ATHENS — Heading into the last week of the regular season, Georgia finds itself well-positioned to make the College Football Playoff.
Following a 44-42 win over Georgia Tech, the Bulldogs moved up to No. 5 in the College Football Playoff rankings. Georgia is the No. 7 seed in the rankings, which would have them hosting a home game in the first round on either Dec. 20 of Dec. 21.
This week, the four highest-ranked conference champions per the playoff committee are No. 1Oregon, No. 2 Texas, No. 8 SMU and No. 10 Boise State. Those teams would earn byes in the College Football Playoff. The fifth automatic qualifier would be No. 15 Arizona State, who is the highest-ranked Big 12 in this week’s ranking.
Oregon faces No. 3 Penn State in the Big Ten title game, Texas faces Georgia, SMU will play No. 17 Clemson in the ACC championship game and Boise State will play No. 20 UNLV in the Mountain West title game. Boise State and UNLV are the highest-rated Group of 5 teams.
Arizona State faces No. 16 Iowa State in the Big 12 championship game.
The seven at-large teams for this week’s rankings are: Penn State, Notre Dame, Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio State, Indiana and Alabama.
While the top four at-large teams would get a chance to host playoff games, Georgia does have a path to a bye to the College Football Playoff. Should the Bulldogs beat Texas this weekend in the SEC Championship game, the Bulldogs would play in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1 and would most likely be the No. 2 seed.
Georgia beat Texas 30-15 earlier this season in Austin. But Georgia knows it will have its hands full against the Longhorns this weekend.
“They’ve got explosive skill players, did a tremendous job in the portal,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said. “The quarterback’s playing at a high level, and they’ve replaced a big group of backs. The backs they’ve got are doing a great job. All in all, it should be an exciting, challenging SEC championship.”
Georgia will take on Texas at 4 p.m. ET. The final College Football Playoff rankings will come out on Sunday at 12 p.m. ET.
College Football Playoff rankings for Week 15
- Oregon
- Texas
- Penn State
- Notre Dame
- Georgia
- Ohio State
- Tennessee
- SMU
- Indiana
- Boise State
- Alabama
- Miami
- Ole Miss
- South Carolina
- Arizona State
- Iowa State
- Clemson
- BYU
- Missouri
- UNLV
- Illinois
- Syracuse
- Colorado
- Army
- Memphis
College Football Playoff seeds, matchups for Week 15
Winner of Arizona State/Iowa State vs. No. 5 Penn State
No. 11 Alabama vs. No. 6 Notre Dame
No. 10 Indiana vs. No. 7 Georgia
No. 9 Tennessee vs. No. 8 Ohio State
Oregon, Texas, SMU and Boise would have byes