ATHENS -- The College Football Playoff rankings are finally starting to make sense. And barring a disaster, it looks like the Georgia Bulldogs are going to be a part of the new 12-team format.
The CFP’s selection committee released its next-to-last version in its fifth televised reveal on ESPN Tuesday night. After an excruciatingly hard 44-42 win over Georgia Tech in eight overtimes this past Friday night, the Bulldogs (10-2) moved up to No. 5 from No. 7 in the latest rankings. Texas, their opponent in the SEC Championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday (4 p.m., ABC), went from third to second.
So, the rest is fairly simple: Beat the Longhorns (11-1) for a second time on Saturday to win the SEC and the Bulldogs will have a first-round bye into the Sugar Bowl. Lose, and Georgia will have to bank on the committee to come through on its hint that it will protect conference championship game losers. The Bulldogs defeated Texas 30-15 on Oct. 19 in Austin.
The greatest intrigue Tuesday was where Miami (11-1) would land following its 42-38 loss to Syracuse this past weekend. The Hurricanes’ drop was significant, falling six spots down to No. 12. That makes them the first team out.
Meanwhile, Alabama (9-3) moved up two spots to No. 11, making the Crimson Tide the highest-ranked three-loss team and basically assuring them a place in the playoff.
“What it came down to is 3-1 against current top-25 teams and Miami is 0-1,” selection committee chairman Warde Manuel said. “Alabama is 6-1 against teams above .500 and Miami is 4-2. Both have had some losses that weren’t what they wanted. But in the last three, Miami has lost twice. So, in evaluating their bodies of work, we felt that Alabama had the edge.”
Notre Dame (11-1), which moved up one spot to No. 4, cannot attain one of the top four seeds since it is an independent without conference affiliation. That virtually assures the Fighting Irish of hosting a first-round playoff game in South Bend in the first round.
The last bye, which must go to a conference champion, looks like it will be decided between No. 8 SMU (11-1), which plays No. 17 Clemson (9-3) in the ACC Championship game on Saturday, and No. 10 Boise State (11-1), which will be at home when it meets No. 20 UNLV for the Mountain West title on Saturday.
After all of the conference championships are decided, the final rankings will be released on what ESPN has labeled as Selection Day, Sunday at noon.
Manuel indicated the only movement going forward will be from conference championship game participants.
Manuel said there was no discussion of dropping Georgia after the Bulldogs struggled at home to beat an unranked Georgia Tech team.
“No, we recognize when there are rivalry games and we talk about those games,” Manuel said. “We realize they’re highly packed with emotions, and there’s times that a cliche that everybody says you can throw out the record book in those big rivalry games. So we do recognize when those games happen and when they’re played, and we evaluate them accordingly.”
College Football Playoff rankings (Week 15)
- Oregon (12-0)
- Texas (11-1)
- Penn State (11-1)
- Notre Dame (11-1)
- Georgia (10-2)
- Ohio State (10-2)
- Tennessee (10-2)
- SMU (11-1)
- Indiana (11-1)
- Boise State (11-1)
- Alabama (9-3)
- Miami (10-2)
- Ole Miss (9-3)
- S. Carolina (9-3)
- Arizona St. (10-2)
- Iowa State (10-2)
- Clemson (9-3)
- BYU (10-2)
- Missouri (9-3)
- UNLV (10-2)
- Illinois (9-3)
- Syracuse (9-3)
- Colorado (9-3)
- Army (10-1)
- Memphis (10-2)
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