Georgia football moved up one spot to No. 4 in the third edition of the College Football Playoff rankings on Tuesday. This is exactly where Georgia wants to be because they control their own destiny when it comes to making the playoff, and they can even afford another loss before they will lose their place in the field.
But what if moving into the top four was actually a bad thing for Georgia? What if UGA would be better off staying outside the top four altogether?
Unfortunately there are a few reasons why being ranked inside the top four is not a good thing for Georgia.
Georgia may have been better off staying outside the CFP's top 4
Last season the top four seeds in the CFP were reserved for the four highest ranked conference champions. One of those spots went to Georgia after they won the SEC Championship over Texas, but that spot would not be guaranteed to them this year.
The CFP will still give an automatic bid to the five highest ranked conference champions, but none of them are a guaranteed a top four seed. So Georgia, who may not even make it to Atlanta to play for an SEC title, could earn a top four seed and first round bye without even playing for a conference championship.
While this does sound like a good thing, history shows it is not. Sure the 12-team CFP has only existed for one season, but in that one season the four teams who received a first round bye (including Georgia) all lost their first matchup in the quarterfinals. So is having that extra time off actually a good thing?
And in Georgia's case this season, they could have even more time off because they may not play the first week of December during conference championship week either.
So while it may sound nice to get a bye into the quarterfinals of the playoff, it may not actually be in their best interest. But since Georgia has two relatively easy games to finish out their season, it looks like they are well on their way to getting another bye this year.