"Alex, I'll take some pure bullshit for $100."
LOL, I've got you some prime, grade-A, 100% All-American bullshit right here. Yesterday, No. 2 Indiana knocked off No. 1 Ohio State, 13-10, and No. 3 Georgia avenged an early-season loss to Alabama, 28-7. New rankings came out today, and we all know how it works - when a team loses a game, it drops down in the rankings and the team/teams beneath them that won their games move up into the void left behind.
That's exactly what the AP Poll did - Ohio State lost it's No. 1 ranking and they moved Indiana up from No. 2 to the new No. 1, and Georgia from No. 3 to the new No. 2. Ohio State fell to No. 3 right behind Georgia, and No. 9 Alabama fell down to No. 11. That's some basic logic right there Who could fault their reasoning?
Apparently, the CFP Selection Committee could. They seemingly couldn't get past their infatuation/schoolgirl crush on Ryan Day and the Buckeyes and dropped Ohio State only down to No. 2, keeping them above Georgia, who remain at No. 3. Friendly reminder that Georgia is 2-0 vs. Ohio State all time, and we beat them in the 2022 semifinal game, 42-41 (Buckeye fans still can't get over their missed field goal in that game, which, ironically, is also what lost them the Indiana game).
Whatevs. No. 2, No. 3, it doesn't really matter to me. Either way, we get a first-round bye, and what matters are the rankings at the end of the Playoffs, not at the start. What's more, as the No. 3 seed, Georgia plays the Sugar Bowl on January 1 against the winner of the Tulane-Ole Miss first-round game. Ole Miss will almost assuredly win that game and we've already beaten the Rebels once this season, 43-35, and this time they will be playing with an interim coach.
As boring as it is to play a second rematch game in the same season, it's actually better than what we'd face as the No. 2 seed. The No. 2 seed (Ohio State) plays the winner of the Texas A&M-Miami game. Miami's QB, of course, is ex-Georgia Bulldog Carson Beck, and while a Stockton-vs-Beck matchup is intriguing to consider, I'd worry about the revenge motivation Beck would have facing his old team. Better to face Trinidad Chambliss (if he doesn't opt out) and the Rebels than a vengeful Carson Beck. Let Ohio State knock the Hurricanes out of the Playoffs for us.
But that's not even the prime bullshit. Following their loss, the AP Poll dropped No. 9 Alabama down one spot in the rankings, to below Miami and Notre Dame, but the CFP Steering Committee didn't more them at all and kept them at No. 9, above the Hurricanes and the Irish. As a result, the Crimson Tide (11-3) will make the Playoffs, the only team with more than two losses to qualify, while 10-2 Notre Dame is out. The Committee justified their decision saying that conference championship games shouldn't count against a team with regard to the playoffs. The more you think about that excuse, the less sense it makes. Aren't conference championships exactly the kind of games that show how a team plays against elite competition? Plus, they dropped BYU out of playoff contention for their Big12 Conference loss to No. 4 Texas Tech, so, huh?
Look, I'm no fan of Notre Dame. In fact, I fucking hate Notre Dame. But, like it or not (and I don't like it at all), they happen to have the lineal championship belt right now and Georgia's 2021 and 2022 National Championship rings, so leaving them out means the new national champion won't be winning those prizes (just like last year, when Florida had somehow wound up with them).
I want Notre Dame in the playoffs! I want Georgia to have the chance to avenge their 2024 Sugar Bowl loss to the Irish! I want the Dawgs to get the lineal championship belt and their two championship rings back! I don't need to see Alabama still strutting around like it's the twenty-teens and Nick Saban's still their coach.
Alabama's going nowhere in the Playoffs this year. First, they play Oklahoma, who've already beaten them this season, 23-21, on November 15, and even if they survive that, they play No. 1 Indiana next and then either Texas Tech or Oregon. A team that lost to Florida State, Oklahoma, and Georgia isn't surviving that gauntlet.
The Bulldogs don't exactly have a primrose path, either, though. We play Ole Miss (most likely) on January 1 and then Ohio State in the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl on January 8. Again, we're 2-0 against the Buckeyes, including 2022's Semifinal in the Chick-Fil-A, and from the all appearances, the Buckeyes still haven't fixed their field goal-kicking problem.
After we get past Ohio State (again), we play the National Championship Game in Miami on January 19. It won't be against Alabama.
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