ATHENS – Georgia finally was able to impress the selection committee.
That can be a difficult task. This time last week, the College Football Playoff’s august group of 13 carefully-chosen scrutinizers thought the defending national champion Bulldogs’ march to undefeated status was more a product of having not faced any decent competition along the way and placed them at No. 3. Sure, that 46-point shellacking of top-10 Oregon to open the season was nice, but in their estimations it didn’t compare to the work Tennessee and Ohio State had done in arriving at the same 8-0 record.
Georgia crumpled up that argument like a scratch sheet of paper when the Vols visited Sanford Stadium last Saturday. The Bulldogs (9-0 overall, 6-0 SEC) rolled up 306 yards of offense in the first half and didn’t give up a play of more than 20 yards to Tennessee’s vaunted offense until 4½ minutes remained in a rain-soaked second half.
The 27-13 final score that was not entirely reflective of the one-sided domination that ensued. But in elevating Georgia to the coveted No. 1 spot in the CFP’s second evaluation of the season over Ohio State -- and dropping Tennessee only to No. 5 – the committee proved that it was not just looking at final scores, but actually also took time to dissect the unfolding events that arrived at them.
“There was consideration given to everyone, but as we got more into it, the decisive win by Georgia over Tennessee was the primary reason,” CFP selection committee chairman Boo Corrigan said in a teleconference call after rankings were released on ESPN Tuesday night. “You’re looking at Ohio State and the balanced offensive scoring, scoring defense, scoring offense, both being in the top 10, averaging 47 points a game. Really good team. But we felt that Georgia separated.”
Ohio State (9-0) was second in the new rankings, with Michigan (9-0) third and TCU (9-0) fourth.
Previous No. 6 Alabama (7-2, 4-2) fell three spots to ninth after a 32-31 overtime loss to LSU in Baton Rouge on Saturday.
As for the Vols (6-1, 4-1), their goal of participating in the playoffs for the first time in school history remains attainable. Some might even say likely after falling just four spots Tuesday.
“They’re still in the mix, but we don’t know what everybody else is going to do,” ESPN lead college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit said of the Vols. “I think they’re certainly sitting pretty.”
“Looking at the Alabama win, looking at the LSU win, the Kentucky win, we do value wins,” Corrigan said of keeping Tennessee as the highest-ranked, one-loss team.
That makes for some truly fascinating possible rematch scenarios for the Bulldogs, who can clinch the Eastern Division’s berth in the SEC Championship game with a road win over Mississippi State (6-3, 3-3) Saturday. Georgia enters that game as 16.5-point favorite.
After Alabama’s loss to LSU this past weekend, No. 5 Tennessee and No. 6 Oregon stand as the highest-ranked, one-loss teams in the CFP rankings. Should that designation hold through the conference championships, one or the other could end up in the top four.
As of now, the Vols’ 14-point loss to Georgia and Oregon’s 46-point loss to the Bulldogs is the only thing separating them. The Ducks have won eight in a row, averaging over 40 points a game with Bo Nix “playing the best quarterback in the country right now,” according to ESPN panelist Joey Galloway.
Asked if the committee viewed both Oregon and Tennessee as “one-sided losses” to Georgia, Corrigan said, “yes, I would say so.”
By all accounts, the selection committee wants to avoid rematches at all costs in the semifinals. But it could be hard to avoid if either team gets in as a one-loss participant behind three undefeated teams, with No. 1 Georgia at the top. The Bulldogs beat those two teams by the aggregate score of 76-16.
For now, that’s not something the committee is considering.
“We look at it one week at a time,” Corrigan said. “We do not project forward, we do not prognosticate as to what’s going to happen going forward. We look at it each week and make sure that we’re coming out with the top 25, which we do believe we have. Then, we’ll move forward down the line. We leave projecting to other people.”
Such projections have the Bulldogs getting by Mississippi State this Saturday, No. 24 Kentucky (6-3) the next week and then finally Georgia Tech (3-6) in the final game of the regular season. That would place Georgia in the SEC Championship game against the Western Division champion. That’d be LSU if it wins its remaining games. The Tigers have the head-to-head tiebreaker over 8-1 (6-1 in the SEC) Ole Miss.
Currently, only four unbeatens remain, and one of those will go down when Michigan and Ohio State meet on Nov. 26 in Columbus, Ohio.
In the meantime, all eyes eyes will be on Austin, Texas, this weekend. That’s where undefeated TCU will meet No. 18 Texas. The Longhorns (6-3), which moved up six spots this week to 18th, are a touchdown favorite.
Similarly, LSU’s trip to Arkansas this Saturday will be closely scrutinized. If the Tigers (7-2, 5-1) can get by the Razorbacks and survive their season-ending road matchup against Texas A&M, they likely would face Georgia in the SEC Championship.
By upsetting the Bulldogs and winning the SEC, LSU could become the first two-loss team ever to make the playoff. ESPN’s analysts also doubted a close loss in that scenario would eliminate Georgia from the playoff.
