CFP Rankings Prediction: Who's Georgia Most Likely to See in Round 1?

As Georgia moves on to prepare for LSU in the SEC Championship game, assuming they win, who could UGA potentially face in the first round of the playoffs?

Joseph Griffin | Nov 27, 2022

It’s that time of year when everyone has stuffed their face with their favorite thanksgiving dishes, arguing about when is the right time to put up Christmas decorations. With those seasonal debates comes a familiar bickering amongst college football fans surrounding the CFP Rankings and who will ultimately make the final cut come next Sunday.

Georgia wrapped up its second consecutive undefeated regular season with their 37-14 victory over Georgia Tech, essentially them into their 2nd straight playoff berth and 3rd overall since Kirby Smart took over as head coach in December of 2015.

As Georgia moves on to prepare for LSU in the SEC Championship game, assuming the dawgs come out on top, who could UGA potentially face in the first round of the playoffs? We have some ideas.

Scenario 1: USC and TCU win out

Many scenarios can be discussed, one of which is TCU and USC winning their conference championship game, which would likely have the dawgs facing Lincoln Riley and the Trojans in his first year as the Head Coach. USC through 12 games, has averaged 43 points per game offensively and allowed 26 points per game defensively. While the Trojan defense would have its hands full with Georgias' offensive line, they do have a young quarterback in Caleb Willams, who can create some headaches for defensive coordinators.

Scenario 2: USC or TCU Lose

Another scenario would be either TCU or USC losing their championship game and the other winning, which would potentially leave the door open for one-loss Ohio State, who just had a pretty bad loss at home to Michigan, 45-23. This potential matchup between the dawgs and buckeyes very well could be the most challenging opponent they could face based on the potential first-round matchups because of the weapons they have all around the offensive side of the ball, including a potential first-round draft pick in CJ Stroud. Their defense, however, was exposed on multiple fronts against Michigan.

Scenario 3: Ultimate Chaos

The craziest scenario that could occur is USC and TCU losing in their conference championship games. What would the committee do then? Is a one-loss TCU still in at the 3/4 seed? Does OSU jump TCU? If TCU were to fall to the 4 seed, it would seemingly be a favorable matchup on paper for the dawgs, but TCU has been battle tested having to come from behind in several games this year. Do we even see Bama potentially backdoor their way into a playoff berth? If Alabama were to fill that 4th spot somehow, Georgia has proved to itself they can beat them, and Alabama hasn’t looked like the Nick Saban lead tide teams you’ve grown accustomed to, with their offensive line being inconsistent and the lack of consistency at the receiver position as well.

We are going to get some clarity Tuesday night as to who the committee favors with regard to a one-loss Ohio State, a two-loss Alabama, and a two-loss Tennessee in the case of scenario number three.

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