Georgia and Alabama both boast undefeated records in the SEC this year. This sets up a scenario where a Georgia vs. Alabama SEC Championship Game could dictate which school goes into the College Football Playoff as the No. 1 seed. It also creates a possibility for the SEC to send two teams to the tournament, with that conclusion dependent on the polls. A lot still needs to happen for that to all take place though.
The Georgia Bulldogs have seen an increased level of attention in the Week 8 college football rankings. Due to losses by Oklahoma, USC, Washington, and Clemson, suddenly Georgia has moved up in all the major polls.
It isn’t limited to just the AP Top 25 and the Coaches Poll, either, as many analysts are starting to notice the team as well. The latest college football power rankings from CBS Sports and ESPN indicate that many analysts feel Georgia is as good as advertised.
Georgia vs. Alabama for the SEC
Setting aside the debate about whether the Georgia Bulldogs or Alabama Crimson Tide is the better team, it’s certainly possible that the schools could hold the top two spots in the national rankings when the SEC Championship Game takes place. The schools don’t play each other during the 2017 college football regular season, leaving the possibility of two undefeated SEC teams heading into the postseason. That is the scenario that the SEC wants to see play out.
The Pac-12 Conference has beaten up on itself, leaving no undefeated teams, the ACC is tattered, and the Big 12 is down to just TCU. The Big Ten has just an undefeated Penn State team that has to play Michigan and Ohio State over the next two weeks and an undefeated Wisconsin team that has been unchallenged and has a game coming up against Michigan as well.
It is entirely possible that following the Big Ten Championship Game that no team left in the conference will be undefeated.
Can Georgia and Alabama finish undefeated?
Surprises happen all the time in college football, which is exactly what took place when No. 3 Oklahoma got knocked off by Iowa State back on Oct. 7. That being said, both Georgia and Alabama have favorable schedules to finish undefeated.
The biggest tests for Alabama will come at home against LSU on Nov. 4 and on the road against Auburn on Nov. 25. For Georgia, they have tests against Florida (Oct. 28), South Carolina (Nov. 4), Auburn (Nov. 11), and Kentucky (Nov. 18). Sweeping through those games would improve their strength of schedule (SOS) quite a bit in the College Football Playoff rankings.
Five games for each team stand between the current situation and an SEC Championship Game between two 12-0 teams. That’s when the typical debate will emerge about whether a one-loss conference champion is better than a one-loss team from the SEC that lost its conference title game. If the Georgia Bulldogs finished the season at 12-1, with the only blemish to their record coming as a loss to No. 1 Alabama, then the school would definitely still deserve a shot at the College Football Playoff. Beating Alabama should put them right in as the No. 1 overall seed.
