Miami's loss at Notre Dame opens the door for the Bulldogs after they debuted at No. 2 last week.
The second College Football Playoff rankings drop Tuesday at 9 p.m. on ESPN, and Georgia has a real chance to sit atop them. The Bulldogs debuted at No. 2 in the initial CFP top 25 last week behind Miami, but Miami's 31-24 loss at Notre Dame has reshuffled things. Georgia is already No. 1 in both the coaches and AP polls, so a matching spot in the committee's rankings would line everything up.
This isn't new territory for Georgia, though the last time didn't end well. The Bulldogs were No. 1 in the CFP on Nov. 28, 2023, sitting at 12-0, before losing to Alabama in the SEC Championship game and tumbling to No. 6 in the final rankings.
Players are downplaying the significance of any midseason ranking. "I don't feel like a ranking really should impress anybody or make anybody feel big," Georgia safety Rasean Dinkins said Tuesday. The committee's actual math will matter more than rhetoric, especially with a 24-team playoff field arriving in 2027 but Georgia still chasing a title under the current 12-team format.