If the season ended today, the Georgia Bulldogs would be the No. 11 seed in the College Football Playoff bracket. Georgia would have to go on the road to play the No. 6 Penn State Nittany Lions in the first round of the playoff.
The Bulldogs might need some help to get a first-round bye. Georgia is done with SEC play, so the Dawgs must watch how other teams perform over the next couple of weeks to learn their SEC championship fate. Of course, Georgia will have to beat Georgia Tech to make the playoff unless the Bulldogs win the SEC championship.
The selection committee is disrespecting Georgia. The committee ranks Georgia lower than both the AP Poll and the US LBM Coaches Poll. The committee appears to favor win-loss record over everything else including strength of schedule, ranked wins and strength of record.
How many teams ranked ahead of Georgia would have been able to go 8-2 with Georgia’s schedule? Not very many in our estimation. Only the Oregon Ducks have a better strength of record than Georgia. The Bulldogs have the toughest strength of schedule in the country.
All strength of schedule and strength of record metrics are according to ESPN.
No. 11 Georgia Bulldogs
Record: 8-2
Strength of schedule: No. 1
Strength of record: No. 2
Ranked wins: No. 3 Texas, No. 11 Tennessee, No. 17 Clemson (Note: all ranked wins are based on the playoff rankings and not the playoff seeding)
Losses: No. 9 Ole Miss, No. 7 Alabama
No. 10 Ole Miss Rebels
Record: 8-2
Strength of schedule: No. 29
Strength of record: No. 12
Ranked wins: No. 10 Georgia, No. 18 South Carolina
Losses: Unranked LSU, unranked Kentucky
No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide
Record: 8-2
Strength of schedule: No. 54
Strength of record: No. 7
Ranked wins: No. 10 Georgia, No. 18 South Carolina, No. 23 Missouri
Losses: Unranked Vanderbilt, No. 11 Tennessee
No. 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Record: 9-1
Strength of schedule: No. 82
Strength of record: No. 12
Ranked wins: No. 15 Texas A&M
Losses: Unranked Northern Illinois
No. 7 Indiana Hoosiers
Record: 10-0
Strength of schedule: No. 106
Strength of record: No. 6
Ranked wins: None
Losses: None
No. 6 Penn State Nittany Lions
Record: 9-1
Strength of schedule: No. 35
Strength of record: No. 4
Ranked wins: No. 25 Illinois
Losses: No. 2 Ohio State
No. 5 Ohio State Buckeyes
Record: 9-1
Strength of schedule: No. 28
Strength of record: No. 3
Ranked wins: No. 4 Penn State
Losses: No. 1 Oregon
No. 4 Boise State Broncos (projected Group of Five champion)
Record: 9-1
Strength of schedule: No. 77
Strength of record: No. 15
Ranked wins: No. 24 UNLV
Losses: No. 1 Oregon
No. 3 Miami Hurricanes (projected ACC champion)
Record: 9-1
Strength of schedule: No. 16
Strength of record: No. 9
Ranked wins: None
Losses: Unranked Georgia Tech
No. 2 Texas Longhorns (projected SEC champion)
Record: 9-1
Strength of schedule: No. 38
Strength of record: No. 5
Ranked wins: None
Losses: No. 10 Georgia
No. 1 Oregon Ducks (projected Big Ten champion)
Record: 11-0
Strength of schedule: No. 43
Strength of record: No. 1
Ranked wins: No. 12 Boise State, No. 2 Ohio State, No. 25 Illinois
Losses: None