No. 7 Georgia Bulldogs’ slow rise in College Football Playoff rankings continues

For Georgia, the committee’s message is clear: The Bulldogs need to be impressive in taking care of business against Georgia Tech (7-4) on Friday night, then win the SEC Championship game on Dec. 7 to have any chance of getting back to where they once were. Georgia was ranked third in the first rankings release of the 2024 season, which was the first week of November.

Also concerning at the moment for the Bulldogs is Tennessee sitting right behind them at No. 8. Though the Vols (9-2) have the same record, they lost to Georgia 31-17 on Nov. 16 in Athens. Now, if they get by Vanderbilt on Saturday in Nashville, the Vols will be idle while the Bulldogs’ risk their record against Texas or Texas A&M in the SEC Championship Game.

“I get the questions, but they are sort of projecting (what might happen in the future),” selection committee chariman Warde Manuel told the AJC. “We value teams that make the championships; that’s valuable to us. But we’ve been asked by the commissioners to rank the teams all the way through championship weekend. So for us, Georgia winning this week, we would evaluate that as it relates to how the game’s played, how they win, just like we do every week. And then in the championship game, we’ll see the outcome of the game and how the team is playing. It’s another data point to look at.”

Manuel has stopped short of saying teams such as Georgia would be protected if they suffer a third loss in a conference championship game. But he did point out that in the last 10 years there have been 22 teams that had three losses in the final 12 of the CFP rankings.

Saturday’s upsets landed the Bulldogs back in the SEC Championship game for the fourth consecutive season. On Dec. 7, they will play the winner of this Saturday’s game between Texas and Texas A&M in College Station. A win there would guarantee Georgia a first-round bye. A loss would leave the Bulldogs without any guarantees.

Georgia was ranked third before it suffered its second loss of the season on Nov. 9 on the road against Ole Miss, which dropped them all the way to No. 12. The Bulldogs (9-2) notched a home win over then No. 7-ranked Tennessee (9-2) to get to 10th.

Alabama fell to No. 13 and Ole Miss to 14 after last Saturday’s losses. Indiana fell five spots to No. 10 after its 38-15 loss at No. 2 Ohio State. That would keep the Hoosiers in the playoff, with only one game against 1-10 Purdue remaining.

Another big winner Tuesday appeared to be the ACC. SMU moved up four spots to No. 9 -- ahead of Indiana -- while Clemson climbed five to No. 12 after winning a home game against the Citadel. That virtually assures another ACC team a spot in the playoffs.

“Indiana played well at times against Ohio State, though Ohio State pulled away in the second half,” Manuel said. “We felt also SMU has been playing really dominant football as of late, with the way they played against Virginia at Virginia, they’ve had some great wins, only one loss. Kevin Jennings is one of the dynamic quarterbacks in the country at the present time. So, we just felt that SMU and their play on the field, they moved ahead of Indiana this week, and we’ll continue to monitor it as we move forward.”

Georgia defeated Clemson 34-3 in the season opener, so the Tigers’ continued ascension only helps the Bulldogs’ bottom line.

CFP RANKINGS (WEEK 14)