CFP committee grants Georgia a favorable draw to reach title game

With its SEC championship win over Alabama, there was a school of thought that Georgia would elevate to the No. 2 seed in the College Football Playoff over the Big Ten title game loser.

The CFP committee didn’t see it that way, moving Indiana to No. 1, swapping Ohio State into the No. 2 slot and keeping the Bulldogs at No. 3.

But, at first blush, it appears that staying at No. 3 is hardly the worst outcome for the Bulldogs. There isn’t an easy path to the CFP championship game, but you could do a lot worse than Georgia’s.

First, the Bulldogs will play the winner of sixth-seeded Ole Miss and 11th-seeded Tulane in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day. Put another way, that’s a team (Ole Miss) that it already defeated this season that just lost its head coach (Lane Kiffin) and will be under the guidance of a new coach (Pete Golding) who has never been a head coach before, or a team that will be at a significant talent disadvantage (Tulane) whose coach (Jon Sumrall) will be juggling coaching his current team and his future one (Florida).

Compare that with what the Bulldogs would have prepared for as the No. 2 seed — No. 7 Texas A&M, which nearly made it through the regular season undefeated, or No. 10 seed Miami, a program with as much talent as many SEC teams.

It doesn’t mean Georgia can be penciled into the semifinal. You might remember that after all the SEC huffing and puffing before last year’s inaugural 12-team field, the SEC went 2-3 and didn’t reach the title game for the second year in a row. The only wins were provided by Texas, as Tennessee and Georgia were both ousted by Ohio State and Notre Dame, respectively.

Regardless, it’s a favorable draw.

Both Ole Miss and Tulane would have significant crowd support at the Sugar Bowl quarterfinal, but Bulldogs fans will surely be there in force, too.

And if Georgia should get past either Ole Miss or Tulane, the Bulldogs would likely face No. 2 seed Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. (The Buckeyes will play the Texas A&M-Miami winner in the Cotton Bowl.)

The defending national champions would be formidable, obviously, but they proved beatable Saturday night by Indiana in the Big Ten championship.

The Hoosiers limited the Buckeyes to 322 yards, including just 58 on the ground, and sacked Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin five times.

Either Indiana is far and away better than the rest of the field — in which case Georgia probably isn’t winning — or Ohio State can be beaten. (A third possibility is that the Hoosiers and Buckeyes are both far superior, but that doesn’t seem likely.)