ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia finally was able to impress the selection committee.
Clearly, that is a difficult task. This time last week, 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. 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 had done arriving at the same record.
Georgia crumpled up that argument like a scratch sheet of paper when the Vols visited Sanford Stadium last Saturday. The Bulldogs 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 4 1/2 minutes remained in what ended in a rain-soaked second half.
The 27-14 final score that was not entirely reflective of the one-sided domination.
But in elevating Georgia to the coveted No. 1 spot in the CFP’s second evaluation of the season — and dropping Tennessee only to No. 5 – the committee proved that it was not just looking at final tallies, but actually also took time to dissect the unfolding events that arrived at them.
“Tennessee comes in averaging (49) points per game and for Georgia to hold them to 13 clearly separated them in the eyes of the committee,” selection committee chairman Boo Corrigan said.
The rest of the top four released Tuesday was Ohio State (9-0), Michigan (9-0) and TCU (9-0), which moved up three spots.
Previous No. 6 Alabama 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 SEC), 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.”
That makes for some truly fascinating possible rematch scenarios for the Bulldogs, who will clinch the Eastern Division’s berth in the SEC Championship with a road win over Mississippi State this Saturday.
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 CFB rankings. Should that designation hold through the conference championships, one or the other could end up in the top four.
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. Currently, only four 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, which moved up are a touchdown favorite.
