Georgia plummeted from No. 3 to No. 12 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings Tuesday following a 28-10 loss to Ole Miss, its second loss of the season, while previously undefeated Miami dropped from No. 4 to No. 9 after falling to Georgia Tech.
If the season ended today, the 7-2 Bulldogs would be the first team left out of the bracket, because No. 13 Boise State would claim an automatic berth as the fifth conference champion.
“Their offense hasn’t been consistent, and they’ve struggled with some turnovers,” committee chairman Warde Manuel said of Georgia. “Their defense has been solid, though in their loss to Ole Miss, with their offense struggling, their defense was on the field quite a bit.”
Oregon and Ohio State remained atop the rankings, while Texas, Penn State and undefeated Indiana moved up behind them, giving the Big Ten four of the top five teams.
Undefeated BYU jumped from No. 9 to No. 6 following its dramatic win over rival Utah late Saturday. Tennessee remained at No. 7, while Notre Dame moved up from No. 10 to No. 8.
Alabama, coming off a blowout win at LSU, moved up one spot from No. 11 to No. 10, with Ole Miss jumping up from No. 16 to No. 11. The Rebels would receive the last at-large berth if the season ended today.
Manuel said the fact Alabama and Ole Miss both beat Georgia head-to-head contributed to the Dawgs falling as far as they did.
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Is Georgia in trouble?
While Dawgs fans may be freaking out over being left out of this week’s hypothetical bracket, Georgia will move right back up if it beats seventh-ranked Tennessee at home this week. It would be Georgia’s second Top 10 win this season (it previously beat No. 3 Texas), and its two losses were to the committee’s No. 9 (Alabama) and No. 10 (Ole Miss) teams.
But the Dawgs would not be out of the woods yet. They close with Georgia Tech, which knocked off Miami last weekend. Barring a surge of upsets elsewhere, Georgia presumably cannot afford a third loss, unless it comes in the SEC championship game.
Can BYU breathe easier?
BYU, then 8-0, found itself behind five one-loss teams from the Big Ten and SEC last week. With Miami and Georgia dropping, the Cougars made up ground and now have some breathing room should they lose in the Big 12 championship game.
But as Georgia found out, the committee can drop a team precipitously at any time. BYU won’t be truly safe unless it earns an automatic berth.
How’s the G5 race shaping up?
Boise State dropped a spot from last week but is still rolling along as the highest-ranked Group of Five team, best positioned to earn one of the five bids reserved for conference champions if the Broncos win the Mountain West.
But there are now two teams from the American Athletic Conference in the rankings. Unbeaten Army is at No. 24, while 8-2 Tulane entered at No. 25. The Green Wave, also unbeaten in the AAC, play at Navy with a chance to clinch a spot in the conference title game, but Tulane seems unlikely to make up 12 spots on Boise State unless the Broncos lose once.
Army, which is plagued by its poor schedule strength to this point, has a golden chance to boost its resume when it faces No. 10 Notre Dame next week.
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(Photo: Tom Hauck / Getty Images)
