The Georgia Bulldogs have a tough road ahead if they want to win the SEC. However, it’s doable. Making the College Football Playoff is an even more realistic goal for Georgia than winning the conference.

A to Z Sports’ College Football Playoff Simulator backs that up. It also shows exactly which games Georgia fans should watch over the next few weeks and which teams they should root for. The simulator lets you select each game’s outcome based on what you think will happen, and the Bulldogs’ odds move with every result.

Georgia’s College Football Playoff odds right now

These are Georgia’s current numbers in the simulator:

• 70% chance to make the College Football Playoff – 53% chance to reach the SEC Championship Game – 31% chance to win the SEC – 35% chance to earn a first-round bye – 10% chance to win the national title

That’s a strong starting point for a team that still has a difficult stretch in front of it. The Bulldogs’ best odds for any single seed are at No. 2, with an 11% chance. Georgia also has a 9% chance to land the No. 1 seed.

What Georgia needs to do on its own

The first part of the formula is simple: win. A victory against the Florida Gators this week raises Georgia’s playoff odds to 82%.

From there, the Week 10 trip to face the Ole Miss Rebels becomes the swing game. A win pushes the Bulldogs to 90%. A loss drops them to 45%, which turns the rest of the season into a coin flip.

Week 11 against the Missouri Tigers carries a similar weight. A win puts Georgia at 81%. A loss sends its odds down to around 20%.

Georgia also has a safety net. If the Bulldogs reach the SEC Championship Game, they’ll likely make the College Football Playoff regardless of the outcome, with a 92% chance even with a loss. That takes pressure off the conference title itself and puts the focus on the regular-season slate.

Who Georgia fans should root for in Weeks 9-13

Georgia fans get a lot of rooting interests outside of Athens. They should root for the bottom half of the SEC to knock off the top teams, because chaos near the top of the conference helps Georgia tremendously.

The simulator flags these results as the ones that help Georgia most:

• Week 9: Oklahoma Sooners over the South Carolina Gamecocks (adds 2% to Georgia’s playoff odds) – Week 10: Oklahoma over Florida, and Texas A&M over South Carolina (the Aggies’ win alone adds 7%) – Week 11: Oklahoma over Ole Miss and Arkansas over South Carolina (adds another 8% if both happen), plus Kentucky over Florida – Week 13: Florida State over Florida

A few names keep coming up on that list. South Carolina appears three times, and Florida does too. Oklahoma also shows up three times as the team Georgia needs to win. For a few weeks, Bulldogs fans might find themselves cheering for the Sooners, even if that feels a little strange.

Georgia controls a large part of its own fate

It’s impossible to predict exactly how the final month of the SEC season will play out. Upsets happen every weekend in this conference, and one result can change the entire picture.

However, the numbers show Georgia doesn’t need much luck. Beating Florida this week is the first step. Getting through Ole Miss and Missouri would put the Bulldogs in great shape to reach the SEC Championship Game and guarantee them a playoff spot.

Either way, Georgia fans should keep the TV on for more than just their own team. Every Oklahoma win and every South Carolina loss over the next few weeks helps the Bulldogs.

Which teams should Georgia fans root for to lose?

All of the top SEC teams. No, literally. If there’s a way, you obviously want all the top teams to lose every week. However, if we are being specific, there are a few. First, all of the teams with two losses are important to root against. Obviously, Kentucky is a team to watch. They lead the SEC and have only one loss.

Then there are Alabama, which Georgia barely beat, Tennessee, Ole Miss, Florida, Missouri, Texas, and LSU, all with two losses. Of those teams, Georgia plays Florida, Ole Miss, and Missouri. So root against those teams, obviously. And if your team handles their business, you instantly have less to worry about. Because if Georgia wins those, they have another loss. You only need to worry about the teams they don’t play.

So, Texas, Tennessee, and LSU are the teams they can’t control and need to watch. And, obviously, Kentucky, too.