ATHENS — Kirby Smart makes it a point not to rely on external factors for motivation, but the College Football Playoff committee provided some, anyway.
The Bulldogs fell nine spots to No. 12 in the CFP rankings released on Tuesday night on the heels of their 28-10 road loss to previously No. 16-ranked Ole Miss last Saturday.
RELATED: More on Georgia’s fall to No. 12 in recent CFP rankings
Boise State is No. 13 in the newest CFP rankings, but because of the provision that the highest-ranked Group of Five conference champion be granted a spot in the 12-team playoff, the Bulldogs would be left out if the season ended today.
The four highest-ranked conference champions receive the top four seeds and receive a first-round bye.
As reflected by the current CFP rankings today (bottom story), the seedings and matchups if the season ended today would be:
First-round byes
1. Oregon (Big Ten) CFP rank 1
2 Texas (SEC) CFP rank 2
3. BYU (Big 12) CFP rank 6
4. Miami (ACC) CFP rank 9
First-round games
5. Ohio State vs. 12 seed Boise State
6. Penn State vs. 11 seed Ole Miss
7. Indiana vs. 10 seed Alabama
8. Tennessee vs. 9 seed Notre Dame
Smart, speaking before the rankings were released on Tuesday night, noted his team was not necessarily in need of an added sense of urgency before the loss to the Rebels.
Certainly, all of the Georgia players will see the need to beat No. 7-ranked Tennessee when the teams meet in a 7:30 p.m. showdown on Saturday if the team wants a spot in the 12-team College Football Playoff Field.
The CFP committee saw things in a way that previously unbeaten Miami fell only five spots after a 28-23 road loss to unranked Georgia Tech, compared with the nine spots the Bulldogs plummeted after the road loss to a ranked SEC opponent.
CFP chairman and Big Ten athletic director Warde Manuel, in discussing Ole Miss’ impressive win, referred Georgia as a “very good team, who, while struggling an inconsistent offensively, is still a great team.”
In comparing Miami’s drop in the rankings to Georgia’s, Manuel mentioned the Bulldogs’ offense again.
“Their offense hasn’t been consistent, the committee discussed that, they’ve struggled with some turnovers,” Manuel said. “Defense has been solid, although in the loss to Ole Miss, we felt that (inconsistent offense) plays a factor into with, the offense struggling, their defense was on the field quite a bit.
“But they have just lacked some consistency on the offensive side. So when you look at where they’re ranked and how they dropped, in terms of the teams that are in front of the, both Alabama and Ole Miss beat them in the head-to-head, and so obviously as we went through the rankings and looked at everyone, they obviously fell to 12, but it’s based on who won in front of them and then head to head and everything that we look at in terms of the body of work.”
Manuel, who oversees the committee that currently has four Big Ten teams ranked among the top six, added that “Georgia may have one of the best wins of the year by going to Texas and winning the way they did.”
Manuel said the CFP Committee does look at strength of schedule in every comparison that it does.
“For each team, we see where different data points and strength of schedule is,” he said. “We also look at the games, obviously, to see how a team is playing, see the results of the games and how teams play.”
College Football Playoff Rankings for Week 12
1. Oregon
2.Ohio State
3. Texas
4. Penn State
5. Indiana
6. BYU
7. Tennessee
8. Notre Dame
9. Miami
10. Alabama
11. Ole Miss
12. Georgia
13. Boise State
14. SMU
15. Texas A&M
16. Kansas State
17. Colorado
18. Washington State
19. Louisville
20. Clemson
21. South Carolina
22. LSU
23. Missouri
24. Army
25. Tulane
