Georgia football has found themselves in a unique position in the College Football Playoff rankings that has never happened before. The Bulldogs moved up one spot to No. 4 in the third edition of the CFP rankings that were released earlier this week, and if that is where they stay they will get a first round bye once again this season.
But is that actually a good thing? Many fans would argue that it is because it is one less game Georgia would need to win to win a National Championship. But it actually might be a bad thing for Georgia and their fans because of a new rule in the CFP this season.
New CFP rule could hurt Georgia's chances to win a National Championship
Last year the top four seeds in the CFP were reserved for the four highest ranked conference champions. That however is not the case this season. The five highest ranked conference champions still automatically qualify for the playoff, but every seed in the playoff is determined by the committee's final rankings now.
This puts Georgia in a unique spot because they could earn a top four seed without having to play in the SEC Championship game.
As it stands today their spot in the SEC title game is not locked up. There are a few scenarios that would send Georgia to Atlanta, but there is a chance they don't even make it to the SEC Championship game. If that happened though, and Georgia wins their final two regular season games, they should have a top four seed and first round bye in the playoff locked up.
This could be bad for Georgia though because they would have to go over a month without playing a football game. That could make it tough for them to kick it into gear once they finally play their first playoff game against a team who would have just won their first round matchup. On top of that, Georgia fans would have to go over a month without watching UGA play as well, and that wouldn't be much fun this time of the year either.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but for now the Bulldogs have a chance to get a first round bye in the playoff without having to play in the SEC Championship game. And while that may sound like a good thing, it ultimately could hurt their chances at winning a National Championship.