Georgia football is entering the College Football Playoff as one of the hottest teams in the country. The Bulldogs are 12-1 and just rattled of nine straight victories en route to their second straight SEC Championship. This was good enough to earn them the 3-seed in the CFP and a coveted first round bye.
Everyone wants to earn a top four seed and first round bye because that means they have to win one less game to win a national title. On paper that seems like the best path in the playoff by far, but last year shows that couldn't be further from the truth.
2024 CFP curse could haunt Georgia this year
Georgia also earned a first round bye last year just like they did this season. However, that bye did not help them as they lost their first game of the playoff to Notre Dame in the quarterfinals.
Losing the first game of their playoff run is not what anyone was hoping would happen to Georgia, especially after they had extra time off to prepare for this game. But Georgia wasn't the only team to lose after having a first round bye. In fact, all four teams who had a bye last season lost in the quarterfinals. This includes 1-seed Oregon losing to Ohio State, 3-seed Boise State losing to Penn Statwe and 4-seed Arizona State losing to Texas.
This season is only the second year the 12-team playoff has existed, but so far teams that received a bye have not won a single game. That is a curse Georgia is hoping to break in a few weeks when they play in their quarterfinals matchup on Jan. 1.
Georgia will play the winner for the first round matchup between Ole Miss and Tulane, and while that may seem like a favorable draw, anything is possible at this point in the season.