Georgia Bulldogs crack top 10 of College Football Playoff Rankings

The Georgia Bulldogs are a top ten team in America.

The statement above is true, at least with regard to the most recent release by the College Football Playoff Committee, but what does it really mean for Mark Richt and company? The Dawgs sit third among two-loss teams, trailing both Ole Miss and (inexplicably) UCLA, but with a lot of football left, there is a “path to glory” for Georgia if everything falls in the correct direction.

As we’ve stated ad nauseum, the Bulldogs obviously need to beat Georgia Tech, reach the SEC Championship Game (with help from Missouri) and dethrone top-ranked Alabama in order to make any scenario viable. However, the bigger question is whether even that step-by-step pursuit would be enough to crack the top four.

For assumption sake, a two-loss Georgia that doubles as the SEC champion would likely leapfrog a two-loss Ole Miss (even if they topped Mississippi State), but would the Bulldogs manage to leap above a one-loss Mississippi State that did not reach the SEC Championship game? That is the biggest question in my mind at the moment, but aside from that, the Dawgs could be matched up against a 1-loss Ohio State as champions of the Big Ten or even a two-loss Pac-12 champion if things get crazy.

It is perfectly natural for fans of the Georgia Bulldogs to pour over the rankings every week and lament their lack of upward mobility. However, there is more on the table for Georgia than the great majority of teams nationally, and with Georgia Tech rising to 16th in this week’s rankings, a win over the rival from Atlanta would do much more for Mark Richt’s club from a national perception standpoint than at any time in recent years.

There is a long way to go in this thing, but if Georgia wins out in a fashion that secures the SEC Championship, the path to glory is (relatively) clear.