Georgia’s move to No.4 creates a real headache

Georgia is back in the College Football Play-Off standings, folks.

The 11-1 Bulldogs moved to No.4 in the standings behind Alabama, Clemson and Notre Dame.

Behind the Dawgs are Oklahoma and Ohio State.

Georgia moved up because their comfortable win against Georgia Tech twinned with Michigan’s monster loss to Ohio State. Big Blue fell out of the mix, and was leapfrogged by Oklahoma (who won in a shoot-out at West Virginia) and the Buckeyes.

THE HEADACHE AND PERMUATIONS

• If Georgia beats Alabama, they are in. And the SEC probably gets two teams into the play-off because Alabama has been excellent all year long and passes the ‘eye test’.
• If Alabama beats Georgia and it’s a blow-out, then either Oklahoma or Ohio State (both predicted to win their conference title games) would leapfrog UGA into the fourth position.

So what’s the headache?

If Alabama beats Georgia and it’s close (say a 3-point game or Alabama wins on a late touchdown), then the Committee has a headache. But that reckoning, Georgia’s proved it can hang with anyone – including the No.1 team in the Nation.

This leaves Ohio State and Oklahoma.

Oklahoma would have win their game against Texas comfortably – and their defense doesn’t show that it will be able to do that job to raise the Committee’s eyebrows. This would be a revenge game for Oklahoma, who lost to the Longhorns in a wild one at the Red River Shoot-Out.

Ohio State is the one who needs a big result the most. Any struggle against Northwestern – the Buckeyes are favoured by 14 – and the Committee wouldn’t have to put them in.