Now that Georgia football has knocked off Texas in the SEC Championship game, there is one thing left on everyone's mind. What will Georgia's path in the College Football Playoff look like?
Thankfully Georgia fans won't have to wait long as the final CFP rankings and official 12-team bracket will be released Sunday at noon on ESPN. So while we wait to see what the CFP committee decides to do, here are the likely outcomes for Georgia when it comes to their ranking, seed and potential opponents.
Georgia football CFP Ranking
Georgia will obviously jump past Texas in the updated CFP rankings on Sunday. They also should move past the loser of the Big Ten Championship game currently being played between No. 1 Oregon and No. 3 Penn State. So it is very likely that Georgia will move up from No. 5 to No. 3 in the updated rankings tomorrow.
Notre Dame is the current No. 4 team, and it is possible that Georgia jumps them as well. But the CFP committee may be more likely to keep the Irish ahead of UGA and slide them in at No. 2. Also, the winner of the Big Ten Championship game will almost certainly be the new No. 1 team in the country, which Georgia fans should be fine with considering the path for the 1-seed actually is more difficult than it is for the 2-seed or 3-seed.
Georgia football CFP Seed
Regardless of if Georgia passes Notre Dame in the rankings or not, they will be a higer seed than the Irish. This is because according to the CFP's rules, Notre Dame is not allowed to earn a top four seed as they are reserved for the four highest ranked conference champions.
So UGA's seed is quite easy to predict. They will be the 2-seed in the 12-team playoff bracket, falling behind the winner of the Big Ten Championship game between Penn State and Oregon.
Georgia football Potential Opponents
According to Kirby Smart during his immediate reactions to winning this game, the best part about winning the SEC Championship and earning a top four seed is all the extra rest that comes with getting the coveted first round bye. So Georgia will not know who they play in their first CFP game as they will have to wait and see who wins the first round matchup between the 10-seed and 7-seed, assuming they do get the 2-seed.
The 10-seed in this week's rankings was Indiana, and there is a good chance the Hoosiers will stay put there. But Georgia was the committee's 7-seed this past week, so predicting who that team could be is a little more difficult. If Oregon wins the Big Ten Championship, Penn State could potentially slide one spot back to the 7-seed. But if Penn State wins, the most likely outcome is Ohio State moving into the 7-seed.
The Buckeyes would be a tough draw for Georgia in the quarterfinals, but Indiana and Penn State would be a very favorable matchup. But regardless, the most likely teams that Georgia could face in their quarterfinal matchup are Indiana, Penn State and Ohio State.