Gary Stokan: Georgia’s playoff path possibly peachy

ATHENS — There’s an outside chance a Georgia College Football Playoff run could look “peachy,” depending on how things shake out.

Gary Stokan, noted the Bulldogs’ seeding — should they make the 12-team CFP field — could lead to multiple in-state stops en route to the CFP title game, if Georgia were to keep winning.

Stokan noted there’s a scenario for UGA to play in the SEC championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, then host and win a first-round game in Athens, win a quarterfinals game and then play in the CFP Peach Bowl semifinal in Atlanta.

This, after the Bulldogs close the regular season at Mercedes-Benz Stadium against Georgia Tech on Nov. 28.

But first things first, Georgia needs to get into the 12-team CFP field, and there’s work to be done.

The first set of CFP rankings were released Tuesday night, and they were much in line with the AP Top 25. Both have the same top five teams in order: Ohio State, Indiana, Texas A&M, Alabama and Georgia.

“I’m looking at the schedules ahead, and that’s the thing to look at, who plays who, and who has the chance to make the most impressions on the committee,” Stokan said. “Texas A&M still has to play at Missouri and at Texas, both ranked, and that would shoot them up if they win those games.”

To Stokan’s point, Ohio State has one remaining regular-season opponent that is ranked, playing at No. 21 Michigan on Nov. 29, while Indiana does not have any remaining regular-season opponents who are ranked.

“Georgia, playing against Texas and Georgia Tech, if they win those games they have two opportunities to move up in the rankings,” Stokan said. “Then you look at Georgia Tech, they still play (No. 24-ranked) Pitt and Georgia.”

CFP selection committee chairman Mack Rhoads explained the added emphasis on schedule strength.

“We introduced the new metric, which is record strength, which measures how well a team performs against its schedule,” Rhoads said on the Tuesday night CFP teleconference, “and that’s a cumulative sum of scores as we progress through the year.

“And then we took schedule strength and we tweaked it. … We put more weight on the stronger teams, and so that was the adjustment for schedule strength.”

Stokan said it puts fans in the unique position of rooting for former opponents their team has played to enhance their team’s resume.

“You have to control what you can control and hope the teams you beat win out,” Stokan said. “And the teams that have ranked teams still to play can have the most impact going forward.”

College Football Playoff Schedule

First round

Dec. 19: 8 p.m., on campus TBD

Dec. 20: Noon, on campus TBD

Dec. 20: 3:30 p.m., on campus TBD

Dec. 20: 7:30 p.m., on campus TBD

Quarterfinals

Dec. 31, 7:30 p.m., Goodyear Cotton Bowl, Arlington, Texas

Jan. 1, Noon, Capital One Orange Bowl, Miami Gardens, Florida

Jan. 1, 4 p.m., Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California

Jan. 1, 8 p.m., Allstate Sugar Bowl, New Orleans

Semifinals

Jan. 8, 7:30 p.m., Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, Glendale, Arizona

Jan. 9, 7:30 p.m., Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Atlanta