Projecting the College Football Playoff: Georgia, Georgia Tech appear worthy
ATHENS — The College Football Playoff picture is anything but clear at the passing of the midway point of the season.
Defending national champion Ohio State and fellow Big Ten unbeaten Indiana are not scheduled to play one another and will be favored to win the remainder of their regular-season games before a likely meeting in the Big Ten championship game on Dec. 6.
A deep and compelling SEC race clouds things significantly beyond the top two teams, while the ACC and Big 12 have plenty to sort out at the top of their respective conferences.
Notre Dame is 5-2 after dropping its first two games to Miami and Texas A&M and appears on track to rank high enough for a return to the College Football Playoff.
South Florida is the favorite to win the American Conference and qualify by virtue of being the highest-ranked Group of Five league champ.
The first set of College Football Playoff rankings won’t be released until Nov. 4, but it’s worth projecting the field, even if selecting the SEC teams presents a challenge, with 10 teams from that league having two losses or fewer.
The SEC should get a degree more clarity Saturday when one-loss teams Ole Miss and Oklahoma meet in Norman, Oklahoma, and one-loss teams Missouri and Vanderbilt play in Nashville, Tennessee.
Here’s an early projection of how the College Football Playoff field might look:
First-round byes
- No. 1 Ohio State (Big Ten champ)
- No. 2 Texas A&M (SEC champ)
- No. 3 Indiana
- No. 4 Alabama
First-round games
Dec. 19 and 20 on campus
- No. 12 South Florida (American champ) at No. 5 Georgia
- No. 11 Ole Miss at No. 6 Oregon
- No. 10 Notre Dame at No. 7 Georgia Tech (ACC champ)
- No. 9 Texas Tech (Big 12 champ) at No. 8 Miami
Quarterfinal games
Played at the Cotton Bowl, Orange Bowl, Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.
- No. 12 South Florida/No. 5 Georgia winner vs. No. 4 Alabama
- No. 11 Ole Miss/No. 6 Oregon winner vs. No. 3 Indiana
- No. 10 Notre Dame/No. 7 Georgia Tech winner vs. No. 2 Texas A&M
- No. 9 Texas Tech/No. 8 Miami winner vs. No. 1 Ohio State
About the Author
Mike is in his eighth season covering SEC and Georgia athletics for AJC-DawgNation and has 30 years of collegiate sports multimedia experience, 25 of them in the SEC including beat writer stops at Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee and now Georgia. Mike was named the National FWAA Beat Writer of the Year in January, 2018.
