georgia Tech over in Atlanta.
Without further ado, let's take a look at what 12 teams would be making the playoff in this simulation.
Projected College Football Playoff bracket ahead of Week 9
Based only ESPN's FPI, these are the 12 teams who would be making the College Football Playoff.
- Ohio State Buckeyes (7-0): Projected Big Ten champion (96.6 playoff percentage)
- Indiana Hoosiers (7-0): Projected Big Ten runner-up (94.2 playoff percentage)
- Alabama Crimson Tide (6-1): Projected SEC champion (90.6 playoff percentage)
- Texas A&M Aggies (7-0): Projected SEC runner-up (83.6 playoff percentage)
- Georgia Bulldogs (6-1): Projected SEC at-large (81.5 playoff percentage)
- Oregon Ducks (6-1): Projected Big Ten at-large (75.5 playoff percentage)
- BYU Cougars (7-0): Projected Big 12 champion (52.1 playoff percentage)
- Ole Miss Rebels (6-1): Projected SEC at-large (48.4 playoff percentage)
- South Florida Bulls (6-1): Projected AAC/Group of Five champion (45.9 playoff percentage)
- Miami Hurricanes (5-1): Projected ACC champion (44.9 playoff percentage)
- Oklahoma Sooners (6-1): Projected SEC at-large (42.9 playoff percentage)
- Texas Tech Red Raiders (6-1): Projected Big 12 runner-up (42.5 playoff percentage)
For a bit more context, these would be the first four teams out of the playoff field in this exercise.
- 13. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (7-0): Projected ACC runner-up (41.6 playoff percentage)
- 14. Texas Longhorns (5-2): SEC (40.0 playoff percentage)
- 15. Vanderbilt Commodores (6-1): SEC (34.7 playoff percentage)
- 16. Missouri Tigers (6-1): SEC (31.5 playoff percentage)
Georgia comes in fifth behind Ohio State, Indiana, Alabama and Texas A&M getting byes. While there could be some argument for Georgia getting the No. 4 seed over Texas A&M, the Aggies have yet to lose a game this season as one of the six remaining undefeated teams. All of the Aggies' toughest remaining games will be on the road at LSU, Missouri and Texas to end the season. Let's be patient...
Now that we know who is making the 12-team field in this exercise, let's look at the first round now!
Projected College Football Playoff first-round matchups and byes
Here are the four teams that will be getting first-round byes, as well as the four first-round matchups.
- No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes (BYE)
- No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers (BYE)
- No. 3 Alabama Crimson Tide (BYE)
- No. 4 Texas A&M Aggies (BYE)
- No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs vs. No. 12 Texas Tech Red Raiders
- No. 6 Oregon Ducks vs. No. 11 Oklahoma Sooners
- No. 7 BYU Cougars vs. No. 10 Miami Hurricanes
- No. 8 Ole Miss Rebels vs. No. 9 South Florida Bulls
As stated above, Ohio State, Indiana, Alabama and Texas A&M will get first-round byes. Georgia will effectively be coming off a bye, while drawing Big 12 runner-up Texas Tech Between the Hedges. That might get ugly. Go Dawgs! Oregon will draw an Oklahoma team that just might be happy to be there. Then again, maybe Oregon is more of a paper tiger than the Sooners? John Mateer can really play!
So with Georgia advancing over Texas Tech and Oklahoma upsetting Oregon, who else would be moving on in this exercise? BYU may have won the Big 12, but Miami is more talented, regardless of this first-round game being in Provo. As for Ole Miss hosting South Florida in Oxford, the Rebels may be able to score too many points for the Bulls to handle. They will win the No. 8 vs. No. 9 game easily.
Let's now turn our attention to what eight college teams will be playing in the national quarterfinals.
Projected College Football Playoff bracket national quarterfinals
These would be the matchups in the first four New Year's Six bowls in this playoff bracket simulation.
- Rose Bowl: No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes vs. No. 8 Ole Miss Rebels
- Orange Bowl: No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers vs. No. 10 Miami Hurricanes
- Sugar Bowl: No. 3 Alabama Crimson Tide vs. No. 11 Oklahoma Sooners
- Cotton Bowl: No. 4 Texas A&M Aggies vs. No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs
Ohio State would pick the Rose Bowl and will face Ole Miss in Pasadena. Indiana may end up picking the Cotton Bowl, but in this exercise, they go to the Orange Bowl to face Miami in their building. The Sugar Bowl will be a rematch from the regular season with Alabama playing Oklahoma over in New Orleans. Georgia would then be playing not far from Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl over in Arlington.
Ohio State proves to be too ferocious in all three phases for Ole Miss to contain. Miami does put a scare in Indiana, but Fernando Mendoza outduels Carson Beck when it matters most. The cute story of Oklahoma finally comes to an end at the hands of Alabama. Georgia proves to Texas A&M it was built for this big stage, while the Aggies sandwich a bye with back-to-back losses to SEC programs.
With four more teams out of it, let's take a look at who will be playing in the national semifinals here.
Projected College Football Playoff bracket national semifinals
There are only three games left to be played in this 12-team tournament, so here are two of them.
- Peach Bowl: No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes vs. No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs
- Fiesta Bowl: No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers vs. No. 3 Alabama Crimson Tide
Ohio State may regret taking the Peach Bowl, but will take on Georgia in the Dawgs' backyard. This is the same building where Georgia beat them to ring in 2023. Ohio State also just won a national championship in Atlanta back in January. Kirby Smart asserts his dominance over Ryan Day once again to win this one. Ohio State having not lost a game up to this point comes back to haunt them.
As far as the other national semifinal going on in the Fiesta Bowl, No. 2 Indiana will be taking on No. 3 Alabama in what could be a game for the ages. It will be Kalen DeBoer's team vs. his former employer. If Alabama wins this game, the Crimson Tide will win it all. However, Fernando Mendoza proves to be just sharp enough to keep Ty Simpson and the Crimson Tide offense at bay. This will be an all-timer.
So it will be a pair of teams who wear red and have ties to Tom Crean playing in the national title bout.
Projected College Football Playoff bracket national championship
As shocking as it might have seemed to start the year, Georgia will play Indiana for it all in Miami.
- College Football Playoff National Championship: No. 2 Indiana Hoosiers vs. No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs
This is where the train stops for Indiana. While they will have suffered a loss on the season to presumably Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship in this exercise, the Hoosiers may not have the depth to compete with Georgia in the final minutes. Frankly, this may be Indiana's best shot at winning a national title this year, but Georgia was built for this a year ago. The pathway opened up quite nicely.
In the end, Georgia enters its second bye of the season as one of six virtual playoff locks with Ohio State, Indiana, Alabama, Texas A&M and Oregon. While getting the No. 5 seed is not as good as getting the No. 4, being on the other side of the bracket from projected SEC champion Alabama plays massively in Georgia's ability to run this gauntlet. If anyone can do it, it might as well be this program.
Even if you like other teams more than Georgia right now, they could conceivably win it all at No. 5.