ATHENS — Georgia now knows when it will play its next game in the College Football Playoff.

But there is still plenty of uncertainty surrounding the program and the path forward. The Bulldogs don’t yet know who their next opponent is. Georgia has been placed on the half of the bracket with Notre Dame, Indiana, Boise State, Penn State and SMU.

Georgia is the No. 2 seed in the bracket and is believed to have one of the easier paths forward. Will Backus of CBS Sports says Georgia has the fourth-easiest path in the playoff.

“Injury to starting quarterback Carson Beck aside, Georgia’s path isn’t terrible,” Backus said. “Notre Dame is probably under-seeded with its 11-1 record, but this is the same Fighting Irish team that lost to Northern Illinois earlier in the year. Indiana did eviscerate a majority of the teams it played this year. It also lost 38-15 in its lone game against a ranked opponent (Ohio State) and has a significant on-paper talent disadvantage against most teams in the playoff -- especially Georgia.”

But because of that injury to Beck, who is dealing with a UCL injury in his elbow, some see Georgia as a team that could get tripped up early. Mike Golic Jr. thinks that Notre Dame could be poised to exploit the injury situation at quarterback for Georgia.

The Fighting Irish went 11-1 this season but do not have a win against a team currently in the playoff field. Georgia has four wins against teams in the field by comparison.

“With that injury to Carson Beck, that opens up a path for them,” Golic Jr. said. “There’s a lot of people that look at Notre Dame’s path and say hey the matchup against Indiana, maybe not enough athletes on that team to scare you like USC did at the end of the year and then a Georgia team that would be dealing with its backup quarterback in there, that would be presenting a path for the Irish.”

In the event that Beck is unable to go for Georgia, the Bulldogs will turn to Gunner Stockton. He filled in for Beck in the SEC Championship game, throwing for 71 yards on 16 attempts and rushing for 8 yards.

But Stockton’s impact extends beyond the box score. Georgia was trailing when Stockton entered the game and yet Stockton found a way to lead Georgia to a win.

“As a defensive guy, when my quarterback gets juiced up, I love it. I love it, I rally behind it,” David Pollack said. “When Gunner runs to the right on his first drive and runs a guy over instead of running out of bounds and the sideline is jumping up and down like crazy, it infuses your team. Georgia stepped up, Gunner stepped up in a huge moment and the offense went rolling.”

Georgia coach Kirby Smart backed up what Pollack had to say. It’s evident that Stockton inspires some level of belief in his team.

“The team has a lot of confidence in Gunner. He’s very smart, very intelligent,” Smart said. “So I don’t know that it’s a lot of change. It’s probably more picking the volume correctly in terms of not having everything that we have with Carson, but having things that fit Gunner.”

Time will tell if Georgia gets a crack at Notre Dame and if Stockton will be the one to do so for Georgia. Notre Dame faces Indiana on Dec. 20, with the winner of that game taking on Georgia on Jan. 1. The game will be played in New Orleans, with ABC broadcasting the game.