Goodbye AP Poll and hello College Football Playoff rankings. The AP Poll can finally be thrown to the curb now that the CFP rankings, the only thing that truly matters, are being released every Tuesday night.
Georgia football is in an interesting spot since they already have one loss this season. However, they currently look like one of the best teams in the country and will surely be ranked pretty high in the initial CFP rankings. But how high was Georgia ranked and what does that say about the rest of their season?
Let’s dive in.
College Football Playoff Rankings
CFP Rank | CFP Seed | Team | Bid |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Oregon | Big Ten Champ |
2 | 5 | Ohio State | At-Large |
3 | 2 | Georgia | SEC Champ |
4 | 3 | Miami | ACC Champ |
5 | 6 | Texas | At-Large |
6 | 7 | Penn State | At-Large |
7 | 8 | Tennessee | At-Large |
8 | 9 | Indiana | At-Large |
9 | 4 | BYU | Big 12 Champ |
10 | 10 | Notre Dame | At-Large |
11 | 11 | Alabama | At-Large |
12 | 12 | Boise State | Mountain West Champ |
Key Takeaways
Before diving into the takeaways, it's important to note the difference between the CFP ranking and CFP seed. The CFP rankings are how the committee views the teams 1-12, while the seed is how they would be seeded if the playoffs began today. The four highest ranked conference champions also earn the top four seeds regardless of how high the CFP committee ranks them.
So in the case of Ohio State, they are the No. 2 team in the CFP's rankings, but earn the No. 5 seed because the top four are reserved for conference champions and Oregon is the current Big 10 champion.
Georgia is right where they should be
Kirby Smart’s Bulldogs come in at No. 3 in the CFP's initial rankings. Coming into tonight most thought they would be number two or three, but they ended up coming in right behind Oregon and Ohio State.
Ohio State and Georgia's best wins are comparable (Texas and Penn State) but Ohio State's loss (Oregon) is much better than Georgia's loss. So that is likely the reason why the Buckeyes got the nod and shows that the committed is valauing losses more than they value wins.
But at the end of the day, only one of Oregon and Ohio State can be seeded higher than Georgia, so UGA does get the No. 2 seed in the playoffs.
Boise State case study
Boise State is an interesting team to watch this season. They currently come in as the No. 12 team in the CFP rankings, but are also the fifth automatic qualifier as well. So as the Broncos move up there is a chance they could jump into the top four seeds.
Boise State is only three spots behind BYU, so if they are able to pass BYU they will shoot up to No. 4 and BYU will fall back down to whatever their ranking is.
Big 10 and SEC dominance
To likely no one's surprise, the Big Ten and SEC dominate the CFP rankings. They make up eight of the top 12 and seven of the eight highest ranked teams. There is a great chance this dominance will continue throughout the entire season.